Wizard ROM Ported to BA - Performance Improvements

[Tuatara]

I've been working with the Wizard Port which mamaich has done, and have run into the 'normal' performance issues with WM2005 which most everyone has encountered.

Since our devices have so much RAM available, IMHO it should no longer be used for storage. Instead we can utilise huge SD Cards for all storage needs. We need one for the EXTROM installation anyways, and the Batteries will drain the same whether you're using 32Mb or 128Mb of your RAM.

My main focus has therefore been to improving RAM usage for Caching and Filesystem access (StorageManager). I'm trying things out to see if there are any improvements which can be done simply through registry changes. I'd felt I was relatively successful on my Himalaya (using BuzzROM 1.60c) with this style of performance tweak, so now it was time to try it out on the new Blue Angel.

I'm primarily concerned with stability and performance, as well as usability and resources. My focus has therefore been to make extensive use of the RAM Disk for all temporary elements (why make them persistant?), to add appropriate levels of caching and to set an appropriate number of buffers for all memory and filesystem access. My goal is to use the RAM to it's full potential - 32Mb for temp/ramdisk, and as much as beneficial for Cache/Buffers/Paging/etc. leaving the remainder (64Mb+) available for applications to use.

For this I've been scanning the forums and have gleaned the 'pearls of wisdom' from many developers who have been trying to improve the performance of their devices. For everything which I've found, I've researched the origins of the registry modification, and have verified (to the best of available information) that the flags/settings/values or other parameters as I've changed them in the attached registry files below, are legal and valid.

I've geared things to be a 'workhorse' device - i.e. the initial application open/start may be slightly slower (first run), but once the application is up and running, it responds very quickly. The point is then to keep all the commonly used applications running and using the RAM, not to try to have untold Mb of RAM free. All those 'Task OK Button Close' are a real waste when using WM2005 now.

If you do have some memory intensive application, then you may need to close applications, but with 64MB+ free I couldn't think of what you might want to run (except a game or something else 'useful'). The "Memory" Control Panel is all you'd ever need for this.

Ok ... enough rambling about what I've tried to achieve ... on to the details.

Device Configuration I'm using:
- mamaich Wizard ROM v2a (unmodified)
- Model No.: PH20B
- Model Name: iMate PDA2K
- ROM Version: 5.03.02 WWE
- ROM Date: 03/02/05
- Radio Version: Radio 1.15.00
- Protocol Version: 1337.45
- CPU: Intel(R) PXA263
- Speed: 400 Mhz
- RAM Size: 96 Mb
- Flash Size: 32 Mb
- Flash Chip Type: 28F128K3
- Storage Size: 60.30 Mb

Attached below are two principal registry files: Performance.reg, and Customize.reg

Performance is specifically for improving the Performance of the device.
Customize is specifically for setting 'default' customizations, which are user/owner preferences.

These can be imported using your favourite registry editor (I'm using Resco) and you can see what (if any) difference to performance they can make.

Performance.reg Details:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Phone]
- Disable Phone Sleep. May help with Bluetooth disconnect issues.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\TTSAnnounce ]
- Move Voice Command Caller Identification into RAM Disk

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders]
- Move all of IE's Temporary Files into RAM Disk

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Internet Settings]
- Give IE More Connections

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
- Give IE More Threads

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\WiFi]
- Slow down the WiFi Scanning Interval

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\QwertyKey]
- Improve Keyboard Responsiveness

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\WaveDev]
- Improve Audio Responsiveness

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security\Policies\Policies]
- Disable Signing

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\HTC\XPanel]
- Move Volatile elements to RAM Disk

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\FileSys]
- Move all Temporary Items to RAM Disk

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\GWE]
- Disable Animation

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\GWE\Menu]
- Disable Animation

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\Filters\ fsreplxfilt]
- Set the File & Directory Exclusions for the Filesystem Filter

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\...]
- Tweak all the StorageManager settings to improve performance



Customize.reg Details:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\AdminPassword]
- Enable Admin Password Control Panel

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\GPS Settings]
- Move GPS Control Panel to Connections

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\GWE]
- Make THIN scroll bars (get a bit more screen space - I'm accurate with a stylus)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Backlight]
- Default Backlight Settings

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Comm]
- Default USB Communications

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Notifications\Shel lOverrides]
- Set the Volume

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\PhoneExtendFunctio n]
- Set PAP and Class 8 (4 Receive, 1 Transmit) GPRS Settings

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sip]
- Set SIP Input Word Suggestion Defaults

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\SoundCategories\Ri ng]
- Set the Volume

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\SoundCategories\Ri ngPreview]
- Set the Volume

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Volume]
- Set the Volume

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
- Set some IE defaults (Google, History, Zoom, etc.)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Internet Settings]
- Set some IE Messages

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\Phone]
- Phone Flags

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Explorer]
- Show all Files

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\HTC\Camera\AppDefSett ings\P3]
- Disable Recording Time Limit

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\HTC\Camera\AppDefSett ings\P4]
- Enable additional Contacts Photo Mode

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Inbox\Svc\S MS]
- Change the SMS Text Message Confirmation

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Obex]
- Disable OBEX

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Pocket MSN]
- Permit any email address in Pocket MSN

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell\TaskB ar]
- Clock in Taskbar

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\Internet Settings]
- ClearType in IE

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Advan cedCPL]
- Enable Microphone AGC


*** NOTE: I forgot to mention to create the following directories in the RAM Disk in order to properly support things! ***

Cache
Cookies
History
Volatile

Improvements, comments, discussion and changes to these values (or adding more) is HIGHLY encouraged. We'll all benefit from faster machines, without needing to overclock them into instability. And if something is obviously WRONG in these settings, point out the mistake! 8)

Hope this helps others with their performance concerns.

Regards,
Tuatara.

************************************************** *******

UPDATE: Version 2 of the Scripts: 5/Feb/2006

Performance:
1). Corrected the WaveDev Priority, and the QwertyKey Priority to values which will produce better performing results across all requirements.
2). Removed requirement for \Ram Disk32\Volatile since the \Volatile directory is NOT automatically created. This can lead to problems if the RAM gets corrupted and or is reformatted. Now all temporary (Volatile) Files have been placed in the root folder "\Ram Disk32\" instead.
NOTE: This means you DO NOT need to create any directories! All cache directories will automatically be created as required by IE on startup!
3). BufferSize has been reduced to a more 'sensible' value of 1024 buffers.
4). Added "EnableDataCacheWarm", "EnableFatCacheWarm", and "PathCacheEntries" to the filesystem specifications.

Customize:
1). Moved Key Deletion to END of registry script, since some registry imports fail to delete these keys properly. Can be done manually.
2). Changed Default Search Page to a more Mobile Friendly GOOGLE search page, which permits better searching of results.
3). Removed the /GWE elements which shrunk down the scroll bars, as I did begin to find it tiring to aim more carefully to scroll things. ;)
4). Removed the OBEX Disable, since this would probably confuse more than help.

[Tuatara]

Some registry settings regarding StorageManager profiles are read during the first stage of boot process from constant boot.hv file located in XIP section of a ROM, and not from the registry you've changed. For example all drivers that are loaded during "Bootphase" 0 or 1 may ignore all settings that are not present in boot.hv. For example you can change "MountFlags" value to anything, and it would be ignored. I also think that cache size settings for TRUEFFS_DOC and MSFlash are read from boot.hv, because setting the cache size in registry to 16Mb (you cannot allocate more than 32Mb in one chunk) does not decrease the free memory size. The same is for "XIP" and "Flags" settings. The filesystem driver may reread these settings from registry when it becomes available, but I don't think so.

The only filesystem driver that reads your changed settings is SD-Card driver. It is loaded after registry is fully functional.
By the way, it is possible to mount root directory of our device to SD-Card, similar to MPX200.

I've had a look into this, and from my understanding the StorageManager mounts the partitions (keeping all the flags, etc.) as from boot.hv, but once the filesystem is up and running, it appears to reload in the filesystem (not partition) registry keys from the user registry, when it mounts the portions of the user registry hive at the end of the process.

Filesys.exe Boot Process
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wcemain4/html/cgconFilesysexeBootProcess.asp

Although I could be wrong about this ... it 'appeared' to have made a slight improvement. Very hard to say though if it is reloading the registry information.

A better answer might be to modify the boot.hv and then check the performance.

More on this shortly ...

