Guide to Configuring FSAutoStart

[HomeBoy 1]

Here's another guide.

 

This one describes how to use FSAutoStart to suspend programs and services from running while gaming. I have successfully trimmed my running processes down from about 55 to 28 while the game is running.

 

Makes a huge difference.

[themightysrc 5]

Hi Homeboy,

 

That looks like absolute gold for people like me whose systems gasp a bit when running OFF. Thank you very much indeed for the link - I'll be butchering my processes later.

 

One quick thought - do you have a list of those processes you've already excised? That would be helpful (assuming you're running XP, that is...).

 

Cheers,

 

Si

Edited April 9, 2009 by themightysrc

[HomeBoy 1]

Hi Homeboy,

 

That looks like absolute gold for people like me whose systems gasp a bit when running OFF. Thank you very much indeed for the link - I'll be butchering my processes later.

 

One quick thought - do you have a list of those processes you've already excised? That would be helpful (assuming you're running XP, that is...).

 

Cheers,

 

Si

 

My original plan was to do that. However, when I looked at my list, it consisted of two parts. The first part is the OS services which Black Viper deals with very well. The other part is programs that are going to be different on everybody's machine. For example, I have services for my UPS, sound card things (volume control, sound console, etc.), various services dealing with my video card and particular monitor type. Then there are services that are unique to my motherboard. None of those are anything that would probably help you much.

 

It's not as daunting as it may sound though. Just work through Viper's "safe" list and that will cover the OS stuff. As for the others, set them all to "stop & restart" (except for ones you know you don't want to lose like UPS, etc.) and see what happens. Turn them back on one by one as needed. It's really not that bad. Worth it too. You'll have you a lean and mean machine when you're all done. You'll be able to brag to all the other folks on your block saying to them "My PC can beat up your PC!"

 

Good luck. Let us know how you do. (How many processes you started out with and how many you end up with).

 

BTW, that little TrackIR priority trick really works too. You outta give that a go as well.

Edited April 9, 2009 by HomeBoy

[themightysrc 5]

Hi HB,

 

I'll have a crack at it later at home - I don't have TrackIR (boo! hiss!) - but i'm guessing that ditching much of the stuff crowding Program Manager's process list will unleash the beast in my PC.

 

Hurrah and thanks!

 

Si

[HomeBoy 1]

Well duh! I've just been informed that Ken Salter has not disappeared but is back (as of March 2008) with a sequel to FSAutoStart called AlacrityPC. Where the heck have I been? Sheesh!

 

I've looked at the user manual and it looks really good but haven't tried it out yet. It truly is a sequel to FSAutoStart but provides some automatic configuration, ties directly into Black Viper's web site, and supports Vista. I can't wait to try it out.

 

The basics of my configuration guide are not exactly obsolete though all references to FSAutoStart certainly are. Expect an updated guide soon.

 

I certainly recommend trying AlacrityPC as it looks to be everything FSAutoStart is and more. Nice to know Ken is still around. This is as good a free program as you'll ever find.

 

Ken's web site: http://alacritypc.kensalter.com/

 

BTW, his site has a "Donate" button. I always wanted to donate for FSAutoStart but his link had been broken for a long time. Once I'm sure AlacrityPC is going to work out as I'm sure it will, I'm planning to drop $20 in his account for his hard work. I hope you may follow suit. It really is worth it!

 

Regards

-mark

Edited April 9, 2009 by HomeBoy

[BirdDogICT 3]

Well duh! I've just been informed that Ken Salter has not disappeared but is back (as of March 2008) with a sequel to FSAutoStart called AlacrityPC. Where the heck have I been? Sheesh!

Homeboy,

 

Thanks for the FSAutoStart guidelines and the heads up on AlacrityPC. I just tried AlacrityPC with BHaH and found it VERY easy to setup and configure, took me 2-3 minutes to create a working game profile. Didn't even have to read the instructions.

 

For those with AMD processors, you might try the AMD Fusion for Gaming utility http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_fusion.aspx?p=1 I've used it for several months and have found it to be very stable...

 

Cheers

[HomeBoy 1]

Great to hear Birddog!

 

I've been playing with AlacrityPC for the last couple of hours. It's much better than FSAutoStart. I'm down to 26 running processes from 55! That's fantastic. Course, it takes a bit of trial-and-error to get down that much. One thing I noticed right away is how much faster it is than FSAutoStart in terms of killing off the process and then starting them back up.

 

I've officially deleted FSAutoStart from my system now. AlacrityPC is definitely the way to go!

[Dutch_P47M 9]

HomeBoy, I'm allways use enditall and the taskmanager. But before downloading and tryit, do you have any experience to Enditall??

