Lag Tutorial
NEWSFLASH
I
have just learned that the Missionary programmer
is currently
working on an improved feature that
will
examine your computer and shutdown Services
you
don't need during gameplay and then restart
them for
you when you exit the game. As I
understand, the
new feature is very close to
release.
In the interim, IF you would like to know a little
more
about the SERVICES aspect of your
computer, read
on…..
==============ØDISCLAIMER×==============
The
following information is intended for your
Consideration ONLY!
All opinions
expressed are mine and mine alone.
I am NOT affiliated
in any way with Microsoft,
the developer of the MISSIONARY program, the
"iamnotageek" Website or ANY
of their products
or affiliates. I will
not be held liable for any
consequence incurred by any action taken based
on any of the content below.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK
Ø=========================================×
Concerns about Missionary:
These are genuine concerns about migrating to
Missionary and I would like to try to address some
of
them.
A lot of discussion seems to be about problems
being
induced by the Missionary program and
even some
comments about Missionary "messing
up"
your computer. Quite simply stated, when
installed and
configured correctly, Missionary
runs
without mishap. ANY program, if installed,
configured or
operated incorrectly will almost
certainly
cause your computer to exhibit
unusual
behavior, up to and including Locking
Up or "Crashing".
I would like to start by saying that if everyone
experienced
the same degradation of performance
that
is attributed to Missionary, it would not be
such a
popular program. There is an entire
MISSIONARY Community that is using it because
it provides
a "CHEAT FREE" gaming experience.
Additionally, there is information provided with
the
Missionary Program. MANY of the problems
encountered
would be non-existent if the
manuals
were read and applied.
O.K. Off my soapbox and on with
the article.
Computer Requirements:
Some believe that only those with "high
end"
computers
can use the program without suffering
the
dreaded LAG anomaly. That is NOT
correct.
I am told there is one player using a 386/66 with
Windows 98 that plays without lag. Admittedly,
he
is playing Allied Assault, but that sort of
negates the "high end" computer requirement.
Loading Time:
One of the concerns is that "It takes soooo long
to load up and get into the game." YES, it can
take
from
1
to 5 minutes to get into the game.
Sometimes even longer depending on how many
mandatory
programs are required for download.
Generally I am in the game is under 2 minutes.
Considering I am planning on playing a couple
of
hours, 2 minutes is not too great a price to pay
to
insure EVERYONE has access to the same skins
I'm using, the same sights, sound mods, maps and
NO CHEATERS!!
To date, Missionary has stopped
EVERY attempt to bypass the checks and
CHEAT.
That is a major accomplishment in its self.
Reduced FPS:
There is an EXCELLENT article concerning
Frames Per Second (FPS) on the
Invisible
Warriors
website. It provides an explanation of
Frames Per Second and
possible methods to
correct
poor performance. I highly recommend
you
download and read it.
Click here to go to the
download site
It seems the largest concern appears to be the
LAG encountered when running Missionary!
LAG:
Before starting this section I would like to
provide my
definition of LAG.
LAG: A brief
suspension of activity during
the
normal operation of a program, usually
exhibited by
everything seeming to "Freeze".
Based on that description, the following is my
explanation
of what I understand causes this
anomaly when
encountered after installing
Missionary and some possible methods of
reducing/preventing
it.
When Missionary starts, it assumes control of your
computer
and all resources. Particularly the
central
processor. Virtually every command your
processor
executes AFTER Missionary starts is
examined. This includes ALL services started,
(your computer needs some
of these to operate,
but
not all) and programs, (these can be legitimate
programs,
or spy ware starting or already running on
your computer). Those that demand a large
quantity of
resources, or try to connect to the
internet, will
cause Missionary to produce the
appearance
of LAG.
The next obvious question is "How do I know
which Processes I need?" and "How Do I turn
them off, and then back on again?". That
can be
a very complex
issue, but suffice to say that each
computer
system has many similar programs that
must
be running in order to keep it stable.
By the
same
token, every operating system is different
and
the programs you have loaded on your system
will
almost certainly be different for everyone
else's.
So, lets start with the ones that are similar and
then
discuss a way to look at your background
services
and determine which ones you can
safely
disable during game play.
For the purposes of this discussion, we will
concentrate
on the Microsoft Windows XP family
of
Operating systems. Specifically, XP Home
Edition with Service Pack 1. (You can determine
the
Operating System you are using by right
clicking
on My Computer and selecting
Properties.
