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Staff Topic

[Updated] CPU Renderer testing concluded for now - thanks for testing!

We're working on a new way to draw stuff to screen in the hopes that those of you with older computers will experience a performance boost.  The new "GPU Renderer" works very well for computers which have an older CPU, but have a decent graphics card (NVIDIA or ATI chipset from 2008 and on).

The GPU renderer is still in its infancy, so we're asking anyone who is able to test it out and report any issues/bugs.  If you're interested in helping, please use this URL to play the game:

[url removed — test is over]

(Please note that we are aware the blue glow around items looks slightly different.)

If your computer isn't capable of using the GPU renderer, it will safely fall back to the normal "Bitmap Renderer". Also, you can hold "Q" and press "P" to bring up a performance chart that will tell you which renderer you're using.

Some useful stuff we found in our performance tests:
* The GPU renderer seems to benefit people running Windows the most.
* Laptops can experience poor GPU performance if they are unplugged.
* Macbook Pros will sometimes have trouble turning on their GPU (check out this cool utility for manually enabling your GPU: codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus).
* Macbook Airs can't take advantage of GPU acceleration... Yet.

Thanks for helping us improve Glitch!

Posted 97 days ago by Jort Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Everything is working great so far, except for the issues the above posters had with trying to decorate your house. Things get crazy when you try to preview a new wall style.

    Intel i5 3470 @ 3.20ghz
    Radeon HD 7850 @ 2gb
    8gb RAM

    I would also like to add that unless it's my imagination, everything renders much sharper. The colors are more defined, and it looks a lot better. Also, 100% of my lag issues were resolved. This is awesome!
    Posted 97 days ago by zachwulf Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Tested it via the link, but while the greyish "loading" progress at the top of the initial game loading page moved along quickly, it hung up on "finishing up" and I received an error message. Couldn't send error report, cuz I'm using an older version of flash (10 point something or other), and I can't/won't upgrade my flash because the newer flash 11 has been wonky in Chrome. So yah, didn't work for me obviously...lol! Couldn't even get in game with it.
    Posted 97 days ago by KitchWitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It's faster!
    Posted 97 days ago by Electric Wizard Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Feels much faster!

    Bugs: 
    After restoring a dirt pile, two dirt piles appeared. One was diggable, the other had "remove" as the only option. After digging the other disappeared.

    Leaving the cultivate mode produces a white screen. Bags are still visible, though. Reloading solves this problem.

    The potions in the SDBs look squashed. http://lem.to/p/SrTg

    My meat SDB is seriously bugged. Selecting it causes my glitch to disappear.
    Posted 97 days ago by Candy Warhol Subscriber! | Permalink
  • snapshoting with the return key does not work, and there are no animations when using new gardening potions.
    also, if i have just one type of seed, it doesn't give me the menu, just plants it right away - which is not a bad thing at all.
    Posted 97 days ago by Electric Wizard Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Some more SDB problems: Clicking on any SDB causes it to become greyish and move. It takes more than a second to bring up the remove-deposit-etc. menu (feels longer than in the normal game). The SDB keeps moving while I select an option. Sometimes this makes it impossible to remove something from the SDB. Or another SDB close the original one gets selected as well and the game crashes. It doesn't matter how many items a SDB contains- a SDB with two items is as buggy as one with 10000.

    I also get the two gardening bug Anthropocene mentioned.
    Posted 96 days ago by Candy Warhol Subscriber! | Permalink
  • In GPU mode, when planting seeds, seeds are highlighted.  Nice feature.
    Posted 96 days ago by WallyMcBeal Subscriber! | Permalink
  • LOVE
    Posted 96 days ago by Mt Dew Me Subscriber! | Permalink
  • When I select a garden, which plot is highlighted is not consistent. (Previously, it was always the front leftmost plot.)
    Posted 96 days ago by Spockian Subscriber! | Permalink
  • When I start Glitch in Firefox, it doesn't remember my two music volume settings -- even if I set them, exit to world, then re-enter world. It *does*, however, remember them when moving from street to street.
    Posted 96 days ago by Spockian Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My house has the wailing uplands backyard theme -- but it's play the Groddle banjo song. I reloaded, but that did not fix it. When I go into the front yard, the highlands music is added -- but over the Groddle music, not instead of it. Then, when I return to the house, I get (just) the right musiic.

