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32-bit render mod in the work
Posted By: iam73
32-bit render mod in the work - 04/18/11 02:45 PM
Hey guys.
Just started working on a new mod for Jane's F-18.
Look at the following shots to get the idea of where I'm going:
Original Jane's F-18:
(Notice the lack of dithering in the sky and mist)
And here is the same shot with a 32-bit render, smooth gradient sky and mist:
Notice here the MPCD reflection and the sea:
And with the 32-bit mod, smooth reflection and sea:
You will notice some color-banding still, but that's due to 8bit textures... more on this later.
The mod is far from ready to be distributed, there is still a LOT of work to do, but it looks VERY promising.
Right now, I can load the game fine, start a flight and fly without any issues, but I'm getting crashes to desktop when switching from the sim to the GUI (exiting a flight).
I think I know how to fix this now so I need to try a few things and do some debugging.
The mod is actually a directdraw proxy DLL that intercepts that dd calls from the sim. It will require a small EXE patch to inject the name of the proxy DLL as well.
No need for trial and error configuration "a la directx tweaker/glide wrapper" here. It's only a matter of adding 2 files to your game directory and that's it.
I'll let you all know when I have a version stable enough to be tested, but please be patient, I have very little time to work on this.
I'll post updates here when available.
Oh by the way, there still will be some color banding even with this mod, due to the fact that the sim uses 8-bit textures. Ok, don't hold your breath on this just yet, but there might be a way, using the same technique described above (proxy DLL/dd call spying) to use 32-bit textures, but this is complicated... but could be possible!
32-bit textures could mean photo-realistic cockpit by the way
but as I said, we're lightyears from that now, let's concentrate on the 32-bit render mod first.
Cheers!
iam.
JANE'S NOT DEAD YET!
Posted By: xIGuNDoCIx
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/18/11 03:25 PM
Hey man nice work! Need anyone to help you test it out?
Posted By: khriztian
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/18/11 05:47 PM
Very nice! Finally a solution to the color banding.
Posted By: Red_5
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/18/11 06:46 PM
Awesome work mate!
I'd be happy to do some testing as well whenever you get to that point.
Posted By: Joe
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/19/11 03:58 PM
MMMmm, pretty...
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/28/11 07:16 AM
Would love 32bit colors. it willnadd new life to the sim! Keep up the good work!
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/30/11 03:06 AM
Hi guys, small update... I've fixed (I think) the crash to desktop on exit flight.
I've been testing the past hour and was able to load multiple flights, fly them in 32-bit color and exit with only 1 crash, which might not be related to the mod anyways.
I have one bug remaining, the in-game comms menu doesn't work anymore (the text doesn't display). I'll be working on this problem now that the CTD is fixed.
I will need people to help with testing. I need NVIDIA and ATI users. Let me know if you're interested.
I have some major code cleanup to do, then will be able to distribute the 32-bit DLL and the EXE patcher to those interested in testing.
Oh, I've been able to run the sim in Windowed mode as well, not sure if this is useful to anyone, but I have some more work to do with this mod as well.
As said above, this mod might be the key to photo-realistic textures, that's my next target, a major one, but a really tough one.
Although I've been flying the VRS Superbug for couple months now, everytime I start a Jane's flight, it still is so much fun... without the dreaded dithering/color-banding problem, it's even better!
Cheers guys!
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/30/11 08:19 AM
I'd be happy to help test. And thanks for taking the time to do this; great to see people keeping this excellent sim alive.
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/30/11 10:04 AM
Hi again,
I was wondering whether you are seeing any of the strange glitches that are seen with DXTweaker (e.g. carrier crabbing, tanker aircraft jerking about).
Also, are you able to run AA without problems, and is your patch going to work with the TSH version of F18, or does it require a vanilla installation?
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/30/11 01:58 PM
Hi again,
I was wondering whether you are seeing any of the strange glitches that are seen with DXTweaker (e.g. carrier crabbing, tanker aircraft jerking about).
Also, are you able to run AA without problems, and is your patch going to work with the TSH version of F18, or does it require a vanilla installation?
Good morning hippo,
About those issues, that's where I'll need you guys help.
I haven't experienced any of those issues, but I haven't done extensive testing, long flights, only short test flights using the trainings. I was able to land on carrier without a glitch and refuel as well.
Also, I've been away from Jane's for quite a while so I lost track of all the issues on modern hardware. If you could list all known issues, I can edit the first post to track issues and fixes.
I'm running the sim with 4xFSAA no problem, getting 60fps stable all the time. The patch will work with any versions, but for now, I'm developing and testing on a vanilla 1.01F. The change to the EXE is very minor though so it won't be a problem with other EXE versions.
