VOGONS


WIP versions

Topic actions

  • This topic is locked. You cannot reply or edit posts.

Reply 61 of 1111, by Dege

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
daniel_u wrote:
Cool. Many thanks. Intro scene in Sc1 now, looks almost the same. A die hard fan might argue here and there but i consider this […]
Show full quote

Cool. Many thanks. Intro scene in Sc1 now, looks almost the same. A die hard fan might argue here and there but i consider this fixed. Congrats. I'm very impresed by your skill.

Now i did some quick tests:
GF5700 crashes with SC1. By the way why 5700 Ultra? Why not 5950 ultra or ATI counterpart? Do we have DX 9.0c? Might want to try me some GTA 4. 😁
Is it me or the Shiny texture bug in the CIA HQ behaves a litlle different? Now, it might be me, but i see it appears first in some area of the floor and then after more movement it covers the whole floor? Usualy it was all in one go.

Smoked tested SC2 with FX5700 and 4800 preset. No issues , for now. The latest issue in the SC thread still happens. With mouse move extra detail(smoke and clouds) appears in the sky. Tested the color issue, maybe might magicaly vanish but one can only hope. 😀

Waiting for the next WIP. Thanks.

GF5700 crashes? Where? I checked it with/without MSAA, forced res and it worked (the same way as GF4 in prev versions).
Why 5700 Ultra? It doesn't have too much significance, only if some old GF feature is needed (like blurred lights in SC1 with working shadow buffering).
I just wanted a card from the FX series (SM 2.0), maybe for DX9 (later some day). I was an owner of a GF5700 Ultra, and despite the fact that FX series was a disgrace of nVidia, the 5700 Ultra was based on the NV36 chip architecture, so it was a really good video card. That's all... 😁 😁

VicRattlehead wrote:

Somewhere between 2.53 and the latest WIP, an issue I've been having with Blade of Darkness (d3d renderer) with the framerate taking a severe hit when looking at light sources has been slightly alleviated. In 2.53, if I face the sun in the tutorial level, the game becomes literally unplayable and runs at about 1-5 frames per second. In the latest WIP, the framerate drops to 20 (it would probably be higher but vsync is enabled and I can't seem to disable it). It seems like the issue is directly related to lens flares because I tried using a different d3d renderer variant in the game's setup where lens flares would be absent and I get no such framerate hit.

EDIT: Derp, looks like the "fast video memory access" was the reason for the framerate improvement. I left it enabled some time ago and forgot all about it. No difference in framerate between 2.53 and the WIP after all. Though I did find out that using that option causes most of the textures to appear black in SWAT 3.

Fast vidmem access is unfortunately not "safe", it can even cause app crashes. But, black textures in SWAT3 is a bug, then.

lowenz wrote:
I have a question. ReShade needs the access to the Depth Buffer for MXAO and other depth-based shaders like that. Some games do […]
Show full quote

I have a question.
ReShade needs the access to the Depth Buffer for MXAO and other depth-based shaders like that.
Some games do not provide the access and if they are multiplayer games is a good thing (to avoid cheats/tricks), but:
1) nowdays nobody plays old (pre)DX8 online titles at large
2) single player games too have this issue (Thief DS, Deus EX IW, etc.)

So Dege, can you do the magic (provide the access where the game originally don't) through dgVoodoo2 or not?

Hmm... I don't know. I'm not familiar with how the injector part of ReShade works. It hooks the API and somehow detects which buffers are used as back- and depth buffers, I guess, and it doesn't succeed under all circumstances. Or not providing access means some kind of unavailable phyiscal access to a detected (and identified) z-buffer?

Edit:
"- And... something I couldn't recall now - next time I'll expand the changelog as soon as something is done or fixed 😁"
Now I remember: WARP rendering was broken, fixed.

Reply 62 of 1111, by CoolGamer

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Dege wrote:
lowenz wrote:
I have a question. ReShade needs the access to the Depth Buffer for MXAO and other depth-based shaders like that. Some games do […]
Show full quote

I have a question.
ReShade needs the access to the Depth Buffer for MXAO and other depth-based shaders like that.
Some games do not provide the access and if they are multiplayer games is a good thing (to avoid cheats/tricks), but:
1) nowdays nobody plays old (pre)DX8 online titles at large
2) single player games too have this issue (Thief DS, Deus EX IW, etc.)

So Dege, can you do the magic (provide the access where the game originally don't) through dgVoodoo2 or not?

