Finally some hardware acceleration fixes

February 23, 2012 · by Tommy A. Olsen

Our latest work package with hardware acceleration fixes has been in the pipeline for a long time for several reasons, but it has finally landed in mainline. Wahoo!

This work package is especially nice for Mac users, who will see major improvements to fonts now that we are using Apples Core Text api for everything except font management.

Let me also take this opportunity to thank you all for your great support and feedback over the years. After we started this blog early in 2006, communication with you, our users, improved dramatically. Alas, this week is my last week with Opera, it is time for me to move on. To quote my then colleague Wilhelm: So long, and thanks for all the bugs.

WARNING: This is a development snapshot: It contains the latest changes, but may also have severe known issues, including crashes, and data loss situations. In fact, it may not work at all.

Download

Changelog
Desktop (general)

DSK-348879 Crash when quitting Opera with Mail initialization dialog opened
DSK-355931 No window control buttons at the rightmost corner of menu bar
DSK-357123 [windows] Menu Bar is rendered black using classic theme

Hardware acceleration

Avoid initializing OpenGL for GPU vendor lookup if possible, to avoid crashes on startup
Started using Core Text for rendering on Mac. This improves both speed and display of fonts
Improved CJK font selection on Mac
Fixed crash with web fonts on Mac
Several font display fixes on Windows
CT-2073 Large % or px font-size in svg crashes Opera
DSK-356529 Mac: Cannot open new windows
DSK-350966 Mac: Plug-in content left on screen below fixed element
DSK-353729 "Show Menu Bar" makes suggestion bars cover the address and search input fields while typing
DSK-353234 Extensions "install" button background is blue, would be white (background-position is offset)
DSK-357892 Menu Bar doesn't appear with XP classic theme
CORE-42455 Use different antialiasing filter to avoid Opera surface becoming blurry on Nvidia

Readers' comments

Comments left by My Opera members under the original post: the first 50, as archived.

Ar1Pear1peThursday, February 23, 2012 5:04:44 PM
Testing, thank you.
netwolfThursday, February 23, 2012 5:11:33 PM
Bye bye, Tommy!
Always sad to see good developers/QA engineers/employees leave Opera
Still, I wish you all the best for your future, wherever it may be...
United States of EuropeunitedstatesofeuropeThursday, February 23, 2012 5:11:50 PM
It crashes when attempting to render a website(some 50% of the sites I've visited/tried to visit). GPU on(without it - all works fine), Sony(VAIO) drivers for AMD gaphics, windows 7.

Have a good day.
scottjeansummersThursday, February 23, 2012 5:15:45 PM
Noticed that Hotspot Shield VPN hacks in Opera nowadays. They used to show their ads and stuff inside Firefox, IE and Chrome usually.

Now they started showing up even in Opera Wahoo builds.

Is there a way to stop them?

Can someone figure out how they are doing it?

You can download Hotspot Shield Latest version here

http://www.unblocker.co.nr
ПавелGemorrojThursday, February 23, 2012 5:17:15 PM
This is the final fix?!
With hardware acceleration is not displayed correctly translucent window. For example, floating windows of different download managers.
GalileoThursday, February 23, 2012 5:18:52 PM
Thank you for the build and your hard work toman
berend ytsmaytsmabeerThursday, February 23, 2012 5:21:12 PM
Can't get HWA to turn on, while it worked in a build before.

Just getting Software and unknown error
Bryan KirkZero3KThursday, February 23, 2012 5:22:31 PM
Does this snapshot contain the fixes from the latest 11.62 snapshot?
Rianav AntaresKerenSkyyThursday, February 23, 2012 5:32:21 PM
thank you! testing now!
Lets see if gmplib and the router crash this build.
bachokochoThursday, February 23, 2012 5:34:22 PM
well, 'pretty nice snapshot'
pursanovdThursday, February 23, 2012 5:44:59 PM
Seems really more responsive than previous snapshot! And its really bad news that you are leaving, Tommy! Wish you good luck and want to say thank you for all the work youve done for Opera with your team.
Vadimmve88Thursday, February 23, 2012 5:46:14 PM
Very slow performance on http://webvizbench.com/Default.htm?skipdetect
JackWagonThursday, February 23, 2012 5:46:20 PM
I hate to be a negative nancy, but the just released 11.62 build is miles ahead of this in terms of performance and image loading speed. GUI still seems sluggish with HW acceleration enabled.

