Hard Light Productions Forums
Community Projects => The FreeSpace Upgrade Project => Topic started by: DaBrain on March 19, 2006, 04:29:21 pm
-
They're using DXT1 now and also have mip maps. They should work a lot faster and consume only half of the memory.
BTW I'm using a new version of the nvDXT (thanks Backslash for the tipp). DDS doens't kill the quality of effects too much anymore. It's even worth a thought to replace the ANIs in the avancedeffcts.vp.
The quality is still lower than the ANIs, but it's not that bad anymore.
Download (http://www.game-warden.com/starfox/Non_SF_related_stuff/MediaVP_update_BG.rar) (14MB RAR)
-
woot! thanks DB!
-
that's cool
-
Screenies :D I want just compare this to your old StarWars-ish shockwave
-
You want to compare a shockwave with a beam glow? :confused:
-
Damn, you beat me to it DaB. :D
-
You want to compare a shockwave with a beam glow? :confused:
Oups, sorry. I was so tired i didn't notice it was about beamglow :D
-
can we get a more sane version of the high end shockwaves too ? :nervous:
-
I don't think that's possible. that's why there are medium-end shockwaves. :p
-
can we get a more sane version of the high end shockwaves too ? :nervous:
Sure... it's called mid-quality shockwave. ;)
Don't get distracted by the names too much. They don't look much different. The Super-High-End one isn't even ment to be used ne 95% of the users. It's for PCs that have more power than FS2_open needs... The effect is in no way effictent, but it's better than to waste power of the top gfx cards and CPUs.
-
Awesome, DaBrain. Good ideas. Use the power for awesome :D :yes:
Hey, wouldn't even your mid-quality shockwaves benefit from mipmaps though?
I agree with the replacing of the mv_adveffects animated glowmaps. Already tried it with the bigger ones. But I really think that if someone does this officially, they should also slow down the framerate... it looks ridiculous now (some at up to 60, a few even at 130), and noticably looped, viewed in such a short time. A slower framerate makes it more fluid and organic.
-
Thanks for your feedback. ;)
And again a good idea from you. I shall recompress the shockwaves with the new nvDXT and add mip maps too.
Did you notice a huge performance gain? I'm very interested in this. It works a lot faster for me (yeah "noticeable"!).
-
It works for me, as well. :D
i can keep my current FPS when other capships are on the screen. :D
-
hi,
yeah, i think if many ships firing the beamsweapons the performence is better, imho, and the beams doesnt look so over sharp if you away of the ship.
Mehrpack
-
Ok, I've had to install the beam slow down patch due to the animated beams killing the fps while the files are dumped into Graphics memory, so I'd love use these.
Sooooo... Newb question time, where do I install these files to overide the media VPs?
-
and the beams doesnt look so over sharp if you away of the ship.
Mipmapping! ;)
Ok, I've had to install the beam slow down patch due to the animated beams killing the fps while the files are dumped into Graphics memory, so I'd love use these.
Sooooo... Newb question time, where do I install these files to overide the media VPs?
If you put those files into the effects folder, it has the highest priority. The VP won't matter anymore for that effect.
-
Thanks! I figured that's where I'd need to put them, glad for the confirmation.
-
I get maybe slightly better performance this way, but it isn't too noticeable. The slowdown only happens for the first time the beams of a certain type are fired, and afterwards the FPS is perfect, as I guess the animations are already in the graphics memory. Is there any way to make sure they'd be pre-loaded in that memory before I start the mission (or keep the pre-loaded between missions)?
-
Mipmapping! ;)
hi,
yeah i read it, but i cant resist to write it :D.
nice work :yes:
Mehrpack
-
I get maybe slightly better performance this way, but it isn't too noticeable. The slowdown only happens for the first time the beams of a certain type are fired, and afterwards the FPS is perfect, as I guess the animations are already in the graphics memory. Is there any way to make sure they'd be pre-loaded in that memory before I start the mission (or keep the pre-loaded between missions)?
