Zsnes uses 50 % of CPU for nothing

Player1 · Post by **Player1** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:26 pm

My problem is, if i start Snes9x and minimize it to task bar it uses 50 % of my CPU, but no game is loadet and I don't know what Zsnes does. Even if I play a game it needs less CPU as to just minimize Zsnes. Is this problem known? (I use the latest Zsnes version of course, havn't tested other versions)

My system specs:
Intel P 4 3,4 Ghz
1024 Mb DDR2 Ram
ATI 9800 XT (I think)
250 GB HDD
Windows XP with all Service Packs and updates

Can anyone confirm this or is it just me?

Post by **Nach** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:32 pm

Which version exactly?

What does Snes9x have to do with us?

Post by **grinvader** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:55 pm

... You think that when you minimize a program to the taskbar it doesn't use any CPU to do its stuff ?

Nice little metaphor: You're in front of your best friend. You turn around. Do you think your friend stopped breathing just because you can't SEE him breathing ?

Ok, the nice is over now. HAND.

kaiser · Post by **kaiser** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 11:07 pm

He want to fuse SNES9x with ZSNES!

Player1 · Post by **Player1** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 8:29 am

Sorry, my bad, I meant Zsnes of course, I use the last version that you can download from Zsnes.com, is there a newer one out?

snkcube · Post by **snkcube** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:38 am

Try using the WIP version (Work in progress)

Player1 · Post by **Player1** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 10:56 am

I thought since the new version is out, there are no more WIP releases? I will try as soon as I'm at home.

Post by **grinvader** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:26 pm

You seem to think a lot of things.

Which happen to be wrong.

michael flatley · Post by **michael flatley** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 6:25 am

grinvader wrote:... You think that when you minimize a program to the taskbar it doesn't use any CPU to do its stuff ?

Nice little metaphor: You're in front of your best friend. You turn around. Do you think your friend stopped breathing just because you can't SEE him breathing ?

Ok, the nice is over now. HAND.

Well, it is extremely easy to have a program run with almost no CPU usage while in the task bar. Did you not know this? Your metaphor has nothing to add because people do not at all correlate with program priorities. If a program is in the taskbar it should never require more than 2% of a CPU like his. That is, of course, if the program is doing nothing while minimized (which is the case with ZSNES). If you need to be schooled on something as basic as this maybe you shouldn't be so rude and condescending.

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:31 am

michael flatley wrote:
grinvader wrote:... You think that when you minimize a program to the taskbar it doesn't use any CPU to do its stuff ?

Nice little metaphor: You're in front of your best friend. You turn around. Do you think your friend stopped breathing just because you can't SEE him breathing ?

Ok, the nice is over now. HAND.
Well, it is extremely easy to have a program run with almost no CPU usage while in the task bar. Did you not know this? Your metaphor has nothing to add because people do not at all correlate with program priorities. If a program is in the taskbar it should never require more than 2% of a CPU like his. That is, of course, if the program is doing nothing while minimized (which is the case with ZSNES). If you need to be schooled on something as basic as this maybe you shouldn't be so rude and condescending.

ZSNES doesn't always idle while minimized.

Player1 · Post by **Player1** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:56 am

grinvader wrote:You seem to think a lot of things.

Which happen to be wrong.

Yes, thats true, but its just trie and error. I hope everything you think is true.

michael flatley · Post by **michael flatley** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:24 am

ZSNES doesn't always idle while minimized.

That's the point, it should. Also, even if it does have to do some work while minimized 50% CPU usage is crazy. Please don't argue. A program capable of running on systems that can't even handle windows shouldn't be using 50% of a 3.4GHz Pentium while minimized. This is not a major issue but the fix is so easy.

Murdock · Post by **Murdock** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:18 pm

michael flatley wrote:Your metaphor has nothing to add because people do not at all correlate with program priorities.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=metaphor wrote: n : a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity

I didn't think it was a bad comparison. Bad metaphor? Yeah, but that just might be me.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:51 pm

I'm going to hazard a guess..