Hmm... I don't know. I'm not familiar with how the injector part of ReShade works. It hooks the API and somehow detects which buffers are used as back- and depth buffers, I guess, and it doesn't succeed under all circumstances. Or not providing access means some kind of unavailable phyiscal access to a detected (and identified) z-buffer?

I also fully support Lowenz's request. Games that provide depth buffer access to Reshade3 (via dgVoodoo) also work well with HBAO through nvidia profile inspector (e.g. Hitman 3 Contracts). If you can do "magic" to provide depth buffer access for all games, that will be an amazing feature.

Reshade3 became opensource as of January 1st. It hooks via dxgi.dll for DX11 games. The source code link is below:
https://github.com/crosire/reshade/tree/master/source

I am not a programmer but most of the depth related functions appear in the following file:
https://github.com/crosire/reshade/blob/maste … d11_runtime.cpp

Reply 63 of 1111, by lowenz

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Oh, found a strange light accumulation (?) bug in Pandora Tomorrow with Night Vision on 😁

Splinter_Cell2_2017_02_28_22_45_04.png

But we need someone who can test the original rendering in that point (roof of Dahlia's place in Jerusalem mission), maybe it's not a dgVoodoo2 issue but a level issue.
It's camera angle dependent.

Reply 64 of 1111, by daniel_u

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Dege wrote:

GF5700 crashes? Where? I checked it with/without MSAA, forced res and it worked (the same way as GF4 in prev versions).
Why 5700 Ultra? It doesn't have too much significance, only if some old GF feature is needed (like blurred lights in SC1 with working shadow buffering).
I just wanted a card from the FX series (SM 2.0), maybe for DX9 (later some day). I was an owner of a GF5700 Ultra, and despite the fact that FX series was a disgrace of nVidia, the 5700 Ultra was based on the NV36 chip architecture, so it was a really good video card. That's all... 😁 😁

It crashed to me on several ocassion only to see i have a 'widescreen' dll in the root folder. Removed it and all seems fine. Sorry for the false alert.
I love the way you handled that intro scene:
GF 4800 Ti -old school ligths.
GF 5700 U - Dege soft touch. 😀

Funny fact, GF 5500(bug fix in the chip, newer chip) is the only card that runs SC1 almost fine or so they say. The others have missing shadows and lights.

Reply 65 of 1111, by daniel_u

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
lowenz wrote:
Oh, found a strange light accumulation (?) bug in Pandora Tomorrow with Night Vision on :D […]
Show full quote

Oh, found a strange light accumulation (?) bug in Pandora Tomorrow with Night Vision on 😁

Splinter_Cell2_2017_02_28_22_45_04.png

But we need someone who can test the original rendering in that point (roof of Dahlia's place in Jerusalem mission), maybe it's not a dgVoodoo2 issue but a level issue.
It's camera angle dependent.

Hmm not sure of the issue, there is a setting called ScreenFlashes=True in the ini. It is by design to blind you temporarily if you are looking at a light source.
Post a save game, please so that i can load it up quickly on my GF 4800 system.

And yes just below, right when you first talk with Thalia(next level )there is a light color problem. Color of the light is mostly Red.

Oohh such an ugly scene. Almost ruins the mood. I would pay Dege to fix it. 😀

PS;
I pay only in beers. 😀

Reply 66 of 1111, by Myloch

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

It's amazing how this dx-glide wrapper became splinter cell wrapper, so much (too much?) priority in fixing a single game maybe?

"Gamer & collector for passion, I firmly believe in the preservation and the diffusion of old/rare software, against all personal egoisms"

Reply 67 of 1111, by daniel_u

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Myloch wrote:

It's amazing how this dx-glide wrapper became splinter cell wrapper, so much (too much?) priority in fixing a single game maybe?

Hmm..i would go that far calling this a Splinter wrapper. If it is a wrapper issue i bring it to his(Dege) attention and ask him from time to time about the issue(s).
Ask Dege, there are (wrapper)problems with the SC games that are not a priority for him. Looked at the release log lately? There is a difference in reporting issues ,convincing a man to emulate a game as close as possible to the original and what Dege really does... So let's be honest here. This is what is all about(for us non dev game people)..to make games work and look as they should on modern hardware. For him is doing something great and learn new stuff that will help him both financially and profesionally .

I think it comes down to the passion of the people who report issues and the games they love.

PS: I find this explaining a waste time. I will not be bothered anymore.