This is the main issue I can see. the very first time i see an pilot animation, laser shot, shockwave, or new models, there is a 500 ms pause while it's loaded across AGP to local vidcard memory. Then after that, there isn't any slowdown. It's pretty weird, because it seems to me that those things could be preloaded into local vidcard memory.
-
Is it just me or is the server down?
I would like to try it because even on my 6800gt it slows down when lots of beam weapons are fired.
-
Yes, Game-Warden is semi-down.
You can still get to the forum via IP, but the FTP is pretty dead. I'm sure MatthewPapa will fix this soon. (I also suspect, that it might be quite a bit of work...)
Well, I can't upload it anywhere else, so you'll probably have to wait a few days. :(
-
Ok, thanks for the info anyway.
Right now I am playing through the fs1port so no beam weapons yet ;)
-
Yes, Game-Warden is semi-down.
You can still get to the forum via IP, but the FTP is pretty dead. I'm sure MatthewPapa will fix this soon. (I also suspect, that it might be quite a bit of work...)
Well, I can't upload it anywhere else, so you'll probably have to wait a few days. :(
I could upload your file into my FTP ^^ I have 10 Go of free space.
-
That would be real nice of you :)
I have finished playing through FS1 now :D
-
Yes, Game-Warden is semi-down.
You can still get to the forum via IP, but the FTP is pretty dead. I'm sure MatthewPapa will fix this soon. (I also suspect, that it might be quite a bit of work...)
Well, I can't upload it anywhere else, so you'll probably have to wait a few days. :(
I could upload your file into my FTP ^^ I have 10 Go of free space.
I hope you got the file...
The GW FTP can come back online any time now.
-
I hope you got the file...
The GW FTP can come back online any time now.
Unfortunately, I don't know which beams, he is talking about ^^. Do you have any screens and give me the file name of the zip/rar/texture or whatever which is related to your beam. I'll try to find it and upload it asap in my FTP.
-
It's just the glows for the beams, so a lot of DDS files and some EFF files.
The file name is: MediaVP_update_BG.rar
Actually a lot of people should have it. It makes a difference in performance(!)
-
hi,
i have upload the glowmap on my webspace, its a 7z selfextracting exe.
heres the link: http://www.the-nighthawks.com/store/FS/beamglows.exe (~11MB)
Mehrpack
-
Thanks Mehrpack.
Luckily I could use wine in Linux to unpack the file :)
-
That's what I'm doing.
-
You're lucky guys there are someone who got it ^^. I don't have those beam either :/
-
GW's back up. The file should be available within days, when the FTPs data is added back to its correct locations.
Also, Never post .exe archives. Theres always an issue of trust that its not a maliscious program, but theres also that not everyone uses Windows and wont always be able to open the files.
-
hi,
the reason why its a exe is, that its 7zip, and this didnt know so much people like winrar or winzip.
why i use 7z? its smaller.
the rar file is 2,5 mb bigger and the zip file 4,1 mb bigger.
to the turst question: search for my posts and i use this name since over 8 years in the internet.
ok, so i upload a rar and a zip file on my space.
i hope everybody is now lucky and pleace use the smallest version that can you guys unpack.
http://www.the-nighthawks.com/store/FS/beamglows.rar (13,5 MB)
http://www.the-nighthawks.com/store/FS/beamglows.zip (15,2 MB)
Mehrpack
-
the reason why its a exe is, that its 7zip, and this didnt know so much people like winrar or winzip.
why i use 7z? its smaller.
By giving people selfextractor you're not helping them to learn about 7zip.
-
Viruses make everybody running away when they see an exe file in the net! (screaming!) :lol:
Mehrpack has been here for a while and he's helping out with SCP related problems the in the german FS2 community too. I think you should just trust a few people. Not everybody, but it's unlikely for some people to post virues infected files here.
