Beta Testing 2.09

[stgatilov]

Or maybe config reset does miracles...

[Dragofer]

I had freshly updated my TDM installs because I haven't been using the PC for a while, so darkmod.cfg's had already been reset by tdm_installer.exe. A mystery...

[stgatilov]

On 1/9/2021 at 8:14 PM, MirceaKitsune said:

I noticed the black transparency bug on another decal again, FM Sneak & Destroy. getViewPos included this time.

Please attach your config. I cannot reproduce this problem with mine.

[Araneidae]

I'm getting some very fishy performance variation with The Painter's Wife.  As described over here, I've had to set the undocumented feature `r_usePersistentMapping 0` to get usable performance: without this setting, both menu and game run at less than 0.5 fps, with the setting menus run at 50 fps and game runs at around 6 fps.  I'm pretty sure there's a regression from 2.08 here: although I didn't measure it, I got playable performance and 6 fps isn't really playable.

An interesting extra data point is this: if (using the in game video settings menu) I change Shadows Implementation from Stencil (the default) to Maps my frame rate jumps to 20+ fps (totally playable) ... except for weird glitches where it sometimes drops back to 6 fps.  It seems that some GPU intensive activity is somehow being turned on and off.  My CPU usage is relatively low (top reports 60%).

[cabalistic]

If you're reporting performance, we really need your hardware specs.

In any case, if turning off r_usePersistentMapping improves performance, that is a strong indicator that your driver straight up lies or has poor implementation of that feature. But in this instance, you may also want to set r_useNewBackend 0 to switch back to the pre 2.09 render backend, which relies less on persistent mapping than the new one.

[Araneidae]

17 minutes ago, cabalistic said:

If you're reporting performance, we really need your hardware specs.

Apologies!  It is (old system):

• i5-2500K CPU, 16 GB RAM
• Radeon HD 6950 (2GB RAM)
• Fedora 33 with stock drivers

Hmm.  Setting r_useNewBackend 0 doesn't seem to help, in fact seems to make things worse: I start with 4 fps ... but turning Soft Shadows on seems to make things better!

Not really sure how to sensibly investigate this.

Edited January 17, 2021 by Araneidae
Add result of setting r_useNewBackend 0

[nbohr1more]

Try:

r_useNewBackend 1

r_shadowMapSinglePass 1

 

r_shadowMapCullFront 1

r_fboResolution 0.5

r_shadowMapSize 512

 

In my experience, r_shadowMapSinglePass is the biggest performance factor and it is broken on the old backend.

[Araneidae]

22 minutes ago, nbohr1more said:

Try:

r_useNewBackend 1

r_shadowMapSinglePass 1

r_shadowMapCullFront 1

r_fboResolution 0.5

r_shadowMapSize 512

In my experience, r_shadowMapSinglePass is the biggest performance factor and it is broken on the old backend.

Those settings didn't work very well.  Am back to 6 fps and it looks horrible as well!

At the moment I'm getting reasonable performance with high quality shadows, but with r_usePersistentMapping off.  Can post a complete .cfg if that's helpful.

[nbohr1more]

Yes, please post your darkmod.cfg

[stgatilov]

1 hour ago, Araneidae said:

I'm getting some very fishy performance variation with The Painter's Wife.  As described over here, I've had to set the undocumented feature `r_usePersistentMapping 0` to get usable performance: without this setting, both menu and game run at less than 0.5 fps, with the setting menus run at 50 fps and game runs at around 6 fps.

Please try setting "r_gpuBufferNonpersistentUpdateMode 1" along with "r_usePersistentMapping 1" and check if it becomes any better.

UPDATE: And of course with "r_useNewBackend 1".

[MirceaKitsune]

50 minutes ago, nbohr1more said:

Try:

r_useNewBackend 1

r_shadowMapSinglePass 1

r_shadowMapCullFront 1

In my experience, r_shadowMapSinglePass is the biggest performance factor and it is broken on the old backend.

Just wanted to report that I use all 3 of those cvars since switching to the beta. The first two improve performance without any noticeable visual differences or undesired side effects. The third (r_shadowMapCullFront) is the only one that introduces minor visual inconsistencies... more specifically causing shadows or AO to be culled close to an object. Here's a comparison screenshot without then with this cvar:

Reminder: I use the vanilla AMD drivers (amdgpu + Mesa) on Linux (openSUSE Tumbleweed). It's often the AMD Linux drivers that have weird issues, so if it works for me it's rather surprising that others are experiencing issues.

35 minutes ago, Araneidae said:

Those settings didn't work very well.  Am back to 6 fps and it looks horrible as well!

At the moment I'm getting reasonable performance with high quality shadows, but with r_usePersistentMapping off.  Can post a complete .cfg if that's helpful.

I'd do that. I also have r_usePersistentMapping enabled and everything else works well with it.