Regards,
Tuatara

[Tuatara]

...
Badly written code ... maybe ... most likely it's poor blocking / thread safety implementations which are causing the issues. Interrupt level and thread level access to the data buffers, taken from legacy 2003/SE code could be at fault here. ...
Occasionally I've found this page - http://blogs.msdn.com/sloh/archive/2005/05/27/422605.aspx
It has an interesting code at the bottom. I've already made a program that can hook system calls, I'll try to hook EnterCriticalSection and WaitForMultipleObjects and force them to use that code. Maybe this would reduce the occasional lockdowns.
I've also managed to find the value of default thread quantum on our device. It is 0x4b == 75 milliseconds (WinCE default is 100ms). I.e. we have about 13 task switches per second. Decreasing the value can potentially make our device more responsive, but would add some overhead.
Here is the address to patch in nk.nba (address: old_value new_value):
00207B94: 4B 20
this would set a thread quantum to 0x20 == 32 milliseconds, thread switching would be 31 times per second.
Currently I'm testing this patch, if it is efficient - i'll integrate it into newer ROMs.

Modifying the Quantum Times is an excellent thought. I remember when this was done for Win2K by SysInternals (tweaking Server into Workstation & vice-versa). Reducing the quantum (in theory) should improve the performance, unless there are too many 'busy' applications executing. Interrupt service requests, and thread unblocking to service them could really kill the 'Quantum Theory' :D if they come too 'thick and fast'.

It would mean that USB/GSM data is serviced quickly, but application responsiveness (user perception) actually goes down slightly overall.

BUT !!!! the upside of this would be that the dreaded 'lockup' events won't happen anymore, since data is ALWAYS serviced, and the application has (in effect) a lower priority timeslice in which to execute. You will never have a high-priority thread blocking for extended periods, locking the 'foreground' application while it's busy servicing the data requests.

Let me know your initial testing results - I'd then go ahead and modify my ROM if you feel there is any improvement of note. Similarly, I'd probably try to also go about modifying the boot.hv for StorageManager registry settings and see how far that can get things.

Cheers,
Tuatara

[KTamas]

...
Badly written code ... maybe ... most likely it's poor blocking / thread safety implementations which are causing the issues. Interrupt level and thread level access to the data buffers, taken from legacy 2003/SE code could be at fault here. ...
Occasionally I've found this page - http://blogs.msdn.com/sloh/archive/2005/05/27/422605.aspx
It has an interesting code at the bottom. I've already made a program that can hook system calls, I'll try to hook EnterCriticalSection and WaitForMultipleObjects and force them to use that code. Maybe this would reduce the occasional lockdowns.
I've also managed to find the value of default thread quantum on our device. It is 0x4b == 75 milliseconds (WinCE default is 100ms). I.e. we have about 13 task switches per second. Decreasing the value can potentially make our device more responsive, but would add some overhead.
Here is the address to patch in nk.nba (address: old_value new_value):
00207B94: 4B 20
this would set a thread quantum to 0x20 == 32 milliseconds, thread switching would be 31 times per second.
Currently I'm testing this patch, if it is efficient - i'll integrate it into newer ROMs.

Modifying the Quantum Times is an excellent thought. I remember when this was done for Win2K by SysInternals (tweaking Server into Workstation & vice-versa). Reducing the quantum (in theory) should improve the performance, unless there are too many 'busy' applications executing. Interrupt service requests, and thread unblocking to service them could really kill the 'Quantum Theory' :D if they come too 'thick and fast'.

It would mean that USB/GSM data is serviced quickly, but application responsiveness (user perception) actually goes down slightly overall.

BUT !!!! the upside of this would be that the dreaded 'lockup' events won't happen anymore, since data is ALWAYS serviced, and the application has (in effect) a lower priority timeslice in which to execute. You will never have a high-priority thread blocking for extended periods, locking the 'foreground' application while it's busy servicing the data requests.

Let me know your initial testing results - I'd then go ahead and modify my ROM if you feel there is any improvement of note. Similarly, I'd probably try to also go about modifying the boot.hv for StorageManager registry settings and see how far that can get things.

Cheers,
Tuatara
I've done this modification on nk.nba and reflashed my device and i can't see any difference so far. Will do some more testing later.

[KTamas]

"[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Obex]
- Disable OBEX"
Why?

[d3vil]

To which point are these tweaks actually noticeable?

Don't get me wrong, i appreciate greatly all the research done arround this, but last time i applied some reg settings (like cache, etc), that didn't improve wm5 speed to the point to find it usable..

I mean, time required to open tmail.exe, the lag in writing sms, lag before answering a call, wifi multitask use, and program responsiveness in general, can one say that with these tweaks the improvements are significative?

I mean, i've kind of given up on wm5 because of these things (although i've reflashed it many times, hope is last thing to die :P)

[mr_ding]

Will running some benchmarking software (before) and (after) the registry tweaking show any improvement?

I'm trying to find some (preferably free) benchtest software for WM5 right now. Will update this thread if I find it.

I'm using Wizard v2a on SX66 with Radio 1.15 myself.

[KTamas]

Hmm, actually i can feel a little speed up, not much, but it is faster a bit indeed.

[Tuatara]

"[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Obex]
- Disable OBEX"
Why?

Ah - legacy stuff for the defaults I need here. Most of our users don't have Bluetooth Headsets, so by default it is disabled to extend battery life. I should have removed that before posting - but then again, maybe it's useful for someone. :D

[Tuatara]

To which point are these tweaks actually noticeable?

As with anything which is NOT modifying the underlying issues, these registry tweaks will only produce SOME improvement in the performance. There is a limit to how much you can cache, buffer, move into RAM, or maintain available.

Don't get me wrong, i appreciate greatly all the research done arround this, but last time i applied some reg settings (like cache, etc), that didn't improve wm5 speed to the point to find it usable..

Part of the reason for this is the abundance of mis-information about the registry tweaks. I've seen posts where for example the Flags settings for StorageManager have been specified in Hex, someone else copied them in decimal, and then these have been imported as hex again - leading to some 'random' FATFS configuration setting which would cause problems. Or other posts where the buffer sizes are set to 64Mb or larger?!!? And you would get no useful benefit from this.

I mean, time required to open tmail.exe, the lag in writing sms, lag before answering a call, wifi multitask use, and program responsiveness in general, can one say that with these tweaks the improvements are significative?

For my expectations and usage, these tweaks do help the performance of applications. This does take into account some assumptions though - such as I do not 'Terminate' the application, but leave them running as intended. All temporary elements are placed onto the RAMDisk. All applications are attempted to be executed from RAM. etc.

I mean, i've kind of given up on wm5 because of these things (although i've reflashed it many times, hope is last thing to die :P)

It all depends on your expectations. Mine are to have better Word, Excel, Outlook, and Exchange integration, incl. Push Email and ActiveSync support. Can't get that with WM2003, so I'm working with what I can, and making it run as smoothly/quickly/stably as possible.

Cheers,
Robert.

[Tuatara]

Will running some benchmarking software (before) and (after) the registry tweaking show any improvement?

Benchmarking software is unfortunately inherently flawed. It can only measure what it is attempting to execute - which in the majority of cases does not reflect real-life usage.

These tweaks aren't necessarily designed to speed up the first execution of an application, but are to keep that application ready and available for the next time it is needed and used.

It would be hard to design a benchmark which could replicate everyday usage. The best answer is ... if you've been using your device for a while, and have noticed a few problems ... try the registry settings and see if the issues are less pronounced, or are eliminated entirely.

I'm trying to find some (preferably free) benchtest software for WM5 right now. Will update this thread if I find it.

I've applied similar settings to my Himalaya and have had very good performance and results from them. I've barely needed to reset the device (maybe 5 times in as many months) and have adapted my usage, or configured my way around most of the flaws. Time to do the same for the Blue Angel Wizard v2a. (or b) :D

Anyways ... the next step on my list is to make a EXTROM which auto-configures the devices with all the settings and applications we need for our users. mamaich's cfg.txt makes this so easy to do. 8)

Regards,
Robert.

[avram_z]

thank you for the work.

one little question, what do i do with the files?

and there is in the all settings the boot image ?

[KTamas]

I'm not sure if it is mamaich's very new hexa editing in ROM or your tweaks but my problems with sound are back :( Will reflash the original Wizard2BA and do a hardreset i guess.

[mr_ding]

Will running some benchmarking software (before) and (after) the registry tweaking show any improvement?

Benchmarking software is unfortunately inherently flawed. It can only measure what it is attempting to execute - which in the majority of cases does not reflect real-life usage.

These tweaks aren't necessarily designed to speed up the first execution of an application, but are to keep that application ready and available for the next time it is needed and used.

It would be hard to design a benchmark which could replicate everyday usage. The best answer is ... if you've been using your device for a while, and have noticed a few problems ... try the registry settings and see if the issues are less pronounced, or are eliminated entirely.

I'm trying to find some (preferably free) benchtest software for WM5 right now. Will update this thread if I find it.