-
By giving people selfextractor you're not helping them to learn about 7zip.
hi,
yeah that right, but if the people doesnt extract it, they maybe delete it or doesnt download it.
the human is a lacy person, and so he go the easiest way.
thanks dabrain :).
Mehrpack
-
How do use these file in game? In which folder do I need to put them?
-
Put them into the /data/effects/ folder. They'll have higher priority than the inefficent versions in the mediaVP.
-
Shouldn't putting them in /mediavps/data/effects also override whatever is in MediaVP directory inside VP files?
I myself have had... bad experiences from putting anything extra onto the main data folder. It works all right if you remember what's in there, but when you get something wrong you'll have trouble. :nervous:
-
You're spot on. Putting them in Data\Effects won't have any effect at all in fact. The mediavps folder is higher priority than anything in Freespace2\Data regardless of whether its in a VP or simply stuffed in a folder.
The only time this won't be true is if the versions in the media VP are in a graphics format with a lower priority than the ones in the Data folder. If that's the case though it doesn't matter where you put them. They'll still be overridden.
-
ok so if the beamglow files won't work in Data/effects then where do we put them?
I dropped them into Data effects and haven't noticed anything.
as a side note I downloaded the FS2-new weapon FX_v0.5a and the read me is a little spartan, I don't expect an answer from this thread but it would be great if someone could tell me which thread or link the thread so that I can find the answer as to which files exactly are images and ANI's.... obviously ani's are the .ani's and the tables I assume were the .tbl but the model tags and additional images tags I wasn't 100% sure which were which so am currently hesitating on installing.
-
I have them in
..\Freespace 2\DDS_beamglows\data\effects\
and I have that mod directory activated along with many other mod directories... for example, if I want to play Derelict, the mod directory selection would be following:
-mod Derelict,mv_beamz_DDS_HIGH,DDS_beamglows,mediavp368zeta
which activates Derelict, my own beam textures, DDS beamglows and finally mediaVP's. In this order, the contents of mv_beamz_DDS_HIGH and DDS_beamglows supercede the corresponding content in mediaVP directory.
-
So I'll be creating another folder tree called \DDS_beamglows\data\effects\ within the Freespace 2 folder?
I'm going to try it anyway but if you confirm that would be great.
-
Confirmed. That works for me and should work for everyone else too.
The only "negative" effect in this (compared to putting them in mediaVPs\data\effects) is that it involves a little more sophisticated and complex mod path, but on the positive side, your mediaVP directory remains intact and it may save a lot of trouble later on.
Same applies to every mod. I prefer to install and use every separate mod from their own mod folders with multimod command line (or putting in the mods the necessary mod.ini files).
-
agreed thanks for the help it worked nicely and so far without issue.
I'll spend some more time looking into it, of all the tweaks I've done I'm certain this one worked and worked well immediately.
I'll likely follow the same practice when I can.
-
I can open the exe archive just fine using p7zip. (I'mma using a Mac... <.< >.>). Then again, I'm guessing most mac users don't habitually keep X11 open.
Also, I'd like to ask if you could put the files you wanna compress into a folder, and compress that instead. I don't like it when I open something and suddenly BLAGGAFRAHLIPOOPFILESALLOVERYOURFOLDER!
I won't really be able to try anything FS until school's out. Lotsa work... :(
At least I'll be able to use my Athlon tower again.
-
hi,
i had forget to copy that in a folder, before i compressed it.
but i was then to lazy to upload it again, as i notice my mistake.
now i recompressed it and upload it again, now if you extraced the files, they are in the folder effects after extracting.
Mehrpack
-
Im having serious trouble with the beamz...
Im using the sane version of the beamglows, took out the adveffects vp, the effects vp, and turned my res down to 1024x768...but everytime a ship fires a single beam and i look at it, my fps drops to about 10.
I have an Athlon 64 X2 4400+, a 7900 GTX w/ 512 MB DDR3, and 1 GB of RAM.
I dont think i should be having this problem...what gives?
btw, i am using build 3.6.9 and the 3.6.8 mediavps.