Game runs fine in simulator, very very slowly on device (iPhone 6 Plus running 9.3)

Astirian · February 2017

Hi guys,

Pretty much what the title says. I've run it through Xcode via USB and also from the Gideros Player targeting the phone over Wi-Fi but it's very, very slow. Will try on Android next and update the thread. It's a simple 2D endless runner so wouldn't have thought it too taxing.

Oh, I almost forgot, I added: print ("memory used 1:"..collectgarbage("count"))

I don't seem to have any leaks. Using between 500 and 700... uh, MB?

Astirian · February 2017

Oh dear, it's slow in the Android Studio simulator too, although I guess that could be a good thing.

hgy29 · February 2017

500-700MB is quite a lot for a phone, no doubt! Are you using very large textures, or trying to put all your game on stage at once and just scrolling it ?
It is hard to tell why it can be slow without knowing how you manage your assets. Can you tell us more ?

Astirian · February 2017

Sorry that was kb. I'm going to try the suggestions here: http://giderosmobile.com/forum/discussion/comment/8857#Comment_8857

I'm using SceneManager and separate *.lua files for scenery animation etc... You raise a good point though, I don't have any loading classes but my textures aren't really that big. Though I do need to learn how to do loading screens at some point.

hgy29 · February 2017

Oh ok, if this was kb, then it is really nothing even for a phone. It remains that desktop CPU are far more efficient than phone ones, so you may be CPU bound. Could it be that your lua code is CPU intensive, or you are using lots of enter_frame events ?

Astirian · February 2017

I can see the game welcome scene and options scene is a bit slow too. There's a fair number of things going on in my main game enter_frame:

function GameScene:onEnterFrame(e)
 
	local dt = e.deltaTime
 
	local player = PLAYER
	player:update(dt)
 
	if (gameStarted == 1) then
 
		Scenery:updateBackgrounds()
		Blocks:updateBlocks()
		GameScene:updateObstacles()
		GameScene:updateCoins()
		GameScene:updateScore()
 
		if (firstObstaclesAvoided == true) then
 
			clear(obstacles) -- Removes all sprite children.
			obstacles = nil
 
			table.remove(ALL_OBSTACLES, 1)
			table.remove(ALL_OBSTACLES, 1)
			table.remove(ALL_OBSTACLES, 1)
 
			firstObstaclesAvoided = false
			GAME:addObstacles()
			-- print("Adding ONE again...")
		end
 
		if (secondObstaclesAvoided == true) then
 
			clear(secondObstacles) -- Removes all sprite children.
			secondObstacles = nil
 
			table.remove(ALL_OBSTACLES, 1)
			table.remove(ALL_OBSTACLES, 1)
			table.remove(ALL_OBSTACLES, 1)
 
			secondObstaclesAvoided = false
		end
 
		if (LIVES == 0) then
 
			-- Is the below really needed?
			OBSTACLES = nil
			ALL_OBSTACLES = nil
			player = nil
			GameScene:gameOver()
		end	
	end
 
	if self.touchStart then
		if os.timer()*1000 - self.touchStart >= self.timeLimit*2/3 then
			 self.touchCount = 0
			 self:check()
			 self:C()
		end
	end
 
	if self.timeStarted then
		if os.timer()*1000 - self.timeStarted >= self.timeLimit then
			  self:check()
	end
   end
end

SinisterSoft · February 2017

You could pm it to someone here who could export and test it to see if something is going wrong somewhere.

Astirian · February 2017

That'd be awesome yeah, if someone's willing to take a look I can upload to Dropbox.

I'm sure there are a good many things I've done weird.

hgy29 · February 2017

@SinisterSoft, I am sure you are the best person here on the forum to help @Astirian with lua/optimizations techniques.

antix · February 2017

It looks like part of your problem might be that you are using a lot of global variables.

You are also calling functions like GameScene:updateScore() from inside the GameScene class. Those calls should be like self:updateScore()

When you create global tables and stuff like ALL_OBJECTS you should make references to them either in the class (self.allObstacles = ALL_OBSTACLES), or create local references to them when you are going to access them. You did this in the first few lines with local player = PLAYER which IMHO is the way to do it, or at least that's how I do it heheh

Look at your different variables and see what might be better suited elsewhere. An example is LIVES. This would most likely be better as a variable inside the player class (player.lives)

I hope I have been of some help :ar!

Astirian · February 2017

Thanks antix

, I have indeed been a bit schizophrenic with my variables, I'll tidy them up. I've also noticed my co-ords are a bit messed up on the devices, the player can jump 3x too high but that's probably for another post.

Astirian · February 2017

So, if I'm using SceneManager, it doesn't really know about the code in my GameScene if the app has just loaded and I'm still in WelcomeScene right?

The reason I ask is that the transition between my bare bones WelcomeScene and AboutScene is a little laggy too. Perhaps I have something in my main.lua or config.lua that's causing issues as well.

Maybe I'm also doing some weird scaling thing too with the resolution... My player character's jump looks like it has tripled on devices and the Xcode simulator. Could be my resolution settings/project settings are out of whack and everything's getting redrawn?

Stuff like this is probably trouble:

In my WelcomeScene:

	local icon = Bitmap.new(Texture.new("textures/temp_icon.png", true))
	icon:setPosition(unpack(UI:place(icon, "topRight")))
	self:addChild(icon)

In my config.lua:

function UI:place(node, zone)
 
        ...
 
	-- Top Left
	if (zone == "topLeft") then
		zone = {-dx, -dy}
 
	-- Top Center
	elseif (zone == "topCenter") then
		zone = {(application:getContentWidth()-node:getWidth())/2, -dy}
 
	-- Top Right
	elseif (zone == "topRight") then
		zone = {dx + width-node:getWidth(), -dy}
 
	else
		print("UI Placement Error!")
	end
 
	return zone
end

Should I be nil-ing my vars on scene transition?

Astirian · February 2017

Call the press, I'm still a goomba!

I had updated Gideros to the latest version and I just tried to revert to much earlier build of my game, which was on a different branch so I set up a new test project. When I went to project settings I added the name and set up the resolution etc...

Anyway, I reverted back to the current build and noticed there was no name in the project settings and uhm... FPS set to 30... Changed it to 60 and the game is smooth as silk, on device, just as per the Gideros Player.

/facepalm

Learned a few things though, so thanks for your help guys.

(and no weird co-ord issues with jumping either...)

antix · February 2017

)

SinisterSoft · February 2017

SinisterSoft · February 2017

btw, you want to check to see if the game looks ok if you force the game to 30hz in the player. I detect the slowdown in my games and have a multiplier for the problem.

eg, x=x+(30*step) -- step being normally 1, but can be bigger/smaller if not 60hz.

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Game runs fine in simulator, very very slowly on device (iPhone 6 Plus running 9.3)

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Game runs fine in simulator, very very slowly on device (iPhone 6 Plus running 9.3)

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