1090298 - Text in UI/webpage is missing with OMTC enabled

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Core :: Graphics: Text, defect)

Description

[Loic]

Bug reported here: http://forums.mozfr.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=120683

Since FF33, this user has an issue with OMTC, the text is missing in UI/webpage, even if the UI is not broken like in bug 1083071.
Upgrading to 33.0.1 didn't fix the issue.
Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/9UlEHZb.png

He tried to disable OMTC (layers.offmainthreadcomposition.enabled=false), text was back but he got some UI issues with black areas appearing sometimes.
Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/TzvUm2o.png

Graphics section from about:support:

Accélération graphique
Date du pilote 7-2-2014
Description de la carte NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275
DirectWrite activé false (6.1.7100.0)
Fenêtres avec accélération graphique 1/1 Direct3D 9
GPU #2 active false
ID du périphérique 0x05e6
ID du vendeur 0x10de
Pilotes de la carte nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
RAM de la carte 896
Rendu WebGL Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 Direct3D9Ex vs_3_0 ps_3_0)
Version du pilote 9.18.13.4052
windowLayerManagerRemote false
AzureCanvasBackend skia
AzureContentBackend cairo
AzureFallbackCanvasBackend cairo
AzureSkiaAccelerated 0

Comment 1

[Loic]

Attachment: text_missing.png

Comment 3

[Loic]

jack, could you type about:support in the location bar and paste the "graphics" section, please.

Comment 4

[Jack Yan]

Hi Loic:

Here you go. This is off Waterfox (which I am temporarily running so I can get stuff done).

Adapter Description	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
Adapter Drivers	nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Adapter RAM	1024
ClearType Parameters	Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 200
Device ID	0x1244
DirectWrite Enabled	false (6.2.9200.16571)
Driver Date	9-13-2014
Driver Version	9.18.13.4411
GPU #2 Active	false
GPU Accelerated Windows	0/1 Basic
Vendor ID	0x10de
WebGL Renderer	Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti Direct3D9Ex vs_3_0 ps_3_0)
windowLayerManagerRemote	false
AzureCanvasBackend	skia
AzureContentBackend	cairo
AzureFallbackCanvasBackend	cairo
AzureSkiaAccelerated	0

Comment 5

[Loic]

You can use Firefox with OMTC disabled, it's a workaround, not the best, but it works.

Comment 6

[Jack Yan]

(In reply to Loic from comment #5)
> You can use Firefox with OMTC disabled, it's a workaround, not the best, but
> it works.

Thank you, Loic.

Comment 7

[Nicolas Silva [:nical]]

I think that disabling D2D is a good workaround for this issue (set the pref gfx.content.azure.backend to cairo and restart the browser).

Comment 8

[Loic]

(In reply to Nicolas Silva [:nical] from comment #7)
> I think that disabling D2D is a good workaround for this issue (set the pref
> gfx.content.azure.backend to cairo and restart the browser).

On the French board, the user tried your tip and it didn't work.

Comment 9

[Loic]

Do you think it's an issue with some models of the serie NVIDIA GeForce GTX?

Comment 10

[Nicolas Silva [:nical]]

(In reply to Loic from comment #9)
> Do you think it's an issue with some models of the serie NVIDIA GeForce GTX?

No idea. I have a laptop that reproduces this issue and it is fixed when D2D is disabled. The driver version reproted in this bug is very recent (the one I have uses intel+nvidia drivers from 2011). I haven't found a good correlation so far and it looks like it is several issues showing the same symptoms.

If there are a few French users in Paris who can swing by the office someday and let me have a look at their computer for an hour or two I'm interested.

Comment 11

[Jack Yan]

Hi guys:

There was one problem with fiddling with about:config: you can’t see anything in there, either.

I typed about:config, copied and pasted layers.offmainthreadcomposition.enabled, right-clicked, and toggled the first option, but I was doing it “blind”.

I did this once, then restarted Firefox, no joy. I did it again, in case I had done it twice accidentally on my first go, and still there was no text.

I wonder if this was the right way to switch off OMTC. I’ll attach a screen shot of what I saw (or couldn’t see) under about:config so you can see what I mean.

The latest Waterfox suffers from the same bug, so I’ve downgraded to the previous version as I had the set-up on my HD.

Comment 12

[Jack Yan]

Attachment: What about:config looks like in Firefox

It’s hard to make changes in about:config as you have to do it blind.

Comment 13

[Loic]

You can start Firefox in safe mode then change the pref in about:config.

