EXT_buffer_storage is now supported by ARM

[TMCThomas]

I'm not sure whether this is already know on these forums but, ARM has after 3 years finally implented the EXT_buffer_storage feature in their GPU Drivers. This could be great news for emulation on Exynos (samsung), kirin (huawai) and other soc's which use the mali GPU. For a long time this has been quitte a big limitation for dolphin on mali gpu's. Now their are of course other limitations but it could at least as far as I know provide quite big peformance improvements. But before that may happen first oems like samsung will need to update their GPU drivers to take advantage of this new feature (which currently hasn't happend yet) and thats where A small question of mine for the more experienced people of this forums comes along. Which is: Do Oems (samsung for example) update these drivers regularly (with security patches?) or not at all. Or do they (the drivers) need to be updated for a large system update like android 8.1 or android P or can they just keep using the old ones used in 8.0 (how did they do this on devices like the s7/s8) Just to have a very rough estimation of when this feature could appear on the newest smartphones like the s9.

Link to confirmation from arm: https://community.arm.com/graphics/f/discussions/10193/ext_buffer_storage-support-what-s-the-current-status

[Helios]

(05-16-2018, 07:00 AM)TMCThomas Wrote: Do Oems (samsung for example) update these drivers regularly (with security patches?) or not at all.

They rarely do. When vendors do, it's usually bug fixes.

They generally just ship larger updates with new devices

[JonnyH]

It's (relatively) rare that OEMs ship 'feature' level driver updates to already-released devices. The only people I've ever had experience with doing that are Google with their own nexus/pixel line of devices.

And even then, devices yet to be released may have locked down their driver versions some time ago, so even "new" devices may lack the feature.

But it's looking good for the long term future, at least.

[TMCThomas]

Seems like i'll have to stalk samsung again xd. Not that it will probably help but I at least have to try.

[Nintonito]

It’ll be included with android P updates (and possibly 8.1 on Mediatek devices). Currently Midgard devices on O are on r20, and the relevant driver update is within r22-24 or so. Bifrost is r9 and r10-11 should be the relevant version. Traditionally ARM has the most generous update relationship with OEM’s, which contrasts the poor quality of their individual driver updates. With Qualcomm you had Vulkan not coming to adreno 4xx device’s and ES 3.1 not coming to adreno 3xx device’s, while comparable chips on the ARM side received both features in question (with the exception of Mediatek who deliberately blocks Vulkan from older chipsets regardless of GPU). With android P the drivers for OEM builds will likely be finalized from September-ish builds. Since the feature is already implemented, it’s more or less 100% that Samsung and Huawei will have it (as they have historically shipped any available features to older devices. Galaxy S6 recieved Vulkan, Huawei Mate 8 recieved Vulkan.).

TLR wait for P. Unless you are a Mediatek user, you likely won’t have to worry about artificial feature lockout.

[Dox]

(05-16-2018, 08:21 AM)Nintonito Wrote: It’ll be included with android P updates (and possibly 8.1 on Mediatek devices).  Currently Midgard devices on O are on r20,  and the relevant driver update is within r22-24 or so.  Bifrost is r9 and r10-11 should be the relevant version.  Traditionally ARM has the most generous update relationship with OEM’s,  which contrasts the poor quality of their individual driver updates.  With Qualcomm you had Vulkan not coming to adreno 4xx device’s and ES 3.1 not coming to adreno 3xx device’s,  while comparable chips on the ARM side received both features in question (with the exception of Mediatek who deliberately blocks Vulkan from older chipsets regardless of GPU).  With android P the drivers for OEM builds will likely be finalized from September-ish builds.  Since the feature is already implemented, it’s more or less 100% that Samsung and Huawei will have it (as they have historically shipped any available features to older devices.  Galaxy S6 recieved Vulkan,  Huawei Mate 8 recieved Vulkan.).

TLR wait for P.  Unless you are a Mediatek user,  you likely won’t have to worry about artificial feature lockout.

Think it may release to Galaxy 8 or 9 users, then? 

[Helios]

haha no

[Nintonito]

(05-16-2018, 08:25 AM)Dox Wrote: Think it may release to Galaxy 8 or 9 users, then? 

Based on Samsung’s update cycle, the galaxy s8 still has another major update, and the S9 has another 2. So yes.

[MayImilae]

They are unlikely to do a big driver update on those devices though, as big feature support changes come with a chance of breaking things (and they really don't want to fix issues on existing devices). Even if they get a driver update, they could very well disable the feature. After all, lots of devices that *could* have updated to a new OpenGLES version have had it disabled, or *could* have supported buffer storage just had it blocked by the manufacturer on all existing devices. This is very common.

Never underestimate Android phone makers!

[Helios]

If there's one thing I can never fault android users for, it's being unwaveringly optimistic after years of Android phone vendors punching them in the face.