Author Topic: 2012/08/09 - Shader Update Released  (Read 163580 times)

yay! I just noticed that my computer came default with an NVIDIA Geforce.

My computer is in the shop and I'm stuck with one that has a Radeon HD 3200.

For me, blockland crashes on low.

Alright, time to clear some things up.

A lot of people are worried by the fact that their PC or Laptop does not take kindly to the update. Whether it's a low framerate, you crash when turning shadows or shaders on or even if they don't even display when you have them on - people are complaining about it.

Point is, everyone is complaining about how the new graphical update doesn't work for them or is poorly optimized. This was expected. We are merely playing a test release, with some extra goodies thrown in. Most of us have known this, or should remember this.

Back when the update was first announched, kompressor implied that we will get a test release. That the developers will continue to optimize the shadows and shaders and fix whatever bugs are encountered. kompressor stated that if you could run Blockland pre-shadows and shaders, you would be able to run it with them on. Obviously this is not the case as of now, but it will be fixed in the future.

  • "But my computer can’t run shaders/is lame and slow/has broken drivers!" Get a new video card, even a $20 lame-o ATI or nVidia video card can run Blockland very well these days. BUT - you can turn shaders off, and the game will run and look as good as it ever has.
Will there be any sort of public testing before the release to ensure that it will run fine before it goes live?

See OP. It will be off by default for a while while we test it. -- kompressor

I'm sure there are some other quotes from the original Shadows and Shaders topic floating around that support this, but these two quotes should be good enough.

Point is, we are running a test release. It's not perfect and it sure as hell isn't optimized as expected. So don't worry about you never being able to see shadows and shaders or run them. This is not the final release of Shadows and Shaders. The developers will continue to work on them for the time being until they work as promised.

So sit tight and wait it out. There's nothing to worry about.

Feel free to quote this and post it where applicable. Some players are not aware of this and it should be brought to their attention.
« Last Edit: August 11, 2012, 02:14:42 PM by Awdax »

For now, the only thing that may or may not help is to shut down any programs known to not be needed via task manager, and to go to the blockland process and make it a high priority. This probably won't change much though, but I don't have any problems so I don't know.


Do servers on average use less CPU with this update?

Do servers on average use less CPU with this update?
What's your reasoning for thinking this?

Night before the update:


Today:


I'm holding exactly the same amount of players (100) across all servers, however right now less are up. How many are up is a little irrelevant since they wouldn't use any CPU anyway.

Maps could have been using CPU
Not really sure of any other code changes that could have facilitated this

Maps could have been using CPU
Not really sure of any other code changes that could have facilitated this
That's what I think, but it could be anything else. Maps being the issue still applies to slate maps because they're the same system, just without actual terrain but still with unnecessary code.

Slate maps still used an interior, a large one at that.

The new map system does not use an interior.

Slate maps still used an interior, a large one at that.

The new map system does not use an interior.
I really like this update despite not being able to see shadows yet.

Don't worry Kalph, we'll get there soon enough c:

Don't worry Kalph, we'll get there soon enough c:
I'm getting a new card today anyway.

um i hate kompressors update and i think he is going mad with power
kompressor is probibly a nice guy but i like terrain better