Extremely slow iOS simulator

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

Hi all,

Hope you are all doing great.

I bought a new iMac 3 weeks ago, specs are as follows:

3.7GHz 6-core Intel Core i5 | 8GB | 2TB Fusion Drive | Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB

The machine’s performance is excellent, apps open up in seconds and everything is super smooth.

However, I am bewildered at the fact that the iOS Simulator crawls at a mere 2-5 fps if I select the most recent devices. i.e 3rd gen iPad,

iPhone xs max etc.

The simulator opens in seconds too, the machine should not be the problem. Could it be Corona Apps pushed to the simulator?

The Corona simulator is lightning fast. I really have no idea what the problem is.

I have tried the latest corona daily build and the public release version etc. Tried a few others in between too. No change.

xCode version is 10.2.1

Many thanks for your time.

#2

Are you using any shaders by any chance? We bought a new Mac Mini a few months ago, and using shaders in the simulator regularly caused the whole machine to lock up and crash. Disabling shaders in the sim fixed our problem, so may be the cause of yours as well.

We initially thought it was a hardware fault so had Apple replace the first Mac Mini, but the replacement had the same problem.  

I don’t think it’s a Corona specific problem either, I found many reports of people with new Macs which use the T2 security chip encountering similar problems.

For what it’s worth I’ve always found the Xcode iOS simulator to be pretty slow compared to the Corona simulator, though not by the margin you’ve described.

#3

Thank you Alan for your reply and time.

I am not using any shaders, I really do not understand this slowness.

I have seen people complaining about the iOS simulator taking ages to load, thus, the game will obviously run slow too, and this normally occurs on old machines etc…

My machine is a new generation worth £2,000. The specs are quite good and should eat this task for breakfast. My game is a very simple space invaders game running at 60fps on corona simulator and on real devices.

I sort of feel useless, because I seriously have no idea where the problem lies.

Thanks, hopefully someone knows more than I :P 

#4

My machine is a new generation worth £2,000. The specs are quite good and should eat this task for breakfast.

Honestly, I wouldn’t put too much faith into that statement. I could not believe that something like shaders were able to completely lock up or hard crash a modern machine, rather than killing the process responsible.  

Is there a particular reason you need to run it in the xcode iOS simulator? I would always choose to test on a real device over the simulator unless I had no other choice, and you’ve mentioned it runs ok on real devices.

#5

Hehe.

Thanks Alan again for your time.

The whole idea of the simulator was to get screenshots for all modern device resolutions, and to try and pitch in an app preview too at the various resolutions. I guess I’ll have to pass. Yes, the game works like a charm in my iPad 2nd generation and iPhone 7. I am not going to buy every darn device in existence, apple sometimes can be frustrating.

:stuck_out_tongue:

#6

Wait until you start working with Android. Their emulators are even slower. And you have more devices you have to get screen shots from.

Is there a reason you can’t create the screenshots you need from the Corona simulator? You can create custom sizes. 

Rob

#7

Hi Rob,

Ye I can imagine.

Oh never gave that a thought. I believed Corona Simulator did not give you the actual device resolution but just a scale of it.

Interesting, will definitely check it out as I love working with the Corona Sim.

Thanks a lot!

#8

Are you using any shaders by any chance? We bought a new Mac Mini a few months ago, and using shaders in the simulator regularly caused the whole machine to lock up and crash. Disabling shaders in the sim fixed our problem, so may be the cause of yours as well.

We initially thought it was a hardware fault so had Apple replace the first Mac Mini, but the replacement had the same problem.  

I don’t think it’s a Corona specific problem either, I found many reports of people with new Macs which use the T2 security chip encountering similar problems.

For what it’s worth I’ve always found the Xcode iOS simulator to be pretty slow compared to the Corona simulator, though not by the margin you’ve described.

#9

Thank you Alan for your reply and time.

I am not using any shaders, I really do not understand this slowness.

I have seen people complaining about the iOS simulator taking ages to load, thus, the game will obviously run slow too, and this normally occurs on old machines etc…

My machine is a new generation worth £2,000. The specs are quite good and should eat this task for breakfast. My game is a very simple space invaders game running at 60fps on corona simulator and on real devices.

I sort of feel useless, because I seriously have no idea where the problem lies.

Thanks, hopefully someone knows more than I :P 

#10

My machine is a new generation worth £2,000. The specs are quite good and should eat this task for breakfast.

Honestly, I wouldn’t put too much faith into that statement. I could not believe that something like shaders were able to completely lock up or hard crash a modern machine, rather than killing the process responsible.  

Is there a particular reason you need to run it in the xcode iOS simulator? I would always choose to test on a real device over the simulator unless I had no other choice, and you’ve mentioned it runs ok on real devices.

#11

Hehe.

Thanks Alan again for your time.

The whole idea of the simulator was to get screenshots for all modern device resolutions, and to try and pitch in an app preview too at the various resolutions. I guess I’ll have to pass. Yes, the game works like a charm in my iPad 2nd generation and iPhone 7. I am not going to buy every darn device in existence, apple sometimes can be frustrating.

:stuck_out_tongue:

#12

Wait until you start working with Android. Their emulators are even slower. And you have more devices you have to get screen shots from.

Is there a reason you can’t create the screenshots you need from the Corona simulator? You can create custom sizes. 

Rob

#13

Hi Rob,

Ye I can imagine.

Oh never gave that a thought. I believed Corona Simulator did not give you the actual device resolution but just a scale of it.

Interesting, will definitely check it out as I love working with the Corona Sim.

Thanks a lot!