Improving the DFU CPU performance

[King of Worms]

As I play other CPU intensive games, I usually utilize some tweaks in the Process Lasso ( https://bitsum.com/ )
So I tried those on DFU and got extremely good results, which surprised me.

This was tested on 5800x3D which is a 16 core (8core/8HT threads) with 3D cache.

So 1st I disabled Hyper Threading - thats a standard for many games which dont use many cores.
(Disable SMT in Process Lasso)

Than disabled core 0-1 - this will ensure DFU process will not run on cores which already run a system.

Now DFU uses only cores 2 - 4 - 6 - 8 -10 -12 -14
(so 7 out of 8 physical cores and Zero virtual cores)

I also set process priority to High, not sure if that influenced the results as well.

Set all those options to "always" so it is applied everytime u run the game, automatically.
You need to start DFU 1st, than find the process in the Process Lasso, than set the settings.

CPU.png (8.61 KiB) Viewed 1776 times

This resulted in major decrease of the loading times, and the "streaming pause" which appears as u traverse from one terrain region to another. They are now almost invisible.

Just letting you know, this is possible. Ofc your results might vary, but most of ppl use multicore CPUs and DFU does not need so many cores and it can even hinder the performance, in some cases like mine.

[Regnier]

could this help reduce falling through the earth?

[King of Worms]

could this help reduce falling through the earth?

I think yes, because it reduces the terrain transition stutter.
But as Ive said, it will depend on what CPU you are using. Thats why its not for everybody.
But I think, majority of current CPUs will benefit from this. I think DFU hardly uses more than 4 cores anyway.

So ensuring it uses only the real cores and not virtual cores will help.
And removing core 0-1 will help as well. Those cores are occupied with running the operating system and background stuff.
So u dont want DFU process to be run on em. They just cant give 100% performance to DFU process.

Bottom line is, I can only speak for my CPU. And there, it helped a lot. I was surprised by how much.
My CPU is not standard, because it uses 3D cache.

Process Lasso is a good tool for this, because when u set it to "always" you will never have to apply those settings again, it will be automated.

[Interkarma]

That's interesting, thanks for sharing.

I wonder how large the impact of setting process priority to high has over anything else, as that alone will hand more CPU time over to the game. It's a shame DFU doesn't have a proper benchmark runner - we could test each change in isolation to see how much it contributes.

[boredofpost90slife]

Just gave it a whirl with my 8700K, sure enough loading times decreased as well as map transitions.
I have another way of testing load performance in DFU I'll try this weekend, and report my findings.
Thanks for the tips!

[King of Worms]

That's interesting, thanks for sharing.

I wonder how large the impact of setting process priority to high has over anything else, as that alone will hand more CPU time over to the game. It's a shame DFU doesn't have a proper benchmark runner - we could test each change in isolation to see how much it contributes.

Yes I did all those changes basically at once so Im not sure which is the biggest contributor. Im a bit lazy to dive deeper into it, as this gave me really good results already so I called it a quit and its the profile I run DFU from now on

I think each change is beneficial and the results are a combination of all. But ofc, one of those has the biggest impact.

[King of Worms]

Just gave it a whirl with my 8700K, sure enough loading times decreased as well as map transitions.
I have another way of testing load performance in DFU I'll try this weekend, and report my findings.
Thanks for the tips!

Thanks for a feedback, let us know if you find something interesting in the tests pls

[jayhova]

It's a shame DFU doesn't have a proper benchmark runner - we could test each change in isolation to see how much it contributes.

sounds like a future expansion to me

[King of Worms]

Benchmark would be cool.

Should include:
- terrain chunks streaming in
- multiple light sources scenario
- some big room like in Daggerfall Castle or Wayrest
- loading