<SOLVED?>Choppy Movement on Ubuntu 10.04LTS

[0.zer0]

I've been playing AC for a little while now. When I first played it, it ran so fast and smooth I could hardly believe it.
It seems that with the new kernel update, 2.6.32-29, movement has become so choppy, it's pretty much unplayable. Looking around with the mouse is fine, but keyboard movement is absolutely horrible! I tried booting up with some of the older kernels and it is a little better, playable, but still kind of choppy. I have the proprietary NVIDIA drivers installed and I'm using the download from the website instead of what's in the repos. My specs can be found in my signature below.

Is any other Linux users experiencing this as well?

[OpenSource]

2.6.32-30 is out.

$ uname -r
2.6.32-30-generic

$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=10.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=lucid
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS"

I had a problem like that some time ago but that was my configuration messing with AC.
Im trying to find out what i did wrong but my memory sucks so its kinda hard.

[0.zer0]

2.6.32-30 is out.

$ uname -r
2.6.32-30-generic

$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=10.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=lucid
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS"

I had a problem like that some time ago but that was my configuration messing with AC.
Im trying to find out what i did wrong but my memory sucks so its kinda hard.

Update does not have 2.6.32-30-generic. Perhaps you have the lucid-proposed and lucid-backports sources activated? I've modded my system a good bit, but as I pointed out, the older kernels seemed to work better. I'm in the process of backing everything up and going to do a clean install of 10.04LTS. Perhaps I will be able to better pinpoint any other problems...
Edit:
uname -a
Linux 2.6.32-29-generic #58-Ubuntu SMP Fri Feb 11 19:00:09 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux

cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=10.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=lucid
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS"

[bballn45]

i notice this on my mac too. the weird thing is that i just downloaded the svn 1.1.0.5 and i dont have that choppy feeling anymore.

[V-Man]

You've lost
that choppy feeling
Woah, that choppy feeling
You've lost that choppy feeling
now it's gone, gone, gone, woah...

Is this a keyboard driver issue?

[0.zer0]

You've lost
that choppy feeling
Woah, that choppy feeling
You've lost that choppy feeling
now it's gone, gone, gone, woah...

Is this a keyboard driver issue?

LMAO @ the lil' diddy...
I thought about it, but my keyboard works great in every other application.

[V-Man]

hrmmmmmmmm My search through the code made me raise an eyebrow at this:

[SELECT ALL] Code:

#ifndef STANDALONE
                            case ARG_DOWN: ((void (__cdecl *)(bool))id->fun)(addreleaseaction(id->name)!=NULL); break;
#endif

("ARG_DOWN" is the condition on which movement commands are based, meaning a key must be pressed in order to execute the command.)

What is "STANDALONE"?

[Ronald_Reagan]

Tell us what your average framerate is, your /maxfps settings, if vsync is on or not...
For framerate: /showstats 1
Maxfps settings (read console output, probably at 200): /maxfps
VSync (just like above, probably at 0 - it is bool): /vsync

Try toggling vsync (/vsync 1/0) Is boolean, so 1 is on 0 is off. I'm not convinced this is a keyboard issue :P
However I be a noob and lovin it.

[flowtron]

The usual background-data should be provided - once and concisely.

• CPU/architecture
  
• GFX card
  
• OS-version
  
• AC-version
  
• header-lines of stdout.txt - the "* Driver:"-lines are of special interest
  
• any errors seen
  

You may have to manually retrigger installing the nvidia drivers after an upgrade of the distribution - did you use EnvyNG to incorporate it into the system?

[0.zer0]

I didn't see the 'no sigs' when I filled out the sig box ..smh
Compaq Evo D510 CMT; P4 @ 2Ghz; 1.5GB RAM; AGP 4X GeForceFX 5200; Dual Boot: Ubuntu 10.04LTS(hd0), WinXP SP3(hd1)
AC: 1.1.0.4 from tar, not repo
Edit: Ok, I hate to ask, but where am I supposed to find the rest of the info?
And for some reason, I'm not getting the HUGE lag that I was getting before, but it's still not as fast as it used to be. The only thing I've changed recently is that I had reinstalled the Plymouth theme and in doing so I had to run "nvidia-xconfig". I know I read in another thread that using another login manager other than gdm really did a number on AC...??? But I'm still using gdm...

