Testers and reviewers wanted: BFG-style vertex cache

[nbohr1more]

Update 16 is up at Moddb:

 

https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/downloads/tdm-206-vertex-buffer-beta

 

* Mirror textures can now render in PortalSky views. Fixes the mission "Betrayal".

 

* Single Pass shadow maps are now the default: r_shadowMapSinglepass 1

 

* Some shadow map sampling artifacts fixed

[lowenz]

So, the suggested (future default?) value for:

 

-shadowmapsize

-softshadowsradius

-softshadowsquality

 

are?

[lowenz]

Some issues (The Warrens / maxed quality on a GeForce 750 Ti) - that ivy texture cast a not-intended -shadow:

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by lowenz

[nbohr1more]

Some issues (The Warrens / maxed quality on a GeForce 750 Ti) - that ivy texture cast a not-intended -shadow:

This is a tough one. I think we should set this decal to noshadows (or DECAL_MACRO which includes noshshadows)

but I don't know if any mapper has used this texture as something other than a decal...

 

We do have preliminary support for alpha shadowing but it's unclear whether it will be included in 2.07 (I get the impression that it will)

so "You can un-comment the alfa part in shadowmapN.fs" to cure this type of artifact.

[nbohr1more]

Further experimenting with lights. It seems parallel lights with shadow maps also have problems, the shadows do not display, or do only in part. This one's a bit harder to pin, no soft shadows are glitchy in a different way than with soft shadows, and it seems the higher the soft shadow quality the more diffused and weak the parallel light is.

 

Hmm. Parallel lights use a math trick to move the light center to a very far location.

It is meant to simulate moon light. This trick is in place no matter how large the light

volume is. If our softening algorithm is using this center distance then it would

certainly explain over-softening for stencil shadows (where we don't have contact hardening)

but it may also play into Shadow Maps if the map depth capture is predicated on this

false distance (thus you will ALWAYS have low resolution because you are sampling at the

far edge away from the light center).

OOF!

 

I forgot about something.

 

Duzenko made a change that auto sizes the "light center size" (softness) based on the overall size of the volume.

If you ARE using Parallel lights for the typical sky \ moon light scenario then the over-softening would

be courtesy of the auto-sizing but also would likely be compounded by the factors I mentioned above.

 

In a previous discussion about Parallel lights, I suggested just a small uniform blur rather than using

any complex method to divine the contact hardening (etc).

[nbohr1more]

Just thought I'd pop in and say I get the aas out of date with Samhain Night as well.

New engine changes invalidating old map aas?

Added a comment to:

 

http://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=4877

[Spooks]

 

Some issues (The Warrens / maxed quality on a GeForce 750 Ti) - that ivy texture cast a not-intended -shadow:

 

I tested the same location on the newest update. This is the SinglePass mode now defaulting to 1, it renders all apha materials opaque for the purposes of shadow casting. I already reported this, if you turn the cvar to 0 it fixes itself.

 

@nbhor, I don't know about the size of the light volume, my test was on a very conventionally sized one (~512³) and the shadows were straight up busted rather than over-softened - they just weren't there. With soft shadows on they disappear, with them off there are thin streaks of shadow that dis/appear as you move and look around. Parallel lights with (soft) stencil shadows don't look wrong from what I can tell.

 

I can also confirm the opaque blotches are now fixed but I can feel the optimization being gone, FPS dips to 40 now (down from, I don't remember ~50?), in my test scene with a bunch of alpha texture grates, with softshadow quality 16.

Edited November 28, 2018 by Spooks

[nbohr1more]

Hmm.

 

In Remembrance of Him uses parallel lights and I recall testing it not long ago and having

proper shadow rendering in Shadow Map mode.

 

I'll retest tonight to see if this is a vendor specific bug.

 

I was just speculating about "what could go wrong".

 

Edit: Do the same problems manifest if r_shadowMapSize is set to 1280 or higher?

[Spooks]

Yes, they do. Do remember r_maxShadowMapLight when testing! I blew up the parallel light volume during tests and it got sent to stencil shadows because it was too large, In Remembrance of Him's parallel lights may well go over your r_maxShadowMapLight value.