This may just have something to do with hyperthreading on P4s..

It doesn't occur on my Athlon64..

The P4 "thinks" its busy perhaps because one of the "cpus" will become idle... the "other" doesn't.

I don't think it has anything to do with ZSNES exactly.. but it's not doing any work.

Player1 · Post by **Player1** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:03 pm

I've downloadet the new VIP and it works again. Thanks Guys

Magus` · Post by **Magus`** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:26 pm

This thread makes my kidneys hurt.

Aerdan · Post by **Aerdan** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 10:23 pm

michael flatley wrote:crocks of shit

Don't you *ever* shut up?

Starman Ghost · Post by **Starman Ghost** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 10:30 pm

Flatley, before you go saying how easy it is to fix this bug, show us some programs you have coded that are bug free.

Edit: Or better yet, submit a code fix for this bug.

Nightcrawler · Post by **Nightcrawler** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:23 pm

I was waiting for someone to say that.

I agree. Why the hell didn't YOU FIX IT, FLATBALLS??
If it's so easy to fix, then do us all a favor, and fix the damn thing!

Quit sitting there bitching like a 12 year old crying about the problems and how easy they are to fix. If you're so knoweldgable, then lend a helping hand. Download the ZSNES source and at the very least, tell someone else what file to go and what lines to change if you're too lazy to do it yourself.

This is my biggest problem with you. You wouldn't be nearly as annoying if you actually DID something rather than keep bitching about the same things and sit on your ass. You always claim to know how to fix something and how 'easy' something is yet YOU NEVER DO A DAMN THING! Why don't you deliver for once and quit being a useless waste of sperm.

Noxious Ninja · Post by **Noxious Ninja** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:34 pm

michael flatley wrote:
ZSNES doesn't always idle while minimized.
That's the point, it should. Also, even if it does have to do some work while minimized 50% CPU usage is crazy. Please don't argue. A program capable of running on systems that can't even handle windows shouldn't be using 50% of a 3.4GHz Pentium while minimized. This is not a major issue but the fix is so easy.

I'm going to break away from the mainstream here and say you're right, and somebody should pay attaention, but you shouldn't have included those last six words.

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 1:34 am

Wow, stay calm people. It's true that it is abnormal to use so much CPU when in task bar. I have a Athlon XP 2600 and Zsnes uses near 80% of CPU. But it doesn't seem to affect overall system performance so I don't care

I have already seen worse than this.

Starman Ghost · Post by **Starman Ghost** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 5:12 am

Phil wrote:Wow, stay calm people.

If you knew mr flatley you wouldn't be calm when talking to him.

FitzRoy · Post by **FitzRoy** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 8:48 am

You know, I almost want flatley to fix it at this point. He comes close to sounding knowledgeable. And then for the thread to turn on its head would give it some entertainment value. Alas, wishing for something does not make it so.

michael flatley · Post by **michael flatley** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 9:51 am

This isn't a bug, it's a design issue. I'm not an asm programmer nor will I ever be. There's little need to program in assembly these days. Anyway, I'm not going to learn the ZSNES code just to fix this issue on my own. Isn't the solution self-evident? Halt emulation while minimized (same halt used for the gui) and have the programming thread sleep between loops checking for a maximize message from the windowing system. In DirectX this is a few lines of code, this is why I say the fix is easy. Note that DirectX is not required for this solution...

Also, if you are planning on emulating at 60fps and you are rendering frames much faster than this then have your programming thread sleep for a given number of milliseconds between frames. I've got a 2D engine that behaves in this manner and it comes fairly close to using only the CPU resources it needs (2-3%).

Clements · Post by **Clements** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 5:42 pm

Wait... as of the latest WIP, this bug does not exist.

I'm playing WinAMP with ZSNES minimised and I'm using 4% CPU.

When in the GUI, I'm no longer using 100%, since WinAMP still plays happily, whereas before it stopped as ZSNES stole all the CPU cycles.