I've applied similar settings to my Himalaya and have had very good performance and results from them. I've barely needed to reset the device (maybe 5 times in as many months) and have adapted my usage, or configured my way around most of the flaws. Time to do the same for the Blue Angel Wizard v2a. (or b) :D

Anyways ... the next step on my list is to make a EXTROM which auto-configures the devices with all the settings and applications we need for our users. mamaich's cfg.txt makes this so easy to do. 8)

Regards,
Robert.

I guess you don't use the (SPB Plus) feature when pressing (x) button, it automatically closes the application, right?

I will try your tweak tonight/tomorrow and uninstall/disable SPBPlus feature on auto-closing application myself.

Typically I run Mapopolis (sometimes with BT GPS), phone, sudoku, and tcpmp (watch divx movies). Will it really be okay with all these applications running in the background without closing them?

[Tuatara]

I'm not sure if it is mamaich's very new hexa editing in ROM or your tweaks but my problems with sound are back :( Will reflash the original Wizard2BA and do a hardreset i guess.

Interesting ... it could well be either at fault. The only change I've made for the Sound was to set the Audio Priority to a sensible value. You could readily change the value of Priority256 for the sound and see if that makes a difference.

Alternatively, with the quantum time for a thread being lowered, it is possible that there is not enough time for audio decoding to be performed per quantum, which will lead to stuttering as there are other waiting tasks to be serviced.

For the audio, you could try two things:
1). Change the value of Priority256 for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Drivers\\BuiltIn\\WaveDev (lower = higher priority = serviced more often)
2). Change the quantum time to something larger (more audio processing per thread switch)

Try patching nk.nba (address: old_value new_value):
00207B94: 4B 64
This would set the thread quantum to 100 milliseconds (MS Recommended = 10 times per second)

You could even be so radical as to try 120 milliseconds (= 78, which would give you 8 1/3 switches per second)

You may find that the audio more responsive with larger processing time blocks, and higher priority. Again, it really depends on what your requirements are.

NOTE: A Hard Reset isn't required for these changes. This is only changing how things execute, not where things are executing from. There should be no need to hard reset & format.

Regards,
Tuatara.

[mamaich]

I'm not sure if it is mamaich's very new hexa editing in ROM or your tweaks but my problems with sound are back :( Will reflash the original Wizard2BA and do a hardreset i guess.
Interesting ... it could well be either at fault. The only change I've made for the Sound was to set the Audio Priority to a sensible value. You could readily change the value of Priority256 for the sound and see if that makes a difference.
...I don't have sound issues. But I have Priority256 set to 0x80 (128). Tested on PocketPlayer, sound of incoming call, Toppler game (without Priority256=0x80 it had clicking sounds).
I recommend using 0x80, it is a well-tested value since GB-tweak for WM2003. In this case wavedev driver would not steal time from system services, and priority is high enough to eliminate sound pauses.
I'm still testing my patch, and had no occasional slowdowns yet. The device is responsive even when you are running CPU benchmarks. Previously it lost Activesync connection, ignored touchscreen taps, etc.

[mamaich]

I've had a look into this, and from my understanding the StorageManager mounts the partitions (keeping all the flags, etc.) as from boot.hv, but once the filesystem is up and running, it appears to reload in the filesystem (not partition) registry keys from the user registry, when it mounts the portions of the user registry hive at the end of the process.

Filesys.exe Boot Process
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wcemain4/html/cgconFilesysexeBootProcess.asp
It is easy to find whether driver rereads registry or not. Just search for "SYSTEM/BOOTPHASE2" unicode string inside it. None of the drivers wait for this event, so we can assume none of them rereads registry. Only filesys.exe, devmgr.dll and pm.dll use this event.
I don't know when filesystem filters are loaded, but they may be loaded at the bootphase 2, so fsreplxfilt.dll can use your new settings. But this should be checked.
You can also try to set invalid values to some settings, so that device would have great slowdown or would not boot at all. Or you can set cache size to something near 32Mb, and check the size of used memory. If it would be decreased, or device would react on your settings (i.e. would not boot) - the driver rereads the registry.

[Tuatara]

I'm not sure if it is mamaich's very new hexa editing in ROM or your tweaks but my problems with sound are back :( Will reflash the original Wizard2BA and do a hardreset i guess.
Interesting ... it could well be either at fault. The only change I've made for the Sound was to set the Audio Priority to a sensible value. You could readily change the value of Priority256 for the sound and see if that makes a difference.
...I don't have sound issues. But I have Priority256 set to 0x80 (128). Tested on PocketPlayer, sound of incoming call, Toppler game (without Priority256=0x80 it had clicking sounds).
I recommend using 0x80, it is a well-tested value since GB-tweak for WM2003. In this case wavedev driver would not steal time from system services, and priority is high enough to eliminate sound pauses.

I initially had the setting as 128 (0x80) as well, but had some occasional issues with Voice Command & pauses/delays. I increased the priority and the issue appeared to be resolved. However this is assuming short audio playback streams, not continuous ones, and I had changed things further since that issue arose. Time to retest.

Probably setting the value back to 0x80 in the registry is the best option as mamaich recommends. It would be a general solution for everyone. Similarly, I've found the keyboard better with the tweak, but this too could be reduced in priority - possibly 0xA0 (160) would be a more 'adequate' value to utilise.

Recommend to Change: Performance.reg to contain:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\QwertyKey]
"Priority256"=dword:000000A0

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\WaveDev]
"Priority256"=dword:00000080


I'm still testing my patch, and had no occasional slowdowns yet. The device is responsive even when you are running CPU benchmarks. Previously it lost Activesync connection, ignored touchscreen taps, etc.

Sounds good ... possibly the Priority256 setting for the WaveDevice was too high - especially with the smaller quantum value, leading to stuttering (somehow). Hopefully KTamas has some time to see which direction solves the problem in the audio.

[Tuatara]

I've had a look into this, and from my understanding the StorageManager mounts the partitions (keeping all the flags, etc.) as from boot.hv, but once the filesystem is up and running, it appears to reload in the filesystem (not partition) registry keys from the user registry, when it mounts the portions of the user registry hive at the end of the process.

Filesys.exe Boot Process
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wcemain4/html/cgconFilesysexeBootProcess.asp
It is easy to find whether driver rereads registry or not. Just search for "SYSTEM/BOOTPHASE2" unicode string inside it. None of the drivers wait for this event, so we can assume none of them rereads registry. Only filesys.exe, devmgr.dll and pm.dll use this event.
I don't know when filesystem filters are loaded, but they may be loaded at the bootphase 2, so fsreplxfilt.dll can use your new settings. But this should be checked.

Haven't had the chance yet to decompose the ROM Image, but will get to that shortly - shame that MS doesn't make the process description clearer. I will try updating the boot.hv with changed settings and see what results that can bring.

You can also try to set invalid values to some settings, so that device would have great slowdown or would not boot at all. Or you can set cache size to something near 32Mb, and check the size of used memory. If it would be decreased, or device would react on your settings (i.e. would not boot) - the driver rereads the registry.

From what I could tell in my experimenting, outlandish (or illegal) settings are limited by the driver itself. i.e. trying to set a CacheSize of 64Mb is met with an upper limit to the CacheSize of 2Mb anyways - regardless of the registry value. This is (partially) why some ridiculous values published by others still work, and additionally why increasing those values doesn't bring any further gains.

Each tweak I've done for StorageManager has increased the memory usage requirements, so I (strangely) still think that there is some mystical reloading of the registry information happening. Maybe it is solely the filters which affect this - maybe it is the loading of the filters which resets only the cache/buffer sizes (to limits), since the filesystems are already mounted.

Regardless, I will try the boot.hv, and the Quantum Time Change sometime soon.

[Tuatara]

This might be irrelevant, but I had most versions of wm5 on my BA (except the himalaya port). I'm having some issues with MS VoiceCommand.

The (leaked) original (slow) version worked ok.. The wizard port worked even better so did v2.. when i put v2a however (with 32M ramdrive), voice command started acting strange.

The whole device seems abit odd.. when i remove the device off its cradle its just SO SLOW.. as if its searching to sync.. anyway back to VC.
Its very wierd.. ie.. i say Call Harry .. and it matches NAT .. HOW ON EARTH!? Or I say.. call nicole.. and it matches TAXI! . This was NOT an issue with previous wm5 roms. I dont run any other software on the device so I dont know what's causing this. Could it be the ramdrive?

Note.. VC rarely gets the match right anymore.. where as before it RARELY got it wrong.

I'm still testing with VoiceCommand, and have had to change a few things to get suitable performance. I haven't as yet made the Quantum Timing change, but I'll evaluate that and see how it goes.

Anyways, you might wish to try the following CAB file. I can't remember who created it but I've been using it along with the RAM Disk for the CallerID Wave File Generation, and Voice Command has been working well. It makes a few registry entries, and I believe replaces some configuration elements - haven't disassembled it as yet.

