FAQ's

Q1. Race Driver Grid will not run on my mullti-core CPU PC

Q2. Why does Farcry 2 "stutter" when I run it?

Q3. Does MS Flight Simulator X use more than one core?

Q4. How do I stop Dead Space continuously spinning?

Q5. Will you be running any game servers?

Q6. I have upgraded/installed Windows 7 and now some games will not start.

 

A1. Race Driver Grid does not like running on a CPU that has more than two cores.  This includes the Core i7 CPU's from Intel with their built in Hyperhreading.  To overcome this you need to edit the following two files:-

 

*hardware_settings_config.xml
*hardware_settings_restrictions.xml
 

In the config.xml file you need to change "False" into "True" in the section:-      

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <hardware_settings_config version="39" > <cpu> <threadStrategy parallelUpdateRender="false" workerMapFile="system/workerMap.xml" forceFeedbackProcessor="0" dvdStorageProcessor="0" dataSetMonitorProcessor="0" renderProcessor="0" updateProcessor="0" fileStreamProcessor="0"/> </cpu>

Then close and save the file.
 

In the restrictions.xml change all "2.s" into your core number (In the case of Core i7 this should be set to "8".  If an AMD Phenom it should be set to "4" as should a Core 2 Quad CPU)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <hardware_settings_restrictions> <cpu> <restrict_info> <restrict_if name="cores" op="int_eq" value="8"> <restrict_add> <threadStrategy parallelUpdateRender="true" workerMapFile="system/workerMap2Core.xml" forceFeedbackProcessor="1" dvdStorageProcessor="1" dataSetMonitorProcessor="0" renderProcessor="0" updateProcessor="1" fileStreamProcessor="1" /> </restrict_add> </restrict_if> <restrict_if name="cores" op="int_eq" value="8"> <restrict_add> <threadStrategy parallelUpdateRender="true" workerMapFile="system/workerMap2Core.xml" forceFeedbackProcessor="1" dvdStorageProcessor="1" dataSetMonitorProcessor="0" renderProcessor="0" updateProcessor="1" fileStreamProcessor="1" /> </restrict_add> </restrict_if> <restrict_if name="cores" op="int_eq" value="8"> <restrict_add> <threadStrategy parallelUpdateRender="true" workerMapFile="system/workerMap4Core.xml" forceFeedbackProcessor="3" dvdStorageProcessor="3" dataSetMonitorProcessor="1" renderProcessor="0" updateProcessor="2" fileStreamProcessor="3" /> </restrict_add> </restrict_if> <restrict_if name="cores" op="int_eq" value="8"> <restrict_add> <threadStrategy parallelUpdateRender="true" workerMapFile="system/workerMap4Core.xml" forceFeedbackProcessor="3" dvdStorageProcessor="3" dataSetMonitorProcessor="1" renderProcessor="0" updateProcessor="2" fileStreamProcessor="3" /> </restrict_add> </restrict_if> <restrict_if name="cores" op="int_eq" value="8"> <restrict_add> <threadStrategy parallelUpdateRender="true" workerMapFile="system/workerMap4Core.xml" forceFeedbackProcessor="3" dvdStorageProcessor="3" dataSetMonitorProcessor="1" renderProcessor="0" updateProcessor="2" fileStreamProcessor="3" /> </restrict_add> </restrict_if> <restrict_if name="cores" op="int_eq" value="8"> <threadStrategy parallelUpdateRender="true" workerMapFile="system/workerMap4Core.xml" forceFeedbackProcessor="3" dvdStorageProcessor="3" dataSetMonitorProcessor="1" renderProcessor="0" updateProcessor="2" fileStreamProcessor="3" /> </restrict_add> </restrict_if> <restrict_if name="cores" op="int_ge" value="48"> <restrict_add> <threadStrategy parallelUpdateRender="true" workerMapFile="system/workerMap8Core.xml" forceFeedbackProcessor="3" dvdStorageProcessor="4" dataSetMonitorProcessor="5" renderProcessor="0" updateProcessor="2" fileStreamProcessor="7" /> </restrict_add> </restrict_if>

 

Then save this file and play the game.

 

A2. if you are suffering "stuttering" while playing this game in DX10 mode you need to limit the FPS to 30 or below.  To do this you need to open a console session by hitting the "~" key and typing "gfx_maxfps30".  By all means experiment with different figures but we have found that the higher the setting above 30 the more ”stuttering" starts to make it's felt. 

A3. Microsoft Flight Simulator X does not use more than one core of a multi-core CPU unless you have purchased and installed The Flight Simulator X Service Pack 1.  http://www.fsinsider.com/downloads/pages/flightsimulatorxservicepack1.aspx  This enables Multi-Threading  support, although in most cases you will not see more than two cores utilised.  The optimisation effectively allowed the CPU to pass all texture processing on to one core, with the rest of the processing needed to run the program on another core.  As the MSFS development team have now been disbanded by Microsoft it is unlikely that there will be further multi-threading development.

A4.The Spinning is caused because the game is miss-reading inputs from attached game controllers.  Either unplug any USB controllers and restart Dead Space or create an empty text file called  "joypad_example.txt" (without the quotes" and saving it in the following location. "Documents\Electronic Arts\Dead Space"

A5.Yes we will be.  We are in the process of setting up the hardware to host some online games.  Keep an eye on the forums for news and announcements

A6.There could be a few reasons why your game will not run, but assuming that it "should" run (that is;  it is supported), it is possible that the copy protection (DRM) is not.  This issue affects Starforce games in particular.  Only the latest Starforce drivers are compatible with Windows 7.  As most of us just install a game and never bother about the DRM system; we will be running the version that came with the game until the end of time.

Now Windows 7 is very good about blocking the installation of non-supported drivers (quite rightly.  There's nothing worse than installing your favourite game and Windows BSODing at the first re-start)  and stripping un-supported drivers out if you are carying out an upgrade.  Once this happens your Starforce protected game will refuse to start.  There is an update utility on the Starforce website along with instructions for updating the various versions, available here:-  http://www.star-force.com/support/drivers/   However.....all the utilities on that page refer to "updating" the Starforce drivers.  If you are running Windows 7 you will not have any Starforce drivers on your system (remember, Windows 7 refuses to install them or strips them out of an upgrade?) so the upgrade utility cannot find any drivers to update, so can't!

It appears the only way to rectify this is to install a recent game that is Starforce protected as the latest versions are Windows