FSX does NOT correctly use Dual cores.

[Al_Fallujah]

Nice specs on that machine.  

You said have 4 GB, but Vista only sees 3.

I have seen things similar to this in PC related Forums. Google or Yahoo search it if you like. It seems to come into play when there are 4 1GB Ram sticks in the motherboard.

I am not an expert, but I would check it out. It may not be a Windows thing as much as it is a Hardware limitation of the Motherboard.

[ATI_7500]

If I had one, I'd given you a download link.


But I don't have one.


I'll take a google on that topic tomorrow, but I can't promise anything...neither if it's doable nor if it's giving any performance advantages at all.
Yet, it is a logical step, since CPU2 is less demanded by applications than CPU1.

[ATI_7500]

I read a bit around here and there about FSX and CPU affinity.


My conclusions:

Primarily, FSX wasn't coded for Dual-Core usage.

[quote]Aces made its architectural decisions about FSX 2-3 years ago.

It wasn

[justpassingthrough]

Thats right. I just popped in my new Pentium D 805 and clocked it to 3.9Ghz I boot up FSX, crank up the settings, and notice that my frames have doubbled. So I think that both of my cores are being used. Wrong. The sim is still only useing one core. What it may be doing is shuffeling all the background stuff onto the second core, so everything runs more smooth.

Anyway this is what I found.

Cheers
Cameron

This is not new by any means and was announced by NickN many months ago (last summer I think). He later posted the PTaylor blog and discussed his involvement with the beta testing process in which they (Aces) were initially planning the possibility of a dual core re-write but abandoned that for the next installment, FS11. When FSX was in primary development an SMP write would not have been equitable since most typical users have not as of yet converted to multicore processors and the market will not support that type of undertaking until sometime next year.

He posted many times the issues with 3D applications and SMP processors which require the WindowsXP dual core hotfix and (if you use AMD) AMD driver with the AMD Dual core optimizer to overcome. It is also something that all Intel and AMD SMP users should apply. It also works for Intel Hyperthreading on their single core CPUs. After doing so, no manual affinity changes are needed as the OS will correctly use a single core in 3D games (written for single thread) with proper distribution of other processes in relation to SMP use. Multithread applications will also have correct support.


http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2 ... 795837/0#0

[Captain James Wrig]

Now I followed the instructions in making the batch file etc & got the indicated response of 00002 for affinity or whatever it was, but the result was the fsx.exe affinity is now set to CPU0 only.

Now I want the exact opposite of this with the affinity set to CPU1.

What do I change to achieve this result ?

[Captain James Wrig]

I read a bit around here and there about FSX and CPU affinity.


When you're done with that, create a new, empty text file in your FSX folder. Open it and copy and paste the following lines into it:

Code: Select all

ECHO ON
imagecfg.exe -u FSX.exe
imagecfg.exe -a 0x2 FSX.exe
pause

Then, save the file and close notepad. Rename the file [whatever name].bat . Confirm the question with "yes" and you're done.

To patch your FSX.exe simply double-click the batch file. If the patching was successful, one of the last lines should read:

FSX.exe updated with the following configuration information:
Process Affinity Mask: 00000002

Now as you can see by my previous reply my situation gave the wrong result. If you want CPU1 to be the one the affinity is set to you have to change this line in the batch file:


imagecfg.exe -a 0x2 FSX.exe to read imagecfg.exe -a 0x1 FSX.exe

and the result from the execution of it should read:

FSX.exe updated with the following configuration information:
Process Affinity Mask: 00000001

Now that is what worked for me. I have the AMD Athlon 64x2 4200 CPU.

[Captain James Wrig]

Am experiencing some issues with the batch file upon restarting the PC. Have noticed the affinity has moved back to CPU0 again. I have no idea why but perhaps someone else can advise why this is happening ??

[justpassingthrough]

No hacking or batch file is needed if the dual core hotfix is applied as outlined in the link provided above.

I just upgraded to an X2 4800+ and had a significant loss in smooth performance until I applied that hotfix as outlined. The X2 4800+ is a temp upgrade until the end of the summer when I will do a major upgrade.

Everything works like a charm now and I now see a very noticable performance change in how smooth the sim runs

[teeohemm]

Hi There,

Any dual-core processor will only fully come into it's own if you are using a 64-bit operating system like Vista 64 or XP 64. In addition, the software you are running must be optimised for a dual-core processor, as indeed FSX is.