[tempest]

Please answer Ronald_Reagan's questions first, so that we know what we're actually dealing with.

Btw: Do you use a compositing window manager (like Compiz)? 'Cause those things really slow 3D graphics down.

[flowtron]

0.zer0: the login-manager and window-manager need not be the same - e.g. you could have gdm and KDE. It sounds to me that you're a Gnome sort of guy - but tempest has a point: Ubuntu loves to give you Compiz - we've experienced several performance issues with that WM, you should try switching it off to confirm/deny if it is involved.
Another good thing to try is to compare what a clean-setup AC does in comparison to your current one. Just start a temporary game-home:

[SELECT ALL] Code:

/path/to/assaultcube.sh --home=/tmp/testAC

[0.zer0]

@All, Quite a few things have changed since I last replied. I have just reinstalled Ubuntu 10.04 so now I'm working on a clean slate and I haven't made any real modifications. I haven't even changed the wallpaper yet. I just now(a few minutes ago) got an update to the 2.6.32-30 kernel. I'm running the proprietary nVIDIA drivers for my card but I only have the Visual Effects set to "Normal". I haven't tried playing AC on this new install yet because I've just been getting a basic setup going, importing bookmarks, contacts, etc... I'll give it a spin soon and report back my findings.
@tempest, When I asked where to get some of the information, I was actually referring to Reagan's request as well as flowtron(header-lines of stdout.txt - the "* Driver:"-lines are of special interest). The first time I played AC, I was using Compiz and everything was smooth and fast.
@flowtron, Yes, I'm a GNOME type. I'll try to find out how to turn Compiz off without disabling my graphics driver just to check.

[OpenSource]

Install Fusion Icon.
With this you can easily change between Compiz and Metacity (or others).

[SELECT ALL] Code:

sudo apt-get install fusion-icon

The OpenCompositing Project brings 3D desktop visual effects that
improve the usability and eye candy of the X Window System and provide
increased productivity.

This package contains a tray icon that allows you to easily enable, disable and
restart Compiz, and change the currently used window manager and/or window
decorator.

Toggle Compiz with Fusion-icon in Ubuntu 8.04 | Tombuntu
This is for 8.04 as you can see but its the same in 10.04.

[0.zer0]

Install Fusion Icon.
With this you can easily change between Compiz and Metacity (or others).

[SELECT ALL] Code:

sudo apt-get install fusion-icon

The OpenCompositing Project brings 3D desktop visual effects that
improve the usability and eye candy of the X Window System and provide
increased productivity.

This package contains a tray icon that allows you to easily enable, disable and
restart Compiz, and change the currently used window manager and/or window
decorator.

Toggle Compiz with Fusion-icon in Ubuntu 8.04 | Tombuntu
This is for 8.04 as you can see but its the same in 10.04.

Thanks for that. I figured as much. I usually installed that along with the rest to get the CompizCube going. I just haven't done that yet and I wasn't sure if it would help without the rest of the packages. Again, thanks.

[Billybob]

To turn compiz off

metacity --replace

To turn compiz on

compiz --replace

This worked for me on 8.04

[OpenSource]

I only use Fusion icon to change from Compiz to Metacity or Aftersteep.
If i have Compiz on i cant play cos screen flashes so i play under Metacity.

[0.zer0]

To turn compiz off

metacity --replace

To turn compiz on

compiz --replace

This worked for me on 8.04

I knew there was a CLI way to do that, just haven't looked it up yet. ^.^d

[0.zer0]

Ok, after my system reinstall and messing around with AC some, here's my findings.
1) The description of libraries needed needs some work. The WIKI was about useless so I installed AC from the repos and of course it was crap. However, when I went to remove it, I got to see the proper names of the needed libraries: libopenal1 and libsdl-image1.2. If there are more needed, do tell.
2) I've tried playing with both Compiz and Metacity and neither one makes much difference(got the fusion icon).
3) I've tried resolutions 1080x768(native) and 800x600, but that didn't make much difference.
4) I've tried Graphic Details on both Medium and Low, but it doesn't make much difference.
5) I tried with VSync both on and off; on seems to work a little better than off.
6) My Framerate is anywhere between 35 and 75, quite good I think. Graphic Detail settings did affect this as well as inside/outside settings.
7) I use a Logitech Wireless Keyboard(EX110), but I have tested with PS/2 keyboard and no difference.
*Conclusion: While I'm not getting the stop and go movement problem that I was getting when I started this thread, it still seems to be somewhat of an issue. As before, mouse movement is pretty smooth all around, but the keyboard movement(forward, back, strafe) is still just a teeny bit choppy. I'm worried that eventually, for whatever unknown reasons, the original problem will be back....

