Accelerating slow MMF1.5 - 2.0 files (how to...)

If any users have any problems with lagging applications that were converted from MMF1.5 to MMF2 here may be a temporary fix. In my 5 months of tinkering with a certain sluggish file one method yields a vast and reliable improvement in performance.

I have found that on my new notebook, with Multimedia Fusion 2 installed (but never 1.5) and with X-Bomber v0.34 (A game written with MMF1.5), my files run at a more-than-acceptable framerate and smoothness.

The application runs smoothly with XB v0.34 even with media player 11 and bittorrent running in addition to a number of background processes. (Nomatter how few processes were run concurrently before XB v0.34 was installed no similar results could be obtained).

Without X-Bomber v0.34 installed, performance is capped at a certain level and, where more than a certain number of objects are onscreen, the performance nosedives.

Any thoughts on this baffling observation would be welcome.

I have completely formatted the machine and tried the same test again with identical results.

All I can suggest is that the converted file (.CCA -> .MFA) still contains a dependency that is satisfied when an MMF1.5 application is installed. I feel this is probably in the form of a MMF1.5-related dll file etc. that is installed to Windows.

Which extensions do Xbomber and your lagging MMF2 app have in common?

Well, they are as follows...

Active Picture,
Active System Box,
Background System Box,
Control X,
Data Store 2 Object,
Date & Time,
Direct Show,
Joypad Object,
Layer Object,
Task Priority,
Time X,
Volume Object,

The application that is lagging is a newer version of X-Bomber that has been imported into MMF2. When you install the old X-Bomber (v0.34, made in MMF1.5) the new one gets a massive boost in performance. It runs really incredibly well in comparison.

Very, very weird.

Anyway, thanks for your time. It's not a terribly remarkable list if extensions - they've all worked well enough for me in the past but hopefully it may shed some light on the issue.

I don't know what is causing it. Try removing Task Priority.

Yes, I've made a new file without Task Priority. However after uninstalling X-Bomber and restarting the new files still run very well.

This suggests to me that something has been left behind after uninstall. All that is left behind in the C:\Program Files\X-Bomber directory is "level.ini" that stores player data. This can be deleted with still no negative effect on gameplay.

According to this: http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/xbomber.co.uk/downloads/5889239/
The only files installed (other than shortcuts) are in the Program Files\X-Bomber directory... which kinda puts me back at square one.

Thanks for your suggestion though. I just can't afford to format my notebook again (to test the changes to the file without Task Priority) this close to my year abroad. The summer break was going to be my chance to get this sorted but hey...

It's a strange thing to happen, and an interesting theory - however, I formatted my machine recently as well, leaving no trace of MMF1.5 behind, and didn't notice any performance difference. In fact, my laptop has MMF1.5 games on it and performs noticeably worse with the game I'm currently making, but this is probably due to the spec difference rather than anything else.

Well yeah it is strange. I wonder if Clickteam can comment on the phenomenon. As the observation is certainly accurate.

One moment it ran lousily on a constant basis and then I ran Firefox, downloaded the installer, installed the game and (without re-starting Multimedia Fusion 2 (it was open all the time)) the game suddenly ran brilliantly on a constant basis when it was re-run. So it can't really be anything else as far as I can see.

Hmmm, it does say in the 'What's new in MMF2' section of the help that the task priority object is no longer needed in MMF2.

So you should try your new version without it on a fresh machine if possible.

Not that this directly helps with your problem, but I've been having problems with my HamsterJam game which is written in Jamagic. It would slow to a crawl.

It turned out to be the standard drivers of my Dual Shock type joypad and the sound library used in the game (BASS.DLL). Take the sound library out, or update my joypad driver (was tough to remove all traces of the old) made it all work normally again. Nothing else on my PC was affected. (this was a problem that followed me from my old PC to my new Laptop as I just plugged the joystick in both !)

So the point is that something is obviously causing a problem on your set up. It's clearly not happening for anyone else, so it may be a tough one to track down. It's very unlikely to be MMF itself, otherwise we'd have heard of other people having a problem by now but maybe it's an extension, a sound lib (like BASS), a driver on your system or a hardware problem?

Ahh, I'm afraid you misunderstand. This file performs poorly on at least 3 computers. There seems to be a fault on the file. I've been asking for it to be rectified by Clickteam but to no avail yet.

The reason the problem's not happening for anyone else is that they don't have this specific MFA file.

The problem has nothing to do with my set-up. There's something with this exact set-up (I have to do something specific on this specific machine to actually make it work) that finally makes it run correctly. I'd like the factor that causes the performance boost isolated so that it runs properly on 100% of systems rather than 0.01%

This is a brand new machine and a clean install. I can't really secure another fresh machine...

