ClockBlocker (profiled AMD power-management control)

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon Drivers Section' started by A2Razor, Dec 10, 2015.

  1. LocoDiceGR

    LocoDiceGR Ancient Guru

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    The only thing i have to do, is just open the program and let it run in the backround right while im playing games, right?
     
  2. minginator

    minginator Guest

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    Ok, I think my particular machine doesn't like your program for some reason. I can't start the program from my desktop or from the file path (nothing happens when I let it load), but I can uninstall and install again for it to work. I'm going to try to let it boot with windows and will report back.

    Edit: Seems to do the trick for me. Also I can add that downloading or anything is definitely not the issue for me, at least I think so, as it usually took about 5-10 seconds at most to download. I also checked the MD5 checksum and size of the version you posted at the time and they were identical. Seems to be something about the installer itself my machine doesn't/didn't like.
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2015
  3. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    If the program launches from the installer, probably the difference is that the installer is being granted admin rights and ClockBlocker isn't when run directly. Do you get anything like a UAC-prompt when you attempt to start it after-installation?

    If you're not, then I'm strongly suspecting that something (some software on the machine or your account setup) is preventing admin rights elevation. The manifest states that admin-rights are "required", so if rights are dropped or elevation isn't possible then the software shouldn't start at all.


    --This is very interesting to me though. What protection software (AV, etc) do you run on there? Is there any chance that your AV whitelists downloads as safe?

    Something like a whitelist might explain the delay until my tool was a bit more known. Eg, where it just suddenly starts working for being installed.


    If you play games in fullscreen or Windowed fullscreen, that's the idea with the default rule-set. --At least if the fullscreen detection is working for your software, it should do something with no configuration at all.


    Of course you can always define more rules and refine what ClockBlocker acts on, or choose not to use the fullscreen detection too.


    GTA-V seems to be a recurring theme for a game that people are having alot of issues with on Crimson. On that note that's awesome that it's working for you, and that you're getting in some quality gaming.

    I like hearing of successes, it makes it all the more worth it to spend effort on this. Cheers!
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2015
  4. minginator

    minginator Guest

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    I don't get any prompts or any response at all when starting the program. I'm the admin on my PC so admin rights shouldn't be a problem.

    Also I use Avast, but it usually tells me when it blocks something, in this case it didn't do anything (afaik). It also doesn't do anything to downloads until you actually open them.
     

  5. LocoDiceGR

    LocoDiceGR Ancient Guru

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    @A2Razor Ok, thanks a lot for the clarify!

    Great work on the program btw.

    Keep the nice work, you help a lot of folks out there!

    I would suggest to make a new reddit post about your program and describe more what it does, so you can get more troubleshoot and bugs (if there are) etc, spread the word ppl :p
     
  6. fat4l

    fat4l Guest

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    I will do the testing to day, regarding the performance drop(it's not a big drop tho).
    I will be back soon :)
     
  7. fat4l

    fat4l Guest

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  8. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    This is more in-line with what I'd expect of a drop. I was more worried for a moment that you were seeing a huge impact or stuttering caused by running ClockBlocker.

    The drop as explained above (last post) and in the description of the software (webpage) is because of the way that ClockBlocker works. ClockBlocker constantly generates a small compute workload, but only does a minimal pattern that I've found to keep clockspeed elevated. It also tries to be smart and not overly use the GPU while other software is (backs off slightly when load is present). However, despite that the kernel does almost nothing and is active for very brief each time that it is, there is still a very small performance cost to this.

    Long story short, ClockBlocker is not intended to give you higher scores in benchmark software like 3dmark. (I would suggest that you set an exception [create a rule] for heavy benchmark software) The purpose of this tool is more for low-load games or games that are CPU choked, which thus have dips in load that cause downclocking.

    --Overall I'd say this is more for games than benchmarking, but I'll still see what I can do. I will put back in the older approach as an alternate choice in the next release. Yet even with that I would not expect ClockBlocker to make heavy load benchmark software get higher scores.


    Not done any testing with Avast, yet I guess this is going to be next on the things that I need to do. Have you done anything special on your machine like disabling UAC that would result in no prompt? Also, which protection level in Avast do you use?

    Anything else you can add on your machine OS wise, software wise, or in the OS settings that you think may be relevant?


    I went and read back through your posts a bit.
    -Does this same behavior happen with ClockBlocker.exe or ClockBlocker_x64.exe as well? (eg, like used to happen with the SF installer)

    Thanks!
     
  9. fat4l

    fat4l Guest

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    Thank you for the answer! I'm looking forward to it ! :)
     
  10. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    That enthusiasm is great, haha.

    Not quite done yet, but I can give you a sneak peek of what the next version is going to include from my in-progress changelog. I'm planning to push this out later today, provided that I can crush the remaining bugs that I know of and get in some minimal testing.


     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2015

  11. minginator

    minginator Guest

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    In regards to avast, I wasn't sure what you meant with protection level so I'll try to answer it the best I can. I use the default settings, so I've got every shield turned on (File, web and mail shields) and I'm using Avast free version. I haven't included any scan exceptions since I never needed them, so I doubt Avast is the culprit of Clockblocker not working for me.

