Guide to Configuring FSAutoStart

[catch 81]

A word of caution. Don't mess with fsautostart or alacrity unless you know exactly what you're doing. And if you have a upper mid/high range PC don't even go there. I speak from sad experience using it on my old PC some time ago. Would not let this application anywhere near my current rig.

Edited April 20, 2009 by catch

[sitting_duck 3]

well..sorry you had problems with this catch..but gotta admit,,,alacrity made and incredible improvement in my game.

 

And, as long as anyone takes the time to follow homeboys walkthru, step by step, its a great tool..

[BirdDogICT 3]

A word of caution. Don't mess with fsautostart or alacrity unless you know exactly what you're doing. And if you have a upper mid/high range PC don't even go there. I speak from sad experience using it on my old PC some time ago. Would not let this application anywhere near my current rig.

Catch,

I've been using AlacrityPC since Homeboy mentioned it, only because I'm using an older Socket 939 machine. It does smooth things a bit. I think the intended audience is users with older machines they built themselves who want to improve performance a bit.

 

I agree with your caution, though, definitely not for noobs. AlacrityPC if fairly easy, especially with HomeBoy's guide, but I won't use EnditAll or FSAutostart. Too easy to make mistakes (and I've been building PCs for 20 years and stringing code since the punch card days).

 

I've mentioned this before, but if you have an AMD processor, AMD's Fusion for Gaming utility gives about the same results as AlacrityPC, and it is automatic and completely idiotproof.

 

Cheers

[catch 81]

Catch,

I've been using AlacrityPC since Homeboy mentioned it, only because I'm using an older Socket 939 machine. It does smooth things a bit. I think the intended audience is users with older machines they built themselves who want to improve performance a bit.

 

I agree with your caution, though, definitely not for noobs. AlacrityPC if fairly easy, especially with HomeBoy's guide, but I won't use EnditAll or FSAutostart. Too easy to make mistakes (and I've been building PCs for 20 years and stringing code since the punch card days).

 

I've mentioned this before, but if you have an AMD processor, AMD's Fusion for Gaming utility gives about the same results as AlacrityPC, and it is automatic and completely idiotproof.

 

Cheers

 

Well said BirdDog. To clarify, I refer to fsautostart only (alacrity wasn't around at the time and may very well be "improved"). But please chaps just proceed with caution with any of these so called miracle applications. And if you do have a relatively fast mid/high range rig stay away from them cause they are not needed. If it ain't broke you don't fix it do you. In my experience with fsautostart it went swimmingly at first but soon degenerated into a *&%#'d up registry. Of course I was a noob then and it was probably mainly my fault ..... so just proceed with caution is all I'm saying ... and don't get sucked into using something you don't really need.

[HomeBoy 1]

Well said BirdDog. To clarify, I refer to fsautostart only (alacrity wasn't around at the time and may very well be "improved"). But please chaps just proceed with caution with any of these so called miracle applications. And if you do have a relatively fast mid/high range rig stay away from them cause they are not needed. If it ain't broke you don't fix it do you. In my experience with fsautostart it went swimmingly at first but soon degenerated into a *&%#'d up registry. Of course I was a noob then and it was probably mainly my fault ..... so just proceed with caution is all I'm saying ... and don't get sucked into using something you don't really need.

 

I don't disagree with you Catch with respect to the need to be careful anytime you begin to make configuration changes (even changing video settings, etc.) and I certainly agree with the "proceed with caution" notion.

 

I do think you are misrepresenting AlacrityPC/FSAutoStart though. There was never any claim that this was a "miracle application." Also, to say fast computer's don't need AlacrityPC is truly missing the point. Fast computers can get bogged down (in fact they just do it faster) than slow ones if a bunch of needless stuff gets loaded up on them. In addition, the ability to start other programs and stop services that will "do things" while your game is running are all valid issues AlacrityPC deals with. Finally, these tools DO NOT make any registry changes in any way. They simply suspend processes and programs. If you screw things up, a simple reboot is the wost damage you can do.

 

I appreciate the spirit of your remarks Catch. I really do! I just think you're overreacting and reaching to make your point. Misinformation, regardless of the motive is never helpful. [Remember all those "drug" movies they showed us in high school in the 60's?]

 

With that said, I join you that you should be careful any time you make changes to your system. Make backups, screenshots, take notes anytime you change something. Try to only change one thing at a time and reboot to see what that change is going to do.

 

I'm sorry if I haven't made these cautions clearer in my doc.

 

Hope I've not been too critical there Catch. Thank you for your concern.

-mark

[BirdDogICT 3]

HomeBoy,

 

Thanks for the service you're providing to members of this forum. I've found your TrackIR and FSAutostart and AlacrityPC guides to be very helpful. Many add-on utilities lack DOCUMENTATION, so using them can be a crapshoot without the guides you've provided. Demanding programs like BHaH can bring older systems to their knees, and challenge newer systems, as well, so keep those handy guides coming.

