Compiz flickering on fullscreen games.....

I think i've found a kinda cure for this(it works for me anyway), just enable Opacity,Brightness and Saturation in compiz settings, under Window Specific Settings, click New and name the new item (labeled as windows) "dock" and set the bar (Windows values) to desired transparency (0-100, concureent to the amount of transparency that you want to apply), and voila no more flickering (y)

Compiz is not really meant to run along side games.

I personally suggest disabling desktop effects while playing games that cause issues such as this.

RaiCoss said: I think i've found a kinda cure for this(it works for me anyway), just enable opacity in compiz settings, under window specific settings, click add and name the new item "dock" and set the bar to desired transparency, and voila no more flickering (y)

Hey, if that really works, then good job!

Another workaround is to buy an nvidia card. But not everyone can just go do that, can they?

well no, i have a nvidia card lol, so that not really true =P, as for the disabling compiz comment, i always do, i just forgot when going to play etqw, and expected i'd have to ctrl+alt+backspace out to gdm, but to my surprise it didnt, and in fact everything ive tried now works fullscreen, and its definitley this that does it as when i disable opacity in compiz options, it flickers again, so it fixes it for me, whether or not it will work for other people i dont know, i just thought i'd post it incase it helps =]

I don't get flickering on my nvidia card

What kind of card do you have?? I've had the same problem on every nVidia card I've ever tried (GeForce 4MX/FX 5700/6200/7300GT (all AGP). and an 8600GT PCI-E my current card).

8600m gt

I also use nvidia's drivers from system→administration→hardware drivers and on ubuntu 8.10

8600m as in 8600 mobile or just a typo, and do you have compiz enabled when you run the games fullscreen?

mobile, and yeah always got compiz on

I tried running some 3d phoronix tests with it on or off and concluded it wasn't worth the inconvenience before

RaiCoss said: 8600m as in 8600 mobile or just a typo, and do you have compiz enabled when you run the games fullscreen?

Yeah, are you using nvidia's proprietary binary drivers? I've never had flickering with nvidia using those drivers. If you're using the restricted drivers, you shouldn't have flickering because they include their own hacked glx so that you don't have problems like that. I've always been able to do full screen *and* windowed 3D stuff with Compiz on without trouble.

Usually it's the ATI people that complain about flickering.

You're not using Xgl by chance, are you? If you are, that's your problem.

No I'm using the repository restricted driver (177.80) and still got the flickering till i came accross this, and don't even mention At-crappy-i, i hate them after the experience I've had with their drivers!

I have this problem too on my fairly numpty Nvidia 6200, and it's nothing new. Happens when playing DVD's too. Disabling Compiz before gaming is all well and good but it's not really a great solution. All it leads to is disabling Compiz altogether and not bothering, which I reckon is probably the best solution for now for most users I suppose.

Myself, I tend to try it every six months after a fresh install. What usually happens is I try it, it borks on me, and I forget it for the next six months. Still, it's not even reached it's first release yet, so I expect when version 1.0 comes out it'll be pretty solid.

I tend to think of it as one to watch for the future.

Hmmmmm. I don't get any problems with fullscreen videos/dvds, what are your system specs? And if you want a slightly more convenient way of switching between compiz and metacity try compiz switch.....

http://blogage.de/files/3611/download?compiz-switch_0.4.3%7Eubuntu-1_all.deb

Just add it to your task bar and then its just a single click to switch between them.

The best way to resolve this is to do:

metacity --replace

when you play the game, then do:

compiz --replace

Tbh compiz is a little pointless i guess, at least until they iron out all the glitches, metacity is rock solid, and thats really what you want isn't it =/

Nope, I can't live without Compiz now. It offers a lot of extra functionality of a plain 2d window manager.

Haha, fair enough, I only use compiz for vSync really, why oh why cant metacity vSync properly x(((

RaiCoss said: I think i've found a kinda cure for this(it works for me anyway), just enable Opacity,Brightness and Saturation in compiz settings, under Window Specific Settings, click New and name the new item (labeled as windows) "dock" and set the bar (Windows values) to desired transparency (0-100, concureent to the amount of transparency that you want to apply), and voila no more flickering (y)

where exactly is Window Specific Settings. I use CompizConfig Settings Manager.

maddog46113 said: where exactly is Window Specific Settings. I use CompizConfig Settings Manager.

Thats what i use too, in the Accesibilty section, its under Opacity, Brightness and Saturation (click it once) and its at the bottom, then follow the instructions in the original post ;]

Sweet works fantasticly. Thankls for the solution xD

maddog46113 said: Sweet works fantasticly. Thankls for the solution xD

no problem (y)