[Gibstick]

BTW, 35 to 75 fps is not good.

Edit: I've changed the wiki article (omg, ancient) and pointed people to http://assault.cubers.net/download.html, where the required libraries are listed.

[V-Man]

BTW, 35 to 75 fps is not good.

u_u
* V-Man turns off the animated skymap

[0.zer0]

BTW, 35 to 75 fps is not good.

Edit: I've changed the wiki article (omg, ancient) and pointed people to http://assault.cubers.net/download.html, where the required libraries are listed.

Thanks for the update, but when I run that command I get this:

[SELECT ALL] Code:

Package libsdl1.2 is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
However the following packages replace it:
  libsdl1.2debian-nas libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio libsdl1.2debian-oss
  libsdl1.2debian-esd libsdl1.2debian-alsa libsdl1.2debian-all
E: Package libsdl1.2 has no installation candidate

If I choose to install libsdl1.2debian-all instead, I get:

[SELECT ALL] Code:

sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2debian-all libsdl-image1.2 libopenal1 libsdl-ttf2.0-0
libsdl-image1.2 is already the newest version.
libopenal1 is already the newest version.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio ubuntu-desktop
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libsdl-ttf2.0-0 libsdl1.2debian-all

Somehow, I don't think I want to ubuntu-desktop, so which of the replacement packages should I use, if any?
How is 35-75fps not good?
"In modern action-oriented games where players must visually track animated objects and react quickly, frame rates of between 30 to 100+ FPS are considered acceptable by most, though this can vary significantly from game to game. Modern action games, including popular console shooters such as Halo 3, are locked at 30 frame/s maximum, while others, such as Unreal Tournament 3, can run well in excess of 100 frame/s on sufficient hardware."

[flowtron]

Yes, ubuntu packaging is sometimes very annoying in that way - the interlinking dependencies just make it near-to impossible to get what you know you want :-/
Sometimes I've found it can be tricked into not removing a package by simply prepending or adding to the end of your command line the package it's trying to remove .. but that doesn't always work.

Actually, I don't think any of this is going to change performance for you! As long as the game starts and works (even badly) it's got the required libraries.

As long as you're sure - you still haven't given us the "driver:"-lines from your AC-log - that it's using OpenGL (and not mesa!) this is probably all what your GFX-card can give you. It's been a while since I had my 5000-series nvidia card, so I can't remember the fps'es I got from it. You should try the following:
For AC just limit the fps to .. say .. 40: "/maxfps 40" - no quotes - to stabilize it.
Outside AC simply run (from shell) "glxgears -info|grep GL" (again: no quotes) and thus ensure yourself OpenGL is set up for your enviroment .. then double-check the log output of AC to see it's using OpenGL for real too. You should see something like:

[SELECT ALL] Code:

init: gl
Renderer: GeForce 8800 GT/PCI/SSE2 (NVIDIA Corporation)
Driver: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 260.19.06

[V-Man]

How is 35-75fps not good?

It's not good on Gibstick's hot-rod overclocked quad-processor 8 GB RAM computer.

[flowtron]

Heh, indeed - anything from 25fps upwards should be considered OK; what you personally have gotten used to (with a gaming-oriented box) is another matter.
Oh, BTW: V-Man: the STANDALONE bits in the code are there to switch between client and/or server builds; if something is "#ifndef STANDALONE" then it only gets used when compiling the client. HTH

[0.zer0]

OK, here's the output from "glxgears -info|grep GL"

[SELECT ALL] Code:

