MacroQuest64

Back before SOE added their windowed mode, I used to be able to modify EQ's process priority from normal to low (so my other system apps would run at normal speed). Since they added windowed mode, my attempts at changing it have been denied.

I have seen other apps dynamically modify their process priority (EZ CD Creator 5+ does this) and wonder if we could add that as a command/feature to MQ ... or if there is still a way to manually change the process priority of the eqgame process.

you should be able to start eq from a run dialog box (or a shortcut) and use windows nt/xp/2k's built in features to set the priority. I can't recall what it is, but for some reason i feel like it is "run blah blah /high" (or /low or what ever). lemme dig around.

you cant control+alt+delete in winxp and right click eqgame.exe in the process to change priority?

i've never tried it, but just always thought it would work like that. I'll have to give it a try.

I used to run EQ in below normal priority myself by typing the following in a batch file

start /belownormal eqw.exe

You have to do it in EQWindows because otherwise you set the priority of everquest.exe, which only patches EQ. It doesn't hand the same priority to eqgame.exe when it is actually executed, and I didn't know how to run eqgame.exe straight from command line. But about 2 months ago this trick stopped working. It doesn't work anymore and I don't know why, and I haven't bothered to look. It might have something to do with Server 2003, but i'm not sure. I've never tried it on XP since I have 4 processors.

-The Nerd

can change the priority of eqw in the task manager, as long as you do it BEFORE you start everquest with it. changing EQW's priority also changes the priority of it's children (eqgame.exe)

Oh, and btw, to start everquest without the patcher, it's

Woot! I been trying to do that for AGES, cept one question, why would u want to lessen the games process priority? wont that make it lag hardcore? I used to do it (using eqw) to RAISE the priority to make the "game run smoother" but of course it never really worked

Anyway, thanks for the tips..what i used to get it to run at a diff priority (in non eqw mode) is:

open cmd prompt, goto everquest directory, type:

"start /belownormal eqgame.exe patchme"

It'll pop up saying to start everquest through everquest.exe...close that and in a few seconds the screen will flicker and turn to the opening page on everquest!

Anyway thanks for the info guys been thinking bout that for ages hehe

Later!

Draekz

Salutations,
You don't get the everquest.exe message if I remember correctly...

I've done it on my 2k3 computer for the longest time and it stopped about 2 months ago. I just tried to do it on XP and it doesn't work there either. Anyone have any idea why? Anyone else have this happen to them?

I think it would be better if we could somehow force the MQ code to execute faster. I'm not talking about the macro itself, but all the coding for the commands. That would make macros run alot faster. I run alot of macros, and sometimes it takes forever to do stuff, so faster is better! I just wish that by setting the priority higher that the game would run faster, but I think there's something in the DirectX code that makes the game run at the same speed reguardless of processor or ram. That's why it runs same speed for me on 2.8 p4 as it would on a 1 GHz athlon.

Also, anyone else notice that when you run macros, especially combine macros, if you do like 500 at a time or so, every so often the macro will slow to a crawl, and you didn't touch the computer. I've only be able to fix it by closing EQ and reloading. I also tried one of those game speeder upper programs, and EQ goes berserk when you run it. Alot of the game runs faster, but not everything. It's so weird. the /delay command goes out the window when you do that.

-The Nerd

Wild-Ass-Guess: On loading each zone, EQ gets the clock speed of your CPU and does a timing adjustment so that 1EQ unit = Xcycles or whatever. That way, it can coordinate visual display of movements with actual movements sent to the server, to keep everyone on the same level playing field, whether you have a super-duper-speedy machine or an old-slow-dark-age-of-computing machine.

I know on my laptop that changes CPU speed when power is applied-removed, EQ get's herky-jerky until i zone.

no it doesnt work like that.

The simplest reason to lower the priority of one or more EQ instances is if you were planning on having one sit in the bazaar as a mule. If it is running at a lower priority, your normal game won't lag as badly. If all your EQ instances are in a lower priority, you will be able to hop in/out of windowed mode and do other things like quickly checking Allakhazam for details about an item before starting a "gonna get us all killed" quest.

I used to go to the task manager, select the eqgame.exe process and use the "Set Priority" option on the right-click menu. When you try that now, you get an "Access Denied" message box. So either EQ is locking the permissions on the process deliberately or because of an component upgrade (i.e. switching to DirectX 8).

This used to work in EQW and in full screen mode prior to the SOE windowed mode implimentation. It doesn't work either way presently.

I'll have to try starting just eqgame.exe at a lower priority by hand. You CAN set the patcher's priority still but as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, it doesn't carry over to eqgame.exe

you CAN set eqw's priority, BEFORE you click the button to start the game, and all it's children (e.g. everquest.exe or eqgame.exe) will inherit it's priority class.

I set EQW priority, but it's child process isn't taking the same setting. It's been like this for about 2 months, maybe longer. I run my trader on my server 24x7 and loved setting it to below normal. Then the FTP/HTTP server as well as my file server for gigabit lan works great. In normal mode everything runs slow as molasses because EQ steals all the CPU cycles.

-The Nerd

you could always start your other services at abovenormal or high

Isn't really a good choice since that means you have to try and get system services to run at a higher priority.

I did have some luck with "start /belownormal eqgame.exe patchme" last night though ... but either it or something else then crashed my desktop.