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How To Fix 1 CORE 100% Grinding Issue ?

Forum Index > Tech Support
Post a Reply
saltis
Profile Joined September 2012
159 Posts
August 23 2017 09:07 GMT
#1
Finally after 8 months of not playing the game I reinstalled SC2 again. But the game became pretty much unplayable.

For some reason the game runs (more like grinds) 1 core 100% while other 5 cores remains still.
It doesn't matter on what settings I run the game (low or high), the result it always the same even though it's recommended to run on extreme settings.

There is a picture of how it looks. As you can see one of my cores goes 100% though I am not doing anything at all:
http://imgur.com/a/p894B

Please can anyone help me ?
FataLe
Profile Joined November 2010
New Zealand4529 Posts
August 23 2017 09:17 GMT
#2
Thought SC2 engine was notorious for relying on single threaded performance and utilizing minimal cores.

A lot of tech reviewers copped flack for using it as a cpu benchmark cos it's horrible.
hi. big fan.
FueledUpAndReadyToGo
Profile Blog Joined March 2013
Netherlands30548 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-23 09:32:58
August 23 2017 09:31 GMT
#3
SC2 not using multiple threads is normal. What do you mean with unplayable exactly?

I'm not an expert in any means, but if I understand correctly it's a deterministic game engine in which the same inputs will always give the same outputs. That's why we have very small replay files, because they can just save only the inputs and the resulting gameplay can be generated on the fly and be exactly the same still. If they would somehow split it in multiple threads, timing issues might occur with one thread being done faster than the other and thus outputs could be different.
Neosteel Enthusiast
saltis
Profile Joined September 2012
159 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-23 09:36:03
August 23 2017 09:33 GMT
#4
On August 23 2017 18:17 FataLe wrote:
Thought SC2 engine was notorious for relying on single threaded performance and utilizing minimal cores.

A lot of tech reviewers copped flack for using it as a cpu benchmark cos it's horrible.


So is it normal, do you have the same problem too ? Or is there anything i can do to activate at least another core ?
saltis
Profile Joined September 2012
159 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-23 09:39:05
August 23 2017 09:35 GMT
#5
On August 23 2017 18:31 FueledUpAndReadyToGo wrote:
SC2 not using multiple threads is normal. What do you mean with unplayable exactly?

I'm not an expert in any means, but if I understand correctly it's a deterministic game engine in which the same inputs will always give the same outputs. That's why we have very small replay files, because they can just save only the inputs and the resulting gameplay can be generated on the fly and be exactly the same still. If they would somehow split it in multiple threads, timing issues might occur with one thread being done faster than the other and thus outputs could be different.



Well, I can play but the thing that idle game forces one of my cores to drill 100% makes me to think it's not a normal performance. My CPU's fan goes crazy even if I am just chilling in menus.
Foxxan
Profile Joined October 2004
Sweden3427 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-23 09:45:22
August 23 2017 09:45 GMT
#6
R1CH
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Netherlands10342 Posts
August 23 2017 11:28 GMT
#7
If your fan goes crazy due to only a single thread running at 100% then you may have overheating problems.
AdministratorTwitter: @R1CH_TL
TL+ Member
saltis
Profile Joined September 2012
159 Posts
August 23 2017 12:19 GMT
#8
On August 23 2017 20:28 R1CH wrote:
If your fan goes crazy due to only a single thread running at 100% then you may have overheating problems.


Please can you confirm if you have 90%-100% running core while you stay idle in the main screen or menus ?

I still haven't figured out if there is something wrong with my software settings.
Many thanks.
R1CH
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Netherlands10342 Posts
August 23 2017 12:23 GMT
#9
This is normal for single threaded games. You can try turning on vsync to cap the FPS.
AdministratorTwitter: @R1CH_TL
TL+ Member
saltis
Profile Joined September 2012
159 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-23 13:19:25
August 23 2017 13:15 GMT
#10
On August 23 2017 21:23 R1CH wrote:
This is normal for single threaded games. You can try turning on vsync to cap the FPS.