~$ glxgears -info|grep GL
XIO:  fatal IO error 22 (Invalid argument) on X server ":0.0"
      after 40 requests (40 known processed) with 0 events remaining.
GL_RENDERER   = GeForce FX 5200/AGP/SSE2
GL_VERSION    = 2.1.2 NVIDIA 173.14.22
GL_VENDOR     = NVIDIA Corporation
GL_EXTENSIONS = GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow GL_ARB_fragment_shader GL_ARB_half_float_pixel GL_ARB_imaging GL_ARB_multisample GL_ARB_multitexture GL_ARB_occlusion_query GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_ARB_point_sprite GL_ARB_shadow GL_ARB_shader_objects GL_ARB_shading_language_100 GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp GL_ARB_texture_compression GL_ARB_texture_cube_map GL_ARB_texture_env_add GL_ARB_texture_env_combine GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_ARB_texture_rectangle GL_ARB_transpose_matrix GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_vertex_shader GL_ARB_window_pos GL_S3_s3tc GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array GL_EXT_Cg_shader GL_EXT_draw_range_elements GL_EXT_fog_coord GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample GL_EXT_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_EXT_packed_depth_stencil GL_EXT_packed_pixels GL_EXT_paletted_texture GL_EXT_pixel_buffer_object GL_EXT_point_parameters GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_secondary_color GL_EXT_separate_specular_color GL_EXT_shadow_funcs GL_EXT_shared_texture_palette GL_EXT_stencil_two_side GL_EXT_stencil_wrap GL_EXT_texture3D GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc GL_EXT_texture_cube_map GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp GL_EXT_texture_env_combine GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3 GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_lod GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias GL_EXT_texture_object GL_EXT_texture_sRGB GL_EXT_timer_query GL_EXT_vertex_array GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_KTX_buffer_region GL_NV_blend_square GL_NV_copy_depth_to_color GL_NV_depth_clamp GL_NV_fence GL_NV_float_buffer GL_NV_fog_distance GL_NV_fragment_program GL_NV_fragment_program_option GL_NV_framebuffer_multisample_coverage GL_NV_half_float GL_NV_light_max_exponent GL_NV_multisample_filter_hint GL_NV_occlusion_query GL_NV_packed_depth_stencil GL_NV_pixel_data_range GL_NV_point_sprite GL_NV_primitive_restart GL_NV_register_combiners GL_NV_register_combiners2 GL_NV_texgen_reflection GL_NV_texture_compression_vtc GL_NV_texture_env_combine4 GL_NV_texture_expand_normal GL_NV_texture_rectangle GL_NV_texture_shader GL_NV_texture_shader2 GL_NV_texture_shader3 GL_NV_vertex_array_range GL_NV_vertex_array_range2 GL_NV_vertex_program GL_NV_vertex_program1_1 GL_NV_vertex_program2 GL_NV_vertex_program2_option GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_SGIS_texture_lod GL_SGIX_depth_texture GL_SGIX_shadow GL_SUN_slice_accum

As far as the AC_log goes, I can't find hide nor hair of that. I've checked the ".assaultcube_v1.1" directory and there is no log file and even searched my home directory for anything with "log". I'm guessing that I'm missing something obvious here....:\
***I must recant the effect that Compiz has on framerate, it does bring it down significantly.***

[flowtron]

Uhm .. what's that error?

[SELECT ALL] Code:

XIO:  fatal IO error 22 (Invalid argument) on X server ":0.0"
      after 40 requests (40 known processed) with 0 events remaining.

Regarding log-output .. well, when you run the game, you get output - that's what I meant - the console log. You might enjoy this snippet (place in /usr/local/bin/assaultcube if you like) - make a "~/.autologs"-directory first though.

[SELECT ALL] Code:

#!/bin/bash
P2G=/opt/games/AC/1.1.0.4
NOW=`date +"%Y%b%d_%H:%M:%S"`
cd $P2G
./assaultcube.sh $*> ~/.autologs/AC_$NOW.log 2>&1

OFC you'll need to adapt the P2G setting to match your installation, possibly also the call used to establish NOW - maybe change the %b to %m .. anyway, after that just run AC via that command and find your logs in the ~/.autologs-directory.
For a once-only run - use something like this:

[SELECT ALL] Code:

./assaultcube.sh > ac.log 2>&1

[0.zer0]

Uhm .. what's that error?

[SELECT ALL] Code:

XIO:  fatal IO error 22 (Invalid argument) on X server ":0.0"
      after 40 requests (40 known processed) with 0 events remaining.

