Graphic Glitches on Windows Build...

Solar2D Win32 Desktop
#1

We have two machines which are both identical.  We are getting an odd graphic effect on the machines when running a compiled Windows App.  I have a PNG object being displayed in a tableview widget.  I have some text on top of the png image.  On these machines sometimes the rendering of the graphics is incomplete.  If we click where the object should be, sometimes it resolves or we get additional glitchy effects.

It appears to be a memory issue or graphics card issue, as the system is fine on other machines.

I have checked the graphics driver and it is a built in drive from Intel.  It says it is up to date, but we are going to check today if there is a more recent one as the drive is dated from 2014.

The system is using Windows 8.1.

Have you any advice as how I could minimise these types of errors?

#2

Can you provide more information?

The way I first read it is you had two identical machines and its problematic on one of them. When I re-read the post it sounds like you have several identical machines where it’s a problem but on other Windows machines it’s not a problem.

Can you clarify which situation  you’re experiencing?

For the problem machine(s), can you provide the tech specs for it? 

Does the problem manifest itself if you install Corona on the computer and run the app in the simulator instead of doing a desktop build (I’m assuming you’re testing a desktop build)?

Thanks

Rob

#3

Hi Rob, just to clarify I have two identical machines and the glitchy graphics is an issue on both of them.

What I have done is downloaded the Simulator on one and run our project.  Same affect.  The machines are HP 22-2061na all in one desktop machines running windows 8.1.  The are 64bit intel pentium machines with 4GB of ram.  The graphics card is an intergrated intel card which is up to date (although the driver is 2014 - the latest for this machine).

The issue is when an overlay is shown which contains a table view.  On row render I currently insert into a row (in this order): - a PNG image, a text object following by a line object.

I was thinking about trying a couple of things to lessen the load (if that is what the problem is) - 

  1. change the png to jpeg.  Could the transparency be an issue?  

  2. Instead of inserting the objects one at a time into the row, how about if I create a display group first, insert the objects in and then insert the display group into the row?

I will update you with my findings on these two ideas…

#4

No, still the same.  Very frustrating.  On all other PCs in our building it is fine, tablets is fine, just these two identical machines - which does point to the machine spec.  The glitch presents itself that the text that is supposed to be on the image is not being shown - apparently randomly.  When you click that area the text will appear.  Sometimes it works, other times it does not.  Occasionally all hell breaks loose and one of the images appears to have been badly drawn.  Anything you could suggest I try?

#5

Have you updated the OpenGL drivers on these two machines?

#6

How do I do that?  I have checked the drivers for the display adapter.  They from Intel.  I have downloaded from Intel a tool that tells you if your drivers are up to date.  It says that they are and that there are no further updates.  How can I update the specific OpenGL drivers?  Is this something separate from the display driver?

#7

And what version OpenGL does it say? Intel drivers are a bad sign either way as far as graphics go - it means you don’t have a decent graphics card but instead “on-board” stuff in the chipset. That could be the source of the trouble.

#8

Yep, I know that the graphics drivers are not brilliant.  I am not doing anything fancy with the graphics - this is a Business App.  All I am doing is displaying an image with some text in them.  The machine runs on a Intel Pentium G3240T.  When I check the spec of this processor on Intel it says it supports Open GL 4.3, HD resolution with up to three screens.  Not exactly ancient technology.  Here is the data sheet on the processor: - https://ark.intel.com/products/80797/Intel-Pentium-Processor-G3240T-3M-Cache-2_70-GHz

And here is the machine from the HP support site: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c04496379

#9

There is nothing in the machine’s specifications that indicate a problem. The video card, albeit not the highest powered card, none-the-less supports OpenGL 4.3, so I doubt it’s a driver issue, even though keeping your drivers up-to-date is always good advice.

The problem is I don’t know how popular that model of computer is and we certainly cannot buy every model of computer to use to test on. 

Just to make sure, you’re not running in a virtual machine (a VM). Can you make a video of what’s happening? I could maybe show it to the engineers and they might have a thought.

