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pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Compiz Standalone, annoying screen flicker with OpenGL apps

I am using the Nvidia proprietary drivers.

Whenever I'm running an OpenGL app, such as virtualbox, and I try to change viewports, the screen goes black for an entire second or two.

Help?

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Re: Compiz Standalone, annoying screen flicker with OpenGL apps

Bump.

I have tried every combination of --indirect-rendering, --loose-binding, SynctoVBlank, etc that I could think of.

I'm guessing there is some misconfiguration of my nvidia driver or X.

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier    "Keyboard Defaults"
    MatchIsKeyboard    "yes"
    Option          "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection


Section "Monitor"
    Identifier   "Monitor0"
    VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
    ModelName    "Monitor Model"
    #Option          "DPMS" "False"
        #Option       "DPI" "89x89"
    HorizSync    30.0-130.0
    VertRefresh  50.0-100.0
EndSection


Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device     "Card0"
    Monitor    "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
                #Option      "ConnectToAcpid"            "False"
        Option      "AddARGBVisuals"            "True"
        Option      "AddARGBGLXVisuals"         "True"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "SWcursor"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "HWcursor"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoAccel"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ShadowFB"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "UseFBDev"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "Rotate"                 # [<str>]
        #Option     "VideoKey"               # <i>
        #Option     "FlatPanel"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "FPDither"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CrtcNumber"             # <i>
        #Option     "FPScale"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "FPTweak"                # <i>
        #Option     "DualHead"               # [<bool>]
    Option     "Coolbits"             "1"
    Option     "NoLogo"             "True"
    #Option       "TripleBuffer"         "True"
    Option        "RenderAccel"         "True"
    Option    "BackingStore"         "True"
    #Option     "OnDemandVBlankInterrupts"     "True"
    Option      "MigrationHeuristic"        "always"
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "nvidia"
    VendorName  "nVidia Corporation"
    BoardName   "GeForce 8300 GS"
    BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Re: Compiz Standalone, annoying screen flicker with OpenGL apps

I'm really sorry for this triple post when clearly there is a lack of interest. Am I missing something?

Does this happen for everybody using Compiz or what? It's ridiculously annoying that I can't run Compiz while running VirtualBox.

I've googled the problem and people do seem to experience "lag," but what I have is a full-on screen blacking out for a second or more every time I switch between focusing VirtualBox and initiating a Compiz effect.

Even if you can't help me, does anyone know why this happens? Is it Compiz's fault, opengl's fault, or nvidia's fault?

whoops

Member

Registered: 2009-03-19

Posts: 891

Re: Compiz Standalone, annoying screen flicker with OpenGL apps

Hi!

Could you describe that in more detail?
Does it happen with video playback too?
What other apps?
Are you using a TFT monitor?
Did you try to disable all effects and enable them one by one?

I've got virtualbox running in compiz, no problems.

Maybe you'll have some luck looking further into:
- vsync (nvidia-settings AND compiz setting + anywhere else you find it)
- native monitor resolution (set everywhere!)
- compiz compatibility settings ("override stuff for legacy apps", general settings... and further down the compatibility plugin)

Also you might want to doublecheck that there are the nvidia versions of those opengl libraries installed, not the "normal ones". If I remember right, those were part of nvidia-utils. You might need the matching 32-bit version too, if you use 32-bit opengl.

Good luck!

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Re: Compiz Standalone, annoying screen flicker with OpenGL apps

Well, if I set SyncToVBlank in CompizConfig, it goes away...

It still seems pretty odd to me, but I guess I shouldn't complain now that it works fine...

Thanks.