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Quick PIX trick

Let’s say you’ve got a render state problem.  If object A is on the screen at the same time object B is on the screen, object A gets screwed up.  Here’s a quick way of using PIX to track it down:

  1. Take a snapshot of the frame that works and a snapshot of the frame that fails.
  2. In PIX, find the draw call that draws object A in the frame that works
  3. Go to the device state tab
  4. Copy and paste each page of state into a text file
  5. Repeat for the frame that fails, save this to a separate text file.
  6. Diff the text files with your favorite diff tool!

This is much easier than trying to diff the states manually within PIX itself.  PIX should have a draw call diff as part of its standard functionalty!