[MirceaKitsune]

A separate suggestion, I noticed this while doing the above tests: Please add r_shadowMapSize as an option to the menu, under the advanced shadow settings ideally just after the shadow softness / quality sliders (that's the sample count). This option implies a huge "good visuals" versus "bad performance" ratio and should be accessible for users to customize. Allow it to have at least the values 512, 1024, and 2048... possibly 256 for people with really poor hardware, and / or 4096 for folks with a powerful graphics card that want maximum sharpness. 1024 is a good default to stick to from what I'm seeing so I'd leave this unchanged.

In my test just now, going from 2048 to 1024 granted me an additional 20 FPS, while 1024 to 512 offers yet another 20 FPS. The visual difference is also quickly noticeable however, with the shadow map becoming more square each step. I was at 2048 before noticing this and now went down to 1024 to enjoy better frame rates, even if the lower quality can be easily noticed on an 1080p screen.

[AluminumHaste]

If you're getting 4 fps in the menu then something is very wrong.

Did you try to delete your darkmod.cfg file and see if that makes a difference?

[Araneidae]

18 minutes ago, AluminumHaste said:

If you're getting 4 fps in the menu then something is very wrong.

Did you try to delete your darkmod.cfg file and see if that makes a difference?

Yes indeedie, something is wrong indeed!  This problem isn't new to this beta, I had to set r_usePersistentMapping 0 for 2.08 ... but only for The Painter's Wife.  There is something special about this mission that uniquely challenges my card.  For reference, I've just played through Volta 2 (Cauldron) on my baseline settings without a hint of trouble.

I've been managing my config as follows:

1. Delete Darkmod.cfg
2. Run up TDM and exit immediately
3. Add the following lines to the end of my (newly created) Darkmod.cfg:

   seta tdm_door_auto_open_on_unlock "0"
   seta tdm_mainmenu_confirmquit "0"
   seta tdm_wideScreenMode "4"

   seta r_fullscreen "2"
   seta r_aspectRatio "2"
   seta r_customHeight "1200"
   seta r_customWidth "1920"
   seta r_fboColorBits "32"
   seta s_useEAXReverb "0"

4. Make further changes as discussed

About to try further changes as suggested, will post complete .cfg files and reports in a moment.

[stgatilov]

beta209-03 is available.

Changelog is provided in its usual place.
Use tdm_installer to get the new version, and don't forget to check "Get custom version".
In a very rare case if you managed to download beta209-03 yesterday, please run tdm_installer and update to beta209-03 once again. It was a bit different yesterday

Note that the new beta contains a lot of new assets and asset fixes. It would be great if mappers check them out

[Araneidae]

1 hour ago, stgatilov said:

Please try setting "r_gpuBufferNonpersistentUpdateMode 1" along with "r_usePersistentMapping 1" and check if it becomes any better.

UPDATE: And of course with "r_useNewBackend 1".

Alas, no, setting r_gpuBufferNonpersistentUpdateMode 1 makes no difference: frame rate is less than 0.5 fps!

For what it's worth, I'm attaching three config files, with the following behaviour:

• Darkmod.cfg.baseline: this is my reset .cfg file which I've used for numerous missions without any problems.  Only TPW generates the issue in question, which for this file is a frame rate both in game and in menu of less than 0.5 fps.
• Darkmod.cfg.half_fps: this is setting r_gpuBufferNonpersistentUpdateMode 1 as suggested, alas is indistinguishable from .baseline.
• Darkmod.cfg.20fps: this is after me fiddling with this that and the other setting, gives me a decent playable experience (except for the occasional hiccup).

Darkmod.cfg.20fps Darkmod.cfg.baseline Darkmod.cfg.half_fps

[nbohr1more]

The main difference appears to be r_shadows 2 vs 1 ( shadows maps vs stencil )

When you tried r_shadowMapSinglePass 1  did you have Shadow Mode set to Maps ( r_shadows 2 ) ?

[wesp5]

1 hour ago, stgatilov said:

beta209-03 is available.

Changelog is provided in its usual place.
Use tdm_installer to get the new version, and don't forget to check "Get custom version".

I have to report that the new installer can't update itself and gives the error it can't find "D:\The". Which makes me assume it can't handle spaces in the path as mine is "The Dark Mod". I renamed the temporary files and will continue from there...

Edited January 17, 2021 by wesp5

[Dragofer]

Something that didn't make it into beta209-03 (because of some technical problems with SVN) is the new moving version of Epifire's steam engine ("animated" in DR using func_pendulums etc.). Mappers would be welcome to try it out ingame as part of this beta.

Simply download this supplemental .pk4 and place it in your TDM base directory, then place the prefab in your FM. The requirement is that you're on beta209-03.

