Dual Core 2 Choppy performance

[H4rM]

I am currently trying out an Alienware M5550 Laptop that has an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33GHz cpu (4Mb cache and 677MHz FSB), with 2Gb of DDR2 ram, and a 256 Mb Geforce Go 7600 video card in it. Loaded LockOn and F.Cliffs and also loaded the no canopy scratches mod. Start up LockOn and the game has continuous micro-pauses while playing. Regardless if I have the graphics set on high, or as they are now, all on Medium or Low with most things turned off. The micro-pauses are still there.

I also noticed when I turn on the FPS display ( Ctrl-Backspace ) that the FPS continuously change. Example of what I see is:

From around 26 fps to then 113 fps, then quickly changes to -364 fps, then 68 fps, etc etc. It just keeps going up and down, from positive to negative values. I have confirmed that there is nothing running in the background as Alienware does not load "bloat" software.

I then tried running LockOn on one then the other CPU by setting the affinity. I did this by starting lockon, then alt-tab out to desktop, then a ctrl-alt-del to task manager and set the affinity for the lockon.exe to one cpu at a time. Then closed this and alt-tabbed back into the game. Still got the same micro-pauses.

 

I have not purchased this laptop as it is a review item supplied to me. But if anyone that has the new dual core 2 cpus can elaborate on how to get LockOn working correctly with the Intel CPU, please let me know.

 

Also: There are no other programs loaded , no Anti-Virus, etc, since this is a brand new system. Just XP, modman, Loman and LockOn.

 

I know something must be wrong with this, since I have another laptop (Sager 8790) that has 2Gb of ram, an Intel 3.4 Ghz CPU w/ HT and a 9700 w 256 mb of ram on it, and it runs LockOn great, averaging about 47 fps with more things turned up and on than the new Alienware laptop. Im sure I could get even more FPS on the Sager if I turned everything down or off, but then it would not look nice.

[Raploc]

Get a program to set the core affinity. I don't have a problem with my AMD dual Core but there are people who have the same problem that you discribe.

[H4rM]

I have such a program for one of my AMD Dual Core 5000 systems, that also runs LockOn. Are you saying that my problem may be that the affinity needs to be set before I start LockOn for it to work correctly? (Since I was doing it manually to test it)

[brewber19]

Hi Harm,

 

Try putting LO on to just ONE core (either core 1 or core 2)...it should remove the micropauses. I have an AMD X2 4400 and, whilst not an intel, its still a dual core and stutters in LO when trying to "load balance" across the two cores SO.....putting it to a single core removes the stutter.

 

Try it and see how you get on...cos your other laptop that is fine is a single core....which is why LO works fine and why its not a great comparison ;)

 

Good luck with it all.

Brew.

 

EDIT: lol, couple of people beat me to it! but yeah, put it to a single core before launching the game...I use procaff to do it ;)

[H4rM]

Is there a tool for Intel Core 2 Duos, like the one for AMDs?

 

If so, please post a link as I have not seen one, and continue to lool.

 

Thank-you.

 

EDIT: Just found this out: "Core 2 Duo has a shared cache and a uniform memory system, so processor affinity isn't going to make a lick of difference."

[JaBoG32_Prinzartus]

Intel Core 2 Duos do not have this issue. AFAIK. At least mine works flawlessly in regards to this issue.

[omnibook]

ive sent u a private message:thumbup:

[Kuky]

get a little program utility called "procaff" which is what I use to set lock-on to run on 1 core (2nd core in my case) and it works fine.

[SuperKungFu]

Can you get back to me on the result since I also have Intel Core 2 duo running at 2.16 ghz, 2 gigs of ram, and 256 mb 7900 gs, but i'm kinda getting choppy fps. My old laptop which was a reg duo core 2.0 ghz, 1 gig of ram, and 7600 ran better. I don't understand why is it happening.

[H4rM]

SuperKungFu,

Turn on your FPS meter built into LockOn ( Ctrl-Backspace) and see if your FPS jump around drastically from high positive values to negative values (back and forth constantly). With no other program running in the background, the Virtual memory set at a hard 4096 and graphic settings at low to medium, this one jumps from 350 FPS down to -40 FPS. And has a constant "hiccup" as it plays a track back, or even worse as I fly in it. I noticed it seems to be tapping the hard drive, but I don't know why.

[SuperKungFu]

yea i been looking at the fps for a file, on my old laptop it did that, where the fps went negative...etc however it was smooth gameplay with the same graphics settings so i didn't really care. This time the fps actually goes low and it will lag and such.

[omnibook]

super kung fu, use "process tamer", a program that lets you decide the priority of applications. When you download it, open it and "set a new rule", saying to run lockon.exe (or wathever it is) at "high priority"

 

hope it helps!:thumbup:

 

by the way, did you say you had a laptop with a 7600:music_whistling: ? is that good for lomac? how do you run it?

[SuperKungFu]

yea i did have a laptop with the 7600, not bad actually. It ran pretty decent with the graphics config above, i can't really give you an accurate comparison though compared to my 7900 right now because of the whole issue of the lagging. Could be several reasons such as the duo core 2- I'll try your suggestion thanks :thumbup: , it could also be graphics driver- not sure which one is best for my card. But i do admit my new laptop loads mission a lot faster, could be duo to the ram. Old one had 1 gig, new one is 2 gig.

[omnibook]

hope it solves the problem:thumbup:

 

http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/proctamer/index.html

 

Ive also read that there is an application that optimises your pc for gaming. People seem to be very happy with it. Its called Intelli Hyperspeed. try downloading it here (choose second option) http://intelli-hyperspeed.softonic.com/ie/44870/descargar

:thumbup:

[H4rM]

SuperKungFu, Try this suggestion.

1st, make sure you are on AC powerr.

Then Go into your laptops power settings, and change it from "Portable Device" settings to "Always On".

 

Then try lockOn to see if it works. If it still has small hiccups, try also this with the above left as just set.

 

Go into your Bios, and look for a term: " Long Battery Mode" or something along those lines. Turn this OFF. Reboot and then try LockOn.

[SuperKungFu]

yea that software works pretty well but still getting some strange low fps from time to time. Btw, in the Process Tamer software, is there anything higher than "high?" Is that why there's a "realtime" or something.

[bramski]

I hope you got your FPS prob sorted out, but incase you didn't check out this hotfix from MS, I'm pretty sure your laptop will be loaded with power managment features which this patch deals with.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256

 

 

Also check out http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=65211 for an affinity program that can launch apps with the affinity preset.