The violent stutter on DualCore CPU in multiplay

[HUQ]

Hello,

 

I got Athlon64 X2 4800+ and I meet with the violent stutter in multiplay.

See the AVI movie that I captured.

 

http://area88.sytes.net/~huq/movie/DualCoreStutter.avi

 

This movie is taken by client PC.

The client PC and server PC is connected by 1.0 Gbps, home-LAN.

 

I'm very sad.

 

The Client PC environment is,

CPU:AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+

M/B:ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe

Video:SAPPHIRE X850XT Platinum Edition (PCI-Ex/256MB)

Sound:Creative SoundBluster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro

Memory:Kingston PC3200 CL3 Non-ECC 1GBx2

HDD:WDC WD740GD-00FLA0 x2 (nVidia RAID0)

Power:ThermalTake W0049RJ (680W)

NIC:Onboard M/B

 

The Server PC enviroment is,

CPU:AMD Athlon64 FX-53

M/B:ASUS SK8V

Video:GIGABYTE GV-N68128DH (Geforce 6800/AGP 8x/128MB)

Sound:M Audio AudioPhile 2496

Memory:Corsair Registerd PC3200 CL3 ECC 1GBx2

HDD:Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Plus ST3160023A

Power:OEC OTN-400WOF (400W)

NIC:Onboard M/B

[Csmag]

Hello,

 

I got Athlon64 X2 4800+ and I meet with the violent stutter in multiplay.

See the AVI movie that I captured.

 

http://area88.sytes.net/~huq/movie/DualCoreStutter.avi

 

This movie is taken by client PC.

The client PC and server PC is connected by 1.0 Gbps, home-LAN.

 

I'm very sad.

 

The Client PC environment is,

CPU:AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+

M/B:ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe

Video:SAPPHIRE X850XT Platinum Edition (PCI-Ex/256MB)

Sound:Creative SoundBluster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro

Memory:Kingston PC3200 CL3 Non-ECC 1GBx2

HDD:WDC WD740GD-00FLA0 x2 (nVidia RAID0)

Power:ThermalTake W0049RJ (680W)

NIC:Onboard M/B

 

The Server PC enviroment is,

CPU:AMD Athlon64 FX-53

M/B:ASUS SK8V

Video:GIGABYTE GV-N68128DH (Geforce 6800/AGP 8x/128MB)

Sound:M Audio AudioPhile 2496

Memory:Corsair Registerd PC3200 CL3 ECC 1GBx2

HDD:Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Plus ST3160023A

Power:OEC OTN-400WOF (400W)

NIC:Onboard M/B

 

 

Try the stutter patch in the fixes section on lockon.ru

[HUQ]

Try the stutter patch in the fixes section on lockon.ru

 

I forgot to write the software environment.

 

OS:Windows XP SP1, all Microsoft patches are applied.

DirectX:9.0c

Video Driver:CATALYST 5.6 Windows XP

Sound Driver: 1.84.55 (12 May 05) / EAX 4.0 Advanced HD Driver (19 Nov 03)

 

Game:LockOn: Flaming Cliffs english-web sale version,

the follows patches are applied.

 

1. Ground Units LODs Fix (GU_LODs) (For english WEB installed LO 1.1 addon and english CD installed LO 1.1 addon)

 

2. CLIENT NETWORK GAME STUTTERING FIX (For english WEB installed LO 1.1 addon)

 

3. Uninstaller with SaveKeys (For english WEB installed LO 1.1 addon)

 

 

The order of FC1.1 instration is,

1. Install LockOn: Modern Air Combat from CD

2. Select installed LOMAC folder and check off the "read-only" attribute of files/sub folders

3. Install LO_1.1_Flaming_Cliffs_Setup.exe

4. Execute LO_1.1_Flaming_Cliffs_Seasons_Pack.exe

5. Execute LO_1.1_Flaming_Cliffs_Movies_Pack.exe

6. Execute Sutter_Fix_EngWeb.exe

7. Execute GU_LODs_en.exe

8. Execute Setup_Fix.exe

9. Execute FC1.1 and do Star-Force auto certification

[S77th-Dante]

just wondering, when u connected to your host was the host set to LAN or internet.

 

even if your on LAN u use the 'INTERNET' option and connect your client via the local address.

 

i remember this was the case a while ago not sure if this applies here but it may do..

[HUQ]

just wondering, when u connected to your host was the host set to LAN or internet.

 

even if your on LAN u use the 'INTERNET' option and connect your client via the local address.

 

i remember this was the case a while ago not sure if this applies here but it may do..

 

In FC1.1, the selection dialog - "INTERNET" / "LAN" - was abolished.

I can connect to my local host over LAN and all players can join to my host over Internet.

[HUQ]

I am tired of making lockon.exe to use only one CPU after starting FC1.1.

Now I got one temporary solution until this problem is solved by lockon.exe.

 

Use "ProcAff" in the shortcut of FC1.1.