Note2.. MP3 playback skipping like mad.. (just noticed) (and only on certain mp3s.. not all STRANGE).

Additionally, it would be recommended to keep the WaveDev Priority at 128, since KTamas has reported stuttering when it was set at 96 (as in the registry script in the first post)

(Time! I just need more time!!! :cry:)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\SoundCategories\Vo iceCommand1]
"AttenuationCategory"=dword:00000001
"InitVol"=dword:00000005
"Script"="p"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\TTSAnnounce ]
"Sound"="\\RAM Disk32\\Volatile\\TTSCallerID.wav"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\WaveDev]
"Priority256"=dword:00000080

[Tuatara]

I guess you don't use the (SPB Plus) feature when pressing (x) button, it automatically closes the application, right?

No. I try to keep the applications I use frequently running/available in memory. Items such as Games, or 'time wasters', I would generally start them when I want them, and then close them down when finished.

Although, having said that, I'm going to play with GSPlayer/Media Player and see about MP3 playback through Bluetooth headset/headphones shortly.

I will try your tweak tonight/tomorrow and uninstall/disable SPBPlus feature on auto-closing application myself.

A better answer would be to specify which applications to keep open, and others to close/unload automatically.

Typically I run Mapopolis (sometimes with BT GPS), phone, sudoku, and tcpmp (watch divx movies). Will it really be okay with all these applications running in the background without closing them?

Running the Map, Phone and Sudoku are probably your primary 'core' tasks (not MSN & Email? 8)), but I'd have DivX only running when you're actively using/viewing the device, so it should be shut down each time. No loss there - use it when you need it, and close it when you don't.

Adapting your usage patterns is the key to success. I've found with my Himalaya that the device is very stable when doing this. Now I'm moving to the Blue Angel (so I can stop swapping my SD Memory for SD WiFi) & want to have the same stability.

[mr_ding]

Installed performance.reg and VoiceCommandFix.cab.

Seems to run fine for now, will play around with Voice Command a bit mroe tomorrow (almost 1am, time for bed)

BTW, where is TTSCallerID.wav coming from? Do I have to install .cab to RAM Disk32 instead of default folder?

[mr_ding]

Also, how is the performance.reg compared to Tweaks2k2.NET tweaking?

Will some of their registry tweaking be beneficial to us?

[mamaich]

2 Tuatara
PlatformBuilder provides source code of FATFS driver ...\PRIVATE\WINCEOS\COREOS\FSD\FATFS
Here are all settings it reads (all DWORDs):
BufferSize - default 64, size of buffer pool. The more BufferSize, the more threads FATFS can create to work in parallel. I don't think that >64 is necessary
Flags - see below
CodePage - override codepage, unnecessary
PathCacheEntries - number of path cache entries, default is 50
PATH_CACHING - This enables path-caching code, which remembers up
to 4 recently-used paths per volume (see MAX_CACHE_PER_VOLUME). This
code makes a HUGE difference in certain scenarios (most notably our
tests that create and destroy large directory structures), and does
not significantly impact other scenarios.
MountLabel - as far as I remember when it is set, the drive is mounted to a folder with the name of its volume label
FormatTfat - use TFAT instead of FAT. Changing this would require reformatting the storage.
EnableCache - enable cache
CacheSize - when "-1" cache is disabled. Obsolete. Use DataCacheSize and FatCacheSize to specify sizes of data and FAT caches.
EnableFatCacheWarm - enable prewarming of FAT cahce (I recommend it)
EnableDataCacheWarm - enable prewarming of data cache (should be tested)
EnableCacheWarm - obsolete, also sets EnableFatCacheWarm
FatCacheSize - "If the FAT cache size was set to 0, use the size of the FAT, up to 512 sectors". So we typically don't need to set this value
DataCacheSize - size of data cache
EnableWriteBack - enable write back (I recommend it).

// For TFAT, only cache FAT1. FAT0 will be uncached to ensure transactions
// are committed properly.
....
#define FATFS_UPDATE_ACCESS 0x00000001 // update access times if set
#define FATFS_DISABLE_LOG 0x00000002 // disable event logging if set
#define FATFS_DISABLE_AUTOSCAN 0x00000004 // disable automatic ScanVolume()
#define FATFS_VERIFY_WRITES 0x00000008 // verify all writes (as opposed to a handful)
#define FATFS_ENABLE_BACKUP_FAT 0x00000010 // add a backup FAT to all formats
#define FATFS_FORCE_WRITETHROUGH 0x00000020 // Force fat to be always writethrough
#define FATFS_DISABLE_AUTOFORMAT 0x00000040 // disable automatic formatting of unformatted volumes

#define FATFS_WFWS_NOWRITETHRU 0x00010000 // disable writethrough on WriteFileWithSeek API, improve memory-mapped file performance
#define FATFS_DISABLE_FORMAT 0x00020000 // disable format
#define FATFS_TRANS_DATA 0x00040000 // transact data on a write (i.e. clone cluster on every write)
#define FATFS_TFAT_NONATOMIC_SECTOR 0x00080000 // Use cluster 1 entry in FAT table for TFAT transaction, since sector writes are non-atomic.
// By default, TFAT uses the NOF field of the boot sector
#define FATFS_DISABLE_TFAT_REDIR 0x00100000 // Indicates to disable redirect the root directory to another hidden director
// for FAT12 or 16, since root dir isn't transacted in those cases
#define FATFS_TFAT_ALWAYS 0x00200000 // Always mark transaction status, even only one sector in FAT is changed
#define FATFS_FORCE_TFAT 0x00400000 // Force TFAT transactioning even if volume isn't formatted as TFAT
#define FATFS_LFN_EXTENDED 0x00800000 // Generate LFN entries for extended characters always
#define FATFS_TFAT_DISABLE_MOVEDIR 0x01000000 // Disable MoveFile on a directory for TFAT because it isn't transaction-safe

So:
EnableCache: 1
DataCacheSize: optimal should be detected
FatCacheSize: 0 (set it to be FAT size)
FormatTfat: 1
EnableFatCacheWarm: 1
EnableDataCacheWarm: 1 (I don't think that this would noticeably affect performance)
EnableWriteBack: 1
PathCacheEntries: >50, should be detected (SPB benchmark "folder list" test would help)
Flags: 0x00010006 (disable write through, event logging and scan volume).

[KTamas]

Will do some testing now and I've just got an idea that it is maybe a third-party app's fault i've installed...I'll see.

Edit: Okay, it's not. Using the original Wizard2ba v2a, my wizard2ba_tweaks.cab and your performance.reg, and still no sound problems. Will try now the modified nk.nba.

Edit2: Okay, using the patched wizard2ba v2a with wizard2ba_tweaks.cab and performance.reg and... everything works. Go figure...heheh. I think it could be your first priority tweak, since this time i was using the later one you've posted. The point is that everything is working now.

[Tuatara]

Installed performance.reg and VoiceCommandFix.cab.

Seems to run fine for now, will play around with Voice Command a bit mroe tomorrow (almost 1am, time for bed)

BTW, where is TTSCallerID.wav coming from? Do I have to install .cab to RAM Disk32 instead of default folder?

TTSCallerID.wav is the dynamically generated WAV file which Voice Command plays when someone calls you - i.e. it's wave file which says "so-and-so is calling" ... 8)

Put it in RAM ... you don't need it for longer than the duration of the rings!

[Tuatara]

2 Tuatara
PlatformBuilder provides source code of FATFS driver ...\PRIVATE\WINCEOS\COREOS\FSD\FATFS

Downloading now and will be examining it sometime soon ...

Here are all settings it reads (all DWORDs):
...
So:
EnableCache: 1
DataCacheSize: optimal should be detected
FatCacheSize: 0 (set it to be FAT size)
FormatTfat: 1
EnableFatCacheWarm: 1
EnableDataCacheWarm: 1 (I don't think that this would noticeably affect performance)
EnableWriteBack: 1
PathCacheEntries: >50, should be detected (SPB benchmark "folder list" test would help)
Flags: 0x00010006 (disable write through, event logging and scan volume).

Looks very similar to what I'd configured. I also just noticed I was still working from the CE4.2 documentation. *sigh*

Comments:

I'd delibrately set CacheSize and DataCacheSize to be the same (maximum) value. I found the performance to be better with this setting, than the default detected value.

Similarly we can set EnableCacheWarm and explicitly set EnableFatCacheWarm, and EnableDataCacheWarm for FAT volumes. I'm not sure if those settings apply to the IMGFS as well - but I added EnableCacheWarm at the time since I figured it wouldn't hurt.

Now that I've decompressed the ROM, I can have a better dig into the DLL's. 8)

The benefit of using both old and new registry entries (even if they are deprecated) would be to allow this tweak to work for older OS's as well.