Here's some bad news though, just found out about it. By fixing the CTD when exiting a flight, I broke something else... Now it CTD when loading a second flight, without exiting the game. Something must not be properly initialized, more debugging/tracing work to do
Oh well, at least it's possible to do a flight and exit it without a glitch, I just have to find out why it crashes on the 2nd flight during load now. I didn't notice that before because after each flight, I was exiting the game to check my logs/API monitor.
Anyways, send me a private message with your email address and I'll send you the patch, also let me know what video hardware you have and OS.
On my end, I'm using Windows 7 x64 Ultimate with an ATI Radeon 6850.
(yeah, I did forget to lower my hook!)
Posted By: khriztian
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/30/11 03:41 PM
Hi iam73, I'm using Win7 64, nvidia gts 250, and I always get the second mission CTD when flying single missions, so I don't think it it because of your mod. Will your mod be compatible with TSHv4?
Cheers.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/30/11 05:15 PM
Hi iam73, I'm using Win7 64, nvidia gts 250, and I always get the second mission CTD when flying single missions, so I don't think it it because of your mod. Will your mod be compatible with TSHv4?
Cheers.
Weird, I'm not having this issue with a vanilla f18.exe (1.01f no-cd), I'll investigate further... Are you using TSH or custom resolutions? That could be it!
Yes, the mod/patch/dll is fully compatibl;e with TSH any version.
Posted By: khriztian
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/30/11 05:47 PM
Hi iam73, I'm using Win7 64, nvidia gts 250, and I always get the second mission CTD when flying single missions, so I don't think it it because of your mod. Will your mod be compatible with TSHv4?
Cheers.
Weird, I'm not having this issue with a vanilla f18.exe (1.01f no-cd), I'll investigate further... Are you using TSH or custom resolutions? That could be it!
Yes, the mod/patch/dll is fully compatibl;e with TSH any version.
I'm using TSHv4 on desktop resolution (1920 x 1080), I haven't tested a clean version of jane's F/A-18.
Good to hear about TSH compatibility.
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/30/11 07:06 PM
"Anyways, send me a private message with your email address and I'll send you the patch, also let me know what video hardware you have and OS."
I tried, but it says your account is not accepting private messages. I'm running Win 7 home premium 64-bit, with Nvidia GTX 580, btw.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/01/11 03:39 AM
"Anyways, send me a private message with your email address and I'll send you the patch, also let me know what video hardware you have and OS."
I tried, but it says your account is not accepting private messages. I'm running Win 7 home premium 64-bit, with Nvidia GTX 580, btw.
Sorry Hippo, it's fixed now!
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/01/11 09:46 AM
PM sent
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/02/11 03:09 AM
Hi Iam73, I'll help where I can.
I run Vista 32bit with a nVidia 8800GTS.
fa18resource /at/ yahoo.com
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/02/11 01:27 PM
Hi Iam73, I'll help where I can.
I run Vista 32bit with a nVidia 8800GTS.
fa18resource /at/ yahoo.com
Thanks! I'm currently cleaning the code and adding debug stuff, should be ready soon.
Hippo, I got you PM too, thanks!
Posted By: damson
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/02/11 06:08 PM
Hi iam73, I've sent you a PM, will be glad to test your fix.
Posted By: Staniol
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/03/11 09:58 AM
Hi,
I have WIN7 64 + ATI 4850 + latest TSH.
More than happy to help, if you need it.
If yes, I can send you a PM. (I understand that you already have quite a lot of testers..:) ).
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/04/11 12:51 AM
Hi,
I have WIN7 64 + ATI 4850 + latest TSH.
More than happy to help, if you need it.
If yes, I can send you a PM. (I understand that you already have quite a lot of testers..:) ).
No problem Staniol, send me a PM with your email.
Sorry for the delay guys, I'm trying to add as much debug info as I can to the code before sending it out for testing.
I've started another small project on the side as well... I'm trying to decode the fnt file (font files used by Jane's). It seems to be some kind of bitmap/raster font file, but it was made using an Electronic Arts proprietary tool, so I have to dig in the HEX code and figure out the file structure. No font tool I tried were able to decode it.
I think I found some good information tonight, such as the glyphs size declaration, which is followed by the glyphs themselves. More to come on this later and probably in another thread if I make enough progress.
The idea behind this is to make the HUD more readable while using a widescreen/high resolution such as 1920x1080. By understanding the fnt file, maybe I could come up with a custom tool to create larger font file. It would also fix the blurry HUD/message text when playing with FSAA.
Cheers,
iam
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/04/11 01:51 AM
Here's a first shot at the large HUD font file (nHUDlg.fnt) decoded...
Obviously I'm not reading everything right yet, but we do recognize some glyphs in there... I'll continue working on this and post progress in a separate thread from now on, keeping this one dedicated to the 32-bit mod.
Cheers!
