Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace & FreeSpace Open Support => Topic started by: jkalltheway on October 16, 2008, 11:44:36 pm
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Hey guys, I've been playing freespace for a relatively short amount of time. I recently started the derelict campaign, and i noticed that my graphics didn't look as sharp as some other peoples. i was wondering if you guys could tell me what i could do to make things look, for lack of a better term Prettier. I will provide additional screenshots if requested. Also, one thing i noticed is that the stars in the background dont seem to work. I remember lobo helped me with this problem earlier, but the problem with the stars was never solved.
[attachment deleted by Tolwyn]
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Firstly, you don't have mediavps enabled. I'd recommend looking at the "How to get the most graphics-wise out of Freespace" thread...
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http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,53294.0.html
The instructions are almost the same for the 3.6.8 MediaVPs and the 3.6.10 MediaVPs. Except that the 3.6.8's lack normal maps.
Also, see Karajorma's FreeSpace FAQ, particularly the part about using mods. You'll need mod.ini files in mod folders so that the MediaVPs are used in conjunction with the mod.
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okay, will try. thanks
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Theres a problem with a planet in one of the derelict missions, it just looks really odd. More annoying than anything. Also, thanks for the help on previous problems. it has solved most of my other graphical wants.
[attachment deleted by Tolwyn]
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That's probably more a symptom of your resolution than anything else. FS2 was designed to be run at 1024x768 resolution, and even quite a bit of the fan-created content was intended for that size. If you run at a widescreen resolution, things tend to get stretched out horizontally...as you can tell from the fact that your radar isn't a perfect circle. :p
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What build were you using? 3.6.10 builds (such as the Recommended build linked in my signature) have an implemented widescreen fix. It will resolve all other stretching problems except the HUD and interface art (for obvious reasons).
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Actually there's a bug that causes round background objects to become ellipses on widescreen resolutions. And no, it's not that the planet is squeezed flat horizontally in regards to monitor frame, but it actually is distorted on the background...
(http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/5332/widescreenplanetproblemmk7.png)
Bizarrely, changing the background parametres in the mission to
ScaleX=100% (ie. 2.00000)
ScaleY=110% (ie. 2.20000)
makes the planets very close to round, at least on this particular resolution (1680x1050), but fixing a code issue by deforming the media is something Microsoft would do rather than what should be done.
On another topic that planet looks like the retail PlanetA1 rather than any MediaVP variant of it, so question arises whether you have any mediaVP's actually working after all... :nervous:
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hm... the reoccurring problem seems to be my mediavps. I think that i have them all installed correctly, and placed in the correct folders but one can never be sure. I am using the 3.6.10 version of the game, also how do i change the background parameters? Part of the problem might be the whole "mod.ini" part of it. What exactly is mod.ini, and how do i go about changing that?
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Part of the problem might be the whole "mod.ini" part of it. What exactly is mod.ini, and how do i go about changing that?
Described in Karajorma's FreeSpace FAQ's modding section. Has certain functions, such as showing campaign description, campaign web site link, campaign forum link and campaign banner under the Launcher's MOD tab, when the specific mod is selected. And, most importantly, allows the usage of two or more mod folders simultaneously. For example, if you have FSPort and the MediaVPs installed and you want to play FSPort with the MediaVP enhancements, you'll need a mod.ini in the \fsport\ folder telling the game engine to also read the \mediavps\ folder.
Mod.inis really shouldn't cause issues like this, in short.
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Screens of my folders. maybe it might help?
[attachment deleted by Tolwyn]
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Your mediavp directory is a mess. It seems to have atleast 3.6.8 zeta mediavps, 3.6.10 betamedia vps and then some additional vp files spread all over.
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1. Remove mv_cell.vp.
2. Files beginning with MV_ are 3.6.10 MediaVPs. Files beginning with either mv_ or mp-710_ are 3.6.8 MediaVPs (most likely). Please select one release and move the other one away. Mixing two separate MediaVP releases is never fun.
