Speed hit from Joystick emulation, even when not in use \ VOGONS

Speed hit from Joystick emulation, even when not in use

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First post, by Glidos

Posted on 2002-08-08, 03:09

Glidos Offline

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Last night I noticed that games were running a bit slow and choppy through Glidos. After a while I remembered I'd been experimenting with VDMSound's joystick support. Since doing so, I'd disabled joystick support in the various games and unplugged the joystick itself from the computer, but I still had a joystick configured under the Windows "Control Panel". When I deleted it, everything ran back at normal speed.

Sorry I forgot to try plugging the joystick back in but not using it in the games, so I don't know it is something like repeated attempts to detect the device.

Its not a problem that's causing me any trouble; just thought I'd let you know.

Reply 1 of 6, by Snover

Posted on 2002-08-08, 04:04

Snover Offline

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Did you try turning off joystick emulation? That should have resolved the problem. If not, there is indeed an issue that needs to be fixed.
Thanks for the info, anyway!

Yes, it’s my fault.

Reply 2 of 6, by Glidos

Posted on 2002-08-08, 18:32

Glidos Offline

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Is that something you do from the launch pad? I haven't actually downloaded the launch pad, because for games run under Glidos, Glidos must launch the game. Perhaps I should have a look.

Reply 3 of 6, by Snover

Posted on 2002-08-08, 21:41

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Yeah -- the Launchpad can disable certain parts of the emulation.

Curiously, could a "use GliDOS" checkbox be added to the Launchpad, Vlad, and Paul, could special "case"s be added to allow for this functionality?

Yes, it’s my fault.

Reply 4 of 6, by vladr

Posted on 2002-08-10, 07:07

vladr Offline

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All that joystick emulation does is add a thread (high-priority, true, IIRC) that polls joystick buttons every 150MS or so (I forget the exact figure, it's configurable from VDMS.INI).

And Paul, you can disable joystick emulation by commenting it out in VDMS.INI, no need to mess with Windows' Control Panel and plugging/unplugging stuff. 😀

Reply 5 of 6, by Glidos

Posted on 2002-08-10, 10:34

Glidos Offline

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That's strange. You wouldn't think that that could cause any noticeable resource useage, but it does. Running Descent II, there was a little hiccup in the graphics (possibly every 150ms actually), and Redguard just ran like treacle. It may be some sort of bad interaction with something in Glidos. I will do some more tests to make sure it really was the joystick support and not something else.

What is it you use to poll the joystick? Is it DirectInput? Maybe it was becasue the joystick wasn't plugged in and every time you poll DirectInput went through some procedure to try to detect the non-existent joystick.

Reply 6 of 6, by vladr

Posted on 2002-08-10, 17:36

vladr Offline

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Glidos wrote:

That's strange. You wouldn't think that that could cause any noticeable resource useage, but it does. Running Descent II, there was a little hiccup in the graphics (possibly every 150ms actually), and Redguard just ran like treacle. It may be some sort of bad interaction with something in Glidos. I will do some more tests to make sure it really was the joystick support and not something else.

What is it you use to poll the joystick? Is it DirectInput? Maybe it was becasue the joystick wasn't plugged in and every time you poll DirectInput went through some procedure to try to detect the non-existent joystick.

Yeah, i use the MMSYSSTEM joyXXX functions. You may be right about the joystick not being plugged in, though it may be just a Windows scheduling problem.

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