PREVIEW: Effects ddraw 2.0 with enhanced GPU support
Re: PREVIEW: Effects ddraw 2.0 with enhanced GPU support
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Being an old school self-taught programmer from decades past, I am very impressed with this coding! Fantastic job!
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This is insane. Genius work!
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Started using it last night. Played the first five missions of the prologue. I didn't notice any problems or slow downs, which means it seems to be working fine on my machine.
Can't wait for the VR version.
Can't wait for the VR version.
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I've now tested the new .dll on both machines that I might use for pancake mode playing.
Sadly, I can't confirm noticeable performance improvements - but that's because I'm mostly observing good framerates (above 150fps) anyway.
Might have to deliberately go for huge battles with lots of ships to notice the difference, but so far the two configurations' performance levels seem almost the exact same.
I expect that VR is the place where I could really observe the improvement, for now.
Sadly, I can't confirm noticeable performance improvements - but that's because I'm mostly observing good framerates (above 150fps) anyway.
Might have to deliberately go for huge battles with lots of ships to notice the difference, but so far the two configurations' performance levels seem almost the exact same.
Yeah same here, especially since that is the one place where my framerates have been dropping (can't hold 80fps, often 40fps, can even provoke drops down to 20 or 10fps).
I expect that VR is the place where I could really observe the improvement, for now.
- blue_max
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Did you rename your old ddraw as per the instructions on the first post? You can't have more than one ddraw in the same path. Try moving your old ddraw from your XWA directory and put it somewhere else.
- DarHan
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I just tested this with the first Endor mission. It runs fine at first, but as soon as I get to the point where the Imperial fleet appears, the game crashes.
UPDATE:
The solution was apparently to check in the AMD control panel that “Surface Format Optimization” is OFF for XWingAlliance.exe.
Looks like it’s related to the graphics driver, so I tried installing the latest available version, but it did not change anything and the game still crashes.Code: Select all
Nom de l’application défaillante XWingAlliance.exe, version : 2.0.0.2, horodatage : 0x3765a9b7 Nom du module défaillant : atidxx32.dll, version : 30.0.14023.3004, horodatage : 0x61e6574c Code d’exception : 0xc0000005 Décalage d’erreur : 0x0003439b ID du processus défaillant : 0x524 Heure de début de l’application défaillante : 0x01d816fa71c97e43 Chemin d’accès de l’application défaillante : E:\Games\Star Wars - X-Wing Alliance\XWingAlliance.exe Chemin d’accès du module défaillant: C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0376032.inf_amd64_1a2e19f1369fd940\B375758\atidxx32.dll ID de rapport : 459c3be2-82cb-4ba2-9ce1-6cadff8f89e2 Nom complet du package défaillant : ID de l’application relative au package défaillant :
UPDATE:
The solution was apparently to check in the AMD control panel that “Surface Format Optimization” is OFF for XWingAlliance.exe.
“Red Four, nothing’s gone wrong yet.”
— Hobbie Klivian
— Hobbie Klivian
- blue_max
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How did you figure that out? I think the problem might be related to the artifacts that we still have in the Tech Room, but who knows? Now I'd like to learn more about this fix.
- DarHan
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Since the crash seemed to involve the graphics driver, I just checked whether I’d enabled any non-standard features for XWA in the AMD control panel.
Surface Format Optimization was turned on for some reason, so I disabled it. In my tests afterwards, that solved the “Imperial Fleet shows up” crash. I’ve experienced another crash afterwards, but it seemed random and I haven’t managed to track down how to replicate it again.
“Red Four, nothing’s gone wrong yet.”
— Hobbie Klivian
— Hobbie Klivian
- blue_max
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Thanks DarHan. It's always good to know these details in case I run into the same problems. I know there's still a few areas that need polishing (like the Tech Room) so that means there's bugs lurking in there. If you find a reliable repro for a crash, do let us know please. Thank you!
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Wow, this is truly an amazing advancement!
- Gutersnipe
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Hi
Thanks for the great work on the DDraw. It works amazing and my machine is just a Nvidia GTX 980ti 4GB with an Intel i7-4790K.
I hit a strange situation on Mission 3 of the 1st campaign. When I go to inspect the 2nd set of containers, the FPS drop to 1 and the GPU usage drops near Zero and the CPU usage drops from near 100% to like 33%.
I am not sure what the issue is, but it may be there are too many object in the view, as once I fly past the objects, it returns back to normal. Any idea why that may be the case and is there any setting I can change to fix it.
See link for image of my gpu profile while I was playing: https://ibb.co/kmLkQF0
Thanks for the great work on the DDraw. It works amazing and my machine is just a Nvidia GTX 980ti 4GB with an Intel i7-4790K.
I hit a strange situation on Mission 3 of the 1st campaign. When I go to inspect the 2nd set of containers, the FPS drop to 1 and the GPU usage drops near Zero and the CPU usage drops from near 100% to like 33%.
I am not sure what the issue is, but it may be there are too many object in the view, as once I fly past the objects, it returns back to normal. Any idea why that may be the case and is there any setting I can change to fix it.
