Permanently Set Process Priority in Windows? 125
Dave asks: "I have a render farm set up for 3D Studio Max. I have a Render user that runs 3dsmax.exe when it is sent jobs by the render farm server. I have tried to set the process to low when it runs, and it works. However, when the computer is finished rendering the images, and is sent a new set to render, the priority goes back to normal (program closes in between renderings). This obviously defeats the purpose of rendering an image in the background while others are still working, as you can imagine having 3dsmax.exe pegged at 100% CPU, slows down the machine tremendously. Is there anything that can be done to set the render user's instance of 3dsmax.exe permanently to low? Or is it possible to just set 3dsmax.exe to the low priority. I know there is a command line that sets any .exe to low, but that also starts the program. I would like 3dsmax.exe to be set to low either: when render launches the program, or set 3dsmax.exe to low whenever it is launched. Can anything be done?"
Your question contains its answer. (Score:2, Insightful)
Just make an alias to 3dsmax.exe that actually invokes the one-liner you are talking of. No?
Thank you, Cliff!!! (Score:2, Insightful)
More effective solution? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Prio - Process Priority Saver (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd say write an app which looks for 3dmax.exe processes at frequent intervals and sets them to low. With cygwin it'd take a couple of minutes to write a shell script. Do anything but don't use 'Priority Saver Deluxe Edition v10 for only $19.99', these companies exist because of ignorance/laziness and PageRank bots.
Re:Google It? (Score:4, Insightful)
Did you Google a little farther and find the answer to the question that was asked? The network rendering manager is spawning 3DSM, not somebody sitting at the computer. The start command won't work unless the network renderer is modified. What he needs is for Windows to always recognize that
Re:Prio - Process Priority Saver (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Prio - Process Priority Saver (Score:1, Insightful)
Free software is never without cost though. If I have a problem that can be solved in 5 minutes by spending $19.95 that's a heck of a lot cheaper than spending an hour of research and testing to find and set up or write from a scratch a good OSS solution.
Or, to put it another way, I'm very willing to pay somebody else $19.95 to do that research and testing for me and package the result up in a nice neat bundle.
Let me say it again, OSS is never free.
Let me say it a different way, under some circumstances OSS can be more expensive than commercial software.
Once more for the fanboys - every problem has multiple solutions and in a business setting an ROI calculation is always part of the solution selection.
(No offense intended, just clearing things up for the moderators who seemed to think the parent was insightful.
Re:Prio - Process Priority Saver (Score:2, Insightful)
But, if you have "a problem" there *may* be a $19.95 solution that will work perfectly. But, just because it's $19.95 and neatly packaged doesn't mean it'll necessarily be any
Commercial or OSS doesn't make or break any solution. You should always use the solution that works and leave idealogical hangups at the door if your interest is in solving "the problem".
Or, to put it another way, paying someone $19.95 to research and package a solution for you doesn't guarantee they did it right. You'll still have to "spend" time to verify that yourself.
Maybe that's what you meant, and if so I please disregard this post.
Mod parent up Prio looks like a good freeware util (Score:3, Insightful)
Now I have only had it 5 minutes so can't give an in-depth account of how it is going to behave long-term regarding stability/system resources etc. but certainly the learning curve is non-existent if you know how to use task manager.
Honestly, someone asks how to do something simple in Windows (note a closed source cost-money OS) and most of the replies divide between:
- completely igoring the problem and telling him how to _start_ a process with a given priority, duh;
- explaining how he can install cygwin and write a script himself to scan for processes and reset them to whatever priority (good luck on making that one neat and efficient in a 5-minute script;)
- reminding him that if was only using Linux he could recompile the kernel to achieve his aims (a completely irrelevant point in any case as Windows actually does expose interfaces to adjust process priorities. Recompiling the kernel is rarely the best way to achieve something if you have the option of a defined API. This is no different in Linux.)
While the one answer that points out a simple and elegant freeware utility that does the exact job requested and does it well gets flamed.(And yes they do describe it as "freeware" on their website; I suspect what they mean to mean by "free for personal use" is that they retain copyright and you can't redistribute it, I don't think they actually intend to exclude commercial use - as suggested by the lack of a way to buy it on their purchase page [prnwatch.com].)