[DaBrain]

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 (14MB RAR)

[Cobra]

woot! thanks DB!

[neoterran]

that's cool

[MetalDestroyer]

Screenies I want just compare this to your old StarWars-ish shockwave

[DaBrain]

You want to compare a shockwave with a beam glow? 

[Cobra]

Damn, you beat me to it DaB.

[MetalDestroyer]

You want to compare a shockwave with a beam glow? 

Oups, sorry. I was so tired i didn't notice it was about beamglow

[neoterran]

can we get a more sane version of the high end shockwaves too ? 

[Cobra]

I don't think that's possible. that's why there are medium-end shockwaves.

[DaBrain]

can we get a more sane version of the high end shockwaves too ? 

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.

[Backslash]

Awesome, DaBrain.  Good ideas.  Use the power for awesome 

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.

[DaBrain]

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"!).

[Cobra]

It works for me, as well.

i can keep my current FPS when other capships are on the screen.

[Mehrpack]

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

[road_dancer]

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?

[DaBrain]

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.

[road_dancer]

Thanks! I figured that's where I'd need to put them, glad for the confirmation.

[SaxRussel]

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)?

[Mehrpack]

Mipmapping!

hi,
yeah i read it, but i cant resist to write it .
nice work 

Mehrpack

[neoterran]

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.