20.500.12556/DiRROS-23341 Exploring module interactions in modular CMA-ES across problem classes This study presents an in-depth analysis of module importance within the modular CMA-ES (modCMA-ES) algorithm using exploratory data analysis and large-scale benchmarking across the BBOB suite. Rather than introducing new algorithms, our contribution lies in uncovering how individual modules and their interactions influence optimization performance across diverse black-box problem classes. We evaluate 324 modCMA-ES variants across 24 problem classes using functional ANOVA (f-ANOVA) to quantify the variance in performance attributable to individual, pairwise, and triplet module interactions. Results reveal substantial variation in module importance across problem classes and highlight strong alignment between module interaction patterns and high-level landscape features, particularly multi-modality. Further, we demonstrate that configuring only the most important modules — identified via f-ANOVA — achieves performance comparable to or better than the single-best solver, especially in high-dimensional settings. This analysis, conducted at both low (5D) and high (30D) dimensions, offers actionable insights into module interactions within the mod-CMA-ES framework. module importance empirical study black-box optimization benchmarking pomen modula empirična študija črna skrinjica optimizacija true false true Elsevier Nizozemska Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik © 2025 The Authors. Neznano 2025-08-20 11:01:07 2025-08-20 11:01:07 2025-10-24 03:54:09 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 19. 8. 2025; 1-18 str. Vol. 98, [article no.] 102116 Okt. 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 2025-04-26 2025-07-31 2025-08-14 519.6 2210-6510 10.1016/j.swevo.2025.102116 245926915 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210650225002743?via%3Dihub 1 3693fe5d-7da4-11f0-9bb7-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=34483 RAZ_Nikolikj_Ana_2025.pdf RAZ_Nikolikj_Ana_2025.pdf 1 D8727E997E2C27D543D0C70DD8814B34 dfad5b51d25c29ffe44d4c787f86b2fe7dff38940e320fcb988e28df714ea053 f3dea32f-7da4-11f0-9bb7-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=34484 Institut Jožef Stefan 0 0 0