 

I've been offering advice to members of this forum where I can, especially in resolving hardware issues. Hard-core flight sim enthusiasts enjoy tinkering, and I'm not surprised by the number of folks who can't get their home-built systems to run properly with BHaH due to misconfigured combinations of hardware, OS, & software. I've been one of them, myself. So I think Catch's advice to "proceed with caution" is well-intended.

 

Thanks again

[HomeBoy 1]

...

So I think Catch's advice to "proceed with caution" is well-intended.

 

Absolutely!

I hope I have not been disrespectful to Catch about this.

[sitting_duck 3]

ok,,,getting tired of searching for the alacrity walkthru post,,(recommending it to everyone...)....

 

what does it take around here to get something that should be a stick a sticky?

Edited April 20, 2009 by sitting_duck

[catch 81]

Absolutely!

I hope I have not been disrespectful to Catch about this.

 

LOL Homeboy ! No not at all. There's no problem . Carry on with your good work !

[BirdDogICT 3]

ok,,,getting tired of searching for the alacrity walkthru post,,(recommending it to everyone...)....

 

what does it take around here to get something that should be a stick a sticky?

Sitting Duck,

Try here: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=40014

 

Cheers

[themightysrc 5]

i've been trying to get AlacrityPC running on my kit. Because I'm a massive coward (just like in BH&H, in fact), i've taken the lowest risk option of stopping and then restarting the most common and easily identified programs - ie, I've ticked the box in the relevant screen. Then all I'm asking it to do is run OFFmanager.exe. The problem is, I get a DOS type window up, telling me that various things are being killed (hooray!) or, in the case of 32 bit (I think?) processes, not killed, then it simply hangs up, without running OFFManager.exe.

 

I've checked out my settings, and whilst I appreciate I might be doing something horrendously dim and mouth-breatherish, I still can't fathom it. Anyone else found this? what was the cure?

 

thanks,

 

Si

[sitting_duck 3]

Hi

 

ive made a couple of profiles that hung up on me....they just sit,,,not sure if i gave them more time they would continue. But, if you open alacrity, and open the profile you are using,,,go to the log tab, and you can look at the log file, which is pretty much what you are seeing in the dos box. I would take the last item it seem to try and execute, and then edit your profile to do "nothing" for it..and see if it then is able to continue to the point where it actually starts your program.

 

Not sure why some profiles run fine,,and some dont. Ive chaulked it up to my xp64os...

 

if you want,,,there is also a copy to clipboard option in the log file...paste it here ,maybe someone with more experience will spot the problem

Edited April 29, 2009 by sitting_duck

[themightysrc 5]

Hi SD,

 

of course - why didn't I think of that (hint: probably because I'm dim)?

 

I'll give that a try and let you know how it goes - I *think* I've set everything up correctly, but there's obviously something amiss, so I'll check the log for the 'gotcha!'.

 

thanks again,

 

Si

[HomeBoy 1]

Hi Mighty!

I concur with what SittingDuck is telling you. There is a process that is having trouble dying and the log will help you narrow that down. Good luck!

 

Sorry, haven't been paying close attention to this forum lately.

-mark

[sitting_duck 3]

Homeboy,

 

Dont suppose you have been able to get alacrity to stop all the avg processes? It stops the email scanner fine, but it wont stop the the other one...

 

1:58:27 PM (2/2) Service: AVG Free8 WatchDog Action = Stop Then Restart

1:58:27 PM Stopping dependent service AVG Free8 E-mail Scanner

1:58:32 PM Service AVG Free8 E-mail Scanner has stopped.

1:58:33 PM Unable to stop service AVG Free8 WatchDog because this service does not respond to STOP requests.

 

Im sure its not that much of a resource hog....

[HomeBoy 1]

Oh man SD, I gave up long ago trying to get antivirus software to stop! Good luck on that one.

 

I agree that AV is not that much of a resource hog so it's not worth all the trouble. I use Avira and you can kill off most parts of it except the main engine still runs. If you think about it, AVs need to be this way otherwise the bad guy trying to place a virus on your machine can simply drop a tool down that kills off your AV and off he goes.

 

Probably a good idea to keep your antivirus stuff running.

[Mr. Lucky 0]

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?

 

I read somewhere a while ago that FSAutostart can't handle memory of 2G or more but it still defrags what it can, so the error is normal if you have 2GB or more of ram. I don't recall having the same problem with Alacrity though.

[Jimko 0]

Homeboy...this thread is a gold 'find' for me. I used FSAutostart a few years ago with a highly modified CFS2, but I stopped flight simming for a couple of years until I got hooked a few months ago on OFF. So I googled FSAutostart to find out what it has become, and the trail led me here to your post about Alacrity. I won't be able to try it for a few weeks as I'm waaaay too busy to play with it, but I certainly will once I have some time to study and apply it. Originally, I was coached through the FS Autostart install as that's how I heard about it, but your Alacrity tutorial appears to be very well presented and comprehensive.

 

An additional bonus is the link to your TrackIR tutorial. Although I have a 'decent' system, I think, and my TrackIR seems to run quite well, it's definitely a bit smoother after changing the TrackIR priority to "Above Normal" in the Task Manager assignment.

 

Thanks for presenting both of these great enhancements in this forum!

 

Edited August 1, 2009 by Jimko