Eek out a bit of extra performance with KDE/KWin

[toastiety]

Hi. Wanted to share a tip that gave me a bit of a boost when using KWin (KDE).

(The faster picture version is at the bottom).

KDE System Settings -> Window Behavior -> Window Rules

Click "New" for a new rule. Enter whatever you like for a description. Make "Window class (application)" set to "Exact Match" and "hl2_linux". Leave the rest alone here.

Then go to the "Apperances & Fixes" tab. I personally choose "No titlebar and frame" and "Force" it to "Yes". The more important one is "Block Compositing" and "Force" it to "Yes".

This causes KWin not to composite the window. It leaves the rest of your desktop unaffected. If you also remove the titlebar/border, you can use Alt+Drag (or Super+Drag depending on your system) to move the window around.

THIS WILL AFFECT ALL HL2_LINUX BASED GAMES. You may need to modify these rules to affect more games if you so desire.

Gallery of these steps: http://imgur.com/GnIi3LH,OQqRqcB,vdbNGxb,Xti6Rdq#0

Step 1: http://i.imgur.com/GnIi3LH.png
Step 2: http://i.imgur.com/OQqRqcB.png
Step 3: http://i.imgur.com/vdbNGxb.png
Step 4: http://i.imgur.com/Xti6Rdq.png

[blackout24]

Why not simply use the "Auto Suspend Desktop Effects on Fullscreen" option for the whole Workspace?

System Settings -> Workspace/Desktop Effects -> Advanced

Also you can see if "Unredirect Fullscreen" is enabled. It is enable by default in KDE4 but some Distros that don't ship vanilla KDE disable it.

$ nano .kde4/share/config/kwinrc

If under [Composting] you don't find:
UnredirectFullscreen=true
add it and save.

Alt + F2 to open KRunner. Execute "kwin --replace"

[toastiety]

Originally posted by t.jp Linux:

Why not simply use the "Auto Suspend Desktop Effects on Fullscreen" option for the whole Workspace?

System Settings -> Workspace/Desktop Effects -> Advanced

I HATE fullscreen. More than almost anything else. But yeah, you're right, I didn't think of that.

[blackout24]

Playing a games in a windows (no pun intended) just doesn't feel like you are in the game for most people.

Suspend Effects and Unredirect Fullscreen. Voila. Fastest desktop enviroment for gaming.
In case someone asks. No you won't have any better performance with something ugly and minimalist like Openbox/LXDE or XFCE. RAM usage has zero effect on games.
Lightweight != Effective.

[toastiety]

Originally posted by t.jp Linux:

Playing a games in a windows (no pun intended) just doesn't feel like you are in the game for most people.

Yeah. I'm over-stimulated, addicted to multitasking and I have two monitors, one of which is at 2560x1440. All make it hard for me to deal with fullscreen. That's for special occasions like Halo or Amnesia.

[TeknoTroll]

Originally posted by Linux Atheisto:

Originally posted by t.jp Linux:

Playing a games in a windows (no pun intended) just doesn't feel like you are in the game for most people.

Yeah. I'm over-stimulated, addicted to multitasking and I have two monitors, one of which is at 2560x1440. All make it hard for me to deal with fullscreen. That's for special occasions like Halo or Amnesia.

Hahaha, Amnesia! Do you also play at night with lights turned off and wearing headphones with volume to max?