Rob

#10

Hi Rob, I have a couple of videos.  What is the best way of getting them to you?

#11

You can upload them to YouTube and make them available to people with the URL.  

Rob

#12

Sorry Rob - had a weekend and a bank holiday in the UK!

Here is a video of the issue - not a great video, but hopefully you can see the issue.  The overlay menu is shown, but some of the text is missing from the button images.  All I am doing is loading an image and placing the text on top.  If you click on the button the text is shown.  Sometimes it comes back and other times it does not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwJqowu3Y7E&feature=em-upload_owner

This only happens on these two machines.  The menu works fine on all tablets devices (Android and Ipad) and other Windows kit…

#13

Great video … thanks!  Ugly issue :frowning:  Looks like your app is tickling the limits of the graphics hardware on these machines.

I’m guessing the issue doesn’t show up if you extract the button code from your project and put it in a small test project (even on those two machines).  If it does, send us the test project.

If the text objects in question are not using native.systemFont already, see if that works any better.  More desperately, try reducing the font size as that might help alleviate a low memory condition in the onboard Intel graphics (by making the textures needed to render the text smaller).

I assume there aren’t any warnings in the Corona Console when this behavior is observed.

#14

Can you provide more information?

The way I first read it is you had two identical machines and its problematic on one of them. When I re-read the post it sounds like you have several identical machines where it’s a problem but on other Windows machines it’s not a problem.

Can you clarify which situation  you’re experiencing?

For the problem machine(s), can you provide the tech specs for it? 

Does the problem manifest itself if you install Corona on the computer and run the app in the simulator instead of doing a desktop build (I’m assuming you’re testing a desktop build)?

Thanks

Rob

#15

Hi Rob, just to clarify I have two identical machines and the glitchy graphics is an issue on both of them.

What I have done is downloaded the Simulator on one and run our project.  Same affect.  The machines are HP 22-2061na all in one desktop machines running windows 8.1.  The are 64bit intel pentium machines with 4GB of ram.  The graphics card is an intergrated intel card which is up to date (although the driver is 2014 - the latest for this machine).

The issue is when an overlay is shown which contains a table view.  On row render I currently insert into a row (in this order): - a PNG image, a text object following by a line object.

I was thinking about trying a couple of things to lessen the load (if that is what the problem is) - 

  1. change the png to jpeg.  Could the transparency be an issue?  

  2. Instead of inserting the objects one at a time into the row, how about if I create a display group first, insert the objects in and then insert the display group into the row?

I will update you with my findings on these two ideas…

#16

No, still the same.  Very frustrating.  On all other PCs in our building it is fine, tablets is fine, just these two identical machines - which does point to the machine spec.  The glitch presents itself that the text that is supposed to be on the image is not being shown - apparently randomly.  When you click that area the text will appear.  Sometimes it works, other times it does not.  Occasionally all hell breaks loose and one of the images appears to have been badly drawn.  Anything you could suggest I try?

#17

Have you updated the OpenGL drivers on these two machines?

#18

How do I do that?  I have checked the drivers for the display adapter.  They from Intel.  I have downloaded from Intel a tool that tells you if your drivers are up to date.  It says that they are and that there are no further updates.  How can I update the specific OpenGL drivers?  Is this something separate from the display driver?

#19

And what version OpenGL does it say? Intel drivers are a bad sign either way as far as graphics go - it means you don’t have a decent graphics card but instead “on-board” stuff in the chipset. That could be the source of the trouble.

#20

Yep, I know that the graphics drivers are not brilliant.  I am not doing anything fancy with the graphics - this is a Business App.  All I am doing is displaying an image with some text in them.  The machine runs on a Intel Pentium G3240T.  When I check the spec of this processor on Intel it says it supports Open GL 4.3, HD resolution with up to three screens.  Not exactly ancient technology.  Here is the data sheet on the processor: - https://ark.intel.com/products/80797/Intel-Pentium-Processor-G3240T-3M-Cache-2_70-GHz

And here is the machine from the HP support site: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c04496379