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#3584654 - 06/02/12 08:52 AM Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution  
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S3ti Offline
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Since this is my first post here, hello to all! wave
I´m glad I found the Comanche Gold Win7 fixes and graphic mods here since I always loved the series.

Background:
As most of the CG fans here will know this game runs in directdraw-mode and therefore bypasses hardware rendering of the graphic card. That means activating antialiasing in the graphic card's driver doesn´t work. I found a way to get a sort of antialiasing to work, improving the image quality even further together with the graphic mods posted here by Reticuli and MixedupJim! It´s all done with a nvidia card, so I don't know if it works with ati cards, maybe someone could try it and post the results.

Workaround to get Comanche hardware rendered and antialiased:

1. Download and install DXGL wrapper by William Feely.
This program will translate the directdraw calls into opengl. It´s in an very early stage of development but seems to work fine. You have to create a profile for the WC3.exe file and that´s it. I experimented with some of the settings in a hurry to get it into fullscreen, the built in filtering options seem to have no effect by now but I didn't look much into this. A quite nice side effect is that I got completely rid off the weird colors bug which I still got randomly.
Click to reveal.. (screenshot)

2. Download and install the latest nvidia driver 301.42, there is an option for a new postprocess antialiasing mode called FXAA. Just make a profile in the driver panel for the WC3.exe and activate this option. The other FSAA and filtering options seem to have no effect, only FXAA does the trick for me. They may work with other systems, give it a try and post your results.
Click to reveal.. (screenshot)

3. Enjoy an even more good looking Voxel ride copter

Here are 2 screenshots to compare the effect. It's quite nice particularly on the models as you can see on the cannon for instance, but the edges of the landscape do also look better. Everything gets a bit blurry but not too much. There´s a noticable drop in fps but still runs smooth at my system with a Core2Duo E4500 @ 3.1 ghz + Geforce 9600GT.
It was a bit of a hassle to get screenshots, the normal methods didn´t work so I tried some capture programs. There are no artifacts ingame and no black bars, couldn't get rid of that in the screenshots.

Click to reveal.. ( FXAA off )

Click to reveal.. ( FXAA on)


Hope you enjoy it.

Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#3584847 - 06/02/12 04:31 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Hello and welcome to the forums, S3ti! Wow, what a way to make an entrance!

It's always cool when new people come out of the woodwork with new mods after they have been experimenting behind-the-scenes.

I really like the look of this, but can't test it myself as I have an ATI card and it doesn't look as though I have anything like FXAA in my settings.

Really nice find though! I'll add this to my Comanche Gold website if that's OK, where you will be fully credited.

#3585289 - 06/03/12 01:10 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Flyboy]  
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Thank you, ofc you may add this to your site!

After looking a bit deeper into this it seems that there is more to discover.
There are so called FXAA injectors around with more settings, apparently I couldn't find one which works with opengl, only direct3D 9/10/11.
I have no idea about programming such stuff, maybe someone who knows more about coding these things takes a look at this.

Regarding AMD/ATI cards, there should be a equivalent setting called MLAA (morphological-antialiasing) which works the similar way like FXAA. The setting is called 'morphological filtering'. Though I don't know if that is also officially available in their driver panel for all types of cards I think it should be possible to make it work. Can't test it myself, maybe you give it a shot and post your results here smile2

#3585310 - 06/03/12 02:03 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Hello again!

I have a relatively old ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670 graphics card, but am now downloading the latest drivers so I'll see if I have this MLAA option after updating.

EDIT: Nope, still no option to enable MLAA. And after doing a quick Google search, it seems that this feature is in the 6xxx series of ATI/AMD cards and upwards only. It can be hack enabled in 4xxx and 5xxx series cards but not the 3xxx or earlier. frown

#3585695 - 06/04/12 02:40 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Amazing. I thought Comanche Gold was a kernel-level software rendering system and not Direct3D or DirectDraw or anything like that. Is everything in Windows technically DirectDraw?


