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beholder
60 Posts |
 Posted - 05/04/2012 : 08:59:09
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Here is the other issue I ran into when I turned on the Keep gesture draw window on top experimental option. This has solved the "mouse cursor jerking" issue under low-power XP system but has introduced an overall slowness of the system.
I found out about the slowness when I wanted to play some youtube vids, 480p videos were just so jerky, I realized that the system is slow. Both windowed and fullscreen youtube vids were slowed to a 2-4fps slideshow. Unacceptable. So I turned it off and also turned off the gesture drawing completely which gave me back the performance I needed.
This slowdown is definitely due to the transparency of the top-most invisible s+ window, no question about it with desktop size of 1080p. The question is whether you tried to move the transparent window when no RMB is pressed, like move it to -1920 (negative = off screen) on X axis (if that is possible). And what it does to overall performance there when it's not displayed and no things are under that window when it is off screen.
There is also a possibility to turn the Keep-on-top option off and not to scale the transparent window to display when it is being created; just create a small little window when gesture is being started, which would get bigger and bigger as the gesture is growing to various directions. This could mitigate the problem of initial cursor jerk because in the beginning you would not draw a big fullscreen window, just a little tiny pucker.
Another solution, a pretty good one in a different topic.
Current fav pr0nstar: Malena Morgan
http://www.artlk.com/2012/04/malena-morgan-sensational-pictures.html
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Rob
USA
2615 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2012 : 09:35:07
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This isn't a bad solution that would benefit all installations. Generally, people aren't drawing gestures over the whole screen, just in a portion. This and the mouse cursor are really good ideas that I will look into.
Thanks! |
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Cerberus
Netherlands
86 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2012 : 17:46:45
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Oh! Oh! This is very interesting. I had actually noticed certain (minor) distortions in videos. My computer is pretty modern, so that's probably why the distortions aren't major for me. They have not always been there, so I figured they must be due to something I had installed or changed. It is like certain horizontal bands in the video were not played at exactly the same speed as the rest of the screen, so that very slight "tears" are often visible in things that move quickly in de video (a tear as in a slash). Unchecking the experimental option prevents the tearing.
I'm still very grateful to Rob for coming up with this experimental option, because it improves my experience a great deal outside videos (the flickering was quite annoying). If this option is somewhere in the xml file, I can create an AHK script to turn the setting on and off automatically whenever a video is played (of course I'd have to add all video applications manually to a list). Or is it possibly to somehow make this option dependent on the active window in S+? That may be a lot of work, and I totally understand why you wouldn't want to invest time into developing for an OS that will probably die out in 5 years in a free programme.
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Rob
USA
2615 Posts |
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Cerberus
Netherlands
86 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2012 : 19:53:35
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| Wow!! This is perfect! I see no flickering at all! I turned off the "On top" option, and carefully checked for flickering in the usual places, but I saw none (and no tearing either). Thank you so much! I'm not sure I understand what a window stack is—does it mean that the transparent window has lower priority than other windows, so that they are redrawn first? |
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Rob
USA
2615 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2012 : 20:00:02
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No, it's just a position in relation to all windows. Imagine you lay your monitor flat on its back, the window on top is the foreground window, the bottom-most window would be behind all other windows, but in front of the desktop wallpaper.
So instead of hiding and showing the window, which must trigger certain extra processing by Windows and notifications to other windows, I'm just bringing it to the top (foreground) when you start drawing and sending the to the bottom (behind all other windows) when you release.
I'm glad to hear it's working out well for you! Keep me updated and I hope it addresses the other issue of stuttering on draw start that beholder was experiencing. |
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Cerberus
Netherlands
86 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2012 : 20:11:22
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| Ahh OK, that makes sense. So it is normally behind the desktop too? Desktop icons used to flicker as well, but no more, yay. |
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Rob
USA
2615 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2012 : 20:16:52
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No, it was hidden, which means (my best guess) Windows releases the video-related resources of how the window looks, it's no longer part of the stack at all. When you show it, Windows renders the window and displays it, also notifying (in the case of this layered, transparent window) all windows behind it that they may need to redraw since there's something in front that's alpha-blended (even though it's completely clear).
I'm guessing that since Windows knows it's completely clear (as it has already taken care of the rendering), moving it around in the window stack doesn't trigger Windows to redraw/notify anything since it knows there's really nothing to do. |
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beholder
60 Posts |
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beholder
60 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2012 : 21:46:19
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I think the option to keep the transparent window on top is not necessary anymore, btw. It just slows the slow systems while with it off everything is faster and working fine.
---------------------------------------------
Current fav pr0nstar: Malena Morgan
http://www.artlk.com/2012/04/malena-morgan-sensational-pictures.html
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Andreasvb
Sweden
46 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2012 : 19:39:23
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Hi.
Really like the program so far. 
Using it mostly for Google Chrome as all gesture extensions I've tried tend to bump the tab's memory each time I refresh the page, making it very slow after a while.
I noticed that my http://trillian.im notifications stopped showing up after this change (Version 1.8.51).
Works good with 1.8.4.
I've tried the Gesture Draw Window on top as well.
Thanks. |
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Rob
USA
2615 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2012 : 13:59:33
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| Hmm, that's interesting. I'll look into it. |
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Rob
USA
2615 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2012 : 23:09:45
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I installed Trillian and am not able to reproduce. I see the notification popups appearing in the lower right corer, for chat, email, etc.
Is there any info or steps I can try that may help me reproduce the issue? |
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Rob
USA
2615 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2012 : 00:02:45
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| I figured there was no good reason to force this new behavior upon everyone. There is now an option in Preferences for Don't Hide Gesture Draw Window*. If you uncheck it, I'm guessing Trillian notifications will be fine again; though you won't benefit from the minor performance increase added by the change in 1.8.5 (if it were even an issue for you). |
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Andreasvb
Sweden
46 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2012 : 04:50:09
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Hi Rob.
I thought it was something with the new Trillian beta first, but was same with the current version.
If I closed S+ it worked again.
So I tried the older version of S+ and it stilled worked.
I do use WIndows 8 CP, if it could be any indication.
I'll try the new version (when it can be downloaded).
Thanks. |
Edited by - Andreasvb on 05/07/2012 06:19:59 |
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Rob
USA
2615 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2012 : 07:17:31
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Ah, didn't try Win8.
Downloads have been fixed! |
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Andreasvb
Sweden
46 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2012 : 13:07:02
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Tried the new version and it seems to work ok so far.
Will it use the old system where it can freeze a bit?
And it's only when not hiding the window it's fast?
Thanks. |
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Rob
USA
2615 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2012 : 16:55:19
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Yes, it uses the hide method as v1.8.4 and lower (unless Keep Gesture Draw Window On Top is selected, then the new setting has no effect).
Correct, when the window isn't being hidden, it's more responsive when you start to draw a new gesture. |
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[CLOSED] Slow system with Keep draw window on top
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