Reply 75 of 1111, by Dege

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Dege wrote:
VirtuaIceMan wrote:

Yep, still no fog. I've got the original UK release, patched to version 1.1. I put the CPL file and the MS dll's into the Sdata sub-folder (where they need to be to work). If I launch the game from SHADOWS.EXE I've then got it set to:

I think I have version 1.0. Maybe that's the problem, I'll patch it to 1.1.

Yes, that was the problem, fixed it.

Myloch wrote:

It's amazing how this dx-glide wrapper became splinter cell wrapper, so much (too much?) priority in fixing a single game maybe?

No, I still intend dgVoodoo to be a general wrapper as much as possible, being compatible with the DX8 runtime itself and the hw rigs of that era.
It's true that debugging and fixing Splinter Cells took a particularly high amount of time but that's because it's one of the games with most advanced and complicated rendering technology (especially shadow buffers). Adding GF5700 Ultra took the least time amogst the recent WIP features because earlier dgVoodoo rendered unblurred light beams but I changed them as I thought soft light was the expected one. It's only a minor difference between certain chip features of GF4 and GF FX's.
But I spent a lot of time on things that weren't even reported here, like detecting bugs through DX scene demos, or games that nobody really cared about (for example, I struggled a lot with Blood Rayne 2), just to make dgVoodoo as compatible and bug free as possible.

lowenz wrote:
lowenz wrote:

The 3D game works.

But not too well: texture problem on the mechs:
I'm using forced 1440x1080

Are those bugs regression ones? Did they come with 2.53?

Reply 77 of 1111, by CoolGamer

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Dege,

I don't know if you had the chance to look into depth buffer for Reshade3 yet, but there is something I want to mention regarding Splinter Cell 1. Splinter Cell 1 does not provide depth buffer access to Reshade3. You can visualize the depth buffer in Reshade3 by using the attached "ShowDepth.fx" file. Depth buffer in Splinter Cell 1 looks mostly empty (white). On screen display parts (HUD), which are not supposed to be in the depth buffer, are in the depth buffer.

Star Wars Republic Commando (another DX8 game) only has the HUD and the Helmet visor in its depth buffer when you visualize it via Reshade3. As a result MXAO effect only gets applied to the interior surface of the Helmet.

An example Directx 6.1 game that does not provide depth buffer to Reshade3 is Star Wars Episode 1 Racer (Pod Racer). When you visualize the depth buffer it looks completely empty (all black this time). If you don't have the full version of this game, you can download the 16MB demo from the link below. Demo gives an error at the end of the installation but it runs without any problems.
https://archive.org/details/StarWarsEpisodeI-RacerDemo
https://archive.org/download/StarWarsEpisodeI … o/racerdemo.exe

You can compare these to the Reshade3 visualization of depth buffers for Hitman 3 Contracts and Rayman 3 (Full Version GOG or Demo Version), where there is a smooth gradient from black to white (close to far). Also HUD parts are not included in the depth buffer. As a result, MXAO works in Reshade3 for these two games.

Reshade3 also has its own d3d8to9 wrapper which became open source on January 1st. It just converts from dx8 to dx9 (no effects are applied). It is used in combination with the d3d9 wrapper of Reshade3. I wrote the link below. When you search the code base for the word "depth" on github, some results show up. This wrapper does not provide "depth buffer access" on all games, so I am guessing that some strong "magic" is needed to accomplish that. We need your help on that. 😀
https://github.com/crosire/d3d8to9

On a separate note, I could not get "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets PC Demo" to start with dgVoodoo v2.53 and WIP31. This is strange because Reshade3's compatibility page (linked below) says that it works perfectly via dgVoodoo2. I wonder if there was a regression at some point. You can download the 25mb free demo from the link below. I am not interested in that game, but when Reshade3 reports "perfect" compatibility, it means that depth buffer access is available. I downloaded it to check depth buffer compatibility.
https://reshade.me/compatibility
http://www.gamepressure.com/download.asp?ID=2099

Edit: I just tested the full version of Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets game and could not get that to run either.

Attachments

  • Filename
    ShowDepth.zip
    File size
    317 Bytes
    Downloads
    71 downloads
    File comment
    ShowDepth.fx shader for Reshade3
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 78 of 1111, by Dege

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
lowenz wrote:

2.53 -> perfect
WIP -> black textures and NO shadows!

One thing I don't understand. I installed Mech4 Vengeance (probably version 1.0), but neither 2.53 nor WIP31 works with that, crash before entering the menu.
I debugged out that the game handles DDraw surface interfaces erroneously. I guess your game is patched to 2.0 or 3.0.
I tried to patch mine but none of the 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 patchers is willing to update my game. Is there any trick?