ProQuake 451 (dx8pro451.exe) Help

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Dan, a newcomer to NetQuake has had a problem getting the DX8 version of ProQuake 451 running without weird types of artifacts. GL runs just fine...

He provided me with 3 TGA files, I converted / served them up for assistance from MH/Baker...

[Spirit]

I see no artifacts, you will need to explain more?

[Mindf!3ldzX]

1st pic : near the blue guy , and on right side of quad platform pillar.
2nd pic : between shaft bolt and blue guy ,and on right side of quad platform pillar.
3rd pic : didnt see anything of notice...


We may have to record a small fraps video to reproduce it in full details,but he says that he gets weird dots all across his screen.Soon as I see him again , I'll steer him to this post, probably today.

[MH]

Is he running in 16-bit colour?

Asking because some of the lighting looks very banded in those shots (is that the "artefacts"?), and at the kind of framerate he's getting he can well afford to go to 32-bit (and also check if the same happens there).

Also, there is a technical difference between how D3D and GL handle 16-bit colour that can't easily be worked around in code (at least not within the scope of the D3D8 wrapper). In GL you get a 32-bit back buffer which is dithered down to 16-bit on SwapBuffers, in D3D it's 16-bit all the way which can cause substantial loss of quality.

The D3D workaround, by the way, is to create a 32-bit rendertarget, draw to that, then draw that as a fullscreen quad before Present. That will give higher quality, but at a substantial performance cost that will more than wipe out any advantage of using 16-bit in the first place. So don't ask me to do it, OK?

[wicked_lord]

I have the same issue , the map looks seperated on the walls with black lines, etc.. Its the transparent water command, r_novis "1" or "0", turning novis off gets rid of all that crap, but you cannot see in the water such as pilars and when player comes up briefly to see entite body. Its a simple fix. If you want the transparent water then learn to play like that in DX8 or turn it off..

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Is he running in 16-bit colour?

Asking because some of the lighting looks very banded in those shots (is that the "artefacts"?), and at the kind of framerate he's getting he can well afford to go to 32-bit (and also check if the same happens there).

Also, there is a technical difference between how D3D and GL handle 16-bit colour that can't easily be worked around in code (at least not within the scope of the D3D8 wrapper). In GL you get a 32-bit back buffer which is dithered down to 16-bit on SwapBuffers, in D3D it's 16-bit all the way which can cause substantial loss of quality.

The D3D workaround, by the way, is to create a 32-bit rendertarget, draw to that, then draw that as a fullscreen quad before Present. That will give higher quality, but at a substantial performance cost that will more than wipe out any advantage of using 16-bit in the first place. So don't ask me to do it, OK?

I went as far as having him add -bpp 32 to his command line,I'll email him the link to this post now that I remember I have it.

[Baker]

The DX8 build is mostly to assure that someone can get into the game if someone's OpenGL drivers are bad or messed up (rather than being frustrated).

I see the artifacts, maybe the right thing to do in light of what MH said is force 32 bpp.

(However, I'm am rather sure that ProQuake will default to the desktop BPP -- which I did to evade the complexities of changing bpp on the fly. So maybe he already is in 32 bits per pixel.)

[Mindf!3ldzX]

That was my first thought and I already told/requested he add -bpp 32 to his command line like 3-4 days ago, but he said it didn't fix.He should see the email & subsequently also WickedLords suggestion for him to try, I don't get the issue so its hard for me to verify.

[MH]

It would be nice to get a dump of his console output during startup so that we can confirm what video mode and other options he may be using.

I'm not sure if PQ extends the video modes list, but I've seen plenty of gfx hardware (especially laptop hardware which offers portrait modes as well as landscape modes) overflow the modes list and cut off high-res 32-bpp modes from the end, so it's possible that such a mode may just not be available. Mode enumeration also differs between D3D and GL so there is a possibility that the D3D version is getting extra modes causing this.

Another possibility seems to be that he may be forcing some texture optimization options in his gfx card's control panel - I wouldn't expect that to have this degree of impact, but it's worth checking up on all the same.