 

 

 

Birddog, what is AMD fusion do to your OFF3 game???

 

 

 

   

Edited April 10, 2009 by Dutch_P47M

[HomeBoy 1]

HomeBoy, I'm allways use enditall and the taskmanager. But before downloading and tryit, do you have any experience to Enditall??

 

 

 

Birddog, what is AMD fusion do to your OFF3 game???

 

 

 

   

 

Hi Dutch,

Yes, I tried Enditiall one time. It definitely gets the job done but it's pretty dated at this point. AlcrityPC is a lot more powerful and feature filled. One thing I really like about AlcrityPC is it shuts down the desktop completely which FSAutoStart nor Enditall (as I recall) did not do.

 

I'd say give it a try and if you don't like it you can always delete it.

[BirdDogICT 3]

HomeBoy, I'm allways use enditall and the taskmanager. But before downloading and tryit, do you have any experience to Enditall??

 

 

 

Birddog, what is AMD fusion do to your OFF3 game???

 

AMD Fusion is similar to EndItAll2, but I found it a little easier to use. It comes with three profiles (Basic, Advanced, Expert) or you can create your own. Edit function is limited but very easy to use. When executed, it halts unnecessary processes, speeds up hard drive, and can activate ATI Overdrive if you have it. It leaves your desktop open. On my system, it reduces processes from 41 to 24 and increases my available physical memory from 1.51 to 1.66, enough to increase my BHaH frame rate 15-20%.

 

AMD Fusion can also be used with AMD Overdrive for overclocking Series 7 chipsets (haven't used it...not relevant to my system, and I'd rather do overclocking through BIOS) http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_overdrive.aspx?p=1 I'm not an AMD/ATI fanboi, but have used their components in many PC builds over the years with few problems. There is a hack for allowing AMD Fusion to work with Intel chips, but it would be a lot easier to just stick with EndItAll or AlacrityPC.

 

Of course, your mileage may vary.

[Dutch_P47M 9]

H.boy and B.dog: Thanks guys I will try them both and see what will give me the best results.

AMD overdrive does not work on my AMD dual CPU, program does not regonize the CPU because:

Computer forum1: the the N- and S-bridge are Nvidia chips, not AMD.

Computer forum2: its only working on Quad core CPU's.

 

 

 

note: after 50 posts I'm promoted to V-member, come on H.Boy still 3 post to go for your promotion

Edited April 10, 2009 by Dutch_P47M

[BirdDogICT 3]

H.boy and B.dog: Thanks guys I will try them both and see what will give me the best results.

AMD overdrive does not work on my AMD dual CPU, program does not regonize the CPU because:

Computer forum1: the the N- and S-bridge are Nvidia chips, not AMD.

Computer forum2: its only working on Quad core CPU's.

 

Dutch,

 

Just for clarification, AMD Fusion and AMD Overdrive are independent utilities that can be linked together as part of the AMD Spider platform (only newer chipsets qualify). I use AMD Fusion as a standalone utility. I'd say it's the easiest utility of its type that I've found.

 

I'd be interested in what works best for you. I'm playing around some more with AlacrityPC...apparently some users have problems with TrackIR, but can't say that it's been a problem for me.

 

Cheers

[sitting_duck 3]

Hi,

 

well..computer still starts,,thats always a good thing....

 

only question i have, is that after i ran services.msi, and followed the BV suggestions, when i went into the fs autostart, and was in running services, it seems like a few i had stopped in services.msi were still running, are you supposed to restart the computer after you stop the services, and then run fs autostart, or does it not make any difference.

 

 

 

and, just ran a quick game. didnt notice a jump in fps (they were not out of line to begin with), but did notice a big reduction in the tears on the edge of the monitor when i turned my head fast in trackir.

 

thanks for the walk thru,,,,great job

Edited April 11, 2009 by sitting_duck

[HomeBoy 1]

Hi,

 

well..computer still starts,,thats always a good thing....

 

only question i have, is that after i ran services.msi, and followed the BV suggestions, when i went into the fs autostart, and was in running services, it seems like a few i had stopped in services.msi were still running, are you supposed to restart the computer after you stop the services, and then run fs autostart, or does it not make any difference.

 

 

 

and, just ran a quick game. didnt notice a jump in fps (they were not out of line to begin with), but did notice a big reduction in the tears on the edge of the monitor when i turned my head fast in trackir.

 

thanks for the walk thru,,,,great job

 

Yes, you should reboot after adjusting services. That way you know for sure that the services you stop will not try to come back.

