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Old 05-28-2008, 07:16 AM
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trevius
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 5,946
Default Dual/Quad Core CPU Fixes

AMD and Intel Dual and Quad Core CPUs both cause problems if you don't have the right drivers, patches and settings. Below I have all of the fixes I am aware of to resolve these issues.

The symptoms of a Dual (or Quad) Core problem are:
1. Character appears to be sliding along then ground when running
2. Character speeds up and slows down oddly while running
3. Character seems to warp around
4. Everquest crashes often shortly after entering the game or even before connecting to the server.
5. The game will run very smooth for a few seconds and then completely lag out and get choppy for a few seconds, then return to normal and smooth again over and over.

Dual Core CPU Fix:

If you are running Windows 7 or Vista, the following should completely fix any Dual Core CPU issues. It may even work on other versions of Windows, but I haven't tried it.

Windows Vista/7 has an option that lets you start an application and set the CPU affinity, which assigns the application to run on a specific CPU in a multi-core system. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Right click on your EQEmu shortcut on your desktop.
2. Click "Properties".
3. Go to the Shortcut tab if you aren't there already (should already be on this tab).
4. Delete everything in the "Target" field, but make sure to leave the "Start in" field alone!
5. Paste the following line into your "Target" field:

Code:
c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /C start /affinity 1 eqgame.exe patchme
6. Click OK and you are ready to start Everquest

Note that you will see a window blink quickly before EQ starts, but that is the command prompt doing it's thing and you don't have to worry about it.


If that fix doesn't work, try any of the other possible fixes below.

If you are running an AMD processor, you can fix it by installing the AMD Optimizer and AMD CPU Driver which can both be found here:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...1_9706,00.html

For both Intel and AMD, you will want the latest Windows Updates to make sure you have the dual core hotfix. You can also download Windows XP SP3 which includes this update here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

And here is the actual Hotfix by itself if you don't want to update to SP3 completely:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Windows Vista should not have this particular problem, so there are no patches or updates needed for that part of the problem.


Running in Compatibility Mode to fix Windows Vista and/or Dual/Quad Core CPU Issues:
1. Right click on the Everquest shortcut you created during the eqemu setup process. The wiki page can be found here for information to get setup:
http://www.eqemulator.net/wiki/wikka...akka=PlayGuide
2. Select "Properties".
3. Click the "Compatibility" Tab.
4. Check the box for "Run this program in compatibility mode for:"
5. First try selecting Windows XP from the drop down menu there.
6. Click OK and run Everquest again to see if the problem is resolved.
7. If Windows XP compatibility mode does not resolve the problem, repeat steps 1 through 4 and try all of the other options 1 by 1 until the problem is resolved.

This fix does not work on all systems, but it has definitely helped to resolve issues for many people running Windows Vista and/or Dual/Quad core CPUs.

Finally, if you are still having issues, you can try turning off CPU Throttling which is what changes your processor speed and voltage depending on usage. You can do this by:

Disabling CPU Throttling (AKA Cool N' Quite):
1. Right Click on your Desktop
2. Select Properties
3. Click the Screen Saver tab
4. Click "Power..." in the lower right
5. Select "Always On" from the Power Schemes Drop-Down box
6. Click OK on both windows.

Dual (or Quad) Cores cause crashes, but you may be able to try this as well:
1. Start EQEmu
2. Before logging into the login server, ATL+TAB out of the program and hit CTRL+ALT+DEL
3. Select the 'Processes' Tab
4. Find the eqgame.exe process and right click it
5. Select 'Set Affinity' and then chose CPU 0
6. Return to EQ and run like normal

That concludes all of the most well known dual core issues and should work 99% of the time. If you are still having problems that seem related to a dual core issue, you might want to verify that your motherboard supports your CPU if you build the computer yourself.
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Last edited by trevius; 01-28-2010 at 09:33 AM..