Played sessions
Testing is done with Walnut's rating tool (walnut-rate, planned): how ratings are made and submitted.
Builds:
Walnut 0.1,
armagetronad 0.2.9.3.0-1+ps3.816
The platform builds under it (3)
| Linux kernel | 6.12.111+ps3.747 Walnut's build |
|---|---|
| Mesa | 26.2.4-1+ps3.721 Walnut's build |
| ps3rsx | 0.735+k6.12.111+ps3.747 Walnut's build |
| Date | Launcher | Rules | Play | Ended | Picture | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-25 | Armagetron Advanced | 1.0 | 9 min | quit | ok | Details |
Download all sessions as CSV (one row per session, the aspects as columns)
Rating history
The rating on each version it was tested on, newest first: each row is rated from that version's sessions alone, under the newest rules those sessions have the data for.
| Version | Tested | Medal | Rules | Frame rate | Smoothness | Sound | Picture | Stability | Display | Load | Play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walnut 0.1 armagetronad 0.2.9.3.0-1 |
2026-10-25 | Platinum · 95 | 1.0 | 100 | 84 | 97 | 100 | 90 | - | 100 | 0.1 h 1 test |
Scripted benchmarks
Not rated: tests of driver and game changes. A script plays the same scene on the PS3 again and again (the desktop stopped, vsync off) to compare two builds of the game or of the graphics driver. The numbers say which build is faster; they never feed the medal.
How the script plays it: Armagetron Advanced 0.2.9.3: a local game of 4 AI players with the player spectating, which plays itself round after round. fps from the Gallium HUD.
The recipe's full description
Armagetron Advanced 0.2.9.3: a local game of 4 AI players with the player spectating, which plays itself round after round (SPECTATOR_MODE_1 and the SP_* settings make it AI only; setup writes them for every run). fps from the Gallium HUD. Menus (0.2.9: FIRST_USE is true on a first start, so FIRST_USE 1 in the config means the first start's language menu, player setup and welcome screen, which wait for a key: the run of 2026-10-18 sat at the language menu for its whole window). The live variants write FIRST_USE 0 and the language (LANGUAGE_FIRST/_SECOND), and `during` types Return, Down, Return into a virtual keyboard (as etr's recipe does): main menu "Play Game", then "Local Game", which starts the game at once. Playback and record keep FIRST_USE 1: their recording holds the first start's keys. Steady state: the HUD window (WINDOW_STOP=1: 60 s from the first frame, then 120 s, then the game is stopped). The rounds are alike but not identical from run to run (the AIs decide live). The match limits are raised (10 rounds or 30 minutes by default: the champion screen and a new match every few minutes otherwise). Until 2026-10-18 base played back assets/armagetronad-bench.aarec (--playback --benchmark), a 90 s recording cut by the record run's stop, not ended with a quit: after its end the game draws nothing more (a black screen with the cursor, no frames, no CPU: the HUD stopped 66-77 s after its first frame in every run), so the 60 + 120 s window held ~6 s of frames and perf had samples only at its start (the suite run 20261018T004040Z). The recording is variant playback now, with a window that fits in it; a longer one (variant record, ended with Quit from the menu before DURATION) would make a playback window of the full length.
9 variants of the recipe
base stands for the game | the recipe as it is, without a variant |
|---|---|
playback | - |
record | make a recording (quit from the menu before DURATION, so its playback ends there), then copy /var/tmp/armagetronad-bench.aarec into assets/ (the asset of 2026-10-17 is a 90 s one, cut) |
live | the live game for 45 s, no window (the old smoke test) |
texinv | Mesa 0020 off (texture caches invalidated on every draw, as before ps3.262): bisects its cost |
relocs | Mesa ps3.282 switches (docs/archive/GAME-PLAN.md): relocations back on (0019 off), or 0019 kept with a submission every N draws (0026) |
kick150 | - |
kick100 | - |
kick50 | - |
Conditions: what a variant adds to the recipe (its environment switches) and what ran alongside (the stall recorder, a profiler). Rows marked invalid or not comparable say why. The other numbers, the build and the run length are under "All numbers" in each batch.
What the run length means
"warm-up + 120 s" is a steady-state run, which leaves out a 60 s warm-up and measures 120 s or more; "whole run" counted everything from the start, the way runs before 2026-10-17 did.