Posted By: virus
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/06/11 06:42 AM
i can also help testing if you want.....tell me and i'll send a pm
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/10/11 03:16 PM
Sorry for the lack of updates guys, just loads of things to do lately, at work and at home... will update this post ASAP and send the files for testing as well.
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/11/11 04:41 AM
Np, understandable!
Posted By: mgarnett
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/12/11 10:50 AM
I'm happy to test as well. I'm running two 5870's in Crossfire under Windows 7 64 bit.
Cheers
Mark
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/18/11 01:45 AM
Ok, here's an update.
First I haven't sent anything to anyone yet. The reason is there were some bugs I really wanted to fix first, and I finally got some time to work on this today.
I (almost) fixed one that has been pretty annoying for some time, that is, the menu text not showing. This is fixed, so it's now possible to use the comms menu, althout the background is not showing, same with the exit "MPCD", (when you escape a flight), the text is now showing, but no background... no big deal, I'll see if there's a way to put back the background, but this is really not a show stopper, I prefer to see menu text than a background with no text :P
The other bug that I haven't been able to fix is the second flight CTD. First flight load and exit fine, but if you try to start another flight, the game crash.
I'll have a vanilla EXE+dll to test sometimes tomorrow. I don't want to mess with the TSH EXE just yet, that's why I'm using a vanilla 1.01f no-cd exe.
More to come...
Cheers,
iam
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/19/11 02:13 AM
Hi everyone,
I sent the beta patch to all those who provided me their email address.
If anyone else wants to test, please PM me your email address!
Let me know here in this thread your testing results and post bugs screenshots if possible.
Cheers!
iam
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/20/11 08:33 PM
Hi. I've just been able to try this out - this is amazing work, especially for one person over a few weeks. It certainly works and it looks great (I'm trying to find a good AA mode at the moment). At the moment I'm just flying around, but I'll get some proper testing done this weekend. A few (very) initial observations:
First, I thought I'd give it a go with my current TSH installation, but, as expected, that didn't work.
So, after a fresh install from cd with the latest patch, first time I tried it crashed to desktop as soon as I entered a mission. I then set the res in the in-game options to 1024x768 (defaulted to 640x480 from a fresh install) and it worked after that.
My cockpit doesn't look like your screenshots above, I get a more zoomed in field of view (like I need a wide view). I'll try to do the hex mods mentioned in another thread (I assume that's what you've done?). I can't remember how to get screenshots, but I'll post when I do.
There is white line border 1 pixel wide along the left and top of the screen.
Thanks for all your efforts and for letting me try this out.
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/20/11 08:52 PM
On the HUD, for AA missiles, the "launch zone" (I forget the correct name for these) circles are missing.
Posted By: Ripcord
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/20/11 09:57 PM
Does anybody know, has Frenchy seen this thread?
Ripcord
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 12:20 AM
Hi Hippo, thanks for reporting the issues!
Regarding the in-game resolution, I'll get thaty fix probably in the next BETA, actually, I'll drop the ini file and fetch the resolution from the Jane's F18 registry entry.
My cockpit doesn't look like your screenshots above, I get a more zoomed in field of view (like I need a wide view). I'll try to do the hex mods mentioned in another thread (I assume that's what you've done?). I can't remember how to get screenshots, but I'll post when I do.
Yeah, I did have the wideview mod in my screenshot as well, that's why it looks that wide.
In an hex editor (I'm using HEX Workshop 6), look at offset 0x00219F14 for this float value: A2058042, which translates to 64.01100159. Change it to something bigger to get a wider cockpit field of view. By the way, you can change the A205 part of this value to 0000, which will make the float value something like xxx.0 (i.e: 0000C842 = 100.0)
You also need to change offset 0x0021C038, which is the FLIR view FOV value. It has to be the same as the cockpit one above, otherwise your FLIR will be displayed behind the cockpit and you wont see much of the image.
There is white line border 1 pixel wide along the left and top of the screen.
I get that too, I'll look into it.
On the HUD, for AA missiles, the "launch zone" (I forget the correct name for these) circles are missing.
Hmm didn't notice that, I'll try to reproduce on my side!
Thanks again, let me know if you find anything else!
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 08:29 AM
I was doing some more testing, and my heart sank somewhat when I saw that AI aircraft weren't landing on the carrier, as I believe this is a symptom of what must be an underlying problem causing a number of strange issues. I had always thought this had been down to my using DXTweaker, and was hoping your work would clear it up. But I've rechecked and this happens even with the original exe so I suspect this could be an issue of this game having problems with faster PCs. I've also noticed this
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3300266/Time_is_out_in_sim.html#Post3300266I know none of this has anything to do with your patch, but for me it is these sort of issues that are stopping me running JF18, and I suppose I was hoping your patch might have cleared them.
I think your patch does a better job than DXTweaker, by the way, for one thing there are no gridlines in the water. Thanks for the info on the wideview, I'm now resized (I use A2).
