[Black Wolf]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqB9R8VjEB8&feature=youtube_gdata

Still unable to access Mantis, so I figured I'd post this here. Got confirmation from Battuta that this occurs consistently throughout 3.6.11, but for what it's worth the build I'm using is just called "fs2_open_3_6_11r_INF_SSE2.exe" no identifying figures, and I'm not certain when I got it, but I get the same bug in fs2_open_3_6_11r-20100101_r5758.exe, which I think is antipodes #5... maybe.

Anyway, this isn't urgent for me, as this isn't a cutscene frm anything imminently releaseable, but just letting everyone know about it, since it's pretty prominent, as these things go.

[EDIT]I've been told it may be FOV related, so for the record I've used a sexp to force the FOV to 40 degrees.

[taylor]

Yeah, it's a known issue.  I've actually got some code in the works that will hopefully fix this stuff once and for all, but it isn't working 100% yet.

The root of the problem is more how the HTL code was implemented and the various hacks that have gone in ever since to work out drawing issues.  The issue is that how the orthographic code (basic 2D drawing: suns, stars, jump nodes, etc.) manages things like FOV is pretty different from how the perspective code (general HTL rendering) deals with the same thing.  So trying to line everything up just won't ever work properly with how it all works now.  Widescreen resolutions just exasperate the problem, and that is what we see with the cutscene bug (since it changes the view to widescreen).

There have been several proposed "fixes" for the cutscene problem, but none of them do anything to actually fix the bug(s) in the code, they just cover it up.  And covering it up doesn't do anything to resolve the general widescreen issues, so nothing will be accepted as a proper fix that doesn't truly fix the problem.  In other words, everyone just has to wait for a fix until we actually get it all worked out.

[chief1983]

BW, I can reset your Mantis pass too now, is your email still your SG.com one?

[Nighteyes]

we had this problem in ED IIRC... I think an easy fix is to add a command to lock the FOV, as that is what is causing the distortions...

[taylor]

No, the distortions are there regardless of what FOV is in use.  Changing the FOV only makes the problem more/less noticeable, it won't ever make it go away completely.  If it were simply a FOV issue then we would have fixed it a long time ago.

I tried fixing it at the FOV level a couple of years ago, and gave it another try more recently, but it just can't be fixed that way.  A true fix would require a sizeable rewrite to the graphics code, but I'm working on some changes just to the OpenGL code which might be able to compensate for it.  I just haven't figured out exactly how to get all of it working yet (one thing gets fixed, another breaks ).

[General Battuta]

On a side note, Taylor, I hadn't heard from you in a while, and it's good to know you're still around.

[chief1983]

Still working on the graphics code?  Gotta go...do something...