The few elements which differ are:

PathCacheEntries: > 50
- It would pay to discover if higher values are better. I'll try 0x60 = 96 and see if there is anything noticable.

BufferSize: 1024, versus 64
- As with old DOS systems, I've generally found that having a virtually unlimited base of file handles/buffers to be a benefit. You're probably quite right though ... 1K is probably well overkill. I think I should have put in 0x100 not 0x400, instead of 0x40. I'll test this and see if there's any difference.

Flags:
- I've only explicitly added the FATFS_ENABLE_BACKUP_FAT (when it's a TFAT Volume), and the FATFS_DISABLE_FORMAT flags as appropriate. These have no effect on performance, but simply mark the volume. By default I didn't think that a volume should auto-format. Otherwise settings seem to be the best for performance from my perspective too.

I'll try out the two changes above and see if there is any difference and/or any improvement. It's getting quite hard to evaluate these 'minute' differences & translate that into performance. Maybe we do need to make a 'benchmark' application of sorts which can emulate a real-usage scenario.

P.S> Thanks for the info regarding the ROM decompose ... looking at the cool innards now.

[Tuatara]

Also, how is the performance.reg compared to Tweaks2k2.NET tweaking?

Will some of their registry tweaking be beneficial to us?

Quite a number of the Tweaks2k2 registry changes are similar to what we're doing here. The only difference might be the 'target' being aimed for. I'm looking for performance improvements which we can apply to the Registry and ROM, but not at the cost of stability or reliability ... at least not without understanding the implications.

We could theoretically use TFAT volumes and put everything into persistant storage, committing each transaction and forcing write-through all the time - that would be painfully slow, but very data safe. I'm hoping to find a 'happy' medium which is appropriate & gives good reliable performance, that is better than what we have at present. Having equivalent to WM2003SE speeds would be the "golden ring".

Tweaks2K2 also has a number of other non-performance tweaks which can be applied. These are essentially cosmetic changes, and can make the device more personalized for your tastes. Recommended if there are things which bother you about how WM2005 works by default.

[KTamas]

I've noticed something. I'm having serious registry flushing problems. The "turn off the device for 10-15 secs" thing is something I used to need _only_ for certain tweaks. But now, I've installed ContactBreeze twice, and after a soft reset (with pressing the soft reset pin), it disappeared (well, the .dll was there, but the registry settings for it was gone). On the third try, I've installed it, turned off the device for 10 secs, did a soft reset and... CB was there after a soft reset.

[Tuatara]

Edit2: Okay, using the patched wizard2ba v2a with wizard2ba_tweaks.cab and performance.reg and... everything works. Go figure...heheh. I think it could be your first priority tweak, since this time i was using the later one you've posted. The point is that everything is working now.

That's great to hear ... I'm going to patch my ROM with the faster Quantum Time, as mamaich has been having excellent success himself with it. The Priority256 value for WaveDev was then definitely set too high. I'm also going to try the updated FATFS settings. If they all seem 'OK' then I'll update the original registry post with the improvements.

[Tuatara]

I've noticed something. I'm having serious registry flushing problems. The "turn off the device for 10-15 secs" thing is something I used to need _only_ for certain tweaks. But now, I've installed ContactBreeze twice, and after a soft reset (with pressing the soft reset pin), it disappeared (well, the .dll was there, but the registry settings for it was gone). On the third try, I've installed it, turned off the device for 10 secs, did a soft reset and... CB was there after a soft reset.

Yes ... this can be an issue, since we've turned off the Write-through on the FATFS volumes. This implies that changes are kept in the cache, in RAM until there are idle cycles to commit the changes to persistent storage. If you're updating the registry and immediately soft reset you could lose the changes.

I've found that using psShutXP to do a soft reset seems to be reliable. I'm not certain if the application performs a file system flush before soft reset, but I've not run into problems with data commits when using it.

The purpose of this is to improve the general use performance. General usage implies you won't be soft resetting your phone often ... at least I hope not. :D

[KTamas]

I've noticed something. I'm having serious registry flushing problems. The "turn off the device for 10-15 secs" thing is something I used to need _only_ for certain tweaks. But now, I've installed ContactBreeze twice, and after a soft reset (with pressing the soft reset pin), it disappeared (well, the .dll was there, but the registry settings for it was gone). On the third try, I've installed it, turned off the device for 10 secs, did a soft reset and... CB was there after a soft reset.

Yes ... this can be an issue, since we've turned off the Write-through on the FATFS volumes. This implies that changes are kept in the cache, in RAM until there are idle cycles to commit the changes to persistent storage. If you're updating the registry and immediately soft reset you could lose the changes.

I've found that using psShutXP to do a soft reset seems to be reliable. I'm not certain if the application performs a file system flush before soft reset, but I've not run into problems with data commits when using it.

The purpose of this is to improve the general use performance. General usage implies you won't be soft resetting your phone often ... at least I hope not. :D
I see...it's okay, I'll get used to it.

[a771la]

I have set HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\WaveDev to 16 and it work very well but when use tomtom while i listen music in background mediaplayer don't switch to the successive song:(

any idea?

[Tuatara]

I have set HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\WaveDev to 16 and it work very well but when use tomtom while i listen music in background mediaplayer don't switch to the successive song:(

any idea?

This is another one of those "dangerous" settings I've seen in the forums. The priority which you've set for the audio playback is FAR too HIGH! You've basically specified that audio play back in near real-time!!!

While your device may never skip when playing a song, it will be entirely unable to do anything else while doing so.

Recommendation is to reduce this back to 128 (0x80), which is what KTamas and mamaich have determined is a good setting. Even my initial setting of 96 (0x60) was too high.

[mamaich]

...Similarly we can set EnableCacheWarm and explicitly set EnableFatCacheWarm, and EnableDataCacheWarm for FAT volumes. I'm not sure if those settings apply to the IMGFS as well - but I added EnableCacheWarm at the time since I figured it wouldn't hurt.
I've looked inside imgfs.dll, it seems that it only uses these keys:
XIP, ShadowROM - may be 0 or 1, I don't know their meaning
Folder, CompressorDll - these 2 are useless
msflash.dll (it is a disk driver for IMGFS partition, original name STRATAD.dll - ...\PUBLIC\COMMON\OAK\DRIVERS\BLOCK\MSFLASHFMD\STR ATA) -
XIPEntireFlash - deals something with reading metadata from flash
BlockSize - size of flash block
SectorSize - size of sector
IsPairedFlash - these 4 settings should not be changed

WriteBufferSize - used to write into flash (useless for us)

WM5 added more keys:
UpdateReadOnly
CompactionCritPrio256
CompactionPrio256
UpdateMode
I think that they are used during IMGFS update. We can set CompactionPrio256 and CompactionCritPrio256 to 255, so that these unused threads would not eat any CPU time.

Flags:
- I've only explicitly added the FATFS_ENABLE_BACKUP_FAT (when it's a TFAT Volume), and the FATFS_DISABLE_FORMAT flags as appropriate. I think that setting FATFS_DISABLE_FORMAT would remove the question about formatting unformatted SD-card when it is inserted. It would not occasionally format all your data.
FATFS_ENABLE_BACKUP_FAT in my tests slowed down performance a little (of cause you'll need to set it in boot.hv and reformat storage). Driver now needs to update both FAT copies. But this would definitely improve stability.

And regarding lost registry on soft reset, I don't remember the key, but there is a registry setting that would force OS to flush registry to disk every N seconds.

[KTamas]

I've noticed something. I'm having serious registry flushing problems. The "turn off the device for 10-15 secs" thing is something I used to need _only_ for certain tweaks. But now, I've installed ContactBreeze twice, and after a soft reset (with pressing the soft reset pin), it disappeared (well, the .dll was there, but the registry settings for it was gone). On the third try, I've installed it, turned off the device for 10 secs, did a soft reset and... CB was there after a soft reset.

Yes ... this can be an issue, since we've turned off the Write-through on the FATFS volumes. This implies that changes are kept in the cache, in RAM until there are idle cycles to commit the changes to persistent storage. If you're updating the registry and immediately soft reset you could lose the changes.

I've found that using psShutXP to do a soft reset seems to be reliable. I'm not certain if the application performs a file system flush before soft reset, but I've not run into problems with data commits when using it.

The purpose of this is to improve the general use performance. General usage implies you won't be soft resetting your phone often ... at least I hope not. :D
How can I turn back Write-through so the registry gets flushed?

[KTamas]

And regarding lost registry on soft reset, I don't remember the key, but there is a registry setting that would force OS to flush registry to disk every N seconds.
Can you find it please?

[Tuatara]

I've noticed something. I'm having serious registry flushing problems.
...

Yes ... this can be an issue, since we've turned off the Write-through on the FATFS volumes.
...
you won't be soft resetting your phone often ... at least I hope not. :D
How can I turn back Write-through so the registry gets flushed?

