Dual Cored Processors

[sonar732]

Please sticky this as it's becoming apparent that the dual cored processors is becoming an issue with DW. If you get errors with DW AFTER it starts, make sure that DW is using only one processor. This is how you set it up...

So while in the main menu screen I alt-tabbed out to the desktop. Loaded up taskmanager ( ctrl-alt-del ). Go to the apps tab and right click on the dangerous waters app. Select goto process. This will send you to the processes tab with the dangerouswaters.exe selected. Right click on the process and select affinity. Unclick one of your processors (it doesn't matter which one) so that only one processor is running DW.

If the classic Sub Command is also having problems as I've seen lately, attempt it also.

[Ramius]

This isn't anything new.

Its not "becoming" an issue with DW.

Its just more and more people are getting dual processors

[sonar732]

Originally Posted by Ramius

This isn't anything new.

Its not "becoming" an issue with DW.

Its just more and more people are getting dual processors

Yes, it's listed on the FAQ...

6) Unexplainable crashes : If you have a Pentium PC with HT (Hyperthreading Technology) or any other dual core CPU and you experience crashes and problems, try to disable the 2nd CPU. Even tho it should be fixed by now, it seems that some single systems still experience problems with that. And of course if you get an error message post it in the Tech Support Forum.
Possible Solution might lie within the following links :
- English : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256/EN-US/
- German : http://support.microsoft.com/?id=896256#kb2

- For AMD Dual Core Processors you should check this link : AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP

However, people aren't looking at the FAQ.

[Seeadler]

I use on my AMD64 dual core this command line until BindCPU.exe.
I have copied this exe into the Windows/System32 folder and use batch files to start games which have problems with dual core cpu's.

For DW I create a dangerouswaters.bat which contains only this line:
BindCPU 1 dangerouswaters.exe

that starts DW and bind the process only to CPU 0.

[JoGary(sco)]

The AMD update for the Duel core processors fixed all my problems. I can ow run without setting the Afinity

[JoGary(sco)]

The AMD update for the Duel core processors fixed all my problems. I can ow run without setting the Afinity

[sonar732]

Awesome to hear!

[Jamie]

So for those of you who have had this problem and corrected it...

Is this what you have been doing and DW seems to work alright afterwards?

1) Disable CPU1 - Example sequence
NOTE: Jamie's processes have been removed to protect the innocent




2) AMD dual-core patch
And somewhat related...
- Which patch have the AMD dual-core people installed?
- What is the URL to it?

[Jamie]

I will "re-Sticky" this later, I promise...

[Seeadler]

Developers should use the Win32 API function SetProcessAffinityMask() to set the process only to CPU0 until their app is dual core optimized

// dwProcessAffinityMask = x
// x = 1 -> CPU0
// x = 2 -> CPU1
// x = 4 -> CPU2
// x = 8 -> CPU3
HANDLE hProcess;
DWORD_PTR dwProcessAffinityMask = 1;
hProcess = GetCurrentProcess();
if (hProcess)
SetProcessAffinityMask(hProcess, dwProcessAffinityMask );

Personally I do not use the AMD patch, I deactivated Cool'n'Quiet on my system because with some dual core applications I need the full power on both cores and therefore I don't let the system adjust the CPU speed through these drivers.

[JoGary(sco)]

I think setting the Afinity like you have shown above does sort out the problem but you dont have to do that if you download the updated XP drivers from AMD
The link to then is
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/..._13118,00.html
The file you are looking for is the one called
AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version (exe) 1.2.2.2
This fixed not only DW but some problems i had with other games.
Once i installed this DW ran fin with booth cores and no need to set afinity

[JoGary(sco)]

Personally I do not use the AMD patch, I deactivated Cool'n'Quiet on my system because with some dual core applications I need the full power on both cores and therefore I don't let the system adjust the CPU speed through these drivers.

I dont use Cool n Quiet either but you can still install the patch even if you dont use it and it should fix the problems with DW and other games.

[Jamie]

Thank you guys.

[SmugFish]

For what it's worth, I have had no trouble running DW on a dual CPU Opteron system, not dual core, but dual CPUs with one core each. I am using the lastest AMD drivers, but I am running Windows 2000 pro SP4 with all the subsequent patches rather than Windows XP. It seems very stable.

[Orm]

Stupid question,

what is the path to the Windows task manager?