RSX: Discrepancies between Asynchronous and Synchronous Memory Manager (#16352)

[MarioSonic2987]

Here's a list of games that break (graphical issues or crashes) when using Asynchronous or Synchronous Memory Manager.

Asynchronous Memory Manager

• Borderlands 2 - Missing characters in texts. Borderlands 2 [NPUB30898]: Missing characters #16794
• Kingdom Hearts Final Mix - Flickering textures. [Regression] Kingdom Hearts Final Mix - Flickering texture (#16352) #17762
• Little Big Planet 2 - Broken text. Missing Letters on Little Big Planet 2 and 3 import screen. #16449
• Little Big Planet 3 - Broken text and small squares in some effects. Missing Letters on Little Big Planet 2 and 3 import screen. #16449
• MotorStorm: Pacific Rift - Video playback is broken. [Regression] MotorStorm Pacific Rift Video playback is broken (#16352) #16617
• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City - Broken image. Resident Evil - Operation Raccoon City [BLUS30750] - Graphical Issues, Possible Regression. #16680
• Rock Band (1 & 2) - Flashing splash screens. [Regression] Rock Band - Logos for ESRB rating, game publisher/company, etc. flash for split second and disappear at launch - related to Write Color Buffers?  #16845
• Split/Second - Improves lighting and some effects, but it makes the image look too blury. Enabling Allow Host GPU labels fixes it, but green/red artifacts sometimes appear. [Regression] Split Second - Blurry / ghosted rendering (#16352) #16786

Synchronous Memory Manager

Note that Synchronous Memory Manager is the same as having the Disable Asynchronous Memory Manager setting enabled, in Debug tab.

• Saints Row: The Third - Water shakes when you're close to it.

Logs

Saints Row: The Third

Log SRTT Sync MM
Log SRTT Async MM

[digant73]

if it can help the developers for troubleshooting with ASM enabled, using the suggested wiki settings :

• issue on MotorStorm: Pacific Rift is fixed using an SPU Decoding different than Recompiler (LLVM) (e.g. Recompiler (ASMJIT))
• issue on Split/Second is fixed enabling Allow Host GPU Labels (Experimental)

[digant73]

@MarioSonic2987 add to the list also #16845

[MarioSonic2987]

@digant73 Your build provided here (#16809) doesn't break Saints Row: The Third (water works fine) and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix (no slowdowns when Roxas attacks).

In Split/Second, green/red artifacts no longer appear when using Allow Host GPU labels.

Edit; Master looks the same for some reason. GTX 1060 (576.02)

[MarioSonic2987]

Enabling Allow Host GPU labels fixes shaking water in Saints Row: The Third with Synchronous Memory Manager, but it breaks distant water reflections.

Disabling Read Color Buffers fixes it, but breaks character textures.

[digant73]

@MarioSonic2987 please add to the list also #16794

[kd-11]

Any games here that actually crash with the setting in default state?

[digant73]

the following code replacing line 48 in MM.cpp seems to fix the reported games. There is only only condition that hit performance for Need for Speed Most Wanted (see inline comments on the code)

		// Basically an unlock op. Flush if any overlap is detected
		for (const auto& block : g_deferred_mprotect_queue)
		{
			if (block.overlaps(start, end))
			{
				if (prot == utils::protection::no)      // avoids some performance drop (about 2-3 fps) on "Need for Speed Most Wanted"
					mm_flush_mprotect_queue_internal(); // fixes "Split Second"

				utils::memory_protect(ptr, length, prot); // fixes "Motorsport Pacific Rift"
				return;
			}
		}

		// condition "g_deferred_mprotect_queue.empty() && prot == utils::protection::ro" fixes missing letters on "littlebigplanet" withou any performance drop in other games
		// condition "g_deferred_mprotect_queue.empty() && prot == utils::protection::no" fixes flashing video and red referee on intro video (not in gameplay) "Rock Band" and "MME 2k14" respectively
		//
		// NOTE: Unfortunately the condition "prot == utils::protection::no" results in destroying any benefit on performance increase in games such as "Need for Speed Most Wanted"
		//
		if (prot == utils::protection::rw || prot == utils::protection::wx || (g_deferred_mprotect_queue.empty() && (prot == utils::protection::ro || prot == utils::protection::no))) // changed code
		//if (prot == utils::protection::rw || prot == utils::protection::wx) // original code

[kd-11]

the following code replacing line 48 in MM.cpp seems to fix the reported games. There is only only condition that hit performance for Need for Speed Most Wanted (see inline comments on the code)

		// Basically an unlock op. Flush if any overlap is detected
		for (const auto& block : g_deferred_mprotect_queue)
		{
			if (block.overlaps(start, end))
			{
				if (prot == utils::protection::no)      // avoids some performance drop (about 2-3 fps) on "Need for Speed Most Wanted"
					mm_flush_mprotect_queue_internal(); // fixes "Split Second"

				utils::memory_protect(ptr, length, prot); // fixes "Motorsport Pacific Rift"
				return;
			}
		}

		// condition "g_deferred_mprotect_queue.empty() && prot == utils::protection::ro" fixes missing letters on "littlebigplanet" withou any performance drop in other games
		// condition "g_deferred_mprotect_queue.empty() && prot == utils::protection::no" fixes flashing video and red referee on intro video (not in gameplay) "Rock Band" and "MME 2k14" respectively
		//
		// NOTE: Unfortunately the condition "prot == utils::protection::no" results in destroying any benefit on performance increase in games such as "Need for Speed Most Wanted"
		//
		if (prot == utils::protection::rw || prot == utils::protection::wx || (g_deferred_mprotect_queue.empty() && (prot == utils::protection::ro || prot == utils::protection::no))) // changed code
		//if (prot == utils::protection::rw || prot == utils::protection::wx) // original code

Yea, this isn't right, it just removes the benefit of having asynchronous MM in the first place. I'm missing something else here, but so far all the games are just random visual flicker which is bad for debugging since there are no code events I can hook into. It's much easier if a game hangs or crashes since I can pause execution and debug.
I'll come around to this once I fix the active regression caused by recent changes.

[digant73]

yes of course it is not a solution. I just played with the code. Apparently the only piece of code destroying any benefit on performance provided by the async MM on "Need for Speed Most Wanted" is the check on prot == utils::protection::no

[digant73]

With the current code (not my changes) I also verified that Pacific Rift was the only game having no issue if using Recompiler ASMJIT or . Just in case Async MM should be managed in the same way across all SPU Decoder settings