text overlay slowdown...

[Krash]

Obviously, Milkdrop uses multitexturing to work its magic. The big problem, is that having any text over the top means adding a whole extra texture - i.e. redrawing the screen again. Is there someway you could work in a way to display text without causing such a massive slowdown?

- Krash

[Zylot]

I actually don't get any slowdown

[Krash]

You don't?

Do you have the fps limited?

'Cause when I have it running with no overlays, and I bring up the fps meter and hide it straight away, it says about 34fps. If I leave it there, it drops to 25. The slowdown effect is REALLY noticable.

- Krash

[Illusion]

I'd say this would be that the cause of this would not be that the text is slowing down the speed of MilkDrop, but that perhaps the framerate meter needs a while to calibrate, because mine drops about 5 or 6 fps as the real processing starts to kick in. Can you really notice any slowdown, or are you just going on the fps?

[Krash]

I can REALLY notice the slowdown.

It's not a calibration thing at all. Unfortunately, I can't actually show any of you =]

Considering most people have milkdrop running at 25fps, (and that's about what it drops to when editing presets anyway) it doesn't look that bad, but after seeing at 35fps, it just doesn't compare. =]

And while you may say that the human eye can only see 22 fps, and this is true, Milkdrop works alot like Geiss - the whole preset runs faster, not just at a higher framerate.

- Krash

[Illusion]

Hmm, that's not too good then... what were your system specs again? Also, out of curiousity, what resolution are you running it at?

I have a Celeron 667, 128MB RAM, and a 8MB video card, which doesn't support 32-bit colour, which means a lot of screens are really too dark / bright. I can't even hold 25fps at 640 x 480 on most presets, so if you can run it at 35fps at 1024 x 768 or whatever, then you're much better off than me :-)

I know your eyes aren't supposed to be able to see more than 24 images per second, but still, you can tell the difference when you see 20 fps like my comp is... and then 30 or more, it just looks so much smoother.

I reckon another good thing about MilkDrop is that it still looks fine even running at just 15fps, in Geiss you needed about 30fps for it look smooth......

Oh, and Ryan, any ideas of when MilkDrop v1.0 is coming out? I reckon I read it was coming out soon on the presets message board, is that true?


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<i> On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key. </i>

[Krash]

My system is insane =]
The only time there's a noticable slow down normally, is blending from a dynamic swirls preset (or one of similar complexity) to something else.

for the record:
Athlon 1100 (not o'ced)
512Mb Ram
GeForce2

MilkDrop settings:
1024x768
1024x1024 texture res
max mesh size
~33fps without text overlays, 24.9 with.

Did some experimenting - If I drop the res way down, it sits on 33.3fps, even with the fps meter on. If i put on all the overlays, it drops to about 32.4.
Blending complex presets is completely cpu based (as it should be, it is only mathematics, after all) - no matter the res, blending from dynamic swirls to something else drops to about 21fps.

And looking back over this, I shouldn't really be complaining - I'm running MilkDrop at very high settings =]

- Krash

[Zylot]

Yeesh, that's nuts,

I got a celeron 600, Voodoo4, 192 ram
-------
In other words, not a very good system. My framerates usualy stay at around 18-21, when the gamma is kicked up it drops signifigantly, but there is no drop what so ever when I hit f5 from a previously f5less state.

My framerate is not limited either

[Krash]

My guess would be that it's the cpu limiting the frame rate in that case - hence no slowdown when it has to draw text.
I think that in my case, it's the 3d card, and so there is a slow down ('cause it has to redraw the screen)

- Krash

[rtg2]

Yeah the Text Overlay problem/bug/feature is definately annoyingly noticeable on my machine... Takes the FPS from around 30 odd down to 22ish. But it also makes it JERKY, not what you would expect at 22fps.

I would like to be able to have preset info always displayed, but just ruins the experience for me.

Milkdrop Settings:
Version: 0.99f
Render Mode: Windowed - 1152 x 864, 32Bit
Texture Size: 1024 x 1024
Mesh Size: 48 x 36
Max FPS: Unlimited

Computer:
CPU: AMD Thunderbird AXIA @ 1368 - 9.5 x 144
RAM: 2 x 128Mb Seitec PC133 SDR -7ns CAS3 @ 144MHz
Video1: Asus V7100 Pure, AGP 4X
GPU: Nvidia Geforce2 MX @ 236MHz
Vid RAM: 32Mb SDR SDRAM @ 198MHz

[D&B]

My computer is a tiny little God. Athlon 1.4, 768 megs of pc133 ddr ram, geoforce 3.

