{"id":3958,"date":"2026-04-01T18:13:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/?p=3958"},"modified":"2026-04-13T23:49:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T23:49:38","slug":"chapter-15-code-optimization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/chapter-15-code-optimization\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 15. C++ code optimization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tags:<\/strong> C++, Compiler Optimization, Debugging, Cross-platform, Windows & Android, Project Management<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I hasten to disappoint you: this chapter isn’t about “how to”, but quite opposite: “how to NOT<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judging by the fact that you are reading this, I dare to assume you are a C++ developer, which means your code is ALREADY optimized well enough<\/em> by your own design and Project vision. Compiler interference with the logic and consistency of your code can cause more harm than good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DISABLING “optimization” will force CPU to execute your code exactly the way you wrote it, not the way Compiler reshuffled, compressed and “optimized” it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After releasing my own Project to public, I was consistently plagued by mysterious “ghost” crashes on some users’ devices that I couldn’t even reproduce on mine. While many of these were caused by my own logic and carelessness – and eventually fixed – many remained a complete mystery until Gemini <\/em>brought a compiler optimization factor to my attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A glance at Project’s properties surprised me a lot: every single “optimization” option was set to “on” or to default, which is also “on”, even though I never asked anyone to “optimize” me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t need “better,” I need <\/strong>exactly as I wrote.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since my project is cross-platform<\/strong> (Android + Windows), will consider both:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Android:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

(Android Studio<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Android it is handled by CMakeList.txt<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1<\/strong>. Compiler: Right after project(“whatever”)<\/em> insert:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#disable optimization\nset(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE \"-O0 -g -fno-omit-frame-pointer\")\nset(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE \"-O0 -g -fno-omit-frame-pointer\")<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Step 2<\/strong>. Linker: After add_library(…)<\/em> add:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#disable optimization\ntarget_link_options(*** PRIVATE\n    \"-Wl,-z,max-page-size=16384\"\n    \"-Wl,--icf=none\"\n)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • IMPORTANT<\/strong>: Replace *** with your project name.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    That’s it. In my case, the APK file size increased by only 1 KB, which means there was practically nothing to “optimize.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n
    Windows:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    (Visual Studio<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    As you can guess, here it is handled by Project Properties<\/em>. You have to fix it in 4 (FOUR, Carl !) places. The following instructions also include PDB handling (in order to get readable crash stack trace<\/em> report). So, go to Properties, pick “All configurations<\/em>“, then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Step 1<\/strong>. C++->Optimization<\/em>. Set to following, then – Apply<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Step 2<\/strong>. Linker->Optimization<\/em>. Set to following, then – Apply<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Step 3<\/strong>. Linker->Debugging<\/em>. Set to following, then – Apply<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Step 4<\/strong>. C++->Code generation<\/em>. Set to following, then – Apply<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Now – Ok<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    In my case EXE size TRIPLED, which suggests, that Visual Studio<\/em> is more aggressive to your code than Android (or maybe just PDB-related extra load?). Now size is 5MB<\/strong>, which is still not too bad for a 3D app, comparing to 100MB optimized <\/em>“Hello World” in some commercial frameworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    So, congratulations! You’ve successfully gotten rid of the uninvited guest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    While it\u2019s unlikely it will resolve ALL <\/strong>crashes, I can promise you\u2019ll get fewer<\/strong>, especially “ghost” ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Additionally, on both platforms, execution has become noticeably smoother, I would even say more “effortless<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    Tags: C++, Compiler Optimization, Debugging, Cross-platform, Windows & Android, Project Management I hasten to disappoint you: this chapter isn’t about “how to”, but quite opposite: “how to NOT“. Judging by the fact that you are reading this, I dare to assume you are a C++ developer, which means your code is ALREADY optimized well enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cross-platform-3d"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3958"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4312,"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958\/revisions\/4312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingagame.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}