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 Entire forum ➜ MUSHclient ➜ Miniwindows ➜ reports of miniwindow slowness?
reports of miniwindow slowness?

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Posted by Fiendish   USA  (2,547 posts)  Bio   Global Moderator
Date Mon 15 Nov 2010 09:53 PM (UTC)
Message
Nick, I'm not sure what's going on here, but here's a compilation of a few comments that I've gathered about miniwindow performance. Can you give me feedback on this?

A player reports the following computer configuration:

Celeron 2.5 GHz dual-core, 4GB DDR2/1066, onboard Intel graphics. Ubuntu 10.04 Server with Ubuntu Studio desktop pkg, running Mush under Wine 1.0.1

And the following problem descriptoin:

"I don't have a high-end graphics card, and miniwindows are MUCH more graphics-card-intensive. I get a 30-second lag with runto sometimes. I removed the health bar and communications miniwindows and got back MOST of the speed, but that's not great. I'm using Mush 4.63ish, (one of the recent bastmush setups)."

I don't get the "graphics card intensive" claim. Is this anything people should be concerned about?
https://github.com/fiendish/aardwolfclientpackage
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Posted by Nick Gammon   Australia  (23,165 posts)  Bio   Forum Administrator
Date Reply #1 on Mon 15 Nov 2010 10:27 PM (UTC)

Amended on Mon 15 Nov 2010 11:04 PM (UTC) by Nick Gammon

Message
I have been getting occasional slowdowns myself, but I am a bit of an atypical user. For one thing, I mainly develop rather than play. For another, I actually run XP under VMware on a Mac, something most people probably don't do.

Generally it seems fine to me, but I get the occasional pause that makes me a bit uneasy. On modern PCs however there is so much going on that it could be a background process kicking in (like a backup).

If something reproducible is happening, we need to get to the bottom of it. The speed of the graphics card shouldn't really matter, but perhaps with a large monitor, and with MUSHclient sized to take up most of it, and lots of miniwindows, it might push the boundaries of what can be shoved out to the card, bearing in mind I don't use hardware acceleration like DirectX.

I would be investigating whether any of the following might be responsible:


  • The recent changes to the blending drawing (which uses an API not previously used)

  • The operating system. Ubuntu? Windows 7?

  • How long the client has been running - is some memory leak occurring?

  • The size of the output buffer - have they gone from RAM to paging disk?

  • Lua garbage-collection. If that kicks in, there might be a big lag spike. Maybe someone's plugin creates lots of temporary items (eg. tables) which get collected every 30 seconds.

  • How big is their MUSHclient window sized?

  • Maybe some plugin is doing Repaint rather than Redraw, and forcing much more drawing than the system can cope with.

  • Can the slowdowns be pinned down to a particular version change? For instance, going back 10 versions, do the problems go away?

  • Can a particular plugin be identified as the problem?

  • If running under Wine, it is possible that a change has occurred that is not for the best, as far as MUSHclient is concerned. So reverting Wine versions might help. Or alternatively, upgrading to the latest Wine.

  • Is there some other factor? eg. adding a plugin that plays sounds.

  • Some things are known to hang the system, in particular if you use the LuaSocket to grab a web page - this is synchronous, so it might cause a few seconds delay. My new plugin that looks for new versions is an example, but that is designed to only run every 7 days, and only when it is loaded, not while you are playing.

- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com
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Posted by Nick Gammon   Australia  (23,165 posts)  Bio   Forum Administrator
Date Reply #2 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 02:40 AM (UTC)
Message
You might get a clue from the "summary" plugin. Typing "summary" shows, amongst other things:


Scripting for: 2.071758 seconds.
-- Triggers, aliases, timers, variables --
** Triggers: 34 in world file, triggers enabled: yes. [Triggers]
   27 enabled, 15 regexp, 15093 attempts, 0 matched, 0.034890 seconds.
** Aliases: 38 in world file, aliases enabled: yes. [Aliases]
   37 enabled, 0 regexp, 1554 attempts, 0 matched, 0.003419 seconds.
** Timers: 2 in world file, timers enabled: yes. [Timers]
   2 enabled, 12 fired.
   Timers checked every 0.1 seconds.
** Variables: 25. [Variables]


