[WMCoolmon]

Don't suppose a good ole TNT2 would fit in that category?

Nope. I've got one too, and shine mapping doesn't work right at all.

Yes, indeed I need an upgrade. Anyone got any suggestions that are under $50?

Any GF4 will do, but of course a better card = better framerate.

[NeoHunter]

Hehehe...I just bought a new Abit Siluro GeForce 4 Ti-4200 128MB DDR accelertor card yesterday. hehehe...

So, how do I make FreeSpace 2 have the new graphics features?

[deep_eyes]

Originally posted by Bobboau
I'd recomend the ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128(or 256)mb card

of people did, but i didnt have the cash for it, plus the card is in my machine which is going to be given to my lil bro. when i finish saving money, ima get me a 2gig system with the 9800 or the GF4 TI series 128 meg card.

quote:
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Don't suppose a good ole TNT2 would fit in that category?
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Nope.  I've got one too, and shine mapping doesn't work right at all.

My TNT2 did the shine mapping... but very poorly i might add.  now it does look better.

now what im trying to figure out is WTF.. why ModelView32 NOT WORK?!?!? maybe i set the ATI configurations too high?

[Bobboau]

make sure you're useing the latest drivers for ATI

could someone post a screen shot of the screwed up looking shinemapping from the TNT cards, this is the sort of thing you are suposed to tell us about

[deep_eyes]

Originally posted by NeoHunter
Hehehe...I just bought a new Abit Siluro GeForce 4 Ti-4200 128MB DDR accelertor card yesterday. hehehe...

So, how do I make FreeSpace 2 have the new graphics features?

Depends on your video card. (That card i hear costs between 200-400 bucks dude!)

in my ATI, all i did was select (using the ATI Manager software - NVIDIA has its own manager with similair settings) the ATI managers selection and get all the settings on high. im messing with it to see diffrent responces to my system.

Also in the fs2launcher set the graphics to the games highest resoluton 1072x768x32bit; and where it sez Antialiasing (D3D only), u can select (if its available) diffrent samples. and viola!. if u use no anti aliasing it looks like a normal FS2 high res mission.

MY viddy card ran me 50 bucks (out of box-not from best buy-$100 in best buy), and was worth the money.

My system:
Intel Celeron 400 MHZ (!) (soon to be 1ghz on same board)
256 SDRAM (soon to be 1GIG)
ATI Raedon AGP 7800 64meg DDR W/TV out

[deep_eyes]

Bob, my bad for not keeping up on things. The TNT2 when i had it, the shines and your glow maps worked (on my system), but it lagged considrably with more than a couple of ships to 2 caps. also it wasnt as sharp (obviously), i have posted photos. go to http://www.metalsiren.com/freespace/ and go to IMAGES and XT IMAGES. those photos are with the TNT2 32MEG card. based on those maybe u can figure something out. but i did notice your lighitng was a bit off (old build not new one), and it was corrected. the lighting code is fine, maybe some more tweaking but thats fine, and is the zoom going to be implemented? ima mess with newer anti-alaising soon also the new drivers as well.

[Bobboau]

zoom is and has been implemented, comand line option '-fov 0.35' will set you're fov to .35

those images are with the specular code, are you sure? cause I don't see anything (I guess that could be the problem though)

[deep_eyes]

Originally posted by Bobboau
zoom is and has been implemented, comand line option '-fov 0.35' will set you're fov to .35

those images are with the specular code, are you sure? cause I don't see anything (I guess that could be the problem though)

When i use normal rendering of the game it looks like any other version of someones game on a good machine.

using anti alasing option one, the whole game models with detailed textures takes on the specular effects. it just looks good with that one option.

[Bobboau]

are you sure you're useing DX and not OGL (wich I don't think has implemented shine mapping yet)

[deep_eyes]

Originally posted by Bobboau
are you sure you're useing DX and not OGL (wich I don't think has implemented shine mapping yet)

D3D dude has allowed me the visual blessing. ima go test the OGL real quick. its 1am right now BRB in less then 10 mins!

***i just noticed i got 4 new anti alasing options...?***

goes and tests new options....

[deep_eyes]

The new samples lag my system, so ima stick with the anti alaising sample 1 for D3D (the one i used for my screenies).