    I also have not disabled UAC prompts as I always get them when starting programs which I've set to run as admin.

    Also afaik no special windows settings were changed, except that my father turned hibernation off and deleted the windows file, but I doubt that would affect the program. Other than that it should be nearly the same as any other standard windows 7 installation. I'm running multiple languages though on this machine, e.g. one account is fully in chinese, another one in Dutch and the others in English. Don't think that would change the program but who knows.

    My machine is running windows 7 Ultimate with all updates until august 2015 installed. F.lux is also always running in the background, I figured that might've been the problem, since it uses the GPU as well, but disabling it when trying to install clockblocker didn't do ****. Afterburner is also always on so I can monitor my temps and what not. Radeon settings are also always running but I think that's a given.

    I've also overclocked my CPU (3570K) to 4.2 GHz (forgot the voltage but I used like 0.1V more than what was stable in my testing to ensure that my system doesn't crash) and my GPU (MSI R9 390) to 1100/1525 with the power limit @+50%. Maybe my the software doesn't like overclocked CPUs/GPUs :O?

    Lastly I don't get 3 processes that don't do anything more, now I just get one ClockerBlocker_x64.exe that's working correctly. I want to stress however that I don't know what will happen when the software tries to auto-update, it might crash, or not do anything like before, I'll find out when you update it.

    I hope this has been somewhat useful.
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2015
  12. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    @minginator: Thanks for the update and all that information on your rig, OS, etc.

    I've so far only tested Windows 8.1 with Avast Free edition. It doesn't seem to be the scanner, or at least the scanner doesn't flag positive on it by heuristics or otherwise. Afterburner and other 3D software shouldn't cause any issues with ClockBlocker. I pretty much use Afterburner, TriXX, GPU-Z, and so forth on my machines -- and so this part gets constantly tested. It's going to wait until after I finish off the features of the next version until I really focus on this more.

    Doubt overclocking would make much of a difference, the biggest thing I'm wracking my brain on is why the installshield didn't run prior, then started all of the sudden working.

    --The launching from Task-Scheduler succeeding strengthens my suspicion that this is somehow account rights related (the current thing I'm trying to figure out). I know, I know, you're the administrator, don't have UAC disabled, etc, hence why that's very mysterious. .. But the big difference of the installer launching ClockBlocker vs hand launching is that. The installer's manifest similarly requires administrative rights, and so a launch "as-invoker" from the SF shield would launch ClockBlocker with matching elevation. Similarly if a scheduler entry is created this loads the program with max elevation bypassing the UAC prompt (which explains why start with windows works for you).


    EDIT: On languages, I'm doubtful that this would matter. SF uses UNICODE, and so does ClockBlocker, so the system's language should have minimal impacts here. ... but this hasn't been extensively tested.

    (No multi-language support yet, but if people wanted to translate in to other languages it wouldn't be that hard to add)

    We indeed shall see!

    If my hunch is correct on this being rights related, the installer should inherently 'just work' always when launched via "Software Update". ClockBlocker_x64.exe's rights would be passed down to the SF shield, which in-turn launches the next version (passing on the rights again). As a result there'd be no UAC prompts for elevations. In this type of situation the interesting thing would be if the SF installer worked when launched automatically, but not manually. (problem is I just don't have a theory of why yet)


    It's worth pointing out also that since the separation of ClockBlocker in to two separate processes, there is nothing 'weird' done by the controller and GUI (eg, ClockBlocker_x64.exe). The GUI is drawn entirely with GDI and there's no touching of ICD's except by the helper module (which is only spawned when a rule is triggered).

    -Thus far the only way that I've managed to cause the SF installer to do what you've seen of hanging on launch, and running indefinitely in the background, is by creating a standard user account. Or, disabling UAC on 8.1 or causing instantly dropped rights with KAV's HIPS feature.


    To everyone else out there, I'd really appreciate it if you could chime in if your PC's are running Windows 7 and Avast, or similar software or setup wise to minginator's. If this effects multiple people, I especially would like to know.

    Granted SetupFactory is a product and not my code, and that's not working too followed by spontaneously just starting working (without upgrading to or buying a new SF license). But .. it's unsettling to leave something like this unresolved if there's any chance that it's not just something with that one Windows installation.

    All said, I'm glad that you're able to at least run a version of it now -- minginator. It starting is at least "promising", because if it's rights related I can produce powershell scripts for you to launch the installer and versions as a workaround (per manual launches).
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2015
  13. MaCk0y

    MaCk0y Maha Guru

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    Hey, thanks for this great tool. Works great and makes the gameplay experience better. Especially in GTA V, it eliminates the stuttering and helps maintain that steady 60FPS. Without this, it is impossible. For GTA V I had to create a rule since it was not being detected automatically. Might be because it uses a launcher.

    Using an R9 390 8GB on Windows 10
     
  14. LocoDiceGR

    LocoDiceGR Ancient Guru

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    F5 waiting for 1.2 :cool::nerd::eyebrows:
     
  15. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    I guess I'm ready as I'm going to be to launch this. Some bugs probably will have slipped in due to the amount altered, yet of course I'll fix those up as quickly as I can like the usual. This is a rather massive update, and I definitely want to get it out there as a treat for you all for the new year. --Everything in here is thanks to all your feedback and directly based on it. Thanks everyone!