There are several methods of finding out which
programs
are running in the background on your
computer. We will try to explain 2 of them here.
They should be used in conjunction with each
other. The first is via the use of Task
Manager.
Task Manager:
It is not the purpose to teach how to use Task
Manager, but rather to use the information it
provides
to our advantage. For an in depth
review
of Task Manager click
here.
Task Manager may be easily opened by placing
your
cursor in an empty area on the task bar at
the
bottom of your screen and right clicking.
Then select Task Manager. If you haven't made
any
changes to Task Manager, you will notice
5 Tabs on the top of the program window with
"Processes" already selected. In the large
white
viewable area you will see the executable
file
names of all the processes that are
currently
running. These is also information
about "who owns" the process, how much
"CPU" time is being used by the process
and
how
much memory is being used. (There are
many
other columns available to show
additional
information. but the above list is
the "Default" configuration.)
The files shown are the actual files that have
been
executed and are currently running on your
computer. Unfortunately, they don’t give any
indication
as to which ones can be safely shut
down
and the file names are cryptic at best.
The following link
I am not a geek
is a
web site that describes the programs that
Windows uses and provides an indication of
what
the files do. The above link takes you
to
the description for the file "svchost.exe." Scroll
to
the bottom of the webpage to find other files
Windows uses. Select one you are interested in
learning
more about and you will be taken to the
page
that describes it. The bottom of each
page
is
identical so you can easily review all the files
without
having to return to the first screen.
To learn about files that are
NOT windows files,
I suggest you type in the file name complete
with extender
(the 3 letters after the period)
and
do a search on Yahoo or Google. It will
take a
little work but it is well worth knowing
what
is running on your computer.
Services:
The second method of learning what is running on
your computer is by examining the "Services" option.
It is located under the Administrative Tools section
in
Control Panel. When you open Services,
you are
presented
with a split window. The extreme left
column contains
location of the Service and will
probably
be the only heading in the column unless
you
are running on a network. It will then contain the
location
of other Services that your computer uses.
The column on the right is the one we are really
interested in. Again, unless you have changed the
default
configuration, you will notice from the tab
on
the bottom of the window that you are in the
"extended" area
of the window. On the top you
will
notice several named columns beginning with
Name, and followed by Description, Status, Startup
Type and finally Log On
As.
When you click on a name in the "Name"
column, a
description of the "Service" is displayed just to the
left
of the columns. Many of the
"Services" are
common
to the Windows XP family of Operating
Systems but be aware, there are some differences.
The following link is a copy of the information
contained
on my computer and is presented for
description
only. I changed the format slightly to
show
the information a bit more conveniently. For
instance,
if you are using a different Anti-Virus
program
than I am, you will see it's name in your
list. Also,
I included a column with the name of
the
file that is associated with the service.
You
may
find that information by right clicking on the
name
of the Service you are curious about and
selecting "Properties". You will find
the file name
under "Path
to executable:" Since the "Log
On As"
is self
explanatory, it doesn't have it's own column.
Click for my Services
Description
This is where your part comes in. You will need to
examine
the Services currently running on your
computer
and determine which ones you want to
shut
down during game play. Obviously, the
ones
that
would start any program that tries to connect
to
the Internet should receive the highest scrutiny.
Closely followed by those that utilize Network
resources. And then any that obviously don't need
to
operate while you are playing the game.
About now you are probably saying "You mean I
need
to do this EVERYTIME I want to run
Missionary?". Actually, No. There is a feature
provided
by Missionary that allows you to
automatically
stop and start Services. It is
found
on the main window under Tools/Utilities.
Tools/Utilities:
When you click on the Tools/Utilities button, a
window
opens offering you several choices. The
first
is to select the Stop/Start feature. When
you
place your cursor over it and leave it for a
while,
a dropdown window appears offering the
ability
to select the option, edit the Stop list,
and/or edit
the start list. If you choose the Edit
either
the Stop or Start list, a screen opens
showing
you a list of Services already installed.
These are some of the more common ones and
should
be reviewed and corrected to match
your computers
requirements. I am not sure
how
your system will react if you choose to try
stopping and
starting Services that are not on
your
computer. My suggestion would be to
make
sure the items in the list applied to your
system.
From here you are sort of own your own. I hope
this
has been of help in understanding WHY it
seems that Missionary is the cause of your LAG,
and
what you can do to help alleviate it.
If I may be of any assistance, please contact me
on
TeamSpeak and I will try to help.
As with EVERYTHING above
Use at your own risk
