Very slow launch for FS-UAE Launcher on 2.5.21/22dev (Windows 7)

[Mousey]

I mentioned this in another thread, but thought it was significant enough to have its own thread.

FS-UAE Launcher 2.5.20dev launches in about 2 seconds. 2.5.21/22dev take about 22 seconds! This is from a fresh boot into Windows 7 64 bit.

I noticed that the installer has gone from 24MB (2.5.20) to 34MB. Not a problem in these days of broadband / large hard drives, but I was surprised nonetheless.

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by Mousey

I mentioned this in another thread, but thought it was significant enough to have its own thread.

FS-UAE Launcher 2.5.20dev launches in about 2 seconds. 2.5.21/22dev take about 22 seconds! This is from a fresh boot into Windows 7 64 bit.

I have found the problem. It was somewhat interesting. A combination of issues in the mingw-w64 port of python3 caused python to try to look up the path /\Dlls\python3.dll, which Windows of course normalizes to \\Dlls\python3.dll. So the delay is caused by Windows trying to resolve "Dlls" as a Windows network address...

I have created a fix for this issue (and will send the patch to the upstream MSYS2 project).

Originally Posted by Mousey

I noticed that the installer has gone from 24MB (2.5.20) to 34MB. Not a problem in these days of broadband / large hard drives, but I was surprised nonetheless.

I have checked this as well. The main reason for the increased size is related to upgrading QT4 -> QT5. More specifically, the ICU library which QT5 uses, which by itself uses about 30 MB uncompressed! (most of it turns out to be Unicode data). With the new build system, it is relatively easy to switch between QT4 and QT5, so I may just as well revert to QT4 for the time being.

I have uploaded a new build here: http://fs-uae.net/devel/2.5.22dev2/
- Uses QT4 (installer should be smaller again)
- Includes fix for slow startup

Please test/verify if you can

[Mousey]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

Please test/verify if you can

Erm... I have no idea if this is because of reverting to QT4, or a side effect of Windows no longer trying to resolve DLL's, but not only have you fixed the slowness of launching (it is back to 2 seconds), but have also fixed the emulator slowdown problems I was having!

So I am a very happy bunny, thank you!

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by Mousey

...but have also fixed the emulator slowdown problems I was having!

This *shouldn't* be possible

None of the changes should affect FS-UAE at all (it uses neither QT nor Python...). So it must be some unknown indirect effect... hmm...

[FrodeSolheim]

@Mousey: Could you do me a favor and run 2.5.21dev or 2.5.22dev again (and make sure it runs slowly). While it runs, please check what processes are using much CPU in the task manger. Then quit and send the resulting fs-uae.log.txt to frode@fs-uae.net

[Mousey]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

@Mousey: Could you do me a favor and run 2.5.21dev or 2.5.22dev again (and make sure it runs slowly). While it runs, please check what processes are using much CPU in the task manger. Then quit and send the resulting fs-uae.log.txt to frode@fs-uae.net

Well that's weird.

I reinstalled 2.5.21dev, and sure enough the launcher takes ages to load again... but the emulation speed was normal! I tried different configurations, and all were fine.

I looked at the Processes, and the only thing taking any CPU time was FS-UAE (I did this from fresh boot) - all other figures were zero with maybe the odd task flickering to 1 occasionally. Just for your info, each FS-UAE configuration took the following CPU time while mid-game:

Amiga 500+ / Amiga 600 - 3/4
Amiga 1200 / Amiga 1200 (68020) - 4/5
Amiga 4000 / Amiga 4000 (68040) - 12/13

Just for something else to try, I reinstalled 2.5.22dev, but it's the same - slow launch, but normal emulation speed. Lastly, I reinstalled 2.5.20dev (which was all fine), and then 2.5.21dev, but again, slow launch, normal speed.

I just can't recreate the slowdown problem since installing 2.5.22dev2, but I don't understand why! Previously I could install 2.5.21/22dev (slow speed) and 2.5.20dev (normal speed) any number of times, and each time the emulation speed would slowdown or return to normal accordingly.

I'm more than happy to help, so if you can suggest something else for me to try then please do. I didn't e-mail a log as I haven't had a slowdown, but if you would still like one then let me know.