Got a Dual/Quad Core? Here's how to speed up WITP:AE

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: treespider

ORIGINAL: USS America

ORIGINAL: treespider





Wonder if virus protection software would affect this...

Old DOS skills are lost if they are not used. [:D]

Guys, type the line at the command prompt without the quotation marks. When you added the quotes, it confused DOS. I left them off, and it worked for me. Now, to try starting......

Nope...notice the screen shot. The OP used quotes the first time...second time he did not and received the "Unable..." message

Oops, my mistake.

I guess I'm not good, just lucky. I'll take that. [:D]

[fcam1387]

Does anyone know why when I try to open the command prompt it appears for a split second then vanishes? I'm using Vista 64x.

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: fcam1387

Does anyone know why when I try to open the command prompt it appears for a split second then vanishes? I'm using Vista 64x.

Have you tried Start > Run, and then type cmd and enter?

[USSAmerica]

I've now tested both modified and unmodified versions of WitP and AE.  The increase in load times for the program and a save game are remarkable!  Both modified versions started and loaded my save games in just under 25 seconds.  I have a dual core and lots of other applications open.  I'm thrilled.  [8D]

[RyanCrierie]

This program was written by Intel; when they first began to get serious about hyperthreading, etc, which meant that instead of just one CPU being visible to the OS and it's programs, there would be multiple.

Normally, you could set the core affinity by hitting CTRL ALT DEL and right mouse clicking on the thread you want to set the affinity for:

The problem is, you have to do that each time you start up the program.

What IMGCFG does is writes a little flag into the executable that "locks" it to that core affinity, so you don't have to keep doing it over and over.

[treespider]

ORIGINAL: RyanCrierie

This program was written by Intel;

So would the fact that I have an AMD Quad be the issue then?

[RyanCrierie]

So would the fact that I have an AMD Quad be the issue then?

Probably. Let me go look if AMD has released any programs like this.

[Toddr22_slith]

If you were setting it manually, each time, which core boxes would you check?

[RyanCrierie]

CPU 0

[RyanCrierie]

Here's a link to a guy's website for SETAFFINITY - which might work with AMDs:

Link to SetAffinity

Install:
These programs were made for 32-bit Windows XP for administrator user, there is no install.
Extract archive to a new folder, read the included Help and run the exe.

Vista/Windows 7
* When run on Vista/Win7 you will need to run the program as administrator to see & set all running files.
* When run as administrator and UAC is enabled you will no doubt get UAC prompts.
* See user feedback below.

I can't verify that this works with AMDs, since my household is all intel.

[fbs]

Hmm.. I have a Dual Core processor, and I didn't use the tool. I use the -dual option, and when I check the processor affinity of the running game, it already has it set for CPU0 and CPU1.

So I guess that the utility is needed only for quad cores or dual cores with hyperthreading.

Cheers [:D]
fbs

[Iridium]

Yeah, upon viewing the affinity of AE it has both boxes for my dual core checked already. Running Vista 64 with a dual core Conroe chip.

[Erik Rutins]

Actually, if you're experiencing lag you don't want it set to both CPUs, you want it set to just one (CPU 0).

[USSAmerica]

Can anyone tell us what the -dual flag actually does for the game on multi core systems?

[mikemike]

ORIGINAL: michaelm

ORIGINAL: treespider

ORIGINAL: Dixie

Hmmm. Has this worked properly? [&:]

I received the same "Unable to update...." line and I did not see a noticeable change in Loading Speed.

I suspect the "Unable to update" means that it couldn't write the information back into the EXE, so there would not be any change how the EXE uses the CPU.
I don't suppose there is some sort of ownership/privileges issue why it can't write back

As someone has mentioned DOS - have you checked if the EXE has the READONLY attribute set? This can happen if you copied the original EXE from a CD - e.g. if you installed the game from a CD. Open the WitP directory in the Explorer, right-click on the EXE and select PROPERTIES in the popup. The attributes are at the bottom; if READONLY is checked (it may be called write protect - I use a German-language XP where it is called "Schreibgeschützt") uncheck it and click OK, then try the imagecfg thing again.

You may find that the checkbox has a gray background and that you can't uncheck it. In that case go up one directory level in the Explorer, right-click the WITP directory and select Properties again. Uncheck the Readonly attribute and click on OK; you will then be asked to confirm the operation with a choice of applying the attribute change to all subdirectories and files contained in the directory; select this option and click OK again. This will remove the offending attribute on the EXE.

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: RyanCrierie

This program was written by Intel; when they first began to get serious about hyperthreading, etc, which meant that instead of just one CPU being visible to the OS and it's programs, there would be multiple.

Normally, you could set the core affinity by hitting CTRL ALT DEL and right mouse clicking on the thread you want to set the affinity for:

The problem is, you have to do that each time you start up the program.

What IMGCFG does is writes a little flag into the executable that "locks" it to that core affinity, so you don't have to keep doing it over and over.

It works the manual way you've just posted, in fact it flies through the load process now. Still no luck with the programme though. Using an Intel CPU on Vista 64, tried disabling the virus protection and made sure WitP is set to read only off.

[LarryP]

I did this for a MultiThread single CPU and the game loads almost instantly. I'm amazed. [:D]

[sanch]

Bingo! It was taking 4-8 seconds to open up a base on my dual-core Dell Vostro 200, and windowed mode was hanging. Great tip - thanks!

[fbs]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Actually, if you're experiencing lag you don't want it set to both CPUs, you want it set to just one (CPU 0).

Oh, that's fantastic -- it actually loads faster when it has affinity for a single CPU. Quite an unexpected result.

But, will that disable the -dual flag that I'm using? I guess that flag enables something on a dual processor, and if the program is now forced to run against a single processor, then the flag will have no effect, right?

Cheers [:D]
fbs

[aztez]

Damn teeth still hurts after dentist.

Here is an link to Microsoft Vista forums. You can actually setup Set Affinity on your shortcut icon.

http://www.vistax64.com/gaming/197915-s ... -easy.html

Just copy and paste on to your shortcut icon and you are set to go.

I tried with my dual core AMD Turion processor (Vista Home Premius 32) and seems to have made the run much smoother.