I will carry on testing.
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 08:49 AM
I can confirm that I get a CTD whenever I try and run a 2nd mission (although for me this is no big deal, I would have no issue with exiting and restarting the game as soon as I complete a mission).
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: F18_32bpp.exe
Application Version: 1.0.0.1
Application Timestamp: 00623233
Fault Module Name: F18_32bpp.exe
Fault Module Version: 1.0.0.1
Fault Module Timestamp: 00623233
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 001e538e
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.26
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 1587
Additional Information 2: 15875d0b6ed242de3ced3287c8a1bd7e
Additional Information 3: d7a0
Additional Information 4: d7a0ad8e6e3dc72b48ab88ac7368ccff
Read our privacy statement online:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=104288&clcid=0x0409If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:
C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 09:20 AM
I have been finding it difficult to find an AA mode which doesn't distort the HUD text too much. I think the best compromise I've found is the following:
Again, not really anything to do with your patch. Just wondering if anyone else has any settings they'd recommend. I've recently upgraded to an nvidia card from ATI, and I'm sure there were AA settings on the ATI card where the HUD text was not distorted.
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 09:44 AM
For me, on the HUD part of the pitch bars for negative pitch are missing (they should be dashed).
I tried to take a screenshot (alt-s), but the resulting files are just all black.
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 09:47 AM
I meant these (screenshot from original exe).
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 11:21 AM
Just tried refuelling (using the stock refuelling mission), and I believe it is working correctly.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 12:58 PM
Hi hippo,
Great feedback..
For screenshots, try print screen, then switch back to desktop and paste in paint, photoshop or other graphic app.
I have to make this thing run in fullscreen exclusive mode, it's not right now and this is the reason why a) you get a border on the window and b) in-game screenshots appear black...
Regarding the hud pitch ladder, if you look at my screenshots on the first page, I don't seem to have that issue, but I'll recheck later today, those shots wer taken with a very early alpha version and I might have broken something while trying to fix the "invisible" comms menu problem.
As for AA and hud text being garbbled, this is directly relatedd to the small font size used for the hud. Sinnce the game uses bitmap fonts for the in-game text, it gets anti-aliased, but the font is so small that it gets broken in the process... I've started working on a fix for this as well.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 01:53 PM
Ok, the missing negative pitch ladder is indeed something I've broken with the latest release... it also affects the missing NIRD circle...
That's strange, I'll trace back the changes I've made and see if I can fix this.
Cheers!
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 09:49 PM
Flew the first mission (the one where you're supposed to get the enemy radars to light you up) from the stock campaign using both the original exe and yours, these are differences I noticed.
With the original, when I returned there were other planes parked on the carrier, with your exe the carrier was empty (I suppose suggesting there are issues for the AI).
Whilst flying the mission with your exe my AI wingman crashed into me while turning (I had the autopilot on and it was coupled to the waypoint). I had closed up the formation and we were flying line abreast.
With your exe, the meatball seems to "separate" from the carrier when viewed from certain angles. Sorry, forgot to screenshot this. The easiest way to see it is to go to an external view whilst the plane is on the carrier deck, and rotate the view; from some angles the meatball appears to be on the deck. I suppose this might suggest a "crabbing" issue? However, as far as me landing on the carrier I couldn't notice any differences but I need to check this a few more times.
Your exe looks a LOT LOT better. (I wanted to put something positive in as well
. The stock game, as it stands, for me just looks too awful to bother with it. With your exe so far I have been unable to find any graphical issues at all, it looks excellent.
I hope none of the above is taken as negative criticism - I think that what you've managed to achieve so far is amazing.
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 10:22 PM
Here's what I mean about the meatball.
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/21/11 10:32 PM
Minor glitch carrier island at night.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/22/11 03:14 AM
I hope none of the above is taken as negative criticism
Don't worry about it! I'm finding the AI stuff strange though as all I do is listen for directdraw calls, change them and send them back to the real ddraw.dll... So you can reproduce those issues on a constant basis? That's weird...
Ok, if you don't mind, can you try something... If you're comfortable using a HEX editor, look for ddraw.dll in you other EXE (not the one I sent you...) and change this to dd32b.dll, then test again to see if maybe this is something specific to my exe...
I'll try to reproduce those issues on my end.
Thanks again for the feedback, good stuff!
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/22/11 08:59 AM
"So you can reproduce those issues on a constant basis?"
It's a bit to soon for me to say this, but I'll keep testing.
"Ok, if you don't mind, can you try something... If you're comfortable using a HEX editor, look for ddraw.dll in you other EXE (not the one I sent you...) and change this to dd32b.dll, then test again to see if maybe this is something specific to my exe..."
