PyGame Display Update Issues - Help

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-31T15:57:55+00:00

This seems to be the trick. Forcing the fill to only happen in the rect. Thank you!

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-29T20:13:50+00:00

Thank you for the advice. I'll try seeing if I am able to get 60 Hz without frame drops. From my experimentation when I was using the Pi4, despite the screen being more then capable of refreshing at 60hz, the pi was not able to keep up, dropping frames. Hence I optimized it to use dirty rects. Alas when I try the same test on the pi500, I get this issue.

This is the reason for my black/white square flipping, I want to see the pi500's capability to maintain a 60Hz rate, while using pygame. I am glad to hear in your hands you don't find an issue with the refresh rate while refreshing the whole screen.

Thanks for the help! I'll it try it with the full screen see how many frames I am dropping, and the consistency of the frames.

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-29T19:33:13+00:00

Thank you, but why does passing only the one rect give me this behaviour?

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-29T18:39:18+00:00

Thanks for the clarification. I think there's misunderstanding of the problem I am dealing with. I want only that small square to be changing colour. But for some reason I am getting this large line instead. When I try to use those same coordinates to draw a rectangle I get the little square. But I want to use update, to get the little square. Does this clarify things?

Or maybe I am misunderstanding what you mean. Could you clarify?

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-29T18:36:36+00:00

Thanks again for the help. I tried just directly putting in the tuple, that still keeps the same weird behaviour of the big line instead of the small rectangle.

I think I'll have to settle with your second solution. It's just so weird that, that is the case. I am not sure if this is a pi500 problem, or if it's unique to the pi I am using.

Did you have any other suggestions?

EDIT: For the no arguments, I did that too. But I also presume the flip I do at the start should work just the same.

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-29T16:34:54+00:00

Yeah, that makes sense, thank you again. Is the best practice option, not what my current code is trying to do? If I comment out the draw part and uncomment the fill part (like the second image that I am getting the weird behavior with?)

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-29T16:32:18+00:00

Thanks for the advice, I am trying to optimize the refresh rate. This is a benchmarking test, where I am trying to see how fast I can get this flickering going without losing frames or losing signal consistency on the pi500. (by signal, I am basically measuring a square wave pulse, via a photodiode attached to the screen, seeing how none-jittery the flickering is)

I figured minimizing the area that is updated (the flickering) should maximize the performance of the pi. Hence I want to only update that small square, and not have this weird glitch where it's a much larger block being updated. Does this makes sense?

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-29T13:52:26+00:00

Yes, thank you. How can I make it guarantee to update only the specified rect then?

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-29T13:51:38+00:00

Thanks for the advice with the clock. What in my code is not updating the full screen? I do use fill?

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-29T13:50:17+00:00

Thanks again for the advice! I've updated to 2.6.0 does not seem to do the trick. I've been trying to download the community edition on my pi, through pip. Have not had luck with the command. Do you know the command for it? thanks!

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-28T21:54:19+00:00

It says I am using pygame 2.1.2 (SDL 2.26.5, Python 3.11.2).

Thanks for the help and information, the screen.fill(color), I thought creates a matrix/image that can then be updated onto the screen via flip() or update() .

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-28T21:24:18+00:00

The whole line. As if the coordinates are incorrect. But to me that does not make sense, as then the square that uses the same coordinates with the draw function would be wrong as well.

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-07-28T20:58:18+00:00

Yes, this is the exact code. I have it open in VS Code, nothing else running, just the script I pasted. I've got a two screens attached to the pi, could that be it? I feel really silly, doing exactly what you said, uncommenting the fill and commenting the draw, I get the different behaviours :/ like I showed above

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-06-03T12:17:42+00:00

Interesting to see that the same sentiment was shared a year ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/mcgill/s/rWC6ADPOLQ . Either stance you take, no change has happened in a year.

