V 1.02: Some examples from showcase onlineviewer don't work

[Kurzer]

This was the first time I had a look at the examples of SpiderBasic.
Really cool stuff!

But two of the examples don't work for me:

Screen & Sprite still leave a beige background and the debug window in top right corner. Nothing more happens.

My System: Windows XP SP3
Browser: Iron Portable (a Chrome clone) Version 41.0.2200.0
SB is not installed on my System!

[Fred]

You will have to ensure than WebGL is supporter by your browser. Could you try with the lastest Chrome ?

[Kurzer]

I updated my browser (Iron portable) to the actual version: 42.0.2250.1

The bug still appers, but I saw the two examples running smoothly on a Win 8.1 PC with InternetExplorer (don't know which version), so I think it's because of my special browser. It is a chrome derivate where the private data collection funktions are removed.

Maybe this log from the browsers console can help you to find what's going on in detail:

Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 (Not Found)
/showcase/onlineviewer/spiderbasic/javascript/dojo/request/xhr.js:176 Synchronous XMLHttpRequest on the main thread is deprecated because of its detrimental effects to the end user's experience. For more help, check http://xhr.spec.whatwg.org/.
/showcase/onlineviewer/spiderbasic/javascript/dojo/domReady.js:42 Error on domReady callback: TypeError: Cannot read property 'createTexture' of undefined

PS: The example "WindowedScreen" works like a charme in my browser. Maybe this can rule out the WebGL-thing as cause of this bug?

[Kurzer]

Hi Fred,

it's me again.
Today I found the "chrome://gpu/" command for chrome, which show detailed informations about the GPU and the used functions.

Graphics Feature Status
Canvas: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable
Flash: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable
Flash Stage3D: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable
Flash Stage3D Baseline profile: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable
Compositing: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable
Multiple Raster Threads: Disabled
Rasterization: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable
Threaded Rasterization: Unavailable
Video Decode: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable
Video Encode: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable
WebGL: Unavailable
Driver Bug Workarounds
clear_uniforms_before_first_program_use
disable_d3d11
exit_on_context_lost
scalarize_vec_and_mat_constructor_args
use_current_program_after_successful_link
Problems Detected
GPU process was unable to boot: GPU process launch failed.
Disabled Features: all
Always call glUseProgram after a successful link to avoid a driver bug: 349137
Applied Workarounds: use_current_program_after_successful_link
Some drivers are unable to reset the D3D device in the GPU process sandbox
Applied Workarounds: exit_on_context_lost
Disable use of Direct3D 11 on Windows Vista and lower
Applied Workarounds: disable_d3d11
Clear uniforms before first program use on all platforms: 124764, 349137
Applied Workarounds: clear_uniforms_before_first_program_use
Disable D3D11 on older nVidia drivers: 349929
Applied Workarounds: disable_d3d11
Always rewrite vec/mat constructors to be consistent: 398694
Applied Workarounds: scalarize_vec_and_mat_constructor_args
Raster is using a single thread.
Disabled Features: multiple_raster_threads
Version Information
Data exported 17.5.2015, 22:20:06
Chrome version Chrome/42.0.2250.1
Operating system Windows NT 5.1 SP3
Software rendering list version 0
Driver bug list version 7.17
ANGLE commit id 6df9b37d8e3a
2D graphics backend Skia
Command Line Args Portable\Iron\chrome.exe" --user-data-dir="C:\PortableApps\Iron Portable\Profile" --flag-switches-begin --ignore-gpu-blacklist --flag-switches-end
Performance Information
Graphics 0.0
Gaming 0.0
Overall 0.0
Driver Information
Initialization time 0
Sandboxed false
GPU0 VENDOR = 0x10de, DEVICE= 0x0a65
Optimus false
AMD switchable false
Desktop compositing none
Driver vendor NVIDIA
Driver version 6.14.13.681
Driver date 9-23-2012
Pixel shader version
Vertex shader version
Machine model name
Machine model version
GL_VENDOR
GL_RENDERER
GL_VERSION
GL_EXTENSIONS
Window system binding vendor
Window system binding version
Window system binding extensions
Direct rendering Yes
Reset notification strategy 0x0000
GPU process crash count 0
Diagnostics
... loading ...
Log Messages
[2320517/221959:ERROR:gl_surface_egl.cc(161)] : eglInitialize failed with error UNKNOWN
[2320517/221959:ERROR:gl_surface_win.cc(164)] : GLSurfaceEGL::InitializeOneOff failed.
GpuProcessHostUIShim: The GPU process exited normally. Everything is okay.

Obviously WebGL is not available on my system. I will try to update my GPU driver now and test it again.

By the way: After updating Chrome (Iron) to the actual version (for testing the SB issue), another GPU related problem occurs. Some WebPlayer based videos are pixelated, if the player window does not fit to the original resolution of the video. No antialiasing will be done with the new version of Chrome (Iron).

Damn, is not always good to update software.

PS: Updating the GPU driver doesn't help.

[Fred]

So that's the issue, SB needs WebGL for all sprite/screen stuff, thanks to have investigated !

[Kurzer]

You are welcome, Fred.

For those who have the same problem I found a solution today.

Reason is:
Chrome (Iron) disabled all GPU features and WebGL on a Windows XP system (regardless of the graphics card model ) due to the many security bugs on this system. Chrome has listet Windows XP in an internal 'blacklist' and will do all the GPU stuff in software. WebGL is disabled completely.

Solution:
To force Chrome to use the GPU hardware accerlation and the GPU hardware you can start Chrome.exe with the following commandline parameter: --ignore-gpu-blacklist

eg.: "chrome.exe --ignore-gpu-blacklist"

After doing this my GPU-Report looks like this:

Graphics Feature Status
Canvas: Software only. Hardware acceleration disabled.
3D CSS: Hardware accelerated
Compositing: Hardware accelerated on all pages and threaded
CSS Animation: Accelerated and threaded
Flash 3D: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D Baseline profile: Hardware accelerated
Video: Hardware accelerated
Video Decode: Hardware accelerated
Video Encode: Hardware accelerated
WebGL: Hardware accelerated
Problems Detected
Accelerated 2D canvas is unavailable: either disabled at the command line or not supported by the current system.

Except the Canvas rendering all other graphic features are now hardware accerlated by the GPU. WebGL is activated.
Now all the SpiderBasic examples will run on my Windows XP machine.

EDIT: Sorry, I have to correct myself. The workaround does not work.
Instead I mixed up the versions of Chrome on my desktop PC (V. 42.xyz) and the portable version on my USB stick (V. 34.xyz).
The truth is: Version 34.xyz of Chrome does support GPU acceleration on Win XP, Version 42.xyz does not support it (also not using the workaround). I have not tested the other versions between 34 and 42.