bugs and fixes to play 3d games on i810 i815

[LightBlueEyez]

This is my first post here so be nice I'll fix anything wrong...format...grammar...extensive descriptions...
Okay here goes:
I own a Dell OptiPlex GX150 (slim case aka space saver model)

Main problem:
Cannot play 3D rendering games or use 3d desktop effects. 4 bugs to fix to make it work.

After bug fixes:
still cannot use desktop effect...but games work fine.

Bug # (1)
Ubuntu is refusing to put into xorg.conf information about the video card...
Ubuntu just puts in "configured device" and "configured screen" etc...
which causes 3D games to multiply 3-5x on the screen looking like multiple screens on top of each other side to side...
not playable.

Fix # (1)
open terminal and enter:

gksu displayconfig-gtk

set up your display (choose brand and model)

set driver to the appropriate driver "i810/intel"

Bug # (2)
when Ubuntu is first installed out of the box, direct rendering does does work but slow...but after you setup the info in xorg.conf from Bug # (1) the default Depth is 24 and causes Direct Rendering to not work...

Fix # (2)
# !!!NOTE: ONLY AFTER FIXING BUG # (1)

manually edit:

xorg.conf

and under:

Section "screen"

change:

 Default Depth 24
to:

 Default Depth 16

# !!!NOTE: There is also another option to change from 24 to 16 but i deleted it and works without it just fine.
# If you don't delete it make sure to set it to 16 also!!!
#
# THERE IS A WAY TO HAVE ONE AT 24 AND THE OTHER AT 16 and vise versa
# BUT ITS REDUNDANT!
# (DEPENDS ON THE DRIVER USED...I dont know why it works...but its does...)
# here is the proof use this:
# using "intel" driver you can use:
# Section "screen"
# Defaultdepth 16
# SubSection "Display"
# Depth 24 or 32 (or whatever and it will still work...)
#
# BUT using i810 driver it wont work...
# for some reason one driver will ignore it while another wont...

# !!!NOTE: If you use "gksu displayconfig-gtk" and save again your settings
# that you will entered here in this fix WILL BE ERASED!!!

Bug # (3)
Ubuntu does not the properly set up system memory to i810 i815 video cards for best performance...so for some games 3D rendering is SLOW!!! (Sauerbraten)
# NOTE: Glxgears will seem to work nice and fast...when you try to play a game like Sauerbraten it will be SLOW...
Fix # (3)

manually edit xorg.conf
AND UNDER:

"Section "device"

 ADD THIS:

 VideoRam 10000

# !!!NOTE: 10000kb is the lowest recommended value in kb and 16384kb (16mb) is the average
# recommended. BUT IF YOU USE THESE RECOMENDATOINS AND DONT GO HIGHER SOMEGAMES
# WILL STAY SLOW
# I HAD TO ADD 400MB TO GET 10-60fps IN SAURBRATEN...
#
# I am currently using:
# VideoRam 409600 # (400mbs)
# You may question why even bother giving more than recommended?
# Well the more I added the more FPS I got.
# DIDN'T TEST ANY HIGHER...I WAS GETTING 18-28fps average!!! good enough!!!
# If you lower your desktop to about 800x600 you can get a bit more speed out of the game. I dont know why.

# !!!NOTE: If you use "gksu displayconfig-gtk" and save again your settings
# that you will entered here in this fix WILL BE ERASED!!!

Bug # (4)
When I play any 3D game the colors are HORRIBLE...
everything looks like 16 color mode not 16bit (bpp)

Fix # (4)
PRESS "Ctrl+Alt+F1"
THEN "Ctrl+Alt+F7"
thats it. I promise.

# this was a VERY tricky to fix...
# sometimes when I changed a setting in game it would fix itself for that one game...
# untill the game is over then you start over with 16 colors...
# very annoying..in tremulous average game is only 20 mins....
# But:
# most of the time if you just played for about 5-10 mins it would all of a sudden just fix itself...
# which is what I would normally do....
# it looks like memory problems...but its not!
#
# well...
# while messing with xorg.conf and freezing the desktop and screwing up the screen
# I would keep going to "Ctrl+Alt+F1" fixing xorg.conf and manually starting "startx"...
# I had to at one time manualy start "startx" again from the tty1 terminal..
# then when i got on the desktop i tested my settings (glxinfo for direct rendering and glxgears)
# then jumped into tremulous again
# and while I was in the game it I pressed "Ctrl+Alt+F1" and fixed something in the xorg.conf...
# and went back
# BANG!
# THERE WAS PERFECT 16BIT COLOR (NOT 16 COLORS!!!)
# a new game eventually was started and i was again stuck with 16 colors...
# so I tried it again and it worked...
# consistently.
# every time!