Wow, I am getting confused. There must be a bug somewhere within the last patches. I mingled with some of the options and I found that If I tick "Reduce Mouse lag", my core's performance immediately goes down to 10-30% while other cores shows some signs of activity too.
http://imgur.com/a/FVaob

If I untick "Reduce Mouse lag", the core's performance goes up to 100% again.
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20326 Posts
August 25 2017 12:31 GMT
#11
Menu may be odd thing, sc2 simulation (vast majority of the CPU load) runs on one thread though. With the game being very graphically light and CPU heavy the ST CPU perf is limiting performance almost all of the time
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
saltis
Profile Joined September 2012
159 Posts
August 25 2017 20:46 GMT
#12
On August 25 2017 21:31 Cyro wrote:
Menu may be odd thing, sc2 simulation (vast majority of the CPU load) runs on one thread though. With the game being very graphically light and CPU heavy the ST CPU perf is limiting performance almost all of the time


Why Blizzard did go this way ? They neutered the longevity of the game bu putting a cap on game's performance.
Ancestral
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States3230 Posts
August 25 2017 22:37 GMT
#13
On August 26 2017 05:46 saltis wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 25 2017 21:31 Cyro wrote:
Menu may be odd thing, sc2 simulation (vast majority of the CPU load) runs on one thread though. With the game being very graphically light and CPU heavy the ST CPU perf is limiting performance almost all of the time


Why Blizzard did go this way ? They neutered the longevity of the game bu putting a cap on game's performance.

Emphasis on gameplay and design over brilliant developers.
The Nature and purpose of the martial way are universal; all selfish desires must be roasted in the tempering fires of hard training. - Masutatsu Oyama
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20326 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-26 06:09:07
August 26 2017 06:08 GMT
#14
On August 26 2017 05:46 saltis wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 25 2017 21:31 Cyro wrote:
Menu may be odd thing, sc2 simulation (vast majority of the CPU load) runs on one thread though. With the game being very graphically light and CPU heavy the ST CPU perf is limiting performance almost all of the time


Why Blizzard did go this way ? They neutered the longevity of the game bu putting a cap on game's performance.


It ran "fine" on 2010 CPU's and runs "fine" today, they just don't care much about making it run excellently
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
R1CH
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Netherlands10342 Posts
August 26 2017 14:14 GMT
#15
On August 26 2017 05:46 saltis wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 25 2017 21:31 Cyro wrote:
Menu may be odd thing, sc2 simulation (vast majority of the CPU load) runs on one thread though. With the game being very graphically light and CPU heavy the ST CPU perf is limiting performance almost all of the time


Why Blizzard did go this way ? They neutered the longevity of the game bu putting a cap on game's performance.

It's exceptionally difficult to make a lockstep game engine multithreaded. All clients need to resolve the simulation in the same order to avoid desynchronization.
AdministratorTwitter: @R1CH_TL
TL+ Member
Ancestral
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States3230 Posts
August 29 2017 22:04 GMT
#16
On August 26 2017 23:14 R1CH wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 26 2017 05:46 saltis wrote:
On August 25 2017 21:31 Cyro wrote:
Menu may be odd thing, sc2 simulation (vast majority of the CPU load) runs on one thread though. With the game being very graphically light and CPU heavy the ST CPU perf is limiting performance almost all of the time


Why Blizzard did go this way ? They neutered the longevity of the game bu putting a cap on game's performance.

It's exceptionally difficult to make a lockstep game engine multithreaded. All clients need to resolve the simulation in the same order to avoid desynchronization.

