"Visual Highlight" causes display stuttering

[ecebeci]

Steps to reproduce:

1. Enable NVDA Visual Highlight from NVDA Settings -> Vision.
2. Perform an action that updates the highlighted region (e.g., moving focus between objects).
3. Use performance monitoring tools (like Task Manager or GPU profiler) to observe GPU usage during rapid focus changes.

Actual behavior:

The NVDA highlighter causes excessive GPU usage, especially during rapid updates, leading to display stuttering. Additionally, it shows constant GPU usage even when the system is idle.

Expected behavior:

GPU usage should remain stable during rapid focus changes when highlight regions do not significantly differ, and there should be minimal or no GPU usage when idle.

NVDA logs, crash dumps and other attachments:

Task Manager Performance Tab while NVDA visual highlighter is off

Performance metrics for the system's hardware components:

CPU: Utilization at 5% with a speed of 3.17 GHz.
Memory: 9.2 GB used out of 15.9 GB total (58% usage).
Disk 0 (G: C:): SSD with 1% usage.
Ethernet: 0 Kbps for both send (S) and receive (R).
GPU 0 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU):
Utilization: 1%
Temperature: 47°C
Dedicated GPU memory usage: 1.5 GB out of 6.0 GB
Shared GPU memory usage: 0.1 GB out of 7.9 GB
Total GPU memory usage: 1.6 GB out of 13.9 GB
Driver version: 32.0.15.6614
Driver date: 06/11/2024
DirectX version: 12 (FL 12.1)
Physical location: PCI bus 1, device 0, function 0
Hardware reserved memory: 148 MB

Task Manager Performance Tab while NVDA visual highlighter is on

Performance metrics for the system's hardware components:

CPU: Usage at 9% with a speed of 3.52 GHz.
Memory: 8.4 GB used out of 15.9 GB total (53% usage).
Disk 0 (G: C:): SSD with 4% usage.
Ethernet: No data being sent or received (0 Kbps).
GPU 0 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU):
Utilization: 18%
Temperature: 47°C
Dedicated GPU memory usage: 1.5 GB out of 6.0 GB
Shared GPU memory usage: 0.1 GB out of 7.9 GB
Total GPU memory usage: 1.6 GB out of 13.9 GB
Driver version: 32.0.15.6614
Driver date: 06/11/2024
DirectX version: 12 (FL 12.1)
Physical location: PCI bus 1, device 0, function 0
Hardware reserved memory: 148 MB
Additional details: The GPU's 3D graph shows activity at 18%, while the Copy graph shows a small spike. Dedicated GPU memory usage remains steady.

System configuration

NVDA installed/portable/running from source:

Installed

NVDA version:

2024.4.1 (2024.4.1.34550)

Windows version:

Windows 11 Pro - Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631.4460)

Name and version of other software in use when reproducing the issue:

• No specific software required for reproduction, but issue appears in general system navigation.

Other information about your system:

• Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060.
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H.
• Memory: 16 GB DDR4 RAM.

Other questions

Does the issue still occur after restarting your computer?

Yes.

Have you tried any other versions of NVDA? If so, please report their behaviors.

I tried this in NVDA version 2024.3, but I don’t recall the exact build.

If NVDA add-ons are disabled, is your problem still occurring?

Yes

Does the issue still occur after you run the COM Registration Fixing Tool in NVDA's tools menu?

Yes

[hwf1324]

A more accurate description would be a large increase in GPU usage of dwm.exe when “Visual Highlight” is enabled.