Intel Software Network articles Feed http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-gpa-kb/type/technical-notes/ en-us Intel® GPA: Announcing Release 2012 R3 Announcing Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers 2012 R3
May 21st, 2012


Introduction

Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) is a powerful, agile developer tool suite for analyzing and optimizing games, media, and other graphics-intensive applications.

We are proud to announce the availability of Intel GPA 2012 R3, which contains new features requested by developers.

The product is available at no charge to developers -- to download the product, visit the Intel GPA Home Page, then look for the "Download" button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.


Overview of the Release
  • Intel GPA 2012 R3 includes the following new features and benefits (see the online help for more information):
    • General
      • Possibility to analyze applications that have exception handling enabled in their game engine.
      • Possibility to filter which applications are enabled for the "Auto-detect launched applications" option.
      • Added support of systems based upon 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processors, commonly known as "Ivy Bridge" systems, which include either Intel HD Graphics 2500 or Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU's.
      • Added limited support of the February Consumer Preview build of Microsoft Windows 8* applications running as Desktop/Classic applications. See this article for details on the platforms supported in this release.
    • Intel GPA Frame Analyzer
      • Frames load up to 50% faster when running on processors utilizing Intel® Processor Graphics.
      • All user interface settings, sizes, and slider positions are saved for subsequent runs of the tool.
      • Added the “Shader Constants” tab to view captured frames.
      • Enhanced the “Texture Hex” viewer to better utilize available screen space.
    • Intel GPA Platform Analyzer
      • Fully integrated the Intel GPA Media Performance Analyzer data with other ITT trace API's, enabling analysis of Media performance fully integrated with other platform data.
      • Added support of the Direct Trace API, enabling you to import virtually any data into the Intel GPA Platform Analyzer.
      • Added support of Active Time metrics (that is, the time a processor is actually running for a selected set of tasks).
    • Intel GPA System Analyzer
      • Added support of a new "System View,” which provides metrics across the entire system, not just for a single application.
      • Added a new metric “CPU Frequency”.
  • In order to focus efforts on newer operating systems and technologies, Microsoft* Windows XP* and Microsoft* Vista* are no longer supported in this version of Intel GPA.
  • Please review the Release Notes for information on installing, configuring, and using Intel GPA.

Where To Next...

To start using Intel GPA, check out the Online Help that is available through the Microsoft Windows* Start Menu for the Intel GPA product. For those who have not used Intel GPA before, become familiar with key Intel GPA concepts by reading the Intel GPA Getting Started Guide.

Want more info on Intel GPA? Check out either the Intel GPA Home Page, the Intel GPA FAQ, or the Intel GPA Knowledge Base articles. There's also a Product Brief for the GPA 2012 release.

We want to be the best tool for your graphics optimization work, and welcome your comments and suggestions in the Intel GPA Support Forum.

PS-> By the way, if you were using Version 2012 R1 of Intel GPA, you did not miss version 2012 R2 of Intel GPA -- the R2 version was never released as a product.


* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
05-21-2012
05-21-2012
News
Events
Tech Articles
Intel® GPA
Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) is a powerful, agile developer tool suite for analyzing and optimizing games, media, and graphics-intensive applications. Available now, Intel GPA 2012 R3 adds new features requested by graphics developers.
]]> http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-gpa-announcing-release-2012-r3/ Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-gpa-announcing-release-2012-r3/#comments http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-gpa-announcing-release-2012-r3/ ISN General Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Knowledge Base Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) Intel® GPA Tip: Workaround for games that trap all keystrokes
If you want to capture frames or traces you have two choices when using the Intel GPA System Analyzer/HUD: (1) use the “capture” button of Intel GPA System Analyzer / Standalone instead of Intel GPA System Analyzer/HUD, or (2) define a trigger to automatically capture a frame or trace when certain conditions occur (such as FPS < 20).

If you decide to use System Analyzer / Standalone, we recommend that you run this client from another machine in order to minimize the impact on the target system.
04-17-2012
04-17-2012
Tech Articles
Intel® GPA
Performance Analysis
no
When using Intel GPA System Analyzer / HUD, keyboard shortcuts may not work because the game is trapping all keystrokes. This article describes a workaround for this situation.
]]> http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-gpa-tip-games-that-trap-keystrokes/ Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:00:00 -0700 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-gpa-tip-games-that-trap-keystrokes/#comments http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-gpa-tip-games-that-trap-keystrokes/ Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Knowledge Base Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) Intel GPA 2012: Graphics Checker not supported Graphics Checker Not Operational with Intel GPA 2012

Support for Intel Graphics Checker has been deprecated in the current 2012 release of Intel GPA. A new Graphics Checker functionality will be provided in the near future. We are sorry for any inconvenience as we transition to this new capability.

