So I am new to the PPC world. I just got my Titan a little over a week ago and it's my first one. Since getting it I have flashed it probably 25 times and have completely become obsessed with it. I didn't find any kind of benchmarking on all of the current roms that are out right now, so I decided I would go ahead and do it. There is nothing scientific about this. It's not really fair to compare some of the roms considering one like dcd comes completely stripped down versus Reloaded that has lots of apps, m2d, TouchFLO, etc. For this reason I have a "best" in each category which DCD won almost every time, and then a "best non-dcd". But the data should still help some people decide what rom they might want to use.
I did each one the same way. Flashed the rom, did a hard reset, installed spb benchmark and oxios hibernate if the rom didn’t include it. I then did a soft reset and checked free ram and then ran oxios and logged ram after that. I then ran benchmark and saved the results.
There are only a couple of things worth mentioning and both are about PPCKitchen. I did a basic but not stripped down rom. I included what apps I would typically use. It was a rom very close to Reloaded but with less stuff in it. I know it’s a kitchen so anyone doing this might come up with different results. Secondly is that I was unable to successfully complete the Arkaball test while running the PPCKitchen rom without it freezing, so you will see a 0 as a result in that test.
I performed the following tests in Spb benchmark:
File system tests
Carried out to measure the speed of working with files:
* Read 1 MB file
* Copy 1 MB file
* Read 10KBx100 files
* Copy 10KBx100 files
* Directory list of 2000 files
* Internal database read
Graphics tests
Carried out to measure target Pocket PC's graphics subsystem performance:
* DDB BitBlt
* DIB BitBlt
* GAPI BitBlt
Miscellaneous Tests
* Compress 1 MB file using ZIP
* Decompress 1024x768 JPEG file
* Arkaball frames per second
* CPU test: Whetstones MFLOPS
* CPU test: Whetstones MOPS
* CPU test: Whetstones MWIPS
* Copy 1MB using memcpy
The results were surprising in some ways but obvious in others. In most cases the rom with the most amount of free memory performed the best, but you will see that’s not true in every case. I will start off with free memory for each rom.
Oh and it's important to note that the results are how many ms (milliseconds) it took the test to finish. So a higher bar in the graph is actually worse, except for free memory of course.
This is going to be split across a lot of posts because apparently I can’t link more than 4 images per post.
Edit: Compressed results to fewer graphics, also making it easier to read and compare.
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Note: nuerom3-201 in high memory mode actually LOST ram when running Oxios after boot. I tested multiple times. The only theory I have is there is actually so much free memory that you are seeing the memory that Oxios uses. Unfortunately all this free ram was not reflected in the benchmarks as high memory mode actually performed worse than low memory in almost every test.
Note 2: The current results do not show post-Oxios because I am not the only one benchmarking and I don't have Oxios results for all tests.
PPCKitchen Roms Results
As requested, I have tested all 4 current builds that come up in PPCKitchen. I built them all the same way and tested them the same way. I rebuilt and re-tested 20931 despite having tested it right above this one to make sure my results were consistent.
All roms were built using the following options:
sprint carrier, vistahide battery gauge, skip welcome, comm manager 6-button flat, office excel, office powerpoint, office word, adobe reader, total commander file explorer, htc enlarge start menu, htc titan camera, arcsoft mms 5, nueled, nuelight, oxios memory, touchflo 2d dialer, icontact, no sms sent notification, htc touch keyboard, manila 2d, manila 2d customizer, ftouchflo.
These options were chosen for no reason other than it's what I would use to build a rom. Obviously changing these options would result in different benchmarking results, so the results are kind of subjective.
All roms were created in PPCKitchen, flashed, hard reset, install spb benchmark, soft reset, check ram and run oxios, then benchmarked.
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I'll be testing with Spb benchmark as well over the weekend .. will be testing
dcd4.1 / 3.2.6 / R4R / TR1.3.2 and T6.5.. guess I'll post up my results here
as well, also hope they will not be conflicting .. but confirming ..
Thanks and nice job..
Well after a long night / morning of testing .. here are my results ..
Using SPB 1.6 PDA test tool ..
Some Notes:
Because ALL DCD ROMs has an great advantage over other ROMs; being that
All DCD ROMs are bare bone, nothing loaded type of base rom .. I decided
to unselect Touch FLO from the R4R, Titan Reloaded and WM6.5 Roms,
this help to level the play field, however the TouchFLO Roms, still had a few
little apps still running, like battery monitor, active task bar manager,
2d dialers, etc.. all running in the bg..
Test configuration:
* TouchFLO disable or removed..
* Today items are re-enable
* screen capture running (used 195k of ram)
Battery monitor, was running during R4R and TR 1.3.2, also active task bar
manager was running during WM6.5 and TR 1.3.2
All ROMs was tested 3 times each, the best of 3 runs are shown, ALSO
One major thing to note, after loading DCD 4.1.2 and TR 1.3.2 available
RAM memory increased by 350-380 KB (0.35 Mb) because of this DCD 4.1.2
shows even more available than norm ..
Summary;
DCD 4.1.2 had an avg. of 1 Mb Free RAM available over all other ROM,
Keep in mind DCD ROMs has less running processes .. still very impressive
Seeing over 27MB of RAM before I loaded the screen capture software ..
Available RAM = DCD 4.1.2
Best write performance = WM6.5
Best overall write performance = WM6.5
Best read performance = DCD 4.1.2
Best overall read performance = WM6.5
Best read/write (copy) performance = DCD 4.1.2
Best overall read/write (copy) performance = WM6.5
Best CPU performance = WM6.5
Best Overall CPU performance = DCD 4.1.2
Best Graphic performance, DCD 4.1.2, R4R and TR 1.3.2 shown
100% the same performance, WM6.5 and DCD 3.2.6 being slower..
Overall Winner IMO WM6.5 reason being, the additional process running
takes up both memory and CPU, plus the fact its M2D ready!!
Also Note .. R4R and TR 1.3.2 are both base on the DCD 3.2.6 ROM,
DCD 4.1.2 is more on par with WM6.5 ROM.
