Will disabled plugings still make OCPN "fatter & slower"? & how to fully remove them

[Odysseus7]

Hello,

I'm wondering if plugins that I tested and then disabled make OCPN "fat and slow", so to say. Running ver 5.24 on Win10 x64 . The reason I'm asking is:

1. My OCPN is definitely clogging up the PC - PC is flawless until I run OCPN

2 - I unfortunately haven't found a way to "completely remove" plugins that I tested and then decided not to use. Even if I choose uninstall for the Plugin Manager controlled plugins; all it does is revert to the previously installed former version; albeit disabled. Yet it still appears in the plugin list.

3 - Another example: I have two versions of Squiddio and cannot completely remove either!

So if these unused/disabled plugins do indeed make the program run fatter and slower; then how do I completely remove them? The only plugin showing up in the Program List of Windows is Chart Scaler; which I prefer to keep. The rest seem to be managed by the Plugin Manager; which doesn't give me the option to completely remove a certain plugin.

Thank you.

[bdbcat]

Odysseus7
A disabled plugin, whether managed or un-managed, does not get loaded. So cannot be responsible for performance deterioration at run-time.
There is some very small cost involved in inspection of all available plugins, enabled or not, during OCPN startup. This is a transient, probably 50 msec. or so.


If you are having performance problems, look to the graphics system. Are you using OpenGL?

Dave

[Odysseus7]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

If you are having performance problems, look to the graphics system. Are you using OpenGL?

Dave

Hello Dave, many thanks for your reply. Yes, I am using OpenGL; and settings are: Texture Compression with caching (1.3mb), polygon and line smoothing all enabled. (These I believe are the default settings, never touched them.)

Another component I suspect is the "connections":

- AIS and compass data are usb serial inputs;
- GPS NMEA are wifi UDP input connected;
- and OPENCPN serves all of this data (and whatever else I might not know) in a TCP outgoing connection to another chartplotter program on the same PC (The one on which I'm running a legal Navionics map).

So OpenCPN scans radar on radar Pi + AIS, GPS and compass; relays the latter three to the other chartplotter program in TCP.

Could this be the reason? And if yes, how would you suggest that I decrease CPU/RAM load?

Thank you.

[Hakan]

Odysseus7..
re: "- and OPENCPN serves all of this data (and whatever else I might not know) in a TCP outgoing connection to another chartplotter program on the same PC (The one on which I'm running a legal Navionics map)."
One thought..
Be sure your outgoing connection is not set to also receive input data. i.e. deselect "[ ] Receive input on this port" otherwise you'll create a feedback loop. All output data will be received and output again and so on in infinity. That will choke any system.

[Odysseus7]

Originally Posted by Hakan

Be sure your outgoing connection is not set to also receive input data. i.e. deselect "[ ] Receive input on this port" otherwise you'll create a feedback loop.

Dear Hakan; many thanks as always but of course input is deselected; so many warning signs on the wiki, hard to miss this one

Best

[Odysseus7]

Originally Posted by Hakan

Odysseus7..
re: "
One thought..
Be sure your outgoing connection is not set to also receive input data. i.e. deselect "[ ] Receive input on this port" otherwise you'll create a feedback loop. All output data will be received and output again and so on in infinity. That will choke any system.

Dear Hakan, on second thought, I suspect these two connections could be "colliding" or "looping" somehow as the addresses and ports r the same; and if yes, what should I do? (As they r UDP and TCP separately I thought nothing would happen but maybe I'm wrong)

To OCPN:

GPS: Input UDP Address 0.0.0.0 Port 10110

From OCPN:

All NMEA Data: Output TCP Address 0.0.0.0 Port 10110

Thank you

[bcn]

Originally Posted by Odysseus7

From OCPN:

All NMEA Data: Output TCP Address 0.0.0.0 Port 10110

Thank you

TCP is point to point. To which exact IP do you want to output?



