Dual/Quad Core CPU Fixes

[pfyon]

Alright I'm about at wits end trying to get my client connected without the stuttering.

I've been having the symptoms similar to the ones posted in this thread, the client running perfectly for a few seconds then freezing everything (client, mouse, other windows) for 10-30s. The char select screen runs just fine, but I assume that's because it's newer code and programmed for multicore processors (maybe?).

I should note that mobs aren't agroing even though they're kos, and I assume this is because the maps on the server are different than the client, but that shouldn't effect anything else than the eq client right?

The system:

Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (2 cores @ 2.2GHz)
2 x 1GB DDR2 Corsair @ 333MHz
NVidia GeForce 7600 GS
WinXP Pro SP3

Things I have tried that have not worked:
- Used Process Explorer to force affinity for 1 core.
- Updated directX (was already 9.0c, but apparently there was an update available)
- Updated video drivers
- Installed the AMD Dual Core Optimizer
- Disabled Cool'N'Quiet by setting power settings as above
- Played with the maxFPS directive in eqclient.ini (set anywhere from 10 to 5000 fps)
- Installed most of the other updates though windows update (not all, one nvidia network one caused permanent bluescreens on bootup)

Updating the CPU drivers (from 1.2.something to 1.3.2) seemed to have a small effect. Instead of getting one frame every 30s or so, I would get one every 15-20s.

Does anyone have any suggestions or a similar situation where they managed to fix it?

[trevius]

Have you tried changing your compatibility mode as suggested? That seems to work right off of the bat for a lot of people.

[pfyon]

Hmm, I could have sworn I tried that before. Maybe I tried win95. Anyway, setting it to compatibility mode for win98 helped a lot, now it only lags up every 2-15 mins for 10-15s at a time. Still not perfectly smooth, though.

[synthavana]

Okay, have an AMD dual core processor, running it on Vista. 1.6 Ghz, 1GB RAM, Geforce Go videocard, notebook, etc.

Cannot seem to fix this basic problem:

Perhaps 50-75% of the time, in short 15 second intervals, the game switches from running at normal speed to exactly half speed. Chatbar is at normal speed (get hit and get the messages at the same rate), but song bar is at half. Bard songs ALWAYS seem to "go off" with the UI bar showing half the time remaining (that's how I know it is exactly half speed). Models run at half speed, and I run at half speed, making my selos make me run at normal speed =/ Then, it will return to normal and rapidly alternate back and forth. Changing compatibility mode does not work. Set affinity does not work. Reinstalling updated drivers does not work. Fresh install does not work. Changing CPU throttling does not seem to be an option, as when I right click on desktop, there is no "Properties" in the menu (only "Personalize"). I am at my wits end and have tried a great deal.

Odd thing is that this game used to work on this notebook about a year ago, but--I did get many of my computer parts replaced at the shop, and I may have been using XP at that time.

Interestingly, I did benchmarks, and they all came back normal except the RAM test. RAM allocation in large quantities seems to be going at about half the speed of comparable note, but is normal at all other quantities. Most standard benchmarks give me a high benchmark on RAM, however. I have the notorious tendency to overanalyze, especially if I get stuck in a rut. So it probably is a non-issue.

Please help.

[blackdragonsdg]

The next time you have Everquest running launch the task manager and watch your processor and memory load. You may have another program running that is causing your problems. In Windows XP and also sometimes in Vista the OS will start running background tasks while you are in the middle of doing something like playing a game which can cause performance issues.

It is very possible that you may just need more ram. Running Vista with 1GB of memory is not a good idea.

[pfyon]

Well, I've done some more testing and looking into this problem for me.

As I said in my earlier post, it's still not working perfectly. Also it seems that it depends on the zone and, to an extent, the direction the camera is facing. Older zones lag up a lot more than newer ones (unrest, freeportw are unplayable, kael isn't horrible, and pofire it rarely lags up at all). Despawning all the mobs in freeportw really helped, so it seems it might be related to the character models and/or the number of npcs. In skyshrine, facing towards yelinak's door from yelinak caused unplayable amounts of lag, but turning towards the back of the room was mostly fine.

I tried turning off texture caching and texture compression just to see if it helped, no difference. Updated my sound card drivers, no help there either.

Considering I've done all the fixes suggested (I think), I'm thinking this time it's more a video issue than the processor issue, but who knows. For people who have encountered this problem, is it just EQ that locks up or the entire system?

The only other thing I can think of is updating my bios.

[pfyon]

In case anyone has a similar issue, I think I've fixed it. Here's what I did (in addition to above):

Turned off IM programs (msn and trillian)
Turned off Progress Quest
In advanced video options in game, turned off 'new water'

I'm testing this in previously unplayable areas and it seems to be running just fine. Not sure exactly which one of those fixed it, but it's something to try.