[taylor]

Firstly, the official FSO 3.6.7 build didn't compile on my computer.

It had some stale #include's which aren't in recent versions of OpenAL, and the tarball was missing one or two files as well due to an OS X automake issue (I made the tarball on my Mac instead of my Linux box, which I won't do again).  Those issues have since been fixed though.

This build that I'm now using is Taylor's 20060502 build which supposedly has env mapping for OGL... the thing with this is, however, that I can't see it being there. Also, some of the textures don't look like 32-bit - for example, the GVD Hatshepsut textures have streaked colouration instead of glide colours, if you understand what I mean... I can provide a screenshot to make it clear if needed.

Not quite sure what you mean about the coloration issues, a screenshot would deffinitely help.  What video card and drivers are you using?  Is the video settings for the game set to 16-bit or 32-bit color?

To use env you need to be sure and use (at least) both the -env and -spec cmdline options.  The envmapping only is visible on ships with specular maps so you'll have to use the MediaVPs in order to get envmapping to work (since that's where you get the specmaps from).  And, of course, your video drivers/hardware need to actually support cubemaps for it to work.  Support for FBOs (Framebuffer Objects) is required to generate envmaps when you are in a mission, but a default envmap is supported if you don't have FBO support.

I cannot see -ambient_factor there. Does it exist in Linux version? At least it isn't complaining about unrecognized command parametres when I have that on my command line... So I'd have to guess it is there but it just doesn't feel like it's working.

The list of the cmdline options available in the help is only those that show up in the Launcher for Windows (don't want to maintain two lists).  Since the Launcher doesn't properly support cmdline options which require a variable of some sort, those options aren't included in the options list.  So, the output of -help is only giving you the options which show up in Windows, but not every option which is actually available.  The best place to find all of the various options, and what they do, in in the Wiki.

Also, -ambient_factor is a scale for the ambient light applied to models.  If they are too bright then please post a screenshot so I can see what it's doing wrong.  Normally you would have -ambient_factor set in the 60 to 95 range if you are using a custom value.

Is there a limit to command line length?

Yes, I think it's about 255 characters.  You can put your common cmdline options in a file though and the game will get them from there (and would have no limit then).  The file is ~/.fs2_open/data/cmdline_fso.cfg and all options should be on a single line, the first one, as one long string.

One more thing: I posted it on Derelict SCP thread, but perhaps it's good to mention it here also: When I'm playing (or trying to, anyway) Derelict SCP campaign, the voice in briefings, de-briefings and such becames intolerably garbled by loud, sporadic white noise. Moreover, it seems to actually cause more than just FUBARed voice: If I keep too long in briefing window, the program stops due a memory overflow, kicks me back to the console with mouse cursor locked (keyboard works, though) and just practically tells me that there was a memory overflow. It doesn't even give me any error report that I'm aware of.

Both problems my be fixed in more recent code.  The static at least, but the memory overflow may have been a pointer issue on 64-bit machines which was graciously found and fixed by a fellow Linux user (can't remember his name off-hand).  There will be an updated code release this weekend, or you can just get it from CVS if you don't want to wait.

[Herra Tohtori]

I have an NVidia GeForce 6600 card @ 256 MB memory, and I have the nvidia drivers installed and working*. So that shouldn't be an issue... and on fs_open.ini it reads "VideocardFs2open=OGL -(1280x1024)x32 bit" below [Default].

*At least I think I have them installed and running... the Finnish Ubuntu wiki instructions on how to get NVidia drivers working on 6.06 are quite simple:

Code: [Select]

$ sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx
$ sudo apt-get install nvidia-kernel-common
$ sudo nvidia-glx-config enable
If it requires something else I got no idea... instructions would be greatly valued.

And about the coloration issues, it might actually just be limited to GVD Hatsehpsut textures. One additional strange thing, though - the screenshots don't produce valid images. Older screenshots that came along the directory from Windows partition are all right, but Konqueror tells me that the screenshots I take now have dimensions of 44256x0 pixels instead of being 1280x1024 pixels. Now that's weird... in other words, I can't take a screenshot. Print Screen key doesn't even seem to throw the image onto clip board like Windoze does. I'll see if I can manage to take a picture, but as far as I could see, all other ships don't have that issue. So I'd guess it's just the GVD Hatshepsut textures that look like 16-bit textures. Or perhaps even 8-bit, I'm not sure about that. Anyway, I'll see if it looks the same in Windows; if it does, I'd like to have the screenshots working in stead. 

Though, the main hall (with animated people and stuff) does look like 16-bit coloured... does it look like that in Windows too? Funny how you don't remember these things.

