Author Topic: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6  (Read 22130 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline taylor

  • Super SCP/Linux Guru
  • Moderator
  • 212
    • http://www.icculus.org/~taylor
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
How good is this Theora? Personaly I don't like MVE...the quality compared to AVIs isn't that good and I don't like the idea of doing all this work with the movies just to have them compressed into a format with bad quality.
Theora has very good quality, on par with DivX at the very least.  MVE is good, but it really depends on the movie.  If you are coming from still frames (renders) or something (uncompressed AVI) then it's better, but converting it from something else will give absolute horrible quality.

Are there other possible codec that could be included into the engine?
If you have suggestions now would be the time to let me know.  We aren't going to support 10 different codecs though, just pick the one extra that works best and that will be it.  MVE will be supported since it's what the retail movies are encoded with.  The additional codec (just the one, maybe two if one codec can't do all that's needed) would be for mods and TCs to have their movies in.  Theora is a good choice since it has great audio and video quality, has no licensing fees, is open source (so we can actually include the codec in the game), and uses Vorbis for the audio which we already include in the game (technically: Ogg Vorbis is the audio side, Ogg Theora is the video side).  We can't use DivX (because it's closed, and can use MP3 which we won't license) and we can't use XviD (because it's GPL and we can't use GPL code in FSO).  Something like MPG1/2 would be the next choice, but it doesn't have the quality and compression that DivX/XviD/H.264/Theora do.

Feel free to add your thoughts to the movie/codec discussion: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,40047.0.html

As for Bumpmapping...*goes over to Taylor and DaBrain and looks at them like this*
I actually look like that, so the pic has no affect on me. ;)

There is nothing to show bumpmap wise anyway right now so it doesn't matter either way.  The test build isn't going to be uber secret or anything, just a bit crash-happy probably.  That's the only reason I don't plan on making a big public test out of it all.  As soon as bumpmapping is ready it will hit CVS.  The test builds would only be for mappers to get the chance to test out what it can do, and point out any errors that I'm making in the rendering process.  The build would do nothing different without the normal maps anyway so until those get publicly released there is nothing to see even if you had the test build.


I'm having severe sound effect - distortions. Like spaoisjdkrrrhhsssshshshshss. Not sure which effects generates it but it fudges the game up. Anyone recognize this and know a build without it?
What sound card do you have?  Which drivers?  What you are describing is what people tend to complain about when they are using an AC'97 card and old drivers.  A driver upgrade tends to fix it for them.

 

Offline Backslash

  • Moderator
  • 29
  • Bring Our Might To Bear
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
blargh. i put in the alpha patches and **** and now i'm seeing the ugly nebula reflections when i shouldn't be more than ever now. they're everywere. techroom, lab, and in-game where there's nothing to reflect. it's especially ugly on the Triton and TC-TRI. strangely enough though, on some of the ships after i played a mission, the reflections left the textures except on the cockpits.
Cobra, those alpha patches aren't for the ship maps.  That's still being worked on.  For now, turn off 'use specular alpha for env mapping' and wait for the next mediaVP test... or if you know how, go turn all the DXT5 maps that have white alpha channels into DXT1 ;)

I like the Theora idea a lot.  In fact I can't think of a better choice. :yes:

 

Offline Cobra

  • 212
  • Snake on a Cain
    • Minecraft
    • Skype
    • Steam
    • Twitter
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
Cobra, those alpha patches aren't for the ship maps.  That's still being worked on.  For now, turn off 'use specular alpha for env mapping' and wait for the next mediaVP test... or if you know how, go turn all the DXT5 maps that have white alpha channels into DXT1 ;)

well duh. i was just saying after patching the %@$#ed up effects and models, i was seeing more of the messed up env. mapping than normal.

and no, i don't know how. :P
To consider the Earth as the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field of millet, only one grain will grow. - Metrodorus of Chios
I wept. Mysterious forces beyond my ken had reached into my beautiful mission and energized its pilots with inhuman bomb-firing abilities. I could only imagine the GTVA warriors giving a mighty KIAAIIIIIII shout as they worked their triggers, their biceps bulging with sinew after years of Ivan Drago-esque steroid therapy and weight training. - General Battuta

 
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
Are the additional files supposed to replace the mv_adveffects, mv_effects, and mv_models files?