Well, here's how you can do this ... obviously wait the 10 seconds after applying this initial change. This will enable WRITE_THROUGH for everything.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\FATFS ]
"EnableWriteBack"=dword:00000000
"Flags"=dword:00000066

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\IMGFS ]
"EnableWriteBack"=dword:00000000
"Flags"=dword:00000036

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\Profiles \MSFlash\IMGFS]
"EnableWriteBack"=dword:00000000
"Flags"=dword:00000036

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\Profiles \TRUEFFS_DOC1\FATFS]
"EnableWriteBack"=dword:00000000
"Flags"=dword:00000076


Do you need this enabled for testing/development/experimenting?

I'm still searching for the registry flush timing key ...

[Tuatara]

And regarding lost registry on soft reset, I don't remember the key, but there is a registry setting that would force OS to flush registry to disk every N seconds.
Can you find it please?

Your wish is my command ... 8)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security\Flush]
"RegFlushTimeout"=dword:1388


This is presently set to 5 seconds (5000 ms), which I believe to be a good value. For playing around (& resetting often) you could reduce this to 03e8 (=1000 ms) which would compromise performance a bit, but give you an (almost) immediately resettable device.

[virus247]

i frankly suggest...that the aim should be to solve bluetooth problem..and then the others..!!

[splonker]

i frankly suggest...that the aim should be to solve bluetooth problem..and then the others..!!

I disagree. I personally feel that the worst problem with using WM2005 is the fact that on this machine (on which the primary function is the use of the phone application), all of the GSM functions are really lagged and the first ring we recieve is in actual fact the 5th or something crazy. These of which hopefully will benefit from the tweaks and bugfixes which Tuatara (and co?) are working on.

Leo

[Tuatara]

i frankly suggest...that the aim should be to solve bluetooth problem..and then the others..!!

I disagree. I personally feel that the worst problem with using WM2005 is the fact that on this machine (on which the primary function is the use of the phone application), all of the GSM functions are really lagged and the first ring we recieve is in actual fact the 5th or something crazy. These of which hopefully will benefit from the tweaks and bugfixes which Tuatara (and co?) are working on.

Leo

Indirectly I'm hoping to solve a number of problems - this includes the stability/lockup and other general performance issues, since if we can sort those out, we can then address the other problems (bluetooth disconnect, etc.) as we have a better basis and stable platform to work from. And I believe we're making good progress already.

A point form listing of the issues still outstanding would be very helpful in this. Also very important is how to REPLICATE the issue, so that we have the ability to track it down and figure out how to solve it.

[metro2013]

After installing the performace reg tweaks I cant launch media player anymore, it does not run or load or anything, anyone else experiencing this, any suggestions on what to do?

[splonker]

After installing the performace reg tweaks I cant launch media player anymore, it does not run or load or anything, anyone else experiencing this, any suggestions on what to do?

I too experienced this, and noticed that this also stops the use of MP3 ringtones (as they are dependant on Media Player). It lies and says that the file is corrupt yet GSPlayer plays them perfectly. The ringtone allows the playing of wavs though. When tapping Media Player, nothing happens whatsoever.

Also Word would not allow me to create a new document... It says "A problem with the document was encountered and it could not be opened". Opening a file works with 1 .doc yet not for another but txt files all work.

These are the problems I have noticed at the moment, will post anymore which I come across. Despite these problems, Windows Mobile is running the fastest ever when applications are running.

Has anyone else any experience of these problems?

[Tuatara]

After installing the performace reg tweaks I cant launch media player anymore, it does not run or load or anything, anyone else experiencing this, any suggestions on what to do?

I too experienced this, and noticed that this also stops the use of MP3 ringtones (as they are dependant on Media Player). It lies and says that the file is corrupt yet GSPlayer plays them perfectly. The ringtone allows the playing of wavs though. When tapping Media Player, nothing happens whatsoever.

KTamas had also reported problems with audio playback. We believe we have corrected the media playback problem - the Priority256 setting for the audio device WaveDev was set too high in my original performance.reg script. The corrections were listed in another post just above here. Can you apply those and let us know if the problem still exists? I'll go back and update the original registry file shortly.

Also Word would not allow me to create a new document... It says "A problem with the document was encountered and it could not be opened". Opening a file works with 1 .doc yet not for another but txt files all work.

Hmmm ... that's quite strange. I've not experienced any issues with Word documents (or Excel, PDF, or PowerPoint). Those are the core applications I've been testing ... I'll check into it and see if I can replicate the problem. Were the documents large or small, image rich, or no images?

These are the problems I have noticed at the moment, will post anymore which I come across. Despite these problems, Windows Mobile is running the fastest ever when applications are running.

Has anyone else any experience of these problems?

Well at least the part about 'fastest ever when applications are running' is good. I'm looking into the issue you raise regarding Word, and if you could get back about changing the Priority256 setting for WaveDev to 0x80 - that should solve the Media Player issue ... hopefully. It worked for KTamas. 8)

EDIT: Scripts have been updated on the first post now to a V2 version with the corrections and comments from the thread (& others).

[baniaczek]

In the first post:[...]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\Filters\f sreplxfilt]
- Set the File & Directory Exclusions for the Filesystem Filter

You have moced IE temprary files into RAM disk. So consider to use:REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\Filters\ fsreplxfilt]
"DirsToExclude"=hex(7):5c,6d,78,69,70,5f,69,6e,69,74,64,62,2e,76, 6f,6c,00,5c,\
6d,78,69,70,5f,73,79,73,74,65,6d,2e,76,6f,6c,00,5c ,6d,78,69,70,5f,6e,6f,74,69,\
66,79,2e,76,6f,6c,00,5c,6d,78,69,70,5f,6c,61,6e,67 ,2e,76,6f,6c,00,5c,63,65,6d,\
61,69,6c,2e,76,6f,6c,00,5c,70,69,6d,2e,76,6f,6c,00 ,5c,44,6f,63,75,6d,65,6e,74,\
73,20,61,6e,64,20,53,65,74,74,69,6e,67,73,5c,64,65 ,66,61,75,6c,74,5c,75,73,65,\
72,2e,68,76,00,5c,44,6f,63,75,6d,65,6e,74,73,20,61 ,6e,64,20,53,65,74,74,69,6e,\
67,73,5c,73,79,73,74,65,6d,2e,68,76,00,5c,57,69,6e ,64,6f,77,73,5c,41,63,74,69,\
76,65,73,79,6e,63,5c,00,5c,77,69,6e,64,6f,77,73,5c ,6d,65,73,73,61,67,69,6e,67,\
5c,00,5c,54,65,6d,70,5c,00,00
"NumDirsToExclude"=dword:0000000b

[KTamas]

[...]KTamas had also reported problems with audio playback. We believe we have corrected the media playback problem - the Priority256 setting for the audio device WaveDev was set too high in my original performance.reg script. The corrections were listed in another post just above here. Can you apply those and let us know if the problem still exists? I'll go back and update the original registry file shortly.
[...]
Well at least the part about 'fastest ever when applications are running' is good. I'm looking into the issue you raise regarding Word, and if you could get back about changing the Priority256 setting for WaveDev to 0x80 - that should solve the Media Player issue ... hopefully. It worked for KTamas. 8)
[...]
I just want to mention that I'm also using wizard2ba_tweaks.cab, which replaces the sound driver (wavedev.dll) to the WM2003SE one (The one I've found in the Orange 1.31 ROM -- I found this ROM far the best so far, for WM2003SE). It seems, this helps a bit too.

[Tuatara]

In the first post:[...]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\Filters\f sreplxfilt]
- Set the File & Directory Exclusions for the Filesystem Filter

You have moced IE temprary files into RAM disk. So consider to use:REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\Filters\ fsreplxfilt]
"DirsToExclude"=hex(7):5c,6d,78,69,70,5f,69,6e,69,74,64,62,2e,76, 6f,6c,00,5c,\
6d,78,69,70,5f,73,79,73,74,65,6d,2e,76,6f,6c,00,5c ,6d,78,69,70,5f,6e,6f,74,69,\
66,79,2e,76,6f,6c,00,5c,6d,78,69,70,5f,6c,61,6e,67 ,2e,76,6f,6c,00,5c,63,65,6d,\
61,69,6c,2e,76,6f,6c,00,5c,70,69,6d,2e,76,6f,6c,00 ,5c,44,6f,63,75,6d,65,6e,74,\
73,20,61,6e,64,20,53,65,74,74,69,6e,67,73,5c,64,65 ,66,61,75,6c,74,5c,75,73,65,\
72,2e,68,76,00,5c,44,6f,63,75,6d,65,6e,74,73,20,61 ,6e,64,20,53,65,74,74,69,6e,\
67,73,5c,73,79,73,74,65,6d,2e,68,76,00,5c,57,69,6e ,64,6f,77,73,5c,41,63,74,69,\
76,65,73,79,6e,63,5c,00,5c,77,69,6e,64,6f,77,73,5c ,6d,65,73,73,61,67,69,6e,67,\
5c,00,5c,54,65,6d,70,5c,00,00
"NumDirsToExclude"=dword:0000000b


This actually includes the RamDisk back into the Replication Store folders list instead of excluding it. We really don't care about the contents of the RamDisk.

