PIX on Windows

Performance tuning and debugging for DirectX 12 games on Windows

Latest posts

New documentation page: Finding and Analyzing Context Switches
Aug 26, 2020
0
0

New documentation page: Finding and Analyzing Context Switches

Steven Pratschner
Steven Pratschner

Hi PIX users, I've written a new documentation topic on how to use the features in Timing Captures to find and analyze context switches (here). Feedback and questions appreciated as always. Thanks, Steven Pratschner - PIX team

Analyzing stalls and context switches in Timing Captures
Aug 26, 2020
0

Analyzing stalls and context switches in Timing Captures

Steven Pratschner
Steven Pratschner

A context switch occurs when a CPU core switches from executing code on one thread, to executing code on a different thread, or going to idle. When the OS switches the thread that is running on a CPU, it must save and restore state, both for the thread that is being switched out, and for the thread that is being switched in. This state, or context, includes data such as the current value of all registers, the program counter and so on. Saving and restoring this state is an expensive operation from a performance perspective, so reducing the overall number of context switches is often key to achieving predictable, ...

PIX 2007.29 – Dark Theme, bug fixes
Jul 30, 2020
0
0

PIX 2007.29 – Dark Theme, bug fixes

Morgan Grobin
Morgan Grobin

Today we released PIX version 2007.29 which can be downloaded here. This release introduces Dark Theme, a change to timing capture file formats, and includes several bug fixes.   Dark Theme PIX now has a Dark Theme! You can enable Dark Theme in the Theme tab in the Settings menu. We hope this often requested feature will keep eyes feeling fresh while working in the dark, and allow you to choose a theme that matches other apps in your toolchain. Theme preference persists between app launches. Note that implementation of dark theme is incomplete for the mesh viewer and message dialog boxes. If you run ...

PIX 2006.26 – Fence Signal/Wait Arrows in GPU Captures
Jul 6, 2020
0
0

PIX 2006.26 – Fence Signal/Wait Arrows in GPU Captures

Morgan Grobin
Morgan Grobin

Today we released PIX 2006.26 which can be downloaded here. This release contains support for fence signal-wait arrows in GPU captures, document tab behavior improvements, buffer viewer enhancements, and many bugfixes.   Fence Signal-Wait arrows for GPU captures GPU captures now track and visualize fence signals and waits to help you understand synchronization issues. You can also use this feature to spot opportunities for async compute work, by finding work on the graphics queue that can’t overlap with any async compute work due to signals/wait patterns.   Buffer Viewer & Memory Viewer...

PIX 2004.27  –  Improved struct support in the Buffer Viewer, CPU Memory and File IO Data in Timing Captures
May 4, 2020
0
0

PIX 2004.27 – Improved struct support in the Buffer Viewer, CPU Memory and File IO Data in Timing Captures

Morgan Grobin
Morgan Grobin

Today we released PIX 2004.27 which can be downloaded here. This release contains improved support for structs in the Buffer Viewer, and support for CPU memory allocation data and file I/O data in Timing Captures. This version also includes an updated plugin for AMD GPUs, and supports a new pixtool flag to help automate grabbing an unknown number of captures. Improved struct support in the Buffer Viewer The format specification syntax used in the buffer viewer has been enhanced. It now supports true nesting of structures, as well as arrays. With these additions, the default format descriptions of constant buffe...

PIX 2003.26 – DirectX 12 Ultimate and DXIL debugging
Mar 26, 2020
0
0

PIX 2003.26 – DirectX 12 Ultimate and DXIL debugging

Damyan Pepper
Damyan Pepper

Today we released PIX 2003.26 which can be downloaded here. This release contains support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, source-level debugging of DXIL shaders, a new GPU capture timeline, CPU/GPU event correlation in new timing captures and many more bug fixes and performance improvements. DirectX 12 Ultimate Support PIX on Windows now has initial support for all the DirectX 12 Ultimate features: Variable Rate Shading support in PIX was first added in PIX 1903.26 and continues to be supported now! Mesh shader output viewer in action: DXIL Source Level Debugging We’ve updated PIX’s shader de...

WinPixEventRuntime 2001.27
Jan 27, 2020
0
0

WinPixEventRuntime 2001.27

Cooper Partin
Cooper Partin

Today we released WinPixEventRuntime 2001.27 on Nuget.  This release contains the following bug fixes and updates:

PIX 1911.27 – New Buffer Formatter and Capture from Launch
Dec 2, 2019
3
0

PIX 1911.27 – New Buffer Formatter and Capture from Launch

Damyan Pepper
Damyan Pepper

Today we released PIX 1911.27 which can be downloaded here.  This release contains an updated buffer formatter, the ability to start capturing of a process from initial launch, support for Windows 10 Insider Preview Builds (20H1) and many bug fixes. Buffer Formatter This release of PIX includes several enhancements to the Buffer Formatter aimed at helping you define and save custom formats and easily switch between them.  The updated buffer formatter editor includes syntax highlighting and an undo stack for a better editing experience. Once a custom formatter is saved, it will be available to use in al...

PIX 1909.23 – New timing capture features, performance improvements and bug fixes
Sep 23, 2019
0
0

PIX 1909.23 – New timing capture features, performance improvements and bug fixes

Damyan Pepper
Damyan Pepper

Today we released PIX 1909.23* which can be downloaded here. This release contains new timing capture features, support for programmatic captures in pixtool, performance improvements and many bug fixes. * 1909.23 is the new name for 1909.13.  Sorry for any confusion. New Timing Captures This release of PIX includes several enhancements to New Timing Captures aimed at helping you diagnose when your title’s threads have stalled and why.  Visual adorners are now drawn on the timeline to make it easier to see what caused a thread to be switched out and switched back in again. You can also now select a r...