Crouton: Choppy Framerate in certain programs

[Underscore13]

Please paste the output of the following command here: sudo edit-chroot -all

name: xenial
encrypted: no
Entering /mnt/stateful_partition/crouton/chroots/xenial...
crouton: version 1-20190902190258~master:9a594a66
release: xenial
architecture: amd64
xmethod: xorg
targets: xorg,xiwi,lxde
host: version 12607.58.0 (Official Build) beta-channel gnawty 
kernel: Linux localhost 4.4.196-16940-geab5e6346fdb #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Dec 12 22:50:28 PST 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
freon: yes

Please describe your issue:

Certain programs (mainly Minecraft, although I have experienced this with OBS Studio and SuperTux) have a visual bug in which they are not properly displayed as of a recent beta channel update. It causes a low, choppy framerate and is very inconvenient, although the programs are somewhat useable. I have tried deleting the chroot and installing a new one, using a different desktop environment and even powerwashing my Chromebook, but that does not work.

Below I have included a screenshot of the Minecraft title screen with the display bug I am have trouble with.

I would really appreciate any help with this!

[itacotaco]

I'm also having the choppy framerate issue!

[brandinchiu]

I've seen similar issues with Slack, and Postman on Xenial, and other visual artifacts upon first-launch of Chrome within the chroot.

[Underscore13]

Update: I tried to boot Minecraft up, and while it was loading I switched back to Chrome OS and a page that was running in the background (Discord) displayed an error message saying it ran out of memory. It seems as though starting up prgrams that I've never had trouble with eats up more memory than it used to.

[Peowraaku]

rebooting for the Chrome OS 78 update broke my xenial/XFCE on acer spin 13. i tried crouton -u already. the steam UI causes full screen tearing when looking at animated images in the store. chrome has lots of visual artifacts on launch. FTL, a native linux game, has bad screen tearing. Heat Signature, a proton/wine game, doesn't seem to be affected at all. glxgears runs and looks fine. no issues prior to the update. other desktop apps i've looked at are fine in xfce.
EDIT: version 79 was the update. my mistake. i made a new chroot with crouton -t kde-desktop -n kde and startkde -n kde. i hadn't previously tested kde, but its UI is full of the same visual artifacts.

[DennisLfromGA]

When you run into problems after a CrOS update it's always a good idea to update your chroot just to see if that fixes it as @Peowraaku did. 'course it doesn't always help. ;-)

There were a lot of GPU issues fixed/merged between 78.0.3904.106 & 79.0.3945.86, maybe it'd be good to file a report the next time you see these glitches via the key-combo Alt+Shift+i so the CrOS devs can see what's happening - it's a start.

Maybe the crouton devs can come up with something if they can repo it.

Hope this helps,
-DennisLfromGA

[Underscore13]

While the framerate issue seems much better now, the screen tearing issue still remains. I'd file a report, but I don't know how to describe it without mentioning crouton. Should I mention crouton in the report?

[DennisLfromGA]

@Underscore13,

Yes, I would mention crouton in the report. crouton runs in CrOS unlike Crostini so it's an integral part of it. When filing reports in Crostini they recommend you include #crostini in the description so I don't see anything wrong with doing that for crouton too if you want. Of course the crouton author does mention this:

Crostini is an official project within Chromium OS to bring the Linux shell and apps to the platform in verified mode with clean integration, multi-layered security, and all the polish you expect from Chromium OS proper.

That means compared to crouton, Crostini has official support, competent engineers, and code that looks a little less like ramen. crouton, in its defense, has wider device compatibility, enables direct hardware access, and is named after an objectively tastier bread-based food item.

But if it's an issue with Chrome OS then it should be reported.

Hope this helps,
-DennisLfromGA

[brandinchiu]

Bumping for visibility, just in case there's something that can be done from the Crouton end while we wait for a fix from Google:

[XiekenPlayz]

I still have the framerate problem, and the screen tearing occasionally happens when im using discord, but its not that much of a problem

[FadeShock]

Doesn't seem like there's a solution besides dealing with it. Oh well.

[FadeShock]

I found a small fix to the screen tearing: Its xenial. Try using another chroot, like Unity, which seems to work fine for me as of the time I am typing this.

[brandinchiu]

I found a small fix to the screen tearing: Its xenial. Try using another chroot, like Unity, which seems to work fine for me as of the time I am typing this.

I'm using Unity and the issue is still very pervasive.

[FadeShock]

Hmm... Probably just me then.
I'm running Unity on the Stable channel.

[NGamma]

Same here. Steam flickering, games freezing... since last chromeOS update.
I'm using xenial and already updated the crouton installer with no improvement.

[crazyeights]

This seems to happen when I change the Intel xorg config to SNA and tearfree true (essentially the crouton Intel conf file). Chromium has numerous artifacts along with Steam and Visual Studio Code. Tested on Ubuntu Bionic and Debian Buster, all desktops. Without this setting change, all desktops have terrible lag but display fine. I would try Xenial but I'll have to compile Mesa drivers for Amber Lake support.

[NGamma]

Updating to ChromeOS Version 81.0.4028.0 (Official Build) dev (64-bit) does not fix it...
Can I revert to 78?

[Underscore13]

@NGamma I don't think you can, actually.

[NGamma]

@Underscore13 That's disturbing, isn't it?

[brandinchiu]

Theoretically makes ChromeOS easier to maintain.

[Underscore13]

Yeah, I think that's the reason behind that. I have reverted back to an older version of Chrome OS before when using a recovery key, then had to update a whole lot to get to the then-current version. Maybe there is an unofficial way to revert back to a previous update, but personally I wouldn't recommend it

[NGamma]

@brandinchiu Theoretically, not been able to disable updates and not been able to revert those updates makes the user unable to fix the problem immediately... Honestly, I can't think of a more distopian OS (it's even worse than Windows Vista)

[NGamma]

This is from: https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromium-os-faq

Chromium OS FAQ
What's the difference between Chromium OS and Google Chrome OS?
Chromium OS does not auto-update by default (so that changes you may have made to the code are not blown away), whereas Google Chrome OS seamlessly auto-updates so that users have the latest and greatest features and fixes.
Google Chrome OS is supported by Google and its partners; Chromium OS is supported by the open source community.

[NGamma]

@Underscore13 Actually I've found that you can install any Chromium OS build you want from here:
https://arnoldthebat.co.uk/wordpress/chromium-os/
Edit:
If you want to use steam and can't wait, this is working for me now: https://chrx.org/ (galliumOS)

[Underscore13]

Right, I forgot about that.

[kketchmark]

I also had this issue with Chrome running in the Crouton Ubuntu system. I Disabled Use hardware acceleration when available in the Chrome Browser. Chrome Browser in Crouton/Ubuntu is working great again.

[life2977]

Since a month has passed, I'm really curious/hopeful if anyone has figured something out to fix the tearing and fps drops. If anything, I'd bump this up lmao.

Edit: I dunno if it's just me, but also everything had all of a sudden taken up a heck-ton of memory and has made my CPU wack. Is this happening to anyone else? It might have something to do with the display issues as well.

[OKRD342]

Is there any fix for this yet? I used to love using crouton's hardware acceleration but it seems xorg has just been broken since December.