I'm currently porting a 3D C++ game from iOS to Android using NDK. The rendering is done with GLES2. When I finished rewriting all the platform specific stuff and ran the full game for the first time I noticed rendering bugs - sometimes only parts of the geometry would render, sometimes huge triangles would flicker across the screen, and so on and so on...
I tested it on a Galaxy Nexus running 4.1.2. glGetError() returned nothing. Also, the game ran beautifully on all iOS devices. I started suspecting a driver bug and after hunting for many hours I found out that using VAOs (GL_OES_vertex_array_object) caused the trouble. The same renderer worked fine without VAOs and produced rubbish with VAOs.
I found this bug report at Google Code. Also I saw the same report at IMG forums and a staff member confirmed that it's indeed a driver bug.
All this made me think - how do I handle cases of confirmed driver bugs? I see 2 options:
Not using VAOs on Android devices.
Blacklisting specific devices and driver revisions, and not using VAOs on these devices.
I don't like both options.
Option number 1 will punish all users who have a good driver. VAOs really boost performance and I think it's a really bad thing to ignore them because one device has a bug.
Option number 2 is pretty hard to do right. I can't test every Android device for broken drivers and I expect the list to constantly change, making it hard to keep up.
Any suggestions? Is there perhaps a way to detect such driver bugs at runtime without testing every device manually?
Bugs in OpenGL ES drivers on Android is a well-known thing, so it is entirely possible to have a bug in a driver. Especially if you are using some advanced (not-so-well-tested) features like GL extensions.
In a large Android project we usually fight this issues using the following checklist:
Test and debug our own code thoroughly and check against OpenGL specifications to make sure we are not doing any API-misuses.
Google for the problem (!!!)
Contact the chip-set vendor (usually they have a form on their website to submit bugs from developers, but once you have submitted 2-3 real bugs successfully you will know the direct emails of people who can help) and show them your code. Sometimes they find bugs in the driver, sometimes they find API-misuse...
If the feature doesn't work on a couple of devices, just create a workaround or fallback to a traditional rendering path.
If the feature is not supported by the majority of the top-notch devices - just don't use it, you will be able to add it later once the market is ready for it.
Related
I have problem on my game after I build it and install on my device it's lagging and has low fps(I tested on different devices and everywhere is the same). I tried unity's built in profiler which shows that everything is fine and always displays 100(or more) fps. So I think profiling game after installation can help me, but I can't find any proper profiler to use and can someone give me any suggestion?
Thanks in advance
Unity's profiler is still a valid tool. You can find the slow parts in your scripts.
The main difference on mobile devices are bad graphic cards.
To have good performance on those cards you need to bring down the polygon count and number of draw calls.
You find those infos in the stats window of the Game tab.
Also mobile shaders and baked lighting helps.
Find more hints in Unity's Mobile Optimization Guide.
Look at Graphy plugin. May be it will be useful in your case.
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/gui/graphy-ultimate-fps-counter-stats-monitor-debugger-105778
I need to figure out if porting an application to Mac OS X (not iOS) is feasible. I wrote some code for Mac around 20 years ago, but what I'm looking at now is completely different, and may require a complete re-write, which I cannot afford. After googling for some time, I found a variety of APIs, which appearing and get deprecated so often, that I feel completely lost.
The application draws through copying small fragments of bitmaps to the window. This is accomplished with BitBlt() on Windows or XCopyArea() on X11. In both cases, the source is stored in the video memory, so copying is really fast, 500K copies per second on a decent card, possibly more. On Mac, there used to be CopyBits() function which did the same, but it is now depreacted. I found CGContextDrawImage() which looks it's getting deprecated too, but copies from the user memory, and can only copy the whole image (not fragments). Is there any way to accomplish bitmap copying at decent speed?
I see everything is 64-bit. I would want to keep it in 32-bit for a number of reasons. 32-bit applications still seem to be supported, but with the fast pace deprecation, Apple may stop supporting at any time. Is this a correct assesment?
Software distribution. I cannot find any information on this. Looks like you need to be a member of the Apple Development program to be able to install your software on user's computers. Is this true? In some other places, I have read that any software must undergo Apple approval. Is this correct?
Thank you for your help.
So much has changed in the past twenty years, that it may indeed be quite difficult to port your app directly to modern OS X. You may be better served by taking the general design concept and application objectives, and create a fresh implementation using up-to-date software technology.
Your drawing system might be much easier to do with modern APIs, but the first step is deciding which framework to use. Invest some time in reading the documentation and watching the many videos available on the Developer website. A logical place to start is Getting Started with Graphics & Animation, but you may also wish to explore Metal Programming Guide and SpriteKit.
The notion of 64-bit vs 32-bit is irrelevant. All Mac computers run 64-bit code.