Final note R4 Reloaded fail the (Arkabal frames per sec. test) feeling is something to
do with direct-draw not working correctly .. so for R4R I had to skip that test..
See attach for my raw test files produce by the SPB testing tool .. anyone good with MS Excel
can make a nice 3D chart of my results .. go for it..
Yea I wanted to get WM 6.5 in the mix but it looks like a CL Kitchen was the only thing available and I haven't had time to sit down and learn how to use it and mess with it.
I was e-mail this link by SPB but it does not work .. can you att. a copy of
the spb soft...
HTML:
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/downloads/benchmark/SpbBenchmark1.6_setup.zip
flipzmode said:
Yea I wanted to get WM 6.5 in the mix but it looks like a CL Kitchen was the only thing available and I haven't had time to sit down and learn how to use it and mess with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I yeah ya.. I got the pre-release .. still doing more test etc.. beta 4 is still up
but the release will be even better .. your test is very cool tho.. as its all 6.1 base os...
its ok ... found a copy on Rapidshare
http://rs34.rapidshare.com/files/40790431/SpbBenchmark1.6_setup.zip
Sorry that I didn't respond to you sooner. Yea the original email link from spb didn't work for me either. I ended up googling it.
The other thing you will find is that the program has the ability to analyze your benchmarks and compare them to other devices, however none of that actually works anymore. It's all web-based and it appears that they took it down. That's why I did it all manually.
I'm looking forward to your results. I will post my actual numbers soon as opposed to just graphs so we can compare.
Thanks so much for your work. It is very much appreciated.
its all good ..
Check my test
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=3252419&postcount=11
hey can you make me a chart as well
flipzmode said:
Sorry that I didn't respond to you sooner. Yea the original email link from spb didn't work for me either. I ended up googling it.
The other thing you will find is that the program has the ability to analyze your benchmarks and compare them to other devices, however none of that actually works anymore. It's all web-based and it appears that they took it down. That's why I did it all manually.
I'm looking forward to your results. I will post my actual numbers soon as opposed to just graphs so we can compare.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you flipzmode and Mr-free! Way above and beyond.
The new DCD ROM kicks butt, eh? It's odd that 6.5 is worse at graphics right now. Thank you very much for this.
It's obvious that I have a long way to go with my beta ROM, and I'm glad to see that my 1.3.2 is actually outperforming it's predecessors.
Based on the screenshots, it's odd that my 1.3.2's title bar seemed to be different shades of gray between screens, and also it's odd that the icon for the keyboard isn't the one for the new diamond keyboard, did you not install that package? It's a memory hog.
Related
For HTC-built MSM7K-based devices only! All MSM7K are technically capable, but only HTC's may have the correct drivers. Will probably not work on stock ROMs. I suspect the CDMA versions of the older MSM7K devices - pre-diamond - do not have the necessary drivers either. As far as I know, the first device that came with these drivers is the Kaiser, but IIRC they are also included in various Polaris ROMs.
About
Short and simple, GfxBoost activates "QTV" mode for specific surfaces. This makes for example DirectDraw display smoother and: a bit slower or significantly faster, depending on how you look at it. It also seems to have a small effect on Direct3D/OpenGL. Effects differ between different devices, driver sets, and ROMs - some see a lot of impact, some virtually none (it seems the older ROMs/devices see the biggest impact). If your performance degrades there is something going wrong, it does happen for some people.
Err, what?
Right, this is a bit tricky! If you will benchmark it the result will be lower FPS. However, it will actually appear faster. This is because normally, not all frames are actually drawn on-screen, and the timing of the drawing can be so it appears nothing is being actually drawn at all. This does not happen when using GfxBoost - more is actually drawn to the screen, and smoother. So, from the application's point of view, it can do less per second, but from what you actually see on-screen, more happens! If you don't understand what I mean, just take it from me: it definitely looks better
Some good effects
Manila2D is faster/smoother [Chainfire]
PointUI is smoother [Chainfire]
CorePlayer playback in DirectDraw mode is smoother [Chainfire] *depends on version and settings*
Titanium seems to be faster [Mikulec]
Diamond Hologram seems to be much faster [aussiebum]
Opera 9.5 seems to be much faster [undac]
SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 seems to be smoother [TITAN-23]
iGo 8 feels the love [draxredd]
morphgear feels the love [draxredd]
FinalBurn feels the love [FlorentG]
TouchFlo 3D feels the love [babijoee]
XTRAKT feels the love [babijoee]
Some bad effects
GfxBoost breaks WMP MP4 playback [FIXED]
GfxBoost breaks camera [FIXED]
GfxBoost breaks Fullscreen/Streaming Player [FIXED]
GfxBoost breaks YouTube [FIXED]
CorePlayer playback in QTV mode may break GfxBoost (may be fixed)
Devices reported this works with
HTC Touch Cruise / Polaris
HTC TyTN II / Kaiser
HTC Touch Diamond / Victor
HTC Touch Pro / Raphael / Fuze
HTC Touch HD / Blackstone
Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 / Venus
Also works with, but not as much effect as with ^^^:
HTC Touch Diamond 2 / Topaz
HTC Touch Pro 2 / Rhodium
Update: it may still have _some_ effect with the Topaz, but I don't think anyone has seen any improvement with the Rhodium, so don't bother Seems the drivers on those devices are quite a bit faster already than the older MSM7K devices
Quirks
Alright, it took a bit of research, a lot of trial and error, quite a bit of hairpulling, a few hours of IDA, and an entire crate of beer to get this working on the few of my devices I actually bothered to test it on (Kaiser and Touch Pro). I think everything is now properly hooked up with HTC's own software so things like Camera and WMP also still work. If you run into anything, strange, well, first RTFM below, then see if you want to post it here.
TFM (The F*ing Manual, read it!)
Requirements
An HTC-built MSM7K-based device, sporting QTV and some similar nonsense. In general, I would say this this is the entire range between the Vogue and the Touch Pro, though I've only tested it on Kaiser and Touch Pro, and both are GSM.
