Windows media player = WoW performace boost

[Texic]

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3271120397&sid=1

People apparently are getting performance boosts by having wmp open in the background.

Perhaps someone using 1 computer for multiple instances of WoW should give it a try.

[Delril]

i run 3 accounts on the same computer always have wmp on so idk if it improves perfomance lol

1gig of ram

230mb for main wow

30-40mb each for the other 2

wmp takes about 20mb

thats all in my process list

it doesnt seem to improve wow performance but it increases mine by like 400% lol

EDIT: yea i tested it without music playing as i load the music after all 3 accounts have logged in - they log in at the same time inside SW where thiers a good 40-60 ppl on takes like 2-3mins i make a cup of coffee come back turn on music and fly away from laggy places xD

EDIT2:so got to darshire closed all 3 wows and wmp, reloaded wmp then started the 3 accounts up 1 by 1 still no improvement a grand total of 2 chars in the whole of duskwood, guess my comp just does it automatic? this computer has never had wmp off for more than 1 hour unless i shut it down(the comp not wmp :) ).

[Zseth]

its true as long as music isn't playing

[amalgam]

Neat. I'll give it a shot later.

[Zseth]

No clue, its only for windows systems, so there must be something linked

[amalgam]

In the linked thread a couple of people offer some theories. Here's the TLDR list:

1) Possible that WMP loads DirectX sound/video drivers so WoW doesn't have to.
2) Someone supposedly knows a Microsoft Engineer who says something about MMCSS priority and how WMP is the only program with it. It forces a certain timing scenario to occur with processor instructions and causes a marked improvement in WoW.
3) WoW's new multi-threading support in 2.3 makes WoW time itself differently.

Personally, 2 sounds like it might be plausible, but that does not explain why some people get similar results running Quicktime instead of WMP.

I'd lean towards 3.

It should be noted here that not every user sees the improvement.

[amalgam]

No clue, its only for windows systems, so there must be something linked

Mac users report similar effects running QuickTime.

[Delril]

im guessing you mean

"""""""" I talked about this to a friend of mine who's a Microsoft engineer. His response:

(...)
this is because media player is the only app known today that uses the MMCSS stuff
it elevates the priority of threads in a process registered with MMSCS to the realtime level which cannot be done by an app itself
only the MMCSS (a system component) can do that magic
it's a bug because obviously that leaked to WoW
it will starve the crap out of anything running in the background

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms684247.aspx

***

Translation: Your computer usually reserves a certain % of the CPU for background applications. Having WMP opened changes this behavior and allocates all available CPU to WoW. Little to no CPU time will be given to background applications and services, therefore increasing WoW performance.""""""""""""""""""


its a load of BS as i run 5-7 applications open at a single time and none of them lag with wmp open ( of course i always have music on).

wmp is also always minimzed into the little fast forward and play buttons.

[amalgam]

I agree, Delril; the MMCSS thing is bullshit.

[Tonuss]

Open your config.wtf and add the following line:

SET timingMethod "1"

or

SET timingMethod "2"

And you should see the same speed-up. My guess is that there is a setting that changes something that produces the increased performance, but making it a default change would result in lots of calls to tech support, as a few people who tried the change experienced crashes and freezes, and others reported no improvement in performance.

So it looks like one of those things that could help a lot of people, but could also screw up a lot of people, so they leave it off and keep shut about it. But if a player finds out and tells everyone... :)

[Delril]

yea that done jack all for me also - wonder if my comp just wont do it lol

i run the game on 0 settings all screens 800x600 the 2 slaves are windowed mode and made to be about 50x50 then minimzed to save preformance - but i never have probems with in game loading from zone or instances its just my first log in always takes 2-3mins once im in i load faster than 3/4 of my local friends who play.