See link for image of my gpu profile while I was playing: https://ibb.co/kmLkQF0
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Hi,
if I follow your instructions to modify
[hook_d3d]
IsHookD3DEnabled = 0
from "1" to "0" I get weird bugs like flashing bright and yellow screen or only dots/stars visible ingame. After a few seconds the game crashes.
Please help.
PS: I have no hook_d3d.cfg file in my gamedirectory. Is that correct?
if I follow your instructions to modify
[hook_d3d]
IsHookD3DEnabled = 0
from "1" to "0" I get weird bugs like flashing bright and yellow screen or only dots/stars visible ingame. After a few seconds the game crashes.
Please help.
PS: I have no hook_d3d.cfg file in my gamedirectory. Is that correct?
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I have further info on this issue, for your reference. Ordinarily I run XWAU with the effects turned off because the FPS is too low. This was how I had it configured when running the new ddraw. When I switched the configuration to default special effects, the double screen problem went away.Dax wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 3:27 pmI am not using VR and don't have that capability. Was hoping there might be a workaround I'm not aware of that would allow me to try the new ddraw, which is a super exciting development! But I can also wait if need be.blue_max wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 6:04 pmAre you trying to run the game in VR? This ddraw version does not support VR yet. To restore your game, just revert the changes you did to ddraw.cfg and hooks.ini; and use the ddraw.dll from the "Effects Beta" link in the Downloads page in this forum.Dax wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 2:45 amHi all. Entered the new code as directed (ddraw.cfg and hook.ini). Replaced the old ddraw.dll. When I opened the game, I got a double screen. Two very small boxes, identical, of the concourse. When I moved to exit (ESC, click exit to Windows), the same actions happened on both little screens. What can I do to fix?
I still get my usual GPU error on Endor, so no luck in the end, but I hope this helps as you refine the code.
- blue_max
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Yes, that is correct, you only need to modify DDraw.cfg and Hooks.ini. Did you rename your old ddraw.dll to ddraw.old? Try moving your old ddraw.dll to a completely different directory and try again.
UPDATE: I just enabled preliminary support for SteamVR, see the first post in this thread for the download link.
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Yes, I renamed the.dll as instructed. And I even moved away the previous .dll but it did not work.
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Yes of course. I tried it 3 times - always the same bugs
- Old_Jedi
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Sorry, but a bit of a disaster for me trying this latest version of the new .dll in VR. Very jerky, and when I tried to exit by pressing ESC, the Oculus and laptop screens blanked, but the sound switched appropriately. Pressing ESC again brought the game back on the laptop screen only. I had to use the Task Manager to exit everything but was left with a black screen on the laptop and just the mouse cursor. I could not shut the laptop down at first, but did eventually manage a hard restart - no harm done.
Is there any info I can give which may help? ( I carried out all the config/ini/dll changes suggested at the top of this topic)
OJ
Dell Gaming Laptop G5
Windows 10
NVIDIA RTX 2060
8gb RAM
Is there any info I can give which may help? ( I carried out all the config/ini/dll changes suggested at the top of this topic)
OJ
Dell Gaming Laptop G5
Windows 10
NVIDIA RTX 2060
8gb RAM
Last edited by Old_Jedi on Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Ace Antilles
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Hold the power button down until it turns offOld_Jedi wrote: ↑Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:03 pmSorry, but A Disaster for me trying this latest version of the new .dll in VR. Very jerking on my Dell G5 gaming laptop, and when I tried to exit by pressing ESC, the Oculus and laptop screens blanked, but the sound switched appropriately. Pressing ESC again brought the game back on the laptop screen only. I had to use the Task Manager to exit everything, but now I am left with a black screen on the laptop and just the mouse cursor, and cannot shut the laptop down. Will have to leave it to run out of jiuce I guess, as the battery is not removable........
- Old_Jedi
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- Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:24 pm
Thanks - I did that, nadda.....but waited for 30 minutes, came back and it worked - just edited my post!Ace Antilles wrote: ↑Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:08 pmHold the power button down until it turns offOld_Jedi wrote: ↑Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:03 pmSorry, but A Disaster for me trying this latest version of the new .dll in VR. Very jerking on my Dell G5 gaming laptop, and when I tried to exit by pressing ESC, the Oculus and laptop screens blanked, but the sound switched appropriately. Pressing ESC again brought the game back on the laptop screen only. I had to use the Task Manager to exit everything, but now I am left with a black screen on the laptop and just the mouse cursor, and cannot shut the laptop down. Will have to leave it to run out of jiuce I guess, as the battery is not removable........
- Redfox
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Dropbox link is no longer working. Was this taken down intentionally?
Murphy was an optimist! I am a pessimist!
And always remember that a smile is cheaper than a bullet! (District 9)
Webmaster of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project
And always remember that a smile is cheaper than a bullet! (District 9)
Webmaster of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project
- blue_max
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- Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2019 5:12 am
Sorry about the inconvenience
What happens if you try the new ddraw without VR?
What happens if you try the old ddraw with VR?
Just to be clear, you didn't get a crash, just black screens and unresponsive system, right?
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Strangely I didn't notice a performance increase. But the models on the target display are the "real" 3D models for a couple of seconds before switching back to the wire mesh models, every time a new target is selected.