Inputs buffered/delayed 2.4.1

[Aron Schatz]

Excellent free software game. Thanks for continuing the releases and supporting open source.

I'm having a big issue with playability. It seems that my inputs keep lagging and then buffering which causes the menus and game play to go screwy.

Like If I press left 10 times and right 20 times... It will take 30 ticks to start going right.

Then the buffer keeps going and going so the inputs are delayed for a bunch of ticks. The menus become unnavigable.

I don't have any idea on what to do. I'm running Linux Kubuntu 8.04, FGLRX 8.4 with a Radeon 3870, Nexuiz 2.4.1 (hotfix).

I've tried the SDL and GLX builds with the same result. If there is any other information I can give, please let me know.

[esteel]

Actually i do not really understand your problem. What 'ticks' are there in the menu? It should be used via mouse mainly?!? But then again the menu should not affect playability. Are you sure your fglrx drivers are setup correcty? Also ati drivers are not really known to be well done. What FPS do you get? There is an option in the Settings/Video menu to enable the fps display.
Then what input drivers are used in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf ? A lot of people seem to have problems with the evdev drivers..

[Aron Schatz]

By 'ticks' I mean unit of time.

This 'buffering' as it looks to me happens on both the keyboard and mouse inputs.

It seems as though there is a very long buffer.

Another example. Keypresses L,R,U,D (left, right, up, down).

I input this over time while playing...

LLLUUURRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDLLLRLLLLLLLLUUUUUUUU

Theoretically, I should be at the last up in that string since inputs should happen in realtime. What actually happens is that my game would be somewhere back in that chain until more input events came through. It is so strange.

My xorg.conf

Code: Select all

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "kbd"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc105"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Configured Video Device"
        Driver          "fglrx"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Monitor         "Configured Monitor"
        Device          "Configured Video Device"
        Defaultdepth    24
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
  screen "Default Screen"
EndSection
Section "Module"
        Load            "glx"
EndSection


Even If I took a video of the game, it would be useless without the seeing the inputs I'm doing at the same time.

I'll give another example.

If I move the mouse to the right, then to the left. The mouse will still drift to the right for a few 'ticks of time' while moving left. The same happens for every piece of input.

I'm at a loss to explain it well.

My FPS is fine, usually way above 60FPS. But that shouldn't have anything to do with inputs. Inputs should be a higher priority than the display (I'd think).

[esteel]

Ok this makes stuff a bit clearer, first thing to test is the option 'wait for GPU each frame' in the Settings/Video menu and then some other reported that renice'ing X, Nexuiz and applications important for input helped (like hal) reducing input problems. An other option to test in that regard might be 'Vertical Synchronization'

[Aron Schatz]

I'll try each of those options and report back.

By renice, what exactly do you mean?

[Aron Schatz]

Sorry for the doublepost...

I updated to 2.4.2 and set wait for GPU and vert sync. Still happens.

[Aron Schatz]

Sorry for the triple post!

But, I noticed if I turn down the graphics level the problem gets less and less.

So weird. Shouldn't inputs take precedent over graphics? Plus it doesn't explain why they get buffered instead of dropped or delayed.

I give up.

[esteel]

Have you tried those options yet? Seems a bit early to give up..

[Aron Schatz]

I have tried those options and it still happens.

I just saw that the update manager had an update for all the HAL modules. I'll d a reboot in a bit and see if it helped.

[esteel]

Well i never had problems even with old HAL versions. But maybe it helps.. But there were some other reports on input problems in the forum, maybe its worth searching for them.