can't build space wars; attempt causes VS 2005 to hang

can't build space wars; attempt causes VS 2005 to hang

• airwalker2000

  I'm having the same problem. Compiling the SpaceWar sample pins CPU usage at 100%. It took 7min, 41 seconds of CPU time, before it finished, and my machine was practically unusable during that time. The mouse became very choppy, and all programs were very slow to respond to any input, and to repaint themselves. (I even set VCSExpress.exe to 'idle' priority, but it didn't help.) The problem seems to be in whatever compiler does the "Building Content" steps (TGAs, .X models, etc.).

  I've got a fast dual-core processor with lots of memory. This is unreasonable.

  FWIW, I'm a developer by trade (mostly C++), and spend most of every day inside Visual Studio. On this same machine, I can build a four-million line C++ project (a large, commercial application) in 30 minutes flat, utilizing both CPU cores. And during this time, the machine is still much more usable than when building the SpaceWar sample.

  There is something very wrong here.

  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 GHz)
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 2 x WD Raptor 150GB drives (in RAID 0 array)
  • Windows XP, SP2, all the latest patches
  • Visual Studio 2005 Professional was already installed.
  • Installed Visual C# 2005 Express Edition, followed by XNA Game Studio Express.

  If you need more information, let me know.

  
  

• OscarKwok

  Well, I feel a little foolish. Turns out it was just building. Sure seems like the build was gulping up loads of resources: I didn't expect it to drag my machine down with it, and I was surprised to see that the process was "not responding". Anyhow, it took 5 mins. or so, but it built eventually....

  hawkeye parker

  
  

• TheQuietShadow

  After the initial compile you shouldn't experience this again. There's a lot of content in the Space War kit that needs to be compiled the first time, not just code. Try changing some code and recompiling and see if it's as bad.
  
  

• mansid

  From the video with Frank Savage you also see the deployment of each file on the 360.
  
  

• New-Bee

  Jim,

  This is the only Game Studio Express sample that I've tried.

  As mentioned above, on the same machine, I've built a large C++ project with roughly 4 million lines of code, utilizing both CPU cores. The build process easily generates in excess of a hundred-thousand intermediate files, which ranging in size from a few bytes to 100 MB. It certainly stresses the machine and the process is, at various times, both CPU bound (when compiling on two cores) and I/O bound (when linking on two cores). It clocks in at 30 minutes, which may not sound like much but it's the fastest we've ever seen, and a good 20% faster than the dual-core AMD workstations that we just rolled out for our developers. And all the while, the computer remains responsive (obviously a little sluggish, but no problems moving the mouse, for instance).

  So I don't suspect any hardware problems.

  For kicks, I 'touched' a few of the content files, and noticed that the Models (.x) and Textures (.tga, .bmp, .dds) were the big culprits (especially the .dds, for whatever reason). The shaders (.fx) and audio (.wav, .xap) seemed to cause no problems. Obviously, the C# files were also OK.

  
  

• Predator14567

  OK, so this is *much* better in Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh (1.1.10405.0). It's down from 8 minutes to under 1.5 minutes. (Same hardware... nothing has changed.)

  But it still buggers up the mouse for those 1.5 minutes, so it's still unacceptable, as far as I'm concerned.

  (I've yet to try this at work on the AMDs. We also recently got some new Intel E6900 Core2Duo's, so hopefully I can try it on those, as well.)

  
  

• edralph

  Hmm, I've built several versions of the Spaceware game and I never encountered a time when the mouse wouldn't move. I'm only running a P4 3.6 with a gig of RAM and a non-RAID drive. Is it just this sample or do you have a fairly large project that you can test that reads a lot of data and creates a lot of files with this data
  
  

• mitasid

  Jim,

  I understand this. As mentioned, I'm a developer by trade, and quite well versed in how build dependencies are checked.

  I'm not even really that concerned that the build process is so slow (I haven't looked to see exactly what/how much it's doing), though it does seem odd that what amounts to a fairly small game would take take almost 8 minutes to build.

  The purpose of my post was to point out that the build process makes my machine *unusable* for 8 minutes. I've got a fast dual core processor, lots of RAM, and a RAID 0 array with two of the fastest workstation drives on the planet. And while building the sample (which uses only one processor core, note) I can't move the mouse.

  This is not a confidence builder.

  
  

• caltex

  In the future, you may find it useful to show the Output Window (select View | Output). This will show more detailed build output, giving you a better idea of what is currently going on. In Spacewar, for example, you'll see progress in the Output Window as it builds each asset.

  Later, when people start developing Xbox 360 games, this will also be the place to see deployment progress (which files are being copied to the Xbox 360).

  --Stephen

  
  

• tasleemarif

  Looking back at the original poster, I notice that our machines have two things in common: RAID drives, and dual-core CPUs. I wouldn't expect it to be a problem with the RAID drives (which the OS is largely unaware of).

  When I get back to the office on Tuesday, I'll try the sample on the dual-core AMDs we've got there.

  
  

• BlackStallion

  Space Wars has a lot of assets that the content pipeline has to compile the first time you do a build. That's probably what took so long. 5 minutes does seem like a long time though.
  
  
• can't build space wars; attempt causes VS 2005 to hang