Suite summary
2026-10-20 · batch suite-summary-2026-10
Purpose: The 13 benchmarked games (15 rows) with their known numbers, the rules-1 calibration of the rating formula (docs/GAMEDB.md "Calibration", tools/gamedb/score.py). Each value names its source: a batch's cell, or the suite table of docs/games/README.md where the number is a reading or a range (no single cell holds it). Stutter is the stall seconds over the 2-minute window; load unmeasured, stability assumed clean, picture and display right.
| Row | ram_free MiB | vram MiB | fps_steady frames a second | stall_play_s seconds | low1_play frames a second | longest_play_ms ms | sound_faults_per_min faults a minute |
Picture, sound |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armagetron base | 58 | 28 | 83.0 | 0.1 | 24.1 | 127 | 0 | right, right |
Armagetron live AI rounds (recipe e5a556d), Mesa ps3.408; kick
2026-10-18 · batch 2026-10-18-armagetron-live-ai · 1 run in the batch (all games)
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
base |
waker kick at 10 ms | 83 | 24.1 | 1 |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 83 cpu 144.1 seconds underruns 289 underruns ram_free 58.0 MiB vram 27.5 MiB longest_ms 127.1 ms stall_play_s 0.1 seconds longest_play_ms 127.1 ms | Mesa ps3.408 the game's resolution, warm-up + 120 s |
Observations: 2026-10-18 ~08:30 local, x1. New base: live AI rounds spectated (FIRST_USE 0 + virtual keys): steady 83 fps, 1 stall (127 ms), webcam: game arena with AI cycles. Not comparable with the old playback numbers
Mesa ps3.299 + ps3rsx 0.249
2026-10-17 · batch 2026-10-17-mesa-299 · 24 runs in the batch (all games)
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
base |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 61.5 cpu 63.2 seconds underruns 41.5 underruns ram_free 53.1 MiB vram 28.8 MiB | Mesa ps3.299, ps3rsx 0.249 the game's resolution, whole run |
Observations: Mesa round 3 (0027 adaptive submission, 0028 index buffer fenced, 0029 state reset, 0030 index upload, 0031 FP constants from GART). Clean runs (one-ssh webcam watcher), 2 each: Armagetron 61.5 (ps3.282: 50), OpenArena tc1 52.4 (51.3), ClassiCube 46.3 (same-boot ps3.282 A/B: 46.9: noise), X-Moto 44.5 (same-boot ps3.282: 47.0, real -5%; neither autooff 45.5 nor idxoff 45.0 restores it; fpvram 46, idxlate 46: 0031 and 0028 about a frame each). 0031 checked on the webcam with OpenArena opengl2: right picture, no wedge. GL tests pass. Runs 13:05-14:50 UTC with the old watcher (an ssh every 5 s) were slowed and are left out.
Mesa ps3.282 + ps3rsx 0.249: Armagetron switches (relocs and kick N)
2026-10-17 · batch 2026-10-17-mesa-282-armagetron · 10 runs in the batch (all games)
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
base |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
kick100 |
NV30_PS3_KICK_DRAWS=100 | - | - | - |
kick150 |
NV30_PS3_KICK_DRAWS=150 | - | - | - |
kick50 |
NV30_PS3_KICK_DRAWS=50 | - | - | - |
relocs |
NV30_PS3_RELOCS=1 | - | - | - |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 50.0 cpu 59.5 seconds underruns 26.5 underruns ram_free 62.5 MiB vram 28.6 MiB | Mesa ps3.282, ps3rsx 0.249 the game's resolution, whole run |
kick100 |
fps whole run 60.5 cpu 62.8 seconds underruns 31.0 underruns ram_free 52.4 MiB vram 28.8 MiB | Mesa ps3.282, ps3rsx 0.249 the game's resolution, whole run |
kick150 |
fps whole run 58.5 cpu 56.5 seconds underruns 17.5 underruns ram_free 59.0 MiB vram 28.6 MiB | Mesa ps3.282, ps3rsx 0.249 the game's resolution, whole run |
kick50 |
fps whole run 60.5 cpu 63.5 seconds underruns 25.0 underruns ram_free 59.9 MiB vram 28.8 MiB | Mesa ps3.282, ps3rsx 0.249 the game's resolution, whole run |
relocs |
fps whole run 60.5 cpu 62.1 seconds underruns 23.0 underruns ram_free 64.3 MiB vram 28.8 MiB | Mesa ps3.282, ps3rsx 0.249 the game's resolution, whole run |
Observations: 11:55-12:15Z, Mesa ps3.282 with run-time switches per patch (d5cb918), two interleaved rounds of Armagetron (HUD, 90 s): base 50 fps; relocs (NV30_PS3_RELOCS=1, relocations back, 0019 off) 60.5; kick150 (a submission every 150 draws, 0026) 58.5; kick100 60.5; kick50 60.5. CPU time is the same in all (57-64 s). So the loss of ps3.262 points to patch 0019 (without relocations a frame reaches the GPU in one piece at SwapBuffers, no CPU/GPU overlap); keeping 0019 and submitting every 100 draws gives the fps back. The runs show the effect, not the mechanism. Two runs per variant; see the kick100 row below for the other games.
