XP auto use only one processor for an application

[james438]

Hi,

I am playing a game on Windows XP SP3 (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II) and like many programs it tries to make use of both processors when running. This causes problems for the game so every time I run the game I need to do a Ctrl+Alt+Del and set the affinity to one processor or the other in oder to keep the game from getting "jumpy".

Is there a way to cause the game to only make use of a one processor instead of both automatically?

[djr33]

I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if you can only set a systemwide default. Perhaps you could look into making a macro for launching it?

[james438]

maybe, I am not sure how to do that though. I'll look into it.

[james438]

I don't know much about macros, but I think I found a solution to the problem.

After much toying around and researching I came up with a few solutions.

Priority Master 2009 (http://download.cnet.com/Priority-Master-2009/3000-2094_4-10971960.html?tag=mncol) is a program that will allow you to set the affinity among many other things. I downloaded it and discovered that it is free and then $13 to buy after 15 days even though it is listed as one of the free (not free to try) downloads from cnet. I set the affinity and then uninstalled the program. The affinity was maintained even after the Priority Master 2009 program was uninstalled. The "bad" news is that I can't alter the default affinity anymore for that program, which is fine I guess since it now operates better.

Other options include ImageCFG (http://www.robpol86.com/index.php/ImageCFG) which many sites rave about, but honestly I was not able to get this simple utility to work. If I were able to get this to work then any program that I apply it to would have its affinity permanently set to one processor or another. I am somewhat wary of "permanent"

I looked at links that discussed altering the registry, but decided against it as it was a little more involved than I wanted.

The most useful thread --> here (http://www.osnn.net/pc-gaming/84376-dual-core-gaming-fix-guide.html) discusses a wide range of solutions for the handling of older games on multicore systems.

It was here that I found a simple little program called win2000 Launcher 1.5.2 (http://www.majorgeeks.com/Win2000_Launcher_d438.html) that allows me to set the priority of any program. It's simple and also allows me to set the priority and is not permanent and it works.