This totes makes sense as a constraint, but how does e.g. AotS do it? Is it somehow not a lockstop engine (doesn't seem to make sense), or did they make it highly threaded while being lockstep?
The Nature and purpose of the martial way are universal; all selfish desires must be roasted in the tempering fires of hard training. - Masutatsu Oyama
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20326 Posts
August 30 2017 21:40 GMT
#17
I'm not sure about the details of the AOTS engine but from a performance standpoint, frametime consistency etc it looks nothing like sc2. The units are really laggy and dumb though, it's hardly a straight upgrade
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Electricalthicket
Profile Joined September 2017
2 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-09-03 05:00:12
September 03 2017 04:53 GMT
#18
Hi Saltis,

Welcome back. I am a long time TL lurker and I created this new account just because I saw your post ... I have your solution. To anyone else with this problem, don't thank me, thank this youtube video creater! I am running a 1st gen i5 650 3.2 ghz and after using the tip on this youtube video I have had success running sc2 with 0 stutter while trying with a few different video cards using this CPU.

I found that by (setting affinity) after initial load up of SC2 it helped my pc run SC2 without the 1 - 3 second freeze at the menu, without the freeze at ~ 35 seconds in the game and without the freeze every 5 minutes during 1v1 ladder. My suggestion is to try this and start with low settings with medium texture and slowly turn up the graphics to see if your CPU can handle higher graphics. Low / med textures is what makes my game run like the original sc2 without this lag freeze / bug whatever you want to call it that started during HoTs or Lotv. I know this freeze wasn't around in Wings for me.

Follow the instructions on this video I found on youtube and it works! You can fast forward the beginning he starts slow. You just need to open sc2 minimize go to task manager every time you load SC2. I have been doing this for over 3 months on my pc daily with no adverse effects. Sometimes I will keep sc2 running for hours so I don't have to minimize and set affinity again. No Lag, no stutter, no freeze. Now on the comments of the youtube video or on forums you may hear this is not good for a computer? If a computer engineer in this forum says this will harm your machine in any way I am not arguing their expertise, however let me tell you I have had no adverse effects on my machine in any way by doing this. This machine is my SC2 machine if it doesnt run SC2 the way I want then... then what do I do with it? Hope this answers your question. Good luck see you on the ladder.



saltis
Profile Joined September 2012
159 Posts
September 03 2017 17:56 GMT
#19
On September 03 2017 13:53 Electricalthicket wrote:
Hi Saltis,

Welcome back. I am a long time TL lurker and I created this new account just because I saw your post ... I have your solution. To anyone else with this problem, don't thank me, thank this youtube video creater! I am running a 1st gen i5 650 3.2 ghz and after using the tip on this youtube video I have had success running sc2 with 0 stutter while trying with a few different video cards using this CPU.

I found that by (setting affinity) after initial load up of SC2 it helped my pc run SC2 without the 1 - 3 second freeze at the menu, without the freeze at ~ 35 seconds in the game and without the freeze every 5 minutes during 1v1 ladder. My suggestion is to try this and start with low settings with medium texture and slowly turn up the graphics to see if your CPU can handle higher graphics. Low / med textures is what makes my game run like the original sc2 without this lag freeze / bug whatever you want to call it that started during HoTs or Lotv. I know this freeze wasn't around in Wings for me.

Follow the instructions on this video I found on youtube and it works! You can fast forward the beginning he starts slow. You just need to open sc2 minimize go to task manager every time you load SC2. I have been doing this for over 3 months on my pc daily with no adverse effects. Sometimes I will keep sc2 running for hours so I don't have to minimize and set affinity again. No Lag, no stutter, no freeze. Now on the comments of the youtube video or on forums you may hear this is not good for a computer? If a computer engineer in this forum says this will harm your machine in any way I am not arguing their expertise, however let me tell you I have had no adverse effects on my machine in any way by doing this. This machine is my SC2 machine if it doesnt run SC2 the way I want then... then what do I do with it? Hope this answers your question. Good luck see you on the ladder.





That's a great post, thank you very much.
Appreciate that you took your time and even created an account to help somebody. That's very kind of you.
Electricalthicket
Profile Joined September 2017
2 Posts
September 03 2017 21:33 GMT
#20
You're welcome!
Please log in or register to reply.
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