06.07.07

How multi-core processes will affect programming Methodology

Posted in Code Speak, My Articles at 5:12 am by codetiger

I just watch a video of Dave Patterson were he was saying that single core processors are a thing of the past and that the speed of a processor will not increase in the future. How the chip industry gets more processing power will be by add more cores to a chip.

He also said that for programmers to get more speed into their applications they will need to create a multi-threading architecture, something that the gaming industry has been doing for some time. Please note that I am talking about software threads and not the hardware ones.

This means that when you plan and design an application, you will need to be aware of what resources you will need and how can you group them and then create a thread to run those processors.

In truth you aren’t speeding up the application, you are allowing it to do more than one thing at a time, in parallel.

I have always liked the idea of multi threading, my first year at school when I was learning the basics, my friends and I saw threading and classes as the Holy Grail of programming. So I have put so time into thinking about and creating multi threaded applications.

The thing is that it is not the sort of thing that you can do shotgun style. Multi-threading needs planning and some thought into the structure of an application. The problem is that if programmers don’t adapt to multi-core programming then we will end up will slow unresponsive applications that will not take advantage the multi-core chips.  

I plan to write an article on Multi threading using the background worker that will comprehensively define how to use the worker and its events.

Having Problem Running Games or XP Applications on Vista

Posted in Code Speak at 2:23 am by codetiger

The main problem is that Vista security will not run the XP games / application as an administrator by default. Which means that it will block any admin processors from running. You normally get a program not responding error. Applications design for Vista have a file attached to them that tells the OS what mode the application needs to run in and what its authorization is.

To fix this

  • Right click on the .exe you want to run 

  • click on properties, then go to the compatibility tab

  • In the compatibility tab check the compatibility mode checkbox and select the platform
  • then check the privilege level, to allow the program to run as an administrator
  • Apply the settings

Vista Compatibility 

If the game or application requires access to a network or Internet you will need to add it to the firewall exceptions list.

  • Go to Control panel and double click on the firewall icon
  • click on the link (on the left) that says – allow a program though windows firewall
  • if the program you are dealing with is there make sure that it is checked, if it is not there
  • click on the add program button
  • You will be taken to a browser, were you can select the .exe that you want to go through the firewall

 

I found this has worked for all the games and applications I have tried. For one game the auto save feature was causing a problem, so I just turned auto save off and used quick save.

I have just installed a few games onto my vista machine that needed StarForce frontline to run the game. All StarForce frontline is, is a program that protects the disk from being copied it has nothing to do with the game (boycott: http://www.glop.org/starforce). However the game will not run if you don’t have it installed. The problem is that because StarForce needs a high admin level it will not install on vista.  StarForce Frontline has released a version that has passed “CERTIFIED FOR MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA” certification that it needs to work properly.Depending on what version you have, all you need to do is update StarForce. Or you can download the latest update that will run on vista.

How to update StarForce Drivers:

You will need to install the game that uses Star Force and then run the update. If you have any problems you can email Yana Goldenberg, new PR manager of StarForce at Yana.Goldenberg@star-force.com.

I have had a lot of people contact me about having problems with Star Force running on Vista. So I contacted their customer support people. The following steps are their response to my email.

Install the game, a game shortcut is usually created either on the desktop or in the Start menu. Now follow the step below.

1) Right-click on the game’s shortcut, select “Run as administrator”;
2) Run the game;
3) It will ask to reboot the PC;
4) Don’t reboot;
5) Run “sfdrvup.exe”. get from here: http://www.star-force.com/protection/users ;
6) Reboot.

I have followed the steps above and they work. 

Things to remember

·         Keep Vista updated

·         Keep video card drivers updated

·         Get updates or patches for applications running on Vista

·         Set the compatibility mode for the application to XP

·         Set applications to run us administrator

·         If you have any problems email Microsoft the problem or contact their support team. That way if enough people have the same problem they will correct Vista.