The term "necroposting" was invented by a person with no social memory beyond a year. People with a similar hangup are those o.k. with the internet being transient vapor.

http://www.openfuelstandard.org/2011/12/methanol-wins-open-wager.html

Saitek X65 and X52, Glide, Winx3D, and GlovePIE Profiles http://library.avsim.net/search.php?SearchTerm=reticuli&CatID=miscmisc

http://library.avsim.net/register.php

X52 + Silicone Grease = JOY stick
#3585736 - 06/04/12 05:26 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Reticuli]  
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in Catalyst control Centre there is an opion for morphological-antialiasing



also
The ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Graphics Series now supports the new Catalyst™ AI user interface that was previously only available on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6800 Graphics Series
The ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Graphics Series now supports Morphological Anti-Aliasing
Fixed cases where Morphological Anti-Aliasing was intermittently not being correctly applied to games.
OpenGL 4.1 beta support
Support for the new Morphological Anti-Aliasing feature
Dead Rising 2 – AMD CrossFireX™ profile (Resolves negative scaling)
AMD CrossFireX™ Performance Improvement for:
o Metro 2033
o F1 2011 - (Direct X9 version)
o Fallout New Vegas
Performance optimizations for systems with an AMD Radeon™ HD 6870 and AMD Radeon™ HD 6850 series of graphics products installed
o Aliens versus Predator performance enhancements
o StarCraft 2 performance enhancements
o OpenGL performance enhancements for Prey, Quake Wars: Enemy Territories, and Heaven v2
Support for additional Stereo 3D-capable displays:
o Viewsonic V3D241wm-LED
o 3D Projectors

Last edited by ufolev; 06/04/12 10:51 AM.
#3585855 - 06/04/12 01:16 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Reticuli]  
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Originally Posted By: Reticuli
Amazing. I thought Comanche Gold was a kernel-level software rendering system and not Direct3D or DirectDraw or anything like that. Is everything in Windows technically DirectDraw?


I don't really know tbh, maybe there are even differences between the original Comanche 3 for DOS and Comanche Gold. I just noticed that Comanche Gold somehow utilizes the ddraw.dll. I always wondered why it was not possible to apply any advanced graphic effects like Antialiasing and that stuff. Though, even with DXGL this doesn't work except FXAA.

According to Wikipedia DirectDraw is a 2D API that does not support 3D hardware acceleration.

I'm trying to get in contact with the creator of DXGL, maybe he can help us out to get this game even more shiny!

@ufolev: Did you try the morphological-filtering and does it work for you?

Last edited by S3ti; 06/04/12 01:19 PM.
#3586114 - 06/04/12 08:22 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Hmm... ddraw.dll. I wonder if that's the same one used by Win3D, DirectZ, and VR Caddy stereoscopic drivers. CG was stereo for some devices.

Originally Posted By: S3ti
Originally Posted By: Reticuli
Amazing. I thought Comanche Gold was a kernel-level software rendering system and not Direct3D or DirectDraw or anything like that. Is everything in Windows technically DirectDraw?


I don't really know tbh, maybe there are even differences between the original Comanche 3 for DOS and Comanche Gold. I just noticed that Comanche Gold somehow utilizes the ddraw.dll. I always wondered why it was not possible to apply any advanced graphic effects like Antialiasing and that stuff. Though, even with DXGL this doesn't work except FXAA.

According to Wikipedia DirectDraw is a 2D API that does not support 3D hardware acceleration.

I'm trying to get in contact with the creator of DXGL, maybe he can help us out to get this game even more shiny!

@ufolev: Did you try the morphological-filtering and does it work for you?


The term "necroposting" was invented by a person with no social memory beyond a year. People with a similar hangup are those o.k. with the internet being transient vapor.

http://www.openfuelstandard.org/2011/12/methanol-wins-open-wager.html

Saitek X65 and X52, Glide, Winx3D, and GlovePIE Profiles http://library.avsim.net/search.php?SearchTerm=reticuli&CatID=miscmisc

http://library.avsim.net/register.php

X52 + Silicone Grease = JOY stick
#3586387 - 06/05/12 06:11 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Reticuli]  
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Positive feedback about ATI users

with these adjustments:










with some limitations you can get this result:





you can compare this wideo with other videos about comanche gold in my youtube channel made without MLAA


some screens from the above video:







Last edited by ufolev; 06/05/12 09:24 AM.
#3586474 - 06/05/12 12:48 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Ufolev those screenshots and the video don't look like antialiased at all. You can see very clear steps at the horizontal and vertical stabilizer frown
I've read that this postprocess antialiasing isn't always visible on screenshots depending on how the screenshots are grabbed off the system...Or it's just not activated, try it with all other settings off and only activate morphological-filtering then compare it with everything at default. But after all DXGL seems to work too for ATI cards!

BTW how do you get this screenshots ingame?

Edit: I've tried to do a video and screenshots with fraps and guess what smile FXAA doesn't show up for both, it just looks like it is not activated but ingame it is antialiased!
I've taken the ingame screenshots in my first post with snagit, a screen capture program. It seems that does the trick and grabs exactly what you see on the monitor...

