Make map preview generation fast.

- Change Map.LoadMapTiles and Map.LoadResourceTiles to read the whole stream into memory before processing individual bytes. This removes the cost of significant overhead from repeated calls to ReadUInt8/16.
- Remove significant UI jank caused by the map chooser by not including the placeholder widget. The maps render fast enough that it is no longer worthwhile and it was causing a lot of flushes which were the source of the jank.
- Trigger async generation for all maps when the chooser is loaded. This means in practice all previews will be ready by the time the user begins to scroll the selection. Since generation is fast, there is no issue with scrolling straight to the bottom and having to wait for the backlog to clear.

OpenRA.Game/Map/Map.cs

@@ -355,14 +355,16 @@ namespace OpenRA
 					throw new InvalidDataException("Invalid tile data");
 
 				// Load tile data
+				var data = dataStream.ReadBytes(MapSize.X * MapSize.Y * 3);
+				var d = 0;
 				for (int i = 0; i < MapSize.X; i++)
 					for (int j = 0; j < MapSize.Y; j++)
 					{
-						var tile = dataStream.ReadUInt16();
-						var index = dataStream.ReadUInt8();
+						var tile = BitConverter.ToUInt16(data, d);
+						d += 2;
+						var index = data[d++];
 						if (index == byte.MaxValue)
 							index = (byte)(i % 4 + (j % 4) * 4);
-
 						tiles[i, j] = new TileReference<ushort, byte>(tile, index);
 					}
 			}
@@ -389,14 +391,12 @@ namespace OpenRA
 				// Skip past tile data
 				dataStream.Seek(3 * MapSize.X * MapSize.Y, SeekOrigin.Current);
 
+				var data = dataStream.ReadBytes(MapSize.X * MapSize.Y * 2);
+				var d = 0;
 				// Load resource data
 				for (var i = 0; i < MapSize.X; i++)
 					for (var j = 0; j < MapSize.Y; j++)
-				{
-					var type = dataStream.ReadUInt8();
-					var index = dataStream.ReadUInt8();
-					resources[i, j] = new TileReference<byte, byte>(type, index);
-				}
+						resources[i, j] = new TileReference<byte, byte>(data[d++], data[d++]);
 			}
 
 			return resources;

OpenRA.Game/Map/MapCache.cs

@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ namespace OpenRA
 				List<MapPreview> todo;
 				lock (syncRoot)
 				{
-					todo = generateMinimap.Where(p => p.Minimap == null).ToList();
+					todo = generateMinimap.Where(p => p.GetMinimap() == null).ToList();
 					generateMinimap.Clear();
 				}
 				if (todo.Count == 0)
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ namespace OpenRA
 					//       the next render cycle.
 					//   (d) Any partially written bytes from the next minimap is in an
 					//       unallocated area, and will be committed in the next cycle.
-					p.Minimap = sheetBuilder.Add(bitmap);
+					p.SetMinimap(sheetBuilder.Add(bitmap));
 
 					// Yuck... But this helps the UI Jank when opening the map selector significantly.
 					Thread.Sleep(Environment.ProcessorCount == 1 ? 25 : 5);

OpenRA.Game/Map/MapPreview.cs

@@ -69,27 +69,24 @@ namespace OpenRA
 
 		Sprite minimap;
 		bool generatingMinimap;
-		public Sprite Minimap
+		public Sprite GetMinimap()
 		{
-			get
+			if (minimap != null)
+				return minimap;
+
+			if (!generatingMinimap && Status == MapStatus.Available)
 			{
-				if (minimap != null)
-					return minimap;
-
-				if (!generatingMinimap && Status == MapStatus.Available)
-				{
-					generatingMinimap = true;
-					cache.CacheMinimap(this);
-				}
-
-				return null;
+				generatingMinimap = true;
+				cache.CacheMinimap(this);
 			}
 
-			set
-			{
-				minimap = value;
-				generatingMinimap = false;
-			}
+			return null;
+		}
+
+		public void SetMinimap(Sprite minimap)
+		{
+			this.minimap = minimap;
+			generatingMinimap = false;
 		}
 
 		public MapPreview(string uid, MapCache cache)

OpenRA.Game/Widgets/MapPreviewWidget.cs

@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ namespace OpenRA.Widgets
 
 			// Stash a copy of the minimap to ensure consistency
 			// (it may be modified by another thread)
-			minimap = preview.Minimap;
+			minimap = preview.GetMinimap();
 			if (minimap == null)
 				return;
 

OpenRA.Mods.RA/Widgets/Logic/MapChooserLogic.cs

@@ -96,7 +96,12 @@ namespace OpenRA.Mods.RA.Widgets.Logic
 			foreach (var loop in maps)
 			{
 				var preview = loop;
+
+				// Access the minimap to trigger async generation of the minimap.
+				preview.GetMinimap();
+
 				var item = ScrollItemWidget.Setup(preview.Uid, itemTemplate, () => selectedUid == preview.Uid, () => selectedUid = preview.Uid, () => { Ui.CloseWindow(); onSelect(preview.Uid); });
+				item.IsVisible = () => item.RenderBounds.IntersectsWith(scrollpanel.RenderBounds);
 
 				var titleLabel = item.Get<LabelWidget>("TITLE");
 				titleLabel.GetText = () => preview.Title;
@@ -105,11 +110,6 @@ namespace OpenRA.Mods.RA.Widgets.Logic
 				previewWidget.IgnoreMouseOver = true;
 				previewWidget.IgnoreMouseInput = true;
 				previewWidget.Preview = () => preview;
-				previewWidget.IsVisible = () => previewWidget.RenderBounds.IntersectsWith(scrollpanel.RenderBounds);
-
-				var previewLoadingWidget = item.GetOrNull<BackgroundWidget>("PREVIEW_PLACEHOLDER");
-				if (previewLoadingWidget != null)
-					previewLoadingWidget.IsVisible = () => !previewWidget.Loaded;
 
 				var detailsWidget = item.GetOrNull<LabelWidget>("DETAILS");
 				if (detailsWidget != null)

mods/cnc/chrome/mapchooser.yaml

@@ -43,13 +43,6 @@ Container@MAPCHOOSER_PANEL:
 							Y: 0
 							Visible: false
 							Children:
-								Background@PREVIEW_PLACEHOLDER:
-									X: (PARENT_RIGHT - WIDTH)/2
-									Y: 4
-									Width: 173
-									Height: 173
-									Background: panel-black
-									ClickThrough: false
 								MapPreview@PREVIEW:
 									X: (PARENT_RIGHT - WIDTH)/2
 									Y: 4

mods/ra/chrome/map-chooser.yaml

@@ -26,13 +26,6 @@ Background@MAPCHOOSER_PANEL:
 					Y: 0
 					Visible: false
 					Children:
-						Background@PREVIEW_PLACEHOLDER:
-							X: (PARENT_RIGHT - WIDTH)/2
-							Y: 4
-							Width: 184
-							Height: 184
-							Background: dialog3
-							ClickThrough: true
 						MapPreview@PREVIEW:
 							X: (PARENT_RIGHT - WIDTH)/2
 							Y: 4