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Your are using the -i810 driver which is deprecated and not supported anymore. Please use the -intel driver instead. I guess it is the best to generate a new xorg.conf with the command >>sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg<< and then attach the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log after restart. Could you make a screenshot of the game problem afterwards. Maybe with a digital camera.
I wouldn't use displayconfig-gtk since it could break something. The 16 Bit fix should work with the standard xorg.conf too.

[unggnu (unggnu)]

You could also check if this unofficial package http://people.ubuntu.com/~bryce/Testing/intel/hardy-i386/xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.3.1-1ubuntu1~bwh3_i386.deb (AMD64 http://people.ubuntu.com/~bryce/Testing/intel/hardy-amd64/xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.3.1-1ubuntu1~bwh3_amd64.deb) of a newer -intel driver fixes your problems?

To install it you have to remove the old i810 driver before.
sudo apt-get remove xserver-xorg-video-i810 xserver-xorg-video-all

And please regenerate your xorg.conf to be sure.
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

If you want to reset everything do the follow commands.
sudo apt-get remove xserver-xorg-video-intel
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-all

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

i just did so and i HAD current drivers the whole time. I had just did an update.
INTEL drivers DO NOT WORK.
only the i810 does
deprecated or not it works and my have always worked...just no one knew how to fix it

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

okay did what was asked REMOVED EVERYTHING updated and then followed my fixes and ended up with "intel" drivers that worked fine.

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

UPDATED DRIVERS
still same problem without manually working xorg.conf

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Please use the inofficial driver, regenerate your xorg.conf and post the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log (even if X start fails). If -intel drivers doesn't work with your card it is a bug.

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

THE INTEL DRIVER IS CRASHING EVERYTHING!!!!
after playing a game
my sound stops working (usually i dont notice)
then 15 mins later pidgen crashes!!!
reload pidgen
about 15mins later firefox REFUSES to load
then when ctrl+alt+backspace
to restart X
it will go to the loging screen
i loging
and it just sits there (but doesnt hang)
but i cant startx x
(probably have to pkill the server and start it agian...
but still
this driver CANT HANDLE THE MEMORY properly!!!
the i810 driver did it fine!

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

the first attachment IS using the "unofficial" driver
the second one is using the "official" driver
also
# NOTE: using "intel" driver will select a i815 "board" in xorg.conf
# while i810 will select a i810 "board" in xorg.conf

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

this is not an intel bug
this is a multiple problem between 3 drivers
i understand its not supported
Will research as to why

[unggnu (unggnu)]

At first it is the best to post only one bug per report.
It doesn't help if i810 works, the -intel driver have to. Just post after regenerating xorg.conf the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log and if X crashes directly or before you can post it the /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old too so we can fix it or report this issue upstream. We can't do much without the files.

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

Okay heres what I did:
The tar is split into to main areas:

defaults using reconfigre xorg
defaults using displayconfig

THEN: displayconfig is split again into 2 parts:

Defaults (no fix)
Defaults with listed bugs fixed

And both are slip up into 2 parts of:
i810 driver
intel driver

That way everything is covered.

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

What does going into tty1 then back to tty7 fix the colors? what does it do?
I mean the other things are nothing but stuff that ubuntu should change in xorg.conf by defaut but the screen switching trick to get colors working is so simple and shocking that I kicked my self in the rear end because I spent SO much time online reading everything and NOT ONE PERSON had anything....there wasnt even a bug for it from what I could see....am I the only one that uses i815???

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Thanks for Xorg.0.log and the screenshot but please attach every file on its own in future, it makes finding the needed information much more easier.
I am attaching the important files.
Your report could possibly be a duplicate of Bug #221920. Is compiz running? Does the same render problems appear with compiz disabled? Have you all current Hardy updates installed?

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

this is LTS...8.04...
important files? i gave you every test case variable and you take ONE out and mark it important?

 i though i did a very good job setting up the structure in that tar file other wise it would have looked like a mess on here with every file by itself..

btw for me its ONE bug
I CANT PLAY GAMES.
just lots of fixes that i called bugs for "structure" use

cuz if that is the case then Bug 1
should have every different problem marked as a bug.

I get it.
Just dont like that people get pushy.
I dont plan on becomming a regualr bug reporter.