 

Offline Cobra

  • 212
  • Snake on a Cain
    • Minecraft
    • Skype
    • Steam
    • Twitter
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
nope. they just fix the black box problem on some effects, and they fix a problem with ship models (that i don't know anything about) :nervous:

plus, if they WERE supposed to replace the Media VP's, they would be MUCH bigger. ;)
To consider the Earth as the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field of millet, only one grain will grow. - Metrodorus of Chios
I wept. Mysterious forces beyond my ken had reached into my beautiful mission and energized its pilots with inhuman bomb-firing abilities. I could only imagine the GTVA warriors giving a mighty KIAAIIIIIII shout as they worked their triggers, their biceps bulging with sinew after years of Ivan Drago-esque steroid therapy and weight training. - General Battuta

 

Offline Flaser

  • 210
  • man/fish warsie
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
How good is this Theora? Personaly I don't like MVE...the quality compared to AVIs isn't that good and I don't like the idea of doing all this work with the movies just to have them compressed into a format with bad quality.
Theora has very good quality, on par with DivX at the very least.  MVE is good, but it really depends on the movie.  If you are coming from still frames (renders) or something (uncompressed AVI) then it's better, but converting it from something else will give absolute horrible quality.

Are there other possible codec that could be included into the engine?
If you have suggestions now would be the time to let me know.  We aren't going to support 10 different codecs though, just pick the one extra that works best and that will be it.  MVE will be supported since it's what the retail movies are encoded with.  The additional codec (just the one, maybe two if one codec can't do all that's needed) would be for mods and TCs to have their movies in.  Theora is a good choice since it has great audio and video quality, has no licensing fees, is open source (so we can actually include the codec in the game), and uses Vorbis for the audio which we already include in the game (technically: Ogg Vorbis is the audio side, Ogg Theora is the video side).  We can't use DivX (because it's closed, and can use MP3 which we won't license) and we can't use XviD (because it's GPL and we can't use GPL code in FSO).  Something like MPG1/2 would be the next choice, but it doesn't have the quality and compression that DivX/XviD/H.264/Theora do.

Feel free to add your thoughts to the movie/codec discussion: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,40047.0.html

As for Bumpmapping...*goes over to Taylor and DaBrain and looks at them like this*
I actually look like that, so the pic has no affect on me. ;)

There is nothing to show bumpmap wise anyway right now so it doesn't matter either way.  The test build isn't going to be uber secret or anything, just a bit crash-happy probably.  That's the only reason I don't plan on making a big public test out of it all.  As soon as bumpmapping is ready it will hit CVS.  The test builds would only be for mappers to get the chance to test out what it can do, and point out any errors that I'm making in the rendering process.  The build would do nothing different without the normal maps anyway so until those get publicly released there is nothing to see even if you had the test build.


I'm having severe sound effect - distortions. Like spaoisjdkrrrhhsssshshshshss. Not sure which effects generates it but it fudges the game up. Anyone recognize this and know a build without it?
What sound card do you have?  Which drivers?  What you are describing is what people tend to complain about when they are using an AC'97 card and old drivers.  A driver upgrade tends to fix it for them.

I would have campaigned for a GPL codec like Xvid....but since we can't use such code, I'm sold on Theora.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2006, 05:29:16 am by Flaser »
"I was going to become a speed dealer. If one stupid fairytale turns out to be total nonsense, what does the young man do? If you answered, “Wake up and face reality,” you don’t remember what it was like being a young man. You just go to the next entry in the catalogue of lies you can use to destroy your life." - John Dolan

 
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
nope. they just fix the black box problem on some effects, and they fix a problem with ship models (that i don't know anything about) :nervous:

plus, if they WERE supposed to replace the Media VP's, they would be MUCH bigger. ;)


Except on my computer, apparently. I put them in and it did absolutely nothing... which leads me to believe that I did something wrong, but what, I don't know.
Yes, I have OpenGL, no, I don't have anything in the effects files, no, the alphapatches are no longer in the mediavp folder.
"You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?" -DEATH, Discworld

"You can fight like a krogan, run like a leopard, but you'll never be better than Commander Shepard!"

 
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
I'm having severe sound effect - distortions. Like spaoisjdkrrrhhsssshshshshss. Not sure which effects generates it but it fudges the game up. Anyone recognize this and know a build without it?

Yes I have openal, soundcard etc all set up.

