Decouple render framerate from logic/physics framerate [1/2]

[UglinessInTheUI]

Here is a blend file that shows the broken timer but I don't know how to attach it. I will just post the link. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ope2RErGFmC04SMcQoiaI3AEtLCB8dgV/view?usp=sharing

[lordloki]

I can't check the blend yet but I think you expect the property gives you the real time. Instead of this, the Timer property really gives you the Frame time. Due to that when the FPS != 60 then the Timer property is not equal to real time.

[UglinessInTheUI]

If it's a frame rate based timer then that explains it. I was thinking it's a real timer. Is there a way to modify the source code to get the logic bricks to function based on a high precision timer and to not depend on the frame rate at all ? Or to separate the game logic, graphics and physics and to make each one run at different independent rates.

[youle31]

If it was working as you were expecting in upbge 0.2.4, we could eventually recover panzergame refactors related to time skipping vsync changes (which were causing issues). These commits were done just before 0.2.4

EDIT: Another upbge user said also that he prefered the way time was handled in 0.2.4 (@ SIGSEV / Rudolf)

EDIT2: Do you use 0.2.5 or 0.3?

[UglinessInTheUI]

I use 0.25a but I will have to get the latest beta or alpha or 0.3 because this one is pretty broken already. I'm also playing with UE4 but that one has tons of other bugs. Python 3.7 was saying something about time.time in nanoseconds. Is that the only timer we can use ? There is no other option for timers ?

[youle31]

I did a pull request to recover panzergame work in 0.3 (This seems to fix your bug). For 0.2.5, i'm not motivated right now but if you tinker with code, i left panzergame work references in my 0.3 pull request:
#1397

[UglinessInTheUI]

I only have the free compiler installed at the moment. As in, Visual Studio Code. What tools do I need to build the latest UPBGE version from source code ?

[youle31]

Visual studio 2019, cmake 3.18+, tortoise svn, git

https://github.com/UPBGE/upbge/wiki/Build-UPBGE-on-Windows

https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Building_Blender

[UglinessInTheUI]

Do they have a free version of Visual Studio 2019 ? Can you also include a download link for the modified version that has the timer fix ? Thanks.

[youle31]

Lordloki approved my pull request in 0.3 alpha. He also does regularly some new 0.3 alpha builds, and you can download it on upbge.org. It will normally be available in a few days.

EDIT: Yes, Visual studio 2019 community edition is free (you just need a microsoft mail (live.com, hotmail.com...))

[UglinessInTheUI]

Sounds good. Thanks. I have to install all those build tools and VS2019 but it's going to take a while. I will probably wait for an Alpha build or an updated version.

[lordloki]

initial issue pointing out decoupling physics framerate was solved. I pass this (and rename) to discussions to investigate how is possible to decouple visual framerate from logic framerate (idk if it possible)

[UglinessInTheUI]

There are examples on YouTube that show how to disconnect the logic loop from the drawing loop. Unfortunately the example was made in Java but the concept applies everywhere. The guy was using separate threads for each section.