Installation
- Install the CAB on your device
- Soft-reset (does not seem to be needed on all devices)
- Start GfxBoost and click Enable
Uninstallation
- Start GfxBoost (if not running) and click Disable
- Uninstall CAB as usual
- 1.2: You may have to soft-reset and uninstall it again, for reasons unknown
Upgrading
- Install new CAB
- Soft-reset
"What's this Enabled (Inactive) status?
It means another application is running that needs this chipset feature. For example, Windows Media Player, YouTube, Camera, etc. As soon as you exit all of those, GfxBoost should re-activate itself.
"I see no difference Q_Q"
If there's a visible difference depends completely on the application you are running and what you are doing with it (aside from it possibly just not working for you). The more graphical an application is, the more chance you have this makes a difference. I've seen no differences with normal "GDI" style applications (normal apps), but for example on my Kaiser the difference in Manila 2D is enormous.
"What about this video-running-in-the-background-thing I keep reading about?"
If done properly, that has the same effect as GfxBoost. Just not as easy and it doesn't think about other applications that need this chipset feature.
bla bla Coreplayer bla bla
Exactly!
Changelog
1.2 - 22.09.2009
- Some changes to fix issue of GfxBoost not showing up in control panel for some users
- Slight adjustment to loader code, hopefully works for more peoples now (always a guess, if not you can always use 0.7)
1.1 - 01.05.2009
- Some patches to service code and handling
- Added registry fixes for common issues
- WM6.5 icon adjusted again
1.0 - 29.04.2009
- Fixed service version, hopefully this one works
0.8 - 29.04.2009
- Service version
0.7 - 28.04.2009
- Changed loader mechanism
0.6 - 28.04.2009
- Loading of dependencies is dynamic - with error messages
- All files are now signed
- Added program icons [Thanks to 12aon]
Donate
If everybody who uses this buys me a beer, I will be a very happy and/or drunk Chainfire. Please make this happen. See the link in my signature - it's not there for decoration!
Release
Yarr, it r here!
If you are updating GfxBoost, please first "Disable" and "Exit/OK" GfxBoost! Don't forget to soft-reset after installing the new CAB!
There are multiple downloads here, the GfxBoost.cab is the (now old) 0.7, the other are the new 1.1 and 1.2 service versions. Note that in the service versions, the settings panel is under Settings -> System, not under Programs!
You only need to install ONE of these. Older versions are only still available because they work for some people while the newer does not (and vice versa). Do not forget to soft-reset after installation, waiting a minute or two, then opening the Start -> Settings -> System -> GfxBoost and clicking Enable!
(Downloads < 1.1: 3820, 2043 old 0.7)
great job as always Chainfire!
keep up the good work
OWO ChainFire is developing the Holy Grail of the Qualcomm processors!
Ha ! I found you, you're quick as always... Just got the time to express an idea and you've already done all the theory and the app is on the way...
Glad to see it led somewhere.
I was wondering where have u been so long. Looks like u have done a good job, as always. Thanks.
Nice to see you back, with a boom like always
Insane ! You have a nag for improving our lives a lot with very complex improvements. I don't think I fully understand what this does, the thought creating it hurts my brain, Thanks a lot
Mr Burns: Excellent!
With nueDynamicClock hopefully getting o/clocking and a graphics boost, my Diamond will take to the skies! Hopefully...
Another great project, thanks!
So you're forcing the backbuffer to draw to screen, Is that right?
It are the released!
Wow I think it works on my TP, switching albums in tf3d seems smoother. I made an Icon for the ocasion hope you like it, 12
Doesnt work on Polaris with WM 6.5... Runtime error 216 at $03F9332C $03F9332C
Chainfire said:
For HTC-built MSM7K-based devices only!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Petulinek said:
Doesnt work on Polaris with WM 6.5... Runtime error 216 at $03F9332C $03F9332C
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
read 1st post
I too get that "Runtime error 216 at $03F94E04", although I have a Kaiser under WM 6.1
Nice program I will give it a go
kancrutt said:
read 1st post
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
doesn't the polaris have the same hardware as the kaiser?
HTC Touch HD
Works perfect on Touch HD... good work, thanks
sipospeter said:
doesn't the polaris have the same hardware as the kaiser?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course does...
kancrutt said:
read 1st post
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read it... Polaris is the same like a Kaiser... ****qualcomm MSM7200...
Hi all XDA-Developers friends! Welcome to the HTC Sense 2.5 Tweaks and Improvements Thread!!
Here you'll find fixes allowing you to get a better HTC Sense 2.5 interface. You can feel free to give your contribute, and share your advices or files that can improve Manila 2.5!
Here I start...
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Use cleanRAM to get your phone faster and save your device from a lot of soft resets! - 19/03/2010 - 00:04
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* cleanRAM is a very useful tool for Windows Mobile devices.
* cleanRAM lets you with a single click release part of the RAM on your PDA and accelerating in this way.
* cleanRAM is a memory reclaimer similar to Oxios but with advanced settings and actually works! great solution for the Windows Mobile memory leak problem.
* cleanRAM attempts to release as much memory as possible, cleanRAM will refresh your device memory (RAM).
* cleanRAM can save you a lot of SOFT RESET!
Important: Use cleanRAM at your own risk!!! NO WARRANTY!!!
Although running this application does not seem to make any damage, I take no responsibility for any kind of damage caused to the device or data due to this application.
Get cleanRAM HERE!!!
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Boost your HTC speaker... - 18/03/2010 - 23:57
This file will increase your volume levels.
Make a backup of your existing file in Windows folder to be safe, then replace the existing with this one and all your volume levels will be increased.
ATTENTION: Bruce Inman and I don't take any responsability if this will damage your device!
AUDIO BOOST IS HERE!
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Edit or Customize Softkeys buttons + Turn the digital clock to analog one, if you got used of it in newer WinMo builds - 18/03/2010 - 23:50
1. Softkey reg edit.
To change your softkeys, open the enclosed file in Notepad and customize for your purposes, import with reg editor or make into cab file and install.
