[Herra Tohtori]

Just a quick question that popped up in me mind earlier in another thread...

Is it possible to make an animated height map for the subspace vortex effect, or would it have no effect at all in the current rendering of normal/height maps?

If not, how difficult would it be to make it so?

 

[castor]

Uhh, no, you can't do that since it would crash when you are viewing weapons (as sip is NULL in that case).  Plus it makes the zoom behave in a non-uniform manner, which was avoided on purpose.

Oops, yes, crashes nicely Hmm.. 1 line of code

[Snail]

Weird- The normal maps are working, but only for the Ulysses...

(sorry if this has already been noted, I didn't read the thread)

EDIT:
ooh, the Dragon is also all greeeeeen.

EDIT2:

Actually none of the normal maps are working.

[castor]

I got the green dragon too (normal maps are working fine though).

[taylor]

Is it possible to make an animated height map for the subspace vortex effect, or would it have no effect at all in the current rendering of normal/height maps?

No, but it wouldn't really do anything anyway, since both normal and height map effects are dependent on lighting and the warp vortex is rendered without lighting.

Using animated normal/height maps is something that will most likely wait until the material system goes in.  There is nothing in the current code that prevents use of animated maps (other than the fact that it won't bother to try and load them), it's just not all that efficient (on mod makers that is).  Perhaps for 3.6.11 I can be persuaded to add support for animated maps, but it still wouldn't be usable on the warp vortex since you couldn't even see the effect of the maps.

Oops, yes, crashes nicely Hmm.. 1 line of code

It's no big deal.   I had tried something pretty similar early on in the new lab code, but it just didn't work out very well.

ooh, the Dragon is also all greeeeeen.

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,49939.msg1010258.html#msg1010258

[Snail]

I have GLSL enabled but Normal maps don't work. Is it related to the mediavps?

[taylor]

I have GLSL enabled but Normal maps don't work. Is it related to the mediavps?

Assuming that you are using -normal as well, the only other real problem would be mediavp related.  DaBrain changed all of the filenames in the beta mediavps, but in the normalmap VP I provided I used filenames for the older mediavps instead (for greater compatibility).  So if you are using a beta version from DaBrain then that is your problem.

[AqueousShadow]

I'm getting the stutters in gameplay as well. Not sure exactly what causes it...but it really gets in the way of playing.

I'm running an 8800GTS and it works flawlessly with 3.6.9

[ARSPR]

I'm getting the stutters in gameplay as well. Not sure exactly what causes it...but it really gets in the way of playing.

I'm running an 8800GTS and it works flawlessly with 3.6.9

Here is your answer:

One thing, people should test. Performance. These builds run smoother (more FPS) than old ones while looking BETTER.

BUT at least in my system I've got bigger slowdowns the very first time effects, (explosions, shockwaves, etc.) are triggered,...

Yeah, that's something that I do need feedback on from everyone.  I also randomly get bigger slowdowns at certain times.  None of those effects use the new shader code, so it shouldn't matter, but neither ARSPR or myself are able to get the same slowdowns when not using GLSL.  So, any feedback from any of you would be helpful with this.

But any info you could give Taylor would be great. Test whatever you think of...

[FUBAR-BDHR]

New FS2NetD code:  The new FS2NetD code should fix a TON of bugs in the old code, plus just work better overall.  It is, however, incompatible will the old code.  So, anyone playing multiplayer will need to make sure that everyone involved is using this build in order for the games to show up.

Finally had a minute to try out the standalone fixes.  I noticed the servers, games, and pilots are not showing up on FS2NET.  Is this by design or am I just looking in the wrong place?

[taylor]

Finally had a minute to try out the standalone fixes.  I noticed the servers, games, and pilots are not showing up on FS2NET.  Is this by design or am I just looking in the wrong place?

The FS2NetD server/client is incompatible with what everyone has been using, so it has to run separately.  Eventually it will replace what is currently running, but right now it just sits there running no mods and doesn't show up on the website.  I can setup the mods if the mods actually want it, but the website can still only monitor one of the servers at the time.  I had thought about making a separate FS2NetD page just for monitoring the new server/clients, but so far not enough people are using it to warrant such a thing.

[chief1983]

Hey taylor, that reminds me.  I've been meaning to offer my services as a php website developer (professional now, I just got a job) to help out FS2NetD.  You need any help with it?

[taylor]

Hey taylor, that reminds me.  I've been meaning to offer my services as a php website developer (professional now, I just got a job) to help out FS2NetD.  You need any help with it?

