New P3D 5.3+ Affinity Mask Calculator

[Fiorentoni 4,069]

1 hour ago, TomCYYZ said:

Thanks for the reply, I understand that. What I meant by trial and error was, it is just a guessing game…”make cores 3 & 5 green…make cores 4, 6, 8 blue etc.”. It’s probably simple (if you understand it), but unfortunately I don’t know what I am doing. I have no problem editing “ .cfg “ files, just understanding and coming up with the numbers to use.

Just post your CPU and if you have HT enabled; we can give you the numbers you have to put in the cfg.

[ieydis 51]

10 Physical, 20 logical please.  i9-10900K

 

Thank you!

[Fiorentoni 4,069]

2 minutes ago, ieydis said:

10 Physical, 20 logical please.  i9-10900K

 

Thank you!

Replace the approriate lines in the cfg file with the following:

[JobScheduler]
AffinityMask=1048533
P3DCoreAffinityMask=1048533
MainThreadScheduler=0
RenderThreadScheduler=1
FrameWorkerThreadScheduler=2

This already helps a lot to reduce stuttering and smoothen the sim at really heavy airports. If you want to go further you'll have to use Process Lasso or batch files to keep your third party software (ActiveSky etc.) restricted to certain cores, but that's a bit more complicated (not much though).

[Skywolf 992]

i7-5820K

6 Cores, 12 Logical 

Thanks, much appreciated Happy New year

Edited January 1, 2022 by Skywolf

[TomCYYZ 205]

...Thanks,

i78700K...6 Cores...12 LP...HT Enabled.

here is what i originally came up with:

      [JobScheduler]
      AffinityMask=4092
      P3DCoreAffinityMask=3740
      MainThreadScheduler=5
      RenderThreadScheduler=2
      FrameWorkerThreadScheduler=4

 

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by TomCYYZ

[MammyJammy 124]

Just made another hygiene update with a better explanation of how the tool works.

http://izn-flightsim.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/affinity.html

The basic process is:

1. Enter your CPU info and click Start.
2. Select what affinity/scheduler setting you want to specify and click on the representative CPU core/logical processor in the table below to activate that setting for the respective CPU.  Click twice to unactivate.  The boxes will change colors that correspond to your selected setting so you can visualize what you're doing.
3. Copy/paste the [JobScheduler] section that is generated below the table into your Prepar3D.cfg file.

That's it.

The basic point of the tool is to save you the voodoo headache of reversing cores and converting binary by giving you a visual way of building these masks.  As far as recommendations go for what to use, your mileage will vary and every system is different.  I typically fly complex aircraft (or the P3D compliant DC-10... 😁 ) with a bevvy of add-ons, so my current settings have all cores available to the AffinityMask, all but the first for the P3DCoreAffinityMask, and the MainThreadScheduler running on the core of my CPU that tends to run the coolest with the highest boost clock.  I run with HT off based on my own past experience with several purpose-built FSX/P3D PCs, however I use HT for my daily driver PC.

[LarsA 90]

9700K, 8 cores, no HT!? 

Thanks! 

[Nemo 1,304]

On 12/31/2021 at 7:01 PM, fpeter said:

Hi Everyone,

I apologize to you, but I’m not that much of a “specialist,” so I’d rather ask for help.
I use a built in cockpit. ProSim 737 v3.12, 2 Pc
Parameters of the main Pc:
CPU: i9 10900KF
GPU: Asus Rog Strix RTX3090
Mem: 32GB
PSU: Corsair 1200W
2x 1TB M.2, + 3x SSD
Display: Samsung 65 "Curved
I am currently using a P3D5.2 HF
I plan that sometime when P3D5.3 is already "perfect" I will switch.
I would like to ask what should I type in the P3D cfg Affinity Mask ....?
HT on or off?
Currently, no reference is entered in the cfg.

Thank you for all your help!
Best Regards,
Peter

With HT ON I use

[JobScheduler]
AffinityMask=16777215
P3DCoreAffinityMask=16733525
MainThreadScheduler=0
RenderThreadScheduler=2
FrameWorkerThreadScheduler=4

[fpeter 0]

Thank you very much!

Regards,

Peter

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

@Rob_Ainscough, thanks for the guidance. So overall you feel it’s more beneficial to run P3D on fewer cores with exclusivity rather than one more that is shared with the OS.

Okay, I’ll try that tomorrow. So 63 for the AM but 30 for P3CoreAffinityMask?

011110 = core 0 to OS; cores 1-4 to P3D; core 5 to ASP3D, EFB, ChasePlane etc.

[RAMMSTEIN1977 2]

Hi,

Does this attitude really do anything?

Had read in the past that it makes no difference and the CPU gets warmer? Is that correct ?

I have an AMD 5800x CPU with HT on ...

What is the best thing to enter?

Many Thanks

[CaptKornDog 281]

Thank you for this tool.

 

And thank you, Rob, for the continued AM explanations - I still feel like I'm chasing placebos with a 5900X but the explanations do help a bit.

[TomCYYZ 205]

      Thanks also for the explanations everyone, but I think I'll stick with the default for now. My system seems happy with that anyway:

      [JobScheduler]
      AffinityMask=4095
      P3DCoreAffinityMask=4095
      MainThreadScheduler=0
      RenderThreadScheduler=2
      FrameWorkerThreadScheduler=4

Regards

 

[MammyJammy 124]

1 hour ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

I agree with Ray that LittleNavMap, ASP3D, etc. may not use a lot of processing power but they use some and that some might be enough to hit contention and/or threads being dropped (take too long) in P3D (which may manifest as a stutter, blurry scenery, floating buildings, etc.).  But want to be very clear this process of AffinityMask settings more about consistency and load distribution NOT about gaining FPS.

Hey Rob - Agree with all your feedback and it matches my observations trying to squeak out every last consistent frame since the FS9 days.  I'm also with you that the new P3DCoreAffinityMask gives way more flexibility than the simple AffinityMask before, allowing other P3D "stuff" to also run outside of cores specified for higher workloads as part of P3D itself.

To your last point quoted above, 100% agree - There's a help section I included at the bottom of the tool and I specifically mention tuning to avoid long frames and stutters as opposed to FPS.  I run at 30 fps locked externally and have been tuning to avoid the random long frame.  With my current P3DCoreAffinityMask setting I have Core 0 running about 9 - 16% utilized by the OS and everything else on the first core, with P3D on Core 1 and beyond.  This has helped reduce the every-so-often long frame.

[cyyzrwy24 118]

And indeed, as Rob pointed, once we adjust AF and everything else to our CPU, results are very  much visible. In my case I played with several settings (10700K) and suggested setting definitely works. However, in my case I can't say that FPS number went significantly up, but smoothness is definitely there like never before. 

I did monitored my cores and suggested relieved some clogged cores which I assume were giving me stutters in some cases. I would say that HF1 is definitely better but some certain tweaks made it better. 

So let's test more until we find right settings for our hardware and that should produce smooth and nice ride.

P.S.

But how quickly we forgot ongoing issue with EA and cloudes.... LOL