HIARCS chess explorer GUI layout problem on OS X 10.9

mario_grgic · Post by **mario_grgic** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 12:34 pm

I am not sure if this is the right place to submit bugs, but I could not find any place else where you might submit bugs/feature requests?

In any case after upgrade to Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, HIARCS chess explorer GUI elements are misaligned and overlapping (esp visible with group controls and drop down lists), and move animations are really slow (like watching a move in slow motion) and choppy, esp for long range moves like bishop across the board etc.

mario_grgic · Post by **mario_grgic** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 12:34 pm

By the way here is the screen shot of GUI layout problems:

michaelmatthews · Post by **michaelmatthews** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 5:01 pm

Yes, I am having the same experience.

acmtd · Post by **acmtd** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 6:21 pm

Rendering issues appear to be an issue with the underlying QT GUI toolkit that HCE uses... Apple changed the system font name for Mavericks which requires a fix to be made. This page looks relevant:

http://successfulsoftware.net/2013/10/2 ... mavericks/

Post by **Mark Uniacke** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 10:37 pm

The Mavericks font issue is resolved in HCE v1.6.

The animation issue mentioned with Mavericks is not seen on our machines, what Mac computers is this happening on, Mac Book Air or other models?

HCE v1.6 allows user configuration of animation speed.

michaelmatthews · Post by **michaelmatthews** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 2:38 pm

For me it was only the font issue, not the animation one.

Post by **Mark Uniacke** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 3:26 pm

From what I can tell the animation issue only affects Mac Book Air running 10.9 Maverick. I have checked with a number of Maverick users on other Macs and there is no issue, I have run engines using 100% CPU and a youtube video here on 10.9 and no slow down is noticeable.

v1.6 allows configurable animation speed and that should allow Mac Book Air Maverick users to adjust this. Not sure why this issue occurs with the 10.9 OS as all previous OS versions seem ok.

Post by **Mark Uniacke** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 4:23 pm

A couple of things anyone with Mac OS 10.9 Maverick and an animation slow down can try...

1) Try disabling App Nap, this is something introduced in 10.9 which puts applications to sleep, it seems to be on by default for all Apps. Go to the /Applications folder and right click the HIARCS Chess Explorer app and select Get Info from the menu, then check Prevent App Nap. Now restart HCE and see if that solves the issue. Please let us know if it does.

2) Failing that while less likely this might be worth a try... you could change your Energy Saver preference for graphics to higher performance to see if that resolves the issue. Again please let us know if that works.

I suspect 1) is the most likely solution but it is strange that so far only Mac Book Air 10.9 users are reporting this.

packi · Post by **packi** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:49 pm

It’s not only on Macbook Air. I have a 2010 Macbook Pro with the same problem. Deactivating AppNap didn’t resolve the choppiness issue.

Post by **Mark Uniacke** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:46 pm

Strange and disappointing, I have a MBP 2009 and 2011 and it is fine on both. I had asked a few MBP customers who emailed about Mavericks and they were fine so I thought the fact MBP have graphics cards was the reason.

Did the high perf graphics change help?

Was the animation on the previous Mac OS version(s) on your machine ok?

Does the issue occur on battery and AC?

Does it occur only at 100% CPU usage or when the machine is otherwise idle?

This seems to have been introduced by the Mavericks OS, but most do not see an issue on 10.9 so I am left wondering what is different about your system. Please let me know if there is anything you think might be different to normal.

HCE v1.6 alows configuration of the animation speed so that may help.

packi · Post by **packi** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 12:05 am

Well it’s a tough one because piece movement got worse with the last update. Now it’s hard for me to tell if it got even worse or if it’s the same as before. That doesn’t help I know. If no one else with MBP has the problem maybe it’s only in my head.

After testing it on battery I think it’s better than on AC. I cannot test the graphics performance change because I don't have that option. And if it’s real it’s also without an engine running.

packi · Post by **packi** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 12:11 am

This may be off topic but I had a weird occurrence only yesterday. I had Linkinus for IRC open and started analyzing a game. I noticed that the engine ran really slowly so I checked the running processes. To my surprise both Linkinus and Linkinus Agent were using up to 100% CPU. Quitting HCE didn’t help. Even rebooting didn’t help. Everytime I ran Linkinus now it would use all CPU power. I finally had to delete it and get another IRC client.

This may sound random but I think HCE triggered something in that app. Probably thanks to Mavericks.

Post by **Mark Uniacke** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 1:28 pm

HCE has absolutely nothing to do with Linkinus.

I did read on wiki "Linkinus also features embedded media,[8] although some users have complained that this can cause the program to slow down, or even crash, especially on slow computers.", it seems far more likely the issue you encountered is related to Linkinus.

Michael Blake · Post by **Michael Blake** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 8:16 pm

Hi,
I'm on a MacBook Pro Late 2008 and experience very poor animation which has gotten worse under Maverick. I had put the problem down to my Mac being quite old now which is problem with Macs, they just keep going

hana · Post by **hana** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 2:29 pm

Hi. I'm using MacbookPro Early 2011 with Mavericks, and I have the problem of slow and awkward animation. Disabling App Nap didn't help. It doesn't matter if I am using battery or AC. It occurs when CPU is almost idle.