Right, so I'm running Windows XP, .net 2003 with the DirectX 9.0 SDK, and a little more than a week ago I figured I should probably try to make a complete game with DirectX components *only*, as I tend to stick to more open stuff like OpenAL, OpenGL or doing it myself otherwise. Now, In the final phases, I throw in the multisampling when creating the device. No problems, the game runs as it usually does, and the CPU- usage peaks somewhere around 7-8% when I'm locking the framerate to 60 fps. All is well, and I compile a release version. Now, as I run the release version, CPU usage goes through the roof and the mouse pointer starts to lag. I turn off multisampling, and it works somewhat fine. I try a few different approaches, and it seems to be allright if I run the application with .net still open. Funny part is, it doesn't need to be .net, *any* application clouding the desktop (including explorer) seems to do the trick, as soon as there's a maximized window between my game and the desktop, multisampling works a-ok. Now, I have two monitors hooked up to my laptop, so I try starting the app on the main monitor with a maximized window in the back, and sure enough, as soon as I move it to the monitor showing the desktop, it starts lagging. I don't know very much about the inner workings of the Direct3D Device, so if anyone could shed any light on my little problem here, I'd be very thankful.

That is an odd one [oh]

It might be useful to look into your hardware/driver setup.. I just ran my windowed-mode D3D app with AA enabled and it was perfectly happy.

It's a bit of a guess I know, but I have read about odd things like this where the drivers end up playing silly buggers. Updating them (if possible) might be a good thing to try?

hth
Jack

A couple of stabs in the dark:
- With windowed-mode multisampled applications, if you show the desktop popup menu (r-click) or any tooltips, CPU usage grows up and the application crawls...

Are you showing any tooltips anywhere?
Are you using any "PostIt" applications that stick stuff on the desktop?

- Try disabling the visual styles of XP (i.e. switch to classic style/appearance) and see what happens.

This does sound like a weird one, but I'm sure S1CA will chime in with some explanation from hell [grin]

Quote:Original post by Coder
Are you using any "PostIt" applications that stick stuff on the desktop?

Oh, that was *totally* it. I had Rainlendar running, and all the problems seemed to end when I quit it.

Now, why DirectX would mind so much that I had a small Calender app projecting PNG's on the desktop is beyond my understanding, but it might just have compatibility issues with open source software ():-P

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions, guys, wild stabs in the dark or not, it helped!