Stopping Programs From Rotating Cores on Multi-Core System

I have XP Pro x64 on an Intel quad core processor. When I am playing multiple
simultaneous instances of Everquest, I notice on the Task Manager that the
different Everquest sessions are being rotated (seemingly randomly) between
different cores, and occasionally, they ALL end up on the SAME core,
resulting in everything freezing. My computer can easily handle 3-4
Everquest sessions on a single core, just not 6-7.

Ive tried to manually set each instance's affinity via the task manager but
its not allowed - and I dont know why. Im using Wineq2 and have the innate
Everquest affinity setting to off. No combination of Affinity Settings
within both Everquest and WinEQ2 solve this problem.

Im told by tech support its an XP issue not Everquest or WinEQ2. So my
question is, how do I STOP the OS from rotating my multiple instances of the
same game around and force them onto discrete non-changing cores?

Also, is there a way to bypass the NOT ALLOWED problem in the task manager
and Force then Everquest instances to evenly distribute amongst the 4 cores?
Any and all help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

Ron

Tony
Sat Mar 01 18:22:46 PST 2008

My humble guess, since 'affinity' primarily is a parameter that the
developer is determining - if and when an 'app' is coded for multi-CPU
awareness, that there isn't very much you can do. Except talk to the
developers.

Binary execution on Windows rely on the 'Windows Scheduler', as far as I
know, and it is responsible for keeping a healthy environment for the OS,
but it is also protecting the instruction caches in a way that instructions
already loaded shouldn't have to be moved away.

It is not unthinkable that you'll find the OS responsible for building
obstacles for your useage? On the other hand, if the application was written
to handle the multiple instances on multiple cores, there wouldn't be any
problem at all.

Google for 'Windows Scheduler', that should serve you up with some decent
info on the matter.


Tony. . .


"Ronis" <Ronis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6942BB34-DF85-49FE-BEB3-A94D89E34EFF@microsoft.com...
> I have XP Pro x64 on an Intel quad core processor. When I am playing
multiple
> simultaneous instances of Everquest, I notice on the Task Manager that the
> different Everquest sessions are being rotated (seemingly randomly)
between
> different cores, and occasionally, they ALL end up on the SAME core,
> resulting in everything freezing. My computer can easily handle 3-4
> Everquest sessions on a single core, just not 6-7.
>
> Ive tried to manually set each instance's affinity via the task manager
but
> its not allowed - and I dont know why. Im using Wineq2 and have the
innate
> Everquest affinity setting to off. No combination of Affinity Settings
> within both Everquest and WinEQ2 solve this problem.
>
> Im told by tech support its an XP issue not Everquest or WinEQ2. So my
> question is, how do I STOP the OS from rotating my multiple instances of
the
> same game around and force them onto discrete non-changing cores?
>
> Also, is there a way to bypass the NOT ALLOWED problem in the task manager
> and Force then Everquest instances to evenly distribute amongst the 4
cores?
> Any and all help or advise would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Ron

Ronis
Sun Mar 02 10:54:00 PST 2008

Tony,

"On the other hand, if the application was written to handle
the multiple instances on multiple cores, there wouldn't be
any problem at all."

This is exactly the problem, they are supposed to be automatically set to
and remain on a different core by Everquest-and it didnt work. WinEQ2 also
does the same, and it too didnt work. Further, Disabling either or both also
doesnt work, the programs cycle and cycle and cycle until they are all cycled
to the same core and Freeze.

I searched and found Windows Scheduler and after reviewing the site,
unfortunately I could not see how it applies to my situation.

Ron

"Tony Sperling" wrote:

> My humble guess, since 'affinity' primarily is a parameter that the
> developer is determining - if and when an 'app' is coded for multi-CPU
> awareness, that there isn't very much you can do. Except talk to the
> developers.
>
> Binary execution on Windows rely on the 'Windows Scheduler', as far as I
> know, and it is responsible for keeping a healthy environment for the OS,
> but it is also protecting the instruction caches in a way that instructions
> already loaded shouldn't have to be moved away.
>
> It is not unthinkable that you'll find the OS responsible for building
> obstacles for your useage? On the other hand, if the application was written
> to handle the multiple instances on multiple cores, there wouldn't be any
> problem at all.
>
> Google for 'Windows Scheduler', that should serve you up with some decent
> info on the matter.
>
>
> Tony. . .
>
>
> "Ronis" <Ronis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:6942BB34-DF85-49FE-BEB3-A94D89E34EFF@microsoft.com...
> > I have XP Pro x64 on an Intel quad core processor. When I am playing
> multiple
> > simultaneous instances of Everquest, I notice on the Task Manager that the
> > different Everquest sessions are being rotated (seemingly randomly)
> between
> > different cores, and occasionally, they ALL end up on the SAME core,
> > resulting in everything freezing. My computer can easily handle 3-4
> > Everquest sessions on a single core, just not 6-7.
> >
> > Ive tried to manually set each instance's affinity via the task manager
> but
> > its not allowed - and I dont know why. Im using Wineq2 and have the
> innate
> > Everquest affinity setting to off. No combination of Affinity Settings
> > within both Everquest and WinEQ2 solve this problem.
> >
> > Im told by tech support its an XP issue not Everquest or WinEQ2. So my
> > question is, how do I STOP the OS from rotating my multiple instances of
> the
> > same game around and force them onto discrete non-changing cores?
> >
> > Also, is there a way to bypass the NOT ALLOWED problem in the task manager
> > and Force then Everquest instances to evenly distribute amongst the 4
> cores?
> > Any and all help or advise would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Ron
>
>
>

John
Sun Mar 02 11:17:41 PST 2008

If you can turn off the feature in the program, maybe you will be able to
assign affinity in Task Manager.

"Ronis" <Ronis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FBE4D69A-4381-4533-ACE7-C194FD148D1F@microsoft.com...
> Tony,
>
> "On the other hand, if the application was written to handle
> the multiple instances on multiple cores, there wouldn't be
> any problem at all."
>
> This is exactly the problem, they are supposed to be automatically set to
> and remain on a different core by Everquest-and it didnt work. WinEQ2
> also
> does the same, and it too didnt work. Further, Disabling either or both
> also
> doesnt work, the programs cycle and cycle and cycle until they are all
> cycled
> to the same core and Freeze.
>
> I searched and found Windows Scheduler and after reviewing the site,
> unfortunately I could not see how it applies to my situation.
>
> Ron
>
> "Tony Sperling" wrote:
>
>> My humble guess, since 'affinity' primarily is a parameter that the
>> developer is determining - if and when an 'app' is coded for multi-CPU
>> awareness, that there isn't very much you can do. Except talk to the
>> developers.
>>
>> Binary execution on Windows rely on the 'Windows Scheduler', as far as I
>> know, and it is responsible for keeping a healthy environment for the OS,
>> but it is also protecting the instruction caches in a way that
>> instructions
>> already loaded shouldn't have to be moved away.
>>
>> It is not unthinkable that you'll find the OS responsible for building
>> obstacles for your useage? On the other hand, if the application was
>> written
>> to handle the multiple instances on multiple cores, there wouldn't be any
>> problem at all.
>>
>> Google for 'Windows Scheduler', that should serve you up with some decent
>> info on the matter.
>>
>>
>> Tony. . .
>>
>>
>> "Ronis" <Ronis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:6942BB34-DF85-49FE-BEB3-A94D89E34EFF@microsoft.com...
>> > I have XP Pro x64 on an Intel quad core processor. When I am playing
>> multiple
>> > simultaneous instances of Everquest, I notice on the Task Manager that
>> > the
>> > different Everquest sessions are being rotated (seemingly randomly)
>> between
>> > different cores, and occasionally, they ALL end up on the SAME core,
>> > resulting in everything freezing. My computer can easily handle 3-4
>> > Everquest sessions on a single core, just not 6-7.
>> >
>> > Ive tried to manually set each instance's affinity via the task manager
>> but
>> > its not allowed - and I dont know why. Im using Wineq2 and have the
>> innate
>> > Everquest affinity setting to off. No combination of Affinity Settings
>> > within both Everquest and WinEQ2 solve this problem.
>> >
>> > Im told by tech support its an XP issue not Everquest or WinEQ2. So my
>> > question is, how do I STOP the OS from rotating my multiple instances
>> > of
>> the
>> > same game around and force them onto discrete non-changing cores?
>> >
>> > Also, is there a way to bypass the NOT ALLOWED problem in the task
>> > manager
>> > and Force then Everquest instances to evenly distribute amongst the 4
>> cores?
>> > Any and all help or advise would be greatly appreciated.
>> >
>> > Ron
>>
>>
>>