NWN Vista/Win 7 "newer" multi-core fix and other issues

[Legacy_Annaire]

               Figured it out!

Here's the deal. Most of what I read suggested if you have a dual core processor, to turn off affinity by ( if you're using nwn 1.69 like you should ) going to the player ini file and setting client cpu affinity to -1. However! This simply turns off affinity, not the fact that your computer has multiple cores.


See the issue?

What you have to do, for a newer dual core processor is set the affinity to -2. This will disable affinity, and a core. If you have three cores, I imagine you would use -3. Don't quote me on this last part though.

If you have an nvidia gpu you then need to go into the nvidia control panel and select nwnmain.exe and turn threaded optimization off.

If you are using Vista or Windows 7, you have to run nwnmain.exe exactly, no shortcuts - from the parent directory where you installed the game. You also have to run it in XP SP2 as administrator.

After a lot of trial and error, this was how I was able to get NWN to run smoothly on my XPS laptop.

If you have any questions about any of these steps please post and i'll do my best to check back and answer them.

Now... if I could just get X-COM UFO defense to work on a modern PC....
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Annaire, 24 septembre 2010 - 08:41 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Jedijax]

               What is this about? What is it supposed to solve? I mean, I'm using a quad core duo extreme machine running at 2.8 gigs. Is this something that affects me?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Annaire]

               NWN was basically designed before multi-core CPUs were available on the market  so it was not programmed with them in mind. For most people it causes a conflict which prevents them from running the game or causes it to crash when the processors/cores try to share the load.

If you have no issues I wouldn't worry about this = )
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Jedijax]

               Oh, ok... I followed your advise, anyway, and decreased the value in affinity to different numbers, getting no change in-game whatsoever, but discovered it can't be set to lower than -2. Every time you set it to -3 or -4, it simply resets to -2. Thought you might like to know, seeing as you mentioned something about it earlier.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               

Specifies the CPU the game client will use on a multi-core computer. Cores are numbered from 0 to the number of cores minus 1. As of patch 1.69, a value of '-1' is treated as '0' and a value of '-2' indicates that the game should use the default affinity (if any) provided by the operating system. (Added in patch 1.67.)

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Jedijax]

               Great, Calvin, thanks! But, in general, is turning the affinity to -2 actually good when you have a multi-core processor like mine? Or should I leave the thing in 0. I mean, it causes me no trouble, but does it actually bring any benefits?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               Set it to 3, 2, 1 or 0.  It forces the issue, I'm not sure what auto affinity will do, and you can probably keep it on a seperate thread from your operating system for better performance.



I don't know how many cores you have.  I would say leave it at 0.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Guest_Lowlander_*]

               I wouldn't worry about this unless you have a hyperthreading CPU. Where I would use it lock affinity on a "real" core.

0-3 are your first 4 CPU cores (higher numbers if you have them).
-1: Turns off CPU affinity (allow the OS to choose your core)
AFAIK, There is no legitimate purpose for -2 or beyond. I suspect they just work like -1.

I have tried various settings and there is no positive or negative effect on gameplay on my Quad Q9400 (no hyperthreading). But I have verified, it does lock process to chosen core.

If I use -1 (turn off affinity) it always goes to my first CPU core and never bounces to another core. Possibly if Core 0 was busy it would have went to another, but I never saw that happen.
if I use 0, it is likewise locked on my first core, 1 on my second core, etc...

With NWN 1.69 I don't see any setting here causing issues or creating benefits, maybe it was  problem on older versions.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Lowlander, 05 octobre 2010 - 08:31 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Mudeye]

               Machines with multiple cores try to balance the computing between each of the cores. 

NWN and most other applications are designed for a single core.  A newer single core application would probably know to lock itself onto a single core though.

A multiple-core machine will sometimes swap an application back and forth between the cores so each core gets part of the runtime.  If you have an application designed for a single core then this just slows things down since it takes time to swap the application. 

Setting the application affinity to any particular core should lock it in place and prevent it from getting swapped around.  If you are a developer you might want to run the toolset on one core and the application on another.  That should reduce (but not eliminate) the competion between the applications for system resources.