Windows x64. Phenom II Quad, Nvidia GT430.
nimu_channimuchanThursday, February 23, 2012 6:00:30 PM
Oh...Thank you very much!!
BS-HarouThursday, February 23, 2012 6:04:32 PM
Tommy: You'll be missed
Christophchristoph142Thursday, February 23, 2012 6:05:27 PM
opera:gpu
only shows backend not supported: unknown error
no matter if I set 0, 1 or 2 in opera:config#EnableHWA

Intel Series 4 Express @ Win8 DevP x64
MichałEmdekThursday, February 23, 2012 6:09:03 PM
CT-2073 Large % or px font-size in svg crashes Opera

Yeah, I think I've seen it when zooming some SVGs...

Still waiting for address field dropdown favicons return. ;-)
Obese MauriceObeseMauriceThursday, February 23, 2012 6:13:04 PM
Awful performance ... choppy scrolling etc.

Also this error:

http://i.imgur.com/OrVqS.png

Win7 x64, GeForce 8800 GTS - 295.73 drivers, Flash 11.1.102.62
Ja`Nusz WuPLUserThursday, February 23, 2012 6:17:20 PM
After using extension with popup windows (translator) it not close and is visible on ALL pages/tabs
I must switch off HWA.

Backend Vega
OpenGL
OpenGL
Wersja listy blokowanych
1.0.5
Status blokowania dla 2D
Obsługiwana
Status blokowania dla 3D
Obsługiwana
GL_VENDOR
ATI Technologies Inc.
GL_RENDERER
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO
GL_VERSION
3.3.11079 Compatibility Profile Context

Still I can't work with Notes, Extension manager, bookmarks manager, and all Opera windows opening as window, not in tab (back window empty inside)

WinXT SP3 PL
dupelThursday, February 23, 2012 6:21:48 PM
Curious what will happen to HW accel now? As I can see Tommy os the developer of it on Opera, and from the looks of it - the only one who has been working on it (hence the speed of releases).
minhoThursday, February 23, 2012 6:22:41 PM
Go to http://globotv.globo.com/busca?q=gols+gre-nal&dt=&d=&o=&c=&p=&page=1
Scroll down and change to second page
Hard to explain...
win 7 x64
Satan D. LucifersupertrolThursday, February 23, 2012 6:25:01 PM
Originally posted by JackWagon:

I hate to be a negative nancy, but the just released 11.62 build is miles ahead of this in terms of performance and image loading speed. GUI still seems sluggish with HW acceleration enabled.

Windows x64. Phenom II Quad, Nvidia GT430.

I dont think this is the "final" fix for HWA(there are more to come i believe)

and also dont forget it says in opera:about(12 ALPHA)

i think the next batch of wahoo builds will introduce what is listed in this page (and working on to beta phase)

http://www.opera.com/docs/specs/presto2.10/

and opera may(maybe) surprise us with presto 3.0(i am dreaming:hat: )

lets just wait.
SteveKongThursday, February 23, 2012 6:25:58 PM
As far as I see, the "install" extension buttons on https://addons.opera.com/de/addons/extensions/ is still blue. Though, now they have a small white stripe at the bottom.
ouzowtfouzoWTFThursday, February 23, 2012 6:28:47 PM
Thank you for your features and bugfixing, Tommy. Good luck on your way, whatever it will be.

---

Does this build contain DSK-357882 from the 11.62 snapshot today?
minhoThursday, February 23, 2012 6:34:44 PM
Go to http://www.viomundo.com.br/politica/pha-entrevista-amaury-ribeiro-jr.html
I see this error message
"This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough."

win 7 x64
Howking HeyingHowkingThursday, February 23, 2012 6:45:55 PM
Acceleration fixes????
Humor?
This is screenshot first launch this build:

OSX Lion 10.7.3
MacBook Pro
MacBookPro3,1
Intel Core 2 Duo
2,4 GHz
L2 Cache: 4 MB
RAM: 4 GB
FSB: 800 MHz
Boot ROM: MBP31.0070.B07
SMC: 1.18f5
UUID hardwaru: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-001B639D8948
BugfixerThursday, February 23, 2012 6:51:45 PM
No more crashes on start up Opera. Opera feels a LOT more faster than previous versions of Opera 12 alpha.
Great work, thanks for it.

Vega backend: Software

OpenGL
Backend not supported: Unknown error

Nvidia Geforce 7600 GS with driver version 295.73
Windows 7 32 Bit
THEASTThursday, February 23, 2012 6:51:58 PM
The jerky scrolling issue that plagued quite a few builds some time ago is back in this build (HWA off):

http://photoserver.ws/images/9U2c4f468941b90db.jpg

Well at least the menu bar is fixed in XP.

Edit: sth funny happened just now:

http://photoserver.ws/images/G1g84f468a60263ff.jpg

Not sure how it happened or why.