Found this observation:

In the context of servers, 0.0.0.0 means all IPv4 addresses on the local machine. If a host has two IP addresses, 192.168.1.1 and 10.1.2.1, and a server running on the host listens on 0.0.0.0, it will be reachable at both of those IPs

You might have a loop here.

[Odysseus7]

Originally Posted by bcn

TCP is point to point. To which exact IP do you want to output?



Found this observation:

You might have a loop here.

Thank you BCN. The static IP address of the PC on the boat's network is 192.168.1.119 ;
The TCP connection of the recipient program on the same PC as OCPN is set to 127.0.0.1 Port 10110

And a reminder;
Boat's router is broadcasting GPS to 192.168.1.119 as UDP
and OCPN's incoming GPS connection setting is UDP 0.0.0.0 Port 10110 .
and OCPN's outgoing all NMEA data TCP setting is TCP 0.0.0.0 Port 10110.

Thanks a lot for your help.

[Hakan]

Originally Posted by Odysseus7

Thank you BCN. The static IP address of the PC on the boat's network is 192.168.1.119 ;
The TCP connection of the recipient program on the same PC as OCPN is set to 127.0.0.1 Port 10110

And a reminder;
Boat's router is broadcasting GPS to 192.168.1.119 as UDP
and OCPN's incoming GPS connection setting is UDP 0.0.0.0 Port 10110 .
and OCPN's outgoing all NMEA data TCP setting is TCP 0.0.0.0 Port 10110.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Odysseus7..
All connections are so to say on the same IP address. 192.168.1.119 and 127.0.0.1 and 0.0.0.0 are basically the same thing; localhost.
And just to clarify: The router can't transmit or broadcast anything. It just direct the traffic. Something else is broadcasting the UDP to 10110. What's that?

One thing to detect a loop is to eliminate. And study the NMEA debug window while things are changed.
I suggest:

1. Disable all connections in Options->Connections. Check if OCPN performance is changed. If OK proceed.
2. Enable the GPS connection. UDP 0.0.0.0 : 10110. Input only! Check the debug window what's received. If in doubts take a copy and publish here.
3. Enable the TCP output only connection to 10110. Study the debug window. No more black input rows shall show up. Only blue from the TCP connection.
4. Start the TCP receiving program and check for changes in the debug window.
   If black input (UDP) rows are increasing when the TCP connection is enabled there's something wrong in the setup.
5. Change port on the TCP connection to e.g. 10112 and the same on the receiver program.
   If that for any reason is not possible try to change both ports for the GPS stream instead.

Good luck and pls report back.
Håkan

[Odysseus7]

Originally Posted by Hakan

Good luck and pls report back.
Håkan

Dear Hakan; many thanks for your detailed instructions. I followed them through as you stated; and here are the results.

First of all; I eliminated the unnecessary nmea messages that the gps unit was sending and kept only the vital ones in order to decrease the work load of OCPN. That really did make a difference. But turns out there's no loop but OCPN is acting as the bottleneck. Here's how I came to that conclusion:

1. Started both chartplotter programs and opened up the connections in the order u stated.
2. Observed the Task Manager window that shows CPU, memory etc usage of all apps in each step of the process.
3. I increased the CPU priority of both applications to the highest priority ; which is "real time". Even so; total CPU usage oscillates between 50 to 60% and memory between 40 to 50%. Had there been a loop; the pc would have maxed out.
4. OCPN uses 30 to 40% in this instance. I believe all is fair.and ok so far; but: OCPN responds slowly. The Radar Pi sweep from Pi plugin is intermittently paused and some menu items respond slower.
5. I have also enclosed some shots of the nmea debug window.

For the record; I'm running the latest OCPN version Win10.x64 pro.

The enabled plugins are: Radar Pi, WMM, Dashboard, Chart Scale, Chart downloader, Watchdog , GPS Odometer.

During the test, GPS odometer, watchdog and chart downloader were not.active.

