[Linux Mint] Selecting commander doesn't yield build options

Discussion in 'Support!' started by chocrates, September 11, 2014.

  1. chocrates

    chocrates New Member

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    This may not be a bug, but PA worked once Uber fixed the "ati bug".
    When starting Galactic war or an AI Skirmish, my commander lands (after maybe 5 minutes or so, seems extremely long) and then once they are selected, the build options don't show up.
    I can move the commander around, but can't do anything else.
    Edit: Apparently I can't post my imgur screenshot link. Not sure why
  2. DeathByDenim

    DeathByDenim Post Master General

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    You can't do links yet because you need at least five posts for that. It's an anti-spam measure. However, you can still use the "Upload a File" button to upload images. Do you use the --software-ui command-line argument? If not, you can give that a go.

    I have something similar with the open source Intel drivers. In that case, the build menu is invisible until I move my mouse cursor to where the build menu should be and then it appears. This holds true for the order menu on the left side of the screen too actually. You would probably have noticed it if that was the case with you, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
  3. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Also long loading times are probably a result of too little ram.

    Also when you configured Mint, did you include a swap area? If not you *really* need to add one :p
  4. chocrates

    chocrates New Member

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    Code:
    chris@chris-GX60-1AC-GX60-3AE-GX60-3BE ~ $ free -h
                 total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
    Mem:          6.9G       1.4G       5.5G         0B        73M       601M
    -/+ buffers/cache:       773M       6.2G
    Swap:         7.2G         0B       7.2G
    
    Yep!
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  5. chocrates

    chocrates New Member

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    Thanks I'll give that a try.
    I think I used that in the past, but not sure if it is still on.
  6. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Thanks for feedback. Ok so you haven't got a huge amount of ram, also looking at the total "6.9G" I'm assuming your using integrated graphics (as that will be stealing from the memory pool, can't think how you get that total otherwise :p).

    The long loading time is depending on map size. As a quick test try using the 'system designer' to create a single R500 moon, save the system then load it up using the 'Skirmish' mode. That should fit within your memory fine and should load up quickly (less than a minute) when going into game. What happens on larger maps is that the data that wont fit in the ram gets thrown at the swap instead, which is why it takes a while.

    The ram usage should be improved quite a bit in the latest patch btw, so hopefully larger maps should be better now :)
  7. chocrates

    chocrates New Member

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    Turns out the --software-ui did the trick. The "long loading" was because it was waiting for me to click Annihilate!, but since i didn't see it i button mashed until it launched the commander.
    I am on a laptop, but I am on a separate video card with 2gb ram by itself. I think this box should have 8gb ram, so not sure how it came up with 6.9... You are right, very strange.

    Everything seems good at the moment though! Thanks for the help.
    cdrkf likes this.
  8. DeathByDenim

    DeathByDenim Post Master General

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    A separate video card? That might still mean that you have an integrated one as well. I play on a laptop as well, which has a GeForce card in it. So, it shows this:
    Code:
    $ lspci|grep VGA
    00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
    01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107M [GeForce GT 650M] (rev ff)
    Would you have something similar? It might actually be that you are playing on the integrated card as opposed to the dedicated card. I have to mess around with nvidia-prime or bumblebee to get to the GeForce. You can check your logs in "~/.local/Uber Entertainment/Planetary Annihilation/log" and look for the lines that say:
    Code:
    [00:29:55.670] INFO OpenGL Vendor: Intel Open Source Technology Center
    [00:29:55.670] INFO OpenGL Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile
    [00:29:55.670] INFO OpenGL Version: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 10.1.3
    [00:29:55.670] INFO OpenGL Shader Language Version: 3.30
    [00:29:55.670] INFO Vendor flag set to Intel.
    If it says Intel you are on the integrated card. If it says AMD (or ATI?) then you are all good and the loss of memory remains unexplained.
    Hybrid graphics cards are all the rage now for laptops, so that's why I am wondering.
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  9. chocrates

    chocrates New Member

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    Interesting, my lspci yields:
    Code:
    00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Richland [Radeon HD 8650G]
    01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Neptune [Radeon HD 8970M]
    
    I bet I have an AMD integrated chip along with the other card. Never knew why i had two before now.
    My log has:
    Code:
    [20:39:59.089] INFO HAL initializing...
    [20:39:59.089] INFO OpenGL Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
    [20:39:59.089] INFO OpenGL Renderer: AMD Radeon(TM) HD8970M
    [20:39:59.089] INFO OpenGL Version: 4.4.12967 Core Profile Context 14.10.1006
    [20:39:59.089] INFO OpenGL Shader Language Version: 4.40
    [20:39:59.096] INFO Vendor flag set to AMD/ATI
    
    So I think I am good. I am running proprietary drivers. I couldn't get hardware acceleration to work on the open source ones, and ATI finally fixed them so that it doesn't crash Xorg every time I install them.
  10. DeathByDenim

    DeathByDenim Post Master General

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    Interesting. Well:
    There's your missing memory, I guess. :)
    I wonder if you can turn it off if you are not using it anyway.
  11. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Ah! That explains it. I think the issue with laptops is that where you have an integrated GPU like that, that is the one *actually connected to the screen* so you can't actually fully disable it (unless your connected to an external display at any rate). You can probably adjust how much memory is allocated to the iGPU though in the bios I think (probably listed as 'frame buffer' or something similar) as with that dedicated card your never going to want to be using the iGPU.
  12. DeathByDenim

    DeathByDenim Post Master General

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    Some laptops do allow for it, I think. I forget the term, something with "...mux...", but they are rare anyway. And you do want to use it because they are more power-efficient than the dedicated card. Well, you do if you like battery life anyway :). I use my integrated Intel "card" all the time and only use the GeForce for games such as PA.

    chocrates seems to be using his dedicated GPU all the time though, so he might as well try to disable the other one.
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