If one of those timings is very high (eg. scripting) that might point to where we could look further. I could add more metrics to measure the amount of time in scripting, per plugin.
- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com
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Posted by Nick Gammon   Australia  (23,165 posts)  Bio   Forum Administrator
Date Reply #3 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 04:39 AM (UTC)
Message
Version 4.70, now released, has an extra metric for timing the scripts in each plugin. You can access this from scripting, or by doing a Debug ("summary"). In part, you might see this:


ID: 5c13fd1ed4511dbe0ea00ff0, 'Mapper_Telnet2', (Lua, 0.587 s) Enabled [Al Va Cb]
ID: 565dae21eb816a2fdb8d50f9, 'Chat_Capture_Miniwindow', (Lua, 0.021 s) Enabled [Tr Al Va Cb]
ID: 2eb7301f3ac637b02a4467ef, 'Version_Check', (Lua, 0.008 s) Enabled [Al Ti Va]


Of course, you would need to have a general feel for what is a realistic time to spend in the plugin, and the figures will gradually go up. However if the mapper plugin showed a 20 second amount, just after a 19 second delay, only a few seconds after starting the client, then that would tend to point to the culprit.
- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com
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Posted by Fiendish   USA  (2,547 posts)  Bio   Global Moderator
Date Reply #4 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 05:13 AM (UTC)
Message
Cool. I like that new metric. Offhand, how complicated do you think it would be to go a step further and do per-function times?
https://github.com/fiendish/aardwolfclientpackage
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Posted by Nick Gammon   Australia  (23,165 posts)  Bio   Forum Administrator
Date Reply #5 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 05:37 AM (UTC)
Message
I seem to recall you asked me that before.

Template:post=10279 Please see the forum thread: http://gammon.com.au/forum/?id=10279.


Those remarks still apply, really. It is hard for the calling program to get down to function level, but the ideas there could narrow down the problem in a plugin (if one is suspected).
- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com
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Posted by Fiendish   USA  (2,547 posts)  Bio   Global Moderator
Date Reply #6 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 05:47 AM (UTC)
Message
Nick Gammon said:

I seem to recall you asked me that before.

Oops. Your memory is better than mine.
https://github.com/fiendish/aardwolfclientpackage
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Posted by Fiendish   USA  (2,547 posts)  Bio   Global Moderator
Date Reply #7 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 10:00 AM (UTC)
Message
Extreme slowdown can probably be pinned on the GMCP mapper.
I can tell you that with no other plugins loaded on a fresh launch of MUSHclient, doing a speedwalk causes so much processing inside the mapper that the screen doesn't refresh until the whole thing is over.

The only reason the screen gets refreshed at all during a speedwalk, it seems, is if you have another plugin running (like the ascii overhead map) that forces repaints. Then you get your updates, but they are very slow.
https://github.com/fiendish/aardwolfclientpackage
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Posted by Nick Gammon   Australia  (23,165 posts)  Bio   Forum Administrator
Date Reply #8 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 07:46 PM (UTC)
Message
There are some mapper configuration options you can set that will affect its speed:


  • Depth - this is how many rooms out from your starting point it "looks". Obviously the lower the faster, because it has less rooms to draw.

  • Size (x and y). Since it stops drawing at the edge, a small map will be faster than a large one.

  • Zoom. If you zoom in, the rooms are drawn larger, and thus there are less to draw in a given map size.


Also I would look at how you are getting the room information (the get_room function). In my version I cached the room information. If you are getting it from the database every time that would probably slow it down, a lot.

