Demo limitation? Or problem???

[Bandy]

I'm trying the demo version of Process Lasso (PL), and it seems a fine utility. I was on the verge of purchasing (my demo period is up) when I went to check the PL settings under-the-hood.  I hadn't 'seen' them for a while since it runs, well, unseen.

I opened PL.exe from the programs folder and saw that all my carefully tweaked cpu settings over my 4 cores were gone; ALL processes were listed as  cpu 0,1,2,3.  So I re-entered the processor affinity for all, all over again, and exported config.

When I re-entered PL, all were back to default cpu 0,1,2,3 again.  I tried to import the just saved config but no change.

What's up?  What am I doing wrong?  Has the demo expiration wiped the config clean and rendered settings unchangeable??? 
I am running win7 x64...

[Jeremy Collake]

That is strange, and isn't something I've heard of before.

The demo NEVER wipes the configuration once it 'expires'. All it does is disable certain features. Further, the default CPU affinity isn't a feature that is disabled. So, I'm not sure how to explain this.... Note that PL.EXE is not the name of Process Lasso's executable, so I assume that is just a mistype.

Of course, be sure you are setting the default (persistent) CPU affinities, and not just the current CPU affinities... but that is probably not the mistake. I just have to mention it for thoroughness.

Are you using multiple users on this computer? I suppose it could be that multiple instances of Process Lasso (each running in a different user context) could conflict with each other, *if* the conditions were right. Of course, I wrote it so that it wouldn't do that, and is another reason I recommend leaving the default setting of 'normal' rights. Still, that scenario wouldn't explain this fully...

Hmm... we'll have to dig deeper to find out what is going on. That is very strange. It probably has something to do with your specific system. Can you post your configuration (INI file)? The path is listed in the About box. Also, if you are using global paths, or any non-standard configuration of Process Lasso, please let me know so I can better evaluate the possible cause.

[Bandy]

OK, got it figured out, thank you for the thoughtful reply and suggestions.  User error  

I will go ahead with the purchase, but one last question:  Has an update been released recently?  Or is one expected soon???

ALSO, I'm sure you are familiar with/heard of Track IR camera/software. 
Since the IR camera is tracking the player's head and making real time changes in-simulation view, should Track IR process have a "real time" priority class?

If not, what processes deserve  "real time" priority class?

Thank you again, happy new year!

[Jeremy Collake]

Glad you got it figured out, and thanks for updating me so I don't have to keep wondering about the possible cause .

To answer your questions :

1. Yes, a new beta was just released minutes ago. Process Lasso is the most updated software on the planet, lol. I work on it continuously, adding new features and refining the software. I also released a minor update to the last final build a few days ago (v3.70.7), backporting some minor changes from the new beta series (v3.79). The next major final version will be v3.80, planned for release within a week or two. I keep parallel development branches, allowing me to go back and update the last final build while still continuing to work on the new beta version.

2. The short answer is that no processes deserve a user set 'real time' priority class. Any process that needs a real time priority class will be written so that it sets the priority of time critical threads to real-time (or it should be written that way). Setting any process priority class to real time is potentially dangerous to system stability, so its best not to ever do so. Like I said, if the program really needs real-time priority class, it should be handling it itself. It may very well be setting one of its threads to a real-time priority, but not changing the priority class of the entire process. If you want to ensure a process gets a little more precedence during periods of CPU contention, then raise the process priority class to 'Above normal'. I recommend no further action than that though.