3. Where did you get sdr003.vp? From the filename I'd assume it's a rather old one. Can't remember a good link for the recommended shader at the moment, though.
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1. Remove mv_cell.vp.
2. Files beginning with MV_ are 3.6.10 MediaVPs. Files beginning with either mv_ or mp-710_ are 3.6.8 MediaVPs (most likely). Please select one release and move the other one away. Mixing two separate MediaVP releases is never fun.
3. Where did you get sdr003.vp? From the filename I'd assume it's a rather old one. Can't remember a good link for the recommended shader at the moment, though.
Isn't that one of the shader VP's?
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It is. I was just wondering. If the shader vps are numbered in order of appearance, 003 would sound rather old compared to 1119, for example.
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Hmm.. IIRC 003 is the 'id number' of the shader vp... while the 1119 was simply the date when that vp was compiled.. (ie 19th Nov). So IIRC the 003 is more recent than the 1119
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Ah, ok then. So, if you, jkalltheway, want to use the 3.6.10 MediaVPs, leave the shader vp to \mediavps\. Otherwise it would be good to move it away.
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so say that i wanted to use the 3.6.10 vps, which ones should i move away? if i took everything but the MVs, i would only have 2 of them and that seems a little light. Or would that be the correct amount?
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The release thread for the 3.6.10 MediaVPs is here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,51229.0.html). You'll need at least Core, Assets and Effects to have a working set. AdvancecEffects can be used if your rig can take it. Music has some higher-quality tracks but at least a while back it did **** up at least the main hall track of Blue Planet with its mighty .tbm.
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yeah, thats the link i got the mediavps off of originally, but would this solve hte problem with the planets? somehow i doubt it.
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Once more: if you want to use the 3.6.10 MediaVPs, you must have at least Core, Assets and Effects. Otherwise you'll get problems. The rest, mainly Music and AdvancedEffects, are optional.
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I redownloaded the files, and got rid of the other ones. Now i should be running on 3.6.10 and with 3.6.10 mediavps. I ran the debug, the attached came up. Also, the problem with the planet is still there. I apologize if i'm being a little hardheaded, but this is something i really want to deal with. Also, this might or might not be related but it appears the engines for the escher dont show up. I still take the engine wash damage, but i don't see it. This isn't a new problem, its been there but i just never noticed it. Might be related? If theres anything i can provide a screenshot of that might help, please say so.
[attachment deleted by necromancer]
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It doesn't even look like the mediavps are running there...
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If you ran a debug build, could you (again) post fs2_open.log from \freespace2\data?
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Here you go
[attachment deleted by necromancer]
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Passed cmdline options:
-spec_exp 11-spec_point .6-spec_static .8-spec_tube .4-ogl_spec 80
-ogl_spec 80
-spec_static .8-spec_tube .4-ogl_spec 80
-spec_point .6-spec_static .8-spec_tube .4-ogl_spec 80
-spec_tube .4-ogl_spec 80
-ambient_factor 0-no_emissive_light-spec_exp 11-spec_point .6-spec_static .8-spec_tube .4-ogl_spec 80
This looks rather messy. The last line would suffice, except that you probably should have spaces between flags. Like -ambient_factor 0 -no_emissive_light and so on. Also, it most certainly wouldn't hurt to add the zeros in front of some of the numbers, as in -spec_tube 0.4.
Searching root 'C:\games\freespace2\Media_VPs\' ... 0 files
Curious. The game engine searches the \Media_VPs\ folder as it should, but there are no files there. Where did you place the MediaVPs you downloaded? They should be in \Media_VPs\.
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oh i see, i named the folder "mediavps" not media_vps. tried it again, the planet looks better now, but is still an oval. Also, black stripes appeared on the hercules model, i guess that this may be because my graphics may not be able to handle it? I think the mediavps are working now, because everything looks much better.
[attachment deleted by necromancer]
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Also, black stripes appeared on the hercules model, i guess that this may be because my graphics may not be able to handle it?
