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Apprentice Joined: 29 Jul 2003 Posts: 101 Location: USA

Hey Zugg, found something interesting.

I have an uptime counter that ticks every second. And when the trigger fires, the text in my mud screen flashes now.

#MATH SECONDS @SECONDS+1
#IF (@SECONDS >= 60) {
#MATH MINUTES @MINUTES+1
#VAR seconds 0
}
#IF (@MINUTES >= 60) {
#MATH HOURS @HOURS+1
#VAR MINUTES 0
}
#IF (@HOURS >= 24) {
#MATH DAYS @DAYS+1
#VAR HOURS 0
}

trigger the pattern as 1 and use that as the expression and you can recreate it.

I shut off the uptime counter, and the flashing went away. It's probably pulsing around 100ms or so, just fast enough to notice the flicker everytime the trigger fires.

Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 1:31 am

I put your script in an alarm trigger with a pattern of 1, but it didn't flicker here. Are you sure you are not using one of those variables (@seconds, @minutes, @hours, or @days) in a button or status bar entry that might cause CMUD to refresh the screen each time the variable is updated? Otherwise, does anyone else get this problem?

Apprentice Joined: 29 Jul 2003 Posts: 101 Location: USA

I use those variables in a status window that I run as well. Would the refresh of that cause the screen to flicker as well?

Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 5:12 pm

Yes, that could cause the problem. Every time the variable is changed, the status window needs to be refreshed. Not sure why that would cause the entire screen to refresh. It might depend upon how the status window is docked, or whether it is hidden. Give me more information about how your status window is layed out, or post a screenshot.

Beginner Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 20

I get screen flickering when using the newer CMUDS too.
(see http://forums.zuggsoft.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=27156)

only happens when I gag my hud and replaces it with my own #GAG + #SUBSTITUTE = flickering

I've tried reinstalling, but doesn't seem to make any difference at all.

Regards Fuktfursten

Beginner Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 20

Uninstalled CMUD because of all the flickering (headache :)), but just now I tried again.. and found out the screen flickering only occurs when I have info in the Status Window that updates regulary.
Could it be that you dont wait for vertical refresh when re-painting that window?
Without the status window I dont get any flickering at all..

Regards Fuktfursten

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:55 pm

CMUD does not use DirectX to paint it's windows, so it doesn't have anything to do with the vertical refresh. It's up to Windows itself to decide when to repaint the window, and it's up to the low-level video driver to determine how this ties in with vertical refresh. Windows Applications don't access those kind of low level methods.

Is it just the status window that flickers, or does it somehow flicker the entire application? What version of Windows are you using and is your video driver up-to-date?

Beginner Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 20

I cannot see flickering in the actual status window (could be cause its 99% black), but rather only on the "main form". I have never seen any flickering in the menus or other windows.

Debug help?:

I do some calculations and set different variables depending on what the result is. Variables that keep track of hp/mana/whatnot and I calculate a color for every value (max/currentvalue). Then in my status window I have the values displayed in their calculated colour (%ansi(@VARIABLE_COLOR) xx: @VARIABLE))

Using Win XP [5.1.2600] Sp2, and newest drivers for my Nvidia 7900 GTO..

Regards Fuktfursten

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 8:12 pm

So is it just the MUD output window that is flickering? I can see where this is possible. The main output window is not double-buffered because that slows down the scrolling speed. So I've always taken the approach to make the MUD output window faster, even if that means some flickering.

Although I'm still not exactly sure why just updating a variable would cause the MUD output to repaint. Anyway, let me know if it's just the MUD output...that is something I can more control over.

Beginner Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 20

I do belive that is true, yes. Only main window flickers (or its the only window I notice flickering atleast).

Beginner Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 20

Whats the status on this? Is it solvable? Can I start using Cmud again? :P

Regards Fuktfursten

Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 5:19 pm

It's on the bug list, but I have a lot of other things on my bug list that are more critical. Also, I honestly haven't been able to reproduce this on my own system yet.

Wanderer Joined: 11 Mar 2002 Posts: 93

I get flickering in two places only, on my left hand button bar, the top left corner flickers when I click a button in the panel.

and my command input bar flickers and takes a moment to update what I am typing when a script is processing.

So far these are the only two cases of flicker I have found, myself.