Closing stuff makes KSP run faster

[montyben101]

Just noticed something:

Was launching a shuttle into orbit and it seemed to take longer than usual so I watched the mission clock to see how much slower, a second on the mission clock took about two seconds IRL

I then closed the music I was listening too on you tube and also Skype and suddenly it was back to normal!

Never noticed this before but this might be why I'v been having lag issues!

[KasperVld]

KSP uses a lot of CPU, playing media takes a lot of CPU. Your CPU has limited resources available. You do the math

[Mitchz95]

Easy solution: listen to music on an iPod or radio instead.

[montyben101]

Will do,

Also i launched into a retrograde orbit and now stuff is flying past me at insane speeds, also my old space station actually came close enough that it loaded but shot past to quickly to even see it

[xtoro]

Also, if you use any mods that show you info, that will also slow it down on a slower pc. For example, if you use mechjeb, don't keep the delta v window open. And edit the other windows to show you only what you really need to know. OR, just upgrade your PC. My mission clock doesn't start flashing between yellow and green until I get to 650+ part ships

[montyben101]

Also, if you use any mods that show you info, that will also slow it down on a slower pc. For example, if you use mechjeb, don't keep the delta v window open. And edit the other windows to show you only what you really need to know. OR, just upgrade your PC. My mission clock doesn't start flashing between yellow and green until I get to 650+ part ships

Woah. What processor do you have?

[Francois424]

to OP: hence why some ppl feel that 64-bits should be priority for KSP development... that would help a lot

(I've tested it and the difference is amazing, when it did not crash )

[xtoro]

Woah. What processor do you have?

Intel i7 4790k @ 4.5Ghz. Runs smooth even with all graphics options maxed.

[MartGonzo]

Programs like Jetboost are great if you are running win7 with aero themes, it basically just shuts down all the services and extra programs you don't need running then restores them at the push of a button.

it depends on the game but running jetboost can give me up to 10 fps extra in some games.

[Zylark]

Umm, isn't KSP single-thread only. Meaning, it only runs on one core? I was under that impression. And if so, running stuff in the background won't matter much as it'll run off a core that isn't also running KSP.

Of course - I could be wrong. It have been known to happen once or twice

[xtoro]

Umm, isn't KSP single-thread only. Meaning, it only runs on one core? I was under that impression. And if so, running stuff in the background won't matter much as it'll run off a core that isn't also running KSP.

Of course - I could be wrong. It have been known to happen once or twice

Perhaps he's running a dual core system... Or, even if not running that, could be the processor is running hot and clocking down.

[Tail_TL]

Intel i7 4790k @ 4.5Ghz. Runs smooth even with all graphics options maxed.

I wish I would've wen't for a better Processor, currently I have the i7 4770 3.4Ghz (Non k) And I'm getting 30-35 Fps with just 211 parts... What a massive difference..

[RocketPilot573]

Simply having Chrome open (viewing any page, even the Google home page) will cause a very noticeable slowdown for me...

[xtoro]

I wish I would've wen't for a better Processor, currently I have the i7 4770 3.4Ghz (Non k) And I'm getting 30-35 Fps with just 211 parts... What a massive difference..

Well the 4770 and 4790k are both LGA1150 so you could upgrade it using the same motherboard...

[Tail_TL]

Well the 4770 and 4790k are both LGA1150 so you could upgrade it using the same motherboard...

I don't have a problem with upgrading anything. Heck, even if I had to I would buy a new motherboard... Its the "Money" that is the problem... Also my PC is just a few months old.. Not going to spend on any upgrades anytime soon.

[technicalfool]

Posts about impact velocities moved here.

Edited October 20, 2014 by technicalfool
Added Link

[Greenfire32]

Just noticed something:

Was launching a shuttle into orbit and it seemed to take longer than usual so I watched the mission clock to see how much slower, a second on the mission clock took about two seconds IRL

I then closed the music I was listening too on you tube and also Skype and suddenly it was back to normal!

Never noticed this before but this might be why I'v been having lag issues!

Your computer uses resources for literally everything you see (and everything you don't!). The more processes you "kill" the more resources you have at your disposal.

If closing youtube and skype significantly increases your KSP performance, it could mean you need to upgrade your computer. Likewise if you're playing on a laptop, this is fairly normal behavior as you can only fit so much hardware in such a small space.

[r_rolo1]

KSP is indeed a monocore app at this moment. So if the OP is having improvements on his condition by disabling other things , that is becasue those things were competing with KSP for the core in question. That is easily avoidable tough ...

Edited October 20, 2014 by r_rolo1
mis-enter at first try

[LordFerret]

KSP is indeed a monocore app at this moment. So if the OP is having improvements on his condition by disabling other things , that is becasue those things were competing with KSP for the core in question. That is easily avoidable tough ...

You didn't explain the how to him. lol

If you have a dual-core or multi-core Windows system, Win 7 or newer, you can set KSP's affinity (on start) to a specific core, and then set all the other concurrent programs that you plan on running to the other core. A simple batch file can accomplish this. On a dual-core system, doing so will likely make your other programs lag, competing with each other for the one core, but at least KSP will be left to run unimpeded. On a multi-core (4/6/8), it shouldn't. If you still have lag in doing this, then perhaps something else is going on with your system.

[Laie]

KSP is indeed a monocore app at this moment. So if the OP is having improvements on his condition by disabling other things , that is becasue those things were competing with KSP for the core in question. That is easily avoidable tough ...

I suspect it's related to that Intel TurboBoost thing. In that case, it wouldn't matter which cores are occupied.

(Quick explainer: when facing a single-thread situation, the CPU may shut down the unneeded cores and overclock the single core that's still running. Requirement is that all cores but one are idle; playing music isn't very demanding, but it requires one core to wake up every so often. 99% idle time isn't enough for turboboost to kick in.)

[LordFerret]

I suspect it's related to that Intel TurboBoost thing. In that case, it wouldn't matter which cores are occupied.

(Quick explainer: when facing a single-thread situation, the CPU may shut down the unneeded cores and overclock the single core that's still running. Requirement is that all cores but one are idle; playing music isn't very demanding, but it requires one core to wake up every so often. 99% idle time isn't enough for turboboost to kick in.)

What if, with KSP given affinity to one core, the system's idle process daemon is given affinity to another? Would that prevent the core shutdown you describe?... or at least greatly reduce it?

[jfx]

When discussing this topic there are two important things to consider:

1) You are not smarter or more informed than your OS' scheduler and therefore are not better at deciding which process should run where.

2) "Turboboost" does not "shut down" (from the OS' perspective) cores, and makes its decision on when to run one or more cores above the default frequency on a whole number of metrics it measures itself (temperature, current, operations computed et cetera). The number your OS displays to you is only a gross estimate of the actual workload on the cpu (and so are the graphs displaying the workload of each core).

In the latest CPUs cores are even put to sleep without the OS noticing it ("Active Idle") interrupts are rerouted to a still running core.

You can find a more comprehensive explanation from an intel engineer in the comments here https://plus.google.com/+TheodoreTso/posts/2vEekAsG2QT

tl;dr:

Don't think you can outsmart your hardware (Especially not on windows without stuff like powertop and the likes to actually measure the impact or non-impact of things you changed).

Windows isn't as dumb as it was about scheduling and what was maybe needed during the Pentium4 era to manage power/CPU states is irrelevant since the first Core iX cpus.

Edited October 22, 2014 by jfx