OpenGL - Weird Lag Problems

[Etherwind]

Hello all,

I've recently downloaded GZDoom and I'm having some severe problems with OpenGL. I'm running from a laptop with the following configuration:

AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile
2 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600

Software rendering works flawlessly, but whenever I use OpenGL I have an issue whereby everything runs fine so long as I don't move: whenever I move the game keeps pausing then suddenly jerks forward. This happens on all maps (even the first map of Doom 2) and turning down all the OpenGL settings don't seem to make any difference.

I've updated my drivers to 6.14.11.9062 (latest as of posting) and it's not made any difference. Can anyone help?

Cheers!

[Etherwind]

Further info!

This is apparently a problem with the key bindings I'm using: I bound the four arrow keys (Up, Down, Left, Right) to movement instead of using WASD, and holding down one of the arrow keys for longer than a moment causes GZDoom to hang until they're released. Switching to WASD configuration removed the problem entirely.

Strangely, the bug only occurs under OpenGL mode.

For the record, I'm using a standard USB keyboard. Any clue as to what gives?

[Enjay]

I suspect your keyboard as I, and many other people, use the arrows. Infact, I think GZDoom defaults to them.

Funny how, these days, a lot of people assume that WASD is the norm. Hell, maybe it is - but you try it with your right hand and tell me how awkward it is.

[Etherwind]

Assuming for a moment that it has something to do with my keyboard (not convinced), it's still a really annoying bug.

I checked, and it doesn't occur under Software mode or under the OpenGL mode of Risen3D, so it's obviously some fault in the implementation of GZDoom/ZDoom's OpenGL code base.

Which is especially annoying, because SkullTag uses GZDoom as its base.

[Graf Zahl]

Nothing is 'obvious'. ZDoom's keyboard implementation is a relatively standard one that only uses regular Windows features. Whether other GL programs have or don't have an issue is not relevant.

[Etherwind]

Is it going to get looked into, though? I only ask because I really, really like this application, and not being able to play it using my standard keyboard configuration is a real pain.

[Etherwind]

Further Info!

I just downloaded and tested my keyboard against standard ZDoom 2.3.1 and it works fine there, too. It's definitely something about GZDoom's OpenGL mode that causes this to trigger.

I'm happy to provide as much info as I can about this, I'm just utterly surprised at this bug.

[Enjay]

Out of interest, which version of GZdoom are you using? If it is the last official release, you might like to try a more recent build of the SVN code which represents a more accurate picture of the current state of GZdoom development. Of course, it may not help, but no harm in trying eh?

http://svn.drdteam.org/

[Etherwind]

Thanks, but I'm already using r424 (I was told the current public release has a memory leak, so I've not tried it).

[Etherwind]

I just checked, and it also happens when I use the arrow keys on the built-in laptop keyboard (rather than the USB one I use normally).

[Graf Zahl]

Please check against the latest official release. There was a major change in keyboard access between them.

[Etherwind]

Further Info!

I just checked against GZDoom 1-2-01 and I can report the problem is still there, though nowhere near as bad:

Under r-424, holding down one of the arrow keys causes everything to hang until the key is released and for a little while after, with the length of hang time proportional to how long the arrow key is held down for.

Under 1-2-01 holding down an arrow key still causes a hang, but after a moment the game continues, then hangs again for a moment before continuing, repeating as long as the key is held down.

Does this help?

[Rex Claussen]

(I was told the current public release has a memory leak, so I've not tried it).

Would this account for a lag (sometimes extremely so) that occurs after I've been played a GL feature-heavy map for a while? This never occurred in the maps in question a few weeks ago, but now I'm finding that the maps slow down to the point that it sometimes crashes GZDooM. It also seems to get worse if I play the same map with enemies vs. playing with the -nomonsters option.

[Enjay]

Would this account for a lag (sometimes extremely so) that occurs after I've been played a GL feature-heavy map for a while?...

Next time you get this, try typing gl_flush at the console to see what happens.

[Etherwind]

I've found a solution to the problem. Ironically, I found it after playing another OpenGL game that showed the same problem: Jedi Academy on Steam.

I've been using ZDL to launch GZDoom, and I've discovered that if I click the "launch" button the game launches with the weird lag problem mentioned. However, if I click the "launch" button and then click the desktop before the program loads, the problem disappears.

The same happens for Jedi Academy. If I launch it from Steam normally, I get the weird arrow-key lag problem. If I launch it from Steam and then click the desktop before it loads, the problem disappears.

How's that for a weird bug?