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[SOLVED] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Get help with installing and using Rainmeter.
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jsmorley
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Re: [Help] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Post by jsmorley »

You are going to have to demonstrate it with no skins running, or with just the default Illustro skins.

Audio Visualization skins in particular are very expensive to run and use a lot of CPU.
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superluig164
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Re: [Help] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Post by superluig164 »

Here's a link to the file on Google Drive, it should be streamable by the time you view it but if not just download it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxFXF1dlSqK4SGpQTzlvWldKdHc/view?usp=sharing

And no, OBS isn't a problem, despite the dubious notification lol. The problem persists even when I'm not recording.
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superluig164
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Re: [Help] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Post by superluig164 »

jsmorley wrote:You are going to have to demonstrate it with no skins running, or with just the default Illustro skins.

Audio Visualization skins in particular are very expensive to run and use a lot of CPU.
I've removed the Illustro skins.. Sorry... I also mention in the video that I tested every skin, including AudioScope (the mod I made for Dexterity was to REMOVE the visualizer, I commented all those lines out) and no single skin was a problem. You can also see Wallpaper Engine in the background but, I assure you, the problem persists without it. I just didn't close it cuz I forgot.

Edit: Clarify that Audioscope is the visualizer and Dexterity is modded to not be a visualizer since Wallpaper Engine handles that
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superluig164
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Re: [Help] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Post by superluig164 »

Sorry for so many posts!

You will have to download the video, Google Drive doesn't like streaming videos for whatever reason, unless it's just my computer.
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superluig164
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Re: [Help] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Post by superluig164 »

dvo wrote:it seems that the Dexterity visualizer has a lag in it ..... i loaded that skin and the visualizer hangs if i hover a other skin
64 bands is very heavy on your cpu ;-)
strange you got the same cpu like mine but it runs on 2.6ghz (is this a laptop)?

mine runs on:
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
instead of 16gb i run on 32gb but it would be enough ....
'Tis a laptop. but I've removed the visualizer from Dexterity as mentioned previously. I use it in complement with Wallpaper Engine to have a beautiful visualizer. However, as I mentioned in my video and posts, I tested each skin for a cause of the lag and found that only completely closing rainmeter changes anything.

Also, Dexterity does have options in the @Variables file to change the number of bands. If I were to use the visualizer (which I'm not) I wouldn't have 64 bands, for sure.

No, actually, we don't have the same CPU... 6700HQ and 6700K is the difference. HQ is the laptop name :D Regardless, it's really the clock speed that matters in this case, and not necessarily which CPU I have. Also, I said "My Laptop Specs" in the OP. Lol.
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eclectic-tech
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Re: [Help] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Post by eclectic-tech »

superluig164 wrote:I've removed the Illustro skins.. Sorry... I also mention in the video that I tested every skin, including AudioScope (the mod I made for Dexterity was to REMOVE the visualizer, I commented all those lines out) {clip}
Edit: Clarify that Audioscope is the visualizer and Dexterity is modded to not be a visualizer since Wallpaper Engine handles that
So you commented out all the lines for what... the meters, or the meters AND all measures related to audio?

I think that skin is still running the audiolevel.dll, and generating values to be used in measure, and meters (even though you commented out all the display meters). This would cause the slow operation, even though you are not displaying visuals, you are still doing all the work need...

No one else is reporting slowing issues, so this must be related to something in one of your skins you are running... we do not have those skins or code, so we are just guessing what you did, or didn't do, that is causing it.

Hope this gives you some ideas that help...
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superluig164
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Re: [Help] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Post by superluig164 »

eclectic-tech wrote:So you commented out all the lines for what... the meters, or the meters AND all measures related to audio?

I think that skin is still running the audiolevel.dll, and generating values to be used in measure, and meters (even though you commented out all the display meters). This would cause the slow operation, even though you are not displaying visuals, you are still doing all the work need...

No one else is reporting slowing issues, so this must be related to something in one of your skins you are running... we do not have those skins or code, so we are just guessing what you did, or didn't do, that is causing it.

Hope this gives you some ideas that help...
I can upload the modified skin in a ZIP file, if you want. I didn't comment out everything, just everything pertaining to the bars... Although you don't see it in the video, the song title, artist, album art, progress, and controls all show up when I start to play music. Dexterity is meant to do that, and I liked it, but I didn't need a visualizer, so I just commented out anything that had to do with it.

Also, may I mention that this problem has existed before I added that skin, though despite that I still tested it to see if it was the problem. Unloading it should fix the problem if that's the bottleneck, but it's not, Rainmeter is.

I just checked with Task Manager, and loading/unloading the Dexterity skin has no visible impact on my CPU usage. Audioscope does, obviously, and Wallpaper Engine does, but Dexterity doesn't, effectively proving that it's not doing anything it shouldn't.

Side note, my CPU boosts to 3 GHz under a load, so it's not truly 2.6 GHz.
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superluig164
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Re: [Help] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Post by superluig164 »

dvo wrote:if you post the hole skin we can try to find what's wrong and
yess i have the same response lag on mouse over in windows and other skins to :confused: :oops:
Here's the modified skin:
Dexterity.zip
(20.38 KiB) Downloaded 54 times
It should have almost no effect on CPU. It shows nothing unless you enter the music player correctly in the @Variables file, and ensure that you're actually playing music. So make sure of that before you test it.

Thank you to all who may still be able to help.
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tjhrulz
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Re: [Help] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Post by tjhrulz »

Random thoughts I have had that may work but likely dont:

Disable game mode: Windows "Improved" this feature to make it turn on more often maybe it is detecting rainmeter as a game and downgrading performance of other programs because of that. Link

Try setting Rainmeter to run on a different core (Affinity in the task manager): This is not a permanent fix but maybe it is just running Rainmeter on the same core as the Windows UI. Try setting rainmeter to just one core one at a time for each of your cores and see if that helps.

I disabled cortana when I ran a program called Tron a few months back, maybe try disabling her?

Also just confirming even when you fully unload every skin (Not just make them invisible) it still happens?

Edit: jsmorley said his system feels faster with game mode disabled now but that may be wishful thinking or just because he just rebooted.
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jsmorley
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Re: [Help] When Rainmeter is running, everything slows down.

Post by jsmorley »

I'd be tempted to try this:

https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/disable-game-mode-in-fall-creators-update-windows-10/

I have a bad feeling that Game Mode in the Fall Creators Update has some kind of issue when it is set to constantly be checking if something you run "should use it". I can't confirm anything yet, but I swear my system runs better in general with it turned off.
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