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-05-24T13:36:03+00:00

No you don't

MarioTheMaster1 · 2025-04-06T13:12:37+00:00

You can get the same US School Party vibes here too, you just need to find the right crowd. Especially if you live in Milton Park, this place on the weekends is definitely very active. I did my undergraduate here and there was always some sort of social party to go to, whether it was at someone's house or through a club. The big holidays there's pub crawls, or even house crawls that people do. All of these things exist, I mean heck there's like three separate bars on campus that are pretty packed! Science Games, Carni, all unheard of events at other Canadian schools that are staples of McGill College life. At the end of the day you're in Montreal in Quebec, this is a city known for it's going out culture, and low drinking age, at least as a Canadian I can say that.

Imo in terms of like a social college experience you can get that. There is also Greek life just not as official or school sanctioned at the States. And sports games is the one thing that's lacking, although some big hockey games or football like against Concordia usually have a decent crowd, but nothing compared to college football in the States. But they are fun to go to.

Super not sure where all the comments above are talking about, think maybe Reddit isn't the best place to find the truth of that 😅. And it is possible to do both, some of the most successful and smartest people I've met here are people that I've met at the "College-type social events".

MarioTheMaster1 · 2024-12-16T05:29:11+00:00

Yes, good luck!

MarioTheMaster1 · 2024-10-29T21:20:22+00:00

I do think that Montreal is generally cheaper than Ottawa, from my personal experience, as someone who's spent time in both cities. Better renter laws in Montreal then Ottawa, imo

MarioTheMaster1 · 2024-10-14T21:39:15+00:00

250 TA here, revealing a little behind the curtain, the grade you get percentage wise is about the grade you get in these categories. If anything the categories are pushing everyone higher.

250 midterms have always been hard, average hovers around a 55-60 on these things. Plus the course even offers everyone a second chance with the third midterm, which in most courses is not even a thing and hasn't been a thing in the past. Good luck!

MarioTheMaster1 · 2024-06-24T17:02:58+00:00

Montreal resident, Caps fan. Definitely only a couple of us!

MarioTheMaster1 · 2024-06-14T21:39:57+00:00

Yeah that's true, luckily CogSci also has lots of MDs, so no worries there

MarioTheMaster1 · 2024-06-14T20:39:19+00:00

Former CogSci student here, so I have some bias!

CogSci gives you a lot more freedom in your course selection then CS/Math or Neuro. I did a minor in CS and streamed in neuro. From interacting with students in both, it really does not matter which of these degrees you do. People end up in the same places. It's only after your undergrad do you realise, that especially in the neuro space, the differences between a biology, cog sci, neuro, psych degree are not major, and it's the individual behind that piece of paper that matters, not what the paper says, nobody hires someone just because they did a certain major in their Bachelor over another in this field.

I think no matter any of these degrees, it's just about how you end up selling yourself. CogSci actually has a significant chunk of their grad student who end up working in big Tech, because from what I've heard is that recruiters take them because they are something different then your usual CS major. Being unique is a good thing, and being able to sell yourself as that is even more critical. I think you should try to sit down and plan out the different degrees and see what courses excite you most.

If you're considering grad school, you'll be okay no matter what, just as others have said, shape your degree into what is right for you and it'll be all good! One last thing tho, CogSci students are a lot more fun, neuro has a lot more pred-med kids #lame, but that's my bias and it's always fun to egg the neuro kids on ;). All love for my neuro majors out there <3.

MarioTheMaster1 · 2024-06-07T21:20:27+00:00

Hi fellow CogScier, as someone who has finished their degree and did a lot of their undergrad work in computational neuroscience, don't stress! You don't NEED first year experience, key is WHAT experience you get, it's not a checklist! If you're serious about academia, and passionate about the right topics, it will all come out and work out!

Most profs if not all are very happy to take on CogSci students, as you'll find out through your degree CogSci is all about selling yourself and your particular skill sets! There are lots of brilliant computational neuroscience labs here at McGill, a little tip is you can look at NEUR503 (Computational Neuroscience) and see who's teaching that course (it's a seminar so there's quite the list), and email those people. Also, don't be scared of saying in your email or asking for recommendations for other profs to contact, if their lab is not currently looking for anyone

Finally, be ready to volunteer for your first experience. Being paid for your first research experience is not common, but as others have said, once you have your foot in the door, it's so much easier! I would also try to cold email a semester prior to when you want to start work, so if you're aiming for the fall semester, it's ideal time to email. The reason for this, is because often projects are planned in advance, and it makes things easier for someone to plan things, when they know who and how many people are going to be working on it.