If you don't purchase a Developer program membership, you can still create an unsigned application with Xcode. It can be installed on another user's computer, but they'll need to specifically change the setting in System Preferences -> Security to "Allow apps downloaded from: Anywhere".
The WWDC videos are very useful in understanding the concepts and benefits of advancements in these frameworks made over the past few years.
After some investingation, it appears that OS X graphics is completely different from others. Screen is regarded as a target for vector graphics, not bitmap.
When the user changes the screen resolution, the screen resolution doesn't really cange (as it would in Linux or Windows) and remains native, but the scale at which the vector graphics is rendered changes. Consequently, it's perfectly possible to set screen "resolution" to be higher than the native one - you just see the things renderd smaller.
When you take a screenshot, the system simply renders everything to an off-screen bitmap (which can be any size), so you can get nice smooth screenshots at any size.
As everything is vectored, the applications that use bitmap graphics are at a huge disadvantage. It is very hard to get to native pixels without much overhead, and worse yet, an application that uses native pixels will behave strange because it won't scale when the user changes screen resolution. It also will have problems when screenshots are taken. Is it possible to make it work? I guess I won't find out until I fork over $2K for Macbook Pro and try it.
32-bit apps seems to be supported, and I don't think there's an intent to drop the support.
As to code distribution, my Thawte Authenticode certificate is supposed to work on OS X as well, so I probably don't need to become a member of Apple Developer program to distribute software, but again there's no definitive answer to that until I try.
I am experiencing the exact same issue as this fellow, and cant seem to find any real solutions to the issue. The only solution I've been able to find so far that works it not maximizing VS. Keeping VS in windowed mode fixes the problem completely, but as soon as it returns to maximized state UI elements no longer redraw unless the stale area is put under new active focus. This makes it impossible to develop and I'm forced to return to windowed mode. I've tried disabling hardware acceleration with no luck. Any Ideas?
There are a handful of feedback reports at connect.microsoft.com that describe a similar problem. But none that ever evolved to a solution, most typically the programmer that filed the report stopped responding when asked to provide additional diagnostics.
Clearly this is an environmental problem, something is wrong with your machine. VS2012 uses WPF for rendering, it puts non-trivial demands on the machine. You do need a solid video driver and a functional DirectX stack to make it work without problems. This tends to be an issue in general, video drivers are by far the most problematic kind of driver. Problems are roughly correlated with the age of the machine and how old the operating system is.
So a good starting point is to look for a video driver update first, visit the web site of the company that made your adapter to look for the latest. Reinstall DirectX on the machine next. If you were considering a clean update of your machine before, like updating the Windows version, now would be a good time to start with a clean slate.
i'm facing a challenge of rebrushing and updating an almost 10-years old Screenweaver project, and looking for a decent modern swf-exe convertor. Don't have much time to evaluate all the options, therefore i'd like to hear responses with actual working experience with such a tool.
Since WinAPI interaction is a must, the default projector is not an option.
Similar questions (no concrete answers there)
Package SWF into an EXE or APP
Create an EXE from a SWF using Flex 3 without requiring AIR?
Many thanks
UPD: 300 bounty for anyone who can help me with a practical answer.
I've been experimenting with different SWF projectors for a long time now, and so far I think I've tried most if not all of them. I've explained in more detail the best projectors I have used below.
MDM Zinc
http://www.multidmedia.com/software/zinc/
I remember back in when I had Vista that MDM had quite a few bugs running under that OS. It took a while for them to fix those bugs - the bugs didn't stop it from running, but really interfered with the functioning of some methods in the program. For this reason, I decided not to continue testing Zinc and moved on to another projector. Saying that though, I'm certain they have fixed those bugs now.
The program itself has a nice intuitive interface, and allows you create screensaver as well as EXEs (which is obviously good for you).
The product is pricey - currently at $349.99, so this put me off.
You can also generate Mac and Linux projectors which is very attractive, but requires an additional license for each which does cost a lot of money.
SWF Studio
http://www.northcode.com/
This was one of the projectors I really enjoyed working with. It's fully featured, has great community support and the developers are always on hand to help. The projectors it generates are compatible with all Windows operating systems, and I've never had any problems with bugs on this one.
Northcode also offer a student license for SWF Studio for $49. I nearly purchased a license with these guys but the only reason why I didn't was because I found another projector which was better for my scenario which I will come onto in a moment.
I can tell you that one of the reasons why I didn't use this projector (it does sound trivial) is because it had a large file size. SWF Studio allows you to select what size projector you want in terms of filesize - with options like tiny and compact I think but the smaller file types might have dependencies with other files in the directory. This means that you would have to bundle your application with some folders and additional files as well as the EXE itself.
SWF Studio also has the option to create screensavers.
mProjector
http://www.screentime.com/software/flash-projector
mProjector has gone up a version (from 3 to 4) since I last used it, so it may incorporate a lot more features in this version. I remember that the product is very good with transparency, and showcases some 'screen buddies' which use transparency to virtually walk about your screen. The reason why I didn't use this projector is because it didn't have as many Actionscript functions as I would have liked, but I believe it has a lot more nowadays. In your project this wouldn't be so much of a problem because you want a screensaver.