Would be great if you could advise as to how I can make OCPN run smoothly.

Many thanks.

[Hakan]

Odysseus7..
I'd say your Win10 CPU load is more than general. Less than 10% for a similar setup would be more general. The memory usage, 100 - 200 Mb, is nothing strange.
- You've two screens. What if you only use one? Any difference?
- There seems to be two radars? The picture is not clear enough on my screen to see details. Is it Halo/4G A and B?


To find a possible cause you may deactivate all but inbound plugins and all connections.

While studying the CPU load activate one connection at a time. If nothing strange also activate one plugin at a time. Suggested order: Radar Pi, Watchdog, GPS Odometer and Chart Scale.

For every step look for stepped up CPU load.

If nothing obvious I think we're back on Dave's advice to claim the graphical system and maybe check for outdated drivers. Does one or two screen make any difference?

Håkan

[Hakan]

Odysseus7..
Just for info I picket up an old Compaq PC AMD 2.2 GHz 1, 1. RAM is 3 Gb and a ATI Radeon HD4200 with 250 Mb graphic memory. (I think the CPU has to do a lot graphic work then)

That PC is used for test purposes only but with the latest Win10 it use 30 - 50% of the CPU with a similar OCPN setup as yours. The performance is slow and patient is a good habit when I (seldom) use that one.

Håkan

[Odysseus7]

Originally Posted by Hakan

Odysseus7..
I'd say your Win10 CPU load is more than general. Less than 10% for a similar setup would be more general. The memory usage, 100 - 200 Mb, is nothing strange.
- You've two screens. What if you only use one? Any difference?
- There seems to be two radars? The picture is not clear enough on my screen to see details. Is it Halo/4G A and B?

.....

If nothing obvious I think we're back on Dave's advice to claim the graphical system and maybe check for outdated drivers. Does one or two screen make any difference?

Håkan

Dear Hakan, many thanks for following up. I would like to answer your first post first:

- I have to use two screens as I need two chartplotters, can only test single/double monitor performance when I get to the boat this weekend.
- It is a Navico (B&G) 4G Radar. Only one interface is active though, not using the second one.
- All drivers are up to date, I'm very disciplined on that part.
- I will also test the performance when I have OpenGL disabled on the graphics tab.

Originally Posted by Hakan

Odysseus7..
Just for info I picket up an old Compaq PC AMD 2.2 GHz 1, 1. RAM is 3 Gb and a ATI Radeon HD4200 with 250 Mb graphic memory. (I think the CPU has to do a lot graphic work then)
Håkan

My PC is a military-grade Dell 7202 Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet made to withstand heat & water ingress. It's not a "performance" pc per se but a durable and reliable one.

The specs are:

Processor: Intel® Core™ M-5Y71 Processor; 1.2GHz base 2.9GHz turbo boost CPU speed, 2 cores, 4 threads, 4MB cache
OS: Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Memory: 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3
Chipset: Intel Integrated
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5300
Display: 11.6” HD (1366 x 768) 16:9 Direct-View outdoor-readable display with glove-capable multi-touch and Gorilla® Glass 3

[wholybee]

I found the biggest drag on performance for me was having too many routes/waypoints in memory. Even if they are not visible, or hidden, if they are in the routes and waypoints dialog, they will be affecting performance. I used to keep all of my previous tracks and waypoints, hidden. Now I have exported them out of OCPN and deleted them from the routes screen.

As for the Laptop specs, if you don't have an SSD, you really should get one. That quadrupled the speed of everything my laptop does.

[Odysseus7]

Originally Posted by wholybee

I found the biggest drag on performance for me was having too many routes/waypoints in memory.
.....
As for the Laptop specs, if you don't have an SSD, you really should get one. That quadrupled the speed of everything my laptop does.

Thank you wholybee, I have nearly no waypoints in memory; and the PC is running a 256GB SSD.