FlightlessSomething-auto

FlightlessSomething solution for sched-ext/scx automated schedulers testing, using GitHub runner and GitHub actions.

In short: Turn on Steam Deck, go to desktop mode, start a game with MangoHud, enter a game, simply stay somewhere in-game and leave it. Go to GitHub Actions, press some button and benchmark automatically runs.

How to setup

Dedicate device for this. Preferrably, install CachyOS (normal or handheld). This project uses handheld device (it's Steam Deck), and default user is deck and that's what I am using. Note that it involves using GitHub runner, which by default uses github-actions user (comes with the package). Make sure both users are part of wheel group and sudoers file (on CachyOS it's /etc/sudoers.d/10-installer) contains %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL so it wouldn't ask for sudo password.

Register device as GH runner to the repo

Go to https://github.com/erkexzcx/FlightlessSomething-auto/settings/actions/runners/new and register a new runner. On ArchLinux/CachyOS, you can use github-actions-bin from the AUR with these instructions. Once registered, it will appear here: https://github.com/erkexzcx/FlightlessSomething-auto/settings/actions/runners

TIP: Give meaningful runner name when registering. Also add additional runner label, something like steam-deck, so you can later you will have an easy time to extend your setup with additional runner if you decide to add more devices.

Install required tools

Install these:

• First of all - a game and a mangohud packages. Try to play some game to see if if both game and mangohud overlay is working...
• Install these packages (for Arch Linux and CachyOS): paru -S yq git dotool cargo

Configure MangoHud

Edit /home/deck/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf to these contents:

legacy_layout=false

background_alpha=0.6
round_corners=0
background_alpha=0.6
background_color=000000

font_size=24
text_color=FFFFFF
position=top-left
toggle_hud=Shift_R+F12
table_columns=3
gpu_text=GPU
gpu_stats
gpu_temp
cpu_text=CPU
cpu_stats
core_load
core_bars
cpu_temp
io_stats
io_read
io_write
vram
vram_color=AD64C1
ram
ram_color=C26693
fps
gpu_name
frame_timing
frametime_color=00FF00
fps_limit_method=late
toggle_fps_limit=Shift_L+F1
fps_limit=0

# Only below should be configured as shown. Above config can be customized as you wish.
output_folder=/tmp/mangohud_logs
log_duration=9999
autostart_log=0
log_interval=0
toggle_logging=Shift_L+F2

Now do mkdir -p /tmp/mangohud_logs and try to launch your game manually with MangoHud. Do a short recording and find recorded logs in /tmp/mangohud_logs. Inspect their name. In my case, Baldurs Gate 3 executable is bg3.exe, logs start with bg3_ so they keyword here is bg3. Do "Search in Files" and replace this occurance everywhere in this project's files (as it is hardcoded in multiple places, at least for now).

Before a test run...

Well, AUR package does not provide an ability to enable dotool daemon on boot, so after each boot, you have to issue this: systemctl --user start dotoold.service or it wouldn't work.

Additionally, edit /etc/hosts and append below line, because duckdns.org playing tricks with DNS and sometimes leads to "host not found" DNS issue...

139.162.162.246 flightlesssomething-auto.duckdns.org

Lastly, login to flightlesssomething-auto.duckdns.org, extract cookies from your browser's requests (or use cookie editor) and get mysession value. Save it to repository secrets (https://github.com/erkexzcx/FlightlessSomething-auto/settings/secrets/actions) with a secret named MYSESSION.

Do a test run

When everything is setup, simply start the game with MangoHud and in-game, stay somewhere in an open area, preferrably crowded, so it gives lower FPS and needs more computational power.

Go to https://github.com/erkexzcx/FlightlessSomething-auto/actions, on the left side there would be action named Benchmark BG3, click on it and then Run workflow button. For the most part it should work.

Now the conditions:

1. Game can be frozen or unfrozen for a startup
2. Game must not be in recording state. If it's in recording state - manually stop with command echo keydown shift+f2 | dotoolc && sleep 0.2 && echo keyup shift+f2 | dotoolc. If says permission not available for dotool, prior that issue sudo chown $USER /tmp/dotool-pipe and re-try. If game is frozen and in recording state, first you need to unfreze it with sudo kill -CONT $(pgrep -f 'bg3.exe').

Troubleshooting commands cheat-sheet

# All commands as regular user...

# Grant your current user permissions to use dotool pipe (socket)
sudo chown $USER /tmp/dotool-pipe

# Resume game
sudo kill -CONT $(pgrep -f 'bg3.exe')

# Start/Stop MangoHud recording
echo keydown shift+f2 | dotoolc && sleep 0.2 && echo keyup shift+f2 | dotoolc

# Freeze game
sudo kill -STOP $(pgrep -f 'bg3.exe')

Also, on each boot, from deck user:

systemctl --user start dotoold.service