    But, if I reload at this point, it's rinse and repeat -- just the Groddle music.
    Posted 96 days ago by Spockian Subscriber! | Permalink
  • when I restored a large crop garden in my back yard it was not located correctly (too far to the right) until I reloaded the game
    Posted 96 days ago by armi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • when I returned to cultivation mode to check the life span of my other gardens, clicking X gave me a completely white screen until I reloaded the game.  the same thing happened in decorate, although it sent a bug report first and I waited 2 minutes before reloading the game
    Posted 96 days ago by armi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I also had a lot more difficulty than usual trying to click on piggy plops to examine them since they didn't seem to be where the cursor was pointing.  walking & moving in & out & from floor to floor in my house is much faster & smoother though.
    Posted 96 days ago by armi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • and, finally, when I attempted to place more furniture for sale in my tower, the game gave up on the over 500 items I have in my furniture tab so I am going back to the old version, although it is slooow loading them also.
    Posted 96 days ago by armi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So far so good, thanks for the upgrade for the older computers.  I can now waste more time I should be working while doing more here.  I'll report and bugs I find but seems smooth so far.  Noticeably so.
    Posted 96 days ago by Telo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Moving between regular, decoration, and cultivation modes is resulting in a blank screen.  Just now, collapsing my groups/friends list restored the graphics, but my avatar was gone.  Scraping barnacles caused the barnacle pod to disappear, but when I'd scraped the last barnacle, my avatar reappeared.  The FPS seems faster, which is great, but it's a bit disconcerting to have things blink in and out. 

    ETA: I was able to water my herb garden over and over again, with no change to the water indicator bars on the plots.  I've now switched back to the old renderer, and I see that one of the plots wasn't watered at all.
    Posted 96 days ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Found an error whilst making eggs - you can see it here www.glitch.com/snaps/PCR4R9...
    where the right hand egg pile is only partly visable also with the pile on the cabinet
    Posted 96 days ago by Faereluth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i'm  having the same issue as glum pudding; watering gardens over and over and no change to say it's done (img/energy counter changes). Is there something that can be done to change that ? I have some issues on this pc with lag, that's why i switched to this. This is an old pc that i just started using today so i'm still testing out how it works with glitch.
    Posted 96 days ago by kepi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks for reporting the errors related to watering gardens/planting seeds.  We're looking into the issue and will try to resolve it asap :).
    Posted 96 days ago by Jort Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The Liquid Super-hoe graphics vary. On one garden, one hoe showed (rather than 15); on another, no hoes showed. In both cases, the plots went from messy to clear -- it's just the hoe itself that was invisible.
    Posted 96 days ago by Watson Subscriber! | Permalink
  • When you join groups, it says you are already in it; then says "gracerigney is here"
    Posted 96 days ago by gracerigney Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I tried it and my little glitchy legs kept walking regarless of whether I was jumping, bouncing, or just standing still. It was highly amusing. 
    Posted 96 days ago by Starless Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This seems to make the game playable on my netbook!  With Facebook running, even!  Wacky.
    Posted 96 days ago by Carl Projectorinski Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So... mostly I've found this client to be great, much faster for me, and smoother. However, in my house everything got bungled. Most difficult was that whenever I tried to remove something from an SDB I would see the item menu for a moment, and then the SDB was selected and moving around the screen. So I'm back to the previous version so I can access my hoard.

    Tech notes: Late-2008 15" MacBook Pro, 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.6.8, Safari version 5.1.7 (6534.57.2), Flash version 11.4.402.265.

