Increased preparation time in OpenSesame 3.2?

Pascal

Hi all,

I really like the many new features OpenSesame 3.2 provides - thanks a lot for the great work! However, we are currently struggling with one problem in our lab:

It seems that the preparation times in OpenSesame 3.2 have increased compared to the 3.1 version. That is, the lag between trials in a loop seems to be larger. On computers with up-to-date hardware this does not seem to be a big issue. However, many of our lab computers are quite old (e.g., HP Compaq dc 7900 with Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300 (2.60 GHz) 1 x 2 GB RAM running Windows 7) and there these lags between trials become quite noticeable. I think that especially the use of forms contributes to increased preparation times; however, also without forms they seem to be longer (even when running the legacy backend which in our experience usually decreases preparation times).

I haven't done any benchmark tests so far to systematically test whether the preparation times are larger (so my observation might be incorrect). However, I just wanted to ask if you think that this is an issue in the 3.2 version and that this might be improved in future OpenSesame versions? If not, we will try to adapt our experiments accordingly to reduce lags between trials or hide them from the participant using adpative blank screens at the end of the trial (and in the meantime use 3.1.9 on the lab computers).

Best,

Pascal

sebastiaan

Hi Pascal,

The Canvas framework has been reworked in OpenSesame 3.2, so it's possible that this has increased preparation time in some cases, even though it ideally shouldn't (and I don't see why it would). Do you have an example script that runs in both 3.1 and 3.2 and clearly illustrates the issue? Then I can see if I can reproduce it and see where the delay comes from.

Cheers!
Sebastiaan