Every code/game I download for XNA lags a little every few seconds (especially when you move), but games that are professionally made like COD4, UT3, Doom3, CoH, etc do not.  What causes this?  I thought it was my video card but I just got a 9600GT and it still does it.  Here are my specs:

Intel e6600
6GB of Ram
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit (lagged on 32-bit too)
250GB HDD
EVGA 9600GT
SoundBlaster SE

I should also mention that Ship Game does not lag, but almost every 2D XNA game does

what do you exactly mean by lag??..  the game takes alot to start.. or the game doesnt respond to your commands or simply there is sudden frame rate drops ??

cuz in my pc.. all the xna games that i have tried run flawlessly.. games like racing game,rocket commander,shooter,jelly car and a few others all run great without any performance problem


i have pc way behind yours on specs and theres no problems at all..

athlon 64 x2 4600+
2 gb of ram
vista ultimate 64 bit
ati radeon x1900 xtx 512mb
sata 2 250 hd

so exactly what kind of problem are you experimenting??

There definetly should be no "lag" or framerate drops on your machine.  Note that you're of course not getting performace out of a lot of your memory in 32 bit, but regardless unless the game is horribly (very horribly) unopitmized there should be no performace issues.  The only thing I could attribute to this is a driver issue or how the 32bit emulation is set up on your machine.  I had a Radeon 9600, AMD 2100+, 1 gig ram test machine running games and I never saw anything IT couldn't tear to shreads with XNA so far.  I'd reinstall some drivers and perhaps .Net as well. 

Handled right XNA is quite efficient and is capable of competing quite well with C++ developed games.  But that issue has been covered in multiple threads which you can search the forums for to find out more and isn't worth going through again.

Before I got the 9600GT, I had a ATI x850xt pe and it still lagged.  Before I had this computer I had a dell XPS P4 3.6Ghz, 2GB of ram, x850xt pe, 250GB HDD, Audigy 2 ZS and it still lagged every so often.

What I mean by lag, is if I move a ship or a sprite, it will be smooth for about a second or two, than will jump (not be smooth) for a second, then repeat

vista 64 doesnt feel like an emulation when running 32 bit apps i think it somehow runs natively.. because its sometimes faster than the vista 32 on runing 32 bit programs... i myself experienced such results when i switched from the vista 32 bits to vista 64 bits... everything runs just as fine or maybe a bit better..

i have been using the 64 bit version of vista since like 2 months ago and no problems at all.. i think it even causes less problems than the 32 bit version regarding performance.. so i second that it may be a driver issue or the lack of a recent dx runtime in your machine.. or maybe a security suite like norton, mcafee or something like that whichs is misconfigured which is whats causing the problems to your performance

Are you running in windowed mode or fullscreen? What else do you have running on your computer? As others have said, this certainly isn't a "feature" of the XNA framework because many of us (myself included) have not seen this particular problem.

Only norton is running in the background and it is running in window mode.  It still lags if I run it on XP 32 bit or Vista 32 bit.  Even the most basic code lags like the MSDN examples (HOW TO: scroll a background for example)

If I disable everything it will still do it

DodongoXP:

vista 64 doesnt feel like an emulation when running 32 bit apps i think it somehow runs natively.. because its sometimes faster than the vista 32 on runing 32 bit programs... i myself experienced such results when i switched from the vista 32 bits to vista 64 bits... everything runs just as fine or maybe a bit better..

i have been using the 64 bit version of vista since like 2 months ago and no problems at all.. i think it even causes less problems than the 32 bit version regarding performance.. so i second that it may be a driver issue or the lack of a recent dx runtime in your machine.. or maybe a security suite like norton, mcafee or something like that whichs is misconfigured which is whats causing the problems to your performance

It would take several programs running poorly to create this performace issue.  At lauch if I'm thinking straight it would go to the processor with the least amount of load.  Now if while running several more programs started running on the same processor, then yes it could be that, but honestly I wouldn't attribute it the processor with those speeds.  Add to the list a bios update too.  Double check also that Visual studios is set to x86 as well.  Not sure it would run otherwise but you never know........