I have recently installed Vista Business x64 on an AMD X2 4200, 2GB memory, Asrock Vista mobo (can't remember number), Radeon X1600 512Mb (soon to become an X1950) and it runs extremely well. With Just Flight's VFR London, which I thoroughly recommend, I even have to limit the frame rate.

Touching on Frame Rate, don't set it too high as you will end up with the dreaded out of focus scenery.

Ensure your HD is defragged and preferrably a SATA drive, this makes a big difference at times.

Adjust your graphics card to have the "Wait for Vertical Sync" set to "Always Off", this applies to NVIDIA cards too. If your processor or graphics card are on the weak side, my X1600 certainly is, then be selective as to use of anti-aliasing as this can reduce FPS badly. Sorry if I am teaching my Granny how to suck eggs. This is the first time I have been on the Forum and I am not sure exactly how geeky you guys are.

Good Luck.

Tom.

[-sam-]

[quote]Aces made its architectural decisions about FSX 2-3 years ago.

It wasn

[ATI_7500]

Am experiencing some issues with the batch file upon restarting the PC. Have noticed the affinity has moved back to CPU0 again. I have no idea why but perhaps someone else can advise why this is happening ??

Good point.

I tried that myself and got the same problem as you did.

I then changed the "0x2" in the batch file to "0x3" and it seems to work.
Don't know if it'll survive a reboot 'though.


------------------------

No hacking or batch file is needed if the dual core hotfix is applied as outlined in the link provided above.

I've applied the dual-core fix as well, even since it's not necessary for Core2Duos, but I couldn't see any benefits.
FSX uses both cores, but it's more like a "oh well, for the sake of it" usage.


------------------------

Any dual-core processor will only fully come into it's own if you are using a 64-bit operating system like Vista 64 or XP 64. In addition, the software you are running must be optimised for a dual-core processor, as indeed FSX is.

FSX is neither optimized for dual-cores nor for 64 bit.

I've heard a story about better FSX performance on a 64 bit XP, which was freshly set up and then again the "benchmarks" were of no use, since the depicted situations in which every computer performs well.

Seeing the quality and quantity of 64 bit drivers, I doubt if switching the OS would have any benefits at all. This might not apply for Vista 64, but the performance advantage of a XP 64 is little to none or even worse.

-----------------------

And Games like Quake are programmed to take advantage
of more than one Core for... well since I can remember.

Quake is based on Open GL, not Direct X, hence it's easier to adapt to whatever there is.

Fs definately needs a new core !!! One that supports multithreading, one where all the bottlenecks like autogen  
are replaced by nowadays technolgy.

I agree, but I doubt that Direct-X, in the present and upcoming version, is able to handle multiple cores natively.

[Hard Core Gamer]

Thanks for the tips heretic it didnt improve my game fsp however i am now able to record FRAP movies without it having a huge impact on my FPS.

I use infinity to patch fsx.exe and it stays that way until i change the infinity settings. I have no idea why its called infitnity heheh but thanks for the tips.

[ATI_7500]

You're welcome.


As I said, there doesn't necissarily have to be an improvement, but it's worth enough the try.

[DONTREADMYUSERNAME]

Heres my solution to the Headache that is Vista, DX10, and FSX.

R you ready?

You sure..........


Wait until about June/ July for M$ to work out all the bugs that are bound to be with vista. and for a new decent computer which will be purpose bulit for Vista. and for the FSX/Vista patch that will enable FSX to run properly on vista. Then I'm gonna buy me a new Computer with vista on it. Until then i'll just sweat it out on my current Dell Dimension 4400 which i bought in (cough, cough) 2002. The only upgrading ive done with it is adding about a gig more of RAM and a new graphics card. I am able to run FSX at medium/low settings (remind you Dell 4400) and am quite happy with it. So im fine till June.

[skibum]

I have an X2 4400+ and I see it running "mostly" on the 1st CPU.  When it switches CPUs, the new CPU has to rebuild caches and refill pipelines that costs a little.  By forcing to always run on a particular CPU you make it have to rebuild less often.  That's what you're seeing, I think.

[quote]

I checked it with my default settings first, sitting with the default Kingair on Mega Airport Frankfurt with lots of AI traffic and fair weather.
Every time, I took serveral 360