Make sure your Leadwerks project is using the discrete GPU

[Josh]

In my test I was running right now, it seemed that a new Leadwerks project was preferring the Intel integrated graphics on a laptop with switchable graphics. The Leadwerks static library already includes a special file that is supposed to tell the computer to prefer discrete graphics but it seems this is not being detected.

If you  add  this file into your C++ project (just drag it into the solution explorer) you may see a significant performance improvement.

SwitchableGraphics.cpp

[Josh]

Or just copy this code into any of your .cpp files:

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// Include this file in your project to indicate the application should use a discrete card, if one is present.
// You can remove this file if your application is meant to run in low-performance / low-power mode.11
//
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#ifdef _WIN32
#include <windows.h>

//Hack to force NVidia discrete card when integrated graphics are present:
//http://developer.download.nvidia.com/devzone/devcenter/gamegraphics/files/OptimusRenderingPolicies.pdf -  Page 3
extern "C"
{
	_declspec(dllexport) DWORD NvOptimusEnablement = 0x00000001;
	_declspec(dllexport) int AmdPowerXpressRequestHighPerformance = 1;
}

#endif

 

[Josh]

It looks like the discrete card is chosen when the precompiled Lua executable is used, but this code is not detected in the Leadwerks static library when a new C++ project is compiled, so you need to include the code above into your C++ projects in order to select the discrete GPU.

This might be new behavior or it could also be something we just never noticed, since it only happens in that one situation.

[Robert_d1968]

I'm going to switch to Linux, I just can't stand Windows any longer.

 

Will the newer platforms run under linux?

Robert

[Josh]

I don't think this is really a Windows issue. OpenGL was never designed to handle multiple GPU devices.

Now that we have the new GUI system functioning this will allow much better cross-platform support, but I do not have a timeframe set for Linux support.

[reepblue]

I wonder if I can reformat the code to make this work for Linux. I know some System76 laptops support switchable graphics. Not sure if it is a problem with the drivers on that platform.