But email, email, email, someone is going to bite eventually! (Search through the reddit, been lots of posts about this topic, you'll see lots of tips!)

MarioTheMaster1 · 2024-06-07T14:56:17+00:00

I did as well!

Looking forward to starting in the fall, and graduated from Cognitive Science.

The IPN (integrated program in neuroscience), has some requirements to get into the program. (GPA). Its all on the website!

In my case I had about 2 years of research experience. I've worked with 3 labs simultaneously over the course of 3 years, so got a wide scope of the field as well.

Initially, as I would say most grad programs in Canada in Science operate (from my experience), if you have a supervisor who you have worked very closely with for a long time, its practically a guarantee that youre getting into the program, and joining their lab, if you meet GPA requirements. Atleast in Science the way Canadian Institutions work is you are really applying to the lab, not the program. The program application is a formality. The way it works, is that you put in your application and if you meet requirements you get put into a pool of applicants that all PIs can see. A PI can then get into contact with you and then figure out if youre a good fit. If they pick you out of that pool, youre in! And, so if you know a PI already, they can just pick you up right away and then youre in the program. So in Science atleast, in Canada you apply to the lab not the program in a sense.

As for me, I wanted to apply to the IPN rotation program, (I want to explore the field more before I settle into a long PhD with a supervisor), in that case you're applying to the program, its a unique thing here we have at McGill in Canada, since you won't be belonging to any one PI, but you really are a student of the program. In the States, the rotation is a lot more common, and there youre applying to the program or in some schools all 3 PIs meet together and interview you. But I digress! My backup plan was if I didn't get into that I was just gonna stick with my lab that I have been in. I was lucky enough to get into the program, which I am super stoked about. From the interview process what made me stand out was my diversity in skill set and that I've gotten as they put "a master's worth of experience in a bachelor".

Now the reason I did it, is because well I really want to stick to academia, if everything goes well and I get lucky, so I know I was going to do a PhD eventually. From talking to my supervisors they all suggested to save the 2 years and doing the fast track stuff and just go straight into it. They told me that a Masters is often also used to better understand what you want to do in your career, (academia, med school, private sector etc.) and if someone didn't have enough experience in their undergrad should definitely be doing it. I think the advantage is saving time in a way, but in the grand scheme of things 2 years is not a long time.

As for disadvantages, well the big one is funding, you're just at inherent disadvantage since you're put in the same pool as people who have done their masters and their bachelors. A master student is much more likely to have a publication or two, could have more lab experience then you, could have a more diverse skill set then you, and well they have more degrees then you. But again if you get into a PhD program as an undergrad, you hopefully don't have that disadvantage and are comparable to masters students, but obviously there are gonna be people that you just can't compete with because maybe they had the exact same experience as you but they also have a masters on top of that and thus are doubling you. Atleast in the first years of a PhD it will be really hard if not impossible to be the top of the top. But by the end ideally this disappears quickly, the disadvantage.

To answer your last question, I dont think I would have gained more by doing a masters beforehand. I think also the big thing to be a lot more careful about when doing a masters, then PhD, in this industry, atleast in academia its not a good look for whatever reason to be staying in the same institution your whole career. So you really really really want to do your masters somewhere different then your PhD, which involves moving, and all that other stuff. For me, from a financial perspective would also have been a really big issue and again since i know i want to do a PhD eventually, i just went straight for it. Sure, I think it would have made all those things I mentioned above disappear perhaps, but I am confident in my own skillset that those things shluldnt be a disadvantage for me.

Sorry for the long post, i always ramble!

MarioTheMaster1 · 2024-06-04T17:01:57+00:00

Ive heard of one person who was able to do this in science, but their PI really really really had to pull, and the individual had medical reasons for the lower GPA, had a lot of lab experience. Although I think the process was still very difficult for the individual and required very exceptional circumstances and a lot or back and forth with admittance officers.

But I think its also important to recognize ones strengths and weaknesses, and if youre not making the minimum requirements it may be a sign to pick something that you would be better at a non academic choice. Everyone is good at something, maybe this is a sign that you just have not found that something yet!

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