Last edited by S3ti; 06/05/12 01:08 PM.
#3587042 - 06/06/12 11:14 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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I knew we could count on ufolev to test this further, but I have to agree that it doesn't look as though the MLAA is working, at least from the screenshots.

I think that ufolev may have got the screenshots by using the in-game screenshot facility that can be enabled from a small menu hack. In which case, it is very unlikely that any postprocessing effects would be grabbed.

I find these third-party postprocessing programs quite interesting, there is one out there which enables all sorts of effects in many modern games (not just one), but can't think what it's called. There's also one specifically for the Dark Engine games such as Thief 1 & 2 and System Shock 2, which is more along the lines of this as those games are from the same era. But unfortunately, most of these kind of programs are graphic card-specific, and at that, driver-specific, and even then may not work for everyone depending if they 'hook' it into the game successfully or not.

#3587077 - 06/06/12 01:29 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Flyboy]  
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I have all your hacks enabled but what`s the key binding to take screenshots ingame please?

Yes, actually FXAA and MLAA are not visible in fullscreen screenshots, only when taken from windowed modes. Maybe my first screenshots were somehow in windowed mode because of those black bars...

Last edited by S3ti; 06/06/12 01:30 PM.
#3587097 - 06/06/12 02:03 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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I actually have no idea what key it is to take a screenshot! I've just taken a look back at the documentation for the hacks but it doesn't say anywhere.

#3587206 - 06/06/12 04:50 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Dear Friends,

I do not know whether MLAA works here or not - I only saw that with these tunings on MAX



I have this result


with FRAPS

ufo :-)


Last edited by ufolev; 06/06/12 04:53 PM.
#3587256 - 06/06/12 06:17 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: ufolev]  
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As I said already, Fraps and other usual screenshot methods can't show FXAA/MLAA. The screenshots are taken from a buffer in the graphics card where the effect isn't yet applied if I got that correctly.

If it looks exactly that way ingame like on your screenshot, it doesn't seem to work. You can see the effect quite good at the two screenshots that I posted in the beginning of the thread. wink

#3592263 - 06/15/12 05:24 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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I've put a link to this topic on my CG website. smile

#3621506 - 08/06/12 09:20 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Hello. I'm the developer of DXGL. (it's called "DXGL" not "DXGL Wrapper") I'd like to say I like what I see. And so you understand, DXGL currently only supports DirectDraw to any significant amount. Direct3D7 (and below) support is currently at the beginning of development, and Direct3D support caps are not currently advertised in Release builds.

Also, I would agree the reason you don't see MLAA/FXAA is because of your video capture software. The reason those methods work on software rendered games under DXGL is because these antialiasing methods are post-processing effects that work without the scene geometry.

Last edited by BFeely; 08/06/12 09:25 PM.
#3621571 - 08/06/12 11:22 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Hi BFeely, thanks for joining the forums, for introducing yourself, and for the explanations. I'm sure that when the other guys see your post they will have some questions for you!

How did you know that we had talked about your program here?

#3622131 - 08/07/12 11:17 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Flyboy]  
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I found your post because there was a screenshot of the DXGL config program in Google Images that wasn't mine, so I decided to take a look. By the way, how does DXGL work for you, performance-wise?

#3622965 - 08/09/12 07:42 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Any attempt (signatures) for an Open Source Comanche Gold yet? ahoy

#3623067 - 08/09/12 01:22 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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BFeely - Thanks for replying. Unfortunately I cannot test your program as I have an older ATI graphics card (HD 3670) that doesn't support MLAA.

ADHS - Thanks for popping in! I hope all is well. Uh, no, no attempt for an open source Comanche Gold. I didn't realize that was ever a pressing desire of ours.

#3625080 - 08/12/12 09:27 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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By the way, to get post processing antialiasing to work, you need to record the video from the Desktop Window Manager in Fraps. This will currently only work under DXGL on NVIDIA cards, because the fullscreen detection does not trigger on the NVIDIA drivers, but it does on AMD/ATI drivers.

#3756117 - 03/23/13 12:42 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Greetings from "Death-Wish" Decker.

I thought I would take a moment to chime-in on this subject. I've added (below) a DXGL capture video and some screencaps from in-game views. The video was captured @ 800x600 and then further processed for 16:9 so it would show the same way it does on my monitor. You can also view it in more detail from the youtube channel as well as compare it to the non-DXGL companion video. Some of the more technical details about the capture process are included with the video details on the youtube channel page.

