Fix: Performance sucking on Dual Core and HT CPUs
Khan of Wyrms:
I executed these hotfixes a few days ago and here are my results. First, a noticeable improvement in OS response and most programs except Sims2. Second, Forcecore does not seem to improve performance at all and in fact seems to make my Sims2 slightly more sluggish, especially when scrolling a large lot.
I totally missed the irony in this at first and blindly followed the directions like a good sheep. This post is recommending a hotfix for dual core and HT issues, and then advises completely bypassing the hotfix by using Forcecore to make Sims2 run on only one core. (Sometimes my brain does not catch up with what I read until days later.)
I would recommend these updates to anyone but the Forcecore I would not. I don't see it could hurt anything to try, though.
[Interresting related tangential note] I have uncommon BSOD since GLS of the generic, 'Stop error, thread stuck in device driver' kind that causes an instant reboot of my computer. I had small hope this might find some solution to that issue. Alas, no, but what is certainly curious is that now I have gotten different error messages after restart and no more of the old familiar 'stop error' kind. (I realize the instant reboot is still a stop error, but now the details of the stop error messages have changed.) I know a lot of people have been having problems of this sort and most seem fixated upon a problem with nVidia drivers. My experience with this makes me wonder if the problem is not deeper than simply graphics card or software issues, perhaps involved with the problematic timing of dual core CPU's mentioned here as well.
jrd:
Argon, would you happen to know if the root bug also exists in 2003 and Vista?
armywife:
Does this impact Vista Aero at all? I have C2 Duo as well, with 4mgs Rambus on laptop. I noticed a slight lag and the graphics are blurry. Should I do this fix or not? Thanks so much for the info.
Argon:
@Jordi
I don't know much about 2003 since I never bothered to hack one up to work as a workstation but the forcecore thing should still be the same. I do know that Vista does not need a hotfix because it's already built into the os.
@cptsmurphy
That's a graphics card issue, Vista running Areo sucks more video card memory than XP would so the game has less to work with. The minimum requirement for the Areo interface is a 128 meg video card, so if you have 256 megs you only have half to work with for the game; normally on laptops they're crummy integrated cards so you're actually using slower system memory.
@all
There's some confusion about what the ForceCore and hotfix do, so I'll explain it like this:
The game engine was made before dual core computers were around and the game gets no benefit because of it (unless they added this in Seasons, which I highly doubt since C&C 3 specifically tells you it supports dual core on the box while Seasons does not). HT is not very good to begin with, it's more of a half assed Intel attempt at multiprocessing and has been dropped in Core 2 Duo series and later processors. The hyperthreading actually cuts your processing power in half and many game developers suggest you have it turned off because it causes sync problems (for example: with the special event camera on HT systems, the audio will be lag behind near the middle of the movie and will not recover). On dual core systems, only the game is run in single core mode using ForceCore allowing your pc to do what it was built for: multitasking. With the game only using one core, background processes can run without interfering without having to take time away from the game's cpu time.
ForceCore is simply a program which automatically sets the affinity for a program, the tip for running the game using only one processor came from the guru3d.com forums and an Nvidia drivers forum (it was more from hours of google searches I guess).
For anyone wondering how to turn off HT there are two steps:
1) Go into your bios and turn off hyperthreading
*2) right click My Computer>Properties>Hardware>Device Manager>Computer>ACPI Multiprocessor PC
update driver>choose from list>"Advanced Confi.. blah blah (ACPI) PC">next through everything then restart
* most people don't know/forget they need to do this
syberspunk:
Quote from: Argon on 2007 April 13, 09:07:10
@all
There's some confusion about what the ForceCore and hotfix do, so I'll explain it like this:
The game engine was made before dual core computers were around and the game gets no benefit because of it (unless they added this in Seasons, which I highly doubt since C&C 3 specifically tells you it supports dual core on the box while Seasons does not). HT is not very good to begin with, it's more of a half assed Intel attempt at multiprocessing and has been dropped in Core 2 Duo series and later processors. The hyperthreading actually cuts your processing power in half and many game developers suggest you have it turned off because it causes sync problems (for example: with the special event camera on HT systems, the audio will be lag behind near the middle of the movie and will not recover). On dual core systems, only the game is run in single core mode using ForceCore allowing your pc to do what it was built for: multitasking. With the game only using one core, background processes can run without interfering without having to take time away from the game's cpu time.
ForceCore is simply a program which automatically sets the affinity for a program, the tip for running the game using only one processor came from the guru3d.com forums and an Nvidia drivers forum (it was more from hours of google searches I guess).
Thanks for the thorough explanation, that was great! :D
So now I'm wondering...
1) Will turning off HT on my sister's compy help? Even tho I've already installed the ForceCore thingamabobby on her machine?
2) Will turning off HT affect regular, non gaming use of her compy (performance wise)? or will the effects be negligible?
3) If I do turn it off... then can I simply revert her machine back to using ASR with daemontools and nix the sd4hider thingy?
Ste
PS. Incidentally... I'm not sure if necessarily noticed any performance difference... but then again, the performance overall is improved in comparison to my old compy anyways (speed, loading, and graphic wise). Additionally... I don't really multi task much on my compy while I'm simming. I kinda got into that habit to begin with, so that was usually never a problem anyways.
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