Hi DRC,
I use VirtualGL / TurboVNC to play multiple instances of the game EVE
Online through a web interface. The web interfaces makes it real easy
to "multi-box". The backend server (where the games all run) does all
the heavy lifting and the lightweight client (netbook, laptop, etc) just
displays the game via the web interface.
The game has several settings related to syncing with the monitor
refresh rate. They are 'Interval {immediate,one,two,three,four}'.
Interval immediate disables "sync to vblank". Intervals
one/two/three/four enable "sync to vblank" and run at 1, 1/2, 1/3, and
1/4 the monitor refresh rate.
When I run the game natively, I get the following performance marks:
Interval FPS CPU
Immediate 230 100%
One 60 18%
Two 30 10%
Three 20 7-8%
Four 15 6%
VirtualGL does not support the "sync to vblank" GLX extensions, which
causes the game to be unable to limit its FPS. Here are the performance
marks for the same intervals when running under VirtualGL without my
patch added.
Interval FPS CPU
Immediate 36 93%
One 36 93%
Two 36 93%
Three 36 93%
Four 36 93%
The patch I posted to the mailing list earlier today, allows the user
to specify what the desired FPS should be. Here are the performance
marks for the same intervals when running under VirtualGL with my patch
added and the fps3d option set to 20.
Interval FPS CPU
Immediate 20 56%
One 20 56%
Two 20 56%
Three 20 56%
Four 20 56%
As you can see, the patch has made the first step forward towards
allowing the user to run the game at a lower FPS and reclaim some of
that CPU power for other tasks (in my case, more game instances).
Surprise! In documenting the performance marks tonight, I see my patch
needs a lot more work before I feel comfortable declaring it optimal. I
would have expected to see similar breaks in FPS / CPU that the native
test shows (obviously there will be some differences due to VirtualGL
overhead). Regardless, I was hoping for some feedback. I guess the
artist is his own worst critic!
---
Thanks,
Dyweni
On 2013-06-02 20:53, DRC wrote:
> I am still unclear why the normal mechanism of setting VGL_FPS and
> disabling frame spoiling wouldn't work for you. Have you tried that?
> It's not that I'm opposed to this feature, but I also don't want to
> implement something that isn't actually necessary. Please make a case
> for why VGL_3DFPS solves a problem that couldn't be solved by using
> VGL_FPS with frame spoiling disabled.
>
> On Jun 2, 2013, at 3:58 PM, Dyweni - VirtualGL-Users
> <t7nhgfds7...@dyweni.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi DRC/All,
>>
>> I have mucked around with the VirtualGL 2.3.2 code and have come up
>> with a solution that seems to work well. I have to mention that the
>> solution is rather rough around the edges. Some of the code / ideas
>> were drawn from Mesa's GLXGEARS program (i.e. calculating and
>> reporting the current FPS and the location to do so in).
>>
>> Here is how this works:
>> 1. User provides -fps3d <n> argument to vglrun. N is any double 0 or
>> greater.
>> 2. The function 'glXSwapBuffers' (server/faker-glx.cpp) continually
>> monitors the current fps and adjusts 'delay' to keep the fps around
>> the requested fps value (the fps3d argument).
>> 3. User can tweak the fps3d value via the vglconfig (CTRL+SHIFT+F9)
>> GUI utility.
>>
>> I am sure that the algorithm for adjusting the delay can be improved.
>> It was what I could come up with in the limited time I had today.
>>
>> I have attached a patch that applies to VirtualGL 2.3.2. Please feel
>> free to review / test and provide feedback.
>>
>> ---
>> Thanks,
>> Dyweni
>>
>>
>> On 2012-07-26 13:41, DRC wrote:
>>> Since VirtualGL redirects the 3D rendering into offscreen buffers,
>>> there
>>> is no concept of VSync, because there is no monitor involved until
>>> the
>>> pixels are drawn on the client machine, and by that time, the 3D
>>> rendering is already done.
>>> In the current implementation, there is no way to limit the 3D
>>> rendering
>>> rate except to disable frame spoiling. Disabling frame spoiling
>>> couples
>>> the 3D rendering and compress/send stages of the pipeline, so the
>>> frame
>>> rate will be the lesser of (a) the VGL_FPS setting or (b) the rate
>>> at
>>> which the client can process frames. However, that's probably not
>>> what
>>> you want, because you may experience "mouse lag" when frame spoiling
>>> is
>>> disabled.
>>> This issue has never come up, because in visualization apps, the
>>> frame
>>> rate is ultimately limited by the sampling rate of the mouse, which
>>> is
>>> generally 40-60 Hz. I'm honestly not sure what would be the best
>>> approach to applying a frame rate governor on the 3D side (a
>>> VGL_3DFPS
>>> option, if you will.) It might be as simple as putting a delay into
>>> the
>>> buffer swap function.
>>> What I'm wondering, however, is whether our long-term plans to
>>> replace
>>> Pbuffers with FBO's and hidden windows might magically fix this,
>>> since
>>> VSync might still work when rendering to a hidden window.
>>> If anyone else has further insight, please share.
>>> On 7/26/12 12:56 PM, Dyweni - VirtualGL-Users wrote:
>>>> Hi All,
>>>> I'm wondering if VirgualGL has support for VSync? I know that
>>>> VirtualGL
>>>> has support to output only x frames per second, but that is
>>>> different
>>>> from VSync.
>>>> I have a game (EVE Online) that can limit itself to the VSync. In
>>>> normal X, it limits itself to 60 FPS (my monitor refresh rate)
>>>> thanks to
>>>> VSync, and that keeps the CPU usage low. However, when running on
>>>> VirtualGL, it does not limit its FPS and they skyrocket to 120+ FPS
>>>> which drives the CPU usage high.
>>>> I would like to be able to lock the game to the VSync (say 60 FPS,
>>>> to
>>>> keep the CPU usage low) and then export x frames per second (as I
>>>> do
>>>> know with the -fps) switch.
>>>> Is this possible?
>>>> --
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Dyweni
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>> <0001-Support-limiting-3D-application-framerate-into-Virtu.patch>
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