 

http://www.stefan-kuhr.de/procaff/main.php3

 

This software make the application to start using the designated CPU.

For example,

 

procaff /run 1 "C:\Games\LockOn\lockon.exe"

 

This sentence make the lockon.exe to start using CPU0.

The procaff.exe must be placed some folder that is set "PATH", such as "C:\WINDOWS\".

 

And set the above sentense into the link place in the shortcut of LockOn.

 

The procaff is GNU freeware. I deeply appreciate Mr. Stefan Kuhr who is the author of procaff.

 

And we could get the sorce code of procaff.

I tried to add function that procaff set run priority to the application.

The remodeled procaff is here:

 

http://simhuq.sytes.net/LOFC/utils/procaff_addPriority.zip

 

The usage is displayed execute the remodeled procaff.exe in cmd.exe.

For example,

 

procaff /run 1 REALTIME "C:\Games\LockOn\lockon.exe"

 

This sentence makes the lockon.exe to run on highest priority on CPU0.

And all another background applications (such as, CH Control Manager, Chat, FRAPS, VNC and so on) are running on CPU1.

 

Never use "REALTIME" on single core CPU. It makes the system uncontrolable.

and never use "REALTIME" on dual core CPU using the follows sentence.

 

procaff /run 3 REALTIME "C:\Games\LockOn\lockon.exe"

 

This sentence makes CPU0 and CPU1 executed only lockon.exe. It will also makes system uncontrolable.

[c0ff]

Excellent solution, HUQ!

Thank you.

 

It's a pity, but I have to admit this is the only solution to the moment. But an adequate one, since LockOn/FC will not have any noticable performance gain with multiple CPUs.

[HUQ]

Excellent solution, HUQ!

Thank you.

 

It's a pity, but I have to admit this is the only solution to the moment. But an adequate one, since LockOn/FC will not have any noticable performance gain with multiple CPUs.

 

Yeah, but I think this is only temporary solution.

I wish LockOn will use more than one asynchronous threads, because the clock speed of CPU will not improves dramatically in the future.

[Prophet_169th]

I dont see how it is temporary? Once this program is used, the issue is gone, if I understand correctly.

 

It may be 3rd party, and maybe should somehow be integrated to do this internally, but its still a permanent solution.

[HUQ]

I dont see how it is temporary? Once this program is used, the issue is gone, if I understand correctly.

 

It may be 3rd party, and maybe should somehow be integrated to do this internally, but its still a permanent solution.

 

I wish to see the LockOn moves smoothly in full detail.

See this movie:

 

http://area88.sytes.net/~huq/movie/QBench4_FX-55_X850XTPE(Cat5.6)_High_HeatBlr-On_VisibRng-High_Watar-VeryHigh_Effects-High.avi

(trk:http://home.att.ne.jp/alpha/huq/LOFC/Track/QBench4.ZIP)

 

This movie is taken on my another client PC (most of all parts except CPU (the CPU of this one is FX-55) is same as the client PC above the Athlon64 X2 4800+ PC.)

The full-detailed lockon is very heavy. It needs more powerful CPU.

But if lockon keeps single thread application, my dream will not be realized,

because the clock of CPU will not be so improved. To improve performance dramatically, the application must use multi CPU.

 

I know that it is difficult to make the single thread application changed to multi thread application. So I think that "the multi thread patch" must be pay-ware similar to FC1.1.

I think that this is the permanent solution in future.

[D17S]

Thanks for all the effort, HUQ. You really did a great job of highlighting the situation.

 

Isn't the duel core 4800s about the same clock as the FX55s? It seems, (short of the 7800) this was LOMAC running at the highest settings on the most powerful machine available today . . . and this spectacular machine was then taken to its knees as the frame rate dropped to 5 FPS.

 

Either a major code clean up or a duel processor enabler is going to be necessary. Will the 7800 give a 50% improvement? (Not!) But if it did, that would be an increase to min frame rates of 7.5 FPS. Intel/Amd/Nvidia/ATI are not going to be able to fix this . . .well at least not in the next 5 years!

[Guest EVIL-SCOTSMAN]

ahh crap dont tell me lomac dont work properly for dual core pcs i got one coming with 7800s on it and i be devastated if lomac dont run properly on it. one of the reasons i got it was to see lomac at its best. if its not 1 things its another......... :(

[Prophet_169th]

It runs fine for dual cores. But its not written for SMP. Therefor you need to add a string to use only 1 CPU.

 

It is THE solution, since I dont see them rewriting the entire game.

 

That time is best spent on a predecessor.

[Guest EVIL-SCOTSMAN]

It runs fine for dual cores. But its not written for SMP. Therefor you need to add a string to use only 1 CPU.

 

It is THE solution, since I dont see them rewriting the entire game.

 

That time is best spent on a predecessor.

