Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA)
Improve your game's performance by quickly specifying problem areas

GPA 4: Does GPA support WPF used with Windows 7?

rogomax
Beginner
715 Views
Does GPA supports WPF apps under Windows 7 32bits ?

After testing the most simple application, I would say NO. A message indicates Direct3D 9 Ex is not supported. But WPF use DX10 or DX11 on W7. Is there a possible configuration of WPF to make it work ?

My final goal is to test a mixed DX9 / WPF application. WPF is not used for 3D, but is GPU accelerated...

Thanks.
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Neal_Pierman
Valued Contributor I
715 Views
Hello,

Thanks for letting us know about this issue.

Before I check on this, I'll need some more information about your specific configuration. Therefore, could you please right-click on the GPA Monitor icon in the notification tray, then select "About..." and copy that information here?

Regards,

Neal
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rogomax
Beginner
715 Views
Here is the requested information :


Windows 7, 64-bit DEP enabled

Num Processors: 8

Memory: 8103MB

System BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 0806 (02/11/2011)

Video BIOS: Hardware Version 0.0 (10/03/20)

Driver 0:

Device: Intel HD Graphics Family

Provider: Intel Corporation

Date: 8-31-2011

Version: 8.15.10.2509

VendorId: 8086

ProductId: 122 (Intel HD 3000 Graphics)

Stepping: 9

Supports GPA Instrumentation

GPA install directory: C:\Program Files\Intel\GPA v4.2\

GPA version: 4.2.156824

Current user is in Administrators group: YES

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Neal_Pierman
Valued Contributor I
715 Views
Hello,

I've worked with the Intel GPA Development Team, and our WPF expert provided me with some additional information on your wanting to use DX9 (not DX9Ex) with WPF on Windows 7.

WPF uses DirectX 9 only for hardware acceleration (link to MSDN article). Depending on version of Windows OS, the WPF runtime will use a different version of DX9: DX9 on XP and DX9Ex on Vista/Win7. This information is mentioned in an MSDN article describing WPF interoperability with Direct3D (link to MSDN article):

Use theDirect3DCreate9Exmethod on WindowsVista with a display that is configured to use the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) [which also includes Win7]. Use theDirect3DCreate9method on any other platform.

So at this time it doesn't look like you can use Intel GPA with WPF on Win7 -- you'll have to wait until Intel GPA supports DX9Ex. But many other customers have requested that Intel GPA support DX9Ex, so you are not alone in your request.

Hopefully this has helped... if not, please send me more information and I'll see what we can do to help.

Regards,

Neal

ps-> I've also seen others who've tried analyzing games that use WPF with Win7, and all of them have encountered the same issues as you've seen (that is, WPF uses DX9Ex).

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rogomax
Beginner
715 Views
The response is clear, thank you.

Could you risk to announce a Date for Direct3DCreate9Ex() support in GPA ?

This will help plan our investments in GPA or other technology.
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rogomax
Beginner
715 Views
Another question for your developpers : is there a way to force WPF on WIN7 to initialise without hardware acceleration, and then initialise as on XP using Direct3DCreate9() ? Does this can make GPA compatible with WPF on WIN7 ?
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Neal_Pierman
Valued Contributor I
715 Views
Hello,

I've done some searching on the web, and find that there are ways to force WPF to not use hardware acceleration (MSDN article).

Without actually testing this myself with a real application, it's not clear whether this will solve your problem. So please take a look and let us know whether this works.

Regards,

Neal

PS-> I'm sorry, but at this time I'm unable to comment on when GPA might support DX9Ex; as soon as I have more information to share I'll post that info on this site
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rogomax
Beginner
715 Views
Thank you, I've disabled hardware acceleration and conclude it does not work on Win7.

In other word, GPA does not support WPF on Win7. I can't useGPA for my application (I need Win7).

Regards.
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Neal_Pierman
Valued Contributor I
715 Views
Hello,

So I'm assuming that even after disabling hardware acceleration you find that WPF still uses DirectX 9Ex. If this is the case, then you are correct in that applications written with WPF cannot be analyzed with the current version of Intel GPA.

Hopefully we'll be able to add DirectX 9Ex support in a timeframe that will still allow you to use Intel GPA for your analysis and optimization needs.

Thanks for trying Intel GPA, and for letting us know about the issues that you've encountered.

Regards,

Neal
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