Try setting priority=normal,normal

Try to disable the laptop's CPU speed changer.

I never said that the Core2 was the problem. I only get sound problems when a game is not configured properly for the emulated environment, when the cycles are too high or too low, or when DOSBox itself has been configured incorrectly. In this case, you were pushing 50k cycles manually, which can cause sound anomilies. I used to run Daggerfall at 30k cycles which cause sound problems but rant eh game properly. I now run it at max cycles and it runs flawlessly.

If you attempt to run too many cycles, the game can actually slow down and/or produce oddities in the sound or music. WC2 does NOT need 50k cycles, it runs on a 386 and should run FINE on a normal core at around 10k~20k cycles, which is more along the lines of a 486. 50k is more like a high-end Pentium, or possibly a Pentium II.

*EDIT*

Also, if your CPU is not set to "Always On", it will slow down or speed up based on CPU demand and on battery levels. Set your power to "Always On" while playing games, and "Portable/Laptop" when not playing.

Set your power to "Always On" while playing games, and "Portable/Laptop" when not playing.

Hal already said that. He needed one line btw.

Where can I find this feature? (I have Windows XP) Is that important if the laptop is already connected to power? Because if it's only when on battery, it's not the case here.

I noticed that it does it particularly when I move the mouse, and much more on fullscreen than on reduced screen.

I tried to priority thing, frameskip, aspect, core, cycles, rate, blocksize, all on different settings it always did the same.

Check the bios, usually has some "optimize power for speed" and similar option.

For me it's in the Windows Control Panel (energy stuff)

It's Windows, not the BIOS. Modern systems let the OS manage power. In Windows you can right-click on the desktop and choose "Properties". When the window opens, click on the "Screen Saver" tab, and click the "Power" button in the lower-right. You should have a new window open on the "Power Schemes" tab. Just select the "Always On" power scheme while playing, and then set it back to "Portable/Laptop" when you're not playing.

An easy way to do this in the future is to click on the "Advanced" tab after choosing your power scheme and checking the "Always show battery icon in taskbar" box. From now on you only have to left-click on that battery icon and select your power scheme from the taskbar, which saves time!

Are you sure "Power Schemes" is what we are looking for? IMO this only defines when to switch of monitor etc. if the user is idle. On my notebook there is an additional tab in that menu named "AMD PowerNow" where I can choose automatic mode (DOSBox stutters now and then) and high-performance mode (CPU always runs at maximum speed, as well as the fan). Intel might have something similar...

(UNLESS this power menu is different for Win2000 and XP - I only know 2000.)

It's Windows, not the BIOS.

On my laptop it's BIOS and not windows.
And as hal says, powerschemes is something pretty much different.

Modern Windows and Linux OSes take control of that stuff through a nice thing called APCI. If you read the documentation on the "Power Schemes" in Windows XP, it controls the speed and voltage of the processor, as well as some other things. The only scheme in Windows that will not degrade processor performance is "Always On". The rest slow down the processor when demand is light.

In Win9X/Me it basically controlled the monitor, but this is not so in XP. You AMD guys can use the "AMD Power Monitor" program to prove this to yourselves. Start up the power monitor and switch XP to "Always On". The monitor should report your processor at max speed. Now switch it to "Max Battery" and it should drop to the lowest setting. In fact I know it will because I just did it on my AMD Turion64x2 laptop and watched it! :p

*EDIT*

Found a table that describes XP power schemes and behavior.

http://www.orthogonalthought.com/blog/index.p … power-profiles/

This is about Speedstep. Which only very new processors have, mine doesn't.
So the power scheme is totally useless besides turning the monitor/hd off.

a nice thing called APCI

ACPI

Bah, typo. And yes, processors that support ANY form of throttling are supported. Again, use some monitoring software to watch your CPU clock itself down. The article I linked was the only one I found doing a quick Google search. Microsoft had a nice page on it on the MSDN, but they have sodomized that site to hell and back, and I can't find ANYTHING anymore.

In other words, if your processor can be throttled through the BIOS, it can and WILL be throttled through Windows XP as long as you're running SP2 or later.

*EDIT*

I can prove it, just tell me what processor model you have. Give me details and everything. Besides that, the point still stands that XP manages your processor performance based on the power schemes. Since the last link was for Intel, here's one for AMD!

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/mobile-athlon-xp- … view-130-5.html

*EDIT*

Info on the schemes without naming Intel or AMD:
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/start-04.html

It does not work for me as the bios controls it.

Do you actually read the pages you're posting links to?

If you are using a portable computer your CPU speed is affected by changing the power management features (at least some of the more recent CPU's which use Intel SpeedStep technology).

Seems to work on the Dual Core Pentium D in the office, and it's a desktop. Look, just post your processor so I can show you the tech-sheets on it if it supports throttling so I can prove my point. This affects desktops AND laptops, although the original purpose was for laptops only to save battery power. It doesn't help that I can't find my way around the POS MSDN site anymore or I could have proven my point in a single thread.

Seems to work on the Dual Core Pentium D in the office, and it's a desktop.

I guess it works on rather many laptops judging the information on the speedstep wiki.

Yeah, dating back to the P3! But all modern desktop and laptop chips support it. In fact, some of the late-model P4 chips support it as well. Linux detects my old 32bit P4 as supporting processor-states and uses the "ondemand" strategy for it, which is equivalent to "Portable/Laptop" in XP. I didn't think my chip supported power-states, but Debian and Knoppix say otherwise. Oh, and this is a desktop.