[unggnu (unggnu)]

As I said your fix with -i810 is good as a temporary work around for other people with this problem but -i810 won't get fixed anymore and removed from next Ubuntu (Intrepid) so the -intel driver has to be fixed. I extracted the information usually needed for this case. I just added hints to make the life easier of the developers. No one wants to bother you. A bug report which deals with graphic (Xorg) and sound problems isn't easy to manage and gets confusing.
So the graphical issues with a standard xorg.conf and -intel driver appears even if Compiz is deactivated?

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

desktop effect refuse to even turn on also
noted that when everything starts to slowly lock up...I went to system monitor and killed
"pulseaudio"
and everything came back perfect.
so maybe "pulseaudio" is also giving me problems now (with the new xorg.conf??? (memory setup?))

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Ok, compiz is disabled for i815 because of bug Bug #221920.
Please search for a bug report against pulseaudio which is similar to your problem or open a new one.
I guess it is the best to move your issue upstream but I have some questions.
Did the screen errors and color problems appear with the standard xorg.conf directly after start or not until you start a 3d game or glxgears?

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

defaults caused screen problems yes. please note I already did most of the work by showing screenshots with every important xorg.conf variation I have described...

 LightBlueEyez wrote on 2008-06-30: (permalink)

    * xorg.bugs.tar.gz (1.9 MiB, application/x-tar)

Okay heres what I did:
The tar is split into to main areas:

defaults using reconfigre xorg
defaults using displayconfig

THEN: displayconfig is split again into 2 parts:

Defaults (no fix)
Defaults with listed bugs fixed

And both are split up into 2 parts of:
i810 driver
intel driver

That way everything is covered.

there is a screen shot for every xorg.conf used and memory problems and other notes...

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

will post bug about pulseaudio after a permanent resolution has come for this bug because it may fix or break pulse audio. I also want to see if its related to using pidgin (when I experiance the slow to crash issue)

[unggnu (unggnu)]

The pulseaudio problem should nothing have to do with the -intel driver issue. Maybe there is a high cpu usage which indirectly effects it. Pidgin uses pulseaudio afaik so it is possible that the problems with Pidgin is a result of problem with pa. You can easily test it by disabling pulseaudio through the command "killall pulseaudio" on userstart.
The fix for the -intel driver might take a while.
Since their are several changes to your xorg.conf we have to nail down which one fixes the screen garbage.
Does the screen corruption lines appear with standard config directly after login or only at first after glxgears start?
Does the screen corruption disappear if you regenerate your xorg.conf and only add the line "VideoRam 409600" to the Device section? Please attach the according /var/log/Xorg.0.log.
The cursor problem with 3d apps seems to happen even with your workaround. Is the cursor fine if no 3D application or if it doesn't overlay the 3d app?

[unggnu (unggnu)]

The cursor problem might be a duplicate of Bug 198521.
Btw. please post the output of "apt-cache policy xserver-xorg-video-intel" also.

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

  Installed: 2:2.2.1-1ubuntu13.4
  Candidate: 2:2.2.1-1ubuntu13.4
  Version table:
 *** 2:2.2.1-1ubuntu13.4 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2:2.2.1-1ubuntu12 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages

BTW im not reporting garbage as the bug. my buy was no proper 3d acceleration (slow or didnt work)
im playing 3d shooting games now with no problems
the mouse problem is only in glxgears and does not scramble when not on the 3d app.

and im sorry.
the videoram fix was required to fix my bug. So im not going remove it for testing reasons if it has NOTHING to do with not being able to play 3d apps.

sorry.
just as you said post pulseaudio and other bugs in there own place.

and my bug seems to continuosly being misunderstood.
All that needs to happen is that I can get an update that will fix xorg.conf for users with i810/i815 that way they can play games.
a little garbage is a beauty mark for now.
the garbage was a side note and does not affect that actual problem.

and no that is not a duplicate bug for the mouse problem...my mouse was not leaving behind marks...it was only messing up areas where the mouse was at that exact moment and ONLY in the glxgears screen...after moving the mouse it would go away.

