Process Lasso interaction with DCS and general core management

[dariocs]

Hello,

A friend and I have observed in the main DCS log that DCS detects Process Lasso running in the background:

2024-12-28 11:11:28.856 WARNING APP (Main): ProcessLasso is running

We both have been using Process Lasso to run DCS as we got noticeable performance improvements. I am still getting those improvements, but my friend (with a more powerful machine) has stopped using Lasso, as DCS was not running smooth for him after the latest updates.

I guess something has improved or changed in DCS' CPU core management, and I also wonder if that warning in the DCS log points in that direction. Can Process Lasso impact DCS' performance negatively after the latest updates? My friend's case suggests that.

The DCS log also classifies cores in terms of efficiency and class, indicating sets for each use (common, render, I/O):

2024-12-28 11:11:26.166 INFO    EDCORE (Main): all CPU cores have the same efficiency class 1
2024-12-28 11:11:26.166 INFO    EDCORE (Main): all CPU cores have the same performance class 1
2024-12-28 11:11:26.166 INFO    EDCORE (Main): common cores: {6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15}
2024-12-28 11:11:26.166 INFO    EDCORE (Main): render cores: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
2024-12-28 11:11:26.166 INFO    EDCORE (Main): IO cores: {}

(Note that not all of my cores are visible here, as I was running Process Lasso to create affinities for DCS)

Some guidance and details on these aspects from the ED staff would be highly appreciated, as we have not found many details in the release notes of the latest updates. It could help us players a lot when optimizing our systems.

Thanks in advance!

Edited December 28, 2024 by dariocs

[Nodak]

And that's never going to happen because the CPU hardware is to wide and varied, it simply isn't fit for universal use.  It's up to your own due diligence and research to see if your specific CPU and hardware combination will benefit.  There are CPU's where using it will cause only harm like some of the AMD x3D series.

[scommander2]

Personally, I think that it is a good benefits to use Process Lasso to tune CPU/Process usage. especially for Intel 12th+ gen family.  SP has his YouTube video for how he gets this environment improvement with DCS "2.9" at:

With Process Lasso, we can make CPU affinity with all P-Cores for dcs.exe so that DCS multi-threading can leverage the heavy process cores to generate a better FPS.

I had done the testing on my Intel 13th gen CPU with Process Lasso at:

Because of Windows Power management, Windows kernel may not schedule all available CPUs for DCS when DCS needs more CPU resources to compute the objects and FPS (likes F10 map and others).  So Process Lasso can take care for us, if we do not have time to manage CPU/process.  

A good Process Lasso setup will make DCS runs smoothly in MT, otherwise it becomes totally chaos since DCS 2.9+ (I guess for troubleshooting and ED wants to know we run Process Lasso runs in background or not).

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2024 by scommander2

[dariocs]

hace 19 horas, Nodak dijo:

And that's never going to happen because the CPU hardware is to wide and varied, it simply isn't fit for universal use.  It's up to your own due diligence and research to see if your specific CPU and hardware combination will benefit.  There are CPU's where using it will cause only harm like some of the AMD x3D series.

True, but I forgot to mention both are Intel (i7 13700K and i9 14900K). In my humble opinion, the i9 with a similar Lasso configuration should behave the same or better than my i7, never worse.

You are right anyway by saying that each configuration has its own issues. But I think some better guidance on this kind of aspects would be very welcome, particularly after patches.

[pimp]

I was told by @Flappie that Process Lasso is no longer needed since the core management has been improved since the original release of the MT version. I get good performance in VR without using PL.

[freehand]

Used  lasso many years ago  to help for VR tweaking but not touched it for long time.

Worth ago I am just to lazy to bother now  

 

Edited January 3 by freehand

[scommander2]

Hi @pimp and @freehand, can I know which DCS release version after is no longer needed Process Lasso?  Thanks.

[freehand]

6 minutes ago, scommander2 said:

Hi @pimp and @freehand, can I know which DCS release version after is no longer needed Process Lasso?  Thanks.

What are you talking about ?

[scommander2]

10 minutes ago, freehand said:

What are you talking about ?

It is a good question.  

I have had an issue for the FPS drop since 2.9.8.1214 even all P/E-Cores were unparked.  So, is the recent release better the earlier releases for MT?  If yes, it is the good news then.  Thanks. 

Edited January 3 by scommander2

[Flappie]

51 minutes ago, scommander2 said:

Hi @pimp and @freehand, can I know which DCS release version after is no longer needed Process Lasso?  Thanks.

That would be this one: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/news/changelog/release/2.9.8.1107/

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

I used to use Project Lasso as well. I no longer find it necessary - but that's just me.

[nephilimborn]

On 1/4/2025 at 4:58 AM, Raven (Elysian Angel) said:

I used to use Project Lasso as well. I no longer find it necessary - but that's just me.

recently the same for me...dcs seems to recognised and effectively use the appropriate resources e.g. 13th gen i7...

2025-01-29 12:56:05.712 INFO    EDCORE (Main): common cores: {8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15}
2025-01-29 12:56:05.712 INFO    EDCORE (Main): render cores: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}
2025-01-29 12:56:05.712 INFO    EDCORE (Main): IO cores: {16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23}

Although i still use PL to prioritise processes and unpark cores e.g.

[nephilimborn]

On 4/14/2025 at 1:53 PM, nephilimborn said:

I also experience these PimaxCL stutters and also feel it may be CPU bound headset tracking related (re-centering does not seem to make a difference). I have set the appropriate process priorities in PLasso (win10) and have set 120hz at 60capped. However have not tested turning off other CPU consuming upscaling such as DLSS/DLAA/QV. Will try tonight and see if that makes a difference. 

I even printed up some QRCode tracking sheets and placed these in front and on the sides - that i think was a waste of time and made no noticeable difference for me either.

 

On 1/30/2025 at 12:30 PM, nephilimborn said:

recently the same for me...dcs seems to recognised and effectively use the appropriate resources e.g. 13th gen i7...

2025-01-29 12:56:05.712 INFO    EDCORE (Main): common cores: {8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15}
2025-01-29 12:56:05.712 INFO    EDCORE (Main): render cores: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}
2025-01-29 12:56:05.712 INFO    EDCORE (Main): IO cores: {16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23}

Although i still use PL to prioritise processes and unpark cores e.g.

Recently i have been experiencing a lot of immersion-breaking artefact-flickering happening in the PCL (120 locked to 60 w/ SSmothing, QViews set to Quality) when flying lower altitudes in the new Marianas WWII map as a result of wild performance spikes; i was only able to significantly reduce this by doing the opposite of what i posted; specifically setting DCS.exe affinity to all P-cores except Core 0 and excluding the E-Cores. I had noticed that core 0 (and core 2) as well as all the E Cores were running at 100% (the only way i could influence DCS to load up the other P-Cores was to exclude core 0)

However no matter what i do i constantly get artefact flickering in PCL while not in game (main menu, mission editor, etc.); this does not happen in any other VR game.

[EDIT] Smart Smoothing introduced INCREDIBLY immersion breaking visual artefacts if CPU or GPU starved - with the Marianas map load spikes this is incredibly jarring - i was able to partially minimise this with PLasso & LOD settings however it still happens too frequently. I have turned off SS as i feel it is an ASW implementation that is still not yet mature enough for such scenarios.

Edited Tuesday at 11:55 PM by nephilimborn
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