The screencaps were made using Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 with the multiple capture import option. Screencaps are from the same mission but in 1024x768 on a different virtual Win7 platform. 2 virtual platforms were used at the time the captures were made.
Platform #1: Win7 with dedicated primary (and shared tertiary) video card; nVidia GT240.
Platform #2: Win7 with dedicated secondary video card; nVidia FX5500.
Both platforms used the same keyboard and gameport (15 pin standard) joystick, CH Flightstick Pro.
Host OS: MyRedHat Enterprise Linux (Custom Xen Kernel)

To Bill F.: I think you'll immediately see DXGL working overtime when you note the aircraft's tail and hard edge/end points as well as the horizon corrections being applied in the post-processing. The structures (building/tents/oil tanks, even the flag) are all processed very well and even youtube's conversion was unable to obfuscate the details since the pixel resize (XviD level) was peformed prior to the upload. One of the screencaps shows a missle in-flight that was visible for no more than 4 frames but was vastly improved by DXGL.


Video: Comanche Gold - The Art of Rotor Warfare (DXGL Capture)




Image 1 (of 8)





Image 2 (of 8)





Image 3 (of 8)





Image 4 (of 8)





Image 5 (of 8)





Image 6 (of 8)





Image 7 (of 8)





Image 8 (of 8)





Rockin' Comanche Gold on NovaWorld since 1998.

Sincerely, "Death-Wish" Decker

#3756447 - 03/23/13 11:43 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Hi folks!

Since I lost my Comanche Gold Installation some time ago due to a HDD crash, I decided to take a ride again smile
Nice to see some activity going on here still.

cheers S3ti

#3756652 - 03/24/13 09:42 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Hello everyone, i'm having a problem while running Comanche Gold with DXGL.
Has anybody had the same problem?


#3756755 - 03/24/13 03:46 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
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Death_Wish_Decker - Glad to see you joined. Welcome to the forum!

S3ti - Good to see you again!

Revious83 - mycomputer biggrin

#3756939 - 03/24/13 10:50 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: GamingPrince83]  
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Originally Posted By: Revious83

Hello everyone, i'm having a problem while running Comanche Gold with DXGL.
Has anybody had the same problem?


Guten Tag !

Please supply more information:

1) Upload a screencap of your Video Driver Control Panel Settings (all shown)
2) Upload a screencap of your DXGL Config settings for WC3.exe

This may help diagnose the problem.

--Decker

#3756944 - 03/24/13 11:05 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Flyboy]  
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Originally Posted By: Flyboy

Death_Wish_Decker - Glad to see you joined. Welcome to the forum!


Thank you, Gary.
Nice to be here with some pilots.

I did a vidcap (unknowingly) on the tertiary card where the game was loaded @ 1280x1024 during my enhanced "Stockpile" game play. All of the data was available in a 23GB file so I am converting it to Xvid.
Also, I've been experimenting (non-DXGL) and was able to recently achieve a 640x480 Comanche Gold "Window" on my desktop with full AA in action using my nVidia GT240 and the latest 3.1407 (9.18.13.1407) nVidia driver. It's currently very limited in that I cannot yet change the window size or exit the game cleanly. However, it looks fantastic and may soon lead to a 1280x1024 "Window" mode with AA support.

I'll be making new videos this evening of both the 1280x1024 and the 640x480(AA) for upload.

--Decker

#3757089 - 03/25/13 09:53 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: GamingPrince83]  
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My Specs are:
Amd Athlon II X2 260 3,2Mhz
8Gb Ram
ATI Radeon HD 5750 1gb

DXGL Settings:


ATI Catalyst 3D settings:

#3757542 - 03/25/13 10:27 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: GamingPrince83]  
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Originally Posted By: Revious83

My Specs are:
Amd Athlon II X2 260 3,2Mhz
8Gb Ram
ATI Radeon HD 5750 1gb


Ugh...AMD & ATI
Ever heard of Intel? or nVidia?
Those companies make processors and video cards, too. smile

Okay, this sounds like another RADEON LOD (level of detail) and AA bug which has been around forever.

While common to see the MLAA option "greyed out" in DXGL when using some RADEON cards, it can (possibly) be indicating that there is no suitable Direct3D accelleration available. (This does not happen with nVidia FXAA cards - They all work)

You'll need to try a few things...

1) Check your driver version - Go to this page and carefully read the features and revisions with regard to AA, LOD, color distortions, etc.:
http://www.amd-drivers.com/download-RadeonHD5700-graphics-driver-for-Windows7-32bit.html

2) You'll need to play with those RADEON settings (a bit) and turn down some of the "bells & whistles" features that are implicitly forcing themselves over the application.

