I've isolated the problem by observation - and I see that what is occuring is Morrowind runs smoothly for 5 minutes at a time, and for about 1-2 minutes at a time CPU usage ON ONE OF THE CORES of the game process drops to nil, and game performance takes a drop along with it. So... I'm looking to overcome this issue, do I edit the .ini, regarding values of thread sleep time, priority, etc. is it a registry value, or some setting in Windows (I've tried "prioritize background services vs. programs" no dice)? I really wanna play and it's driving me mad, lol.

What do you mean "CPU usage ON ONE OF THE CORES of the game process drops to nil"?

Morrowind is, for the most part, run on a single core and not particularly designed to run on more than one. It can use a second thread for cell loading, which will display occasional activity, but more activity on a single core is pretty typical.

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Sorry about the mumbo-jumbo, quick explanation; the MAIN thread process drops to like next to nil % cpu and the FPS takes a deuce along with it, goes to 4-5fps from 60fps. This lasts for about a minute, then 5 minutes of 60fps, full cpu on the game process, repeat then - a minute of crap, 5 minutes of good, a minute of crap FPS, 5 minutes of good FPS. Driving me bonkers! lol

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Ah, yes - I'll be playing, new installation, excited, ready to play, I wake up on the boat by Jiub, follow the guard - now, I have the process monitor open so I have my stethoscope on the pulse of the hardware, and the game so to speak... because I really miss playing this game and I can't get it to work for the life of me... and, somewhere usually between the dock, coming off the boat, and filling out the forms, CPU usage on either the game running as a single process, or two processes (the big one, and the smaller second one, cell loader you say, interesting)... now, what happens is - the main one, drops its CPU to next to nil, like 5% or so and my frame rate stiffens up like I've got rigor mortis. It's the craziest thing.

I can't find it to be coinciding with any other phenomenon in my OS in the other processes (no other one seems to be ursurping it, those lost cycles vanish into the abyss, free cycles), it's not sinc'ed with music changes either... so what I'm assuming is, well - I'm not sure, need the advice of someone like you, a modder, programmer! Thanks for checking out the thread, my friend. Now, after 30 sec, up to 2 min, with the same interval coinciding to a game session, this persists, desists for 5 minutes of high FPS bliss, then ker-plunk, tic, tac, drop. Lather, rinse, repeat.

"Ah, it's most aggravating." reminds me of the words of that mage Xzar in Baldur's Gate, ahhhgro-VATE-EEng. Hahaha. Well, thanks - yours is the closest reply to something meaningful I've seen thusfar on this one. Anyone else with a clue on this one is more than welcome to chime in! I'd be most appreciative. I want to play the game as a Healer, actually... I'd like to try some pacifistic methods to win - mostly I know that it comes down to blood sooner or later, which is also amazing about this game, the atmosphere is just unreal. I love walking around everywhere and just checking things out. Such an amazing world they made on Morrowind! It drew me in, and I think it's time for another go with it - IF I can transcend this strange issue I'm experiencing!

It may sound like a mouthful but the issue is simple - I've just tried to expound for everyone -- you guys, the people who have the know-how to help. It's really something, I'm starting to maybe look at my Morrowind as a turn-based game! One turn to move, attack, etc. one turn to recoup and prepare, inventory, check spells, etc. Hmm - help! S.O.S. Where's Invader Zim when you need him? Probably working on one of his many programming projects. Mayhaps I study some.

Didn't reply because I'm not entirely sure what the issue is, much less a fix.

Obviously for some reason MW is losing CPU use, but why...

As a guess, try opening the task manager and then under the performance tab (with memory/CPU graphs) the full resource monitor. That will give you a much better breakdown on what's going on.

In addition, turn off as many programs as you can (including disconnecting from the internet and disabling antivirus and UAC). That will help eliminate a few side cases that they may be causing.

Do you have all the Windows Update patches installed? How many other apps are running (or none)? Any unusual or high-performance software installed, or anything with crazy security? What do you other systems specs, particularly video card model and hard drive adapter type, look like?