Note: Right Softkey is not configurable in later Manila builds.
2. Change annoying taskbar clock to analog if you cannot get rid of it in newer WM builds. (integrated nicely into Dusk's taskbar theme.)
1 - ManilaSoftkey.zip
2 - AnalogTskBarClk.zip
Thanks again to Bruce Inman for sharing this!
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Watermark displayed on phone screens! - 18/03/2010 - 23:45
For Watermark displayed on phone screens
1. Open Reg Key in Notepad and edit fields as stated.
2. Import the registry or change to cab file and install.
Credit goes to Pisca. Thanks to Bruce Inman for publishing this!
Enjoy!
HERE IT IS
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Ultimate Touch Screen Sensitivity!!! - 17/03/2010 - 17:42
With this Tweak, Thanks to azharsunny, you can increase the touch sensitivity of your Topaz, and get a few more responsible Sense interface.
THIS WILL HAVE NO EFFECT ON BATTERY LIFE!!! - It just changes registry values for Touch pressure. To restore default values, just align again the screen.
You can do it by going to Start > Settings > System > Display > Align Screen.
Grab the cab from here! - The one I posted is the most sensitive one... You can find other cabs, by going to the official thread!
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Disable HTC Messaging in order to get sms writing a lot faster... - 17/03/2010 - 17:30
On the forum there are a lot of people claiming about their slowness HTC Messaging, since it's heavy for HTC Topaz. So, you can simply disable it and get a faster way of writing sms...
HERE YOU GO!
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Sunny Animation Fix on Weather Demo and so on... Download! - 16/03/2010 - 18:45
Below there's a file that fixes the Sunny Animation on the Wheater Demo, to make it fast and smooth. Use it only if your animation is slow or not running flawlessly.
Download!
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STRANGE Manila 2.5 Fastness - NOT SOLVED - 16/03/2010 - 16:32
Hi all XDA-Devs friends!!
Yesterday, in the late evening I was playing with my lovely TD2 (I LOVE IT! ) when I discovered an unexpected speedness in the Photos and Videos Tab...
Today, after coming back from school, I decided to made a short video, showing off how much fast it is!! It becomes FAST AS THE LEO!!!
What I noticed, is that it's so fast when it's showing videos... so, why Videos make it fast and photos slow down it?
I thought it's because of the shadow that makes photos becoming heavy CPU eaters... So, I think, there would be a way of removing all elements making it slower and get a faster landscape Photos tab view!!
Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIntL7NdYdE
Then read here what I tried!
Videos are made in VGA (640x480), while photos on 5MPX...
So, just make photos at a lower resolution should solve the problem...
Anyway, I tried to make photos at QVGA resolution 320x240 (lower than videos one ), but anything changed... QVGA Photos were slow as 5MP ones...
That's why I think it's a problem of textures... I just analized Photos tab with Manila CFC GUI, and seen that Videos have only one object/tecture for edges, while Photos have a minimum of 3!! Two for Polarois Corners and one for the shadow...
So I don't know if objects/texture can be removed from manila... What do you think??
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Why spamming around with useless information ???
Pisca said:
Why spamming around with useless information ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you joking? I just shown that videos are rendered more smooth than photos...
So I just asked if anybody know ho to remove shoadow from photos polaroids' corners...
Erm.. my take on this is videos are low-rez, but photos are not.
That's why still pics are slower.
MasK said:
Erm.. my take on this is videos are low-rez, but photos are not.
That's why still pics are slower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tought the same, so I tried shooting photos at QVGA res, but nothing changed.
I think it's good that someone has such enthusiasm
ThrashMan said:
I think it's good that someone has such enthusiasm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohhh yes! I'm thinking in making a Thread with Manila fixes, in order to get your Sense 2.5 as fast as possible!
I'm analizing the manila photos tab, every single frame of the tab, but I can't realize why photos are slower than videos... :S
As others have tried to say we assume it's because a video is only 640 x 480 where as pictures are 2592 x 1944 (5mp widescreen off).
This thread needs moving to: Touch Diamond2, Pure Themes and Apps ??
faster? slower? err what does it mean?
The video will run at the speed you recorded?
I like it! Thank you, very much!
LOL...
Open Files Explorer with Show All Files Option. Check in Application Data\HTC\HTC Album you will see all screen shots of videos you have, it is about 10kb/screen shot, so the manila tab will be smooth like Leo one.
With the photos, manila will load one by one with over 1.5Mb/pic, every animate, rotate... the manila tab will load "full" size of pic. It will slow.
loumeiyin said:
LOL...
Open Files Explorer with Show All Files Option. Check in Application Data\HTC\HTC Album you will see all screen shots of videos you have, it is about 10kb/screen shot, so the manila tab will be smooth like Leo one.
With the photos, manila will load one by one with over 1.5Mb/pic, every animate, rotate... the manila tab will load "full" size of pic. It will slow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL that's what I initially thought... So read here what I tried!
Videos are made in VGA (640x480), while photos on 5MPX...
So, just make photos at a lower resolution should solve the problem...
Anyway, I tried to make photos at QVGA resolution 320x240 (lower than videos one ), but anything changed... QVGA Photos were slow as 5MP ones...
That's why I think it's a problem of textures... I just analized Photos tab with Manila CFC GUI, and seen that Videos have only one object/tecture for edges, while Photos have a minimum of 3!! Two for Polarois Corners and one for the shadow...
So I don't know if objects/texture can be removed from manila... What do you think??
What??!!
2.5 Tweaks & Improvements is the title of the thread.... so where are these 'tweaks' and 'improvements'? Seems a little pointless to me
grahamkdt said:
2.5 Tweaks & Improvements is the title of the thread.... so where are these 'tweaks' and 'improvements'? Seems a little pointless to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1, but he did repost the sunny animation fix.......again.
grahamkdt said:
2.5 Tweaks & Improvements is the title of the thread.... so where are these 'tweaks' and 'improvements'? Seems a little pointless to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I'll try to add as much fixes as possible.. And hope other people would collaborate and share their knowledges.. ^^
Gio512 said:
Now I'll try to add as much fixes as possible.. And hope other people would collaborate and share their knowledges.. ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could start by collecting the alternatives to HTC messaging from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=630331
Another tip to gain speed and RAM is to disable every manila tab you don't use.
Hopefully people will post here all there own tweeks to speed up sense 2.5 from all the differnt builds on this forum. Collect them all into one place and share them, its tough trawling through all the builds and I'm sure there are some great tweaks and discoverys hidden away in all the differnt build forums that would benifit many people on here.
ramcid said:
Hopefully people will post here all there own tweeks to speed up sense 2.5 from all the differnt builds on this forum. Collect them all into one place and share them, its tough trawling through all the builds and I'm sure there are some great tweaks and discoverys hidden away in all the differnt build forums that would benifit many people on here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
true gentleman from the UK you are.
MoonGBA - probably the fastest Game Boy Advance emulator for Windows Mobile platform made by Xiangpeng Chen. Freeware. I can't believe that there is no topic about this great app. Without sound enabled it works almost perfectly on my BenQ E72 with 230MHz omap processor and ~20MB of RAM. On my Blue Angel - what can I say - amazing! Unfortunately it doesn't work on my HTC Kaiser. But I'm sure it is the one of uncommon cases.
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Advantages:
really fast rom emulation
runs on slower PDAs/smartphones
portrait, landscape left/right + fullscreen, fit to screen, vga screen view modes + "antialiasing"
frameskip + frame speed settings
*.sav files support
touch controlled pad (activated in settings)
Disadvantages:
only 3 save/load slots
not quite good sound emulation comparing to other emulators
noticed that it doesnt work on HTC Kaiser
Requirements:
Windows Mobile 5.0 >= based device
~200MHz processor for comfortable playing without sound (depends on processor model)
about 15MB RAM for loading 4/8MB roms; 20+ for loading 16MB roms
Download:
english translated 2.4.0 version - HERE (just run .exe file on your PPC/SM, config files will be created in the same directory)
author's website with newest chinese versions - HERE (up to 2.4.2)
Regards...
Not working :-/
I tried running Pokemon Sapphire (.gba), Pokemon Yellow (.gbc), and Pokemon Blue (.gb). The gba file was the only one which didn't close the program. None of them were able to run though, I only only saw a white box when loading the gba file.
My device is the ATT Tilt2 (HTC Rhodium), WVGA, 528 MHZ. Free ram when loading the 16 MB rom, about 30-40 MB
nice!
nice app.. a way faster than pocketgba and morphgear.. it also saves in .sav format so you can use your save files from desktop gba emulators.. it also supports clock base events which pocketgba dont.. but it would be better if we can edit the virtual pads just like in morphgear because its own virtual pads are annoying cause it touches the screen..
Nice share, thanks!
@zyphuris55, MoonGBA is an Game Boy Advance emulator so it's able to open only *.gba roms. Shame that it doesn't work on Rhodium I see there is same problem as with Kaiser - white box after rom loading. I can suggest you to try the newest 2.4.2 version from developer's website. I didn't try and I don't know if it will work on Kaiser or Rhodium. Unfortunately 2.4.0 is the only one which is english translated.
@xxviii, yep, some time ago I tried to play Pokemon ( ) on PocketGBA but there were problems with ingame time settings. With MoonGBA there are no such problems. And about touch controlled pad question - Xiangpeng is working on it and there are fixes and improvements in newer versions, unfortunately in chinese language.
In general, it has some defects but MoonGBA is a great GBA emulator which works surprisingly fast, especially that its freeware and practically it isn't popular.
works great! just the sound could be improved. i´ll test the chinese 2.4.2 version...
Could be great
based on a very vey quick test, this is good.
Very fast on HD2, and the built in control pad is good. I'm just checking how LMT controller works wth it. GBA was one of the things i was booting android off SD for, so I'm really pleased to see this, thanks for starting this thread
with me it works on the rhodium with pokemon, but it isnt stable sometimes some random crashes...
thank you very much, it is the first GBA emulator that works perfectly on my touch pro. No HW button delay, speed is perfect everything is great
Great app,I'm searching for it.It works fine on my xperia x1.This is the first emulator for wm with support for 32mb rom,but the speed is low with full screen enabled.The virtual pad is very good.Great app
Wolfas said:
thank you very much, it is the first GBA emulator that works perfectly on my touch pro. No HW button delay, speed is perfect everything is great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works smooth on your Touch Pro? What ROM? It lags (Pokemon Emerald) quite much while using the 2x VGA mode, and that's with sound off. It performs similarly to my Treo, which is a good 230mhz slower than the TP. I do like how the hardware keyboard can be used, with some great wasd action
By comparison, MoonGBA runs too fast on my ancient HP iPAQ hx2495b (with sound off), and practically full speed with sound on. I suspect the Touch Pro's poor 2D performance is what makes it lag.
tried "fullscreen" mode instead of "2x vga"?
it works great!
#LG# said:
tried "fullscreen" mode instead of "2x vga"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's actually worse at fullscreen. I've even tried version 2.4.2, which seems to do better on portrait mode, a bit laggy on landscape. I guess it's fine, but it doesn't explain how this modern device gets smoked by my hx2495b :/
i have a dual sim phone with wm 6.5 and moongba runs nearly perfect, BUT if i run moongba in fullscreen my second sim disappears... i can use it and everything, but i cannot see the reception field... and when someone calls me the call from sim 1 and the call from sim 2 layers are both displayed....
does somebody knows a trick or a fix for this? i mean my phone and this app are from china why do they not support each other^^
maybe try newer version from developer's website
http://www.yueyuesoft.com/moongba/moongba2.0.html
xfexx said:
i have a dual sim phone with wm 6.5 and moongba runs nearly perfect, BUT if i run moongba in fullscreen my second sim disappears... i can use it and everything, but i cannot see the reception field... and when someone calls me the call from sim 1 and the call from sim 2 layers are both displayed....
does somebody knows a trick or a fix for this? i mean my phone and this app are from china why do they not support each other^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow you have one of those Dual-sim WM phones It might simply be because you have a little bit resources available, such as RAM and CPU. For example, in my Touch Pro, when I left the radio on, the emulator was okay, but when I tried to turn it off, it took awhile to actually get to my comm manager. The Verizon TP has less RAM than the regular TP, so I'm not surprised.
