Run WoW Faster

[Vandit]

So it has been going around that if windows media player is running in the background of WoW, that it actually makes WoW run faster (Not sure if they mean by higher fps, better ping, or just faster game speed), but I tried it, and noticed a little bit of a jump in my fps, as well as a dip in my ping. Although my computer is pretty good, I would like someone with a less than average comp to test it out =] Let me know how it goes

[treyska]

going to test.. although I have 2GB ram, so a difference may not be noticeable.

my guess is that in order to compensate for having two video programs open at the same time, your video driver lowers the quality settings for both of the programs, and focuses more on speed.

so, i'm thinking that it may not make a difference if you already have all of your ingame graphic-intense settings disabled and/or lowered, because your driver won't need to change anything.

[saagdawg]

lol it worked...

[qwertyuiopqazwsx]

I faced a wall in orgrimmar when no-one was around, and I had 51 to 53 FPS...I put Windows media player on and now im at 43 to 46 ..doesnt work for me

[badbrain]

hmm... i allways play with the mediaplayer on^^
well i have around 300 fps so i dont think it whuld effect that mutch

[GanjalfTheGreen]

doesn't work for me either i used to use WMP to play my music and ever since i started using foobar wow runs a lot better but then again my computer is getting old

[w21froster]

hehe works
+rep

[Vandit]

hehe works
+rep

Nice! Thanks for the +rep that you did not give me!

[Scoops]

Original topics:

Original (WoW-Europe):
WoW-Europe.com Forums -> Performance BOOST ! check THIS out !

First time posted on WoW-US forums:
WoW Forums -> WindowsMediaPlayer INCREASES WoW Performance!

Posting this not only to give credit to the original finder of this, but also so people can see others results...

[Vandit]

Original topics:

Original (WoW-Europe):
WoW-Europe.com Forums -> Performance BOOST ! check THIS out !

First time posted on WoW-US forums:
WoW Forums -> WindowsMediaPlayer INCREASES WoW Performance!

Posting this not only to give credit to the original finder of this, but also so people can see others results...

Oh thanks! Yeah this was NOT my find. I just heard people talking about it in chat, and tried it myself.

[Scoops]

Oh thanks! Yeah this was NOT my find. I just heard people talking about it in chat, and tried it myself.

+Rep for bringing it here, nice to see others results, just threw those out there so people here know where to look to see plenty of confirmations of this working and the mechanic behind how this works.

[Scoops]

Also heres a bit of Copypasta for you guys:

No, it's definitely just due to processor timings being altered and refusing to give up priorities.

You can emulate this also by opening up certain websites.

There's a config.wtf edit that will change your timings manually so you can get those benefits without having to have some other program open eating some of your system resources:

SET timingMethod "1"

There are three variables: 0, 1, 2. Try 2 if 1 does not give you satisfactory results.

Done some testing to see what exactly this command does.

/console timingmethod X

This command appears to be used to assign a particular core for WoW to use as it's primary core, and also to designate that you are indeed running on a dual core cpu.

Adjusting this setting will adjust the amount of CPU WoW will use.

0 (Default) - WoW used 35% of total cpu.
1 - WoW used 55% of total cpu, with the majority of work being on Core 1.
2 - WoW used 55% of total cpu, with the majority of work being on Core 2.

I talked about this to a friend of mine who's a Microsoft engineer. His response:

(...)
this is because media player is the only app known today that uses the MMCSS stuff
it elevates the priority of threads in a process registered with MMSCS to the realtime level which cannot be done by an app itself
only the MMCSS (a system component) can do that magic
it's a bug because obviously that leaked to WoW
it will starve the crap out of anything running in the background

Multimedia Class Scheduler Service (Windows)

***

Translation: Your computer usually reserves a certain % of the CPU for background applications. Having WMP opened changes this behavior and allocates all available CPU to WoW. Little to no CPU time will be given to background applications and services, therefore increasing WoW performance.

Just a little extra info of the mechanics of the whole thing...

[theriver43]

running windows media player allows your computer to run at high-res...
i'm not 100% sure what this means, but i used it when i ran a dedicated Counter-Strike: Source server...improves FPS greatly!

[Scoops]

running windows media player allows your computer to run at high-res...
i'm not 100% sure what this means, but i used it when i ran a dedicated Counter-Strike: Source server...improves FPS greatly!

That seems similar to what the last person I quoted said in my last post...

Something about WMP allowing things to run at realtime, a setting you are not allowed to enable yourself.

Go to task manager, go under the processes tab, right click on an item and select "realtime", once you click yes on the prompt that comes up, another will come up saying that it set it to "high" rather than "realtime"

That goes to show that there may be some truth in that last quote, WMP essentially sets WoW to "Realtime" throwing all your processing power at it and starving all other appliances.

[suicidity]

Guys this is NOTHING new. This has been around since early 98'. It's called Ping Boosting, and if you have ever rented or ran a Half-life series or Source series server You would know what this is. It basically changes the system timings. Making things more responsive. Its used to add to a server's FPS ratings, which make a server faster. There are micro programs out that do the exact same thing, without having to run WMP.