[karajorma]

Doing that brings back the backgrounds when the background editor is open but stars_draw is also called several times from starfield.cpp and I wasn't certain if those calls also needed patching or if the problem lies elsewhere.

[taylor]

Doing that brings back the backgrounds when the background editor is open but stars_draw is also called several times from starfield.cpp and I wasn't certain if those calls also needed patching or if the problem lies elsewhere.

It only needs to be around the stars_draw() call itself and never in starfield.cpp.  That's what was wrong with it in the first place (the calls were in starfield.cpp).  And stars_draw() is never called in starfield.cpp so that's not even an issue.  It's basically a call-all, that one function will call the other stars_draw_*() functions based on what you actually intend to draw.  The individual stars_draw_*() calls shouldn't be used outside of starfield.cpp except in the rarest of instances.

We only ever need to be setting the view/projection martix once per frame if at all possible.  It's a rather large performance hit to call it more times than you need.  Previously is was called around 8 times per frame in the regular game, now it's 3, and that's just because it's a pain to get it lower than that.  At one time stars_draw() did have to be called outside of a view/projection matrix setup, but that bug was fixed 9 or 10 months ago so there was no longer a reason to keep it a performance drain.

[karajorma]

Yeah. I double checked and you're right about that. I hadn't looked too carefully at what grep was turning up.

Oh well what I've got at least lets people see the background when editing it and gets rid of the assertions so at least it's an improvement on the current situation.

[taylor]

Oh well what I've got at least lets people see the background when editing it and gets rid of the assertions so at least it's an improvement on the current situation.

I didn't think you were too clear about when the backgrounds show up, otherwise I had an extra paragraph on my last post about that.  I took it out to avoid making myself look too stupid, the FRED code isn't exactly something I like to fiddle with.

It really shouldn't matter whether you are editing or not as to whether the backgrounds work.  The only real difference between the two is that if you are editing then the backgrounds always show.  When you aren't editing then it's hooked into the "Show backgrounds" (or whatever the menu item is) as to whether it shows them or not.  Try to toggle that option just in case it's off, or thinks that it is anyway.  As far as I know that one thing is all that's different for how the starfield draws in FRED, but I haven't looked that closely at the code in a while so I could be off on that.  I'm just going from memory when I upgraded the starfield bitmap code a while ago.

[karajorma]

Yeah. It turned out that was the problem. At some point backgrounds had been switched off on my debug copy of FRED. I suppose I didn't spot that cause I don't have backgrounds on the test missions I usually make. Oh well I'll submit the changes to CVS then and build a copy of FRED later today.

[Goober5000]

Still trying to figure out what the super secret add on is...

Ok, one more hint:  What act is closely tied to a food item, that when properly prepared, is consumed from a small bucket?

Um...

The only thing I can think of is a popsicle... you know, those little homemade ones where you pour juice into a cup and stick it in the freezer.  And you suck on popsicles... so are you saying your code sucks?

If you can't get it now, I give up.

No you don't.  Eventually, you'll make it easier to guess (or just give it away via email).  Coders can't bear, for very long, to have their cool stuff go unnoticed.

[Mars]

My PMs have'nt turned up anything so far, except for a cryptic message regarding the age of the feature.

[neoterran]

I have no clue what it was...

[Mongoose]

The only thing I could possibly think of that even remotely fits that clue would be something involving "Vasudanswuvfishes," but that makes absolutely no sense...

...or does it make so much sense that it could drive us mad?

[S-99]

No, i will drive you mad, when i rave about hdrish combined with this new feature, and taking screenshots, and starting a massive new thread
Oh god, i'm one happy hdrish accolite, with hull reflections

[aldo_14]

Still trying to figure out what the super secret add on is...

Ok, one more hint:  What act is closely tied to a food item, that when properly prepared, is consumed from a small bucket?

Um...

The only thing I can think of is a popsicle... you know, those little homemade ones where you pour juice into a cup and stick it in the freezer.  And you suck on popsicles... so are you saying your code sucks?

If you can't get it now, I give up.

No you don't.  Eventually, you'll make it easier to guess (or just give it away via email).  Coders can't bear, for very long, to have their cool stuff go unnoticed.

Wings?  (as in, Chicken)

[taylor]

The only thing I can think of is a popsicle...

Popcorn actually, like you eat when you go to ... 


I'm assuming that many people have actually seen it, and just not realized that it's different.  Now that makes me a happy, happy man (as it was the intent to go largely unnoticed).

[Backslash]

Ha!  And here I was scouring the particle code, and trying creative ways of running away ('popcorn' and 'chicken' respectively). Very cool feature, now that I figured it out.  Though it is particularly easy to miss if the files in question have been deleted, or replaced

[taylor]

The clue wasn't actually about popcorn, but one of things that you tend to be doing when you eat it.  I phrased the clue that way to keep everyone from easily guessing, and I think it was successful.

Oh, and I do have some particle code changes coming up real soon.  It's faster, dynamic, less error prone, and, well, a couple of "things" are fixed now.

[karajorma]

Yeah. I had figured that people might guess it from that to be honest. Then again I was in on the secret.

It's not like I haven't blatantly stated the answer the one place it does matter though. I can edit it back the way it was if you want but I figured there was no point in letting people who are actually affected by the change suffer

[aldo_14]

The only thing I can think of is a popsicle...

Popcorn actually, like you eat when you go to ... 


I'm assuming that many people have actually seen it, and just not realized that it's different.  Now that makes me a happy, happy man (as it was the intent to go largely unnoticed).

I've not played FS2 for that long I didn't realise it was the new addition to this build.  I just saw it and thought 'lovely'.   Because it is lovely.

 And then it crashed.  I think, though, because I had the high-memory effects on and blew up an Orion in an asteroid field.  Or because (hope not) my new fighter model was borked.

[Mars]

MVEs?
What... popcorn as in partical effects, what the hell?

[Goober5000]

Oh crap.  And I was in on it, too.  Guess I have trouble connecting the dots.  Or maybe I was hoping for yet another feature taylor hasn't told us about yet.

[taylor]

Oh crap.  And I was in on it, too.

Or maybe I was hoping for yet another feature taylor hasn't told us about yet.

There are, perhaps, a couple new things in the works. 

[Turambar]

the suspense is killing me.   seriously, i've got suspense-cancer


need... cylon fetal blood...... *collapses*