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I'm the only one to have a slow simulator since the last OSX update (Mavericks)?

  • I've tried to reset simulator
  • I've tried to switch on/off animation speed in Debug main bar
  • I've tried to draw my game with a simple moving quad
  • I've tried to run my application on IOS7, IOS6 with Retina and without on the simulator
  • My application isn't slow when I run it on an Android device

Simulator is always slow, on the previous OSX version I haven't got any problems :/ (My application is a game using OpenGL ES2)

Thanks!

Patel
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LongDuZboub
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    "My application isn't slow when I run it on an Android device" huh? – Piotr Tomasik Oct 23 '13 at 10:01
  • I've got a personal Framework in C++ to make cross-platforms game, so I can run my game on Android, IOS, computer, …. – LongDuZboub Oct 23 '13 at 10:04
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    I've got the same problem, although it only seems to slow down when I'm using the iOS6.1 simulator, using the iOS7 simulator doesn't present the slow down issue. I've tried a number of combinations, but it doesn't matter if it's iPhone, iPad, iPhone Retina, iPhone 4"... the only common thing is using iOS6.1. Resetting the simulator, and even re-installing Xcode makes no difference. I am using Xcode 5, with the iOS6.1SDK installed along side iOS7SDK, but before updating to Mavericks, I never had this problem. – Daniel Allsopp Oct 23 '13 at 11:56
  • I've barely noticed this, as in my app it hardly matters. I've been wondering if turning off App Nap for the simulator might address this, but I might not even notice so I haven't bothered. If the impact is noticeable and repeatable to you, give that a try. – Steven Fisher Oct 23 '13 at 16:49
  • @StevenFisher I've tried to turn off App Nap (on the simulator application), that didn't change anything. – LongDuZboub Oct 23 '13 at 19:18
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    I haven't updated to Mavericks, but after the new XCode update, I'm getting the same issues with the simulator slowing down. – dk123 Oct 24 '13 at 03:32
  • I think I read something in the Apple's release notes. Here's the link : https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/releasenotes/DeveloperTools/RN-Xcode/#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001051-SW241 – Sam Fischer Oct 25 '13 at 04:48
  • I'm getting about 4 seconds to show a UIALertView (so you can see each individual animation frame). Slowdown is variable though, but stock UI transitions are all happening at least twice as slow as identical project yesterday pre-Mavericks. reallllly.....dogggggg....slooooowwwww – Peter Oct 25 '13 at 06:19
  • I am noticing this as well in the iOS 6 and 6.1 simulators. @SanjeetSuhag, I couldn't find any mention of this in the release notes. Are you sure you saw something there? – cbrauchli Oct 25 '13 at 23:05
  • This is very noticeable for me. The simulator is terrible now. No change aside from updating to Mavericks. I'm using Xcode 4.6. Let's go Apple. – Tom Redman Oct 29 '13 at 00:19
  • I filed a bug report on August 14th, 2013 with rdar://14734314 about this very same issue, but it is still open to this day. It only affects iOS 6 simulators on Mavericks, not 7. – swiftcode Oct 29 '13 at 21:03
  • This is not Mavericks problem. Looks like that's problem with new SDK. There is only one solution I found, use iOS 7 simulator instead of older. – Roman Kabachenko Oct 26 '13 at 17:26
  • Maverick is sluggish with 2GB of RAM using XCode 5 of retina simulators, should you upgrade with 4GB or 8GB – codercat Nov 06 '13 at 14:31

3 Answers3

31

I met the performance issue on simulator prior to iOS7.

Apple provides the solution in Xcode 5.1 Release Note (Page 4: iOS Simulator)

sudo sysctl -w kern.timer.coalescing_enabled=0

Now the simulator flies!

satgi
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    Just to note, this disables time coalescing in Mavericks, which may hurt battery life on laptops. – Léo Natan Dec 14 '13 at 04:02
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    Yeah, we should enable it after using the simulator.Thanks. – satgi Dec 14 '13 at 05:13
  • @LeoNatan `sudo sysctl -w kern.timer.coalescing_enabled=0` really does? I want to keep it disabled. What are the disadvantages to that beside battery life? – Segev Dec 18 '13 at 09:15
  • @Sha - it is an energy saving mechanism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timer_coalescing – Léo Natan Dec 18 '13 at 11:33
  • @LeoNatan Yea, just read all about it thanks. I think I'll leave it disabled for now. I don't want to reenable it after every time I'm using the simulator and my laptop is always connected to the power any way. – Segev Dec 18 '13 at 11:39
  • Also worth noting that the setting is switched back on again after you restart your computer. Is there a way of setting it permanently? – jowie Jan 29 '14 at 10:21
  • +1 Excellent answer! Interestingly I had no slowdown with iOS 7 Simulator, just iOS 6.1. Now I'm getting 60fps once again. Many thanks. – trojanfoe Feb 23 '14 at 13:20
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    @jowie follow this post http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6442364/running-script-upon-login-mac and copy paste the above terminal code as shell script – Shineeth Hamza Mar 24 '14 at 04:03
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Well, the iOS 6.1 simulator seems slower in Mavericks. I am still using XCode 4.6.3 and iOS 6.1, but on Mavericks now.

I'm not ready to upgrade my app to using iOS 7 (I'm holding off until I have enough time to handle any issues that may pop up in the upgrade).

A reasonable answer seems to the deleted one, he said that if you do use Mavericks, make sure to use the iOS 7 simulator, as it doesn't seem to have the slowdown issue.

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Edit:

Having installed XCode 5, happily there were no problems in the upgrade with my project (I was afraid because of my experience with the Beta). The iOS 7 simulator on Mavericks runs at least as fast as the iOS 6.1 simulator on Lion.

When you're running in the simulator, make sure not to select Retina, because the retina emulator is many times slower than the non-retina emulator. This is likely due to the fact that it has that many more pixels to fill, and the iOS simulators don't use hardware rendering.

bobobobo
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  • Yeah, I just installed XCode 5, and happily there were no problems (I was afraid because of my experience with the Beta). So verified, the iOS 7 simulator on Mavericks runs at least as fast as the iOS 6.1 simulator on Lion. – bobobobo Oct 29 '13 at 00:05
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    How do you not select retina? As far as I can tell, the only way you can do that is select "iPad". – prewett Nov 21 '13 at 00:38
  • Yes, "iPad" is the non-retina iPad. You can tell because it will be 768x1024 pixels in its full size (CMD+1) mode. "iPad Retina" will be 1536x2048px in full-size mode. – bobobobo Nov 21 '13 at 01:22
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Yeah , iOS simulator is very slow on both ios6 and ios7 . there are issues in xcode5 . I just upgrade by xcode to 5.0.2. It is little bit fast than xcode 5 on simulator but still not up to mark.

Saad Ur Rehman
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