new collision code

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safemode
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Post by safemode »

gl_init.cpp gives you all the info you need. back face culling is on. FSAA is not on (i have it explicitly turned off). It's funny, the gpu perf hit only occurs when the midpoint of the planet comes into view, i can have a bunch of the planet in view, but it only dies as soon as the midpoint comes into view. And it's no gradual. I got 75fps prior to the midpoint, then 35fps directly after.

GPU noise (i can hear the transistor load through my speakers) goes high when the framerate drops. So it's definitely doing something hardcore on the gpu. CPU doesn't change.
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Post by chuck_starchaser »

That's just TOO weird!!! There should be nothing transcendentally different about the center of a planet. There's gotta be something else to this story... Maybe it's something to do with atmospheres (fog, or fawg) that the engine only turns on when the center of the planet is in view, or something along the lines... I think atmospheres use a separate plane on which they are rendered. I once offered hellcat or klauss, can't remember which, a ring mesh for projecting atmospheric halos onto, precisely to avoid the overdraw problem of having a whole plane or funnel or whatever they were using at the time; but my offer was not taken, can't remember why. I still got it somewhere if this is what it is.
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Post by safemode »

this happens for bases as well. Last time i checked they had no atmosphere layer. :) so that idea is shot.

I turned off and on every option related to extreme quality mode vs retro mode. Retro mode did not cause me to slowdown when viewing the planets or bases. The only option that reproduced that affect when using extreme quality mode was resolution. I can say it's directly related to my gpu not being fast enough. I can downclock my gpu and cause it to happen even at 800x600.

Something is being enabled when the planet's midsection comes into view (when it's close enough to fill the screen a good amount) and bases too.. That something is extremely gpu intensive. Too intensive for my gpu to handle. I'll bet it happens on everyone's card, but their cards are just faster. My card costs 20 bucks these days, that doesn't scream performance.
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Post by chuck_starchaser »

I was going to say, I notice nothing like that in PU. (We got this morning's vegastrike.exe in-game.) But then again, I have an 8800.
safemode
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Post by safemode »

Well, i removed the rapid collider. As of now svn head of VS is totally GPL.

I'm hoping by the end of the week we can have most of the graphical issues squared away. though the lack of reports of DXT5 corruption means I can't add the other affected cards to the blacklist (something that will exist until nvidia fixes their driver) ... Though the mysterious high gpu throttling whenever viewing a planet or base that fills the viewport (at it's midpoint) is completely befuddling. At any rate, it seems likely that 0.5 will ship with it unless someone has an epiphany.

The only other holdup is the orbital stuttering bug, which hellcat and ace are working on. Hopefully this can all be done by the weekend so we can _FINALLY_ make a 0.5 release.


That being said, it seems like the collider is working well, and as soon as 0.5 is out, i'll start working on the ray collider. Getting that functional is easy i think. Getting VS to use it may be more anoying as right now, we use a customized bsp collider setup for it...
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Post by charlieg »

Ok - I propose that you make VS 0.5rc1 out of current trunk with the explicit note that feedback from nvidia users is required before final 0.5 release. I'll promote it on Free Gamer, put it on happypenguin.org, get lots of feedback. Just getting feedback from these forums / svn users is obviously not enough.
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safemode
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Post by safemode »

I'm not in control of what and when things get released. Though I have no problem with getting an RC out and about.

Though, it may be better to use the beta that's already out for testing buggy DXT5, since many of the more obvious textures have been fixed to not have the alpha channel they didn't need anyway, and thus wont be messed up.

I'd suggest (if the higher ups dont make a beta2 or whatever this week) to push the current beta and ask if anyone is getting messed up jump textures or a stippled "Load save game" screen in the main menu interface. (the last one is easy to check). If so, I need the gl_renderer line. It should have the card version, like NVIDIA 6600, or such in it.


Right now in svn, only 6600 is blacklisted, but people on the nvidia forums say that the issue is in some 7000 and 8000 series boards too.
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GIMPACT

Post by Deus Siddis »

GIMPACT

Is it better than the OPCODE library currently used for mesh-mesh collisions? Stabler? Faster?

BTW, did 0.5.0 use OPCODE?
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Re: new collision code

Post by klauss »

I think 0.5.0 only used opcode for mesh-mesh. 0.5.1, IIRC, uses it for ray-mesh too. Not sure though, it's safemode's area of expertise.
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