Turning off affinity altogether may lock the app on a single core and fix the problem or it may let the OS bounce it wherever it wants depending on your system setup.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Mudeye, 05 octobre 2010 - 08:52 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_simomate]

               NWN works perfectly fine for me, without any sort of troubleshooting. I've got Win 7
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_1xs3thx1]

               I have an AMD Phenom II Six Core Processor Running at 3.2 GHz on Windows 7 but I am yet to see if NWN works for me, I shall try it soon and update you all.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_the_critical_process]

               I've tried 0, -1, -2, -3.  I've tried running nwnmain.exe and nwn.exe in XP service pack 3 and also 2 compatibility.  I'm running an Intel Core i3, 3.2 GHz, 8GB ram, graphics card (which is from my old machine yet) is ATI Radeon 1900 (512) with updated drivers.  NWN is still unplayable, even the red smoke on the login screen is ultra-choppy, and the tilesets for the most part render as pure white, with about 1 frame per hour, oof.  Can anyone give me some advice?  Thanks.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Mudeye]

               You've probably tried this but to get a baseline:  1) set all video options to lowest possible settings, set the resolution to the lowest possible.  2) Make sure your install is clean.  That is installed fresh and no hakpaks or add-ons.  3) Shutdown background processes.  4)Try to start the basic NWN campaign.



Is this Windows 7?

You can see the entire process list in the Task Manager.  There are often unnecessary programs running that may slow things down.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_the_critical_process]

               Yes it is Windows 7, but why a fresh install?  I was following the instructions in the sticky:

Shia Luck wrote...



There are two main ways to put NWN onto a windows 7 machine.



If you have a new machine as well as your old machine and a home network or flash drive etc and simply want to transfer your nwn to the new machine, then the easiest thing to do is use windows explorer to copy from the old machine to the new, and then delete it from the old machine. You keep all your settings and everything using this method. (Only use this method if your NWN is patched and working perfectly)



1. On the win 7 machine, use windows explorer to find your NWN install on your old machine and drag and drop the complete nwn folder to c drive on your new machine.

2. In the nwn folder find nwnmain.exe and nwn.exe.

3. Right click on these and select properties. Set them to run with full permissions, as administrator and under compatibility mode windows XP service pack 3. (If your old machine was vista, then this has probably already been done, but check anyway!)

4. (If you want a desktop shortcut)  Right click on nwnmain.exe and create a shortcut. Drag and drop this to your desktop.

5. Update your drivers for video and sound. (If you have a laptop this means going to your laptop manufacturers support page, otherwise go to the manufacturers of your cards' support pages.)



If you wish to install from the disk(s)



1. Install game using a custom install. When you are given the path to the install folder, change the path using the browse folder button so that it is not installed in 'programs (x86)', but directly on C drive. Do not make any shortcuts during the install process.

2. (Diamond edition only) Run the patch on the disk.

3. Go to the patch page and download the correct 1.69 critical rebuild and install it.

4. Open NWN folder and find nwnmain.exe and nwn.exe.

5. Right click on these and select properties. Set them to run with full permissions, as administrator and under compatibility mode windows XP service pack 3.

6. (If you want a desktop shortcut)  Right click on nwnmain.exe and create a shortcut. Drag and drop this to your desktop.

7. Update your drivers for video and sound. (If you have a laptop this means going to your laptop manufacturers support page, otherwise go to the manufacturers of your cards' support pages.)



Good Luck

And why worry about other programs running?  There is process power to burn and then some, ya?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Mudeye]

               I'm just going through a process of elimination.  The simpler your setup the easier it will be to find the problem.



Sometimes people state that they have just installed and have problems but they have actually installed lots of other things too that didn't get mentioned.  



If you followed the second method then you should have a clean install.  



It sounds like you have a fast CPU, but something is making it slow down.  It could be: the NWN setup, the module you are running, the graphics card and setup or the rest of the computer.  Just need to figure out which it is.