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Ok, the deal is to fix the driver not work around it through changing xorg.conf. If the driver doesn't allocate enough memory which results in your problem than the driver has to be fixed and not the xorg.conf generation so in future -intel do right. Maybe not the VideoRam line fixes your screen coruption but the Modelines from Displayconfiggtk or the option XaaNoPixmapCache. To nail it down the option has to be TEMPORARILY disabled.
And the lines on your screenshots look like screen corruptions and might be connected to the 3d acceleration issues. Btw. this is one of the reasons why one bug per report.
How should we fix your issue if you don't cooperate and don't answer the questions?
If you don't want to maybe you could directly open a bug report at http://bugs.freedesktop.org/, the bugtracker of the Xorg and Intel driver developers, so they can fix it. An howto what information has to be included is available here http://intellinuxgraphics.org/how_to_report_bug.html. It would be great if you could post the link of your freedesktop bug report so we get the status and maybe could integrate the patch if the problem is fixed. Without further information we couldn't move it upstream.
Just for the records the i810 driver was already removed from and displayconfiggtk won't be installed anymore per default with the new version of Ubuntu (Intrepid) which will be likely released in October.

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

well if you would have looked under my tar file under:
gksu displayconfig-gtk.../defaults using gksu displayconfig-gtk/
you will have your default xorg.conf with intel and i810 driver both with screenshots with no modifications. (no memory or 24 to 16 bit mods)

half your talk could have been prevented if you would have taken the time to look through my work.
I already knew you had an issue with me for some reason when you made that post about my file.
and you still kept wanting things I had already done.

The purpose of me spending a few hours testing and screenshoting and copying log files of many variations of the fixes including the default was pointless I guess.

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

And please bring in a 3rd party to review this.
Fine. alot of things are going to be removed.
But if you would know.
Alot of people complained because reconfigure xorg -phigh had the driver/video card setup options removed.
What does that have to do with this
well if I want to keep gksu displayconfig-gtk then I have to show that it still works. And just because some automatic program does it for you now, who is to say a user may not want to somewhat MANUALY do things?

[unggnu (unggnu)]

"Defaults using gksu displayconfig-gtk" has no standard xorg.conf. The screen corruption indeed doesn't seem to have something to do with VideoMemory but there are still two main changes. The modelines of displayconfig-gtk and XaaNoPixmapCache.
Btw. upstream (http://bugs.freedesktop.org/) would be a 3rd party.
This is an open bugtracker, everybody can work on this if s/he wants and I am sorry to try to nail down your problem.

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

Defaults using gksu displayconfig-gtk" has no standard xorg.conf. The screen corruption indeed doesn't seem to have something to do with VideoMemory but there are still two main changes. The modelines of displayconfig-gtk and XaaNoPixmapCache.

well then...should have looked in the first place then you wouldnt have asked about the memory...

Ill get to the to modelines and XaaNoPixmapCache.

and thank you.
I dont mean to be rude.
I just felt you were a little stuck up.
But I see now that your just trying to help. (the only one)

really thanks. everyone makes mistakes (or i wouldnt be posting a bug)

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

i would like everyone to know that with this xorg.conf and using dreamlinux 3.2 GNOME
ITS PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111
NO MOUSE PROBLEMS
GAMES RUN AMAZINGLY FASTER

the only thing left is that i have to ctrl+alt+f1 then ctrl+alt+f7 to get the colors right

i can use compiz fine ( a bit laggy but was UNUSABLE before.

[unggnu (unggnu)]

THAT'S AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But it uses still an old driver which will be removed in the future even from DREAMLINUX which based on Debian.

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

okay will try with the new drivers and let you know how it goes. sorry for the problems before...stress with moving from microsuck to linux kinda made me mad that it wouldnt work out of the box.

[LightBlueEyez (lbebusiness)]

ok intel driver works great now
thanks alot
no problems
i get about steady 400+ fps now
i used to get 320-375
397 tops
im using the xorg.conf that was generated form dreamlinux and mixed it with mine i made from ubuntu and everything works great other than the color problem but im sure theres some xorg.conf option to fix that too...

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Please install the unofficial driver like described in the previous post https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/243991/comments/3 . Make a backup of your working xorg.conf, create a new one with the usual command and confirming everything without changing.
After a logout please check if both problems are gone and post your /var/log/Xorg.0.log and the output of >>apt-cache policy xserver-xorg-video-intel<< if not. Don't remove the driver if it doesn't work.

Most likely the VideoRam option fixes your 3D issues but the point which I don't understand is according to manpage VideoRam option should be ignored by -intel driver.
"By default, the i810 will use 8 megabytes of system memory for graphics. For the 830M and later, the driver will automatically size its memory allocation according to the features it will support. The VideoRam option, which in the past had been necessary to allow more than some small amount of memory to be allocated, is now ignored."

The screen corruption might be an EDID problem so we have to check it.

