Very slow execution under Intel Inspector

[Ash_McConnell]

Hi Folks,

I am trying to check for heap corruption in my game code using Intel Inspector. It is the first time i've used Inspector - I tried Quick: Memory Error Analysis / Detect Memory problems but it's incredibly slow. I've been trying for 10 minutes and it's still in the initialisation code, it hasn't even rendered a frame.

I have tried adding some modules to the list of modules to ignore, but it hasn't seemed to have made much difference.

Any ideas of what I could try to speed it up.

This is on Win7 64 bit on VS 2010 on a Q6600 @2.4GHz with 5 gig memory.

Thanks for your help

All the best,

Ash

[Krishna_R_Intel]

Hi,
Thanks for using the forum. Since Intel Parallel Inspector 2011 is an error checking tool that needs debug builds, there will be some time dilation. But I have a few quick questions so that I can rule out some possibilities:

a) Are you using VS 2010 SP1 beta? If so, there is a known issue that Intel Parallel Inspector 2011 and Intel Inspector XE do not work/do not work well.

b) Is your application multithreaded? If so I assume your application runs fine i.e. does not deadlock when run outside of Parallel Inspector 2011? Could you run a threading error analysis (level 1 would be sufficient) on your application using Parallel Inspector 2011 and see if it deadlocks?

I will continue to investigate the issue and keep you updated. Again, appreciate you submitting this issue to us.

Best Regards,
Krishna

[Ash_McConnell]

Hi Krishna,

a) Yep, just installed it recently. What kind of problems are occurring, I am getting some (I think) false positives too.

b) It is multithreaded, but it runs fine (450fps) and doesn't lock up. I will run the threading check though.

Thanks for your help

All the best,

Ash

[Ash_McConnell]

The deadlock check returned with no problems.

[Ash_McConnell]

Hi Krishna,

I have removed SP1 and reinstalled VS 2010. It is still very very slow.

I had set Inspector to exclude a number of modules, but I'm not convinced that this is working properly. It is showing the modules as being loaded in the "Collect Messages" window. It also reports some issues in other modules.

Any ideas why this is happening?
Thanks for your help
All the best,
Ash

[Krishna_R_Intel]

Hi,
How did you try to exclude the modules? Did you use the suppressions feature? If so, that would still load all the modules in your application but would not display results in the modules you chose not to worry about.

Thanks,
Krishna

[Krishna_R_Intel]

By the way, are you using Intel Parallel Inspector 2011 or Intel Inspector XE? If it is the latter, then you can actually exclude modules before analysis and the tool won't instrument those modules. This might potentially speed things up.

Regards,
Krishna

[Ash_McConnell]

Hi Krishna,

Thanks for the reply. I am using Inpector XE. I am not using the supressions feature.

In order to exclude the modules I right click on the project that is the EXE (I have lots of other .LIB projects) and go to the Intel Inspector XE menu option then Project Properties. Then down to the Advanced section and the Exclude modules edit box

In that box I have the following: -

[plain]E:WorkspacetrunkSiroccotestTestReleaseOIS.dll, E:WorkspacetrunkSiroccotestTestReleasefmodex.dll, E:WorkspacetrunkSiroccotestTestReleaseberkelium.dll, E:WorkspacetrunkSiroccotestTestReleaseMyGUIEngine.dll, E:WorkspacetrunkSiroccotestTestReleasePocoFoundation.dll, C:Windowssystem32d3dx9_43.dll, E:WorkspacetrunkSiroccotestTestReleasepluginsRenderSystem_Direct3D9.dll, E:WorkspacetrunkSiroccotestTestReleasepluginsPlugin_OctreeSceneManager.dll, E:WorkspacetrunkSiroccotestTestReleasepluginsPlugin_CgProgramManager.dll, E:WorkspacetrunkSiroccotestTestReleasecg.dll, E:WorkspacetrunkSiroccotestTestReleaseOgreMain.dll[/plain]

These paths are definitely correct. I took them directly from the list of modules that were loaded when running the analysis.

Is there a bug with the exclusion or am I making a mistake?

Thanks!
Ash

[Krishna_R_Intel]

Hi Ash,
Thanks for circling back. You seem to be doing the right thing to exclude modules. I will investigate this and come back. Appreciate your patience.

Thanks,
Krishna

[Ash_McConnell]

Hi Krishna,

Thanks for the reply, I posted another thread on this specific problem (I wasn't sure if it was the sole cause of the slow execution). Perhaps the files posted will be of use in the investigation: -

http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/showthread.php?t=79579&o=a&s=lr

All the best,
Ash

[Bernard]

>>>I am trying to check for heap corruption in my game code using Intel Inspector. It is the first time i've used Inspector>>> I think that Inspector can inject remote thread into your game's threads and hook your and some system functions in order to collect and interpret intercepted data so the slow execution time is excpected and is beign caused probably by Inspector's itself when it tries to run checks on your code.