[PFC, Hyper Threading and frame rates]

Peter,

Here is what I find.

We are talking geometrics here. Grin.

Using affinity I double my frame rates........removing pfc.dll and NOT using

Affinity I triple my frame rates.

I just purchased the GoFlight 4 engined USB thrust lever assembly and I know

a good trash man for the pfc hardware. Grin.

Regards,

Mel

[PFC, Hyper Threading and frame rates]

Peter,

I just fixed the problem. Grin.

Ordered a GoFlight throttle system that is USB controlled and am going to trash the pfc legacy throttles........that is the only function I used anyway...so take your time if you thought you had a fix. Grin.

Regards,

Mel

[PFC, Hyper Threading and frame rates]

Peter,

Well, the way I understand it.......when we use the Affinity option to remove one CPU from the loop.......we effectively remove hyperthreading also.

Wonder if using a USB/Serial adapter might fix the problem? What do you think?

Regards,

Mel

[PFC, Hyper Threading and frame rates]

Peter,

So it might "behoove" us to replace the PFC hardware and purchase new USB equipment?

Regards,

Mel

[PFC, Hyper Threading and frame rates]

On another forum, I read of a tip where one could set the "affinity" to make FS9 run on a single processor in a hyper threading system. I tried this tip and sure enough, my frame rates jumped from 15-20 to a pretty good 30 FPS.

I don't know why, but I checked the M$ Knowledge base for hyper threading to see if it was some sort of bug with FS9, which is supposed to be HT capable. Nothing there, but I did see an article about "older" .dll files which would cause WinXP to run them in a "compatibility" mode or something like that.

As a test, with FS9 running in HT mode (2 processors) I moved all of the addon .dll's out of my modules folder (FSUIPC, WideFS, GPS OUT, PFC and fssound).

Started the sim and a solid 30 FPS. Then I shut down the sim and copied back the .dll's one at a time (FSUIPC 1st of course).

Each time, start the sim, check the frames and shut down. All was well, 30 FPS +/- windowed and full screen. When I moved pfc.dll (v 1.55) back and restarted, the frames dropped to 15 +/-.

Soooo...

Is PFC.dll HT capable? For example, does the text of this KB article apply?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.as-us;327809

Article title: "Cannot Run Certain Programs on Hyper-Threaded or Dual-Processor Computers with a CPU Speed of Greater Than 2 GHz"

PFC runs OK, but it slows down the sim by almost 50%.

It's just an idea, but something is slowing down the sim with HT enabled, and unfortunately right now, it looks like the PFC.DLL.

This is on a P4 2800HT machine, fresh install, GF4 TI4600 etc etc.

Otherwise, all works swell...

Well, setting "extend upper wind layer upward" sets the upper limit at 100,000. It seems that FS9 does not like that one bit. If you check under the advanced wx options in the sim, the setting will be 100,000 if you select that option in FSUIPC. Try to get away from that screen and you get a popup box from the sim telling you ti change the value to something less than 99999.

The 100,000 foot setting appears to cause weather problems.

Sorry for the long post, been meaning to ask these questions for a while.

Aside from these things, great job Pete, keep at it!

BC

Sir,

I am finding the EXACT same conditions as you mention........my frame rates double after removing the 1.55 PFC.dll from the Modules folder.......and in fact my CPU useage is in the 49 percent range with the pfc.dll removed.......if I reinstall it the cpu consumption goes to 99 percent.

If I use the Affinity tweak to remove one cpu while running pfc.dll the frame rates do improve.....but it seems to me that I have lost my HT function....and the frame rates are still not as fast as when I remove the pfc.dll.

Peter.......can you HELP in this area with a new .dll ??

You might just win an award. Grin.

Regards,

Mel Ott

[Performance degradation with FS2004+FSUIPC on Intel HT CPU]

An even better way of constraining FS9 to run on a single virtual CPU on an HT CPU is using the Microsoft IMAGECFG utility (an older NT/2000 utility that works fine in XP -- do a google search). Command syntax (from an MS-DOS Command window):

IMAGECFG -a 0x1 \fs9.exe

This writes a processor affinity mask into the executable. 0x1 specifies virtual CPU 0, 0x2 specifies vCPU 1, and 0x3 uses both 0 & 1 (default). FS will always run on the specified virtual CPU(s) from that point on.

I have done the same to the other utilities I run on the machine while FS is running, only restricting them to the opposite vCPU.

Bob,

What is the easiest way to obtain the imagecfg utility?

I mean the easiest way for a nerd like me. Grin.

Regards,

Mel

[Performance degradation with FS2004+FSUIPC on Intel HT CPU]

[

Sean,

This IS a super hint for anyone with a 3.06 CPU.....I followed your instructions and it works SUPERBLY.....I just about doubled my frame rates and now can run all of the 3D clouds that I want!!

I hope Peter Dowson reads this before he buys one of those other chipsets....stick with Intel Pete!

Regards,

Mel Ott

quote=SeanMcLeod]That sort of slow down seems like the real worst case.

With hyper-threading enabled run FS2004 and then use Task Manager to set the FS2004's process affinity to just CPU0.

Processes tab in Task Manager and then right click the FS2004 process and select "Set affinity..."

And see whether the frame rates improve.

Any one else with a hyper-threaded CPU who can confirm similiar slowdowns?