SL not supporting HT (Hyper-Threading)?

To the Developers,

I've noticed (new to SL) that your Client doesn't seem to support Hyper-Threading.

I've a pretty decent spec'd PC (quick run down)

P4 3.04GHz with Hyper-Threading
Windows XP Professional (with SP2 + Latest Patches)
2GB RAM
250 SATA HDD (RAID1 - Disk Mirroring)
ATI X700 256MB Video Card

Apologises if this has been touched on before - I've not done a search!

I've noticed that when in game and in area where the graphics requires alot of work on the machine; with Hyper-Threading enabled I can do almost nothing (the Screen Lag is absolutely terrible - Literally to the point of not being able to do anything).

When checking my TaskBar I've noticed on 50% of the CPU (Hyper-Threading) enabled is used, while the other half of the CPU isn't - This leads me to believe that the Server/Client is not coded for HT.

As my work around to get a better performance, I had to shutdown the PC, switch it back on; access the BIOS and disable Hyper-Threading.
This is ensure that now the SL Code will utilise 100% of the CPU thus making this quicker.

My question to you is whether SL intend on implementing HT into the code thus possibly making things run quicker - As we all probably aware HT is the next big thing.

Regads,
- Paul

aka: Dodgy Musketeer

Hyperthreading requires multithreading the client; something which SL doesnt do yet (which is why it wont work nicely on a Dual Processor machine).

Chances are the problem you are experiencing is the same one that happens on some dual core setups -- where the application bounces between cores.

Try opening the task manager, and 'setting process affinity' to a single of the virtual processors.

-Adam

hyperthreading can help in some cases, but it really doesn't do all that much.

The P4 has a really long pipeline, and the "hyper threading" can help it correct a mistake in the pipeline sooner than it might otherwise.

You should look towards AMD's product line if you want something besides high power bills and marketing gimics.

With that said, Intel does have some stuff being developed that may turn out better, but for now AMD is the only way to go.

Thanks for sharing this bit of info. I hope it may solve an issue I've been having (steadily getting worse) where SL locks up my computer for no apparent reason.

Is there a way I can set the affinity automatically? Right now, it seems as if I have to start SL, then go to the process list, set the affinity, and then go back to SL and login. If I can just click the icon, login, and have the affinity set correctly automatically, that would be great.

Thanks for any help,

HP

YUSH there is a way to more permanently SET AFFINITY... it's not the friendliest way, I hope there's a better way, but it's all I've found so far. If someone knows a better way please do share.

See this:


You'll have to do this for each time SL gets updated.

Cheerio!

Thanks Got it working finally. The instructions are not the clearest in the world though. Here are instructions suited to setting it up for SL.

First, download the program from the link provided and them place a copy in both C:\Windows\System32 and C:\Windows\System32\dllcache

Go to the run box and type in cmd, this brings up the command prompt. You need to change your directory to Secondlife using the "cd" command.

C:\>cd c:\program files\secondlife\

This will put you in C:\Program Files\SecondLife>

Once you are there type "imagecfg -u secondlife.exe"

This is what you should see in the cmd box.

C:\Program Files\SecondLife>imagecfg -u secondlife.exe
secondlife.exe contains no configuration information
secondlife.exe contains a Subsystem Version of 4.0
secondlife.exe updated with the following configuration information:
Image can only run in uni-processor mode on multi-processor systems
Image can only run in uni-processor mode on multi-processor systems

Since I rarely mess around in dos anymore it took me a while to figure out what the heck they were doing. This should help.

Thanks Torley and Kathmandu

I'll give this try when I get home from travel.

HP

This works great and seems to have solved my random crash problem. To make the tool easier to use, I created a batch file and placed it on the desktop. Now, after I reinstall Second Life, I just have to remember run the batch file.

For Windows XP (maybe others):

1) Download the ImageCFG tool and copy to required folders as described above.