I'll give it a go. As to the other exe, it is actually the NO_CD exe that has been doing the rounds for years. And, I run both this exe and yours in Windows 95 compatibility mode otherwise I get issues with sound (mostly not hearing the instructor voice, and music cuts out in the main interface after a few seconds).
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/22/11 11:16 AM
"Ok, if you don't mind, can you try something... If you're comfortable using a HEX editor, look for ddraw.dll in you other EXE (not the one I sent you...) and change this to dd32b.dll, then test again to see if maybe this is something specific to my exe..."
Tried this, and no, the problem doesn't seem to be specific to your exe. I still get the meatball issue:
Up to now I have been testing on my desktop (gtx 580). However, I've now tried running your exe on my laptop, which is running an ati mobility radeon hd 4250, and I DIDN'T get the meatball issue there, and at least one AI plane did manage to land on the carrier.
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/23/11 08:21 PM
More carrier strangeness on my main PC (meatball I've mentioned before, the tower is also wrong), and not a single AI manages to land. However, this was at the end of a mission and I've been getting no other issues.
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/23/11 09:02 PM
IAM73, here is a CTD debug from as soon as I click on "instant action" Using 1920x1080
CREATE_PROCESS_DEBUG_EVENT
EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT - BREAKPOINT <0x80000003> adresse=0x776e884e
LOAD_DLL_DEBUG_EVENT 0x06
<E:\FA-18\WRAPPER.DLL> -0x5a60000
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x798 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x8 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x670 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x46c adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x760 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x784 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x414 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x660 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x48c adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x254 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x254 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x254 adresse=0x77705c88
EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT - BREAKPOINT <0x80000003> adresse=0x776e884e
EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT - ACCESS_VIOLATION <0xc0000005> adresse=0x6a5f8ed9
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/23/11 09:16 PM
Ok, Everything menu-wise works. When I clicked "Fly", I received a distorted loading screen, and then a CTD. This happens with any of the Training, Single, and Campaign missions.
CREATE_PROCESS_DEBUG_EVENT
EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT - BREAKPOINT <0x80000003> adresse=0x776e884e
LOAD_DLL_DEBUG_EVENT 0x06 <E:\FA-18\WRAPPER.DLL> -0x5860000
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x574 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x430 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x44c adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x45c adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x428 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x420 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x45c adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x404 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x32c adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x32c adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x46c adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x420 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x5ac adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x420 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x248 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x36c adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x420 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x248 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x420 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x248 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x44c adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x430 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x574 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x420 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x248 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x5ac adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x44
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x44
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x44
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x44
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x44
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x44
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x44
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x44
EXIT_PROCESS_DEBUG_EVENT
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/24/11 03:31 AM
Ok, I did what Hippo did and changed the resolution within the game. I can ony use 1024x768 for now. I can start all missions, but like everyone, the game CTD on a second flight.
The Negative "Dashed" Pitch Ladders are missing though. I also comfirm that the AA missile HUD symbology is missing. AG and Guns are good.
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/24/11 07:11 PM
"I can only use 1024x768 for now"
I assume you know this already, but just in case. I had to set the res to 1024x768 in the game otherwise it would crash, but you can set the resolution you want iam73's exe to run at by editing the dd32b.ini provided. I set it to my native res of 1920x1080, and it runs great.
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/24/11 09:27 PM
The meatball and tower appear to be offset from their anchor points when the views are panned around. Im able to see through some of the 3d objects on the carrier too.
----------------------------------------------
Here's a Debug from the "Second Fly" CTD. It's a bit long, but I hope it helps.
CREATE_PROCESS_DEBUG_EVENT
EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT - BREAKPOINT <0x80000003> adresse=0x776e884e
LOAD_DLL_DEBUG_EVENT 0x06 <E:\FA-18\WRAPPER.DLL> -0x5a40000
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4a0 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x700 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4d4 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4c4 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x408 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4c4 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4c0 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x3f4 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x320 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x428 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4c0 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4d4 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x700 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4a0 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x428 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x250 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x250 adresse=0x77705c88
EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT - BREAKPOINT <0x80000003> adresse=0x776e884e
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4c4 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x250 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x250 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x580 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x618 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4c4 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x618 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x4cc adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x428 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
LOAD_DLL_DEBUG_EVENT 0x06 <E:\FA-18\WRAPPER.DLL> -0xd080000
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x618 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x250 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x248 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x258 adresse=0x77705c88
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x24c adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x258 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x24c adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT h=0x258 adresse=0x77705c88
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT exit=0x0
EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT - ACCESS_VIOLATION <0xc0000005> adresse=0x5e538e
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/24/11 10:03 PM
"I can only use 1024x768 for now"
I assume you know this already, but just in case. I had to set the res to 1024x768 in the game otherwise it would crash, but you can set the resolution you want iam73's exe to run at by editing the dd32b.ini provided. I set it to my native res of 1920x1080, and it runs great.
well now.....cheers!