3) Try setting WC3.exe compatability for "XP - Service Pack 2" and "256 Color" mode to reduce the ability for RADEON drivers to get too excited and screw things up. (again, not needed for nVidia)

4) You can read this (external) post and see some examples of RADEON problems when the LOD is out of control:
http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?135165-Anti-Aliasing

and this image from the above post:
http://imageshack.us/a/img801/686/aabug.png

there is also reference to this post:
http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.ph...466#post2081466

5) If you're using Windows 8 - Format your HD and use Windows 7. smile

Here are my settings with a little nVidia GT240 (512MB DDR5) on an Enterprise Linux Xen host serving a (virtual) Intel Core2-Duo 3.1GHz, 4GB Dual-Channel RAM (1.3GHz), running 32bit (x86) Windows 7: [Note - The same hardware and settings were used to make the DXGL video and all of the screencaps I posted above]


nVidia Global (no application specific settings required)




DXGL Global




DXGL WC3.exe




I hope some of this information helps to solve your problem.
--Decker


#3757574 - 03/25/13 11:27 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: BFeely]  
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Originally Posted By: BFeely

By the way, to get post processing antialiasing to work, you need to record the video from the Desktop Window Manager in Fraps. This will currently only work under DXGL on NVIDIA cards, because the fullscreen detection does not trigger on the NVIDIA drivers, but it does on AMD/ATI drivers.


Hi Bill,

I've found a few differences with my experience. FRAPS seems to be quite dedicated to always capturing from the hardware buffer. It rarely ever works with regard to the display output level (even if capturing the whole screen, as it doesn't like to cooperate with window modes) and I've used many versions of FRAPS.

However, Bandicam is very capable of capturing either from the hardware buffer or the display output. It does require "tricking" Bandicam a little (here & there) to make it work, but a reasonably fast system can handle at least 30fps when using motion-jpeg, yv12, and even raw 24.

I can start Comanche Gold (in full screen mode), set the game resolution to 640x480, 800x600, or 1024x768, then Alt-Tab back to my desktop and tell Bandicam to "Find Window" where it will let me move the capture frame to the edge of the screen and capture at the extreme desktop borders (faking full screen).
Once set, I bring the game back to the foreground, then start recording with Bandicam, and then start mission play.

Poof! - All of the DXGL output (what I see on the monitor) is captured perfectly for playback.

I do use both FRAPS (3.5.9.15586) and Bandicam (1.8.2.255) on a regular basis, but thought it worth specifically mentioning Bandicam in this instance.

This procedure may help others to capture Comanche Gold with DXGL.
--Decker


#3757711 - 03/26/13 07:19 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Flyboy]  
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Death_Wish_Decker Offline
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Death_Wish_Decker  Offline
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Originally Posted By: Flyboy

Death_Wish_Decker - Glad to see you joined. Welcome to the forum!


Originally Posted By: Death_Wish_Decker

Thank you, Gary.
Nice to be here with some pilots.

I did a vidcap (unknowingly) on the tertiary card where the game was loaded @ 1280x1024 during my enhanced "Stockpile" game play. All of the data was available in a 23GB file so I am converting it to Xvid.
Also, I've been experimenting (non-DXGL) and was able to recently achieve a 640x480 Comanche Gold "Window" on my desktop with full AA in action using my nVidia GT240 and the latest 3.1407 (9.18.13.1407) nVidia driver. It's currently very limited in that I cannot yet change the window size or exit the game cleanly. However, it looks fantastic and may soon lead to a 1280x1024 "Window" mode with AA support.

I'll be making new videos this evening of both the 1280x1024 and the 640x480(AA) for upload.

--Decker


Gary,
As promised, here are the GDI and OpenGL rendering videos.
These are not from live-play, they are recorded mission playbacks I used for making the videos.
Both are uploaded in HD and are accurately viewed with the full-screen player.
720p is preferred but 480p will suffice if your bandwidth is limited.

This is not DXGL driven.


Video #1: (Standard GDI DirectX Window Rendering)




Video #2: (Decker's Experimental OpenGL DirectX Window Rendering)





Here are screencaps directly from the desktop for comparison.
The Comanche was moving at top speed so the OpenGL had a lot of work to do.