What version of .Net are you running?  If you're on 3.0, try unistalling it and running only on 2.0.  Just racking my brain here on things it could be cause this is NOT normal by any means.  Also double check in your bios that all your memory is actually dectected and in the correct slots (again just taking shots in the dark as to what it could be, solely because what you're describing sounds like a GC issue, but why?)  Can you give some examples of the games you've downloaded specificially?  Not trying to put you on the spot, but your system beats mine hands down in every category and I can run 20 programs on the side and still have no issues with any game I've downloaded.  Just seeing if I can recreate the problem.  (btw I'm running norton as well with no issues)

When you notice a game lags every few seconds, are these games creating and destroying lots of object instances each frame?  The pausing you're talking about could be caused by the VM's garbage collector culling unused objects from memory.

Can you try some other XNA sample programs from this site and see if they pause or stutter?  I haven't noticed any periodic stuttering when running the racing game sample, for example.

Camp ELM:

If you're on 3.0, try unistalling it and running only on 2.0.  Just racking my brain here on things it could be cause this is NOT normal by any means.

No need to uninstall any version of .NET. They are made to run side by side. My computer currently has all every version of .NET installed and it still works great. Just don't want to see anyone uninstall something that definitely isn't the problem.

It seems every 2D game will do this at some point.  Some seem to do it less than others.  The NetRumble hardly does it but I can notice it, where a lot of the examples and a simple game with just a sprite moving is worse (nothing is removed or added to the game in these samples).

I tried it on .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.0 and it still does it.  All my ram is there (6142MB)

Also tried it when nothing else was running, on XP 32, Vista 32, and Vista 64 but it does it on all of them too.

Remember, 3D games run fine (Ship Game, Racing Game sample, and every professional game do not do this)

Seems the more simple it gets, the worse it gets.  For example, this lags the worst

http://www.phstudios.com/test/SpaceShoooter-Windows.ccgame

All this is, is a sprite that can be moved. 

There seems to be a lot of speculation and guesses floating around in this thread about how 32-bit processes are executed in 64-bit Windows.  Its not emulation in the sense that the machine code is interpreted or transformed, but the code is executed against a special runtime environment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOW64

There should be no issue with executing on a 64-bit version of Windows.


Run a frame rate utility like Fraps, and see if the frame rate stutters when you experience the slow downs.  Does this happen with all of the samples on this site?

ShawMishrak:

There seems to be a lot of speculation and guesses floating around in this thread about how 32-bit processes are executed in 64-bit Windows.  Its not emulation in the sense that the machine code is interpreted or transformed, but the code is executed against a special runtime environment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOW64

There should be no issue with executing on a 64-bit version of Windows.


Run a frame rate utility like Fraps, and see if the frame rate stutters when you experience the slow downs.  Does this happen with all of the samples on this site?

All 2D ones yes, some do it worse than others (see my post about a simple moving sprite I uploaded, its the worst)  But almost all 3D samples/games do not.  And as I said, I can run pretty much any professional game out there on max (other than crysis) and it wont lag

FPS does not drop

And I already ran everything in 32 bit before I got 64 bit and it did the same thing.  I just always thought it was my video card but now that I got a 9600GT, its still doing it.

Are you referring to a slight jump every second or so?

ShawMishrak:

Are you referring to a slight jump every second or so?

Yes, it causes some games to be un-playable due to the jump

You mentioned this happens in windowed mode.  Are there any fullscreen games you can try?  Or change the code for some of the games to run in fullscreen mode?  It could be a weird refresh rate issue.

ShawMishrak:

You mentioned this happens in windowed mode.  Are there any fullscreen games you can try?  Or change the code for some of the games to run in fullscreen mode?  It could be a weird refresh rate issue.

Still does it in Full Screen mode.

My appologies on the emulation thing; definetly not an expert on that so again a shot in the dark.

I couldn't download that example from that link.  I'm going to pimp George's site; try and go to XNADevelopement.com and download the Cops and robbers sample (it's a nonofficial 2d game and it's XNA 1.0) if that gives you problems then it's probably an issue with your computer/drivers .  Otherwise if it works correctly, more likely it's a software/programming issue (ie GC issues) where there's just some poorly coded samples.

The game I'm developing started doing exactly this (a little 'jump' every second) when I started putting in more complex graphics stuff (more lights).  But I have a relatively weak graphics card on my PC (NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT, 128MB).

The materials and lighting sample will do this if I increase the window size of the app.  So for me I'm pretty sure it's because my GPU can't keep up.  But the symptom sounds exactly like what you're describing.

Camp ELM:

My appologies on the emulation thing; definetly not an expert on that so again a shot in the dark.