I'll get rid of Task Priority (I didn't know it was now obselete) and see what happens on another system. However the Task Priority object exists only in two non-gameplay frames. Even when running gameplay frames individually in MMF2 (that did not contain Task Priority) they would run slowly even when the Task Priority Object hadn't been loaded and wasn't in effect (as it was only used at the start of the program and in the options menu). Therefore other frames when run individually should have run fine but never would.

I'll also install R246 on another machine and see what effect that has but this game started running well with R245... so why R246 should have a beneficial effect on a different system I don't know.

Thanks for your help and suggestions guys. I'll keep trying to crack it at this end

Well I've tried removing Task Priority and upgrading to R246 on another machine, and on that machine it still ran poorly (with or without X-B v0.34). However it is not a clean XP install and has MMF1.5 installed as well.

However, I shouldn't need have a clean install to run a single MMF2 application.

So what comes next?

Well, I've spoken to Tom at Clickteam about this over the phone and according to his advice I've uploaded a copy of my latest .MFA for testing.

It's starting to look almost like a problem with MMF at my end for some reason. Could anyone download and test out the game out a little to help me narrow the the thing down?

If it runs rubbish for you too, then obviously a problem with the file itself looks more likely and if not well... hmmm, well I'm not too sure about what it means.

The file is located at:
http://www.xbomber.co.uk/files/X-Bomber_026XA.mfa

The places where it normall slows down are:
Mission 0
Mission 2 (Boss at end)
Mission 3 (After Terrain becomes visible and thereafter)
Mission 4 (Boss at end)

Any feedback on the file performance would be greatly greatly appreciated.

ah bad phone line... it was Jason from CT, not tom :D

Jason

Ahh sorry, I do apologise - It's not my bad memory, (honest). There was quite an echo on the line.

Thanks for your advice - hopefully I can get some independent views as to how well or otherwise this thing runs (and then take it from there).

well i played till the first boss thing, runs quite good but slows down a bit when there is lots on screen, HWA will speed this up when it is done however. But didnt get anything go majorly rubbish or wrong, looking good :)

Yes, that's what I've spotted - which level was that, can I ask?

I think HWA will sort the issue out, myself. It's quite a subtle little problem, it only slows down at times but like I say I seem to have accidentally fixed it somehow though...

Thank you for your time - I totally agree, still a bit of a mystery though.

If anyone else can give it a shot too, I'd be most obliged.

Tested missions 0 and 3, no slow down at all. This machine is probably too fast.

An optimization has been done in the build 245 that could explain speed differences with previous builds, but as you say you've tried with the build 246...

Right, thanks - that's great. That's what I'm experiencing at the moment on here. We've got mixed results there (taking neat_Kliker2's findings into account).

Yes, this machine is a T7700 dual-core with lots of RAM. I think it might have something to do with the impressive speed. Either that or we have a similar setup (like I described before) that makes it really perform. However, it's quite a fast machine this and even it didn't like running it before I installed the old version of the game...
- I don't suppose you have any suggestions as to what difference having a MMF1.5 app installed might have?

Thanks very much for that. If I can get a third result to clinch it at least, that would be excellent.

No idea about the MMF 1.5 app that would solve the issue when installed. It could be a coincidence, unless both applications access the same shared data (registry, ini file).

I think you need more than 3 tests... I've tested on a T7700 with 2 Gb.

Yes snap, same system config. here: T7700, 2GB. (It's a good CPU, for a notebook it's a fantastic gaming PC).

I think it has to have something to do with the registry changes the app made, since I uninstalled it and deleted all the remaining files and it still ran OK.

I know it sounds crazy but I'm sure it's really the only thing that could have made the difference. The change was so dramatic, instant and constant as well...

Anyway - you heard the man, if I can get a few more results I'd be really, very appreciative. (It's not even a bad game if it decides to run OK).

PS: in fact I've a 7200, but it's almost as fast.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yves

Tested missions 0 and 3, no slow down at all. This machine is probably too fast.

An optimization has been done in the build 245 that could explain speed differences with previous builds, but as you say you've tried with the build 246...

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Tested on: ATI radeon 9600 pro (sort-of burnt out), 1.5gb ram, xp with no sps
and running in MMF 2 build 243
and it went ok except for the hundreads of objects at once :)

It would be great if you could test it with the build 246 and see if there is any improvement.

its actually made it worse, when i play, the arrows do nothing, and if i press escape, click OK, press escape again and click OK, edrt.exe crashes, didnt have before :\

Haha, weird - I sure wasn't expecting that. Even though it plays a bit odd on my other machine it doesn't do any worse in build 246.