214 is having the same problem. 214 is wondering if it is an option turned on that is making it do this. 214 has a Compaq Presario w/ onboard sound card. 214 doesn't know what type of sound card he has. 214 needs help. 214 will stop speaking in third person.

    |[===---(-         
    ||
 =(||==)_
    ||_____|
 =(||==)
    ||                   
    |[===---(-                             

"Take my love. Take my land. Take me where I cannot stand. I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me. Take me out to the black, tell them I ain't comin' back. Burn the land boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me. There's no place I can be since I've found Serenity. But you can't take the sky from me." - Ballad of Serenity

 

Offline ARSPR

  • Preys On Mantis
  • 29
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
nope. they just fix the black box problem on some effects, and they fix a problem with ship models (that i don't know anything about) :nervous:

plus, if they WERE supposed to replace the Media VP's, they would be MUCH bigger. ;)


Except on my computer, apparently. I put them in and it did absolutely nothing... which leads me to believe that I did something wrong, but what, I don't know.
Yes, I have OpenGL, no, I don't have anything in the effects files, no, the alphapatches are no longer in the mediavp folder.

It's very strange. A few tips:

+ Make sure you have no extra vps in Freespace rather than retail ones (sparkys, root, smarty, warble)
+ Make sure you have no files inside Freespace\Data.
+ Redownload 3.6.8. zetas and 710 patches. (Maybe you've got corrupted data)
+ Put them all in Freespace\Mediavps. (Create the folder if needed or delete all the contents in older one).
+ Download Launcher 5.4 and 3.6.9.RC6
+ From launcher select Mediavps as your MOD.
+ Then, you should have all effects without black boxes in tweaked and updated retail FS2 campaign.
+ (Remember to make your other mods point to Mediavps through SecondaryList in each MOD.INI. Read Karajorma's FAQ or Wiki (-MOD flag help)).
IF YOU HAVE TROUBLES WITH FS2:
  • Please, please, please, READ and UNDERSTAND the sticky threads in FreeSpace & FreeSpace Open Support board.
    A lot of people are willing to help you, but, as anyone can understand, seeing the very same "issues" repeated again and again can become quite depressing. Please, spend a bit of time trying to solve the issue by yourself.
    (Lobo deserves a monument).
  • Then, if you aren't still able to solve your issue, feel free to ask for help in that same board.
    FYI, most of the troubles are caused by wrong mod installations which lead to either missing data or undesired cross-effects between them. Always follow the mod installation instructions and keep a clean FS2 installation as explained in the sticky threads. Two additional links about how the game handles game data:
  • If you think that you've discovered a bug, mantis it.
    Provide as much info as you can, and try to narrow it down. A lonely "FS2 doesn't work" is not a good report.

Whoever Hanlon was: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Albert Einstein: Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.

Dell Dimension 9200 - Vista 32-bit Ultimate
Core 2 Quad Q6600 @2.4GHz - RAM 2 GB DDR2
nvidia 8800 GTX - Integrated Sigmatel Audio

 

Offline Cobra

  • 212
  • Snake on a Cain
    • Minecraft
    • Skype
    • Steam
    • Twitter
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
I'm having severe sound effect - distortions. Like spaoisjdkrrrhhsssshshshshss. Not sure which effects generates it but it fudges the game up. Anyone recognize this and know a build without it?

Yes I have openal, soundcard etc all set up.

214 is having the same problem. 214 is wondering if it is an option turned on that is making it do this. 214 has a Compaq Presario w/ onboard sound card. 214 doesn't know what type of sound card he has. 214 needs help. 214 will stop speaking in third person.

214 needs to upgrade his Presario. :P

Except on my computer, apparently. I put them in and it did absolutely nothing... which leads me to believe that I did something wrong, but what, I don't know.
Yes, I have OpenGL, no, I don't have anything in the effects files, no, the alphapatches are no longer in the mediavp folder.

This is probably just a shot in the dark, but did you by any chance have -img2dds turned on while you had the alpha patches installed? IIRC taylor fixed -img2dds but then it broke again.
To consider the Earth as the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field of millet, only one grain will grow. - Metrodorus of Chios
I wept. Mysterious forces beyond my ken had reached into my beautiful mission and energized its pilots with inhuman bomb-firing abilities. I could only imagine the GTVA warriors giving a mighty KIAAIIIIIII shout as they worked their triggers, their biceps bulging with sinew after years of Ivan Drago-esque steroid therapy and weight training. - General Battuta

 
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
No, I just checked, and that isn't on.


Corrupted download..... Ok, I'll redownload them.
"You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?" -DEATH, Discworld

"You can fight like a krogan, run like a leopard, but you'll never be better than Commander Shepard!"

 

Offline Freespace Freak

  • 28
  • Official forum permanewb
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
Is there a mv_core.vp or a mv_music.vp for this build?  Or should I just use the 3.6.9 vps since the 3.6.8 build seems to be non-existant?

Edit: Oh, and is there a new texture vp?

