Author Topic: 2012/08/22 - Blockland r1711  (Read 25023 times)

Whenever I tried to set the shadows above the previous maximum before(this was using the add-on), my entire computer would freeze and I would have to restart. Will this still probably happen?

Well shadows have been optimized a bit more. It's worth a shot.

This is maintained by the video driver, but your hardware must support the newer library in order for the driver to take advantage of it.
In plain english please.

You need a better graphics card to get a more recent version of GLSL.

In plain english please.
That is english. Are you asking for the dumbed down version?
You need a better graphics card to get a more recent version of GLSL.
This is it.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2012, 05:23:41 PM by KoopaScooper »

Well that sucks.
i can't get a new graphics card.
i have:
1. no clue if it would be compadible with the motherboard and processor.
2. no where near enough money.
3. no way to purchase it, as i am 15 and my mother refuses to buy computer PARTS.

Yess, optimization. I look forward to being proficient in DM's on max settings.

Not a big problem but shadows are a bit off.


:(

In case any mac user is wondering: Badspot has not yet included support for "glTexImage3D()", so we still don't get shadows.

EDIT: I think I'm being naive. The problem is that my Macintosh has GLSL 1.5, yet Blockland is telling me I have version 1.2.
If you have any of these listed Graphics Cards, you should have GLSL version 1.5:
https://developer.apple.com/graphicsimaging/opengl/capabilities/index.html

EDIT2: Nope... Still not getting it right.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2012, 05:51:18 PM by BlockoCrafter »

I just checked on max settings. The offset of shadows isn't that much, but it's there. Is it a result of the optimization?

Badspot

  • Administrator
Not a big problem but shadows are a bit off.
http://localhostr.com/file/tPdXNdYnvO1F/Blockland_00106.png
http://localhostr.com/file/pYTv3IV6T4EW/Blockland_00107.png
:(

There is a finite amount of precision available for the depth map comparison.  Without some offset, the front side of bricks end up shadowing themselves in a weird zebra stripe pattern due to floating point precision errors.  It might be possible to have a smaller offset - on my machine it worked fine with 1/4 the current value - but I'm worried that this would cause artifacts on some hardware configurations.  

Hey Badspot, can you explain what those new options in the advanced options do?
They're under Reduce Render Latency Method.

There is a finite amount of precision available for the depth map comparison.  Without some offset, the front side of bricks end up shadowing themselves in a weird zebra stripe pattern due to floating point precision errors.  It might be possible to have a smaller offset - on my machine it worked fine with 1/4 the current value - but I'm worried that this would cause artifacts on some hardware configurations.  
Maybe release a minor optional update with this change, and then go off the feedback from the users.

Okay, it's just that all of the Macintosh-supporting graphics card models don't have EXT_texture3D.
I sound like I'm learning things.

Badspot

  • Administrator
Reduce Render Latency Method.

Video drivers will often try to keep several frames worth of data in a queue so the video card is always working at full capacity and never waiting around for data to show up.  The problem is that it takes time for data to get to the front of the queue and be displayed, so this increases the amount of time between when you move your mouse and when you see things happen on the screen.  (The only reason the graphics card manufacturers do this is to increase scores in synthetic benchmarks, but that is a separate rant).  What you can do to counter-act this is to tell the video card to display immediately after you're done sending it a frame.  I can't get a straight answer on whether to use glFlush or glFinish and whether to do it before or after the buffer swap, so I have added options for all 4 possibilities.

Basically, if you feel that you are getting a good framerate but have an unusual amount of mouse lag, you can try one of those four options until it works.  Your framerate will go down but the game will be more responsive.  Results may vary depending on hardware config.  

Okay, thanks. I'll play around with them.