Milkdrop runs sweet on my machine. And I have the exact same problem Krash does. Its not a calculation thing, it happens on every computer Ive seen MilkDrop on.

And for the record, the human eye can distinguish much, much more then 24 fps or whatever you guys are saying. My mother is an optamologist and teaches the visually impaired, and while you cant measure an eyes sensitivity in FPS, the amount of motion the average human eye can sense can be roughly translated to about 60 fps at a low, and 90 at a high.

[Jessail]

As I said before, the slowdown bug has something to do with Nvidia cards.
Every person here in this thread who suffers from the slowdown bug is using an Nvidia card (correct me if I am wrong).
I personaly use a KyroII with an Athlon 700 (no Thunderbird) and my framerate is at 1024x786x32 (Max mesh size, 512x512 texture size) around 22 fps. It does not matter which text is active. Even with every singe information on (song, length, rating..etc..) my framerate does not drop and it isn´t jerky.

...so Kyro, Voodoo and some no-name cards do not suffer from that (generally speaking..)

Maybe you should by a Kyro *duck*
So I think it is a driver bug.

*my two cents*

[rtg2]

One thing that is worth mentioning, is if u have a Multi-monitor setup, I find that the VJ mode is quite handy, having all the text info in a seperate window... that way I can have milkdrop running uninterrupted on one screen, with the text on another, and not suffer from the slowdown.

So you guys should all get another monitor, or two :) Handy for so much more than just milkdrop too :cool:

[Krash]

Even with every singe information on (song, length, rating..etc..) my framerate does not drop and it isn´t jerky.


It's not a difference between just the fps meter on and everything on - it's the difference between NOTHING on, and ANYTHING on. And it is noticable.
Though a kyro, due to the tile-based rendering, might not have any issue with it...

- Krash

[epii]

Heya,

Thought I'd add my 2 cents after installing .99g...

I also continue to experience the slowdown, always starting at 33fps and dropping. The problem only happens when I'm running at a fullscreen 32bit resolution HIGHER THAN 800x600. Every resolution above that will run milkdrop just fine (read: 33fps smooth) until overlay text is displayed (i.e. F5 fps monitor, F4 preset name, etc...). Beyond 8x6, the fps will drop to anywhere between 25 and 18, depending upon preset. Song Titles display just fine in all modes, no slowdown. So, what's going on with the overlay that ISN'T happening with the song titles, and how do we change the overlays accordingly?

-epii

My QuickSpecs:

AMD 1333 T-Bird
ASUS A7M266 Mobo
512 MB PC2100 DDR
ATI Radeon AIW 32MB DDR AGP

[Krash]

.99g has a checkbox labelled fix slow text.

This changes what was a 10fps hit to a 0.5 (or less depepnding on the prest) hit. Can't complain.

- Krash

[Rovastar]

YOu only get a 0.5 hit I have a similar spec to you.

G-Force 2 (32MB), 1.33GHz Ath, 256MB RAm, now on XP.

and I get 5 or 6 fps loss on average with the fix (obviously each preset is different) - whole thing is slowed down with or without the text compared to the 10fps when text in on without the fix.

SO I just leave the 'fix' off and use the overescreen text as little as possible.

So people check what you want first before checking that box.

Rovastar

[Krash]

I have a feeling the difference there may be in the video ram. I have 64Mb (as does a friend of mine), and the fix slow text works good on both systems. So only (heh 32Mb of ram being referred to as 'only'. How times change) might be the difference there.

- Krash

[Rovastar]

I had a fear about that myself that is way I felt the need to put the memory in brackets.
My G-Force 2 MX with 32MB RAm is not powerful enough :(

[Krash]

Yeah, Ryan mentions in the documents that it requires a large amount of video ram. I guess he really means it - I mean, if I minimise milkdrop, about half the time, it'll tell me that I've run out of video ram to keep the slow text fix going.

- Krash