WoWee/docs/perf_baseline.md

Performance Baseline — WoWee

Phase 0.3 deliverable. Measurements taken before any optimization work. Re-run after each phase to quantify improvement.

Tracy Profiler Integration

Tracy is integrated under the WOWEE_ENABLE_TRACY CMake option (default: OFF). When enabled, zero-cost zone markers instrument the following critical paths.

Setup: Tracy is not vendored in this repo. CMakeLists.txt looks for extern/tracy/public/TracyClient.cpp and extern/tracy/public/ headers (lines 1045-1050). Clone Tracy into that path before configuring with -DWOWEE_ENABLE_TRACY=ON:

git clone --depth 1 --branch v0.11.1 https://github.com/wolfpld/tracy extern/tracy

Instrumented Zones

Zone Name	File	Purpose
Application::run	src/core/application.cpp	Main loop entry
Application::update	src/core/application.cpp	Per-frame game logic
Renderer::beginFrame	src/rendering/renderer.cpp	Vulkan frame begin
Renderer::endFrame	src/rendering/renderer.cpp	Post-process + present
Renderer::update	src/rendering/renderer.cpp	Renderer per-frame update
Renderer::renderWorld	src/rendering/renderer.cpp	Main world draw call
Renderer::renderShadowPass	src/rendering/renderer.cpp	Shadow depth pass
PostProcess::execute	src/rendering/post_process_pipeline.cpp	FSR/FXAA post-process
M2::computeBoneMatrices	src/rendering/m2_renderer_internal.h	CPU skeletal animation
M2Renderer::update	src/rendering/m2_renderer_render.cpp	M2 instance update + culling
TerrainManager::update	src/rendering/terrain_manager.cpp	Terrain streaming logic
TerrainManager::processReadyTiles	src/rendering/terrain_manager.cpp	GPU tile uploads
ADTLoader::load	src/pipeline/adt_loader.cpp	ADT binary parsing
AssetManager::loadTexture	src/pipeline/asset_manager.cpp	BLP texture loading
AssetManager::loadDBC	src/pipeline/asset_manager.cpp	DBC data file loading
WorldSocket::update	src/network/world_socket.cpp	Network packet dispatch

FrameMark placed at frame boundary in Application::update to track FPS.

How to Profile

# Build with Tracy enabled
mkdir -p build_tracy && cd build_tracy
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DWOWEE_ENABLE_TRACY=ON
cmake --build . --parallel $(nproc)

# Run the client — Tracy will broadcast on default port (8086)
cd bin && ./wowee

# Connect with Tracy profiler GUI (separate download from https://github.com/wolfpld/tracy/releases)
# Or capture from CLI: tracy-capture -o trace.tracy

Baseline Scenarios

TODO: Record measurements once profiler is connected to a running instance. Each scenario should record: avg FPS, frame time (p50/p95/p99), and per-zone timings.

Scenario 1: Stormwind (Heavy M2/WMO)

• Location: Stormwind City center
• Load: Dense M2 models (NPCs, doodads), multiple WMO interiors
• Avg FPS: pending
• Frame time (p50/p95/p99): pending
• Top zones: pending

Scenario 2: The Barrens (Heavy Terrain)

• Location: Central Barrens
• Load: Many terrain tiles loaded, sparse M2, large draw distance
• Avg FPS: pending
• Frame time (p50/p95/p99): pending
• Top zones: pending

Scenario 3: Dungeon Instance (WMO-only)

• Location: Any dungeon instance (e.g., Deadmines entrance)
• Load: WMO interior rendering, no terrain
• Avg FPS: pending
• Frame time (p50/p95/p99): pending
• Top zones: pending

Notes

• When WOWEE_ENABLE_TRACY is OFF (default), all ZoneScopedN / FrameMark macros expand to nothing — zero runtime overhead.
• Tracy requires a network connection to capture traces. Run the Tracy profiler GUI or tracy-capture CLI alongside the client.
• Debug builds are significantly slower due to -Og and no LTO; use RelWithDebInfo for representative measurements.