Not that this will have any great effect anyways - the RamDisk contents are not written to Permanent Storage 8) - so the RamDisk request will simply go through the filter, and have nothing more to do. Performance boost - negligble, but might be slight if the directory is included in the list and a lot of RamDisk activity is happening (Pocket IE webpages).

[Tuatara]

I just want to mention that I'm also using wizard2ba_tweaks.cab, which replaces the sound driver (wavedev.dll) to the WM2003SE one (The one I've found in the Orange 1.31 ROM -- I found this ROM far the best so far, for WM2003SE). It seems, this helps a bit too.

Do you think I should (by default) place this driver into the ROM I'm currently experimenting with? How is the stability w.r.t. Windows Media Player, GSPlayer, and any other media/audio stream you've been testing with?

[KTamas]

I just want to mention that I'm also using wizard2ba_tweaks.cab, which replaces the sound driver (wavedev.dll) to the WM2003SE one (The one I've found in the Orange 1.31 ROM -- I found this ROM far the best so far, for WM2003SE). It seems, this helps a bit too.

Do you think I should (by default) place this driver into the ROM I'm currently experimenting with? How is the stability w.r.t. Windows Media Player, GSPlayer, and any other media/audio stream you've been testing with?
I'm a GSplayer user, don't use Media Player at all, but I've found the WM2003SE's Wavedev.dll better, than the WM5 one.

On the other hand, do you use any messenger apps? We could talk a bit easier with that :)

[splonker]

EDIT: Scripts have been updated on the first post now to a V2 version with the corrections and comments from the thread (& others).

I upgraded to Version 2 and Media Player opens now and plays reasonably well... it keeps skipping until I press pause for 5-10 seconds and then when I press play again it is fine until I change the items in the now playing... which was like before... and I can change ringtone now :D

Word too is also working, allowing me to open/create word docs. Incase your still interested the document it wouldn't open was a document which contained 4 words, no formatting or images, but its fine now anyway!

Thanks!

Leo

[efjay]

So what are people's experience with these registry changes? I havent seen a significant improvement over the previous reg tweaks already in the last wizard ported rom. What do others think?

[markgamber]

(From another thread) "Pocket Hack Master CPU:530Mhz Bus:265Mhz Ram:133Mhz"

I tried that configuration with the latest Wizard rom and it failed miserably. Within just a few seconds, apps stopped opening, eventually it couldn't find them and I had to reset the unit. But funny thing...a friend asked me to try his battery which caused a hard reset so I figured while I was at it, I may as well try the Himalaya rom with that PHM configuration and guess what? Yep...it works like a champ. It not only works, it's actually fast enough to be very usable. At least on par with 2003se speed. After about 45 minutes of heavy use, I have yet to notice a problem caused by the PHM configuration. The phone doesn't feel any warmer than any other time I've been holding it for an extended length of time. So I think this configuration may be a winner but (and NO offense toward anyone intended, I'm just callin' 'em as I see 'em) I also think more than ever that these wizard hacks are entirely unstable.

[efjay]

markgamber, could it be because the Wizard rom is designed to run on a T1 OMAP processor? Maybe some of that code is carried over to the BA port and PHM cant accelerate it properly?

[Tuatara]

markgamber, could it be because the Wizard rom is designed to run on a T1 OMAP processor? Maybe some of that code is carried over to the BA port and PHM cant accelerate it properly?

That is quite possible, and a very likely scenario. If things are overclocked there could be some previously undetectable race conditions - especially in 'translated' code.

As with anything running out of spec ... YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) ...

mamaich has been hoping for a compatible XScale compiled ROM to be available in order to do a proper port for the Blue Angel. Until now though, the Wizard is the next best thing.

Anyways ... still working on the ROM & tweaks ... I'm getting there, but these family & work obligations just keep getting in the way! ;)

[Mastiff]

I run my BA with this ROM and these speed tweaks at 531/133/265, and it works without a hitch. It's fast as a shark, to quote a classic Accept track! :twisted:

[baniaczek]

This actually includes the RamDisk back into the Replication Store folders list instead of excluding it. We really don't care about the contents of the RamDisk.
Sorry. You are absolutely right. I was sure , that this filter aplies only to DOC partitions. MSDN, be my friend ;)

[markgamber]

markgamber, could it be because the Wizard rom is designed to run on a T1 OMAP processor? Maybe some of that code is carried over to the BA port and PHM cant accelerate it properly?

I dunno, I think it's possessed. I reinstalled it again today because I'm a glutton for punishment and this time it's running very well. Wifi hits it pretty hard and Pocket Hack Master killed it twice but it's running well again with XCPUScalar set to 530 MHz. If I flip from wifi to GPRS (or just disconnect wifi), it runs along at a good clip. It just goes to show that WM5 on a BA is like a box of chocolates... :wink: Question: I did a run-through and didn't see a fix for IE downloading but not displaying images. Did I miss it or has that not been addressed yet?

[Mastiff]

Mark, that wifi issue is strange. I have no problems at all when I have enabled wifi. My problem is when I enable it, the BA will be pretty unresponsive for 10-15 seconds.

[Mastiff]

Or dump voicemail all toghether, like I've done! If it's important, they'll call back later. Or they can send an SMS. That I will get when I get back to the phone.

[markgamber]

Mark, that wifi issue is strange. I have no problems at all when I have enabled wifi. My problem is when I enable it, the BA will be pretty unresponsive for 10-15 seconds.

Yeah, that sounds about right, actually, except it lasts longer than 10-15 seconds for me, sometimes up to a minute where the phone crawls along at a snail's pace. WM5 networking in general is kind of a counter-intuitive pain in the ass, though, so it kind of fits.

On the whole, however, I'm very pleased with the last install I did of this hack. 90% of the time it runs just fine even without overclocking, it's only really required when using wifi.

[ady]

try changing this to a higher value and see if it makes any difference

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Services\WLan\Options]
"Priority"=dword:00000000

perhaps 20?

[Tuatara]

Mark, that wifi issue is strange. I have no problems at all when I have enabled wifi. My problem is when I enable it, the BA will be pretty unresponsive for 10-15 seconds.

Yeah, that sounds about right, actually, except it lasts longer than 10-15 seconds for me, sometimes up to a minute where the phone crawls along at a snail's pace. WM5 networking in general is kind of a counter-intuitive pain in the ass, though, so it kind of fits.

On the whole, however, I'm very pleased with the last install I did of this hack. 90% of the time it runs just fine even without overclocking, it's only really required when using wifi.

Have you both implemented mamaich's Quantum Timing Patch as well in your ROMs? I've found that the faster Quantum Time (task switching) makes a huge difference in the performance of the BA when there are a lot of resource intensive tasks being done (i.e. WiFi, Networking, ActiveSync, USB, etc.) I'm not experiencing any of those issues ... ActiveSync to Exchange over WiFi is quick and reliable. Web surfing (PIE) works a treat as well - no slowdowns, and no lost images.

try changing this to a higher value and see if it makes any difference

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Services\WLan\Options]
"Priority"=dword:00000000

perhaps 20?

I'm actually not sure what this key does - if you're experimenting with it, please let us know your results.

If you don't know how to implement the patch (or don't want to risk it?), I will (hopefully) be making a ROM available for download with the performance patches already applied, with some additional corrections/updates to the v2a ROM (Midlet Manager working, missing files corrected, initflashfiles.dat updated, etc.) either sometime tonight or by tomorrow night - depending on how it all comes together.

I'll document the changes so that everyone can follow what has changed, and will be sending the detailed updates to mamaich so he can incorporate the best elements into his next ROM.

[markgamber]

Have you both implemented mamaich's Quantum Timing Patch as well in your ROMs? I've found that the faster Quantum Time (task switching) makes a huge difference in the performance of the BA when there are a lot of resource intensive tasks being done (i.e. WiFi, Networking, ActiveSync, USB, etc.) I'm not experiencing any of those issues ... ActiveSync to Exchange over WiFi is quick and reliable. Web surfing (PIE) works a treat as well - no slowdowns, and no lost images

I haven't tried the quantum changes, no, for the simple reason that I can't afford to turn my phone into a brick. I break out in a sweat flashing a manufacturer rom, let alone trying to hack my own with a hex editor. :) If you have a modified nbf file you can stick on the ftp for me, I'll be happy to give it a try but I don't think there's much of a chance of me doing it myself. The last thing I need is to fry my BA and have my wife and son with their working Wallabys laughing at me. :wink:

[Mastiff]

I'm not as scared, I just know that letting me loose with a hex editor would be somewhat like the infinite number of monkeys writing all the world's books - you'd need an infinite number of Mastiffs to get one working ROM! :oops:

[borjok536]

There is a new patched v3.1 rom which supports the extended rom, will this work also in Wizardv2a?

