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krisk09
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Fusion Pro 12 Graphics Perfomance Poor

Just updated to 12 Pro from 11.5.6 Pro.  The graphics performance is noticeably slower.  Tried reinstalling VMware tools and tried different Display settings with no change.  Just using some apps for programming.  In the apps you can basically see it slowly rebuild a toolbar for instance one icon at a time basically.

VM is Windows 10 Pro with latest updates.  2 CPU and 4gb dedicated to it.

Mac is a 2017 MBP 3.1ghz i7 with 16gb ram and an AMD Radeon Pro 560 4gb with MacOS 10.15.6

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krisk09
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

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rachelsunsm
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi,

Fusion 12 enabled DX11, which need more shared memory. Could you increase your shared memory and try.

Settings->Display->Shared graphics memory to 8192 MB (Recommend)

Thanks,

krisk09
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I changed the Shared graphics to 8192 up from 1024.

I changed the memory to 8192 from 4096.

I changed the CPU from 2 cores to 3 cores.

The above made no differences.  Still looks the same as in the video.

I disabled "Accelerate 3D Graphics" and the menus not are not flashing like in the video I posted.Screen Shot 2020-09-15 at 8.26.03 PM.png

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rachelsunsm
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Could you share your vmware.log/mksSandbox.log, we will find expert to see what's the problem.

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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

What app are you using?

Do other apps perform poorly as well, or just specific apps?

-
Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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krisk09
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

The apps are Crestron Simpl and Crestron VTPro from www.crestron.com

I've been using these with Fusion since version 8 and Parallels before that.

I haven't had to chance to look at other apps in depth but these may be the most affected by the update.

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krisk09
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

rachelsunsmSure.  Let me know where I might find that file and where to send it.  Thanks.

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rachelsunsm
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Thanks for your help. you can find these log files under your vm directory. you can find them by one of the following methods:

1. on the vm libray select the vm and right click your mouse-> Show in Finder. and ->Show the package Contents by right click the file show in finder.

2. in terminal client, you can find the vm directory and the file is under your the directory.

Just attach the vmware.log and mksSandbox.log

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joserfonseca
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

krisk09​,

Thanks for your report.

Creston doesn't seem to allow unregistered (non-costumer) users to download their software. As we can't repro this ourselves, we'll need you to do a few experiments for us.

One possibility (IMHO the most likely) is that this application requires D3D11 support, and now that Fusion 12 exposes D3D11 support, it's hitting a long standing but previously unknown bottleneck.  To confirm this possibility, power off you VM, manually edit the .vmx file, and add

svga.enableSM5=FALSE

then power it back on, rerun the application, and see how it performs.  Please power off  and remove the setting afterwards, as D3D11 won't work without it, and you might need it.

If this doesn't work, then the only explanation is that there's indeed a performance regression we didn't realize.  There are a few things we could try then.  But first let us know how you get on with the above experiment.

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krisk09
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

@joserfonseca

I made the change you listed and there was no change.  Same results as before.

Let me know what else you need me to do/try.

Thanks.

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joserfonseca
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

I see.  Thanks

The next experiment would be to determine whether the regression was introduced in VMware Tools or Fusion itself.

Could you please try to:

- Take a VM snapshot

- On VM settings, disable automatic tools upgrade

- Inside Windows, to go Settings, Add or remove programs, and uninstall VMware Tools

- Download and run https://packages.vmware.com/tools/releases/11.0.6/windows/x64/VMware-tools-11.0.6-15940789-x86_64.ex...

- See if it helps

- Revert to VM snapshot

If it makes a difference, then the issue is likely on Tools.  If not, it's on Fusion itself.

Thanks.

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krisk09
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

joserfonseca

Where do you disable automatic tools upgrade in VM settings?

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krisk09
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

joserfonseca

Ok figured out how to disable the automatic tool update.

Changed: tools.upgrade.policy = "upgradeAtPowerCycle" to tools.upgrade.policy = "manual"

Installed and verified tools were at version 11.0.6.

First test was:

2 CPU, 4gb memory and 8192 for the graphics with Accelerate 3d enabled.

Second test was:

4 CPU, 12gb memory and 8192 for the graphics with Accelerate 3d enabled.

Still no change with either the Tools or VM settings.

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joserfonseca
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Thanks.  I suppose that by exclusion the regression is in Fusion itself.

- turn off the VM

- modify the .vmx config file to have

  mksReplay.enableHotkey = "TRUE"

  vmx.buildType = "debug"

- power on and run the application

- press `Ctrl` `⌘` `-` to start recording

- reproduce the problem -- try to record around 1 min -- so there are enough frames to be able to measure performance differences

- press `Ctrl` `⌘ `-` again to stop recording

- power off the VM and undo the .vmx settings above

- A mks-replay.gz file should be created on the same directory as the VM.  This is a recording of all graphics commands executed by the VM.

Please provide this mks-replay.gz, eg, via the OneDrive account you used before, but please send the link via a personal message to me, via https://communities.vmware.com/people/joserfonseca , as it's best not share this recording publicly, in case personal info ends up being included.  If that doesn't work let me know, and I can provide you access to one ftp server of ours.

With this recording we should be able to bisect the performance regression between Fusion 11 and 12, in-house.

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krisk09
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

joserfonseca

Message sent.  Let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks.

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LowcountryLDC
Contributor
Contributor

Yeah I am having this issue too.  The beta version had this regression issue too, which I noted as a bug, but never got a response.

I captured two videos, one using Fusion 11.5.5, and the other with Fusion 12.0.  The v 12.0 one is noticeably slower.  Autocad Civil 3D 2021 in Windows 10, 12gb RAM.  Video ram size doesn't affect it any.  AutoCAD doesn't even see DirectX11 is available, only DirectX9, unless it is forced with an environment variable.  All in all this is terrible that it was released in this state.

I tried attaching the videos, but this knowledgebase won't accept .MOV files it seems.

2015 27" Retina iMac w/ 32gb RAM, SSD, Radeon M395X macOS 10.15.6

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joserfonseca
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

LowcountryLDC

> Yeah I am having this issue too.  The beta version had this regression issue too, which I noted as a bug, but never got a response.

You mean https://communities.vmware.com/thread/639412 .  Sorry.  I don't know how we missed that.

> Autocad Civil 3D 2021 in Windows 10, 12gb RAM. 

Thanks.  Autodesk provides trials so it should be easier to reproduce this in-house.  (FWIW we did test many of Autodesk product suite, though I don't recall we specifically testing Civil.)

> AutoCAD doesn't even see DirectX11 is available, only DirectX9, unless it is forced with an environment variable.

Yes, this is indeed a known issue, which is not completely under our control, but which we are trying to get addressed.

> I tried attaching the videos, but this knowledgebase won't accept .MOV files it seems.

Perhaps it works if they are zip'ed.  If not I'll message you privately with alternative solution to uploads those videos.

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LowcountryLDC
Contributor
Contributor

Ok, I've compress the videos into a ZIP file and attached them here.

Autodesk does offer  30-day trial on nearly all of their products, including Civil 3D.  However I believe you will see this issue in the base Autocad as well.  If you send me a private link, I will send you our drawing template so you can reproduce the issue better.

Thanks