Ima go see the OGL now...

[WMCoolmon]

The TNT2 doesn't support Hardware T&L AFAIK; that could be the problem.

Requested info:

http://members.cox.net/~wmcoolmon/images/ulyshine.gif

This is a picture of the Ulysses in the tech room, using fs2_open_s and Direct3D8 at 1024x768x16. It looks the same in fs2_open_r.

I couldn't actually start a mission using fs2_open_s. I got an error:

Code: [Select]

Error: Out of memory.  Try closing down other applications, increasing your
virtual memory size, or installing more physical RAM.

File:D:\FSO\fs2_open\code\GlobalIncs\WinDebug.cpp
Line: 1161

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------

fs2_open_r did start, but I didn't see any sign of shine mapping in-mission.

The only sign of shine mapping I saw was the Deimos seemed a bit greenish (in the tech room, didn't check in-game): http://members.cox.net/~wmcoolmon/images/deimosshine.gif

Waay OT, but how do you make part of an interface image transparent when using DX8?

[Bobboau]

that looks sort of like the cell shadeing code, you arn't useing the -cell comand line are you?

[Fry_Day]

I want to clarify on recommended video cards.

The features used most definitely don't require full DirectX 8.1 support. Not even DirectX 7. Theoretically, actually, everything *should* work on a TNT 2, just slowly.

As for recommended cards, if you're going for cheap, get a Radeon 9000, 9100 or 9200, in any of their flavors (They should be ~50$ - www.pricewatch.com). They are vastly superior to cards like the Radeon 7800, and should be in the same price-range. If you prefer nVidia, go for a GeForce4 MX  which are dirt cheap, fairly fast, but have bad feature support (no Pixel shaders or Vertex Shaders, unlike the 9xxx Radeons). Or, you could go for a GeForce4 Ti4200, which should be under 100$ as well.

If you're going mid-range, I would most definitely recommend the Radeon 9600, which offers DX9.0 support, and is vastly superior to the competition (GeForce FX 5600), and better priced.

High-end is, as Bobbau said, Radeon 9800, in any flavor. The cheapest are around 300$ at pricewatch.

[Nico]

Originally posted by kode
now we only need better explosions to come standard...

check my sig.
the pb with higher res explosions is that they are awfully resource intensive. ani files are really not fine for a real time engine.

[kode]

Originally posted by Venom


check my sig.
the pb with higher res explosions is that they are awfully resource intensive. ani files are really not fine for a real time engine.

yeah, it'd be nice if it was particle explosions (or whatever it's called, I don't get most of this graphic high-tech jibberish)

[J.F.K.]

Damn, man... (btw, I never realised before, but those engine trails are quite Freelancer-ish).

[NeoHunter]

Originally posted by deep_eyes
Depends on your video card. (That card i hear costs between 200-400 bucks dude!)

Lucky for me then. The card cost me S$180 here. (In case you strill don't know, I'm from Singapore). It cost about S$400 two months back but with the introduction of the newer GeForce 4 FX cards, the prices of the other cards have dropped tremendously.

So, do I have to install some patch for the new FreeSpace 2 graphics or it is really that simple as configuring the settings?

[kasperl]

Originally posted by NeoHunter


Lucky for me then. The card cost me S$180 here. (In case you strill don't know, I'm from Singapore). It cost about S$400 two months back but with the introduction of the newer GeForce 4 FX cards, the prices of the other cards have dropped tremendously.

So, do I have to install some patch for the new FreeSpace 2 graphics or it is really that simple as configuring the settings?

erm, you need the SCP exe, and the launcher, and some luck.

[Descenterace]

I would recommend the Radeon 9600.  It uses the R350 GPU rather than the Radeon 9700's R300, which gives you better Vertex and Pixel Shaders and probably multielement textures too.  Plus, it costs less than its bigger brother, the Radeon 9800.

Of course, any Radeon post-9000 is DX9-compatible.  It's just that my own game doesn't do specular lighting unless your graphics card supports multielement textures... If you're not intending to d/l Project Vertigo when I finish it, a Radeon 9000 is fine.  Or a GeForce 4 for that matter.