[ady]

try changing this to a higher value and see if it makes any difference

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Services\WLan\Options]
"Priority"=dword:00000000

perhaps 20?

I'm actually not sure what this key does - if you're experimenting with it, please let us know your results.


actually I already did... not just this one but several other keys, all related to priority and now the OS is much much more responsive...

one more thing: it's a theory but I think the most of the slugness is caused not by the programs or drivers/services but the kernel itself... and the thing which is causing this is context switching at a much higher rate... perhaps the timer interrupt of the two processors (OMAP and XSCALE) has a different interval (probably the OMAP is slower) so the ported ROM is getting more interrupts (than intended) and therefore is doing more context switches thus the kernel is taking up more processing just for scheduling and giving much less control to the processes then intended

[efjay]

Have you both implemented mamaich's Quantum Timing Patch as well in your ROMs? I've found that the faster Quantum Time (task switching) makes a huge difference in the performance of the BA when there are a lot of resource intensive tasks being done (i.e. WiFi, Networking, ActiveSync, USB, etc.) I'm not experiencing any of those issues ... ActiveSync to Exchange over WiFi is quick and reliable. Web surfing (PIE) works a treat as well - no slowdowns, and no lost images.

Tuatara, can you tell me what hex editor you use? I have a program called frhed but cant find the address mentioned to patch. Thanks

[Tuatara]

Tuatara, can you tell me what hex editor you use? I have a program called frhed but cant find the address mentioned to patch. Thanks

Probably the easiest/best one to use is XVI32 ... Freeware and very robust and stable.

Download from here ...
http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm

[mamaich]

I recommend HIEW32 - "Hacker's Viewer" - http://webhost.kemtel.ru/~sen/
I use it since DOS versions.
It is a console program with lots of useful features like x86 disassembler, PE-editor, cryptor, etc. But it is not freeware.

[efjay]

Thanks for the replies, unfortunately no matter which tool i use i still cant find the address to patch, i dont seem able to read the information correctly. A search didnt find it either. Does it make a difference how i create the nba file? this is the command im using

xda3nbftool -x nk.nbf nk.nba 0x20040521

[Tuatara]

Thanks for the replies, unfortunately no matter which tool i use i still cant find the address to patch, i dont seem able to read the information correctly. A search didnt find it either. Does it make a difference how i create the nba file? this is the command im using

xda3nbftool -x nk.nbf nk.nba 0x20040521

That is correct to decode the nba file first.

Then using XVI32 do the following:
- Address -> Goto
- Select "Hexadecimal", enter "$00207B94", select "Absolute"
- Click "OK"

You will then see the value "4B" under the cursor.
Change this to "20".

Then save ... and re-encode back into a nbf file and flash.

xda3nbftool -sd PH20B -sl WWE -so ???? nk.nba
xda3nbftool -c -u nk.nba
xda3nbftool -x nk.nba nk.nbf 0x20040521

Fill out ???? with your operator ...

[Heryadi]

Guys...I'm using BA PB201
Right now i'm using ROM 1.42 2003SE. Before that i'm using WM5 ROM Wizard to BA...I have a problem about BT and WiFi turn off by it self...
Is there any solution/patch for this already ? And about the speed, I really don't like speed WM5...have a patch for this so it can be the same speed with 2003SE ?

Thanks

[Tuatara]

Hi everyone ...

Sorry, I've run out of time for providing you with an updated ROM which I wanted to have feature complete. I'm off on vacation tomorrow for 2 weeks, and can't keep working on it until I'm back.

I've been playing around with many things (adding/removing files, fixing the Midlet Manager, updating Camera, etc.) but I haven't got the ROM to the point where I feel it's 100% ready for others - but having said that, I've uploaded it to XDA Dev, and you're welcome to give it a try and see if it improves things for you.

This is MAINLY an update from Mamaich's v2a ROM, which does contain the Quantum Timing Patch, and the Performance Tweaks.

I've also made a few filesystem changes - predominantly removing the Midlet Manager (which wasn't working), applied all of the Performance Tweaks as per the thread (and a few more), changed the default startup elements to suit my tastes (at the moment), and added some useful programs and details to the ROM. (psShutXP, Running Programs, Shortcuts to missing elements, etc.)

The ROM is in /Uploads/Blue Angel/wm5_test/Tuatara_v2a_Custom.zip

Inside the ZIP file is the nk.nba file, along with the updated registry files (boot.rgu, default.rgu, and user.rgu) which have been merged in. I've unfortunately forgotten to include initflashfiles.dat in the ZIP, but that file is directly available from inside the ROM anyways.

The ZIP also contains a different EXTROM - only the missing files, camera, and midlet manager are needed now, and there is no warning about publisher on installation anymore. You can obviously customize the EXTROM cfg.txt file to your liking, and install anything and everything all at once.

Additionally the ROM itself still has some additional space for applications, so if you want to cook your own, there is some space available to add more.

Sorry I won't be able to answer any questions about this ROM, or handle issues on it for two weeks, so it's up to you if you want to try it (or just decompose it and look at the changes).

Enjoy, and I hope everything goes well.

Regards,
Robert.

[KTamas]

Hi everyone ...

Sorry, I've run out of time for providing you with an updated ROM which I wanted to have feature complete. I'm off on vacation tomorrow for 2 weeks, and can't keep working on it until I'm back.

I've been playing around with many things (adding/removing files, fixing the Midlet Manager, updating Camera, etc.) but I haven't got the ROM to the point where I feel it's 100% ready for others - but having said that, I've uploaded it to XDA Dev, and you're welcome to give it a try and see if it improves things for you.

This is MAINLY an update from Mamaich's v2a ROM, which does contain the Quantum Timing Patch, and the Performance Tweaks.

I've also made a few filesystem changes - predominantly removing the Midlet Manager (which wasn't working), applied all of the Performance Tweaks as per the thread (and a few more), changed the default startup elements to suit my tastes (at the moment), and added some useful programs and details to the ROM. (psShutXP, Running Programs, Shortcuts to missing elements, etc.)

The ROM is in /Uploads/Blue Angel/wm5_test/Tuatara_v2a_Custom.zip

Inside the ZIP file is the nk.nba file, along with the updated registry files (boot.rgu, default.rgu, and user.rgu) which have been merged in. I've unfortunately forgotten to include initflashfiles.dat in the ZIP, but that file is directly available from inside the ROM anyways.

The ZIP also contains a different EXTROM - only the missing files, camera, and midlet manager are needed now, and there is no warning about publisher on installation anymore. You can obviously customize the EXTROM cfg.txt file to your liking, and install anything and everything all at once.

Additionally the ROM itself still has some additional space for applications, so if you want to cook your own, there is some space available to add more.

Sorry I won't be able to answer any questions about this ROM, or handle issues on it for two weeks, so it's up to you if you want to try it (or just decompose it and look at the changes).

Enjoy, and I hope everything goes well.

Regards,
Robert.
Cool, downloading right now :)

[efjay]

Thanks for the replies, unfortunately no matter which tool i use i still cant find the address to patch, i dont seem able to read the information correctly. A search didnt find it either. Does it make a difference how i create the nba file? this is the command im using

xda3nbftool -x nk.nbf nk.nba 0x20040521

That is correct to decode the nba file first.

Then using XVI32 do the following:
- Address -> Goto
- Select "Hexadecimal", enter "$00207B94", select "Absolute"
- Click "OK"

You will then see the value "4B" under the cursor.
Change this to "20".

Then save ... and re-encode back into a nbf file and flash.

xda3nbftool -sd PH20B -sl WWE -so ???? nk.nba
xda3nbftool -c -u nk.nba
xda3nbftool -x nk.nba nk.nbf 0x20040521

Fill out ???? with your operator ...

Thanks for the tutorial, patched and flashed ok.

[d3vil]

Testing now, tx Tuatara 8)

[d3vil]

MMS account is not created by default..

Speed seems improved in general.

Btw, nice startup page in ie ;)

[KTamas]

Yay I'm in the credits! :)

Creating a WiKi page right now.

[KTamas]

Further discussion should be here (http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=40836). Also, WiKi page is done (http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Blueangel_WM5_WizardPort_v1 .0-TuMa).