 

I recommend that once you get the game up and running (via FSAutoStart), hit the "windows" key which allows you to get to the desktop while the game is running. Right click on the task bar and bring up TaskManager. Check how many processes you see running and look through that list and make sure all the ones you stopped really did stop. The FSAutoStart command window will also display in red or yellow any processes that it has trouble with. You should work to not have any yellow or red lines show up there.

 

If you are running XP, you are doing good if you get your process count down below 30. I'm getting about 26 and am very happy with that. Things like firewalls and antivirus programs are hard to stop (and you probably shouldn't stop them anyway) and I also have my UPS monitor, TrackIR processes which of course, I don't want to stop. Otherwise I could get my process count down to close to 20. That would be really sweet. The big processes you want to make sure and suspend with FSAutoStart are things like printers, auto-downloaders, java monitors, sidebars, etc. Those are programs you want running while you're "using the computer" but want to stop while you're doing important stuff (gaming.) :yes:

 

You mention frame rates. FRs are a bit tricky. You may not necessarily see a lot of difference in FRs but get smoother performance anyway. Getting your FRs up noticeably is more a matter of tweaking your graphics settings and the graphics card settings. Cleaning up processes is definitely going to give you a smoother ride though so it's worth fooling with. You'll have fewer CTDs and stutters for sure.

 

Congratulations on getting this far! Pretty soon you'll be ready to graduate to AlacrityPC.

[sitting_duck 3]

ok...couple more questions,,,

 

not up on command line paramaters,,,,if we want stuff to start with an fsautostart profile, can we just point to the exe for that application?

(thinking about teamspeak and the overlay)

 

and,,briefly, if you will...what does alacrityPC do, that fsautostart doesnt?

 

One app i have used in past that might be helpfull here is Process finder. I had a nasty adware app that was hiding in one of the svchost apps. With process finder you just put your cursor over any of the svchosts running, and it tells you what the acuall apps that are running inside that service,,,might not have said that correctly, but you get the point

Edited April 11, 2009 by sitting_duck

[HomeBoy 1]

ok...couple more questions,,,

 

not up on command line paramaters,,,,if we want stuff to start with an fsautostart profile, can we just point to the exe for that application?

(thinking about teamspeak and the overlay)

 

and,,briefly, if you will...what does alacrityPC do, that fsautostart doesnt?

 

One app i have used in past that might be helpfull here is Process finder. I had a nasty adware app that was hiding in one of the svchost apps. With process finder you just put your cursor over any of the svchosts running, and it tells you what the acuall apps that are running inside that service,,,might not have said that correctly, but you get the point

 

Hi Duck,

Command line parameters...

In most cases you won't need any. As you correctly point out, you can simply browse to the command and click it right into place.

 

Now, there is one case where you will need command line parameters:

If you decide to use my tricky little TrackIR priority program, it is written in Visual Basic which is not a compiled language. To run it, you will need the system program "cmd.exe" and the VBS script will be it's "command line parameter." Cool eh?

 

Ah yes, AlacrityPC. Well, it is just the latest version of FSAutoStart. It turns out Ken Salter is alive and well and so is FSAutoStart in its new digs, only he now calls it AlacrityPC. If you like what this is doing for you, you will by all means want (at some point; no time like the present) to upgrade to AlacrityPC. Main reason, other than getting nice fast up-to-date bits, he has a discussion forum (like the one I'm typing into right now) and answers questions, etc. Major cool! Here is his web site where you can find everything, even a manual: http://alacritypc.kensalter.com/

 

Thanks for the Process Finder. I'll have to check that out. I'm embarrassed to tell you the really geeky way I find that sort of thing out. Sounds like a handy tool.

 

Ok then. Good luck to you. Sounds like you're on your way to becoming an FSAutoStart geek too! Misery loves company.

[sitting_duck 3]

yeah,,, this is going on every computer i have.

 

One really nice thing about it is that on my gaming computer, i did want avg on it, but because avg does not have a "disable" function, I have not put it on. with the alacrity it will be a snap to stop alll the process avg has running when i start the game.

 

Without a doubt, it looked a little "scary" at first. Visions of ending up with a computer that would not start..(hate those situations where you really wish you had left things alone) but as long as anyone follows your outline, goes to the BV site and takes the time to read what they have to say, its actually a pretty easy utility to learn.

 

Anyone who is trying to squeeze the most performance out of thier system for this game, or any game for that matter, should take a good look at this.

 

one suggestion to your outline. When exporting the services list, suggest using the "text (comma delimited) (*.csv) format. The *.txt format is almost impossible to read for someone wanting to restore. This becomes even more usefull if the "desription" colum is removed using the "add/remove columns" in the services "view" option. If you have excel installed, this becomes real easy to read, if not, its readable in notepad, but no where near as understandable as it is in excel

Edited April 12, 2009 by sitting_duck

[Canvas Wings 1]

Great tip re:Alacrity, HomeBoy, thanks.

