Major lag with Darkplaces

[phil_r]

Hey guys. I've installed Darkplaces for Quake - had it before, no issues. This time around though, about every 4 seconds the game freezes for maybe one second. I've got dual displays so I fired up a console running top on the second display, and put Darkplaces on the primary. When Darkplaces lags, according to top, X takes about 95% CPU for that duration. Any idea what's going on?

[ Found these USE variables for games-fps/darkplaces-20060616_beta1 ]
U I
+ + alsa : Adds support for media-libs/alsa-lib (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture)
- - cdinstall : Copies files from the CD rather than asking the user to copy them, mostly used with games
- - cdsound : Enables using CD audio in the engine
- - dedicated : Adds support for dedicated game servers (some packages do not provide clients and servers at the same time)
- - demo : Uses the demo data from quake1 (quake1-demodata)
- - dpmod : Sets up the darkplaces mod from icculus
+ + lights : Install and setup the updated light maps
+ + opengl : Adds support for OpenGL (3D graphics)
- - oss : Adds support for OSS (Open Sound System)
- - sdl : Adds support for Simple Direct Layer (media library)
+ + textures : Install and setup the updated textures

My setup is AMD64 with 1.75Gb of memory and a GeForce 8400GS card. I know OpenGL works ok because Doom 3 runs fine.
_________________
Just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions.

[PaulBredbury]

I would first of all try a version which isn't almost 2 years old!

Try the latest.

[WhiteDwarf]

Try the 173.08 beta drivers. This sounds like a bug in the driver that affects 8xxx series cards on the 169 series driver. I've seen this same behavior elsewhere: wasn't there using 100.14.19, showed up on the 169 series, disappeared again on 173.08.

[lazy_bum]

[phil_r]

I'll take a look. The fact it's 2 years old shouldn't matter - it worked fine before, all I've done is reinstall. Software doesn't fail just because it gets old. It doesn't have a time limit on it If that were the case, Quake 1 wouldn't work at all, but it still does, you know what I mean? I'm more interested to know why X suddenly starts grabbing 95% CPU every 4-5 seconds, just for a second each time. Other games work ok...
_________________
Just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions.

[progo]

I have the same problem. Both the newest from that site and the old one from portage makes that. Very irritating indeed.

My runner is Geforce 6600GT.

[lazy_bum]

Maybe compile it with "debug" USE flag? Or contact the author? It works fine for me on GF7600GS.
_________________
roslin uberlay | grubelek

[progo]

Compiled the newest with debuging, nothing did show up .. I read the "manual" (darkplaces.txt) and it suggested to type "gl_finish 1" to console to prevent jerky input. And it worked, it seems! I'm using the glx-version if that matters. No more peaks in cpu graphs or anything like that.

[phil_r]

I got the latest version from the site and it was fine. I'm also running the brand new nvidia drivers (173) that came out on Friday but not tried Darkplaces yet. My glxgears framerate sucks though - 1600fps, on a 64-bit dual core AMD 5000 with 2Gig of ram and a 8400GS card with 512mb ram.
_________________
Just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions.

[phil_r]

Ok the problem has returned, exactly the same thing. It's also affecting Doom3 and Quake4 this time so I know it's not a Darkplaces issue. Any ideas? I even tried swapping out my usb keyboard and mouse to ps/2 incase it was a problem relating to input. I'm certain X is to blame.
_________________
Just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions.