100% cpu cycle issue

A game usually uses all the CPU power available so a usage of 100% is absolutetly normal (look at commong game and judge yourself). It draws as many FPS as possible so it should be using maximum CPU.

hope that helped,
cya,
Phil

Visit Rarebyte!
and no!, there are NO kangaroos in Austria (I got this question a few times over in the states )

Yeah, but I received 100% cpu when i set his global fps to 1. I''m pretty sure that it sits in an infinite loop that only calls the "gamecycle" when the determined time has elapsed, though it continues to loop even when theres many hundred milliseconds when there should be no activity. My only concern with my approach is that peekmsg won''t be hit very frequently though that may not matter (?)

edit: upon reading all the code, I have no idea what you're attempting to do, but I'm fairly certain there's an easier way.

You can call Sleep() each frame to relinquish some CPU time to other processes. However, even if you only call Sleep(0) (the parameter is the number of milliseconds to give up), your maximum framerate will be 100, since Sleep is only accurate to about 10ms. So, you can either live with 100% usage, limit your FPS to 100, or come up with a creative way to call Sleep(10) every X number of frames. You get the idea.

Later,
ZE.

//email me.//zealouselixir software.//msdn.//n00biez.//
miscellaneous links


[edited by - zealouselixir on May 3, 2003 2:50:01 PM]

Is 100% an ok thing to do regardless of size of the game? I''ve always avoided it as best as possible personally but then who am I?

No, it''s not okay. It''s an abuse of the preemptive multithreading kernel.

As long as your game has focus, you can use most of the processor (not ALL...this isnt dos). If your game is out of focus you should try to use as close to 0% as possible...because it doesnt matter.

Brian J

Well a process should use as much CPU time as needed when it is in the foreground as long as it is doing meaningful work (i.e. not just spinning endlessly in a tight loop.)

Ok thats what I thought. Is this an ok way to deal with the current setup:

WinMain
1. Initialize Windows etc (if any problems exit)
2. While (TRUE)
    a. peekmsg
      else
    b. if game not sleeping (deactivated, minimized etc)
       1. if enough time has elapsed
          a. call engine work function
          else
          b. sleep for time between current and needed elapsed
 

Not sure if you can follow that, but that's the best an understanding I can get from this. The only thing I've added is the sleep portion and again im pretty sure if i change something in here it should make the difference. Thanks again all.

[edited by - kordova on May 3, 2003 3:41:24 PM]

quote:

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Original post by ZealousElixir
edit : upon reading all the code, I have no idea what you''re attempting to do, but I''m fairly certain there''s an easier way.

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Switch between GetMessage and PeekMessage when you receive WM_ACTIVATEAPP.

MSN

also, because of the minimum sleep time on windows ... you will want to pad your "b. sleep for time between current and needed elapsed" so that if this number is below a certain threshold, don''t sleep anyway.

Xao wrote:
also, because of the minimum sleep time on windows


Just use Sleep(0), which will only yield the cpu time to threads of equal or higher priority....

quote:

---

Original post by kordova

WinMain
1. Initialize Windows etc (if any problems exit)
2. While (TRUE)
    a. peekmsg
      else
    b. if game not sleeping (deactivated, minimized etc)
       1. if enough time has elapsed
          a. call engine work function
          else
          b. sleep for time between current and needed elapsed
  

---

Try these:

WinMain
1. Initialize Windows etc (if any problems exit)
2. While (TRUE)
    if peekmsg
      - Translate & dispatch  msg
    else if game not sleeping (paused, minimized etc)
      - enter per frame game loop
    else  
      - ::WaitMessage();
  

What is WaitMessage()?

quote:

---

Original post by kordova
What is WaitMessage()?

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quote:

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From MSDN
The WaitMessage function yields control to other threads when a thread has no other messages in its message queue. The WaitMessage function suspends the thread and does not return until a new message is placed in the thread''s message queue.

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Qui fut tout, et qui ne fut rien
Invader''s Realm

WaitMessage is the correct way of reducing your CPU cycle down to 0% (if your app is not in focus). Respond to WM_ACTIVATEAPP, when your app lost its focus, call WaitMessage().

If your game is running and in focus, 100% CPU usage is normal.

---

Current project: A puzzle game.
% completed: ~10%
Status: Active.

Ah, ok, yeah WaitMessage made a huge difference. Many thanks from us both!