 

Offline Zacam

  • Magnificent Bastard
  • Administrator
  • 211
  • I go Sledge-O-Matic on Spammers
    • Minecraft
    • Steam
    • Twitter
    • ModDB Feature
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
MediaVP's 3.6.8 Zeta are currently the most recent VP's. Don't forget Taylors 0710 patches on page 5. Or, here's a link directly to the top of page 5.

There are not any 3.6.9 VP's yet. DaBrain is likely still working on them and as of yet has not released any beta's and I don't suggest nagging him about it.

It's likely people are confusing the EXE builds and the VP builds. At some point they will come into confluence.
Report MediaVP issues, now on the MediaVP Mantis! Read all about it Here!
Talk with the community on Discord
"If you can keep a level head in all this confusion, you just don't understand the situation"

¤[D+¬>

[08/01 16:53:11] <sigtau> EveningTea: I have decided that I am a 32-bit registerkin.  Pronouns are eax, ebx, ecx, edx.
[08/01 16:53:31] <EveningTea> dhauidahh
[08/01 16:53:32] <EveningTea> sak
[08/01 16:53:40] * EveningTea froths at the mouth
[08/01 16:53:40] <sigtau> i broke him, boys

 

Offline NGTM-1R

  • I reject your reality and substitute my own
  • 213
  • Syndral Active. 0410.
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
Total showstopper FRED bug, I'm afraid.

Attempting to launch the campaign editor causes FRED to CTD. The Debug spew doesn't say a thing. I'm mantising it next.

"Load sabot. Target Zaku, direct front!"

A Feddie Story

 

Offline karajorma

  • King Louie - Jungle VIP
  • Administrator
  • 214
    • Karajorma's Freespace FAQ
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
I believe I fixed that one already actually but it missed hitting RC6 by a day or so.
Karajorma's Freespace FAQ. It's almost like asking me yourself.

[ Diaspora ] - [ Seeds Of Rebellion ] - [ Mind Games ]

 

Offline NGTM-1R

  • I reject your reality and substitute my own
  • 213
  • Syndral Active. 0410.
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
Argh. :/

Would it fixed in the latest CVS build then?

EDIT: It would not. I get an error message now though. The debug build is oddly less informative then standard FRED.

Standard FRED warns of a buffer overrun and tells you it has to terminate; Debug build says nothing of that but instead informs of a debug error and the stack being corrupted around variable 'real_fname'.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2006, 05:17:35 am by ngtm1r »
"Load sabot. Target Zaku, direct front!"

A Feddie Story

 

Offline karajorma

  • King Louie - Jungle VIP
  • Administrator
  • 214
    • Karajorma's Freespace FAQ
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
Actually now that I think about it I fixed that a day before RC 5 not RC 6. Are you absolutely certain you have RC 6? The last modified date for RC 6 is early August not early July.

If you're certain you have RC6 then it's unlikely a CVS build will fix the problem either since I committed the fix to both branches.
Karajorma's Freespace FAQ. It's almost like asking me yourself.

[ Diaspora ] - [ Seeds Of Rebellion ] - [ Mind Games ]

 

Offline NGTM-1R

  • I reject your reality and substitute my own
  • 213
  • Syndral Active. 0410.
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
It's RC6.

See above for what the CVS builds gave me when I tried again.
"Load sabot. Target Zaku, direct front!"

A Feddie Story

 

Offline IPAndrews

  • Disgruntled Customer
  • 212
  • This site stole my work
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
Did we get the ability to repeatedly move waypoint positions? Also number->string and string-concat sexps. You don't have to return strings. Just modify existing ones. Like calling an ANSI C string function.
Be warned: This site's admins stole 100s of hours of my work. They will do it to you.

 

Offline karajorma

  • King Louie - Jungle VIP
  • Administrator
  • 214
    • Karajorma's Freespace FAQ
Re: 3.6.9 Release Candidate 6
Hmmm. Try it with RC 4. When people reported that RC 5 crashed I assumed that it was just a case of the build being posted without a CVS update but it may be that the fix is causing a second crash elsewhere. Try RC 4 as that one definitely doesn't have my fix.

In the meanwhile I'll look into it.

BTW of those two error messages the debug one was the more infomative of the two :)

@ IP I haven't had much time to look into those things unfortunately IP. Bug fixing 3.6.9 is pretty much top of my list at the moment. It is on the list though. You know I want those features as much  as you do :)
« Last Edit: August 24, 2006, 06:03:47 am by karajorma »
Karajorma's Freespace FAQ. It's almost like asking me yourself.

[ Diaspora ] - [ Seeds Of Rebellion ] - [ Mind Games ]