Problems with wrapper + Intel GPUs

[dwg]

Some may have read that I have been going through my course "library" and have been having problems with some courses hanging on my Windows 11 systems that have the embedded Intel GPUs and with the dgVoodoo wrapper from Links corner installed.

There does seem to be something in some courses that triggers the hang on the systems. The nature of the hang is that Links goes from full screen to a black bordered window and that is it you have to terminate the software and the course cannot be resumed, it is repeatable. You seem to be able to delay the hang for a couple of holes by setting the quality slider all the way to the left. The message in Event Viewer is that LinksMMIII.exe stopped interacting with Windows, not overly helpful.

No fairly recent courses I have played exhibit the problem, these are the courses posted since my return to Links last year.

As I am not a designer and have no knowledge of APCD I have no idea what the trigger could be. I have been noting any course I find that does this and if I can note on which hole it is. I would not say it is a bug in the course per se, just a problem it is triggering.

Since I started to see problems I have done some more targeted testing, initially in playing the course I was just looking to see what real course renditions are worthwhile from Access/Microsoft courses onwards.

In the testing I have found the problem is not present when using Links on Linux, still with an Intel GPU but with Wine and no dgVoodoo. I think this points to what ever it is, is triggering something upstream from Links.

I have taken it to the next step. On my desktop I dropped in an Nvidia HBA, as I am using an Acer SFF machine I have little choice on HBA, so just dropped in a GT1030, FWIW performance with Links is very good.

I then played the noted courses still with the wrapper in place, so no changes other than the HBA added and its driver, I did not touch Links. They played without any problem at all.

As a further test, removed the wrapper and Links is still running fine, plus translucent shadows are back on Windows.

Based on this I am thinking that the problem looks to be in the Intel GPU drivers on Windows, on both of my machines, they do have different GPUs, Iris Xe vs UHD 730, there would appear there is something in some courses that triggers it. It is affecting less than a dozen courses at the moment, mind you I have not tried all that many, and at this stage I am not certain what course I tried on what computer, given my initial objective. Given my limited testing I am not too certain how widespread the problem is, if some designers are impacted more than others, a particular design technique being used? etc.

I do remember the days when some driver versions worked better with Links than others, but that seemed to be more across the board than with specific courses if memory serves.

With any new courses that come out I will try to test them across the platforms I now have.

Based on what I have found perhaps my latest notebook should have had both an Intel GPU and an Nvidia GPU like my previous one :) The notebook is a convenient machine to have Links installed on.

Des

[dwg]

I am wondering if anyone else using the combination of Intel GPU and the wrapper, I assume the version from here at Links Corner i.e. 2.7, is experiencing problems with the following courses hanging around the area indicated.

If not it could be useful if you could share the Intel GPU used and the Intel driver version.

My Systems have:

Intel iRIS Xe Driver Version 31.0.101.4255 16 March 2023

Intel UHD 730 Driver Version 31.0.101.4575 11 July 2023

I’m currently using the Vendor provided driver versions. The courses hang on both machines, not necessarily exactly the same hole but usually close. The indicated hang locations are with the iRIS XE chipset.

The courses:

Course ID Location

Baltusrol Lower - Members Course 2017 2338 Hangs on 1st hole

Bro Hof Slott - Stadium Course Final 2339 Hangs on 1st hole

Los Angeles CC - North Course 2759 Hangs on 4th hole

PGA National Golf Club - Champion Course 2250 Hangs on 1st hole

St. George Golf and Country Club - Members 2668 Hangs around 3rd green

TPC Deere Run Classic 2654 Hangs hole 12

TPC Deere Run Members 2653 Hangs

TPC Southwind 2706 Hangs late in round

Valhalla Golf Club - PGA Edition 2234 Hang hole 3

Winged Foot West 2741 Hangs 2nd hole rendering green

Thanks for any information.

Des

[dwg]

FWIW I went through the options in the videocard.txt and tried them one at a time - creating a custom entry for dgVoodoo. While at times the crash was delayed for a hole or two they still crashed.

One particular course usually crashes on hole 1 so has been a good course to use in testing.

I'm continuing to work my way through my real course library, but I do not think I have any more courses to add to my list. I have found, in some cases, that earlier releases or Betas are not giving trouble.

Given I am mostly now working in reverse date order, it is probably no surprised that the troublesome course have all been 2003T courses, I have played though some 2003, 2001 and even LS courses.

Des

[dick burt]

What exactly does the dgVoodoo wrapper do?

[dwg]

Amongst other things it is a DirectX wrapper.

It converts older DirectX calls into calls in a newer version. Links was written in DirectX 7 I believe. Links does not work at all well with Intel Video on Windows, really I think that it is the Intel driver, given Links works well with Intel and Wine on Linux, so I think the driver could lack support for older DirectX versions, so by sitting between Links and the system - it takes the form of DLLs, it can convert the API calls into something the Intel driver can digest better.

It is not needed with Nvidia, although it still works, also pointing the finger at the Intel driver to a degree. I have no idea about Radeon graphics as I do not have any recent hardware.

Linux is somewhat different in that Wine converts all Windows API calls into Linux API calls, so there is no DirectX outside of Wine.

FWIW the DirectX portion of Wine has been compiled for use on Windows, unfortunately it is not working with Links, given my experiences on Linux it could have been a better solution if it did.