 

ah cool, i was thinking aghh that i wasnt going to be able to use lomac in that machine, albeit that its only gonna use 1 brain, I suppose that it will still be good enough. Thanx for clarifying the issue ;)

[Roman G]

There is "SetProcessAffinityMask" function in Win32 SDK which allows programmers to specify on what machine processor(s) is process allowed to run. If LOMAC is currently having problems on multi-processor/core CPUs then I think ED should make use of this function to fix this problem in the upcoming FC patch.

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

I know that it is difficult to make the single thread application changed to multi thread application. So I think that "the multi thread patch" must be pay-ware similar to FC1.1.

I think that this is the permanent solution in future.

 

I fully agree with the statement above. I am planning to buy a dual core processor for christmas. And I would have no problem to pay 50 dollars for dual core optimized Lock On!

[Dmut]

There is "SetProcessAffinityMask" function in Win32 SDK which allows programmers to specify on what machine processor(s) is process allowed to run. If LOMAC is currently having problems on multi-processor/core CPUs then I think ED should make use of this function to fix this problem in the upcoming FC patch.

"SetProcessAffinityMask" can't help the single-threaded app to run on multiple core, because windows can not handle one thread on multiple CPU.

[Roman G]

"SetProcessAffinityMask" can't help the single-threaded app to run on multiple core

 

My suggestion was not targeted to improve LOMAC performance on multi CPU boxes nor to take advantage of multiple CPU/cores. My suggestion would actually LIMIT lockon to run on one CPU/core only.

 

What I am suggesting is instead of using external 3rd party's "ProcAff" application as found by HUQ - the ED should make use of the SetProcessAffinityMask function to achieve the same "fix" - as an integral part of LOCKON (without need to download and run external 3rd party program) - at least until they truly fix the problem or make LOCKON take advantage of multiple CPUs.

 

... because windows can not handle one thread on multiple CPU.

 

Sure it can. The thread gets interrupted on one CPU - it goes into suspended mode - when windows decides that it is time to run the thread again it can give it to DIFFERENT CPU to run it. That means that whatever was in previous CPU's cache needs to be replicated on other CPU's cache - which is bad. This actually might be reason for HUQ's problem ...

[diveplane]

skip the duel core thing, i get fps stuttering on a 3gig machine here, even with graphics settings set to lowest= its still there, somthing is clearly wrong ?.....really will the dev team ever address this fps issue?

 

remember i set graphics to lowest setting and tested this,

to my horror the fps where all over the place?,

strange thing is its only at certain angles, if i pan straight ahead

the ground terrain outside is smooth running fps, when i turn left or right in cockpit and look down towards ground, the fps start to stutter?

 

its like wtf?

 

system spec intel p4 3gig

memory 1gig 533mhz ddr2 ram

256mb pci express ATI video card=latest cat drivers

 

all game patches uptodate as well....

[Vati]

Did you try disabling HyperThreading in bios? Some folks w/ P4 3Ghz had similar problems and stuttering went away when HT was disabled.

[Prophet_169th]

From my knowledge, Hyperthreading would cause the same issues as a dual core.

 

Its almost the same thing. The hyperthreading CPUs are a work-a-round to Intel being stuck with only selling the Itanium as 64bit.

[diveplane]

tried this fix , sadly still the same, really weird this,

 

only behind view looking down it stutters?

 

aim fire...........chink rattle...................................

 

....................= lockon cd hits the trash can .....

cd makes for a good coffee coaster btw..

 

=joke ...all

[Guest EVIL-SCOTSMAN]

tried this fix , sadly still the same, really weird this,

 

only behind view looking down it stutters?

 

aim fire...........chink rattle...................................

 

....................= lockon cd hits the trash can .....

cd makes for a good coffee coaster btw..

 

=joke ...all

 

what about fastwrites is that enabled ? cuz that can cause a good few problems,

if it is try disablein it if your board supports it, but i presume you may have already done so ...

[MonnieRock]

Hello Everyone,

 

Any insight to this problem in the up coming patch?

If not, dual core users must use 3rd party software?

Was this a problem in Lock-on 1.0,1.01 or 1.02? (users without FC)

 

If you assign Lock-on to say cpu0, how do you know that is not the cpu all the other programs in the background is using also. I guess what I am trying to ask is, how do you decide which cpu ( cpu0 or cpu1) to run lock-on so that you have the maximum benefit to the other background applications running?

 

My ignorate thinking but, sould you set every other background application to use cpu(x) and lock-on to use cpu(y) so that you know that resources are given to the proper cpu. I mean, you have two cpu's why have one do all the work? ok ok, I am rambling on.

 

 

Oh, forgot to ask. What is the theory as to why this is only happening in multi-player? It does not happen in single-player? That should help pin-point the problem?

 

 

Thanks

Monnie

[Guest EVIL-SCOTSMAN]

its not just lockon, it happens with me in BFV aswell :( single = ok, multiplaya as soon as map loads, game goes into meltdown...