Hard Light Productions Forums

General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Alex Navarro on January 26, 2008, 03:34:24 pm

Title: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Alex Navarro on January 26, 2008, 03:34:24 pm
Hi!
I've been playing and modding Freespace 2 for years, but i don't know much about game engines, graphics and such things, so sorry for my ignorance. The fact is that I have been hours and hours looking at the forums, but did not find the answer to what is explained below:

I make a mission with four capital ships and two fighter wings , for example. Most weapons are long ranged and with a very high fire rate (gattling weapons), so there are many shots flying there. But when i'm playing it, there comes a point: I am in the heat of battle, the most fierce moment, and i engage my primary weapons, but there is no shots (there are sound and camera shaking, but there is no shooting, both in primary and secondary weapons). It is some kind of limit of objects. A limit of gunfire. A limit of the most unpleasant. And this is my question:

Is there any way to increase that limit of shots / objects?

With this thread I want to leave doubts once and for all. It is a question that I have in my head long time ago. Can you help this humble ignorant player, and answer the question up there, please? He he.
 :lol:
By the way: good day and good hunting. (and sorry for my english)  :P
Long live the fighters!  :D
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Snail on January 26, 2008, 03:37:54 pm
You can only increase the primary blast count by asking the SCP to do it. Which they may or may not do (or already have done it... I dunno).
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Alex Navarro on January 26, 2008, 03:51:44 pm
Thanks, Snail. Good to know.

So if we all ask them to increase that limit, could they do it? hmmm

I think it would be great. The current limit is too low in my opinion. I guess they will have their reasons. It is that I love the rain of fire in battles.  :lol: .

Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Turey on January 26, 2008, 11:46:30 pm
weapon limit is currently 350. It may be bumped later, but the higher it is, the slower the game runs.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: eliex on January 27, 2008, 12:17:20 am

 Besides, we don't want to fall in the BOES ( Battle of Endor Syndrome )  :D
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: FreeSpaceFreak on January 27, 2008, 01:09:47 am
How old is this limit? Computers improve real fast (Moore's law), so it can be updated on a regular basis, I guess.
And does it really make that much of a difference in game speed? Can anyone see the difference between 30FPS and 60FPS? Just make sure you don't go below 24FPS, that's for sure.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: karajorma on January 27, 2008, 02:17:30 am
Turey tried bumping it only a few months back.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: TrashMan on January 27, 2008, 07:32:07 am
weapon limit is currently 350. It may be bumped later, but the higher it is, the slower the game runs.

350 as in 350 weapons shooting at once or 350 shots flying at once?
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Herra Tohtori on January 27, 2008, 08:38:35 am
Nobody sees the difference between 30FPS and 60FPS. Just make sure you don't go below 24FPS.

Actually, the difference between 30 FPS and 60 FPS is notable - in computer games that require hand-eye co-ordination, like flight sims and first person shooters. Consistent 30 FPS is usually playable, but there is a clear difference to 60 FPS.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: CP5670 on January 27, 2008, 12:13:17 pm
The difference is enormous, and all the more so in a game with smooth, steady turning motions like FS2. I find even 60fps to be a bit too slow in FS2 if it stays constant at that level.

Is it possible to make this limit dynamically increase as needed? I have also run into this issue a few times in the past, and not just in BOE missions. Performance considerations are important but a framerate drop is obviously preferable to anything that messes up the gameplay.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Turey on January 27, 2008, 03:43:21 pm
weapon limit is currently 350. It may be bumped later, but the higher it is, the slower the game runs.

350 as in 350 weapons shooting at once or 350 shots flying at once?

350 shots flying in any one frame.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Hellstryker on January 27, 2008, 05:11:48 pm
weapon limit is currently 350. It may be bumped later, but the higher it is, the slower the game runs.

350 as in 350 weapons shooting at once or 350 shots flying at once?

350 shots flying in any one frame.

Thats way too low... besides most people here have very good cards...
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: IceFire on January 27, 2008, 06:17:32 pm
How old is this limit? Computers improve real fast (Moore's law), so it can be updated on a regular basis, I guess.
And does it really make that much of a difference in game speed? Nobody sees the difference between 30FPS and 60FPS. Just make sure you don't go below 24FPS.
Misnomer...this only applies to film.  The eye can see many more frames than 24 or 30 but with TV (29.95 in NTSC) and film (24) the images are blurred from frame to frame so the rate doesn't need to be as high to maintain the appearance of a smooth image.  With a video game the requirement is to have a higher frame rate...an average that sits between 30 and 60 is desirable but its better to have the average frame rate sit at 60 and the lowest rate go no lower than 30.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: TrashMan on January 27, 2008, 06:24:36 pm
dang...there goes my gattling cannon bonanza mission :(
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Clawandfang on February 20, 2008, 03:35:42 am
Thats way too low... besides most people here have very good cards...

I wonder if some kind of system could be put in place, where the weapon limit is set according to how much your computer can cope with.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Turey on February 20, 2008, 04:07:22 am
It could be made dynamic, which would fix the problem fairly well, but I'm unsure how to go about doing it.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Nuclear1 on February 20, 2008, 09:33:54 am
weapon limit is currently 350. It may be bumped later, but the higher it is, the slower the game runs.

350 as in 350 weapons shooting at once or 350 shots flying at once?

350 shots flying in any one frame.

Thats way too low... besides most people here have very good cards...

Except for the ones that don't.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: colecampbell666 on February 20, 2008, 12:13:07 pm
weapon limit is currently 350. It may be bumped later, but the higher it is, the slower the game runs.

350 as in 350 weapons shooting at once or 350 shots flying at once?

350 shots flying in any one frame.

Thats way too low... besides most people here have very good cards...

Except for the ones that don't.
Really, not many people have 7/8800s, and the majority don't have anything above a Radeon 9000/1000 or a GeForce 6800/7600.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: CP5670 on February 20, 2008, 12:19:57 pm
Quote
It could be made dynamic, which would fix the problem fairly well, but I'm unsure how to go about doing it.

Maybe you could ask taylor? :nervous:

Quote
Really, not many people have 7/8800s, and the majority don't have anything above a Radeon 9000/1000 or a GeForce 6800/7600.

What video card you have is irrelevant (and would make hardly any difference to this anyway). The point is that reduced performance is always better than something that unexpectedly messes up gameplay. If the limit is made dynamic, performance considerations would only come into play when it goes over the existing limit.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Stealth on February 20, 2008, 04:55:24 pm
making the framerate go above 60 isn't really necessary.

most people will brag that they can notice the difference between 100 and 250 FPS, but their monitors are only refreshing 60 times/second.
i.e. B.S.

wouldn't it be nice to have a "V-Sync" function, where the framerate matches the screen's refresh rate?
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: CP5670 on February 20, 2008, 07:38:13 pm
Only if you actually have the refresh rate at 60 for whatever reason. :p I use 85 at the resolution I play FS2 in.

I don't know about over 100, but going from 60 to 85 is definitely a noticeable improvement, all the more so in my case because the latter matches up with the refresh rate. Vsync is always on by default in FS2.
Title: Re: Hello there! I have a question, comrades
Post by: Stealth on February 20, 2008, 11:27:47 pm
well i used 60 as an example... if you run a higher refresh rate, then good for you :p
personally, i can't tell the difference between 60 and 85.  when it drops down to 40 and 50s then i can

and i didn't know vsync is on by default in FS2 :-/