Known issues:

• console warnings about skin duplications: this is because this .pk4 overwrites some base skins with modified versions
• console warning about a sound with shaking being saved as .ogg, not .wav: had to deliberately do this because sounds stored in .wav keep playing in the main menu, and visually the result is the same.
• slight inaccuracies in the movement and sound synch: this is due to limitations of doing the "animation" in DR.
• stacking 2+ moveable items on top of each other on the topmost mover causes that mover to stop moving. This is a physics engine limitation, and no other movers depend on this one.

The primary author is bikerdude, with extensive feedback/vetting and playtesting by Dragofer and Amadeus.

z_steam_engine_b3.pk4

[AluminumHaste]

You should be able to stop players from stopping the animation with clip boxes around those parts.

[Dragofer]

1 hour ago, AluminumHaste said:

You should be able to stop players from stopping the animation with clip boxes around those parts.

Yes, that's been done for all the other parts, but had some internal debate whether the topmost pair of movers should be covered too.

I'm leaning towards keeping them free because A) the player should be pushed if standing there, B ) the player has to go out of his way to get a moveable up there and stand on it or build a stack of moveables and C) the breakage isn't too severe imo.

[stgatilov]

7 hours ago, nbohr1more said:

The main difference appears to be r_shadows 2 vs 1 ( shadows maps vs stencil )

Maybe this FM hits some sort of memory limit, like VBO size of buffer mapping size. And the driver starts to do stupid things like reuploading stuff much more times to make it work.

If this FM has places with LOD models, maybe check if setting minimum LOD quality vs maximum one helps.

[nbohr1more]

11 hours ago, Araneidae said:

Alas, no, setting r_gpuBufferNonpersistentUpdateMode 1 makes no difference: frame rate is less than 0.5 fps!

For what it's worth, I'm attaching three config files, with the following behaviour:

• Darkmod.cfg.baseline: this is my reset .cfg file which I've used for numerous missions without any problems.  Only TPW generates the issue in question, which for this file is a frame rate both in game and in menu of less than 0.5 fps.
• Darkmod.cfg.half_fps: this is setting r_gpuBufferNonpersistentUpdateMode 1 as suggested, alas is indistinguishable from .baseline.
• Darkmod.cfg.20fps: this is after me fiddling with this that and the other setting, gives me a decent playable experience (except for the occasional hiccup).

Darkmod.cfg.20fps 12.75 kB · 1 download Darkmod.cfg.baseline 12.97 kB · 1 download Darkmod.cfg.half_fps 12.75 kB · 1 download

 

Following on from above, perhaps TDM is not recognizing your available VRAM.

Try setting shadows back to stencil ( r_shadows 1)

 

(Then) Try setting:

sys_videoRam 2048

 

Then try setting:

 

seta r_frameIndexMemory "8192"
seta r_frameVertexMemory "8192"

or

seta r_frameIndexMemory "16384"
seta r_frameVertexMemory "16384"

[MirceaKitsune]

13 minutes ago, nbohr1more said:

(Then) Try setting:

sys_videoRam 2048

I looked at this cvar as well out of curiosity, noticed something suspicious: The value it gets set at for me is 512, however I have a video card with 8 GB of VRAM. Surely it could use at least 1024 if not 2048 / 4096 or the whole 8192! Could the default value of 0 (autodetect at startup) have issues with video RAM detection on Linux / amdgpu or even in general? Or is this normal and I'm just misunderstanding what it represents?

[nbohr1more]

As a sanity check in preparation for the 2.09 release article, I tested performance for the original "Return to the City" map.

I probably should have been more exhaustive but I wanted to get through it today.

Starting with TDM 1.02: 24FPS 1080P 4xAA 8xAF Bloom

TDM 1.03: 21FPS 1080P 4xAA 8xAF "HDR-Lite"

TDM 1.07: 23FPS (same settings as 1.03)

TDM 1.08: 25FPS (same settings as 1.03)

TDM 2.0: 27FPS (same settings as 1.03)

TDM 2.03: 26FPS (same settings as 1.03)

TDM 2.05: 28FPS (1.03 settings, uncapped FPS)

TDM 2.06: 32FPS (1.03 settings, multi-core, uncapped FPS)

TDM 2.06 GLSL (no soft shadows): 26FPS

TDM 2.07: 46FPS ( 2.06 settings, GLSL enabled, FBO enabled )

TDM 2.08: 49FPS ( 2.07 settings + Bloom )

TDM 2.09: 51FPS ( 2.08 settings )

TDM 2.09 with Soft Shadows and SSAO: 32FPS

TDM 2.09 with 2.08 settings plus Soft Shadows, SSAO, and r_fboResolution 0.7 64-bit color 45FPS

I probably should have tried a lower resolution and uncapped FPS but there are some clear progressions here.

This mission is sort of stubborn with performance gains compared to others due to the visportal issues.

I also should have compared it to Return to the City v2 etc.

Looking back, we probably should have made a bigger deal about the performance jump in 2.07.

Edit: For comparison TDM 1.07 RTTC v2 = 72FPS (someday engine improvements will catch up to mapper optimizations...)