Regarding log-output .. well, when you run the game, you get output - that's what I meant - the console log. You might enjoy this snippet (place in /usr/local/bin/assaultcube if you like) - make a "~/.autologs"-directory first though.

[SELECT ALL] Code:

#!/bin/bash
P2G=/opt/games/AC/1.1.0.4
NOW=`date +"%Y%b%d_%H:%M:%S"`
cd $P2G
./assaultcube.sh $*> ~/.autologs/AC_$NOW.log 2>&1

OFC you'll need to adapt the P2G setting to match your installation, possibly also the call used to establish NOW - maybe change the %b to %m .. anyway, after that just run AC via that command and find your logs in the ~/.autologs-directory.
For a once-only run - use something like this:

[SELECT ALL] Code:

./assaultcube.sh > ac.log 2>&1

Not sure about that error really. It's what displays after I close the "GLgears" window...
I see what you mean now about the log *headsmack*. I've been starting AC GUI style.... I've got the tar extracted to ~/Games/1.1.0.4. I'll give it a go and see what I can come up with.... So far I really have to thank everyone for their patience and help. I really appreciate it.

---

OK, here's the ac.log!

[SELECT ALL] Code:

bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
Using home directory: /home/zer0/.assaultcube_v1.1
current locale: en_US.utf8
init: sdl
init: net
init: world
init: video: sdl
init: video: mode
init: video: misc
init: gl
Renderer: GeForce FX 5200/AGP/SSE2 (NVIDIA Corporation)
Driver: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 173.14.22
init: console
init: sound
Audio devices: PulseAudio Software, ALSA Software, OSS Software
Sound: PulseAudio Software / OpenAL Soft (OpenAL Community)
Driver: 1.1 ALSOFT 1.12.854
init: cfg
init: models
init: docs
init: localconnect
read map packages/maps/official/ac_mines.cgz rev 3 (75 milliseconds)
Abandoned Mines - by makkE
loaded textures (379 milliseconds)
loaded mapmodels (0 milliseconds)
loaded mapsounds (634 milliseconds)
game mode is "TDM"
init: mainloop
0.zer0 called a vote: load map ac_shine in mode TDM
vote passed
read map packages/maps/official/ac_shine.cgz rev 2 (66 milliseconds)
ac_shine by DogDancing
loaded textures (162 milliseconds)
loaded mapmodels (0 milliseconds)
loaded mapsounds (200 milliseconds)
game mode is "TDM"
writing to file: /home/zer0/.assaultcube_v1.1/config/init.cfg
writing to file: /home/zer0/.assaultcube_v1.1/config/servers.cfg
writing to file: /home/zer0/.assaultcube_v1.1/config/saved.cfg

So far, with the exception of a few stutters, I'm not getting the crippling movement issues. Strangely, when those issues weren't as bad as when I made this post, I got more stutter in Singleplayer than when playing online... I've yet to play online yet, but I'm getting an itchy trigger finger with all this testing. :D

[Gibstick]

I only have 4GB of RAM. My AC freezes once per two minutes. You'll want all the fps you can get for AssaultCube (up to maybe 180, that's what I like), 9/10 experts agree (citation needed).

---

What do those first four lines of the log mean? Anything funky with sound?

Renderer: GeForce FX 5200/AGP/SSE2 (NVIDIA Corporation)
Driver: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 173.14.22

is a good sign.

[OpenSource]

The

[SELECT ALL] Code:

bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)

i have to.
Have no idea what or why but as long as game work i havent looked into that.

[SELECT ALL] Code:

current locale: en_US.UTF-8
init: sdl
init: net
init: world
init: video: sdl
init: video: mode
init: video: misc
init: gl
Renderer: ATI Radeon HD 2400 (ATI Technologies Inc.)
Driver: 3.2.9756 Compatibility Profile Context
init: console
init: sound
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
Audio devices: PulseAudio Software, ALSA Software
Sound: PulseAudio Software / OpenAL Soft (OpenAL Community)
Driver: 1.1 ALSOFT 1.12.854
init: cfg
init: models
init: docs
init: localconnect
read map packages/maps/official/ac_arctic.cgz rev 3 (529 milliseconds)
Frozen Village by DES|Halo
loaded textures (349 milliseconds)
loaded mapmodels (21 milliseconds)
loaded mapsounds (941 milliseconds)
game mode is "TDM"
init: mainloop