About the command line: In which file should I put the commandline options to be fetched? Currently I have this solved so that I created a file named "start" and "start-derelict" which are identical except that the latter starts Derelict mod, and it looks like this:

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/sh
#
# Freespace Open Start file

echo "Aloitetaan Freespace Open..."

cd /opt/freespace2/

./fs2_open_r -mod mediavp368, ,Derelict_SCP -spec -glow -jpgtga -mipmap -env -alpha_env -ambient_factor 60 -2d_poof -missile_lighting -dualscanlines -targetinfo -orbradar -rearm_timer -ship_choice_3d -3dwarp -warp_flash -snd_preload -fps -allslev -cache_bitmaps
Thus I can just type $ sh start or $ sh start-derelict or whatever mods I have installed... Anyway, that command line just so happens to be 250 characters long, spaces included... but if I'd want to include even more options, where should I put them?

Anyway, the specular maps seem to be working quite flawlessly, but env mapping does not. I would provide the screenshot but it doesn't seem to be as simple as I thought... But it's good to know there's going to be a new release soon. I can wait until that - If all else fails, I have the Windows version ready to go on other partition. Though the Linux version seems to be faster to load, vaster to play and doesn't seem to be suffering at all from slowing issues when the beams or explosions kick in. The FPS keeps steadily over 55, and I'm using adveffects... 

[taylor]

One additional strange thing, though - the screenshots don't produce valid images. Older screenshots that came along the directory from Windows partition are all right, but Konqueror tells me that the screenshots I take now have dimensions of 44256x0 pixels instead of being 1280x1024 pixels.

Would you mind sending me one of those screenshot files?  I'd like to take a look and try and figure out what's wrong.

Though, the main hall (with animated people and stuff) does look like 16-bit coloured... does it look like that in Windows too? Funny how you don't remember these things.

Those things are 16-bit (though technically 8-bit), so it's normal for them to look like that.

About the command line: In which file should I put the commandline options to be fetched? Currently I have this solved so that I created a file named "start" and "start-derelict" which are identical except that the latter starts Derelict mod, and it looks like this:

Just put the common ones in ~/.fs2_open/data/cmdline_fso.cfg.  So you would have the cmdline_fso.cfg look like this:

Code: [Select]

-spec -glow -jpgtga -mipmap -env -alpha_env -ambient_factor 60 -2d_poof -missile_lighting -dualscanlines -targetinfo -orbradar -rearm_timer -ship_choice_3d -3dwarp -warp_flash -snd_preload -fps -allslec -cache_bitmapsand those options will always get used no matter what mod you play.

Then you can change your bash script to this:

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/sh
#
# Freespace Open Start file

echo "Aloitetaan Freespace Open..."

cd /opt/freespace2/

./fs2_open_r -mod mediavp368,Derelict_SCPAnd all of your other options will automatically get used.  If there are any options which you only want to use with Derelict then add them the bash script.  Any options that you want to use on all mods should go in the cmdline_fso.cfg file.

Do notice that I changed the mod line a little, I took out the empty space that the old launcher (5.3) used to make.  Not doing that can have strange results depending on operating system version and the filesystem in use.

[Herra Tohtori]

Okay, I'm learning all the time what FSOpen does differently in Linux... like, putting the screenshots into my home directory, on user/.fs2_open/screenshots, rather than screenshots directory in the game dir itself... So it appears that the files I mentioned earlier are just some remnants from Windows side - because I really didn't bother to pick what I needed, I just typed

$ sudo cp -R /HP_PAVILION/Games/Freespace2 /opt/freespace2

to get the directory onto Linux filesystem. With it came a bunch of files that are not really needed, but I'm not actually in lack of hd space (yet).


So, the screenshot problem was not really a problem, I just didn't know where they went. The environment mapping, though, is still not there. Specular lighting works fine but the backgrounds just won't show reflect from the ships. That's no biggie, though... It's just a nice add to the game, but when the game plays otherwise well, it's a minor lack. I expereimented with default ambient_factor and lower values, and it does affect at least somewhat. Probably the main difference is that I've got darker screen gamma setup on Windows... Well, I can always decrease the gamma from the game setup.

Anyway, this is what I meant earlier with some things looking like 16-bit (or lower). You can clearly see sharp edges in colour shifts, especially on glowing part - and also in beam ani. Everything else seems to be in 32-bit colours, though.

EDIT: Is it possible that when the xorg.conf won't accept more than 24 bpp, everything else also seems as 24 bit at maximum? 

EDIT2: I went through FS2 open on Linux instructions and compiled another build... and in that build, env mapping seems to be working just fine. That would apparently be 3.6.9 RC2 build or something like that, if I'm not completely mistaken... at least it states that it's the 3.6.9 version.

This just kicks ass. Derelict's voices work as well. 

[taylor]

EDIT: Is it possible that when the xorg.conf won't accept more than 24 bpp, everything else also seems as 24 bit at maximum? 

That's normal, it's just a terminology thing.  It's a 24-bit visual with 32-bit color.  I'm simplifying things a bit, but that's the basic idea of it.