Don't really need anything at the moment.  Adding mod support was the only big thing that we needed, and that has already been taken care of.  I'm not against some other sort of an upgrade though, if you have any ideas.

[Goober5000]

Hey taylor, that reminds me.  I've been meaning to offer my services as a php website developer (professional now, I just got a job) to help out FS2NetD.  You need any help with it?

Hurr...

Maybe not for FS2NetD, but we could sure use some help with IndieGames.

[fsphiladelphia]

This is not a code issue or problem, just something I noticed and how to fix it...

There's (at least one) mis-named file in the normalmap pack, namely fighter03-01a.dds, which should be fighter03-01a-normal. It causes the Shivan Dragon to be greenishly transparent and damn ugly. So if your SF Dragon looks green and partially transparent, it's because of this, not because of any card/driver issue (because it uses intended normal map as a texture, which doesn't work very well as you can imagine.

I fixed it by extracting the file from the normalmap VP to ..\normalmaps\data\maps\ and renamed it appropriately; then extracted the Dragon texture (real fighter03-01a.dds) from MediaVP's, and shoved that to the same normalmaps data subdirectory to override the mistakenly named file.

If one extracts this normalmaps vp to a directory such as the one you propose, and -normal -height is enabled in the command line, will the new build search down through the mediavps directory until it finds what it is looking for?  Right now, I have the normal maps running but I have just dropped the nm_test.vp into the main mediavps directory.

[ARSPR]

If one extracts this normalmaps vp to a directory such as the one you propose, and -normal -height is enabled in the command line, will the new build search down through the mediavps directory until it finds what it is looking for?  Right now, I have the normal maps running but I have just dropped the nm_test.vp into the main mediavps directory.

It's just vital for anyone understanding how and where FS2 looks for game data, and related to it, how you should handle different mod installations. Spend some time reading and understanding it. Believe me when I say it can save you TONS of troubles, (and it can save moderators a lot of time reading and answering "this mod/mission/game doesn't work" posts.   ).

You can read about it in several places. Here you have two from wiki:
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/FS2_Data_Structure
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Command-Line_Reference#-mod
(And, of course, Karajorma's FAQ. Look for any post from him and you've got the link in his signature)

[jr2]

Kara's FAQ = External Sites > The FreeSpace FAQ link on the top of every Forum page.

EDIT: and, (when I finish it ) there will be a wikified version of Kara's FAQ, too.

[fsphiladelphia]

If one extracts this normalmaps vp to a directory such as the one you propose, and -normal -height is enabled in the command line, will the new build search down through the mediavps directory until it finds what it is looking for?  Right now, I have the normal maps running but I have just dropped the nm_test.vp into the main mediavps directory.

It's just vital for anyone understanding how and where FS2 looks for game data, and related to it, how you should handle different mod installations. Spend some time reading and understanding it. Believe me when I say it can save you TONS of troubles, (and it can save moderators a lot of time reading and answering "this mod/mission/game doesn't work" posts.   ).

You can read about it in several places. Here you have two from wiki:
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/FS2_Data_Structure
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Command-Line_Reference#-mod
(And, of course, Karajorma's FAQ. Look for any post from him and you've got the link in his signature)

Thanks for the information -- I've generally understood most of what FS2 does so far, and haven't promulgated a lot of "this doesn't/didn't work" posts.  I was really just looking for some clarifcation.  I'll read the links.

[ARSPR]

Thanks for the information -- I've generally understood most of what FS2 does so far, and haven't promulgated a lot of "this doesn't/didn't work" posts.  I was really just looking for some clarifcation.  I'll read the links.

Oooops, sorry if you missunderstood my words. I didn't want to accuse you of anything. It was more a general thought...

And nevertheless, as a general rule, hard-light forum members are extremelly polite and willing to help anyone, (even when they ask about FS & 2+1  ). I was just pointing a little sin, we all commit from time to time...

[fsphiladelphia]

Thanks for the information -- I've generally understood most of what FS2 does so far, and haven't promulgated a lot of "this doesn't/didn't work" posts.  I was really just looking for some clarifcation.  I'll read the links.

Oooops, sorry if you missunderstood my words. I didn't want to accuse you of anything. It was more a general thought...

And nevertheless, as a general rule, hard-light forum members are extremelly polite and willing to help anyone, (even when they ask about FS & 2+1  ). I was just pointing a little sin, we all commit from time to time...

No problem at all -- I think my post may have come off wrong, as well, I genuinely meant thanks for the info   I checked it but will give it a more exhaustive read later tonight.