Forums

flash player and cpu usage

• cej0 255 Posts

  Sun, Apr 3 2016 1:59 PM

  I posted this on Adobe's Flash player forum, but have gotten no response.  Figuring out what the issue is will go a long way toward making the game smooth and playable at all times...

  The system...

  Macbook pro13 inch  mid-2012

  osx el capitan 10.11.3

  2.5 ghz intel core i5

  16 gb 1600 mhz ddr3 ram

  intel hd graphics 4000 1536 mb

  Safari version 9.0.3 (11601.4.4)

  NPAPI Plug-in version 21.0.0.197 is installed.

  PPAPI Plug-in version 21.0.0.197 is installed.

  Comcast internet broadband benchmarked at 155 Mbps download, 12 Mbps upload speeds.

  Unfortunately, I’m not able to directly connect to the modem.  I use a wireless home network.  Apple Time Machine, or a wireless extension Apple Airport Express.

   

  Here’s the issue-

  When playing WGT (World Golf Tour) games, it will play normally for a certain period of time.  Watching the Activity Monitor will show the Flash Player as the most active process, and when running normally will use around 50% cpu power.  At random times, usually when trying to animate the set up to a very long putt, the Flash player will start grabbing anywhere from 150% to 175% cpu power.  This will cause the animation to break down completely.  It will stutter and lag, and click response will be nonexistent, making gameplay impossible.  The simple solution to this is to reload the page when you start to see cpu usage climbing.  This will take care of the problem momentarily, as long as you are playing a solo game.  The problem with this solution is that one type of gameplay can be with multiple players online playing the same course together, and your team is only allowed to disconnect from the game three times before being forced to forfeit the match.  As long as you are not playing for money, that’s fine, though annoying.  This has only been a major problem on my system since the early part of this year with the updates to Flash, but uninstalling and going back to previous versions of Flash did not solve the problem either.  It has always been a problem to some degree.  I’m wondering what is causing the massive rise in Flash player cpu usage at random times, because sometimes it handles the load just fine.

   

• alosso 21,069 Posts

  Sun, Apr 3 2016 10:51 PM

  With the eyes of a PC user:

  Apparently, it's a Flash weakness which has been implemented in a Flash update early 2015. In simple words, Flash eats memory!

  It may have become better with the latest update of Flash (?21....?) - haven't installed it yet.

  User workarounds include

  - frequent browser restarts between games,

  - minimize the number of browser windows during play,

  - avoid to play youtube while playing WGT,

  - for me: avoid long display of the putting grid. Minimize the game window while checking out the putting strength and putt quickly. It may be a nuisance on MP games though.

  You may want to observe the CPU load and temperature - there should be ways to do it on a Mac. I can hear the CPU fan of my notebook act up when problems are approaching, and putting grid is the most notorious reason. CPU will cool down when the window is minimized. If I don't listen, the notebook will soon power off due to overtemperature...

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Mon, Apr 4 2016 8:03 AM

  cej0:

  I’m wondering what is causing the massive rise in Flash player cpu usage at random times, because sometimes it handles the load just fine.

  A few updates ago a bug developed (big surprise) where memory was not being returned to the game. As a result, the memory would eventually get clogged up and problems would ensue. You have discovered the workaround-refreshing the browser.  

  Until it gets fixed, a good practice is to refresh your browser in between games. It takes me about 3-4 games straight before I start seeing the degradation but I'm only working with 4GB RAM. Larger RAM amounts will weather this longer.

• ZioMio 4,680 Posts

  Mon, Apr 4 2016 8:41 AM

  I use a Memory Defrag in Toolwiz  to help some while playing. It is not as good as rebooting the browser, but it does help a little during a game.

  

• cej0 255 Posts

  Mon, Apr 4 2016 10:28 PM

  YankeeJim:

  Larger RAM amounts will weather this longer.

  I have 16 gb of ram.  But it will go anywhere from 1 to 7 holes before problems start up.  On the greens mostly, but I've had meter issues on the tee immediately after refreshing on the green the previous hole.  It happened to me on Chambers Bay back 9 after missing a putt from a really bad meter lag, I refreshed the page and finished the hole, then the next hole was the long par 3.  Metered so badly on that one and hit into the ladies tee box!  So it seems to be totally random.  But once it hits it will continue to be a problem on greens, but most other shots are usually ok.  But sometimes not.  You just never know.  I will see if a memory defrag will work.  

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Tue, Apr 5 2016 5:01 AM

  cej0:

   I will see if a memory defrag will work.  

  You're not describing the typical Flash memory bug problems, sounds like something else is causing you headaches. You don't play with the main window open, do you?

• cej0 255 Posts

  Tue, Apr 5 2016 10:52 AM

  I bookmarked a direct link to the gameclient page.  That's what I use to access WGT.  So, when I click on that it does its % count up for loading and then the gameclient page is the only page open.  It's the only page I keep open when playing, and the only user generated process I have running, aside from iStat menus system monitor.  

  I remember having memory issues in previous versions of Flash.  I've had 16 gb of ram forever, and I use iStat Menus as an easy menu bar monitor for network, cpu, and ram.  3 or 4 versions ago ram was the main issue.  I would see the ram monitor steadily climbing as I played, and would need to restart to clear the ram and continue normally.  Now, ram stays low and cpu is the problem.  Core temp and cpu monitor will stay low at first, then once on the green the cpu temp will jump and the cpu monitor will jump way up, and the game will become choppy in trying to move the aim point, set the putt strength, etc.  Sometimes click response will remain good under these conditions, and sometimes there will be a severe click lag.  

  I have screenshots of the monitors, but it won't let me post them. 

• ZioMio 4,680 Posts

  Tue, Apr 5 2016 4:38 PM

  cej0:

  I have screenshots of the monitors, but it won't let me post them. 

  If you have them on your computer, you need to host them online first.

  This is a free one to use.

  http://postimage.org

• Infinito3010 3,689 Posts

  Tue, Apr 5 2016 4:54 PM

  It appears that ram is constantly be reallocated dynamically and not released first.

  It goes something like this.

  Where flashobj is a variable.

  Setmem(flashobj, 1000000)

  reallocate flashobj to a different size

  setmem(flashobj, 500000);

  In this case flashobj has be dynamically resized but not released first. The following reallocates flashobj after it has been released.

  setmem(flashobj,1000000)

  setmem(flashobj,0);    Note the zero releases flashobj from memory

  setmem(flashobj,500000)

   

• TracyMax 2,361 Posts

  Wed, Apr 6 2016 8:50 AM

  What'd he say???