Standard GDI Window




Experimental OpenGL Window





The OpenGL mode is currently only working at 640x480 (for now).
--Decker


#3757718 - 03/26/13 07:43 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Death_Wish_Decker]  
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,124
Shadow=ASP= Offline
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Norway
Very interesting, Decker. I recently installed CG again but havent played it much due to the resolutions available. Are you planning on making 16:9 and 16:10 aspects available too? Scaled 1024x768 doesnt look too good on a 1680x1050 monitor nope

#3757732 - 03/26/13 09:00 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Shadow=ASP=]  
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Death_Wish_Decker Offline
Junior Member
Death_Wish_Decker  Offline
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Originally Posted By: Shadow=ASP=

Very interesting, Decker. I recently installed CG again but havent played it much due to the resolutions available. Are you planning on making 16:9 and 16:10 aspects available too? Scaled 1024x768 doesnt look too good on a 1680x1050 monitor nope


Hi Shadow,

Aspect ratios in the youtube videos are processed at the compression level during my XviD conversion prior to upload:
CapturedVideo->AVISynth(ConvertToYV12)->VDubMpeg(ApplyXviD)->VDubMod(MuxAudioMP3)->Upload

I am not actually modifying the game resolutions. To do that I would need the complete source code and have to rewrite darn near all of it. Comanche 3 used kernel-rendering because it was a DOS program. Comanche Gold uses much less kernel rendering within the program itself, and passes most of the work to DirectX for the rest. Also, Comanche Gold was written when DirectX had just reached DX5. That's a long time ago and I seriously doubt that Kyle (now at Electronic Arts) is going to violate NovaLogic copyrights to "give us" any source code. smile

Comanche Gold uses static math for its resolutions. None of the calculations are dynamic because none of that stuff was available back in the DX5 days. The game has all of the native EGA and VGA resolutions, plus XGA modes 1024x768 and 1280x1024. The code for full-screen 1280x1024 was incomplete, which is why the game crashes when you try to select that mode. However, the code for 1280x1024 window mode is fully functional and can be easily accessed when Comanche Gold is used with my Universal Trainer. The Trainer will be publicly available in about two weeks, free of charge.

As for scaling, the game doesn't "scale" to the monitor resolution, or for that matter, to the display adapter resolution either. Comanche Gold only knows how to instruct DirectX what it wants from what DirectX offered to it. So, a 3rd-party utility (or a driver setting) might cause the game to appear scaled. DXGL can cause *undesired* scaling to occur also if the settings are not properly tweaked. However, Comanche Gold's normal behavior would be to tell DirectX to switch the display resolution (in full screen mode) to 1024x768 while Comanche Gold is the foreground application and until you switch to window mode from the game menu, or Alt-Tab away from the foreground. If all goes well, Windows should change to the requested resolution and display the game correctly (with no window frame) for full-screen.

Monitors are another story... An LCD display is made exclusively of small squares (or rectangles) and the total number (Width x Height) must be divisible by 8 (or 16) and result in an even number. Anything else results in scaling by the monitor itself. This widely occurs when the monitor menu pops up and informs you that it is "auto adjusting" the resolution. (puke!)
My gaming monitor is a Viewsonic VG1932, with a native (optimal) resolution of 1440x900, and supports 1600x1200, 1932x1200, and 2250x1400 all with clean desktops. I can use any of the modes (down to 1024x768) and then run Comanche Gold full screen and it looks perfect every time since the display driver correctly switches to the true 1024x768 mode with timing that matches the monitor's specs. My video card is an nVidia GT240 with the latest driver from the manufacturer.

Caveat; We never had to deal with all of this back in the interlaced CRT days.

Moving on to the help portion of this novel... Any modern monitor *should* still be able to display 1024x768 with a clean image. If it cannot, then this is usually caused by a timing issue between the display adapter (or driver) and the monitor. Best suggestion is to examine your video settings (all of them) very closely and determine if a change can be made to correct your visual experience.
Settings, settings, and more settings... It's almost always something we set wrong!
We just have to accept that and go fix it.

Caveat; I always add, "If you're using Windows 8 -> Format your HD and use Windows 7"
It's just friendlier...

Nice to meet you, Shadow.
--Decker


#3757748 - 03/26/13 10:40 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Death_Wish_Decker]  
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 353
ufolev Offline
Member
ufolev  Offline
Member

Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 353
Hi Death_Wish_Decker,

In hidden menu in Comanche Gold there is a possibility to run the game on 1280x1024 resolution but then it always crashes.
Is it possible to fix the crash ?

ufo :-)

Last edited by ufolev; 03/26/13 10:52 AM.
#3757799 - 03/26/13 01:31 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 7,033
komemiute Offline
Hell Drummer
Happy Birthday komemiute  Offline
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Hotshot

Joined: May 2009
Posts: 7,033
Flyboy, you have a PM wink and some e-mails too. biggrin

Last edited by komemiute; 03/26/13 01:46 PM.