Can you give me a link to the current GMCP mapper? And any support files? Is it live on Aardwolf or just on the test port?
- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com
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Posted by Fiendish   USA  (2,547 posts)  Bio   Global Moderator
Date Reply #9 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 07:56 PM (UTC)

Amended on Tue 16 Nov 2010 07:59 PM (UTC) by Fiendish

Message
Entire ready to use MUSHclient package available in my subversion repo with:
svn checkout http://aardwolfclientpackage.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/MUSHclient MUSHclient-fiendish

or I've made a .zip of the latest version (r92) available at:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BJKMXEP9

And it's live on main.
https://github.com/fiendish/aardwolfclientpackage
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Posted by Nick Gammon   Australia  (23,165 posts)  Bio   Forum Administrator
Date Reply #10 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 08:49 PM (UTC)
Message 

Filename: MUSHclient.zip
File description: aardwolf mushclient package
File size: 14.92 MB


How does my 2.98 Mb download, with a couple of plugins added, become 14.92 Mb? Surely the mapper database isn't that big?
- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com
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Posted by Nick Gammon   Australia  (23,165 posts)  Bio   Forum Administrator
Date Reply #11 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 09:06 PM (UTC)
Message
Hey it looks really cool! Well done, you are a master.

And, it's fast too!


-- Plugins (Processing order) --
ID: 3e7dedbe37e44942dd46d264, 'GMCP_handler', (Lua, 6.361 s) Enabled [Al Cb]
ID: b555825a4a5700c35fa80780, 'Chat_Capture_Miniwindow', (Lua, 0.492 s) Enabled [Tr Al Va Cb]
ID: 3f498d929793c12cb70fb59e, 'Aardwolf_Ascii_Mapper', (Lua, 1.820 s) Enabled [Tr Va Cb]
ID: c293f9e7f04dde889f65cb90, 'Aardwolf_Main_Layout', (Lua, 0.014 s) Enabled [Al Va Cb]
ID: b11c1b7fe961558d6f6aba5e, 'Aardwolf_Helper_Aliases', (Lua, 0.000 s) Enabled [Al]
ID: ef4a86dbc9cd4dd6f4c69386, 'Aardwolf_Statmon', (Lua, 1.747 s) Enabled [Va Cb]
ID: ef4a86dbc9cd4dd6f4c69385, 'Aardwolf_Health_Bars', (Lua, 2.108 s) Enabled [Va Cb]
ID: b6eae87ccedd84f510b74714, 'Aardwolf_GMCP_Mapper', (Lua, 2.776 s) Enabled [Tr Al Va Cb]
ID: 71a90acddb14f784437b8b80, 'Summary', (Lua, 0.028 s) Enabled [Al]
** Plugins: 9 loaded, 9 enabled.


That was after running around a bit. Can't say I notice any annoying slowdown. Admittedly I have a fast PC. And I sized the mapper window to be quite large.

2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 (4 core). However this is running VMware on a Mac, so it is a "guest" operating system, if you like. The Mac part is humming along in the background.

And the PC you mention in the original post, being 2.5 GHz, isn't much slower.
- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com
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Posted by Nick Gammon   Australia  (23,165 posts)  Bio   Forum Administrator
Date Reply #12 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 09:15 PM (UTC)
Message
Just tested on Ubuntu (which I actually have running simultaneously with Windows XP). Still seems fast. So in my case I have running at the same time, on the same box:


  • Mac OS/X
  • Windows XP (VMware)
  • Ubuntu (VMware)


And I would say, you wouldn't complain about performance. Certainly nothing like what you describe with windows that don't refresh until you stop walking. I can take a video if you like.
- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com
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Posted by Nick Gammon   Australia  (23,165 posts)  Bio   Forum Administrator
Date Reply #13 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 09:22 PM (UTC)
Message
Just to be sure, I tested also on my Ubuntu 10.10. This has Wine 1.2.1 on it. Still works fine.

I think the other Ubuntu was 8 or something.
- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com
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Posted by Nick Gammon   Australia  (23,165 posts)  Bio   Forum Administrator
Date Reply #14 on Tue 16 Nov 2010 09:24 PM (UTC)
Message
Fiendish, you want to turn on the "wrap output" checkbox (output configuration). Otherwise long chat lines break in the middle of a word which looks crappy. The "wrap output" wraps at the nearest space.
- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com
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