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/24/11 10:56 PM
Edit In: Replied to your message on TSH...forgot you were on there. I saw your folder on the FTP a couple days ago when I was reading through Simo's stuff.
Now that I've done some testing with dropping bombs, shooting missiles, etc;
I went ahead and created a 3D profile for my nVidia card. The 32-bit rendering is doing it's job, other than what I have mentioned before.
BUT....I cannot fly any of the single missions without CTD. I can choose any of the missions; the screen loads with the map, pilots, and mission description. Within a few seconds, the Vista "Thinking Circle" appears and CTD.
Training, Instant, and Campaign missions work though.
----------------------------------
On newer 3D cards from the GeForce4 series and up the HUD begins to take on anti-aliasing. Notice the "Negative Dashed Pitch Ladder" is still missing, along withg AA Missile Symbology.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/25/11 04:32 PM
Hi guys,
Sorry for the late response, I'm on a business trip since Monday, back in a few days...
Ok, one thing for sure, NVIDIA is not liking my hack. Another thing, It's not looking well either as all I have is an old GeForce3 card in a box, I might try to install it in an old P4 box I have, actually its not a box as I'm missing a case for it, so I would need to find an extra case... I'll see if I can find something.
More to come soon, but as I said in the initial post, with a new baby at home and this job taking a lot of my time, I have less spare time than I have projects to work on
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/25/11 06:01 PM
"More to come soon, but as I said in the initial post, with a new baby at home and this job taking a lot of my time, I have less spare time than I have projects to work on"
And you're 73? You should be taking it easy at your time of life.
I have been doing some more "testing", and apart from the carrier stuff, everything has been fine. Missions of any type (including instant action) have all run as I would expect, and I have not had a single crash (apart from the second mission thing, but that's no big deal to me). I also tried DXTweaker again and I do not get the carrier meatball and tower issues with that (I don't suppose that provides any clues?).
Thanks again for all your efforts, this is making this game (and my all-time favourite sim) playable again.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/25/11 06:47 PM
"More to come soon, but as I said in the initial post, with a new baby at home and this job taking a lot of my time, I have less spare time than I have projects to work on"
And you're 73? You should be taking it easy at your time of life.
I have been doing some more "testing", and apart from the carrier stuff, everything has been fine. Missions of any type (including instant action) have all run as I would expect, and I have not had a single crash (apart from the second mission thing, but that's no big deal to me). I also tried DXTweaker again and I do not get the carrier meatball and tower issues with that (I don't suppose that provides any clues?).
Thanks again for all your efforts, this is making this game (and my all-time favourite sim) playable again.
Actually 73 is not my age, thank god! :P
Posted By: hippo
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/25/11 07:59 PM
Just flew the 1st campaign mission again on my laptop (if you recall with Radeon graphics), and the carrier looks fine, AND on my return I came back to 3 planes parked on the deck. I'll be trying to do a mission every day or two from this point, and will only post comments if I hit any more issues.
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/25/11 08:02 PM
Take your time! For the most part, you have the solution. The next step is to make sure your float point conversion is absolutely correct after converting it to Hex and changing the hex in the exe.
I remember experimenting with the HUD symbology, and I was able to reposition them using floating point values.
I too have a 8 month old, so I feel your pain.
Congratulations too!
Posted By: damson
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/26/11 01:11 PM
Unfortunately on my GTS450 it doesn't work. Tried every resolution in graphics option screen, even changed the res in the ini file to not my monitor native (lower res of course), and every single time I have CTD after clicking on Fly (doesn't matter if Instant, Training, Single...). Also tried different compatibility modes on the exe (my OS - XP SP3), still the same issue.
What's strange is that the vanilla install with the 1.01F update works pretty well, last time I tried to fly (few years back - different rig) I had problems with graphics, slowdowns with AA mode etc. Now it works just as it should.
Oh, iam73 keep up the good work and congratulations on the new member of your family - hope you will have some time to work on this mod
.
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/27/11 12:54 AM
Damson,
Im going to assum you did aq fresh install of JF18 and not use the DX Tweeker. If this is so, Im not sure what to say to help except roll back or update your drivers maybe.
IAM73,
The meetball and tower are in the correct place after-all. The issue, like I stated above is the fact you can see through the carrier deck with the meatball and tower.
Posted By: damson
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/27/11 05:05 AM
Hi Rudel, i did a fresh install and I don't use DX Tweaker nor TSH, just vanilla JF-18 + official update to 1.01F. Iam73 mentioned that NVidia cards doesn't like his tweak (I own GTS450). What GFX cards do you guys which can run this .exe own? Does anyone with NVidia card was able to run it?