I was using Moon 2.4.2.
well, I don't know how is MoonGBA working, which display method it uses, GDI, DirectDraw or something, there is no information about that. It's not well optimized for newer devices. Maybe it is the producers fault which are making some 3D flashing blinking scrolling things, leaving support for 2D... I hope there will be newer versions, maybe rewritten and optimized, who knows.
#LG# said:
well, I don't know how is MoonGBA working, which display method it uses, GDI, DirectDraw or something, there is no information about that. It's not well optimized for newer devices. Maybe it is the producers fault which are making some 3D flashing blinking scrolling things, leaving support for 2D... I hope there will be newer versions, maybe rewritten and optimized, who knows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jep that is the same thing i thought... maybe he made the fullscreen with some 3d super mega stuff und this overrides the layer of the second sim... really crappy -.-
maybe someone can get the source code from the developer and rewrites it... i think he writes on his site, that he will continue with a android version and not with updates on the wm version... or does someone can speak chinese and could mail him my problem?^^
I honestly believe MoonGBA uses the 2D GDI processing of WM, or DirectDraw. Reason why I can tell is that my iPAQ has a SKTools benchmark of 1200+, while my Touch Pro is right there with my Treo at 700+. For example, the Game Atomic Cannon, it is super fast on my iPAQ, while it lags on my Touch Pro. The same thing with video playback, TCPMP in DirectDraw mode is horrible on my Touch Pro, and ok in my iPAQ.
So my conclusion is, since the Windows Mobile UI depends on the 2D processing of your device, there won't be enough CPU to process anything related to the screen because MoonGBA uses up 100% CPU. I have confirmed this with Wakutask (taskbar manager) running as well as BatteryClock (Taskbar indicators), where those programs were being displayed poorly or not updating in time (respectively).
_____________________________________
WVGA - LINEAR - 2D FPS - SIDE SCROLLING
__________________________
DOWNLOAD LINK FOR BETA V1
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if it is completed/done/fixed, or a
if it is not completed/done/fixed,
any additional information that is linked to that specific feature will be displayed with a * directly under it.
_______
BETA V2
cheat system
* turning cheats on will give you 1000 points, also gives you an M16 with 1000 ammo and you cannot die
* you can only use the cheats once
* my game will log that you have cheated and display an image in the top right corner of the screen
improved enimy
* enimy bullet animation, enimy will now shoot at you
* player bullet animation, the bullets you fire will instantly kill the enimy on contact
* each kill = +100 points
* killing an enimy when you have low health will give you bonus points
improved health system
* player hitbox, if your hitbox is hit by an enimy bullet your health takes damage
* if your health takes damage you get blood spatter on your screen
* hit by enimy bullet = -10 points, if score = 000 you do not loose any points
* kevlar armour adds an additional 5 hitpoints to your health, when the kevlar armour is depleated your health takes damage from enimy bullets
* you are able to be hit by enimy bullets 9 times, on the 10th = death
new weapons and skins
* FIRE-AXE AK74, M4A1 CCO, L85A1 SUSAT, M1014 SHOTGUN, ROCKET LAUNCHER, M249 SUPPORT GUN and C4
* empty player bullet animation, empty bullet shells after you shoot will fall
* ammo system, cannot shoot when you have no ammo
* improved zoom feature, zoom's in automaticly when shooting and zoom's out when moving, this was the best soloution for scoping
new sound fx
* added all new sound fx, removed almost all sound files from V1 due to overall file size
* ability to change the menu music, 5 music files to choose from and your also able to turn it completely off
points/ammo/health/armour number and colour
* colour and number changes based on how much you have
* health and kevlar armour number is dispalyed as a percentage (%)
* ammo number will display how much ammo you have but buying a weapon will reset your ammo amount
shop system
* an inventory menu allowing the ability to buy guns, ammo, health and kevlar armour, also shows a description of weapons
* ammo -100 points, amount of ammo is based on what weapon you have, also removes all player bullet animations
* health -300 points, also removes blood splatter animation
* kevlar armour -150 points
* all weapons -200 points
* cannot buy C4 and FIRE-AXE from the shop, these items will be "pickup" only
* all items from the shop can be purchased any time during the game
* game pauses when browsing the shop menu
rank system
* your rank is based on your points, you can have ranks removed ~ de-promoting your rank when having a low score
* having a high score will obviously promote you to a higher rank
cursor now stationary rather than bouncing
* community complained saying it was hard to aim with the previous V1 bouncing curser, now its easier to aim when stationary
* reduces fps and less lag
sniper rifle
* just need scope animation then all weapons animations are complete
new UI
* almost complete
update graphics
* only weapon animations have been added atm
* buildings, enimies and vehicles etc
save/load feature
* not sure how to save/load yet
* saving and loading will be avaliable from the main menu and ingame UI
* ability to save and load you current rank/points, ammo, heath, armour, and active weapon
____________
BETA V2 BUGS
lag and low fps when shooting
*rescript the shoot button (a script now checks which weapon is in use then allows a specific shoot button to be active and that weapon is now usable)
*remove recoil (previously the curser jumped upwards to give the effect of the recoil for the weapon when shooting)
*remove missfire (previously when shooting too fast you would get a missfire animation, you could not shoot for about 3-4 seconds)
lag and low fps
*rescript the main actors (too much to go into detail but rescript will be a pain in the ass)
____________
BETA V2 TEST
a demo of the BETA V2 engine will be released soon to get community feedback.
