CPU
Priority
You
can improve Application/Game performance further by changing its CPU priority.
Changing the priority of a process can make it run faster or slower (Depending
on whether you raise or lower the priority), but it can also
adversely affect the performance of other running processes. You should also be
aware that increasing the CPU priority might lead to reduced
system stability while playing the game. Lower the CPU priority by one if
you find this to be the case, e.g. From Realtime back to High.
There
are 2 ways you can do this.
-
Open
the directory where you have your game installed, e.g. D:\Voyager Elite
Force. Create a New Text Document. Now open this text file
& add the following lines.
echo
off
start
/priority game.exe
Replace
priority with the desired CPU priority (realtime, high or abovenormal
for best performance). Replace game.exe with the executable file for the
game, e.g. stvoy.exe. Save the text file & close it. NOTE – You may
need to place the game.exe in between “” should you find a spaces in
the exe’s name, e.g. Unreal Tournament.exe. For titles like this use
the following command line start /priority “game.exe”.
Now
click on Start, Settings, Control Panel. Open Folder
Options, then the View tab. Untick the setting Hide file
extension for known file types. & select Apply. You must rename
the text file now & its file extension, most important being the file
extension, rename it to game.bat or something similar, most
important is the .bat file extension. Once this change is made the icon
for the file will change;
To
open it right click on it & select Edit. You may now restore your
Folder Options settings.
Below is the game.bat I’d use for launching
Voyager Elite Force.
echo
off
start
/realtime stvoy.exe
Now
you can launch the game via this game.bat file to load it with a higher
CPU priority. NOTE – The game.bat file must be placed in
the game directory for this to work, although there is no need to enter the game
directory into the game.bat file at all.
-
This
next method allows for greater control of CPU priority. Load the
Application/Game, again in this example Voyager Elite Force. Now press ALT
– TAB simultaneously to be dropped back to the Windows desktop. Now
right click on the Taskbar & select Task Manager, then the
Processes tab.
Now
right click on the game.exe & select Set Priority. Then select
the CPU Priority you wish to give it. Set it above Normal
to give it a higher CPU priority, which can improve performance & vice
versa.
You
should note that some games also use an ICD too, so you may want to increase the
CPU priority for this too, e.g. as shown above I’ve set the priority for stvoy.exe
& STVOY.ICD to Realtime.
Again,
press ALT – TAB to re-enter the game, albeit with the CPU
priority changed. Performance improves from changing the CPU priority can vary,
although the performance improvement will be greater should you have multiple
background programs running.
