Here is a better guide on How to use the Windows GPU Plotter:
Getting Started
Download/Install GPU Drivers and OpenCL support:For Nvidia GPU Users:I don't have an Nvidia GPU, so I still need confirmation from ya'll on what is required
According to Nvidia "OpenCL support is included in the latest NVIDIA GPU drivers, available at
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us"
For AMD/ATI GPU Users:Download/Install drivers for your video card:
(Note, you should already have video drivers installed. But you may need to play around with installing different versions of the driver for best performance)
Latest Version -
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+7+-+64Archived Versions -
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous?os=Windows%207%20-%2064Download/Install the AMD APP SDK for your version of Windows:
http://developer.amd.com/tools-and-sdks/opencl-zone/amd-accelerated-parallel-processing-app-sdk/Download/Extract the Windows GPU Plotter:1) The GPU Plotter is archived in a .7z file, so you will need to Download and install 7-zip to be able to extract it (if you don't already have it):
http://www.7-zip.org/download.html2) Download the Windows GPU plot generator (v2.0.0):
https://mega.co.nz/#!2BNDXY4L!jgwHDZXDJyFp2Jg5mN8sxtpplgXEInSMf1cQGbPc5lM
3) Right-click & extract the "gpuPlotGenerator-bin-win-x86-2.0.0.7z" file and select 7-zip -> extract to "gpuPlotGenerator-bin-win-x86-2.0.0\"
Using the Windows GPU Plotter:1) open the newly created "gpuPlotGenerator-bin-win-x86-2.0.0" folder that was created in the previous step
2) In an empty space within the "gpuPlotGenerator-bin-win-x86-2.0.0" folder do the following:
Hold down the "shift" key and right-click in an empty spot. Select "Open command window here"
(Note: the "Open command window here" option is only available if you hold Shift and Right-Click)
(Alternatively, you could just open a command window manually and do a "CD" to the folder containing the gpuPlotGenerator.exe file)
3) Run the following command to list the GPU's Platform and Platform ID:
gpuPlotGenerator.exe list platforms
Example:
4) Run the following commands to find the DeviceID's of the device in your system, replacing <platformId> with the number you noted down in the last step:
gpuPlotGenerator.exe list devices <platformId>
Example:
gpuPlotGenerator.exe list devices 0
Note down the "ID" number for the proper device to use, this will be <deviceId> in the next stepNote down the "Max global memory size" number, this will be the MAXIMUM <Stagger> we are able to set (may be more with trial/error)Note down the "Max work group size" number, this will be the MAXIMUM <Threads> we are able to set5) Finally, create the desired plotting information. Here is the basic syntax for the app:
gpuPlotGenerator.exe generate <platformId> <deviceId> "<Plot folder path>" <AccountNumber> <StartingPlot> <NumberOfPlots> <Stagger> <Threads> <Hashes>
<platformId> = The ID# we found in Step 3 (In my case, this was 0)
<deviceId> = The ID# we found in Step 4 (In my case, this was also 0)
<Plot folder path> = The folder you wish to have plots created (Ex: C:\Path to\plots)
<AccountNumber> = This is your Numeric Burstcoin wallet address (Ex: 11111222223333344444)
<StartingPlot> = The plot number you would like to start generating at
<NumberOfPlots> = The number of plots to create from the StartingPlot (This needs to be a number that is evenly dividable by the <Stagger> you set)
<Stagger> = Amount of memory to use on the GPU, in MB. (Ex: I set mine to 1024, instead of my MAX of 1265) (I've been told you may be able to set this higer, but would be a trial and error testing on your part if you wish to try setting the stagger higher)
<Threads> = Amount of parallel GPU threads to use (Typically either 64, 128 or 256 depending on the capabilities of your card, which is indicated by the "Max work group size" above)
<Hashes> = Number of chunks the GPU will split work into. (Ranges from 1 to 8160, this is purely guess work... so start low-ish and try to go up as close to 8160 as you can as higher numbers stress the GPU more)
As an example, this is the command that I used on my AMD Radeon 7800:
gpuPlotGenerator.exe generate 0 0 "C:\Path to\plots" 11111222223333344444 14670000 7335000 1000 64 1024
Note: The above command is probably not optimized for the best speed... but it's just an example that works for my card
Troubleshooting[ERROR] An OpenCL error occured in the generation process, aborting...
[ERROR] [-1001] Unable to retrieve the OpenCL platforms
There are no OpenCL devices detectable. Try Installing the latest Drivers/OpenCL for your device (Listed in "Getting Started" above).
Also, could be thrown if you are using a Remote Desktop app such as RDP (as it uses a generic mirror driver instead of the GPU driver). Try using something like TeamViewer or VNC instead of Remote Desktop.
Contribution needed for more troubleshooting steps...
Revised instructions for using the Windows GPU Plotter, as some were still getting confused.
Also, thank you to bipben for the amazing job on getting a GPU Plotter functional
(also, you are more than welcome to steal any of my notes for your ReadMe if it would help users)