    I hope this helps improve it -- I think that the plan for a GPU-enhance client is awesome!
    Posted 96 days ago by Indikut Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It works awesome!  My little glitch has never moved so fast.
    Posted 96 days ago by Thursday Soleil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I can't get in-game at all. D: 
    Posted 96 days ago by a pig Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The new ability to see the nearest location of a something isn't working with the GPU client.  Not a huge deal, but probably something you'd want to know.
    Posted 96 days ago by a lifted pixel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mussirio Flero isn't loading correctly.  My Glitch and quoins seem to be invisible.  I can move around using the mini map to navigate, but that's no fun!  When I tried to move to Mellai Nivelare, I got the bug report popup and the street never loaded.
    Posted 96 days ago by a lifted pixel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • great and so much quicker! nvidia oldish lappy - is the link permanent and worth bookmarking or should I just log in from the forum post indefinitely?
    Posted 95 days ago by ~Arabesque~ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Another Watering/Garden issue.  In Regular mode, selecting a Large garden with enter key puts you onto the front left plot of 15.  In GPU mode, it puts you on the right rear plot.  Stepping through the plots works normally.  Looks like a pointer issue, but not really a problem for gardening, just different.
    Posted 95 days ago by WallyMcBeal Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Greedy Street Spirit Story - In GPU mode, standing on front of a button and hitting enter did not work a second time until I moved slightly.  This happened on the last two panels of the story.
    Posted 95 days ago by WallyMcBeal Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sticky Items was mentioned earlier.  While going down my row if icons, I clicked on Humbaba, reflected, and clicked again, but decided not to revere, decided not to revere, and went to click on Grenaldine.  Instead,  duplicate Grenaldine image wandered as my screen pointer.  Gren dup pointer did not go away until after I clicked mouse.  Image showing Icon placement.  The ghost Gren pointer is not visible here.
    Posted 95 days ago by WallyMcBeal Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Piggys Blocking Objects.  Piggy standing in front of Cosma icon, was not able to point/click Cosma.  Clicked on piggy and petted, still can't select Cosma
    Posted 95 days ago by WallyMcBeal Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sadly I am not able to take advantage of this. Tried it twice and error did occur both time after my splines reticulated and bags unpacked, but street never loaded :(
    Posted 95 days ago by PurpleLogic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Get an odd bug where vertical lines show.  Best snap I could get was http://lem.to/p/crtY but they are slightly wider and more noticeable than in the snap.  they disappear/reappear as I move left and right, in different areas, mostly my house.  Not present in bitmap renderer for me.  chrome browser, win7 64.  nvidia 660m gtx gpu intel i7 cpu.
    Posted 95 days ago by Rnixon the crook Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I submitted to bug reports, but the only one I'll post here is that if you hit enter while surrounded by stuff, the items show up in the wrong order... ie pig>tree>pig>pig>pig stick>pig>collector.. etc. Usually it's Tree>pig>pig>pig>pig stick>collector (nice and organized!) Some of my options are coming up in the wrong order as well.

    Chrome, 32-bit Win7, AMD Dual-core 2.51Ghz. 2GB RAM, GeForce 8400 GS.
    Posted 95 days ago by Lady Cailia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Also, the Le Miserable quest location refuses to load using the gpu renderer.  It was repeatable on my machine. If I switched to normal it loaded fine

