Dual Core fix

[Royal]

Since Horizons is mainly powered by CPU it might be smart to start with DUAL-CORE optimalization..

[Shur]

Well, we are getting an updated client soon, perhaps it will be multi-core optimized?

[Deth]

I would not plan on a new client "soon". Even a year ago the client was suppose to be a long time off. It was my understanding that a new client was being developed for the "new game" that once it was working in that it would then be ported over to here.

[Solitaire]

You have it right, Deth. Dark World Online was the name of it. Tis a shame that it was never able to move forward cause it would have given Tulga a game in the PvP market and the people who like to play that style of MMO. A humans vs. vampires vs. werewolves MMO would have been interesting. I wonder if the work and rights to DWO were also acquired from Tulga.

[Shur]

I would not plan on a new client "soon". Even a year ago the client was suppose to be a long time off. It was my understanding that a new client was being developed for the "new game" that once it was working in that it would then be ported over to here.

well, according to the interview linked in another topic, the client is planned to be tested next week (unless i misread something?).

Early next week, a new terrain client will be pushed out for testing. This means an updated client.

[Fridlekh]

the client isn't the "New client" just the current one with fixes and performance enhanements. (and hopefully fewer audio issues)

[Steelclaw]

The "dual core optimizer" is for AMD X2 CPUs. It addresses issues with TSC syncronization between the cores when they go into power saving. This shows up as your character jumping back and forth in its animation sequences and as it moves around.

The AMD dual core optmizer is a software fix that keeps the TSCs in sync between the CPUs and will address this nasty looking problem. It, however, won't do anything to the scheduler. The HZ process will still bounce between the cores, effectively negating the L1 cache.

If you want better performance, start Horizons, open your task manager (ctrl-alt-del on win2k/xp), find the horizons.exe process, right click it, select cpu affinity, and check only one CPU.

[C`gan]

My Core2 Duo seems to love Horizons. On a 1.5 MBps DSL split between two computers running games, I'm still seeing frame rates as high as the low 70s per second with much of the graphics turned up to 3/4.

[Vermithraxx]

THAT would be cool. EQ2 devs haven't been able to figure that out, heck EQ2 purposely limits to one CPU. Tries to anyway. (Not so much luck when it comes to quad cores <evil grin>)

Of course, the problems with EQ2 Duo-cores are always declared as 'PVP' and 'Speedhacking', things we don't necessarily have/care about here.

[Fridlekh]

speedhacking does not work with HZ because the server validates everything the player does related to timing (movement speed, gather rate, attack rate, spell cooldown timers, etc) HZ servers only trust th client for things it can't validate itself... like if you're underwater, or on an object, or where the machine attach point and rotation is in relation to a structure on a plot or lair... (agf hacks whee!)