Don't like to say this but it seems more stuff are getting broken in some builds than getting fixed, these days.
//markpoleonThursday, February 23, 2012 6:54:37 PM
wow!
NuriThursday, February 23, 2012 7:03:41 PM
The links panel is not working, totally empty.
ncc50446Thursday, February 23, 2012 7:05:13 PM
To quote Douglas Adams: "So long, and thanks for the fish." (Quite fitting with the names lol) And thanks for your work with Opera, and good luck

Crashes when I shut down Opera, but other than that, it seems to be working great so far, thanks!
OlliOlli91Thursday, February 23, 2012 7:08:27 PM
Feels very stable on OSX 10.8. Much better than the last build I tested with HWA turned on! Seems we finally got HWA in a state where we can come closer to a beta though I don't know what's going on on Windows. No crashes so far, tested several sites, even twitter has become pretty fast now! Nice work guys, keep it up!

Edit: Would be really nice if you could eliminate the big memory usage next!
Petter Nilsenmitchman2Thursday, February 23, 2012 7:15:38 PM
Originally posted by dupel:

Curious what will happen to HW accel now? As I can see Tommy os the developer of it on Opera, and from the looks of it - the only one who has been working on it (hence the speed of releases).

Tommy worked as one of the QA engineers. We have many developers working on HWA, and other QA people too.
RooterRooter78Thursday, February 23, 2012 7:19:13 PM
With HWA on Windows Opera still hogs one core of my CPU (i5-2500K@4100MHz) when scrolling nicely styled sites like i.e. www.computerbase.de
With HWA off or with Opera 11.62 it only takes ~3% when scrolling... Hope this will get better with DirectX render pipeline.

Good luck Toman for your new job!

Originally posted by Bugfixer:

No more crashes on start up Opera. Opera feels a LOT more faster than previous versions of Opera 12 alpha.
Great work, thanks for it.

Vega backend: Software

OpenGL
Backend not supported: Unknown error

Nvidia Geforce 7600 GS with driver version 295.73
Windows 7 32 Bit

You should probably try with HWA enabled...

QuHnoThursday, February 23, 2012 7:26:59 PM

Something strange happens here:
if I start Opera with the -pd option, I get

Vega backend Software 
OpenGL
Backend not supported Unknown error

If I start normal, it is supported and works.

Vega backend OpenGL 
OpenGL
Blocklist version 1.0.5 
Blocklist status for 2D Supported 
Blocklist status for 3D Supported 
GL_VENDOR ATI Technologies Inc. 
GL_RENDERER ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics 
GL_VERSION 3.3.11399 Compatibility Profile Context
(...)
GL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION 3.30 
Vendor ID 0x1002 
Device ID 0x9614 
Driver version 8.930.0.0

USB install on HDD. w7x64

Can anyone confirm a similar behavior?

edit: Submitted as DSK-358100

SamHuRRaCaNeThursday, February 23, 2012 7:28:33 PM

Windows 7 64 bit. Intel HD Graphics 3000 (was blocked in the previous snapshots)
Works with my GeForce GT 550M GPU.
minhoThursday, February 23, 2012 7:39:30 PM
Opera frezes all the time when HWa is ON
Video card: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 10)

opera:gpu says

Vega backend
OpenGL
OpenGL
Blocklist version
1.0.4
Blocklist status for 2D
Supported
Blocklist status for 3D
Supported
GL_VENDOR
Tungsten Graphics, Inc
GL_RENDERER
Mesa DRI Intel(R) G33
GL_VERSION
1.4 Mesa 7.11.2

Fedora 16 x32
SerpherThursday, February 23, 2012 7:39:48 PM
Ok, this build with HWA On works kinda weird. It slows down reaction time for websites elements. Even Opera's GUI losses some response or animations are glitchy.

Windows 7 x64
GeForce GTX 460
MeKsevioThursday, February 23, 2012 7:40:58 PM
A couple times I've gotten a random Runtime Error box popping up:
Runtime Error!
Program: C:\Program Files\Opera\opera.exe

R6025
- pure virtual funciton call

If I click OK, then Opera crashes a few seconds later.
Jernej SimončičеnderThursday, February 23, 2012 7:44:23 PM
Finally I can keep hardware acceleration enabled - no more too dark text!
minhoThursday, February 23, 2012 7:53:53 PM
Opera button disappears when I change Opera language.
Fedora 16 x32
furueThursday, February 23, 2012 7:54:36 PM
Does somebody notice that Opera is quite slow on youtube? When I play a video, scrolling is painfully slow. When I type text in the comment box of youtube, the text cursor moves sluggishly. I think that started from the last snapshot (12.00 alpha) and this snapshot is the same.