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 05/27/11 04:14 PM
Hi Rudel, i did a fresh install and I don't use DX Tweaker nor TSH, just vanilla JF-18 + official update to 1.01F. Iam73 mentioned that NVidia cards doesn't like his tweak (I own GTS450). What GFX cards do you guys which can run this .exe own? Does anyone with NVidia card was able to run it?
I run a nVidia 8500GT. Could it be that DirectX 11 Is not compatable with his mod?
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/02/11 01:26 PM
Sorry for the lack of updates.
Please bare with me as I explore other ways of implementing this mod, maybe as part of a bigger, future TSH project...
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/02/11 01:54 PM
I don't see much activity on the private boards. But with the new add-on manager, you shouldn't have any problems implementing this as a small TSH v4 update, once the issues are fixed.
If you could report how you are doing this on the wiki environment incase it gets lost in time.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/02/11 06:17 PM
I don't see much activity on the private boards. But with the new add-on manager, you shouldn't have any problems implementing this as a small TSH v4 update, once the issues are fixed.
If you could report how you are doing this on the wiki environment incase it gets lost in time.
A good source of mine told me the code required to do this wouldn't require the addon manager anymore...
Posted By: Staniol
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/02/11 07:11 PM
That would be a miracle. I mean forging
those two words. But we do not talk about miracles, ehh?
Posted By: damson
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/02/11 08:44 PM
It still would be nice if the final version of your great mod would be also for vanilla install (without the requirement of TSH update).
Posted By: Joe
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/02/11 09:12 PM
That would be a miracle. I mean forging
those two words. But we do not talk about miracles, ehh?
Sometimes miracles happen.
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/03/11 01:07 AM
I love me a good miracle...
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/03/11 01:52 AM
Is your source Frenchy or the guy that help create DXTweeker?
Neither... The source I'm talking about actually has answers to a lot of things...
Let's just say this source knows the game better than anyone else!
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/03/11 02:51 AM
I dont know how.....i had to read it again...LOL.
No wonder....
Posted By: Staniol
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/03/11 06:47 AM
That would be a miracle. I mean forging
those two words. But we do not talk about miracles, ehh?
Sometimes miracles happen.
That is great news, way beyond our expectations. When will it be official?
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/03/11 12:17 PM
That would be a miracle. I mean forging
those two words. But we do not talk about miracles, ehh?
Sometimes miracles happen.
That is great news, way beyond our expectations. When will it be official?
Well, he said sometimes, so my guess would be that it shall be official when the miracle happens!
Posted By: Joe
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/03/11 03:05 PM
That would be a miracle. I mean forging
those two words. But we do not talk about miracles, ehh?
Sometimes miracles happen.
That is great news, way beyond our expectations. When will it be official?
When will what be official?
If you know some C++ programmers send them my way.
Posted By: Staniol
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/04/11 10:40 AM
That would be a miracle. I mean forging
those two words. But we do not talk about miracles, ehh?
Sometimes miracles happen.
That is great news, way beyond our expectations. When will it be official?
When will what be official?
If you know some C++ programmers send them my way.
Used it sometimes, but far from being a professional. I am more the sound/music/graphics guy. If you need any of these, maybe I can help you out, but usually the programmers lack.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/06/11 04:41 PM
No idea what's happening with Rudel's, I'm thinking there's something else in the background hooking to the f18.exe process and messing things up, such as nhancer or DXTweaker...
I think I know why some drawings are offset, I'll see if I can find a way to fix this in the proxy dll until we have a better way of implementing this mod...
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/06/11 08:10 PM
Nothing is offset, it appears like it is because of the objects becoming transparent. I'm not using DXTweeker either. Almost as if it is sharing the same properties of the carrier's lights on the deck.
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 06/20/11 12:41 AM
IAM, I have a new bug for ya,
The water does not shimmer (fade in/out) any more with the 32-bit exe.
Posted By: xIGuNDoCIx
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 08/05/11 08:45 PM
Any new news on this mod? Are you still taking testers, if so I would love to try it out.
Posted By: DocW
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/17/11 07:19 AM
Is there still some work behind the stages or died this mod ?
Michael.
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/17/11 11:10 PM
I havent heard from him in ages...sort of a stand still at the moment.
Posted By: DocW
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/18/11 05:46 AM
I havent heard from him in ages...sort of a stand still at the moment.
thx for the info, Rudel.
Michael
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/19/11 11:51 PM
Hi guys!
I'm still here... sort of... I really want to reusme the work on this but time is a real issue right now...
Rudel, by the way, I found that software I was looking for to work on the hudicons.pcx file. I'll try re-creating it in higher-res and including the dashed circle and pitch ladder in it to see if it fixes the issue I used to have a couple months ago. Being able to use the hud icons file instead of having to debug old ASM code would save us a lot of time with getting the 32-bit render to work in the sim... but then it'll be another issue... which is why a couple weeks ago I asked if there was another way to fix the lack of dithering with newer video cards, other than bumping the framebuffer to 32-bits. Haven't got a positive answer on that... I really don't get it why AT/NVIDIA have dropped this functionality, new chip MUST be able to dither, it has to be a driver thing, but the same occurs with ATI and NVIDIA...
