Weird Intermittent Freezing in Dream Seeker

ID:1935801
 
Sep 14 2015, 5:54 am
(See the best response by Zasif.)
Code:
Nothing here but us ferrets!


Problem description:

Since the latest update to 508.1299, I've noticed that Dream Seeker has been frequently freezing for at times several seconds. The profiler seems to not be reporting anything unusual. Windows Task Manager does at times show a weird spike in CPU usage. Has anyone else been getting this since the latest update?

For reference, I did not do any work on my project between the last update and this.

PS: I'll keep poking around and see if I can find anything that could hint at the cause of the issue on my end.
Sep 14 2015, 6:19 am
Best response
Make sure your not on a tab that updates stuff like a number or a Icon, and be on a tab that doesnt see if that changes things.
Sep 14 2015, 6:38 pm
In response to Zasif
This is exceptionally weird, but I closed the map in Dream Maker...and it worked!

After a few tests, the freezing is indeed gone. Does BYOND update maps in real time from the map editor now or something?
Sep 15 2015, 9:54 am
In response to Wontoon
No, because the map is compiled into the project. What probably happened was that the map was periodically redrawing or demanding a partial recompile, and that was sucking CPU cycles.
Sep 15 2015, 9:58 am
Lummo you really need to get a 1920x1080 High Res monitor and start making optimizations for HD Monitors,I can expect players to have low res Monitors but I can't expect the Engine Developers to have any lower then whats Standar those days, you always need to keep up with whats Standar.
Sep 15 2015, 10:13 am
-d
Sep 15 2015, 10:24 am
In response to Lummox JR
:(
Sep 23 2015, 3:25 am
In response to Lummox JR
UPDATE: The issue reappeared again, and your post helped me narrow down the possible cause.

You said the map was periodically redrawing itself, and disabling "Use graphics hardware for displaying maps" caused the issue to vanish. Re-enabling it causes the issue to reappear.

However, there is a bit more to this that makes it unusual between versions: it seems to do it when the graphics hardware is being used by other things, like watching a YouTube video on the other monitor (which was what I was doing). This never happened in previous versions.

Sep 23 2015, 6:00 am
Wontoon wrote:
Code:
> Nothing here but us ferrets!
>

Problem description:

Since the latest update to 508.1299, I've noticed that Dream Seeker has been frequently freezing for at times several seconds. The profiler seems to not be reporting anything unusual. Windows Task Manager does at times show a weird spike in CPU usage. Has anyone else been getting this since the latest update?

For reference, I did not do any work on my project between the last update and this.

PS: I'll keep poking around and see if I can find anything that could hint at the cause of the issue on my end.

i have been receiving the same problem.
Sep 23 2015, 9:36 am
It sounds like the graphics requirements have simply grown beyond what your card can handle in terms of multitasking. A video is going to take a significant amount of CPU and GPU resources.

During the 508 series, map scaling had to be adjusted and that added another stage to the drawing process. 509 introduced matrices, and those use shaders, but you shouldn't be seeing any difference from those unless you use anything with a matrix--which I doubt a lot of games are yet. So my hunch is that the draw to a temporary surface, and subsequent StretchRect() call, that were introduced in 508 are the issue.
Sep 24 2015, 5:06 am
In response to Lummox JR
I doubt that my card has reached its limit in multitasking since it doesn't have an issue when doing the same on other games (FF14's Dx11 client running at max settings while watching 1080p videos and the thing doesn't break a sweat). The hardware I'm on is a GTX 780 with a Core i7 4770K.

As before, if I find anything weird on my end that could contribute to the solution, I'll update it here.
Sep 24 2015, 9:10 am
In response to Wontoon
A lot of the newer hardware has also abandoned DX9 and older functions. Has a lot to do with why older games don't work well on newer systems.
Sep 24 2015, 9:30 am
As I understand it, most of the DX11 functions are outgrowths of older versions anyway, so I don't see how that'd be possible.