__________________
BETA V2 VIDEO DEMO
Yey First,
Ill try when i get my Touch HD charged up =)
kk np si dude,
ill update the beta tonight and upload it for everyone, just need to fix a few bugs and add the scoped button i mentioned in the todo list..
let me know what you think of the alpha
Any chance of the public beta still? This looks amazing...
just to let you know..
ive added the scope in/scope out button which obviously lets you use the scope or iron sights on the gun, but the fps goes realy low when using the scope!
however, after thinking about it, this lower fps while inscope can be a "feature" to slow down time lol
the fps is still a little slow at times - this is usually when loading large images, i dont think ill be able to make the fps any faster without making all the graphics/sprites smaller - which is something i dont want to do
ive tried turning the fps up on each image, but didnt notice any differance.
if you can play with a little lag, its a cool game.
im not putting a release date on the public beta, its not ready yet
check first post for updates
Looks avensome! please public this alpha for only test speed on my rhodium OC 710Mhz and more
I also rhodium. It's very interesting to try this thing.
Forward to.
i hope alll picture can be edit because i have some interesting IDEA about graphics...
Keep it up, looks promising...
PS... i m talking about something like that, to have a real identity...
hey dude,
cheers for taking an interest and going out of your way to mock up an example,
yeah, all the graphics/sprites for the main menu,
-the orange [>]
-the menu text
-background
-activation buttons
are all separate items so modifiying them wont be a problem.
i like your buttons, i have already added them into the main menu and also the settings menu too, it looks cool
id be more than happy to see what other ideas you have if you want to make a few more examples
EDIT:
pm them if you want
Blood will be more realistic, Aim scope too...
Another example about scope and Point/Kill Readability :
PS... Background come FRom COD...
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
^^BETA V1 download link in first post, with new screenshots..
*please leave feedback so i can update this game
Installed cab on HD2, can't get passed the game's main menu. Also have to soft reset to exit.
cab? i just unzip in SD and click on menu.exe, it is fine!
QVGA Version Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaseee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
fallenmonk said:
Installed cab on HD2, can't get passed the game's main menu. Also have to soft reset to exit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should have wrote zip instead of cab. I extracted file this time and it is working. Gracias.
DL is not wOrking ;(
Would like to try game on TP2, but DL link in not working & nobody is seeding the torrent.
Link not working:
http://www.4shared.com/zip/GozWDRmO/Modern_Battlefield_V1_BETA.html
Modern_Battlefield_V1_BETA.zip (15,108 KB)
Found it at wupload link below:
http://www.wupload.com/file/2625173852
File downloaded from wupload does not work.
Installed on HTC TP2.
Can not get past first screen (New Game, Tutorial, Exit - can hear sound and see intro screen, but that's all)
Not sure if this is because the wupload file is older (said it was uploaded 2-days ago).
Will check back, hope 4 solution.
hey dudes,
@fallenmonk
gdgd, thanks
@lohtse
i wont be able to do a QVGA version of the game dude, sorry
@Spey
the download link in the first post is definatly working dude..
im not quite sure why the game is not starting a new game for you, it should work, it works perfectly on my blackstone
Finally you decide to add my graphics idea ?
Did you support transparency in your apps ?
Because i still have original PSD...
other point, tried on TG01...
What the hell ? Gun jump all time... accuracy seems to be very difficult...
hey dude,
send me a link for your PSD's, my version of you idea is a little dodgy
but yeah it supports transparency..
gun jump seems to be a problem with only one person that have tested the alpha/beta
everyone else that tested it said it was fine,
however i could remake it so its a little more like this if you want:
but without the herp derp troll crap..
im only a beginner at making games for windows but i recon i could do a better version than in the vid
Still follow your idea but on my TG01 gun jumps all time...
Check your PM ! PSD is on !
Have fun... if you want help on graphics... i can try to help as good as can...
Through my experience in this forum i have seen a lot of people getting confused wither to update into ICS or GB. This is a direct copy and paste article from the Official Sony blog where they have actually discussed and really went through some in depth properties of both Firmware. They have also openly discussed about issues such as RAM usage and UI/GPU/CORE VALUES in the topic, which i personally found quite insightful. Hope u read this article and decide for yourself what is best for your beast =)
Ever thought about how Gingerbread (GB) and Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) platforms differ on a technical level? In this blog post, we’ll describe some of the technical differences between GB and ICS, and what the differences in the user experience might be. This way you can decide if ICS is right for you, or if you prefer to stay on Gingerbread. Maybe you will prefer the new UI in ICS, or do you give a higher priority to the extreme stability of the Gingerbread platform? Read more after the jump!
Now as you might have seen, we’ve continuously kept you updated on our work with the ICS upgrade, and we started by telling you about what we do to get the latest software release from Google working on our Xperia™ smartphones in the article Ice Cream Sandwich – from source code release to software upgrade. Then we released ICS alpha and ICS beta versions of the coming software upgrade.
However, although ICS is new and compelling in many ways, we would like all of our users to make an informed decision when selecting what Android™ software to use. We are actually proud to say that our Gingerbread software is very stable and has great performance, so it’s not a bad idea to stay on this release. Ice Cream Sandwich is more intensive, for example in terms of resource usage. As smartphones become more capable, our own applications, as well as the Google Mobile Services (GMS) applications, are becoming more advanced, which means that they require more CPU power, run more network activities and use more RAM. On the other hand, ICS brings a refined UI and some nice new features as described below.
New features in ICS
From a UI perspective, ICS is based on a new look and feel, the Holo theme. In order to accommodate the new look of Android, we decided to do an extensive touch up of our own assets, since the graphical assets of the Holo theme cannot be changed in any way as stated in the Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD). New looks have been added in the platform layer as well as in the application layer. All in all, well over a thousand icons have been modified. In addition, we have deployed new wallpapers and application backgrounds, which harmonise more with the flatter graphical structures of ICS.
In ICS, the activity manager has a completely new UI, where all running apps are shown as thumbnails in a list. To close an activity, you can simply swipe it out of the list. ICS also introduces a face recognition app as a way to unlock the phone, called Face Unlock. Face Unlock uses the front-facing camera and advanced object recognition algorithms. It is included in our ICS upgrade for all phones that have a front-facing camera.