Actually an Nvidia driver issue. 8600M GT is a laptop graphics card, correct? Try to find and install the latest graphics drivers from your laptop manufacturer's site.
I think the mediavps are working now, because everything looks much better.
That is often the case.
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Quoted for repetition and in bold so that you might actually read it this time.
Actually there's a bug that causes round background objects to become ellipses on widescreen resolutions. And no, it's not that the planet is squeezed flat horizontally in regards to monitor frame, but it actually is distorted on the background...
(http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/5332/widescreenplanetproblemmk7.png)
Bizarrely, changing the background parametres in the mission to
ScaleX=100% (ie. 2.00000)
ScaleY=110% (ie. 2.20000)
makes the planets very close to round, at least on this particular resolution (1680x1050), but fixing a code issue by deforming the media is something Microsoft would do rather than what should be done.
On another topic that planet looks like the retail PlanetA1 rather than any MediaVP variant of it, so question arises whether you have any mediaVP's actually working after all... :nervous:
It's an SCP bug with widescreen resolutions. Nothing you can do about it before it gets fixed in the codebase, except:
-Play at 4:3 resolution (1024x768, 1280x960 or 1600x1200)
-dick around with mission parametres and set each planet so that ScaleY=1.1xScaleX (this works on 1680x1050 resolution, I'm quite certain that different screen aspect ratios would require different ScaleY/ScaleX ratio than 1.1, and you should remember that generally it's not a good idea to use double negative to get a positive, it'll likely come to bite you in the ass at some point (like forgetting the edited missions somewhere and having them distort the planets after the bug is fixed...)
-Tolerate it.
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Quoted for repetition and in bold so that you might actually read it this time.
Actually, i did read your post. However, if you look at my next post, i asked how i would go about changing the background parameters. Seeing as how at the time, you did not respond, i didn't think of it anymore. Also seeing as how i was attempting to deal with my other problems, it simply slipped my mind. There is no need for general assholery here. I apologize for my lack of a proper brain, but i work with what i got. As for the rest of your post, i will take your suggestions into consideration and attempt to fix these problems. Thanks to everyone who helped, or tried to help. Lobo in particular for taking so much time to assist me in this matter. Hopefully, there won't be any more problems.
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Yeah, I missed that. :) No assholier than thou attitude was intended. No newbies were hurt in the making of this post.
In addition, I'm a bit wary of walking you through the mission parameter changing procedure, since like I said, it's not in general a good idea to fix things with double negative (just look at Internet Exploder and how it's innate broken-ness caused a lot of web pages to be coded incorrectly so they would display "correctly" on IE..)...
Anyway, if you decide to counter-fix the aspect ratio on the missions, you need to:
0. Aquire tools necessary to open a VP container file (look for Maja VP editor, Descent Manager Tools, VPView32, VPMage)
1. Extract them from MV_Effects.vp, save them as individual files on ..\FreeSpace2\mediavps\data\missions\
2. Open them in a text editor such as Notepad++ (or even basic notapad, if you really wish to use that) or FRED2_Open, if you want to do it the hardest way
3. Find every background entry with Planet on it, and change the ScaleY/ScaleX ratio so that the planet is displayed as round in the game itself
4. Save and run the game to check if the ratio is correct (or close enough for comfort).
Like I said, on my particular resolution, 1.1 ratio proved to be so close to correct that I used that. Example:
$Starbitmap: PlanetF
+Angles: 0.000000 1.448622 0.000000
+ScaleX: 4.000000
+ScaleY: 4.400000
+DivX: 2
+DivY: 2
In short, it's a bit of a hassle unless you already have the necessary tools and understanding to do it, and you'll end up with a temporary fix of questionable quality (I would go so far as to call it a crude hack), and when the issue gets fixed, it'll become unnecessary altogether.
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lol i see i see, well either way i'm probably just going to use a different resolution. should be ok i guess?