Mesa ps3.246 control for Armagetron (same boot as ps3.262)
2026-10-17 · batch 2026-10-17-mesa-246-control · 2 runs in the batch (all games)
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
base |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 60.0 cpu 63.2 seconds underruns 21.5 underruns ram_free 61.6 MiB vram 28.6 MiB | Mesa ps3.246 the game's resolution, whole run |
Observations: 11:22-11:25Z, ps3.246 reinstalled for an A/B on the same boot: Armagetron HUD median 61 and 59 (the second run also printed its own playback average, 71.2 fps, which is a different number and is not used), against 51-53 on ps3.262 in the previous row. Confirms the Armagetron loss comes from Mesa ps3.262's patches and not from the boot or the day; the per-patch switches in ps3.282 followed (d5cb918).
Mesa ps3.262 repeats and Armagetron without 0020 (texinv)
2026-10-17 · batch 2026-10-17-mesa-262-repeats · 8 runs in the batch (all games)
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
base |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
texinv |
NV30_TEX_INVALIDATE_ALWAYS=1 | - | - | - |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 53.0 cpu 60.8 seconds underruns 29.0 underruns ram_free 67.8 MiB vram 28.3 MiB | Mesa ps3.262 the game's resolution, whole run |
texinv |
fps whole run 52.0 cpu 61.1 seconds underruns 23.5 underruns ram_free 62.7 MiB vram 28.8 MiB | Mesa ps3.262 the game's resolution, whole run |
Observations: 11:06-11:18Z, same boot as the ps3.262 suite. QuakeSpasm again 73.0 and 84.1 fps (66.3 in the suite: 66-84 on the same Mesa, so single QuakeSpasm runs spread widely); Neverball again 77.7 and 74.2 (71.5 in the suite). Armagetron (HUD): base 53 and 53, texinv (NV30_TEX_INVALIDATE_ALWAYS=1, Mesa 0020's invalidate before every draw back on) 52 and 52, so the 60 to 52 loss is not patch 0020 (c1b8e4c); the HUD figure is used for all Armagetron cells here. Two runs per variant.
Mesa ps3.262 + ps3rsx 0.249
2026-10-17 · batch 2026-10-17-mesa-262 · 12 runs in the batch (all games)
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
base |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 51 cpu 59.3 seconds underruns 23 underruns ram_free 71.7 MiB vram 28.8 MiB | Mesa ps3.262, ps3rsx 0.249 the game's resolution, whole run |
Observations: 2026-10-17 10:42-11:04Z, suite round after Mesa 0019-0025 (fewer words per draw: no relocations, texture cache invalidate only after texture changes, no duplicate VTXFMT writes, batched VP constants; bcd99d7, 5fe2290), one run per game. Against ps3.246: OpenArena tc1 44.2 to 54.4 (+23%), Yamagi 51.4 to 63.9 (+24%), X-Moto 39 to 47 (+21%), Extreme Tux Racer 46 to 53 (+15%), dsda-doom software 33 to 38 and now finishes (+15%), ClassiCube 47.6 to 50.1 (+5%), Neverball 78.2 to 71.5 (noise), QuakeSpasm 70.5 to 66.3 (repeated in the next row), Luanti 53 to 53. Armagetron drops from 60 to 51 (HUD). Sauerbraten reads 28 to 8 (HUD): it is memory-stalled (MemAvailable 13 MB, killed at the cap), so that is not a driver number and the cause is uncertain. No validator rejects. Single runs.