If you create a Graphics Checker file with Intel GPA 2012 and attempt to use it with Graphics Checker, you will see the following error: "Intel GPA not detected. To correct, install the current version of Intel GPA." However, this error messsage from Graphics Checker is incorrect, since you already have the latest version of Intel GPA installed (2012).

03-16-2012
03-19-2012
Tech Articles
Intel® GPA
Support for Intel Graphics Checker has been deprecated in the 2012 R1 version of Intel GPA. A new Graphics Checker functionality will be provided in the near future. We are sorry for any inconvenience as we transition to this new capability.
]]> http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-gpa-graphics-checker-issues/ Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:00:00 -0800 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-gpa-graphics-checker-issues/#comments http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-gpa-graphics-checker-issues/ Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Knowledge Base Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) Introducing the Intel GPA Advisor
So it's no surprise that the Intel GPA team hears feedback from users similar to the following: "You've given me lots of metrics data that shows what's happening deep within the GPU and the individual stages of the rendering pipeline. But how do I sort through all of this data and figure out how to use it to improve my game's performance?" To help answer these questions, Intel® GPA has added two "advisors" -- Frame Advisor and Erg Advisor. In a nutshell, each of these tools is an expert system that helps you find problems in your frames. Intel® GPA Frame Analyzer already provides a lot of metrics data, but these advisors can automatically sift through this data and highlight potential areas of concern.

In this video we'll go "under the hood" to show you how to use these tools as part of your optimization process. For more information about these tools, see this KB article. To learn more about Intel GPA in general, check out the Intel GPA Home Page.


12-20-2011
12-20-2011
Videos
Intel GPA Advisor is a beta feature in Intel GPA. Joe Everton introduces this video describing the capabilities of this addition to the Frame Analyzer and Judy Hartley explains the UI and key elements of this component during this quick, 5 minute tour.
]]> http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/introducing-the-intel-gpa-advisor/ Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:00:00 -0800 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/introducing-the-intel-gpa-advisor/#comments http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/introducing-the-intel-gpa-advisor/ Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Knowledge Base Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) Visual Computing Source Intel® GPA Tip: Some Suggestions for Learning About Intel® GPA
Starting to use a new tool is never easy, as there are lots of new terms and concepts to learn before you become proficient with the tool. And you've probably been using other tools or procedures that do things differently, which makes switching even more difficult. So the Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) product team is trying to make the learning process as easy as possible.

First of all, start with the Intel GPA Product Brief, as well as the Intel GPA FAQ. These two documents provide high-level information about the product -- you'll see what the product can do, and learn how some of the key game developers have adopted Intel GPA as part of their analysis and optimization process.

However, while the Product Brief and the FAQ documents are great for learning what Intel GPA can do, they don't necessarily show you how to start using the tools. For understanding key Intel GPA concepts and the major workflows, check out these sources of information:
  • Intel GPA Getting Started Guide
    • written for those new to Intel GPA
    • presents key concepts of the product, and walks through many common workflows in a step-by-step manner
  • Intel GPA training videos
    • present short "hands-on" videos on the use of the Intel GPA tools (with key workflows that game developers use in their day-by-day analysis and optimization tasks)
    • developed without voice-over narration, these videos will be helpful even when English is not your native language
    • all videos are short and focused on a single topic or workflow -- each video is typically less than five minutes
Hopefully this has given you enough information to get started using Intel GPA. If not, please check out the Intel GPA Home Page for more training material, and let us know what we can do to improve the product.
08-15-2011
01-20-2012
Tech Articles
Intel® GPA
Starting to use a new game analysis tool isn't easy, as there are lots of new terms and concepts to learn. In this article we'll show you how to quickly get up to speed with Intel® GPA -- the articles to read and where to get more information.
]]> http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-tip-getting-started/ Fri, 16 Sep 2011 23:00:00 -0700 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-tip-getting-started/#comments http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-tip-getting-started/ ISN General Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Knowledge Base Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) Visual Computing Source Intel® GPA Tip: don&#39;t change an application&#39;s monitor once System Analyzer HUD has started analyzing the app Introduction The Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) developer tool suite provides a complete toolkit for analyzing and optimizing your games, media, and other graphics-intensive applications.

This article describes a limitation of one of the tools in the Intel GPA suite, the Intel GPA System Analyzer HUD. We'll describe the limitation, then provide some suggestions to keep you from encountering the issue.

Issue Description

When using the Intel GPA System Analyzer HUD (Heads-Up Display) to analyze a game, after the HUD appears:
  • do not move an application's window from one monitor to another
  • do not change from windowed mode to full screen mode (or full screen mode to windowed mode)
In both of these situations Intel GPA may either stop running (that is, the HUD disappears), or you may see errors in the application or Intel GPA.

