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Topic: Transparency Problem (Read 4708 times) previous topic - next topic
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Transparency Problem

I noticed that when I have transparency enabled that it really slows down the abilty to scroll through a large list. So much so that it is unusable. Turn transparency off and all is good.  I don't remember having that problem on my PC at work.

Hmmm.....

Maybe a video driver thing. I'll try it when I get to work tomorrow. Definitely is a problem on my home machine.
Specs are XP/P3-800/512MB/NVidia GF2 MX400.
flac > schiit modi > schiit magni > hd650

Transparency Problem

Reply #1
You also have a large playlist at work or maybe it was a bit smaller?

Transparency Problem

Reply #2
Hi,
Ensure that the graphics acceleration level is set to the maximum on your home computer. NVIDIA graphic boards are stable with max acceleration enabled.

If you don't do this, windows will use the microsoft routines for alpha blending, which are dead slow.

Also, ensure that the AGP aperture size is set to 64MB or more in the BIOS, otherwise AGP will be disabled.

In general, windows XP supports hardware alpha blending acceleration in 2d.

Cheers

Transparency Problem

Reply #3
transparency slows repainting down, can't be helped, that's why it's optional (and even disabled by default).
Microsoft Windows: We can't script here, this is bat country.

Transparency Problem

Reply #4
Well, I'm at work now. Transparency is pretty snappy on this PC. Much faster than at home. Only 2 real differences between this PC and my home one.

This PC is Win2K. My home PC is XP. Other difference would be the video cards. Work is ATI, home is NVidia.

I also have XP on a laptop at home. I'm going to try the same test on it tonight to see if it's an XP thing, or specific to my desktop at home.

Either way, it's still a great program, and I can live without transparency on my home machine.
flac > schiit modi > schiit magni > hd650

Transparency Problem

Reply #5
I also know for a fact that transparencies of reasonable sizes were also quite snappy on my Pentium 233 with 3DLabs Permedia 2 4MB video card. Judging from the source code in the old Windows 2000 DDK, the drivers definately accelerated alpha features, but only for video memory to video memory copies. Using that layered window mode, even with 100% opacity, also made window moves much snappier, as the object was rendered from offscreen using the card's texturing engine or something. Hence, no after images as I dragged the solid window around. Wasn't so smooth when the object was so large that it forced software translucency.

Not sure how efficient NVidia's alpha acceleration is, but it seems to have some glitches. Certain frequent update effects, such as the annoying snow effect applets appearing on a number of sites lately, cause layered windows and/or shadows to flicker like mad. Perhaps the drivers don't have an efficient way of drawing the shadows that doesn't involve repainting the entire screen. If so, too bad. I'd think a more efficient method would be to double or even triple buffer, keeping the software surface offscreen, and rendering it along with the layered objects to the foreground, or to a pair of alternating buffers. (WOW! 9MB of VRAM just for 1024x768x32. PS. I don't care to think about coding something like that.)

Transparency Problem

Reply #6
Well, it seems that transparency is also slow on my laptop, which is also an XP machine. My very unscientific conclusion is that it's sufficiently fast on Win2000, but slow on XP.

I've only got 3 machines as a test sample, and obviously that isn't enough. There could be other mitigating factors. Again, no biggie. I can easily live without the transparency mode

On a side note:

I know there are a lot of MP3/Ogg apps for Linux. Does anyone know offhand if there is a console based Linux app that even comes close to the functionality of Foobar? I'm toying with the idea of building a PC with a 24/96/digital out soundcard, and putting it in a 2u case for my entertainment center.
flac > schiit modi > schiit magni > hd650