[nbohr1more]

Update 17:

 

https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/downloads/tdm-206-vertex-buffer-beta

 

This should be the last "informal" 2.07 package before the official 2.07 beta

 

HRTF Positional Audio!!!!

 

GUI Softness slider fixed

 

Fix for strange compass render issue

 

Improved OpenGL standards compliance.

[peter_spy]

Didn't try HRTF but cf_level works when HRTF is off. 2 is pretty good value for both speakers and headphones.

 

Compass works now (no magnified background), although it still casts shadow on itself.

 

IMO it's still important to restore engine precision in drawing geometry (BSP holes, z-fighting between not overlapping surfaces), and the heat haze (with depth) program still displays weird artifacts.

Edited December 5, 2018 by Judith

[lowenz]

Does HRTF require stereo (2.0) setting?

[lowenz]

Comparison Single Pass ShadowMaps: 5% perfomance hit

 

*Single Pass SM OFF (less performance, no issues)

*Single Pass SM ON (more performance, alpha issue)

Edited December 5, 2018 by lowenz

[HMart]

Don't know if is just the mess of modifications i have for TDM, but while playing "rightful property" was unable to use water arrows to turn of the torches, also add the aas out of date error again. I'm playing with the latest 2.07 alpha update 17 and the unificial TDM patch 1.1.

 

Outside of that game was smooth tho.

Edited December 6, 2018 by HMart

[wesp5]

I'm playing with the latest 2.07 alpha update 17 and the unificial TDM patch 1.1.

The Unofficial Patch hasn't been updated for 2.07 yet, so if some of the light definitions changed in 2.07 this could cause your problem.

[peter_spy]

This should be the last "informal" 2.07 package before the official 2.07 beta

 

Stgatilov just fixed the dmapping / rendering precision bug, so I suggest we try that out too

[lowenz]

Does HRTF require stereo (2.0) setting?

Up (and I cant's see any switch to toggle it ON/OFF)

 

+1 for the a new beta package with the rendering precision bug solved (if possible, thanks)

Edited December 6, 2018 by lowenz

[peter_spy]

It's in the alsoft.ini file in the root directory. Look for hrtf = true, change it to false if you want to try out the crossfade setting (cf_level = 2).

 

Btw. it would be pretty neat to have reloadsounds read the changed .ini file as well, so we can experiment with different values without restarting the game.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Judith

[stgatilov]

Btw. it would be pretty neat to have reloadsounds read the changed .ini file as well, so we can experiment with different values without restarting the game.

I suggest filing a feature request.

The problem is that openal-soft reads its own config inside its implementation.

I have no idea yet if it is possible to set this config programmatically.

[peter_spy]

On a second thought, it's rather low-priority thing. I think most people will want to stick to one default config for all missions.

[lowenz]

It's in the alsoft.ini file in the root directory. Look for hrtf = true, change it to false if you want to try out the crossfade setting (cf_level = 2).

 

Btw. it would be pretty neat to have reloadsounds read the changed .ini file as well, so we can experiment with different values without restarting the game.

But always with the stereo setup, right? (Soft OpenAL requires it for HRTF).

Edited December 6, 2018 by lowenz

[lowenz]

Don't know if it's the correct thread where to post this but:

 

free image hosting

 

This blending issue "candle light vs water" can't be solved, right?

Edited December 6, 2018 by lowenz

[peter_spy]

But always with the stereo setup, right? (Soft OpenAL requires it for HRTF).

 

Yup, and that's the default value (i.e. even when that line is empty). As for the candle, that's transparency sorting problem, it should be done in materials.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Judith

[duzenko]

Comparison Single Pass ShadowMaps: 5% perfomance hit

 

*Single Pass SM OFF (less performance, no issues)

*Single Pass SM ON (more performance, alpha issue)

 

 

 

Quite puzzling to see it faster on your system

 

What is that decal material exactly?

 

@nbohr1more, do we want to switch shadows off for that decals?

[duzenko]

Don't know if it's the correct thread where to post this but:

 

free image hosting

 

This blending issue "candle light vs water" can't be solved, right?

Supposedly we could sort surfaces by distance to entity

Or force some shaders (water) sort priority different to others (candle halo) - right now they're the same