The contact list will show more information about the contacts, including updates from social networks. In the calendar, colour coding has been added and it is now possible to zoom. There is also support for a new type of voicemail that is more visual, offering transcriptions of voice messages.
When it comes to ICS, it’s a major upgrade of Android™, and there are a lot of things that have changed compared to the Gingerbread release. Some of these changes affect the performance and stability of the system, for example by using more CPU power and RAM. ICS was developed with Galaxy Nexus in mind, which is based on a TI platform with dual-core processor and 1GB RAM. We are now adapting ICS to run on our 2011 Xperia™ smartphones, which are all built on a Qualcomm platform with single core and 512 MB RAM. This means that in some cases, the resource usage in ICS is heavier on the system compared to Gingerbread. The following sections identify some key areas where there is a difference between ICS and Gingerbread.
Increased RAM usage
In general, it can be said that the RAM is the working memory in the phone, used by running processes in contrast to the flash memory, which is mainly used to store things. As you might understand, this is a simplified explanation and might not be entirely true in all cases. However, it can serve as a help to understand the difference between the RAM and the flash memory of the phone. To see how much RAM is currently used, go to Applications in the Settings app of your Xperia™ phone.
Now, let’s look at how the RAM is used. Out of our 512MB RAM, about a third is used for functions that require a dedicated memory slot to operate fast enough. For example, this is the case for certain multimedia functions. The remaining space, which is at least 340MB, is reserved for the Linux user space, as required in the Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD). Within the Linux user space, functions like the activity manager and Home screen app are running.
Another interesting thing is that many apps use slightly more RAM in ICS. For example, the web browser is quite intensive, and our measurements indicate that it uses 20-30MB more in ICS compared to Gingerbread. All in all, there are a lot of changes that together result in greater RAM requirement.
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Illustration of the RAM usage.
When running low on RAM, typically with less than approximately 40MB left, the activity manager will start to close processes according to priority. At first, idle background activities are killed. The last thing to be closed down is the foreground activity. We have described this briefly in the table below. For more information, check out Android developers. (Please note that all figures mentioned about RAM usage are approximations and will differ depending on phone model and use case.)
Table showing different types of processes. When running out of RAM, the activity manager starts shutting down processes from the bottom and up, so that the last things to close are foreground and persistent activities.
Processes that are closed will obviously have to be restarted when the user enters the app again, which takes time and slows the system down. For example, when running a heavy game that uses all available RAM, the activity manager will be forced to kill all processes running in the background. This might include vital functions like the dialler and even the Home screen application. When you exit your game, there is a risk that the phone is perceived as slow, since the Home screen app will have to be restarted, just like every other activity you access afterwards.
Slower interaction with the SQL database
Another change in ICS compared to Gingerbread is that Google has moved a lot of the SQL handling from the native to the Java layer. In our internal studies, we have seen that read and write operations to the SQL database takes longer time, which slows down the apps. Many applications perform a lot of SQL operations when started, which greatly impacts the start-up time.
According to good practice, database operations or http requests should not be performed in the main thread. However, we know that there are quite a few applications that perform these kinds of operations directly in the main thread, which might cause them to hold up other operations. Also, when reading feedback on ICS software out on the market now, we’ve seen comments about people having problems with some applications and games.
If an operation takes too long, there is a risk of getting an Application Not Responding (ANR) as a result. An ANR occurs when an application doesn’t answer an intent, or responds to an input event, within a certain time limit. In case of intent, the time out is set to five seconds. For the input event, such as screen touch or button click, it’s ten seconds.
This can result in a user experience that is perceived as slower and less stable, due to longer response times and increased ANRs.
Introducing full hardware acceleration
Yet another change in ICS, is that the graphics hardware acceleration is on by default for all apps from API level 14. For apps at lower API levels, it can be turned on in the manifest with the attribute android:hardwareAccelerated=”true”. Hardware acceleration means that the GPU is used to render graphics, which enables a smooth user interface. However, it also results in at need to load additional graphic libraries for certain apps, which makes them use even more RAM.
When we performed internal tests on our applications, we saw that the Settings app consumed 1-2MB more RAM, and actually took longer time to start with HW acceleration, compared to without. Once the app is running, the UI is HW accelerated, but unless the app performs advanced graphics, the user will not see the difference.
Another effect of the hardware acceleration is that it can make the battery drain faster in some cases. An example of this is video playback, where the hardware acceleration requires every video frame to be run through the GPU, thus making the system use more power than it would have without HW acceleration.
As a developer, you should therefore evaluate if HW acceleration is required or not, as it comes with a cost in terms of RAM usage, start-up time and possibly even battery duration which can have negative effects on the user experience. You can read more about hardware acceleration in Ice Cream Sandwich on the Android Developers blog.
So, what will be your platform of choice? We hope this article clarifies some of the aspects to consider when making the decision. As always, we are eager to hear your opinion, so drop us a comment below and let us know! For more details on timing and practicalities on the ICS upgrade, check out this latest post on the Sony Xperia™ Product Blog.
Updated – comment from the Developer World team:
We we would like to clarify that above mentioned “challenges” have already been addressed by our SW engineering teams. For instance, we have not only optimised the RAM management by making the RAM usage for internal apps as good as possible, but we will also introduce a Performance assistant at start up when running ICS. In this Performance assistant, you can enable and disable certain services that you might not want to run on your phone, in order to optimise the performance of your phone.
We have also worked with quite a few partners in regards to architecture optimisations for SQL handling. In addition, we have also optimised the hardware usage. And as a result of this article, a number of app developers have notified us that they are evaluating if HW optimisation will be needed or not for their apps.
The aim of this article was to share our knowledge regarding the different characteristics for ICS and Gingerbread in an open way, as we strive to have an open communication with the developer community. All in all, we would like to point out that it’s our clear aim to deliver an as good ICS update as ever possible. As you might have seen on the Sony Xperia Product Blog, we’re not far from releasing it now. Thanks for all the feedback!