Graphics: a GPU preference API on GraphicsAdapter, and full screen on a hybrid laptop
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- C#
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Description
Summary
Follow-up to #3388, from @xen2's review there. Stride has no way to choose which GPU a game runs on beyond GraphicsDeviceManager.RequiredAdapterUid. #3388 first proposed a GraphicsAdapterFactory.GpuPreference static (an enum plus Reset()), which was withdrawn from that PR: a mutable static that changes what GraphicsAdapterFactory.Adapters returns, and a Reset() that disposes adapters a live GraphicsDevice may still use, is not the right shape.
Proposed direction (xen2)
GraphicsAdapterFactory reports what the system has, untouched, with facts on each GraphicsAdapter:
public enum GraphicsAdapterType { Unknown, Integrated, Discrete, Virtual, Software }
public GraphicsAdapterType Type { get; } // set by each backend
public int AdapterOrder { get; } // system enumeration order; 0 is the system default
public bool IsDefaultAdapter => AdapterOrder == 0;
public int PerformanceRank { get; } // platform's fastest-first order; 0 is the fastest
public int PowerEfficiencyRank { get; } // platform's most-efficient-first order; 0 is the most efficient
- Direct3D fills the ranks from DXGI
EnumAdapterByGpuPreference(HighPerformanceandMinimumPowerorders). - Vulkan fills them from
VkPhysicalDeviceType: Discrete > Integrated > Virtual > Cpu for performance, Integrated first for efficiency. - The preference itself lives with the other creation settings, in
GameGraphicsParametersthenGraphicsDeviceManager(e.g.PreferredGpu), andFindBestDevicessorts by the matching rank. Device creation stops depending on a mutable static.
Also to settle
- Full screen on a hybrid laptop: an adapter with no output produces no full-screen candidate in
FindBestDevices, so a game that starts full screen lands on the integrated GPU while the same game windowed lands on the discrete one. Exclusive full screen on an output-less adapter is not possible in DXGI, so the expected behaviour is probably borderless full screen on the chosen adapter rather than an output lookup.
Related
- #3388 keeps only the bug fix: the discrete GPU of a hybrid laptop is no longer skipped, and Vulkan enumerates the discrete GPU first as Direct3D already did.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with GraphicsAdapterFactory and the GraphicsAdapter implementations, then trace GameGraphicsParameters, GraphicsDeviceManager, and FindBestDevices; review #3388 for the existing hybrid-laptop fix. Done means adapter facts and backend ranks are reported, GPU preference is carried through device creation without mutable global state, and hybrid-laptop full-screen behavior is settled.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- csharp
- Domain
- computer-graphics, game-dev
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 42/100