    [UncaughtErrorEvent type="uncaughtError" bubbles=true cancelable=true eventPhase=2]
    ArgumentError: Error #3683
    [UncaughtErrorEvent type="uncaughtError" bubbles=true cancelable=true eventPhase=2]
    TypeError: Error #1009
    Posted 95 days ago by Rnixon the crook Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ;( my macbook pro is 13''
    why why why only for 15'' and 17''....
    Posted 95 days ago by Kul Koba Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It seemed to work fairly well for me before today. I haven't been able to get in at all today (with or without GPU). It never even gets to full loading let alone reticulating. My piggies are all gonna die. :(
    Posted 95 days ago by Marla Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So I was testing it. The speed isn't that much different, at least on the areas where i've been testing it. Every time i walk i can see sometimes some vertical (blue?) lines.
    I noticed that the quality of the images is better when is bitmap rendered.
    Also I visited one street and near and firstly i've seen a black square near a gnome. I realized later that it was the house before loading completely. On the top, where we can see our location in the street all is messed up - glitches!!!! :O real ones, as you can see here!
    Posted 95 days ago by Kul Koba Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Is there any way to switch back ?  I'm really not happy and I have filed bug reports.  Many more timed out and takes forever going from street or to ticket areas :(
    Posted 95 days ago by Qizara Subscriber! | Permalink
  • On Mac here... With GPU acceleration...

    1) Ordering seems to have changed? When I select a group of objects (say, a bunch of pigs and a tree) and press "enter", the pigs are first. Using the non-GPU version, the tree was first.

    2) Tree views no longer "repair" after second harvest/water/pet. WIth the non-GPU accelerated version, harvesting a tree with a bunch of pigs underneath would cause the tree to revert to an earlier state. A second harvest would return the tree back to its full, grown up state. This no longer works and the view stays as a younger version of the tree.
    Posted 95 days ago by ss Subscriber! | Permalink
  • On Mac... With GPU acceleration...

    3) If I only have one kind of seed in my back for an herb/crop garden, it'll just plant it instead of asking me to select what kind of seed I want to plant. Note that this only appears to be when using a keyboard. When using a mouse, it asks me every time. I can also get it to ask me by switching tabs and switching back to Glitch and it'll ask when using the keyboard the first time, but never again.

    4) Occasionally clicking on an SDB will cause the selection menu to come up, but then it'll move the box instead of letting me select something. There are also flashes of black when I do this.
    Posted 95 days ago by ss Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, and one time I clicked an SDB and I have no idea what happened. A bug report window popped up, but before I could type in it, everything moved around and changed... I restarted to fix it.
    Posted 95 days ago by ss Subscriber! | Permalink
  • 5) Sometimes, when jumping around a tree and pressing "enter", the menu does not appear. This does not happen *every* time, though it seems more likely to happen if there's only one object to interact with. In other words, if there are two trees to interact with the menu will come up 100% of the time, but when there's only one tree to interact with, it'll only come up 60% of the time. (Making up the percentage...)
    Posted 95 days ago by ss Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeah, I had the gardening issues too.  My hoes are all over the place, and I can't set the garden right.  http://www.glitch.com/snaps/PUVB13LSIRI2JVO/78204-3b40611170/   I walk faster; but, I act dumber.
    Posted 95 days ago by Rennie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • On OpenSuse 12.1 Linux, using Chrome: fails almost immediately after entering house from street. Automatic error report sent in.
    Posted 94 days ago by Frank Arbiter Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I attempted to play through the link and the game became unplayable due to immense lag.  Lag already wasn't an issue for me.  Some individual help would be appreciated but not necessary.  Here are my specs (which I'm not sure what to include but I'll put them in anyways):

    MacBook Pro Version 10.6.8
    Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
    Memory 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

    NVIDIA GeForce 9400M:   
    Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M   
    Type: GPU   
    Bus: PCI   
    VRAM (Total): 256 MB   
    Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)   
    Device ID: 0x0863   
    Revision ID: 0x00b1   
    ROM Revision: 3427
    Posted 94 days ago by Dartha Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Found another problem- may have been mentioned before, if so, sorry: Barnacles all facing right: http://www.glitch.com/snaps/PUVC1O1O1TF26EU/78844-71004e0367/
    Using Windows 7, GPU acceleration and Google Chrome

    Also, when harvested, the growing barnacle turns the right way around.
    Posted 94 days ago by NightDraconis Subscriber! | Permalink