Quad-core CPU Users: Tutorial to optimize ETW!

[S.P.Q.R. Praetorian]

Many of you here have probably not heard of affinity. It is something that is pretty rare. Please be aware, that this is only valid for quad-core users, and maybe tri-core users.

What does affinity do? When ETW is running across all four cores, it tends to run slower as "something, something, etc," jargon I didnt understand.

You set it by opening task manager, go to the processes tab, and then find ETW. Right click it and select "Set Affinity." You will see "CPU 0,1,2,3" with each having its own little tick box. To get the best ETW performance, tick just two, I prefer 2 and 3, as they seem to be used the least.

The test I made was using FRAPS as a benchmark. I started benching as soon as I clicked "deploy" in custom battle using a pre-made loadout, which I made the same for each test each time. Test was run for 60 seconds without doing a thing. Graphic settings are not related to this. Keep in mind my quad-core is somewhat slow at only 2.6ghz per core. If you have faster cores, then this should be somewhat faster. Resolution is set at 1440x900.

All 4 cores used in affinity: Avg: 20.674 - Min: 15 - Max: 25
Only one core used in affinity(CPU3): Avg: 23.700 - Min: 22 - Max: 25
Two cores used in affinity(CPU2,3): Avg: 28.287 - Min: 25 - Max: 31

That is 8FPS faster on average. Keep in mind results will vary, and are not scientific.

[ohnoesaz]

Interesting... Can anyone translate how these results would compare for a dual-core? (Since ETW only seems to use one core)

[S.P.Q.R. Praetorian]

Interesting... Can anyone translate how these results would compare for a dual-core? (Since ETW only seems to use one core)

If affinity is running on both your cores, then it will perform maximum. This only applies to quad-core users. Even using just one core runs better than running all four cores. Please keep in mind that this is not ETW limited. This will work with ALL games and apps for better performance. The only downside, is that you have to set it EVERY time you start the app as it does not save the settings, but a FPS increase that large is worth it.

[Leo4444]

I didnt see any fps increase i did see a 4 fps decrease though. It might not work for all quad cores.

[SunofVich]

Core i7 920 shows 8 cores

[Stoferr]

I didnt see any fps increase i did see a 4 fps decrease though. It might not work for all quad cores.

Its weird that you got 4 fps decrease, but not everyone will get better fps ingame. It depends if it is your cpu or gpu that is bottlenecking

[YD23]

I am using this app at the moment for things like that. It seems to work fine, can start with windows and remembers your preferences.

[S.P.Q.R. Praetorian]

I didnt see any fps increase i did see a 4 fps decrease though. It might not work for all quad cores.

Odd. What processor do you use. When I did this affinity thing, I saw a 20FPS increase in OFP which lagged like a frozen turd before.

Core i7 920 shows 8 cores

8 threads, but only four cores. In that case, it would probably be best to have 4 checked, but I am not positive.

[Leo4444]

Its a core 2 quad q9550

[S.P.Q.R. Praetorian]

Its a core 2 quad q9550

That is very strange. I just got 4FPS more by just adding 400mghz to my cores and using affinity.

[mandalore9]

That is very strange. I just got 4FPS more by just adding 400mghz to my cores and using affinity.

Well no duhh getting more fps from increasing your cpu power helps. If you run the game without affinity, it simply spreads the processing duties across the cpus. 4fps is a negligible increase anyways. How many times have you tested this? once? twice? It could have been because of many factors. The fact that you saw an increase of 4fps while you set affinities is a confounding variable. All setting affinity does is designate where you want the work to be done.

[boomheadshot45]

Yeah like the above poster stated, there are way too many variables. And to get an accurate testing, you usually want to test it about 100 times (ten minimum).

[napoleonic]

um so this game is still poorly coded for multicores/multithreadeds?

[Brusilov]

I am running a Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 @ 3.20GHz and I swear that the game is using all four cores. Not uniformly but usually two a fair bit but it swaps the load between core 0 and core 3 but I've also seen the other two cores used.

I've set up a second screen and have loaded the various screens to monitor my system onto the second screen (I've got some instability issues with my machine - sometimes it can run for hours without problems other times 10 minutes and it's not ETW related as it's locked up on other programs even when there are no games running).

