Minecraft Forums

I am running Ubuntu Linux (full version details at the bottom) and I am having a problem with switching between virtual desktops while MC is running. This is important to me because I frequently switch between MC and other applications (web browser, email, documents, vmware, etc) on different virtual desktops. I figured I would post here first before submitting a bug in case anyone had tips/tricks or other insight. I searched the forums and bug database -- haven't found anything relevant.

In all versions before 1.6 (including 1.3, 1.4, 1.5), if I paused a single player game or brought up the menu in a multiplayer game I could switch virtual desktops without any issues. The system would perform and respond normally. Starting with 1.6 and the new launcher, if I pause the game or bring up a menu and then switch to a different virtual desktop, the system grinds to a halt and becomes almost non-responsive. I can issue the command to return to the virtual desktop where I have MC running, but it takes 5-30 seconds for it to switch desktops. Once I am on the virtual desktop that has MC running, everything returns to normal.

• If I stay on the same virtual desktop but send MC to the background (bring another window forward), no performance problems exist
• If I switch to another virtual desktop and bring MC to that desktop at the same time, no performance problems exist
• If I just have the 1.1.3 launcher running but do not start MC, and switch between virtual desktops, no performance problems exist
• If I launch MC but do not start or join a game (just sit at the main menu), and then switch between virtual desktops, the system performance degrades but not as bad as when I am logged into a running game
• When MC is active and I am playing it, I can get 20-35fps with conservative video settings, which I am fine with - so MC is running fine as long as it is on the active virtual desktop

In the interest of testing, I switched back to MC 1.5.2 and played a single player game, and switching between virtual desktops worked fine - there were no performance issues. I switched back to MC 1.6.2 and I am again experiencing the issue. I tried this with a brand new 1.6.2 vanilla install downloaded direct from minecraft.net with no profile settings, no mods, no other programs running - the computer was booted fresh and the only thing running was MC.

Here are the details of my system:

• Ubuntu Desktop 12.04.2 LTS 64bit with all updates installed as of 29 July 2013
• Lenovo T410, Intel i5-560M (2.66 GHz), 8GB RAM
• Intel HD Graphics
• Java JRE 1.7.0_21 64bit
• Minecraft Launcher 1.2.1
• Minecraft Version 1.6.2
• Release Date: Jul 5, 2013
• Last modified: Jul 9, 2013

Here is the version output from the launcher console:

Launcher 1.1.3 (through bootstrap 4) started on linux...
Current time is Jul 29, 2013 2:08:35 PM
System.getProperty('os.name') == 'Linux'
System.getProperty('os.version') == '3.5.0-34-generic'
System.getProperty('os.arch') == 'amd64'
System.getProperty('java.version') == '1.7.0_21'
System.getProperty('java.vendor') == 'Oracle Corporation'
System.getProperty('sun.arch.data.model') == '64'

Here is the launcher command I would use for 1.5.2:

/usr/bin/java -Xmx2048M -Xms2048M -XX:+UseFastAccessorMethods -XX:+AggressiveOpts -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:+UseAdaptiveGCBoundary -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=500 -XX:SurvivorRatio=16 -XX:+UseParallelGC -XX:UseSSE=3 -XX:ParallelGCThreads=4 -jar /home/user/app/minecraft/minecraft.jar

Here are the java arguments I pass into my profile in 1.6.2:

-Xmx2048M -Xms2048M -XX:+UseFastAccessorMethods -XX:+AggressiveOpts -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:+UseAdaptiveGCBoundary -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=500 -XX:SurvivorRatio=16 -XX:+UseParallelGC -XX:UseSSE=3 -XX:ParallelGCThreads=4

Note that I have also tested this without passing any java arguments, and the issue is the same. I also tried the following arguments for the sake of testing:

-Xmx512M -Xms512M -cp Minecraft.jar -Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true -Dsun.awt.noerasebackground=true -Dsun.java2d.d3d=false -Dsun.java2d.opengl=false -Dsun.java2d.pmoffscreen=false -Xms512M -Xmx512M

Update: Confirmed to still exist in Launcher 1.2.1