Doom Builder lagging when pointing at textures in 3d mode

[NotMuchNormal]

Hello everyone!

I'm in need of advice. I've noticed that when using the 3d visual mode in Doom Builder, whenever I point at a different texture (have my crosshair on it) DB has like a microscopic lag, like for a split second. This becomes evident when looking around and having different textures in my view in the 3d view - it becomes jerky.

It happens when I highlight different sidedefs, regardless wether the visual highlighting is on or off, not when selecting them or editing them.

The strange thing is when I hide the info bar (with the tilde key) it runs smooth, so I believe it has something to do with milisecond-long obtaining of sidedef's info, textures and specials and so on. So without the info bar I can work just fine, but with it the program starts to stutter. I was hoping there was a way to mitigate the discomfort so I don't have to hide the info bar whenever going 3d mode 

I tried using Gzdoom Builder and Ultimate Doom Builder and the problem persists in both.

I'm using Windows 10 but a while ago I was using Windows 8.1 and the same phenomena occured.
I'm not sure if it is related, but I have the following installed on my system:

 

MS C++ 2008 Redistributable x64 9.0.30729.6161

MS C++ 2008 Redistributable x86 9.0.30729.6161

MS C++ 2015 Redistributable x64 14.0.23026

MS C++ 2015 Redistributable x86 14.0.23026

 

I apologise if the subject was already solved somehow. I tried searching Zdoom forums and Doomworld forums and I could only find some information about cache filling up and the problem solving when one restarts the system, but this doesn't seem to have any effect for me.

Please forgive if I posted this in the wrong section.

All kinds of advice are appreciated!

[Bauul]

This is normal, every time you point at a new side the editor has to load the info about that surface.

 

If you press the Tilde key it will turn off the bottom frame (where all the info is displayed), and you won't get the micro-pausing any more.

[ramon.dexter]

Your HW specs?

[NotMuchNormal]

Intel(R) Core i5 - 4210U CPU 1.70 Ghz 2.40 Ghz

6.00 GB (available 5.89 GB) of Ram

Windows 10 Home 22H2

NVidia Geforce 840 M

 

CPU's an oldie from 2015, recently had my HD change to a new one, but it suffices. 

 

I also remembered the mentioned DB issue appearing on and off over the last several years, as I had several system reboots over the time. I think it may be something to do with the MS Redistributable versions, but I can not really be sure.

 

Hope that helps :)

[NotMuchNormal]

Bump

I just wanted to say I've uninstalled all but MS C++2015 Redistributable x64 and Ultimate Doom Builder *seems* to run a bit faster.
I've noticed that there is evident FPS drop when pointing at different textures, or obtaining sidedef info, shown on the fps counter.

By now, tho, I'm getting more used to hiding the info bar so to smoothly walk around in the 3d view. Good thing this actually stabilizes the framerate :>

Now I've also messed around with view settings, turning off and on bilinear filtering, high quality rendering, reducing drawing distance and so on - nothing affects the phenomena I've described above.

If I find a working a solution I'll post it here in hopes that if anyone else encounters a similair situation they'll have some possible solutions to try.

[NotMuchNormal]

Aahhh.. :O I see.

Well, I stand corrected. Looks like hiding the info bar's the way to go for me.

Thanks for that :)

[ramon.dexter]

Need to note that the gpu could be a bottleneck here, as the gt840m is not a powerfull chip at all...

[NotMuchNormal]

Noted. I'm afraid I can't do anything about that ATM :( 

Oh... ofcourse - appreciate the tips and points from both of you :)

Edited November 4, 2023 by NotMuchNormal

[boris]

It has nothing to do with your hardware. It's a combination of WinForms peculiarities and WinForms just being slow.

[NotMuchNormal]

Oh. I don't suppose there's any kind of a workaround about this..? I could've sworn this didn't occur in the past. I actually tried using doombuilderx-2019.1 - and the lag's still there allright.

Edited November 4, 2023 by NotMuchNormal

[boris]

From my investigation it's a combination of how slow WinForms is, and how WinForms timers work. The timers tick at most 64 times per second (i.e. every 15.625 ms). If the application is busy with other stuff when it should tick this tick is simply skipped. The bottom panel in UDB shows a shitton of info for UDMF maps, and WinForms takes forever to draw it. And if it's still drawing when the timer is supposed to tick it'll skip that tick. That means that in the worst scenario it'll be locked for 31.25 ms, which results in the noticeable stuttering. It should be less (often) noticeable in vanilla format, since that show less info in the panel.

 

This issue technically affects the whole DB2 family, but as said earlier the more stuff is shown in the panel the more likely it'll have an impact.

[NotMuchNormal]

That all makes sense, definitely. And now I know the precise time of the mentioned lag :)

I can't help but to think I may be one of the very few people that's actually bothered by this... I love DB, I just thought there was something wrong with my setup rather than the situation being a thing of the software.