Specs for Darkplaces

[LordHavoc]

I would like to be clear, I can turn most things all the way up and play with the Rygel ultra packs and other enhanced graphical mods. However, if i go crazy and set every slider bar all the way to the right, DP becomes unplayable. This might be do to the fact that some of the options give you such open end control that you dont want to max out that setting. For Example, Corona Size..

In DarkPlaces, maxing out sliders does not usually mean more quality, it just means "looks different", some settings do cost more when set to higher values (especially particles quality, corona size, bloom radius, lightradius and certain others - not all of which are in the menu), but these settings also tend to look weird at high values, and were not meant to be "maxed", they're configurable to such extremes just because someone might be going for a particular look.

[inkub0]

LordHavoc, did you have sold your new car to buy that computers?

My configuration:

AMD 890GX chipset
PhenomII x3 3Ghz
4GB DDR3 1333Mhz
ATI Radeon HD4830 w/ 512mb DDR3
HD SATAII 500GB
Monitor Samsung 17" 1280x1024

I can play Darkplaces in every resolution i want, even 1280x1024, with rtlights ON, my fps never go under 50...
The only problem is "Pretty Water". When i enable it, my fps go down to 16-20....

Dear LordHavoc
I saw that in Nexuiz some levels got transparent water with effects but... i have not FPS problems with that, but in quake levels like E4M1, the "Pretty Water" makes the game unplayable... why?

P.S. : can you put in Darkplaces the support for HexenII ?

[LordHavoc]

LordHavoc, did you have sold your new car to buy that computers?

Don't own a car (yet) actually.

My configuration:

AMD 890GX chipset
PhenomII x3 3Ghz
4GB DDR3 1333Mhz
ATI Radeon HD4830 w/ 512mb DDR3
HD SATAII 500GB
Monitor Samsung 17" 1280x1024

Sounds good.

I can play Darkplaces in every resolution i want, even 1280x1024, with rtlights ON, my fps never go under 50...
The only problem is "Pretty Water". When i enable it, my fps go down to 16-20....

The consequences of rendering extra views for water are pretty harsh at this time...

Dear LordHavoc
I saw that in Nexuiz some levels got transparent water with effects but... i have not FPS problems with that, but in quake levels like E4M1, the "Pretty Water" makes the game unplayable... why?

P.S. : can you put in Darkplaces the support for HexenII ?

The harsh drop in fps is much worse with rtlights, which Nexuiz doesn't use in such a big way, it's mostly CPU-limited on the water performance, and there are important optimizations that could be done but have not been.

No current plans for Hexen II support, it's a thorny matter because I can not take any code from Hexen II due to ambiguous licensing on its source (it includes two contradictory licenses and is not entirely clear which one applies).

[inkub0]

The harsh drop in fps is much worse with rtlights, which Nexuiz doesn't use in such a big way, it's mostly CPU-limited on the water performance, and there are important optimizations that could be done but have not been.

Ok, does this means that we can hope in a greater FPS in future without changing hardware?
take a look to Xreal website. it's a new engine based on idtech3, but with massive use of shaders insteda of processor to increase FPS (less use of the PCIe connection)

it's mostly CPU-limited on the water performance

maybe a better use of multicore processors can help?
I think that transparent water is still an handycap for your engine.

No current plans for Hexen II support, it's a thorny matter because I can not take any code from Hexen II due to ambiguous licensing on its source (it includes two contradictory licenses and is not entirely clear which one applies).

Strange! FTEQW is GPL but can load Hexen2... maybe they are "outlaw "
i think that open darkplaces to other id or raven games is useful, and you can start from a porting of hexen2 engine under GPL licence instead of the original H2 code...


However, you did and do a great work!!!! You are great!
(what about nexuiz 2.6 or... 3.0 ? )

[sb306]

Well its running good. When I got the computer, XP wouldnt load. It seems that XP had been corrupted. I got a small refund from the seller and got my hands on win xp. Booted it from the CD!!! I used to hate to do a fresh install of a OS with the floppy to load the cd-rom drivers because it always seemed like such a pain in the ass. I just bought a 250gb hard drive because I thought the corrupted drive might have been bad. Ill eventually just pull out the 4ogb drive and re-load everything onto the 250gb drive.

I installed the 3870 and installed the drivers and it was painless. I went ahead and downloaded the 8.11 catalyst drivers for it and installed them this morning.

Anyways. Wow. Darkplaces started up perfectly and runs great. The nice thing is that the lan works great on this computer(never could get the lan cards working on the retro) It makes it very easy to join games. I downloaded the qrp and plague pak already and it worked great. Im still going to check out Qrack too.