    Please be aware that builds of 1.2-0 onward are "not" backwards compatible save-format wise. That means that 1.2 can import 1.1 and 1.0 config files, but not the other way around. --Put another way, reverting to 1.1 after installing 1.2 will cause the loss of your rules. Upgrading to 1.2 will migrate your rules over to the new format.

    Final changes below:

    EDIT: Forgot to mention how to get it.

    -Software Update, main links, and archive links are updated to the new version. Changelog will be updated shortly on site and forums main page.

    -Since I have not explained how 3D-Program detection behaves. This implementation is a foreground exclusive rule, similar to the fullscreen detection. --In otherwords, you can safely enable this without your clockspeeds increasing because something like Intel RST uses a 3D API.

    You will still probably have to add exclusions for things like your web-browser, though.


    -Probably also should be mentioned that you can swap between the newer and older blocking methods on the fly (from the GUI), even if a detection has already happened (this swap can be made by the helper module at any time). I also do not recommend using 1.1's helper module with 1.2, even though it does somewhat work.

    Some of the Shared Mem has changed (bad things may happen). So, don't slice together parts of 1.1 and 1.2 versions in this case.

    -For those wondering: YES you can enable fullscreen & 3D-Program detection at the same time. You might opt to do this for instance to maximize the odds of catching a game process where one or the other fails, even if you only play in fullscreen.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2015

  16. minginator

    minginator Guest

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    We are back at square one for me sadly :/. The update downloaded fine for me via auto-update, but again after waiting a for while nothing popped up. I uninstalled the current version I had of ClockBlocker (the one before 1.2) and tried manually installing ClockBlocker 1.2. Same results as before, whether it's the installer of the 7-zip extractor I get 3 processes of ClockBlockerSetup.exe that seemingly don't do anything other than crash my explorer.exe. Running the 7-zip extractor or the installer as admin doesn't change anything. Basically every problem I had with installing the software is back again on this version, for me at least.

    Strangely enough I can still run the old installer with no problems at all, so I'll stay on that version for now, it did the trick for me anyways.

    P.S. don't sweat about it too much and enjoy new year's eve ^^
     
  17. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    Well that rules out rights elevation then sadly.

    Have to go back to the notion that something is interfering with starting programs on that machine. I'm just baffled by that 7zip self extractors even don't run. The only thing that I can think of is Avast "Hardened mode" or similar, if it was enabled and not working right (not producing popups even). However, you said that you'd tried without the AV even active, so I doubt that's it.

    Do you have problems with any other apps or installers on there at all? Or just isolated to the things that I pack?


    EDIT:
    -The thing with Hardened Mode, is that in Hardened Mode (aggressive option) any application that's not been used by sufficient Avast-users (or that's whitelisted) is just automatically blocked. This 'does' block the newer installers of ClockBlocker when I tested it, yet it also produces very clear popups saying that it has been blocked. Hardened Mode would fit behavior-wise (per older installers just starting working) if not for that you already tested it with the AV disabled.


    **I'll try writing Avast support and giving them a link to the software, though if this was the problem it wouldn't help with immediately running new versions... I guess we'll find out if it's related by if that release just spontaneously starts working eventually.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2015
  18. minginator

    minginator Guest

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    I've never had any issues with apps or installers on my machine, except for your program :/. It's pretty weird for me too, never had anything like it before.

    Edit: DEEEEEEERP, I actually tried the installer with avast shields turned off (sorry if any of my previous posts led you to think I did, English isn't my first language. I actually didn't try that at all, and the 1.2 installer instantly worked for me. Guess we can say for sure now it's 100% avast blocking the installer.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2015
  19. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    No worries, and I'm sure alot of it is myself skim-reading too fast or reading between the lines too. Your English is exceptionally good! So no reason to apologize for it.


    Far as Avast, also keep in mind that there's alot of different options in that AV. In this case, I suspect that it's related to Avast's "Cloud" options.

    Specifically this:

    -Not saying that you should disable said features, because if those checks aren't causing you problems in other software, it certainly may be providing bonus-security (which is a good thing). Yet there may be options other than completely shutting off the AV, such as setting your own exclusions for right now.

    Anyway, now that I know for sure that this is the problem --I'll see if I can get a recommendation from Avast of what the best course is to reduce or eliminate this in the future.


    Also, thanks for sticking with it and testing! I'm really glad to have some more solid grasp of what exactly was happening. That would've drove me nuts to leave it be without figuring it out at this point.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2015
  20. minginator

    minginator Guest

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    I want to add that 1.2 doesn't start with windows, even when I set it to, presumably because Avast blocks it. It'll start when I start windows with my AV off, but I won't do that normally, so for now I'm rolling back.

    Also Happy New Year to you ^^

    Edit: Jesus Christ I'm an idiot. I found a permanent fix for the problem by just adding the correct file paths as exceptions. Doing this for the folder with installers also enables me to run every installer.
     
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2016

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