Click to reveal..
"Himmiherrgottksakramentzefixhallelujah!"
Para_Bellum

"It takes forever +/- 2 weeks for the A-10 to get anywhere significant..."
Ice

"Ha! If it gets him on the deck its a start!"
MigBuster

"What people like and what critics praise are rarely the same thing. 'Critic' is just another one of those unnecessary, overpaid, parasitic jobs that the human race has churned out so that clever slackers won't have to actually get a real job and possibly soil their hands."
Sauron
#3757978 - 03/26/13 07:34 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: ufolev]  
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Death_Wish_Decker Offline
Junior Member
Death_Wish_Decker  Offline
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Originally Posted By: ufolev

In hidden menu in Comanche Gold there is a possibility to run the game on 1280x1024 resolution but then it always crashes.
Is it possible to fix the crash ?


Originally Posted By: Death_Wish_Decker

Comanche Gold uses static math for its resolutions. None of the calculations are dynamic because none of that stuff was available back in the DX5 days. The game has all of the native EGA and VGA resolutions, plus XGA modes 1024x768 and 1280x1024. The code for full-screen 1280x1024 was incomplete, which is why the game crashes when you try to select that mode. However, the code for 1280x1024 window mode is fully functional and can be easily accessed when Comanche Gold is used with my Universal Trainer. The Trainer will be publicly available in about two weeks, free of charge.


Hi ufolev,

1) As I wrote above, the 1280x1024 mode is incomplete in "Full Screen" mode.
That's the mode where you see 1280x1024 in the game menu.
1280x1024 always crashes in full screen mode since the code is incomplete.
NovaLogic never finished the full screen code because game support for CG ended in 2001.

2) With the Trainer, 1280x1024 will show in the "Window" mode on the menu.
The code for 1280x1024 in window mode works, but you need the Trainer to access it.
Release version will be available in about two weeks.

High Resolutions on game menu in "Window" mode:
*requires Decker's Universal Trainer
*[X] Full Screen is checked, but still in Window mode




I will post the video later today of CG @ 1280x1024 on my desktop.
--Decker

#3758428 - 03/27/13 06:12 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,453
Flyboy Offline
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Flyboy  Offline
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,453
England, UK
Thanks Decker for taking the time to post all this stuff, I knew it would come best directly from you.

#3758471 - 03/27/13 07:16 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Flyboy]  
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 353
ufolev Offline
Member
ufolev  Offline
Member

Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 353
Thank you Decker for the patience to explain the possibilities of Comanche Gold video modes.

Definitely it is worth to wait 2 weeks to try THE TRAINER :-)

ufo

Last edited by ufolev; 03/28/13 10:51 AM.
#3758474 - 03/27/13 07:27 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 17
S3ti Offline
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S3ti  Offline
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 17
Gosh! I really do want that trainer smile2

#3758681 - 03/28/13 03:28 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Death_Wish_Decker Offline
Junior Member
Death_Wish_Decker  Offline
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Detroit, Michigan, USA
To my RAH-66 Comrades,

As promised, here are the Ultra HiRes vids I uploaded last night...

Note: Both videos are uploaded in HD and are best viewed with a desktop resolution
of about 1600x1200 using the Full Screen player and 720p bandwidth.
They are encoded with an aspect ratio of 16:12 which looks great on the user-end.


Decker's Comanche Gold Credits





Mission Playback - Also Shows Detailed Menus




Originally Posted By: S3ti

Gosh! I really do want that trainer smile2


You may want a "side order" to go with that:
I am now working on the release version of my NovaWorld Client app so you guys can fly with the other Rotor Warriors in multiplayer Comanche Gold.
Trying to have it ready at the same time the Trainer is publicly released.

--Decker


#3758876 - 03/28/13 03:33 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Death_Wish_Decker]  
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 353
ufolev Offline
Member
ufolev  Offline
Member

Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 353
Comanche Gold Multiplayer - Unbelievable Good Idea !!!!!!!

I am in LOL

ufo :-)

#3759968 - 03/30/13 03:13 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,453
Flyboy Offline
Senior Member
Flyboy  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,453
England, UK
Death_Wish_Decker... new king of Comanche Gold! <steps aside>

#3760123 - 03/30/13 10:56 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Death_Wish_Decker Offline
Junior Member
Death_Wish_Decker  Offline
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Hi Gary,

I dug up some of that info from my 2001 archives.
Here's a helpful tip:

[Symptom]
When you try to run 1280x1024 in full-screen mode (code incomplete), and then the game crashes, and then you load it again - It may continually try to run in full-screen @ 1280x1024 resulting in sysdump and preventing normal operation.

