A(nother) way to reduce CPU clogging / smooth the experience

This tool is a must have. Before i had to alt-tab+ set cpu affinity every time. Now i just have to launch it and start grim dawn and it does it automatically and , i don’t know why, it performs better than setting it manually.

I have a question for “Lasse b.”.
Is it possible that this tool can be applied to Titan quest too ? Because Titan quest has the same problem as Grim Dawn: it only uses one core.
I looked at the source code of your program and i thought that maybe i could modify the “GD CPU Affinity.au3” to work both for grim dawn and titan quest.

Let me know if it’s possible and how to do this. And thank you for this great tool.

Erhm, I don’t think this is a small thing. This seems to make a serious difference for me.

I don’t think this is about FPS. I don’t notice any significant gains, and the fps drops in combat are still bad.

But this made me realize that that’s not why Grim Dawn feels sluggish. It is the micro stuttering and input lag wich makes it not respond to you. And distributing the threads among the cores somehow removes a bottleneck, or limits the migrating of threads or whatever.

This makes combat feel way more responsive to me, regardless of FPS. I think all the GPU does is make frames. The CPU is doing all the combat.
Especially while being server in multiplayer I notice this a lot. Because there is so much more going on that the PC needs to handle.

If I let the game run it automatically I have core 0 at 100% ALL the time, core 1, 2 and 3 are at like 20%.
If I set affinity to core 1, 2 and 3(disable 0), then I have core 1, 2 and 3 at a nice 50%.
So it actually makes the cores work harder in total, without bottenecking anything.
Btw I don’t have hyperthreading.

If you want to save core affinity for a process you can also use the program Prio. Use at own risk…

Before:

After:

Hi guys, I’m a noob about this stuff

I have an old Phenom x6 1055t 2.8ghz, should I use this script? Also in the options.txt file, should I set the max resource threads to 6?

Thank u

Holy crap, this actually works.

Made a NIGHT & DAY difference using my i7/Xeon!

Highly, highly recommended!

P.S. Just create a shortcut to the affinity exe, and place that shortcut in the “startup” folder of your start menu. That way, you’ll never have to worry about launching it ever again :slight_smile:

What’s your specs? CPU/RAM/GPU/etc?

… it’s right there in my signature

Thanks, I was using phone… there’s no signature in Tapatalk… also no GD on the phone :wink:

Take Care!
GP.

I decided to upgrade my PC just for playing GD. I purchased new GPU Rx570 4gb and overclocked my old i5 2500k to 4,5ghz.

The result was very disapointing… Until I used file from this thread. Now I have no stuttering AT ALL and constant 60 FPS… With the exeption of few areas where pfs drops to 45-50 for a few seconds (but still no stuttering!!!). I judt can’t figure i out… What can cause that short drops? My GPU and CPU load is <90%… So?? No idea.

Still I AM very happy for the file uploaded here. Without it I could only play with shitty graphics. Now I have all the options maxed and game looks really nice :slight_smile:

Thanks for bringing this thread to my attention. I can finally enjoy smooth gameplay instead of a fu#$ng stuttering fest :slight_smile:

Oh and one more thing! I have also disabled windows defender cause i think IT was adding some addtional 5-10% to CPU load when GD was launched.

That’s awesome man! I know the feeling :slight_smile:

I really think something similar to this should be added to the in-game options menu!

  • Medea, Zantai, whoever’s listening: I’m serious…

Tried the CPU affinity thing and i get error code 6.

Edit: Tried manually, nothing really changed. Still get the same fps as before.

Never mind I think it was a pure placebo for me, the game seems to work way better in earlier areas for me, the best just after Devil’s crossing and it gradually gets worse the longer I play it seems. Even though I’m not getting any significant improvement by setting affinity I’ll still keep doing it. If nothing else the workload between cores seems to get distributed a bit better.

My hardware:
AMD FX-8350 overclocked to 4.8ghz
AMD Radeon r9 290
16gb g-skill ddr3 memory
Samsung evo 250gb ssd drive
WD Blue 1tb sata drive
Windows 10 64bit

Is there a “Linux version”?

In my case it is definitely not a placebo. I was testing the game a lot and I have a few tips for everyone with the stuttering problem:

  • install hw monitor
  • join some hot battle in Malmouth, alt+TAB to see CPU/GPU load in HW monitor, if one core gets 100%, the game will stutter
  • adjust the game setting for <95% load on every core and GPU (script in this thread helps a lot in this matter)
  • the worst thing for CPU load is lightning and maxed still look like shit, so who cares really? it would be cool if we could turned it off completely
  • next thing are shadows, without them game looks worst but not that much
  • the rest of the settings doesnt make any difference for OCed 2500k, but might for your CPU
  • turn off windows Defender, google for how to turn it off, very CPU consuming during playing GD, I don’t know why? Is GD treated as some unwanted app by the system?

With my CPU i5 2500k @ 3,3ghz and without applying the script. I had 100% load on first core… providing very often stuttering. My GPU load was 45-55% in this scenario.

When I overclocked @4,5ghz I could give some graphic options higher but still my first core was very easily hitting 100% causing stuttering (especially in Malmouth, this area loads havy on GPU and CPU, best place for testing). My GPU load was 65-85% in this scenario.

After loading the script I could maxed all settings and my load on each core are: n1 90-95%, n2 50-60%, n3 90-95%, n4 40-50%. GPU load 95%. And guess what? No stuttering! Only smaller or bigger drops in FPS on Ultimate when infamy is maxed (max number of oponents). My minimal FPS in this kind of areas/situations are 45-50 for a few seconds max, but it is still fluent gameplay, and come on… my CPU is 7 years old… and my GPU is some 150$ shit from AMD from christmass sale… so you know. I am really happy here with the results :slight_smile: Invested just 200$ for GPU and CPU cooler + tested some options and now I can Play my favourite game in nice graphical enviroment. Isn’t that cool? :slight_smile:

Still no cure for FPS drops from time to time. But my GPU is not 1080ti, so… And I am playing only in 1080p@60hz… though… with 7 years old monitor without freesync… And all this nevest technologies bla bla bla :wink:

Super-cool :cool:

Where is this options.txt be found? In the GD directory, there is none.

Editing the options.txt is nonsense/snake-oil.

Using the affinity.exe yields actual, noteworthy results.

How did I not know about this?!?

I play in 4k using the Grimmest mod and at times I was under 10FPS on Grim Dawn. This is the only game that drops under 40FPS that I play.

Since doing the options.txt and running the program I’m not dipping under 30FPS.

Thanks so much for this and why can’t this simple little fix be patched into the game?

I see this is an older post but it fixed the issue I was having with my system so thanks!