I think Ill try out Crysis since Ive heard alot about it. And maybe Doom 3. I also still need to get another memory stick. Is there anything special about the memory Ill need?
Thanks guys.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

i TRIED forvever today to run darkplaces, using rygels ultra pk3. Disco's documented forum activity hardly lookd satisfactory for succesful using of this 2gig pk3 file.

[Seven]

Hello Mindf!3ldzX,

I read here already, that you have problems in running DarkPlaces.

Did you follow my suggested 1,2,3 steps in that thread ?
It shouldnt be more difficult than this. I just simulated it here on a new pc.

I recommend not using the "ultra" version from Rygel, but the "high" version.
You will NOT notice the visual difference, but SURELY the better FPS and map load times.

It would really be a pity, if you didnt manage to run DP.

Maybe as another assistance:
Try to simply extract DP-build into a fresh Quake BEFORE using Rygels pack.
In this way DP MUST run. Make all your options-settings and after that,
drop rygels pk3 in.

Devil himself must be living in you computer, if you cannot run DP then

Best wishes,
Seven

[inkub0]

in 10 days the ATI HD6xxx series will be released.
and, in a month, the prices of HD5xxx will go down.
i think i'll buy a decent HD5830 card, to replace my HD4830.

Do you think that "DPwater" patch will run better?
actually i have 20 fps or less in maps with water like E4M1

[Seven]

Hello inkub0,

LordHavoc wrote in post #18 in this thread some lines concerning your question:

The harsh drop in fps is much worse with rtlights, which Nexuiz doesn't use in such a big way, it's mostly CPU-limited on the water performance, and there are important optimizations that could be done but have not been.

So I guess a better graphic card is less efficient than a better CPU.


And regarding your plan in buying a 5830:
I highly suggest a GTX460 with 1024 Ram instead.
It is better in all disciplines. Ontop you have PhysX support.
Only if you want to use the Eyefidelity function (3 monitors on 1 card),
you should go for 5830.

Best wishes,
Seven

[inkub0]

So I guess a better graphic card is less efficient than a better CPU.

So, it's better for LordHavoc to change the darkplaces engine, let him using more the graphic shader and less the CPU like the Xreal engine...

I highly suggest a GTX460 with 1024 Ram instead.

GREAT price difference

However, i think that switching to a [email protected] system will help a bit... i noticed that LordHavoc is developing a "win64" build of DP

[Seven]

I know, it is offtopic inkub0, but:

The price difference is:
- GTX 460 1024 MB 175 Euro
- ATI 5830 1024 MB 170 Euro

Do you think its a great difference ?

Well, I can only recommend to spend 5 Euros more.
They are worth it.

Seven

[R00k]

So, it's better for LordHavoc to change the darkplaces engine, let him using more the graphic shader and less the CPU like the Xreal engine...

Wuh?! I'm sure DarkPlaces supports GLSL shaders.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Hello Mindf!3ldzX,

I read here already, that you have problems in running DarkPlaces.

Did you follow my suggested 1,2,3 steps in that thread ?
It shouldnt be more difficult than this. I just simulated it here on a new pc.

I recommend not using the "ultra" version from Rygel, but the "high" version.
You will NOT notice the visual difference, but SURELY the better FPS and map load times.

It would really be a pity, if you didnt manage to run DP.

Maybe as another assistance:
Try to simply extract DP-build into a fresh Quake BEFORE using Rygels pack.
In this way DP MUST run. Make all your options-settings and after that,
drop rygels pk3 in.

Devil himself must be living in you computer, if you cannot run DP then

Best wishes,
Seven

Hi and thanks for the reply, I currently have DarkPlaces running,but so far getting rygels ultra pack enabled has been less than fruitful. I will install everything fresh following your instructions,and report back later today. As to the running ultra vs high rygel pak, Im using crossfire,and im trying to stretch my video card's legs.

[inkub0]

In precedent replies, LordHavoc Said that DPWATER charghes the CPU, not the GPU

[LordHavoc]

Ok, does this means that we can hope in a greater FPS in future without changing hardware?
take a look to Xreal website. it's a new engine based on idtech3, but with massive use of shaders insteda of processor to increase FPS (less use of the PCIe connection)

xreal is far slower than darkplaces in my tests, it couldn't even keep up 15fps with my Radeon HD 5870 with 5 lights on the screen and darkplaces was keeping up 60 with 90 lights, same resolution, nice shadowmapping in both.

Tested also on GFGTX260 with similar results.

I also have GF9800GT, GFGTX460 and Radeon HD 5770 on hand but haven't tested xreal on those.

maybe a better use of multicore processors can help?
I think that transparent water is still an handycap for your engine.

Yes. No immediate plans for that though.

Regarding FTEQW's Hexen2 support, I assume it is reverse engineered in some way.