My text cursor in this very text box is very, very slow, as I type this.

Should I report this? or is this already known?

Debian GNU/Linux (testing), i386.
KalinbaThursday, February 23, 2012 8:07:53 PM
What can I say.... whit huge regret I have to announce that Opera has lost my trust. I have tried EVERY SINGLE VERSION: the current stable one, the Wahoo 12 or any other Beta and everytime I have SUCH A HUGE EXCITEMENT to make Opera my NUMBER 1!!! browser and 5-10 days later it falls short. This has happened over 20 times now. I keep going back to Chrome ((( And I do not give up easily. I keep trying and trying and trying because I love Opera...but what can I say even the 11.62 is slugish ON THE 2-3 MOST IMPORTANT SITES IN THE WORLD. Get angry with me or whatnot, but I do like communicating with my friends on Facebook and it is the #1 site in the world pretty much...I am business major in one of the best business schools in the world and IT IS SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE FOR A BUSINESS MODEL TO ALLOW THE NUMBER #1 SITE IN THE WORLD TO BE PERFORMING SLUGGISHLY/BUGGY/UNRELIABLE IF U ARE IN THE BUSINESS OF BROWSER MAKING!!!! (( Sadly it is true. The next site is GMAIL!!! Myself and the rest of the world uses those sites 90% of the time.....So if you cannot make those 2-3 websites perform OUTSTANDINGLY....what can I say. Yes Opera flies on many many sites...which I visit 1-2 times a month. But facebook and gmail I visit 40 times a day!!!!! THIS IS DISGRACE!!!!
If I was a higher-managment position in Opera, I would not let anybody leave the office IF THOSE TWO WEBSITE PERFORMANCE BEAT EVERY OTHER BROWSER!!! PERIOD!!! Chrome performs outstandingly in them.
I am sorry I love Opera but 5 min ago I had to switch back to Chrome.
JarasmenThursday, February 23, 2012 8:26:01 PM
CPU usage still seems to spike now and again on Gmail with HWA, but the improvement is clearly noticeable. I remember the browser getting almost completely locked up with every movement of mouse in the page area. So far so good.
wannadanceThursday, February 23, 2012 8:36:38 PM
Scrolling is still jerky .
Ayrton Nádgelayrtonnadgel92Thursday, February 23, 2012 8:56:34 PM
Originally posted by pursanovd:

Seems really more responsive than previous snapshot! And its really bad news that you are leaving, Tommy! Wish you good luck and want to say thank you for all the work youve done for Opera with your team.

+1
furueThursday, February 23, 2012 8:59:37 PM
Originally posted by Ksevio:

Runtime Error!Program . . . pure virtual funciton call
Didn't the ANSI C++ standard tell you that a pure virtual function cannot be called in constructors/destructors?

No offense intended. I'm just amused that the user sees such an arcane issue of a programming language. (I'm not presuming that the error message is actually resulting from a simple violation of the standard.)
Christophchristoph142Thursday, February 23, 2012 9:09:58 PM
nice to see drag & drop evolving as well
Since it shows the actual element moving on drag now (opera:config#UserPrefs|EnableDrag = 1), I guess time has almost come for Presto 2.10
Looking forward to the next releases
pepkin88Thursday, February 23, 2012 9:10:55 PM
I have a strange bug. Content blocker is blocking documents which aren't on blocklist. Even Dragonfly is blocked.
spillerrecThursday, February 23, 2012 9:16:41 PM
Scrolling at sites with HWA on causes CPU usage to go up quite a bit and on certain sites this is enough to lag the scrolling. The site which I experienced had the worst performance so far is http://css3test.com/ where it lags so much it becomes hard to scroll.

I'm not experiencing this issue when I disable all CSS (by switching style to User mode).

By using the debugger and removing the fixed positioned elements improved performance a lot on css3test (though still lagging), but I don't believe this was the cause as I remember sites which used a fixed positioned background image tend to lag in stable releases of Opera too.

Win7 64-bit
GL_VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER: GeForce GTX 560 Ti/PCI/SSE2
GL_VERSION: 4.1.0
...
GL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION: 4.10 NVIDIA via Cg compiler
Vendor ID: 0x10de
Device ID: 0x1200
Driver version: 8.17.12.8026

About this article

Published in	Desktop Team blog
Date	February 23, 2012
Author	Tommy A. Olsen
Tags	Core Text, hardware acceleration
Original	Internet Archive

Finally some hardware acceleration fixes

Readers' comments

About this article

Browsers

Add-ons

Services

Developers

Help

Company