Halfgeek's Forum Posts

  • > I've definitely been experiencing these stutters and latency since well before Chrome 38. Aurel Aphrodite can you confirm?

    >

    I had things stuttering like year and two years ago already.

    Possibly due to nVidia disabling some of their GPU when detecting browsers, defaulting to the Intel HD graphics? I saw it was a known glitch. I didn't have such issues because I've been using AMD graphics for the past few years.

  • michael

    Chrome is the dominant browsers, for Win 7/8, so its the goto browser for testing for most of us. This isn't a C2 problem but... it is a C2 problem in the end, because we rely on these end tools to export.

    HTML5 is designed for the web, fine, we get that, but this situation is critical because the web (Chrome & Firefox being the bulk) currently is broken for HTML5 games.

    So atm, here's the export options:

    Chrome Store = can't use WebStorage, no functional IAP system. /seppuku

    Firefox Market = forget about it, performance is horrendous and stutters like mad.

    Direct HTML5 for browsers = If they are on recent Chrome or Firefox, its unplayable due to stutters.

    Android = wrappers rely on Chromium, its also affected by the stutter bug. Crosswalk is also plagued with security flaws that flag your app to be removed by Google. You just hope players don't mind the stutters. Maybe its on mobiles so they aren't as hardcore as PC gamers are about such things... :/

    iOS = CJS WebView+ which uses WKWebView, great when it works, but its got a major flaw of losing save data to iOS8's auto-clean process when devices run low on storage. O_o

    Finally, direct PC/MAC/Linux export: Use an older NW else risk the stutters. Sadly Linux is still broken due to NW not updating library dependency. Looks like PC/MAC with NW 10.5 is the only viable option, even-though its not optimal (Steam Overlay, Cloud Save?)..

    Got the overlay to work in Greenworks v3 with NW 10.5 by using the --in-process-GPU flag, adding it to the "package-win.json" as well as "package.json".

    Working smoothly.

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  • Thanks for the write-up.

    Looks like we're stuck with NW 10.5 for a long time.

  • It exports directly ready to play Mac Apps, without further need to "compile" in XCode.

    iOS is another matter.

  • newt

    It's clearly an engine case, not C2 but more on Chromium & wrappers based on it, NodeWebkit & Crosswalk.

    The jank, stutter or input lag is ABSENT in iOS8 WKWebView. Buttery smooth.

  • Beta build in XDK has been updated to crosswalk 10. We believe that rebuilding and republishing will eliminate the warning from google play. Go to the project tab, build settings, android-crosswalk tab. Under crosswalk version enter beta. Then go to the build tab, say yes when it asks you to upload, then build. Please retest your app thoroughly before publishing

    Just tested the beta build, xwalk 10. Good news, it works, Star Nomad loads fine and runs a bit faster.

    BAD NEWS. WebStorage LocalValue is reset. The old saved-game based on WebStorage is deleted, starting afresh.

    Xwalk 10 must have changed the way it handles localhost, because by default, WebStorage saves the app data based on the current localhost IP & port, something like 10.0.0.7:50000 (or thereabouts). When that IP/port is changed, WebStorage cannot retrieve saved app data and thus builds a new empty one under the new IP/Port.

    I can't update Star Nomad Elite since Xwalk7/8/9 has the security glitch and 8/9 (bug) doesn't load big games with lots of images.

    Edit: Stable (7) remains fine for function, but still triggers security alert from Google.

  • Just a heads up, using the WebViewPlus plugin to update a game that did not use that plugin previously will reset WebStorage LocalStorage variables.

    This means games already in existence cannot utilize it.

    *** Actually its the new Crosswalk beta (Crosswalk 10). Not your plugin.

  • Prominent

    You cannot release for Linux until the dependency on the obsolete library is fixed in newer NW versions. If you want to, you have to follow their tweak to fix the problem.

    Currently, the export as is without the fix, is broken on many Linux OS and has been broken for a LONG time now.

  • sqiddster

    You are right, if capturing gameplay cause extra stutters then its going to kill your indie game due to how popular youtube reviews or livestream form the basis of grassroots marketing for indies.

    But these stutters or input lag is definitely not present awhile ago in my own games, I only noticed it when I updated C2 and Chrome itself to newer versions. With NW 10.5 or Chrome prior to 38, it feels really smooth. With NW 11.x or Chrome 38+, I definitely see all the delays, stutter etc that you guys are talking about.

    As I posted in another thread, I was previewing Star Nomad 2 for my nephews last week, its the first time they seen it, 5s into it, they both claimed "something's wrong, why is it so laggy"...

  • Yes, we wanted to make it more secure.

    > Since the update to 1621, we have to log in to download our APK's??

    >

    I wanted to ask, for the recent update, did you guys move to Crosswalk 9 (which resolves a few issues related to security & large games)? I read the release notes but nothing is mentioned.

  • GameThirsty

    Can you post a screenshot running that on your Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4? Their CPUs are very similar, it would be interesting to see the CPU utilization.

    Because if a game is sub 60 fps, the CPU is normally averaging much higher loads than your 36%.

    Here's from my LG G-Pad 8.3, with Snapdragon S600, its a 1080p device. FPS fluctuates from 50 to 60, it appears smooth enough even with some skipped frames.

    [attachment=0:3ewfqc78][/attachment:3ewfqc78]

  • And forget about livestream / youtubers to like your game. And people watching them to decide if they'll buy it or not.

    I find that streaming or capturing gameplay on later Chrome (or NW 11.x) is a stuttery mess, completely unplayable and game-breaking. BUT! Doing it running the NW 10.5 export works just fine.

    Are you guys having these stutters and input lag in NW 10.5 too or just limited to Chrome 38+ & NW 11.x?

  • 3) V-sync quality. This is a passing issue in Chrome (the Chromium team is aware of it and are working to fix it) and Firefox (which to me looks already fixed in Nightly), and is made worse by the fact the latest node-webkit is based on Chromium 38 which has the bug. This will be fixed in due course as subsequent Chromium and node-webkit updates come through.

    There's nothing unsolvable here, we should see all three points improve through 2015 and beyond.

    The problem is that the bug went unfixed for multiple Chromium releases since 38. That means the next NW on 39, 40, 41 are still affected with this horrible game-breaking flaw. We have to stick to NW 10.5, which is fine for the MOST part, except the lack of Steam Overlays due to being stuck on Greenworks v3 Alpha (since each Greenworks is NW version specific).

    The same also applies to Crosswalk since they are a few Chromium versions behind, they still have to go through a very jittery versions before there's light beyond this tunnel.

  • szymek We're going through a rough patch because the Chromium team decided to go brain dead and not even test games properly (else they would notice the jitters immediately!!).. hopefully the problem will be resolved soon, because it worked just fine prior to the recent updates. NW 10.5 is buttery smooth. So whatever they did, they broke smoothness (vsync related), so they should be able to un-break it.

    Crosswalk is affected because its Chromium based, usually a few versions behind.