Workarounds

If you encounter this issue when trying to analyze a game or application with Intel GPA, there are options available to you.

Applications often provide an option to force use of a particular monitor, or to startup in windowed mode or full screen mode. You can typically do this through a command line option or using a "config file". For example, many games allow you to startup in windowed mode by appending "-window" to the command line (or "-fullscreen" for full screen mode). If no option exists for starting the application on a specific monitor, try disabling all secondary screens to force the application to run on that monitor.

To use command line options with Intel GPA, right-click on the Intel GPA Monitor in the taskbar notification area, select Analyze Application..., then in the Command Line field enter the pathname of the application and all command line options, then select Run:
cmdline.jpg


Where to Next...

If this article doesn't help solve your problem, please let us know in the Intel GPA Support Forums. Also, if you have  suggestions for how we can improve the product, leave us a note on the Support Forums -- we would love to hear from you!


* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
08-15-2011
01-20-2012
Tech Articles
Intel® GPA
This article describes a limitation with the Intel® GPA System Analyzer HUD. When analyzing an application you can't change the monitor or change from windowed mode to full screen mode (or vice versa). We provide suggestions for avoiding this limitation.
]]> http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-tip-dont-change-graphics-devices/ Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:00:00 -0700 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-tip-dont-change-graphics-devices/#comments http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-tip-dont-change-graphics-devices/ ISN General Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Knowledge Base Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) Visual Computing Source Intel® GPA tip: running the tools on Intel-based netbooks Introduction
Netbook PC's have become more than a niche player in the mobile computing marketplace. To take advantage of this trend, companies have been developing games and other graphics products targeted for this market. As one can expect, many game developers have been asking "What tools are available for optimizing my game on netbooks?"

Updates to the Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers product (Intel® GPA) and Intel graphics drivers now allow you to use Intel GPA on some of the more common netbook platforms. So download the latest version of Intel GPA from the GPA Home Page and the latest version of the Intel graphics drivers from the Intel Download Site.

This article discusses what developers should expect when using Intel GPA to analyzing their game on Intel-based netbooks.


Overall Best Practices
Netbook PC's tend to have minimal resources compared to typical laptops or desktop systems. In particular, they'll have a 32-bit OS and less than 2GB of memory. This is fine for typical day-to-day use, but Intel GPA requires more resources -- analysis of frame capture files and trace capture files works best when running GPA in a client/server mode where the client has 4GB or more of memory and is running a 64-bit OS.


Intel® GPA Features Supported on GMA 950 and GMA 3150 Systems
For these systems, Intel® GPA System Analyzer will report key system and Microsoft DirectX* metrics, and Intel® GPA Frame Analyzer will report graphics rendering times for all selected draw calls. However, since this graphics chipset does not have built-in hardware metrics, Intel GPA will show larger error bars consistent with timer-based metrics.


Intel® GPA Features Supported on GMA 3650 Systems
For these systems, the graphics architecture utilizes tile-based rendering, so Intel GPA cannot provide accurate metrics for individual draw calls. So GPU-based metrics for Intel® GPA System Analyzer and Intel® GPA Frame Analyzer are restricted to metrics for entire render targets instead of individual draw calls. Also, for the Visualization Panel within Intel® GPA Frame Analyzer you are limited to viewing the data based upon render targets (that is, the "erg graph" option is not available).


Non-Supported Systems
A number of netbooks are configured with Intel® GMA 500 graphics. Typically these systems use the Intel® Atom Z processor. For these systems, Intel GPA is not able to provide metrics data, and will print an error message when you use Intel GPA on these systems.


Conclusion
Game developers using the latest version of Intel® GPA now have an option for analyzing and optimizing their games on many popular netbooks based upon Intel® netbook processors and chipsets. In particular, game developers using either Intel® GMA 950 graphics, Intel® GMA 3150 graphics, or Intel® GMA 3650 graphics can now analyze their games and  optimize the playability of their product on these netbooks.

Developers targeting netbook-based systems should also see this article, which provides tips and tricks for optimizing application performance on Intel® AtomTM processors.

See the Intel GPA Home page for download options and additional information about the product.


* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
08-15-2011
03-01-2012
Tech Articles
Intel® GPA
This article describes the behavior of Intel® GPA on netbooks based on Intel® processors and chipsets. Using version 4 of Intel GPA with the latest graphics drivers now allows you to analyze and optimize your game on these platforms.
]]> http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-tip-running-on-netbooks/ Sat, 19 Mar 2011 23:00:00 -0700 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-tip-running-on-netbooks/#comments http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-tip-running-on-netbooks/ Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Knowledge Base Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) Visual Computing Source Intel® GPA Tip: using multi-byte filenames Introduction
Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) is a suite of tools that helps graphics developers analyze and optimize their games and applications for the PC market.