Anyways, I might give it a shot (updating the hudicons.pcx) this week and report if it fixed some issues.
There is one more thing I really want to work on as well, the hud fonts... it's so easy to fix, just need a couple hours to play in the code. We'll be able to use a large font for the hud, one that actually will display OK in 1920x1080 without breaking the avionics display font because they are linked to the same font as the hud and then scaled.
Ok, have I confused everybody?
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/20/11 12:57 AM
Haha, no confusion here....
I'm not sure of the program you speak of though. I created a new Hudicon.pcx file with the missile aquisition circles. It's on the Dropbox. Frenchy said he would take a look, but I suspect he's busy like the rest of us. I made a post on TSH a while back in regards to this under "Problems With AA Slowdown."
One thing with the HUD font; once the size is adjusted the coordinates can be adjusted to the real thing. Personally, the information is too far apart and should be closer relative to size.
Are you asking nVidia/ATi these questions btw?
Thanks for the update!
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/20/11 01:24 PM
Haha, no confusion here....
I'm not sure of the program you speak of though. I created a new Hudicon.pcx file with the missile aquisition circles. It's on the Dropbox. Frenchy said he would take a look, but I suspect he's busy like the rest of us. I made a post on TSH a while back in regards to this under "Problems With AA Slowdown."
One thing with the HUD font; once the size is adjusted the coordinates can be adjusted to the real thing. Personally, the information is too far apart and should be closer relative to size.
Are you asking nVidia/ATi these questions btw?
Thanks for the update!
Regarding the software for the hudicons.pcx file, I meant a software that would let me know exactly at which coordinate each element was on the file. Otherwise I think that when we implement the new file in the code, we need to trial and error the position of the rectangle for each element. Actually, I could use your pcx file and get the exact coordinate from the software as well, I might give it a try.
I agree with the hud font thing, once we get them bigger, we can re-position them. One other thing that would get fixed with re-working the hud fonts for higher resolution is the Anti-alisasing that is screwing up the current hud fonts. This is happening because the font is only 1 pixel in width, so when it gets anti-aliased, it's all screwed up. By using a larger font or a larger scale fonts, that would fix this as well. Just look at the EFD font when using anti-aliasing, it looks just fine, even with anti-alias
But a real larger font would be the way top go, for this, we need to create our own font encoder. Not that hard since we have the full font file structure documented in the code!
Regarding ATI/Nvidia, I know it's been asked over and over again and no one ever got a clear answer on what's happening with this.
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/20/11 01:47 PM
Must be a great program! I included the coordinates btw, but those hy hx, I'm not sure about. I believe they are the position in which they appear on the HUD. The name of the circles on the pcx files are included within the coordinates. Those are not just labels.
I agree, a larger FNT file should suffice for now. I'll come up with one tonight.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/20/11 03:14 PM
Must be a great program! I included the coordinates btw, but those hy hx, I'm not sure about
Thanks, didn't know that.
I agree, a larger FNT file should suffice for now. I'll come up with one tonight.
How are you goign to generate the font file? Did Frenchy released the FNT generator? I know he was planning on working on this but I missed a big part of the discussion...
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/20/11 09:18 PM
I'm not actually sure what the hidden code might be in the file, but it appears to be just an image file with a FNT extension.
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/20/11 10:01 PM
I don't know if it's coincidence, but software engineer John Dugan finally replied to my LinkedIn email. Hopefully he can open some big doors for us.
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/20/11 11:52 PM
I'm not actually sure what the hidden code might be in the file, but it appears to be just an image file with a FNT extension.
Ah ok, it's a little more than that, but not that much
I know the structure of the file, it's just a matter of writing a small converter to take the bitmap font, whic is acutally an image, and convert it in the FNT format.
Hoping your linkedin contact may shed some light about the external tools... If we could at least get that damn 3D Converter we would be so blessed! Just that one, I don't care about the other tools :P
Posted By: iam73
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/31/11 02:02 PM
Worked a little bit on the mod - actually started from scratch because previous code base had no version control on it - so I started from a new base with SourceSafe this time, will be easier to track changes and revert/merge files when needed.
I'm almost done fixing the pitch ladder issue in 32bpp mode. This is my start point to fix all the other elements that are affected by the move to a 32bit backbuffer.
More on this later...
Posted By: Rudel
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 10/31/11 02:11 PM
Awesome stuff man. I imagine this is easier than leaving comments?
Posted By: El Mudjahed
Re: 32-bit render mod in the work - 04/06/12 05:27 PM
Any News?