[hamzta09]

I am running a Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 @ 3.20GHz and I swear that the game is using all four cores. Not uniformly but usually two a fair bit but it swaps the load between core 0 and core 3 but I've also seen the other two cores used.

I've set up a second screen and have loaded the various screens to monitor my system onto the second screen (I've got some instability issues with my machine - sometimes it can run for hours without problems other times 10 minutes and it's not ETW related as it's locked up on other programs even when there are no games running).

Its not the game that swaps load on different cores, its using 1, but background apps will randomly use the other 'free' cores. Such as antivirus/ie/msn etc.

Comparing this to medieval 2, medieval is using all my 4 cores, but none of the cores go above 30% in load.
This game is using 1 core at 25-50% the rest are at 0-1%

[Brusilov]

Its not the game that swaps load on different cores, its using 1, but background apps will randomly use the other 'free' cores. Such as antivirus/ie/msn etc.

Comparing this to medieval 2, medieval is using all my 4 cores, but none of the cores go above 30% in load.
This game is using 1 core at 25-50% the rest are at 0-1%

I kept an eye on the other services and applications - none were showing any CPU use.....

[hamzta09]

Many of you here have probably not heard of affinity. It is something that is pretty rare. Please be aware, that this is only valid for quad-core users, and maybe tri-core users.

What does affinity do? When ETW is running across all four cores, it tends to run slower as "something, something, etc," jargon I didnt understand.

You set it by opening task manager, go to the processes tab, and then find ETW. Right click it and select "Set Affinity." You will see "CPU 0,1,2,3" with each having its own little tick box. To get the best ETW performance, tick just two, I prefer 2 and 3, as they seem to be used the least.

The test I made was using FRAPS as a benchmark. I started benching as soon as I clicked "deploy" in custom battle using a pre-made loadout, which I made the same for each test each time. Test was run for 60 seconds without doing a thing. Graphic settings are not related to this. Keep in mind my quad-core is somewhat slow at only 2.6ghz per core. If you have faster cores, then this should be somewhat faster. Resolution is set at 1440x900.

All 4 cores used in affinity: Avg: 20.674 - Min: 15 - Max: 25
Only one core used in affinity(CPU3): Avg: 23.700 - Min: 22 - Max: 25
Two cores used in affinity(CPU2,3): Avg: 28.287 - Min: 25 - Max: 31

That is 8FPS faster on average. Keep in mind results will vary, and are not scientific.

This didnt help at all, as the game is --already-- only using 1 core.
And Quads arent as good as a dual core in singlecore apps.

[Derkon]

To the best of my knowledge, Empire has not been coded for Multicore Processors at all. Seems almost unbelievable, but it's true. Bear in mind also the fact that it hasn't been coded for DX10 either. A little short sighted in this day and age.

As such, for any of us running dual/quad core Vista DX10 systems the game is not much use of the advantages therin!

[ohnoesaz]

To the best of my knowledge, Empire has not been coded for Multicore Processors at all. Seems almost unbelievable, but it's true. Bear in mind also the fact that it hasn't been coded for DX10 either. A little short sighted in this day and age.

As such, for any of us running dual/quad core Vista DX10 systems the game is not much use of the advantages therin!

Not when you're only after $$$ instead of true player satisfaction. Skipping corners and using old technology is the best way of maximizing $$$.

Sad, because its our dollars.

[hamzta09]

I kept an eye on the other services and applications - none were showing any CPU use.....

Guess youre a special boy then 0o0oo0o0o0o
I doubt YOUR comptuer is using MORE than ONE core in this game, while everyone elses are using 1 or less.

Not when you're only after $$$ instead of true player satisfaction. Skipping corners and using old technology is the best way of maximizing $$$.

Sad, because its our dollars.

More and more PC developers are going the EA way, they only want our pockets, and then they start givin us crap products which could have been something and then they go to the Console market and blame it all on Piracy, and they also say one downloaded copy is one loss in cash, which is far from true.

When you think about it, computer gaming could have been what console gaming is today, if everyone had a 8800GT or an HD3870 and perhaps an Intel E6550 and there were no new cards, PC devs could optimize their games to run perfectly on that hardware.