It is reasonably priced at $399 for both Windows and Mac compatibility, but you can buy just Windows or Mac if you wish for a cheaper price.
Janus Flash
I was going to explain this product in more detail but I have now realised that the website no longer exists! Janus is the projector I liked the most and ended up using because of the sheer amount of features available for use in your code.
Like all the projectors I have mentioned above, each one adds functionality to flash which you don't usually get with an SWF. Each product includes pre-built actionscript methods which can interface with the operating system itself to do things you can't do in the Flash sandbox. For example, each one of these projectors allows you to manipulate files (add, edit, delete e.t.c.) on the computer. Janus had the most methods available out of all the projectors I tried. This is partially because Janus used the .NET framework (which meant that .NET 2.0 was required on the system you were executing the projector on).
Also like MDM Zinc, this product allowed you to create applications for the Mac too. I managed to get a cheaper price too when I contacted them directly explaining that I was a student. I recently contacted Janus-Flash to ask about the future of the product, and they said that they may re-release Janus in the future, but for now it's off the market.
Some other products I have used which are worth a mention but I haven't explained in detail: SWFKit, Jugglor, F-IN-BOX (more developer releated as it required cutting code).
A quick search brings up these which might be worth a look: Flash2Me, Flash EXE Builder and SWF to Screensaver.
For your project I think the best option would be SWF Studio. It has lots of nice scripting features you can use to interface with the OS, and is nicely priced too at $299 for a full license.
I hope this helps in your decision for what projector to use, and will save you from trying out many different projectors like I did over several months!
We support a lot of Win32 functionality directly in our core API so chances are you may not even have to make a direct API call, but if you do...
SWF Studio has an advanced Plugin API that allows you to write custom plugins in C++, C# or VB.NET so you can call win32 or .NET functions. We created our own ummanaged to managed code shim so you can write a native .NET plugin and call it from SWF Studio just as easily as you can write a Win32 plugin.
There's no difference between how you call a SWF Studio function in AS2 or AS3. We have maintained 100% backward compatibility in our API. Whether you're using AS2 or AS3, your calls will just work. And they'll continue to work.
However, the place we really shine is support. I created SWF Studio and I'm still in the forums EVERY day answering questions and fixing bugs.
My experience here is from a year ago.
Having worked with mProjector I can tell you that the AS3 API is quite robust and easy to use. I was able to wrap a large swf-based project using external assets up into an EXE without a lot of problems. The UI for mProjector's project gui leaves something to be desired, but the actual hooks to the file system were easy to use.
The difficulty is that not all of it is documented. In fact there were as of a year ago a lot of undocumented packages.
My only real problem with mprojector was that in AS3 there wasn't any support for SharedObjects. Someone in their community worked around this and made their solution available. It does of course make use of storing a file on the local system.
This overall compared favorably against Zinc which was extraordinarily complex, slow to compile, and worse than having no documentation all the docs I needed were flat-out wrong.
I ruled out Jugglor almost immediately. It never successfuly compiled anything.
Since this is an old project you're talking about, and written in AS2, I can't speak to that side of it. I can say however that programs like Zinc and mProjector have been around a lot longer than AS3 has, and that the same hooks that are available in AS3 seemed to be available in AS2 also. The possibility exists that there may be more such hooks in AS2 since it's been supported for longer, but I cannot vouch for this at all.
I have used all of these applications, but most of all I liked theFlajector - a program that converts flash movies (swf) to exe files. You can include a flash player in generated applications and they will use it. In other words, the applications will work even if no flash player is installed. Also, Flajector can create windowless applications from flash movies. You can extend your applications using plugins. Using standard classes you can work with files and more.
we are developing a skinned application, and under vista/windows 7, on some machines, skinned applications sometimes loses their skin. here's an example for the problem, and here's how the application looks when it's good.
this happens to us whether we develop with native Win32 API or in QT. It happens spontanously, with no event that might explain it. btw, we see it happens sometimes to some other applications, too
we solve it by repainting everything every 2-3 seconds. but this is an ugly hack...
any ideas why this could happen?
thanks _very_much_ for any lead -
Lior
Shot in the dark, but it sounds like a graphics driver problem. I'd check whether the problematic machines all have the same graphics card or the same version of the graphics driver, and how the driver collection on those machines compares with the OK ones.
Shot in the dark #2: You're running out of GDI resources because your app (or another app running on the same machine) is leaking GDI handles.
It's been while since I've had to use any tools for detecting "GDI handle leaks" (Google or Bing on it).
Here's some links to go read up on:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc301756.aspx
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/gdi_handles.html
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc188782.aspx