Odd CPU use running on Mac

[Varsuuk]

All of a sudden, while entering data for a module I am converting, I noticed that when I type in the Story Headline section, at times it take a long time for text to appear.
I think I started noticing it when I switched to using Savage Worlds + Old NPC Maker + Library Extension but even when switched back to C&C ruleset to continue, it was doing it as well.

Sometimes the wait was very long. So I looked at Activity Monitor and saw that FG....Wine process was chugging at 48%-100% time to time.

Now, I am mainly cut and pasting (have Plain Clip in taskbar, love it) but when I edit in the body, I have NOTICED this sort of delay. Is that a clue, does something special go on with headers like consta sorting? (I am not changing the start, so it should not trigger an actual resort but hey)

I have no extensions in the C&C ruleset. Little to nothing opened in modules. I was just typing in Story elements.

(Macbook Pro 15" with nVidia, 16gb memory, 750gb sad - Late 2012 model)
Don't have "compatibility" mode checked. Don't recall unchecking it - but not sure what is default on Mac.


Thanks,
Dan

[Spin-Man]

Are you going back to the launcher when you switch campaigns, or closing the program and reopening? I recently learned that FG (and other programs) will not clear the memory cache if you don't exit completely, so every time you close a campaign and open a new one, you add on new processes without recovering all the usable memory from the previous ones.

[Trenloe]

Try turning off compatibility mode for Linux and Mac in the FG settings. Some users have reported they don't need this for proper display and it will stop a forced screen refresh which might be part of your issue,

[Varsuuk]

Yeah, that's the thing as recall hearing. So I disconnected and checked settings, it was off. I mentioned that perhaps unclearly.

Also, note that while it may be coincidence since air hadn't spent a LOT of time entering in laptop before trying SW entering on laptop, it definitely became annoying while in SW.

I'm gonna try editing the other module I was working on that was never touched by any ruleset other than C&C to see if behaves same.

[Varsuuk]

Are you going back to the launcher when you switch campaigns, or closing the program and reopening? I recently learned that FG (and other programs) will not clear the memory cache if you don't exit completely, so every time you close a campaign and open a new one, you add on new processes without recovering all the usable memory from the previous ones.

Sorry, missed this while responding to Trenloe. No, I wasn't But in the process of trying to see if it was a "state" thing, I did exit several times where always went back to C&C without going to a diff ruleset.

On my desktop, I have like 4 FGs running because each was in diff ruleset so I could load up modules to see how each handled numbering, categories, references etc while I worked in c&c . each running instance was in a different campaign.

I'll try a fresh one later tonight to see if problem persists. About to watch a show with wife.

Thanks for ideas, keep em coming if have other thoughts.

[damned]

There are some bugs in formatted reference manuals which in certain display states cause high cpu usage, scroll to bottom of page and see if cpu spike drops...

[Varsuuk]

Damned, I was doing just the "Story" entries. I experimented with Formatted Reference Manual importer thing in SW and plan on returning to it once the module is otherwise complete. I originally wasn't going to do a Ref section since I knew not how yet. With the helper, figure will why not.

BUT... yeah, it's probably the fact that every time I am typing in Title area, it is "Live sorting" under the covers. You see that if you keep the story section open as well as the record you are currently working on.

This is why it got bad on SW ruleset portion of editing, I had passed the point where editing was costing me and I prob did some renumbering. When went to C&C it was already big and I did further edits. I will try breaking it up into categories since the number of entries to scroll is big. I just wasn't sure if categories was the way because need to prefix them with a module code of some sort.


Hopefully another thing Unity will help with. I'd hate to try entering via GUI something like ToEE or Rappan Athuk.

As much as I enjoyed entering WYSIWYG, between the repetitive stress of consta moving to open a new record window and the lag on edits, I may go back to a Par5e like tool for just story text. Can do links/encounters etc fine after. Just use an importer for the main text, I think.



But, unless others say different, I think the issue is "[Solved]", inasmuch as we know why it is happening and nothing is to be done other than perhaps workaround by categories or using non interactive Story input means.


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Thanks all for the quick feedback and help!

[Trenloe]

inasmuch as we know why it is happening and nothing is to be done other than perhaps workaround by categories ...

Create a "New Work" group. And having ony that group open, add a few Story entries in there. Then after you've added/edited a few, moved them to the end group you're looking for. This should avoid the sorting delays as you'll only have a list of a few records at a time.

EDIT: Just looked at your screenshots. Yeah, having "All" selected on the group filter won't help.

[Varsuuk]

Create a "New Work" group. And having ony that group open, add a few Story entries in there. Then after you've added/edited a few, moved them to the end group you're looking for. This should avoid the sorting delays as you'll only have a list of a few records at a time.

EDIT: Just looked at your screenshots. Yeah, having "All" selected on the group filter won't help.

I had "all selected" to show you what I had. Selecting "new" the only other one there in a new clean campaign would not help as it is the same set of entries. All of the entries were for the same module I was int midst of converting to FG.


Yup, wanted to confirm that having them all in one group was causing this problem. I had heretofore not created more than a dozen or so entries so never noticed this.
Since this appears to be a "live sorting" issue, it means that once they are sorted, there is no other performance impact. This is so far proven out by the fact that I have no typing delays editing any of the non title field areas, which is good.

For now, will do as you say and add an entry for the module to move to in bunches. That solves my creation workflow assuming I make nom errors. WHEN I do and need to renumber them, I will still run into problems in the new group (yes, I could move out N at time back to NEW and edit then move back and forth...too clunky, I'll suck up the typing delays.)


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One great way to solve this is to have a "turn off live sorting" button (or config setting) so that while creating a module none of this can ever come into play. Considering that some modules are huge, even breaking into categories may not solve this. And there is zero advantage in costa-sorting while you are typing.
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(PS -> While I am at it Moon -- Subcategories would be nice, so could make one per Adv Module and STILL break it down into "Town of Frobozz", "On the Road" "Grue Dungeon", etc )

[Varsuuk]

Just moved my first 2 entries. Ended up DUPING one because didn't drag high enough before it got dropped due to running off pad

Not easy dragging that far up to the opened "group" window using the mac magic trackpad. Would be nicer to be able to right-click->select category or multi-select->cut&paste to open category, but that's quibbling if either of the above two things or some alternate ever got implemented.