Dramatic speed issues with Air 3.5 and "-target ipa-ad-hoc"

[SFischerWI]

Hello there,

I'm noticing dramatically slower performance when packaging my mobile app as 'ipa-ad-hoc' compared to 'ipa-test'.  This is a new issue with Air 3.5. This hasn't been an issue with previous Air SDKs (3.1 thru 3.4, etc.). Render mode is 'Direct'.

I am packaging from the command line with this syntax:

"/SDK/AdobeAIRSDK35/bin/adt" -package -target ipa-ad-hoc -provisioning-profile "./WORK/Apple/test_app.mobileprovision" -storepass my_secret_pass -storetype pkcs12 -keystore "./mycert.p12" ./test_app.ipa ./test-app.xml  platformsdk "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS6.0.sdk"

Here is what I've tried so far:

1. Tested performance with ipa-test, ipa-ad-hoc, and ipa-debug-interpreter.  Ad-hoc is MUCH more sluggish.
2. Tested against different versions of the iOS SDK
3. I've removed any Flex Compiler arguments.
4. Tested my app build with ipa-ad-hoc on an iPad 1, 2, and 3 with various versions of iOS.  I noticed sluggish speed on all three devices.
5. I've tried render modes of 'direct', 'cpu', and 'gpu'.  'Direct' always works best for me.

What else can I check?  I'm racking my brain looking for the magic bullet.

Below is my app.xml file.

Thank you for your help!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>

<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.5">

          <id>com.xyz.testapp.set</id>

          <filename>Test App</filename>

          <name>Test App</name>

          <versionNumber>1.2.0</versionNumber>

          <initialWindow>

                    <content>BR_Test_App.swf</content>

        <aspectRatio>landscape</aspectRatio>

        <renderMode>direct</renderMode>

                    <autoOrients>false</autoOrients>

        <fullScreen>true</fullScreen>

        <visible>true</visible>

        <softKeyboardBehavior>pan</softKeyboardBehavior>

    </initialWindow>

          <icon>

                    <image16x16>assets/Icons/16.png</image16x16>

                    <image32x32>assets/Icons/32.png</image32x32>

                    <image36x36>assets/Icons/36.png</image36x36>

                    <image48x48>assets/Icons/48.png</image48x48>

                    <image57x57>assets/Icons/57.png</image57x57>

                    <image72x72>assets/Icons/72.png</image72x72>

                    <image114x114>assets/Icons/114.png</image114x114>

                    <image128x128>assets/Icons/128.png</image128x128>

          </icon>

    <!-- iOS specific capabilities -->

    <iPhone>

        <InfoAdditions><![CDATA[

                              <key>UIDeviceFamily</key>

                              <array>

                                        <string>2</string>

                              </array>

                    ]]></InfoAdditions>

        <requestedDisplayResolution>high</requestedDisplayResolution>

    </iPhone>

</application>

[Gaius_Coffey]

1. What do you mean "performance while packaging"?

2. Isn't it normal for packaging ad-hoc to take a _lot_ longer than fast-mode test compile because of the massive amount of extra work that needs to be done converting ActionScript instructions into native ARM ones?
G

[SFischerWI]

I'm sorry I should clarify.  The performance of the app stinks when packaged with the 'ipa-ad-hoc' mode compared to 'ipa-test'.  This is opposite of what I usually see.

My problem is similar to the question asked here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4390609 but in my case clearing the compiler options doesn't help me.

[Gaius_Coffey]

That's weird, for sure.

I've had no issue with 3.5 bar the download performance bug introduced with 3.4 on Android.

Does the issue disappear if you revert to 3.4? Eg: Are you sure you have made no other changes that could affect this?

G

[SFischerWI]

I will try 3.4 again in the morning.  I'm fairly certain I've tried every combination of iOS SDK (5.1, 6.0) and Air SDK (3.3, 3.4, 3.5) and only see this behavior in 3.5.

[Gaius_Coffey]

It sounds like, if you can be more specific about what features are affected performance-wise, you should submit a bug report.

Can you narrow down the items that behave badly and maybe generate a simple demonstration app?

G

[SFischerWI]

I wanted to follow up with my solution. After much troubleshooting I determined that packaging from the command line requires a different syntax after AIR 3.5. 

I was using this (note the direct call to the ADT binary)

"/SDK/AdobeAIRSDK35/bin/adt" -package -target ipa-ad-hoc -provisioning-profile "./WORK/Apple/test_app.mobileprovision" -storepass my_secret_pass -storetype pkcs12 -keystore "./mycert.p12" ./test_app.ipa ./test-app.xml platformsdk"/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platfo rm/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS6.0.sdk"

I found that this approach results in a fast running AIR app (note the alternative approach calling Java)

/usr/bin/java -Xms512m -Xmx1024m -jar "/SDK/FlexSDK4_6_With_Air3_6/lib/adt.jar" -package -target ipa-ad-hoc -provisioning-profile "./WORK/Apple/test_app.mobileprovision" -storepass my_secret_pass -storetype pkcs12 -keystore "./mycert.p12" ./test_app.ipa ./test-app.xml platformsdk"/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platfo rm/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS6.0.sdk"

I wish I could explain why this worked ... but it does.