2) Right-click the desktop and pick New -> Text File

3) Rename the file to SetAffinity4SL.bat (or whatever you want to call it, but make sure the extension is .BAT)

4) You'll be asked if you're sure you want to change the filename. Click Yes.

5) Right-click the batch file and pick Edit

6) It should open in Notepad. Copy & paste the following lines and save.

c:
cd \Program Files\SecondLife
imagecfg -u SecondLife.exe
pause

7) After completing each Second Life installation, double-click the batch file icon to run the tool and automatically set the affinity.



HP

Wow, I just tried this, and SL is running better than I've ever seen it! I had no idea that running on just one processor would have such a dramatic effect.

Dandy... thanx for the tips, Kath and Hugsy--and yeah, Felix, I hope someday that SL won't stutter problematically as it happens for me when it doesn't have its affinity manually set. I think it's a gradual matter of time as these types of processors become increasingly common.

Ok - I have a rather weird problem. When I go to Windows\System32 I don't have a folder called dllcache.

When I try to create one, I get a message that the folder already exists.

When I do a search, it cannot find it.

Any ideas?

Enable hidden folders.

They are already enabled.

I downloaded a program at www.prioritymaster.com and use that..

I just tell what program at what priority and it takes care of it from then on...

My virus scan can be scanning in the background, while working in poser and playing SL and not notice a thing..as SL has the highest priority of all those, so they get time when SL does not need it...

Priority isn't affinity. In a multiple core machine, setting priority will just make the program run badly on top of anything else running. Affinity limits it to a single core. Does this program have an affinity setting?

Sounds like you are not using an administrator account.

No, I am logged in as Administrator.

Do you have "hide protected operating system files" unchecked underneath the "hidden files and folders" option?

I did everything said here, and if I set the affinity for both cpus, when I start up sl again it unchecks it to just one again.

Well, I've read here several statements that SL doesn't benefit from typerthreaded CPUs. Dunno about hyperthreaded, but...


A few months ago I purchased a new dual-core Intel 820 system. I can now run Second Life and a high-level graphics processing program without any discernable lag at all (unless of course, SL majorly accesses my hard drive, which for some reason seems to happen from time to time). Under my old system, if I loaded my graphics program SL would lag to a standstill.

So hey, what can I say? It rocks.

That said...

Running the imagecfg.exe utility as described above increased my "inside-SL" performance amazingly. Before, I was having trouble with moving while textures were loading and occasional "mega lag" issues. Setting SL to run on a specific ONE of my two processors made it perform much better internally.

You are a genius! Many thanks.

Well, I've done it, but in terms of framerate I am noticing no discernable difference.

We'll see how it goes with more extended use.

Nope, after an evening's use I haven't noticed any difference. My framerates are the same as before, and I experienced one bad crash which necessitated a reboot. Pretty much as it was before.

Are you multitasking with a lot of other apps open? I've noticed differences if I do--depending on the rest of the system load.

Here is something I found digging in the Nvidia driver manual.

• There are intermittent application compatibility issues with dual core
CPUs.

This issue can be worked around be toggling off multi-thread optimizations
using the following instructions:

1 Launch regedit and determine the current primary display card by
looking in HKey_Local_Machine\Hardware\DeviceMap\Video
and note the GUID (global unique identifier assigned by Windows),
which is the long string in brackets { } at the end of the entry
ʺ\device\video0ʺ.

2 Look in
HKey_Local_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\
{GUID}\0000 where {GUID} is the number derived from the previous step.

3 Open the ʺ0000ʺ directory and create a new DWORD called
OGL_ThreadControl and give it a value of 2.
This will disable multithreading in the driver for all OpenGL applications.

4 If you want to disable driver multithreading for all Direct3D applications–
In the same ʺ0000ʺ directory, create a new DWORD called WTD_EXECMODEL
and give it a value of 0.

I have no idea if this would help or not as I haven't tried it but I figured it might help someone or point them in the right direction.