Stopping window lag via blocking constant INI file writes

Ziggy · Post by **Ziggy** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:00 am

Whenever you do anything with the EQ UI, your UI_Player_server.ini file is completely written from scratch.

While not noticable on a lot of systems, for some (myself included) this can cause a very noticable lag when opening windows, picking up items, inspecting item links. Indeed anything at all that changes the state of some window in the UI.

The minimum delay I get on any UI operation at all is about 1/10th second. In my book, this is a long time, and entirely unnecessary.

Combine this with windows' file caching and untimely (often when invis about to break) write flushing, you can find yourself waiting several seconds, especially when memory is at a premium in zones like NC, WoS, MPG and such like.

My question is:

Is there any way to stop this updating happening so damned often?

I'd like to limit ini file saving to when I camp. And in a perfect world, I'd like pink bunnies to sing and dance while this happens. But I'll settle for just the first thing.

dedpoet · Post by **dedpoet** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 10:46 am

I have been having this exact problem for quite a while, and even started a thread on it here last month. I ended up letting my eqclient.ini recreate itself and that fixed my problem, but only for a very short time. A month later, it's as bad as it was when I made my post.

Several of the suggestions in that thread involve sound or insufficient hardware, but that is definitely not my issue. I don't have the beefiest machine out there, but it's an Athlon 2000, 1gig RAM, 7200 RPM drive, Radeon 9800 pro - it's not struggling to play EQ. Your suggestion that this is a problem with INI file writing is intriguing to me, and would help explain why a fresh INI file might reduce the problem for a short time. I'm very curious to see where this discussion goes.

shuttle · Post by **shuttle** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:21 am

one of the things that was causing my problems like this in the past was my virus program. I told it not to scan the eqgame.exe process and a lot of my issues like this went away. This does not prevent the writing of the INI file, but it does get written without the virus protection scanning it every time.

shuttle

aChallenged1 · Post by **aChallenged1** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 1:17 pm

Yes AV can cause problems with anything that has to be written each time.

If it is possible, set up your EQ directory to be totally ignored by the autoscanner, this should fix part of your problem, since each time your files are changed due to opening and closing the AV is looking at them.

blueninja · Post by **blueninja** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 2:05 pm

Try setting the ini file to readonly?

aChallenged1 · Post by **aChallenged1** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 2:20 pm

It will get changed back to read/write or just be deleted and replaced.

I know what I described above works with Norton, can't say about others.

mackster · Post by **mackster** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 6:37 pm

I thought it was just me that had this problem. I'm not running anti virus software when I play EQ, but I still get this. It's a minor annoyance but it sure sucks when you want to swap out gear in a hurry.

Ziggy · Post by **Ziggy** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 8:22 pm

Ok. thanks for tip. That is indeed where the slowdown was coming from.

Using el cheapo AVG thing, so turned off document checking for now and it's zipping along quickly again for me.

Weeee

cronic · Post by **cronic** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 8:48 pm

Short of detouring the functions that call the INI read/write routines and changing the peristance medium, I don't think there's anything you could do about that.

cronic

Virtuoso65 · Post by **Virtuoso65** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 11:54 am

You should defrag and scandisc your HD if simple read/writes are causing slowdown for you. If this doesnt solve it then you have bigger problems looming like a failing HD.

Ziggy · Post by **Ziggy** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 12:38 pm

No. It was the virus scanner. Nothing more sinister.

Changed a simple file write into massive virus database lookup per mouse click... uggh

guy · Post by **guy** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 4:17 pm

you said you used AVG? Did just turning it off help? I play with AVG off but I still get pretty bad bag-lag in some zones. Could it be because I have texture caching on or is my computer just doomed to suck.

Ziggy · Post by **Ziggy** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 5:23 pm

Texture caching has done nothing since they gave us the DX9 engine.

It's not zone lag I had. It was any UI actions, clicking windows, opening bags, picking up items in the UI and such.

Didn't help my sucky zone times or my sucky framerate in raids :)

Anyway. Didn't need to turn off the whole AVG deal. Just disable document scanning.

I'm using AVG Free 7.0.3. Double click AVG resident shield icon in system tray. Double click AVG Resident Shield thing in the list of active scanners. Make sure Scan documents is turned off.

guy · Post by **guy** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 2:28 am

thanks. I'm not getting zone lag either, It's just that the lag I get from manipulating items in outdoor zones sucks.

Virtuoso65 · Post by **Virtuoso65** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:59 am

I noticed something strange, as soon as I stopped using IE I stopped having problems with virus and spy ware. Running a background AVG program is imo a bit overkill. If you are having that many problems with virus etc then maybe its something your doing.

If you are not using FireFox then I would suggest you give it a shot. It doesnt work 100% for all sites but for the majority I check there are no problems. With the ability to totally deny popup's and other crap you never really have to worry about IE's innate ability to auto accept downloads.