 

I've only been running OFF for a few weeks, stilll tweaking for max effect. Alacrity dropped my processes from 47 to 22 and gave me an FPS boost over 30% on average -and that's after I bumped two of the slider controls up a notch.

 

An added bonus - it appears to have solved a problem that was plaguing me. Seemingly randomly my game would freeze up and go black. Task manager reported OFF Manager was not responding but CFS exe still was. I'd kill OFF Manager and popped me back into the game; but when I finished the mission, "End Flight" dropped me back to desktop, and the mission was not recorded.

 

The thing was, the phenomenon seemed unpredicatble- sometimes in the middle of a data-instesive dogfight, sometimes coasting into land, once even on one of the menu screens. But it hasn't happened since. It seems one of the processess running on my system was sending a service call of some type that interfered with OFF Manager. I suspect it may have been AVG -possibly the registry scan. Whatever -it appears to have been resolved.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Any chance of this being a sticky??

[HomeBoy 1]

Any chance of this being a sticky??

 

Hi Widow!

 

How bout we hold off. I wrote the guide for FSAutoStart and am planning to rewrite it for AlacrityPC. I'll post again once I get the guide rewritten for the new version. If we want to sticky, I think we should wait till then.

 

AlacrityPC just gets better and better! I've used a program for a long time called Game Commander which allows spoken voice commands to get translated to game commands. I use it in LockOn to issue the voice commands to wingman, the tower, etc. I always seem to forget to load that program before I kick off LockOn. With AlacrityPC, the "Run Program First" feature really makes this easy and seamless. Of course with OFF, I use the feature to set the priority for TrackIR. You can do whatever you want with it. Very nice!

[HomeBoy 1]

The new guide on AlacrityPC is now done: http://snomhf.exofire.net/alacrityPC.html

Please let me know if you find errors. There's bound to be some as long as it is!

 

Enjoy

-mark

[sitting_duck 3]

i did the defrag memory on fsautostart. No clue what its doing (other than kinda the obviouse), just did it cause you suggested it.

 

it starts doing its thing and stops at 197 (out of something close to 400) and gives me a message saying "unable to allocate memory" and goes on to the nex fsautostart task..

 

Dont suppose if you have any idea if this is normal, or if it indicates i may have a problem.

 

All the "good" memory testers i looked at take bout 4 to 6 hours to run comprehensive tests,,,and im not a patient man...

 

does anyone else running the defrag memory get this too?

[HomeBoy 1]

Haven't seen that Sitting_Duck. All my mem defrags have gone without problems.

I have recently disabled my defrag as I didn't think it was helping me much. I have 4GB mem and I really don't think it's all that helpful to defrag that much. Takes too long and the benefits are minimal.

 

You may actually have a physical memory problem. I have found the best memory tester to be memtest86 (you can Google for it). It builds on a bootable CD and really tests your memory. If you have a physical memory problem, memtest86 will find it. You can start it up when you go to bed and come check it in the morning. It REALLY checks your memory. If your memory passes memtest86 then you are OK!

 

Are you overclocking by any chance? I had my old memory (before I got the sticks I have now) clocked a little high and they would fail once in a while.

[sitting_duck 3]

yeah,,probably the best line of action...

[BirdDogICT 3]

Haven't seen that Sitting_Duck. All my mem defrags have gone without problems.

I have recently disabled my defrag as I didn't think it was helping me much. I have 4GB mem and I really don't think it's all that helpful to defrag that much. Takes too long and the benefits are minimal.

 

You may actually have a physical memory problem. I have found the best memory tester to be memtest86 (you can Google for it). It builds on a bootable CD and really tests your memory. If you have a physical memory problem, memtest86 will find it. You can start it up when you go to bed and come check it in the morning. It REALLY checks your memory. If your memory passes memtest86 then you are OK!

 

Are you overclocking by any chance? I had my old memory (before I got the sticks I have now) clocked a little high and they would fail once in a while.

Sitting Duck,

 

I agree with Homeboy, sounds like you've pushed your memory speed or timings too much or they're not quite compatible with your motherboard. It's a time consuming process to sort it out sometimes. MemTest86 is very good at testing memory stability, but if your memory is 2D stable with Memtest, it still may be 3D unstable. There is a very lengthy thread on that issue starting here http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showt...37669&st=80 Pardon me for being verbose, but did it in the hopes of helping PhantomJoker solve his problem.

 

Also, see me response to your post here: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=40026

 

Best regards