Add the line >>Option "XaaNoPixmapCache"<< without (>><<) to your xorg.conf Device section which then should look like:
...
Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
 Option "XaaNoPixmapCache"
EndSection
...

After a logout check if the screen corruption (the horizontal lines) are gone and maybe your 3D issues too. If not the corruptions are most likely an EDID problem which we can confirm later. Please attach your current /var/log/Xorg.0.log afterwards.

To check the 3D issue add the line >>VideoRam 440320<< without (>><<) to your xorg.conf Device section and remove the Xaa option. After a logout check the game performance and please attach your current /var/log/Xorg.0.log afterwards.

[unggnu (unggnu)]

After nailing down the problem with this procedure we can move it upstream to the Intel developers so the issue hopefully gets fixed in the newer driver soon.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Great to see that a solution to this issue has been found. Good work both of you.

Unfortunately, I notice that the chipset is an 815, which upstream has reported that they're no longer supporting (see bug #214168 and the response in the upstream bug tracker there). However, I suspect that they will be open to receiving patches, so I would encourage you to continue with investigating the solutions to these issues.

I see there are a number of bug reports related to 815. Could you two review these and look for the common situations, and how to resolve them, and assist those reporters?

#198521
#221920
#183746
#232299
#235714
#243991

unggnu, some of these may be dupes - could you review and mark dupes accordingly?

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Sure, the main reports don't look like duplicates.
Maybe for i81x a xorg.conf have to be shipped still in future releases.

[Oibaf (oibaf)]

I am making some test on my i815 (which I think it's an i810) with the intel driver shipped with intrepid alpha4 (2.4.0-1ubuntu1). My starting xorg.conf only has the default option, nothing related to the driver, depth or else.

DefaultDepth is already default to 16 and DRI is enabled.

I have the corruption problem with 3D apps. Option "XaaNoPixmapCache" does not fix it. To fix it I have to use the workaround of bug #214168, see comments starting from 2008-07-29.

unggnu:
> Most likely the VideoRam option fixes your 3D issues but the point which I don't understand is according to manpage VideoRam
> option should be ignored by -intel driver.
> "By default, the i810 will use 8 megabytes of system memory for graphics. For the 830M and later, the driver will automatically size its
> memory allocation according to the features it will support. The VideoRam option, which in the past had been necessary to allow more
> than some small amount of memory to be allocated, is now ignored."

This appears to not be true: VideoRam option is not ignored (at least on my card) and defaults to 24576. Note that I have 384 MB of RAM. If I have to guess I would say that VideoRam in i810 defaults to 8192 * (total MB RAM / 128). Note also that there is a limit, when this value is too high (e.g. 65536) it prints a warning in the Xorg log: "Truncating to 50331648 bytes of memory".
I only tested glxgears since I am on the LiveCD and can't install big applications. Note, however, that glxgears framerate is about the same when VideoRam >= 16384 (at about 363 FPS). Note also that VideoRam 8192 disables DRI and glxgears drops to 70 FPS.

So this bug could be closed, maybe we should update the intel man page saying that the VideoRam options is not always 8 MB for i810 (but probably varies with the total RAM) and when it's 8MB (i.e. VideoRam 8192) DRI is disabled.

Let me know if you need some Xorg log or other tests.

[Oibaf (oibaf)]

I opened a bug on intel driver with a patch to the man page to clarify meaning of VideoRam option:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17221

[Oibaf (oibaf)]

Just for the record, the default depth of 16 was commited upstream some time ago:
http://gitweb.freedesktop.org/?p=xorg/driver/xf86-video-intel.git;a=commitdiff;h=633dbd28218fd8a746c1735fd44a14f35bd07faa

[Oibaf (oibaf)]

The patch to the VideoRam option on the man page of intel video driver was applied upstream:
http://gitweb.freedesktop.org/?p=xorg/driver/xf86-video-intel.git;a=commitdiff;h=57ad9cc689724a2f3583eda862250eab0a6798d5

At most, the default could be changed to differently adapt to available memory over 192 MB, to use about 1/8 of system memory and have something like:
RAM old-default new-default
<128 8 8
128 16 16
192 24 24
256 24 32
384 24 48
512 24 64

However, if a user really needs better 3D performance, he can itself increase that value as stated in the man page. The default value should be fine when not using intensive 3D applications.

[Oibaf (oibaf)]

Setting as fixed since the last point of this problem, the documentation on the man page about increasing Video RAM to increase performance, was merged in 2.5 which is now in jaunty.