I couldn't download that example from that link.  I'm going to pimp George's site; try and go to XNADevelopement.com and download the Cops and robbers sample (it's a nonofficial 2d game and it's XNA 1.0) if that gives you problems then it's probably an issue with your computer/drivers .  Otherwise if it works correctly, more likely it's a software/programming issue (ie GC issues) where there's just some poorly coded samples.

Yeah sorry my website went down, I contacted my host so it is back up.  I cannot run the Cops and Robbers sample since it has trouble upgrading and it wont run on 2.0.  Other samples from that site do it though

This sounds like a garbage collector issue.  Other than a periodic frame skip, the games run at 60fps, am I correct?

Whiplash6:

Camp ELM:

My appologies on the emulation thing; definetly not an expert on that so again a shot in the dark.

I couldn't download that example from that link.  I'm going to pimp George's site; try and go to XNADevelopement.com and download the Cops and robbers sample (it's a nonofficial 2d game and it's XNA 1.0) if that gives you problems then it's probably an issue with your computer/drivers .  Otherwise if it works correctly, more likely it's a software/programming issue (ie GC issues) where there's just some poorly coded samples.

Yeah sorry my website went down, I contacted my host so it is back up.  I cannot run the Cops and Robbers sample since it has trouble upgrading and it wont run on 2.0.  Other samples from that site do it though

Note that you can download XNA 1.0 as well so you can run both.  Many of the community sites (myself included) are still getting things updated as it's a process.

Okay well pending a word from a higher authority (9600 cards or other issues I'm unaware of), my understanding is that XNA should handle any issues of performance of your graphics card vs your processor to keep a steady framerate even with the fastest of processors and graphics cards.  There are of course specific things you can do with a game to ensure this.  Anyway the point is that it seems to be a driver or configuration issue then.  Double check that your bios is the most current, as well as your graphics card drivers.  I'm tempted to say that since you've had 2 graphics cards on this system with everything else as a constant that your bios or software is a more likely place to start but who knows for sure.  Of course a reinstall of DirectX and VS and XNA as well just to be sure.  Like I said your system beats my main system hands down but despite the HUGE difference in processing power between my main system and my old test system the performance is the same across board so beyond what I've mentioned before I'm at a loss as to what else it could be other than a compatiblity issue with XNA with something you're running, but I'm doubting that to be an issue.

Try those and maybe ZMan or an XNA framework developer has some insight.

Swordshock:

This sounds like a garbage collector issue.  Other than a periodic frame skip, the games run at 60fps, am I correct?

It shouldnt be a gc issue because nothing gets modified in the simple code I posted

Camp ELM:

Whiplash6:

Camp ELM:

My appologies on the emulation thing; definetly not an expert on that so again a shot in the dark.

I couldn't download that example from that link.  I'm going to pimp George's site; try and go to XNADevelopement.com and download the Cops and robbers sample (it's a nonofficial 2d game and it's XNA 1.0) if that gives you problems then it's probably an issue with your computer/drivers .  Otherwise if it works correctly, more likely it's a software/programming issue (ie GC issues) where there's just some poorly coded samples.

Yeah sorry my website went down, I contacted my host so it is back up.  I cannot run the Cops and Robbers sample since it has trouble upgrading and it wont run on 2.0.  Other samples from that site do it though

Note that you can download XNA 1.0 as well so you can run both.  Many of the community sites (myself included) are still getting things updated as it's a process.

Okay well pending a word from a higher authority (9600 cards or other issues I'm unaware of), my understanding is that XNA should handle any issues of performance of your graphics card vs your processor to keep a steady framerate even with the fastest of processors and graphics cards.  There are of course specific things you can do with a game to ensure this.  Anyway the point is that it seems to be a driver or configuration issue then.  Double check that your bios is the most current, as well as your graphics card drivers.  I'm tempted to say that since you've had 2 graphics cards on this system with everything else as a constant that your bios or software is a more likely place to start but who knows for sure.  Of course a reinstall of DirectX and VS and XNA as well just to be sure.  Like I said your system beats my main system hands down but despite the HUGE difference in processing power between my main system and my old test system the performance is the same across board so beyond what I've mentioned before I'm at a loss as to what else it could be other than a compatiblity issue with XNA with something you're running, but I'm doubting that to be an issue.

Try those and maybe ZMan or an XNA framework developer has some insight.

I just got back from a format a few days ago so a re-install of DX and XNA wont help.  I am not sure how to get an update for my bios.

I had 2 other people test it, 1 person has the same problem, the other person does not.  Any ideas?