Tech - Pc help -w- 5th account (1 Viewer)

[arcburn]

Currently I have been running 4 accounts using Kissassist on eq live servers and have been having a great time with it . Yesterday I get this idea that I might as well make a heroic cleric to join my group of 4 ( considering I pay more monthly in bale marks to keep the merc cleric up then another monthly sub would cost me ) So now im up to running a group of 5 . As soon as I added a 5th toon now everything has slowed way down on my system and seems im at my limit with what I can do , I lowered the graphics in the eq options ( which I don't want to do ) now they all run but it isn't the same with the lowered graphics im using . I would rather not buy a 2nd computer to run one or 2 accounts with so is there something I could possibly upgrade on my system that would work out so I could run all 5 accounts at full settings ?

Clone PC
win 8.1
intel core i5 4670 @ 3.40ghz
Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 2048mb
16 GB ram 1333mhz
SSD drive

 

[scotsbiker]

I was gona say more memory but you run twice i do.

with that set up it should run 5 accounts with ease. i run an i5 with 8 meg and a gtx650, and usually have at least 7 accounts and sometimes 12 running, and box 8 on my other comp which has even lower stats with out much problem.

Alth sometimes esp in Lobby it can get slow to almost impossible,only thing i turn off is spell effects as they give me migraine anyway

 

[playj]

You should have no problems running even more chars than this. I have a similar i5 4590 which does just fine with 10 instances.

Open up Task Manager with Ctrl-Shift-Esc and use More Details view.

See how much each instance eqgame.exe is using of cpu it should not be more than 10%. It is possibly you might need to edit CPUaffinity setting in your eqclient.ini file.

You can also use this to track down other programs that hurt performance or are just plain unneedeed. I like to run my bots lean and mean and I even cut down on search indexer

Download HWmonitor from CPUID: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

This will show you bunch of interesting info about your hardware but most importantly will show you GPU utilization (at the very bottom). It should not be over 90% and on your GPU should be under 50%.

One simple thing you can do lower the load on GPU is use /viewport command, I like to use /viewport 0 0 320 240 on my alts. It gives me just enough visibility to see what is going on(just like old DOS games) and GREATLY reduces my GPU load and temperatures.
Here is an old thread on this: https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index.php?threads/the-viewport-command.28696/
There is a MQ2 plugin (which sadly RG has not compiled) which automatically makes /viewport 0 0 1 1 to all background MQ sessions and then /viewport reset
You can imitate this plugin with hotkeys.

Then you need to decide what FPS limiter you are going to use, there is one built in EQ through video options, there is one in WinEQ and then there is MQ2FPS plugin. My understanding is that you only want to run one at a time and that Sony's FPS limiter is pretty decent so that is what I use(i disable the WinEQ one and do not use MQ2FPS). I just set frame rate to 10 when minimized and 60 when maximized.

Ultimately, what you would want to do is have two EQ installations, one with all the bells and whistles and graphics effects for your main, and then a second one with most options turned off for your alts. This would be just two EQ directories (can simply copy files and then adjust settings).

Oh I also use Stickfigures=1 on alts, but that is because I find it funny. It helps graphics a bit too. Most people just disable unneeded Luclin models.

Here is one resource with tips on optimization: http://forums.eqfreelance.net/index.php?topic=2958.0

Here is another post on optimization for an emu server but should be applicable for most things on live servers: http://ezserveronline.com/forums/index.php?topic=2988.0

 

[Pyrochaser]

Having recently built my PC I can say that most modern setups should be able to handle no less than 5 instances of EQ if they have a decent graphics card and enough RAM to handle all the clients. If you are in need of PC parts etc there is a great website that I use that helps you choose parts, what websites are offering what deals, as well as if all the parts selected are compatible with all the other parts. Pretty amazing PC building site, it will even tell you if your case has enough space for your water cooling unit, wattage for parts, and fans etc. So if you get in a bind and need a bit more gusto check here for parts. PC Part Picker

Otherwise defintely go with playj's recommendations for limiting!

 

[arcburn]

Thanks much for the quick reply what I finally did was firstly got myself isboxer pro ( which is a pretty neat program in itself ) . I set up 4 instances on one monitor and 1 on the other limiting the FPS to 30 on the 4 toons and 60 on the main box , also I set up each toon on round robin so each will have its own cpu core . I then turned off all luclin models except for ogre I just love the ogre models . I downloaded the HWMoniter software and its telling me my GPU utilization is at 75% with everything running . So all in all it seems pretty good now just a min ago I had all 4 toons /stick onto me and I ran em all over PoK and never lost 1 so seems to be doing much better now . thanks again for the help

 

[Throaks]

This might be obvious but I disable voice chat in EQ as it eats up a huge amount of ram.

 

[ego_death]

i had the same problem when i first started running more then 4 toons. What i did to fix the problem was turn off shadows and any lighting in the advanced display options. I can now run 10 instances easy with no hiccups or lag at all. (in any zone) Just turning off shadows on each account, i guarantee you will see 1000% improvement.

 

[Maskoi]

ya shadows super cpu gpu hog. good call