Comment 14

[Loic]

(firefox.exe -safe-mode in Windows+R)

Comment 15

[Jack Yan]

Thanks, Loic. I’ll give it a go on the next boot.

Comment 16

[Jack Yan]

Loic, I tried your suggestion, but even in safe mode there’s no text. I tried toggling but it’s very hard doing it blind.

I tried downloading and using the latest version, and it’s the same story. :(

Is there a resolution on this? Couldn’t Firefox ship with OMTC turned off? Or does that cause problems for other users?

Comment 17

[Jack Yan]

Attachment: Launching Firefox safe mode

Launching Firefox safe mode—subsequent windows have no text, either.

Comment 18

[Milan Sreckovic [:milan] (needinfo for best results)]

This seems to be non-D2D related, if we're seeing Cairo for content?

Comment 19

[Bas Schouten (:bas.schouten)]

(In reply to Milan Sreckovic [:milan] from comment #18)
> This seems to be non-D2D related, if we're seeing Cairo for content?

It's not entirely clear from the reports. These might be about:supports from after people having tried to disable D2D.

Comment 20

[Jack Yan]

Hi everyone: tonight, after finding that Waterfox 32 was crashing thrice daily (it keeps increasing) I had to look for an alternative. I downloaded Cyberfox, which does display text on my set-up, even with OMTC and hardware acceleration switched on.

I guess this means one of two things: (a) Cyberfox handles typography differently (certainly its rendering isn’t as good as Firefox’s or Waterfox’s): some of the fonts I have don’t display as “true” to their original designs as on the last Firefox that worked for me, and I include linked (@font-face) fonts; or (b) as Cyberfox forces us to have a new profile, then there is something in the old profiles that caused Firefox to display no text.

Hopefully this helps the above dialogue.

Comment 21

[Jack Yan]

Oh well, scratch the above. On rebooting this morning, Cyberfox does exactly the same thing as Firefox and Waterfox.

I’m beginning to be very suspicious about the Postscript fonts, and that they could be affecting the typography.

Comment 22

[Jack Yan]

Folks, does this help?

https://bug628091.bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=506366

It sounds like this is a problem that relates back to a 2011 bug.

Comment 23

[Jack Yan]

An update here. The PostScript fonts which I use for icon text, etc. have since been replaced with OpenType and TrueType ones, but it makes no difference to the browser.

The fonts themselves are part of a larger family, which either Windows or Firefox may have trouble with.

Comment 24

[Jack Yan]

PS.: The way Cyberfox is handling fonts today (the rasterization and the sub-pixel rendering) is now the same as the way Firefox and Waterfox handled it. So yesterday’s post-installation success does suggest that initially, at least, Cyberfox was handling type differently. Whatever setting causes it to display differently needs to be the default, but I have no clue (as a layman) what that might be.

Comment 25

[Jack Yan]

Another update. Sorry about all these but I think I am getting a bit closer to the culprit.

I’ve just reinstalled Cyberfox and the nice type rendering is back, along with all my text (regardless of font format).

Whatever it is doing differently in terms of displaying fonts is the answer to all of this.

Comment 26

[Loic]

As you are able to reproduce it, could you use the tool mozregression to find a possible regression range, it will help to narrow the underlying regression.

See http://mozilla.github.io/mozregression/ for details.
You can start from FF31 nightlies (with not the bug), id est, --good=2014-04-01

Comment 27

[Jack Yan]

Hi Loic, thank you, but I’m a layman and I don’t know what that means. The details on the page you linked are beyond my ability, sorry. :(

Comment 28

[Jack Yan]

Loic, and others, fixed as of now.

Solution: turn on hardware acceleration.

Cyberfox had this turned on by default. When I switched it off, nothing happened. But when I switched it off and restarted the browser, boom, all the text vanished. 

I’ve now switched it back on in Firefox 34.0.5 and everything is back to normal.

It seems the conventional advice is to turn it off, which I did months ago on some other error. I did it with Cyberfox when I got it to preempt these issues. But it seems that is actually the cause of these issues.

Comment 29

[Nicolas Silva [:nical]]

(In reply to Jack Yan from comment #28)
> Loic, and others, fixed as of now.
> 
> Solution: turn on hardware acceleration.
> 

This means that (at least in your case) the issue is most likely specific to the cairo drawing backend. Good to know, thanks.

Comment 30

[Jack Yan]

Nicolas, you’re welcome. I hope it helps in some small way.

Comment 31

[Gregory Pappas [:gregp]]

Closing per comment 28