Mesa ps3.246 + ps3rsx 0.249
2026-10-17 · batch 2026-10-17-mesa-246-ps3rsx-249 · 12 runs in the batch (all games)
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
base |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 60 cpu 65.0 seconds underruns 52 underruns ram_free 72.4 MiB vram 28.3 MiB | Mesa ps3.246, ps3rsx 0.249 the game's resolution, whole run |
Observations: 2026-10-17 08:32-08:54Z, first suite round after the reboot, one run per game. fps: Armagetron 60 (HUD), ClassiCube 47.6, dsda-doom software 33 (HUD, demo unfinished), Extreme Tux Racer 46 (HUD), Luanti 53 (HUD), Neverball 78.2, OpenArena tc1 44.2 (longest frame 2.1 s), QuakeSpasm 70.5, Sauerbraten CPU skinning 28 (HUD), X-Moto 39 (HUD), Yamagi Quake II 51.4. Pictures right and sound right for these games except dsda-doom (1161 underruns, MIDI music), Sauerbraten (176) and OpenTTD (1429, choppy). OpenTTD base ran 55.5 s of CPU with no frame rate (plain X11 path). Single runs, so differences of a few fps are within the run-to-run spread.
Group 1 on Mesa ps3.225: ClassiCube demo and Armagetron playback
2026-10-16 · batch 2026-10-16-group1-mesa-225 · 2 runs in the batch (all games)
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
base |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 64.0 cpu 66.0 seconds underruns 6 underruns ram_free 78.2 MiB vram 28.8 MiB | Mesa ps3.225 the game's resolution, whole run |
Observations: 22:42-22:47Z. ClassiCube's fly-through plugin (3000 fixed frames): 43.24 fps by its own counter, longest frame 278 ms, load 12.65 s, 78 s of CPU. Armagetron playback of the recorded 4-AI round with --benchmark completed for the first time: 63.96 fps by the game's own average (rc 0 at 94 s); this is a different number from the Gallium HUD median used in the later Armagetron rows (50-61). Single runs (b41d5db).
Armagetron benchmark recording (Mesa ps3.223)
2026-10-16 · batch 2026-10-16-armagetron-recording · 2 runs in the batch (all games)
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
base |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
record |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 48 underruns 101 underruns ram_free 71.9 MiB vram 28.8 MiB | Mesa ps3.223 the game's resolution, whole run |
record |
fps whole run 50 cpu 72.1 seconds underruns 78 underruns ram_free 64.9 MiB vram 28.3 MiB | Mesa ps3.223 the game's resolution, whole run |
Observations: 22:23-22:27Z, Armagetron: 'record' makes the spectated round of 4 AI players (90 s, HUD median 50, 78 underruns); a first playback launch (22:26Z) ended killed without a result (HUD median 48). Playback first completed on ps3.225 (next rows).
Mesa ps3.223 + ps3rsx 0.219
2026-10-16 · batch 2026-10-16-mesa-223 · 5 runs in the batch (all games)
Not comparable: every game was profiled with perf during the run, which slows it.
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
basenot comparable |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 102 cpu 21.8 seconds underruns 22 underruns ram_free 33.2 MiB vram 26.5 MiB | Mesa ps3.223, ps3rsx 0.219 the game's resolution, whole run |
Observations: 22:08-22:17Z, the five games profiled with perf for GAME-PLAN's 'where the CPU goes' table (15 s per game; the perf recording is stated there, the run directories do not show it), so fps are lower than plain runs. X-Moto 34.6 fps (own counter), OpenArena tc1 37.2 (longest frame 3.1 s), ClassiCube 54 (HUD), Extreme Tux Racer 40 (menu, HUD), Armagetron 102 (HUD, live first-run game). 208 X-Moto underruns. Result: the driver stack, not the games, takes most of the CPU (Mesa 28-56%, ps3rsx 6-16%), which started the per-draw work in Mesa ps3.246/ps3.262 and ps3rsx 0.249. One run per game.
Group 1 smokes ETR and Armagetron on Mesa ps3.223
2026-10-16 · batch 2026-10-16-etr-armagetron-smokes · 3 runs in the batch (all games)
| Variant | Conditions | Steady fps in the window |
1% low fps | Stalls frames over 100 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
base |
the recipe as it is | - | - | - |
All numbers and setup of this batch
| Variant | Numbers | Setup |
|---|---|---|
base |
fps whole run 89 cpu 13.8 seconds underruns 35 underruns ram_free 83.6 MiB vram 27.7 MiB | Mesa ps3.223 the game's resolution, whole run |
Observations: 22:03-22:06Z. Extreme Tux Racer ran to the 45 s cap (rc 143, Gallium HUD median 42) with the picture right per GAME-PLAN and no kernel errors. Armagetron: the first launch exited in 5 s (rc 1, 'Unknown command line option --fullscreen', a recipe error); the second ran to the 45 s cap with a HUD median of 89 fps on the first-run screen (not a benchmark). Single runs; the cells are HUD medians.