As the beta testers beaver away experiencing Reloaded for the first time, I get stuck into my list of things to do. Still top of my list is performance and today I improved both terrain and vegetation polygon use. I have added new sliders to allow end user control of the terrain LOD stages and the vegetation slider now controls the vegetation distance too.
The result of slamming these to minimum is quite striking, and can take a 750,000 scene down to less than 100,000 polygons. No doubt this will help on the lower end cards almost immediately.
I am still not 100% sold on my veg system as it creates invisible grass ready to fade in instantly. This helps performance in one way as the grass does not need significant dynamic creation but costs in another in that MANY polygons are on standby. With modern cards this might be a good technique, but older cards do not like those extra polygons. I will have to try both in time...
I added some code to call the terrain randomizer when a new map is created, so you don't get confused about seeing the last one you edited. I still want to put a lot of work into this component as I think we can do some great things with procedural techniques and automated generation, but for now clearing the terrain with a decent random scene should be the goal.
I have also been tackling other annoyances like the aspect ratio error on the paint cursor, the save/load paint sliding issue, sound issue (fixed) and a few other pearls. These fixes will be available to all pledge levels, but I am going to make a few more fixes before a new patch is released.
In Case You Missed My First Post-Beta Official Video
Some early questions came in and we decided to take the opportunity to answer them and also provide a quick start to the BETA1 version.
It might be a good idea to create another video when we release a fix patch so you can get a quick overview of what we improved. A gentle reminder when the time comes will be much appreciated :)
Signing Off
Now the beta is out and my time will be spent in forums and emails as much as development, my blog might be a little less verbose over the next few weeks. The more time I have for bug hunting, the better your experiences will be and I think it's a good compromise. I will of course keep you up to date with the fixes as they happen!
I personally wont be using the vegetation system but however don't mind spraying in my own in areas I'd like them.
ReplyDeleteHowever... if the performance improves dramatically... I may use the feature. Guess I'll have to wait and see! :p
Delete"I added some code to call the terrain randomizer when a new map is created" is this a feature that generates random maps for us when ever we want 1?
ReplyDeleteI posted in the new forums about getting a map generator with a dropdown box list of % for various things like trees water mountains etc, would save so much time for the less skilled users like me to make a good map to add buildings to later on. it could have an assets list for usable assets while generating these outside maps to perhaps? or at least a terrain texture type (lush ice desert)??
or is it something else completely? (im a noob lol)
Hello Lee! Great work! I really like to adjust settings with sliders, it's very comfortable. I would suggest you some improvements: in the visual settings would be very useful a button to restore settings to default because actually the only way to restore values is to quit fpsc:r. Ability to fine tune sliders values with <> keys, and finally sliders for options selectable with F1 to F5 keys would be great :)
ReplyDeleteI think video is a really good way to go for explaining things in Reloaed.
ReplyDeleteI would really really love a 3D view when creating terrain, please :)
Will FPSC worls on my mobile intel 4 series express chipset family?
ReplyDeleteDepends what you mean by "will it work". Yes, it will start and run; no it will not run well. It will be horrifically slow and jolty and almost certainly not worth it.
DeleteWhat about the Sound fix patch, was it released yet or did I miss it ? :)
ReplyDeleteNo, not yet like Lee writes :)
DeleteThank you, I was worried :D
DeletePS : Thanks to TGC for publishing my video on their website ^^
the Zip always says it's corrupted no matter which computer I download it onto, are you able to upload an executable installer or something to our pledger download links?
ReplyDeleteMake sure the download is successfully completing. TGC's servers are fairly slow and the way they have download links set up means you can't schedule downloads (hint hint, TGC!), so no easy download resuming. So make sure it's not slowing down and failing, particularly if you have slow internet.
DeleteIf you can't download it at your house, check with your local library. For a year or so if I needed to download something, I would take a USB flash key and go to the library and use their internet. One library had no time limit, but you had to use their own computers. The other library had a one-hour time limit (that they let you refresh as many times as you liked) but it was wifi and let you connect your laptop.
We have better internet now and I don't need the library any more :)
visiting my parents for the weekend who have infinite speed internet, so I'll see if this works
Deletenope, still says it's invalid, guess I'm waiting for an exe or a different zip file :(
DeleteNow the only thing could be the unzipping program you're using. What are you using to unzip? I recommend WinRar. It's got a 30 (or is it 40?) day trial after which there's only a message box that pops up every time you open it. You can keep using it without buying it and most people do.
DeleteI've had our server guy do some clever bits and bobs to improve download reliability. Apparently one of our servers was running out of PHP memory and aborting the downloads process. We've now increased this and hopefully the situation will improve. Try a few times as we have an automatic mirror system in place so you might not get access to the improved server first go.
Delete@clonkex, I've tried with winrar, 7zip, and the windows built in file handler. so I'll just keep trying like Lee says and hope it works, and I understand it's not your fault, but I realllly want to download this awesome software you've made.
DeleteI've been a few (very few) reports of the corrupt installer issue, but everyone who's subsequently reported back says a repeated attempt(s) succeeded. Rick changed the installer from EXE to ZIP to improve relations with Anti-Virus software so you will find the executable installer inside the ZIP file now.
ReplyDeleteHi Lee. Are we going to be able to turn off terrain or place terrain in select areas instead of always having it across the board? Also, I would like to see an option to reduce the level area (50x50, 100x100, etc). I think those two things could greatly increase performance for lower end machines.
ReplyDelete@Lee
ReplyDeletehow about adding a option for non-terrain based levels
or just add a plane for the non-terrain based levels
this way ppl who dont intend to use the terrain or just want to use it in specific levels
do not need to worry about the terrain performance drain
and on a sidenot
plz can we get a skydome?
The skybox stuff is all neat but just not uptodate
Eventually we will have non-terrain systems but that will be quite a while off. It makes sense to get what we have running great first, as a failing of the last product was that we moved onto pastures new before ensuring the ground was solid on existing features.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agreee Lee, and glad to see you'll continue to work the current system until it's as efficient as possible. Turning something off shouldn't be a fix... just an option. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Exactly! And I so pleased Lee has realised how the correct way to work on a new product :)
DeleteJust wanted to add that this is what Skyrim does to help its users defeat preformance issues
ReplyDeletehttp://imageshack.com/scaled/large/845/e39h.jpg
Yes, that would be good to have settings like those in Reloaded! It IS annoying how you can't edit video settings in-game in Skyrim, but it's certainly better than nothing :)
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