[Cause]
Incomplete code in the full-screen ultra hires mode overloads the stack due to insufficient memory handling. Windows complains that there is not enough swapfile space or free memory for the application.

[Resolution]
1) Don't panic!
2) Don't Reinstall Comanche Gold (not neccessary)
3) Edit the file "C3.SAV"
4) Go to offset location 19h, change value to hex $10
5) Go to offset location 1Ah, change value to hex $03
6) Save the file "C3.SAV"
7) Load Comanche Gold
8) Fixed!

[Note]
The above offset locations in C3.SAV are the "display mode" and "resolution" settings of the game.
They are written to the file any time you change the modes.
Manually changing the values back to default (640x480 window) corrects the problem.

--Decker

#3760650 - 04/01/13 10:14 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Death_Wish_Decker Offline
Junior Member
Death_Wish_Decker  Offline
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Comanche Gold Universal Trainer [status update]

Release (final) design version completed.




In addition to what is shown, the Hotkeys provide:
*Removal of Wingman (Team Mate) Link
*Altitude Lock (override, Decker's way)
*Map Detail (auto set)
*Set Win Flag

Note: A cool feature is the HUD Color - It allows you to preset the color of your HUD display.
Example: This can be helpful when you play a winter campaign and prefer a different color
than the default (white) on a snowy background. You can lock the HUD color to something
more visible for the current campaign and not have to change it after each mission loads.
HUD Region Guide: (Decker's suggestion)
Cropland - White, or Yellow
Snow - Green, Yellow, or Black
Island - Green, Yellow, or White
Desert - White, or Green
Night (IR) - Yellow

Status: All feature requests (plus more) are now compiled into the Trainer.
*Does not use system registry
*Does not require Administrator privs
*Does not affect game performance
*Automatically detects game's process memory space
*Runs as a seamless extension of the game executable

ToDo: Need to finish writing the text for the "About" (tutorial) page.

Public Release Date: 04/08/2013 (on schedule)

--Decker


#3760713 - 04/01/13 01:16 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Death_Wish_Decker]  
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 353
ufolev Offline
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ufolev  Offline
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Posts: 353
I have no words !

#3761182 - 04/02/13 02:47 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: ufolev]  
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Death_Wish_Decker Offline
Junior Member
Death_Wish_Decker  Offline
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Originally Posted By: ufolev

I have no words !


This might help...




Almost done with the NovaWorld Client.

--Decker (Playing Co-Op "PHOENIX" [by: Collective] tonight on NovaWorld)

#3770462 - 04/19/13 09:25 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 14
opilein Offline
Junior Member
opilein  Offline
Junior Member

Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 14
Hi,
Can somebody help me put with a modified c3.sav please?
Thank you in advance,
Puk

#3772751 - 04/24/13 09:43 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: opilein]  
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Death_Wish_Decker Offline
Junior Member
Death_Wish_Decker  Offline
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Originally Posted By: opilein

Hi,
Can somebody help me put with a modified c3.sav please?
Thank you in advance,
Puk


Please describe the problem with the 'c3.sav' file that you need help with...

[Hint: Just asking for help without a description will only delay the process.
Would be better to describe the problem within the question.]

--Decker

#3774003 - 04/27/13 05:54 AM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: Death_Wish_Decker]  
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 353
ufolev Offline
Member
ufolev  Offline
Member

Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 353
Hello Decker,

Please - Is it ready Comanche Gold Universal Trainer or not yet?

ufo :-(

#3785073 - 05/20/13 07:04 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: S3ti]  
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 302
Borsch Offline
Member
Borsch  Offline
Member

Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 302
Originally Posted By: S3ti


Click to reveal.. ( FXAA off )

Click to reveal.. ( FXAA on)


Hope you enjoy it.


Awesome! HUGE-BIG thanks! Loved this game back in the day and playing it again now (with joystick and FXAA this time).

Cant wait for Decker's trainer too! smile

EDIT: I am sorry if this is been mentioned before, but how do I stop the picture from being stretched on my widescreen -how to put in black borders on the sides? CHeers! smile

EDIT2: Also why is my screen shifted down?


Last edited by Borsch; 05/20/13 07:57 PM.
#3791308 - 06/03/13 02:09 PM Re: Comanche Gold Antialiasing Solution [Re: ufolev]  
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Death_Wish_Decker Offline
Junior Member
Death_Wish_Decker  Offline
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 23
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Originally Posted By: ufolev
Hello Decker,

Please - Is it ready Comanche Gold Universal Trainer or not yet?

ufo :-(


Hi ufolev,

The updated Trainer info can be found in this post: [Comanche Gold Universal Trainer]

--Decker

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