Strange Problem Gp2x

[DARKGATE]

have a strange problem with my GP2X, ussually when play at a game gp2x made smalls pause.
Explain better me, gp2x stop for a 1 or 2 seconds i don't understand, same problem boys?
Or similar?
Thank you.

 

[DynaMight]

I have the same problem. I always thought Linux was at fault here.

 

[nickspoon]

It's a simple slip in code running, nothing to worry about. I'm sure it happens of your PC all the time.

 

[Flavor]

Actually, I've been wondering about this, myself. The games that I've worked on porting seem to have this odd pause. Then, I tried some other people's games and they did the same thing.

Can anyone actually diagnose what's causing this? Is it the OS stealing the CPU for a while or what?

 

[yaustar]

When I used the gpe cruncher, I found that it take an extra 10 seconds to boot the program. I can only assume that the puase is the gpe being uncompressed.

 

[Flavor]

When I used the gpe cruncher, I found that it take an extra 10 seconds to boot the program. I can only assume that the puase is the gpe being uncompressed.

I do not think that this is the type of pause that we're talking about. I'm talking about a pause in the middle of game play.

Pick up any type of action game and play it for a bit. Do you ever notice a point where nothing happens (even the sound stops) for about a second?

In the game I'm currently working on, I will be playing just fine and then the pause hits. I don't hear anything, and I can't move for about a second. When I regain control, the sound is of worse quality. It's very odd.

 

[God Ginrai]

Flavor, I THINK the type of pause DARKGATE is talking about is what yaustar is talking about.

But as far as the type you're talking about, I have never experienced it on the GP2X, but it's a term I'm very familiar with: System Lag. It's probably that the system is using a LOT of resources at one time, slowing it down slightly. This happened to me quite often on my PC, before I got a new one. Although I don't know why the sound quality becomes worse after it recovers from the lag.

 

[Flavor]

Just FYI, here are a couple links to other topics that seem to be related to this problem.

Gp2x Stumbles / Pauses, Anyone else have this

How Does Prboom Run?, Speed... Sound... Graphics?

 

[Drak]

I made a post about this a while ago and squidge replied to me with this:

One thing you can try is build a small shell script to renice the task. eg:

nice -20 yourapp.gpe

which will stop other tasks from interrupting yours.

More info is available here: http://www.computerhope.com/unix/unice.htm

I havent tried it yet though, but im sure all you need to do is a command line script and name it a .gpe

 

[Flavor]

One thing you can try is build a small shell script to renice the task. eg:

nice -20 yourapp.gpe

which will stop other tasks from interrupting yours.

More info is available here: http://www.computerhope.com/unix/unice.htm

Cool. I already have a script, so I'll try that.

Thanks.

 

[Paradox]

i get the pauses in DrMD, and DrMD accesses the hardware directly and jibs off linux right? so it shouldnt be linux then?

 

[Flavor]

nice -20 yourapp.gpe

I tried it. Unfortunately, I saw no difference.

 

[jmetal88]

I never get the pauses....

 

[Flavor]

I was on IRC for a bit this morning, and I brought this issue up.

It was suggested that the pauses are actually related to the SD card.

<torpor> it doesn't happen for me when i'm using my panasonic card, but when i use toshiba, i occasionally see these lags..

Squidge mentioned that the GP2X does not mount the SD with "noatime" so at some point, the OS will start marking the file access times on the SD card. Anyway, I tried unmounting my SD and then re-mounting it with the "noatime" option. It seemed to help the pausing issue. There were still some small pauses, but they weren't nearly as long or noticable.

I logged in via USB Serial Gadget and ran this.
"mount -t vfat -o remount,noatime,nodiratime /dev/discs/disc0/part1 /mnt/sd"

Then I re-tried my game. There were still pauses, but they didn't seem to come along as often, and they were definitely shorter (like maybe a fifth as long).

So, that's the data for now. If you notice pauses, try another SD card, and please let us know if that (or anything else) helps.

 

[Flavor]

Here's another easy test that you guys can try.

Flip the write-protect "lock" switch on your SD card to make it Read Only.

Then try your games again. I think that you will notice little or no pausing. Please post here if you try this.

EDIT: I have since confirmed that the GP2X ignores the lock on my SD card. Read below.

 

[RiX0R]

Ah, so it would be the OS writing data to the SD card?

That makes sense...

 

[Jarska333]

I wonder if this would explain/help with the pauses on Oldplay? Gots to try it.

 

[fishybawb]

I thought the GP2X ignores that tab anyway... I'm using an ancient 128MB card without one, so I may well be talking crap

 

[Flavor]

Yes, it seems that there are two things that access the SD periodically.

1) Automounter. When you pop in an SD card, the automounter is what figures that out. It also checks periodically and does reads/writes.

2) VFS. I think that this is what does the atimes and updating cached writes and such.

I believe that by setting the lock on your SD card, you can eliminate the parts of both that would cause slowdown. I think it's the writes that really hurt.

EDIT: Read below to see that the lock switch is ignored by the GP2X.

 

[Flavor]

I thought the GP2X ignores that tab anyway...  I'm using an ancient 128MB card without one, so I may well be talking crap

​

There's a chance that you're right. Though, if you are, I just got really lucky when I tested it. That's part of why I am hoping that more people can try it and post their results.

EDIT: Read below to see that the lock switch is ignored by the GP2X.