Some users may notice that multi-byte characters appear as "?" in the various dialog boxes within the tools, as well as files created by the product (such as frame capture files).

The rest of this article describes the issue and how to work around the problem.

Symptoms, Analysis, and Resolution
When using the Intel® GPA Monitor, if you use multi-byte characters in the "Analyze Application..." dialog boxes, you may notice that filenames may appear with one or more "?" instead of the characters that you expected. This may also be seen when creating frame capture or trace capture files, as these filenames by default include the name of the original application in the first part of the filename.

However, the problem only occurs when a user has a non-localized operating system version, but uses non-English letters for programs and filenames.

To resolve this problem, on Microsoft Windows 7* go to Start-> Control Panel-> Region and Language-> Administrative tab, and change the current language for non-Unicode programs to the same language as you use for programs and filenames.

Below is a screenshot of the dialog box that you will need to change:

multi.png



The development team is aware of the problem, and is considering what options exist for resolving this issue in a future release of the product.


* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
08-15-2011
01-20-2012
Tech Articles
Intel® GPA
Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) is a suite of tools that helps game developers analyze and optimize their games for the PC market. This technical article describes how to use multi-byte filenames with Version 4 of the product.
]]> http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-40-multi-byte-filenames/ Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:00:00 -0700 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-40-multi-byte-filenames/#comments http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa-40-multi-byte-filenames/ Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Knowledge Base Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) Visual Computing Source Intel® GPA Tip: workaround for install errrors Introduction
It is possible that a very small number of users will receive an error while trying to install the Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers product (Intel® GPA).

This article provides information regarding the error message and how to install a Microsoft* patch that fixes the issue.

Problem Description
Some users may receive the following error when installing one or more of the prerequisites required by Intel GPA: "An error occurred while installing system components for Intel GPA Prerequisite. Setup cannot continue until all system components have been successfully installed."

When this error occurs the user cannot install Intel GPA.

Problem Analysis and Resolution
When analyzing the error, the Intel GPA Development Team found that the issue is that a number of security certificates required by Intel GPA are not always available on the installation machine, especially if the machine is "new".

To fix the problem, download and install the most recent Update for Root Certificates from Microsoft Web Site (usually accomplished by using the Windows Update procedure), then retry the installation of Intel GPA. [NOTE: to manually update security certificates, as of March of 2011 you can install this Microsoft* patch; though it states the patch is for Microsoft Windows XP*, it also works for Microsoft Windows Vista* and Microsoft Windows 7* systems.]

If updating the certificates does not resolve the error, please start a new thread on the Intel GPA Support Forum, and we'll work with you to resolve the issue.


* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

08-15-2011
01-20-2012
Tech Articles
Intel® GPA
Under some situations Intel® encounters an error when trying to install prerequisites (such as the Microsoft DirectX* runtime libraries). This article provides a workaround for the issue.
]]> http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa40-workaround-for-install-errrors/ Tue, 08 Mar 2011 23:00:00 -0800 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa40-workaround-for-install-errrors/#comments http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa40-workaround-for-install-errrors/ ISN General Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Knowledge Base Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) Visual Computing Source Intel® GPA: support for various versions of the Microsoft* Windows* OS Intel® GPA support change for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems

In order to focus efforts on newer operating systems and technologies, Microsoft Windows XP* and Microsoft Vista* are no longer supported with new versions of Intel® GPA. Our customers have indicated that their primary development platform is now Microsoft Windows 7*, and that little or no optimization occurs on Microsoft Windows XP* or Vista*.

The latest version of Intel® GPA will continue to be validated with Microsoft DirectX* 9, 9 EX, 10, 10.1 and 11 on Microsoft Windows 7* and other new OS versions as they are released.

For the latest information about Intel GPA's support of the Microsoft* Windows* 8, see this article.


Where to Next?

We want to be the best tool for your graphics optimization work, and welcome your comments and suggestions in the Intel GPA Support Forum.

For more information on this product, check out the Intel GPA Home Page, the product FAQ, the Knowledge Base of technical articles, and the Help Files installed with the product.

Thanks for using Intel GPA!



* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
08-15-2011
04-20-2012
Tech Articles
Intel® GPA
In order to focus efforts on newer operating systems and technologies, the Intel GPA toolset no longer supports Microsoft Windows XP*.
]]> http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa40-XP/ Tue, 04 Jan 2011 23:00:00 -0800 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa40-XP/#comments http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/gpa40-XP/ ISN General Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Knowledge Base Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) Visual Computing Source