PREVIEW: Effects ddraw 2.0 with enhanced GPU support

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Re: PREVIEW: Effects ddraw 2.0 with enhanced GPU support

sindrix
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Post by sindrix » Mon Jan 31, 2022 12:42 am

Being an old school self-taught programmer from decades past, I am very impressed with this coding! Fantastic job! :handy:

Tony Knightcrawler
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Post by Tony Knightcrawler » Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:42 am

This is insane. Genius work!

Chri360936
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Post by Chri360936 » Mon Jan 31, 2022 12:17 pm

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.

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Post by McMyn » Mon Jan 31, 2022 12:27 pm

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.
Chri360936 wrote:
Mon Jan 31, 2022 12:17 pm
Can't wait for the VR version.
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.

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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Mon Jan 31, 2022 6:05 pm

Dax wrote:
Sat Jan 29, 2022 3:27 pm
I 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
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.

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DarHan
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Post by DarHan » Mon Jan 31, 2022 11:44 pm

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.

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 : 
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.

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.”
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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Tue Feb 01, 2022 2:47 am

DarHan wrote:
Mon Jan 31, 2022 11:44 pm
UPDATE:
The solution was apparently to check in the AMD control panel that “Surface Format Optimization” is OFF for XWingAlliance.exe.
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.

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DarHan
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Post by DarHan » Tue Feb 01, 2022 2:05 pm

blue_max wrote:
Tue Feb 01, 2022 2:47 am
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.
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.
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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:07 pm

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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Post by Tony Knightcrawler » Wed Feb 02, 2022 2:44 am

Wow, this is truly an amazing advancement!

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Gutersnipe
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Post by Gutersnipe » Wed Feb 02, 2022 1:45 pm

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

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Post by Knarfe » Thu Feb 03, 2022 6:16 pm

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?

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Post by Dax » Fri Feb 04, 2022 12:14 am

Dax wrote:
Sat Jan 29, 2022 3:27 pm
blue_max wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 6:04 pm
Dax wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 2:45 am
Hi 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?
Are 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.
I 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.
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.

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.

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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Fri Feb 04, 2022 7:07 pm

Knarfe wrote:
Thu Feb 03, 2022 6:16 pm
PS: I have no hook_d3d.cfg file in my gamedirectory. Is that correct?
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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Post by Knarfe » Fri Feb 04, 2022 8:13 pm

Yes, I renamed the.dll as instructed. And I even moved away the previous .dll but it did not work.

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Ace Antilles
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Post by Ace Antilles » Fri Feb 04, 2022 8:17 pm

Knarfe wrote:
Fri Feb 04, 2022 8:13 pm
Yes, I renamed the.dll as instructed. And I even moved away the previous .dll but it did not work.
Did you modify DDraw.cfg, as it says in the first step.
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Post by Knarfe » Sat Feb 05, 2022 9:32 am

Yes of course. I tried it 3 times - always the same bugs :hilfe:

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Post by Old_Jedi » Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:03 pm

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
Last edited by Old_Jedi on Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Ace Antilles
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Post by Ace Antilles » Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:08 pm

Old_Jedi wrote:
Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:03 pm
Sorry, 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........
Hold the power button down until it turns off
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Old_Jedi
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Post by Old_Jedi » Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:51 pm

Ace Antilles wrote:
Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:08 pm
Old_Jedi wrote:
Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:03 pm
Sorry, 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........
Hold the power button down until it turns off
Thanks - I did that, nadda.....but waited for 30 minutes, came back and it worked - just edited my post!

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Redfox
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Post by Redfox » Sat Feb 05, 2022 3:30 pm

Dropbox link is no longer working. Was this taken down intentionally?

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Post by Forceflow » Sat Feb 05, 2022 5:37 pm

Redfox wrote:
Sat Feb 05, 2022 3:30 pm
Dropbox link is no longer working. Was this taken down intentionally?
The very first post should have the proper and newest available file in it from now on. So just download the one @blue_max posted there.
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Redfox
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Post by Redfox » Sat Feb 05, 2022 6:49 pm

Forceflow wrote:
Sat Feb 05, 2022 5:37 pm
Redfox wrote:
Sat Feb 05, 2022 3:30 pm
Dropbox link is no longer working. Was this taken down intentionally?
The very first post should have the proper and newest available file in it from now on. So just download the one @blue_max posted there.
Thanks for the update!

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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Sat Feb 05, 2022 8:56 pm

Old_Jedi wrote:
Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:03 pm
Sorry, but a bit of a disaster for me trying this latest version of the new .dll in VR.
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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Post by andr3 » Sat Feb 05, 2022 9:51 pm

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.

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