Graphics Update, V1.2

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by varrak, March 15, 2014.

  1. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

    Messages:
    12,902
    Likes Received:
    5,385
    yes...
    people paid for it.

    people like me.

    you wouldn't believe how important it is to me and a big part of the community that PA can run on linux (and Mac)
    polaris173, vyolin, SXX and 1 other person like this.
  2. pcnx

    pcnx New Member

    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    12
    Dont get me wrong, i only worked with OpenGL so far and am very glad that there is support for Linux and Macs :)

    Ah i see. i though that its necessary to invest more than one pass :)
    Thanks for the information!!
  3. SXX

    SXX Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,896
    Likes Received:
    1,812
    It's a off-topic question, but wonder is it possible to make game render "Picture in Picture" with lower resolution? So main view won't have resolution scaling, but PiPs would be rendered with 30-50% of quality? Can this help to gain extra FPS when PiP enabled?

    It's will be really interesting to know how much work done from scratch for each PiP on screen and if there anything shared between view's at all.
    Last edited: March 17, 2014
    LavaSnake, warrenkc and liltbrockie like this.
  4. varrak

    varrak Official PA

    Messages:
    169
    Likes Received:
    1,237
    Since the PIP window is so small, the resolution isn't the limiting factor. It's mostly CPU-side (re-submitting draw calls). It'll be hard to completely mitigate that, since the draw parameters will all be different (different transforms etc). But there will be some things we can do to reduce the overhead.
    SXX likes this.
  5. SXX

    SXX Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,896
    Likes Received:
    1,812
    Thanks for answer, but not only I mean situation when PiP used as "small image in corner", but as secondary view on second monitor for example. There is number of awesome mods that allow this so I was wonder if it's possible to have separate scaling and other rendering options for PiP. Or even with large PiP window resolution won't affect performance much?

    As I understand textures should be shared between PiPs somehow and what about other options like lighting/effects/etc?

    PS: I'm have 2 monitors so I just interested if it's possible to have to have high quality rendering in main view while PiP will use lower graphics quality.
  6. pcnx

    pcnx New Member

    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    12
    Or just a very simple rendering where you only see the strategic icons and planet (but are still able to select and order items)
    LavaSnake likes this.
  7. LavaSnake

    LavaSnake Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,620
    Likes Received:
    691
    That would be a very interesting option for saving performance.
    cdrkf likes this.
  8. varrak

    varrak Official PA

    Messages:
    169
    Likes Received:
    1,237
    Oh, right. I misunderstood. Yes, I think that would be completely feasible to do.
    SXX and maxpowerz like this.
  9. SXX

    SXX Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,896
    Likes Received:
    1,812
    That would be great if you expose such option for PiPs one day! :)

    As long as I understand all icons rendered in separate 2D layer based on their position in 3D world and I guess it's completely unrelated to actual 3D rendering this topic about.

    I think it's works this way because first release where PiP was included had bug where in 2nd, 3rd and next PiPs only icons was visible, but not actual rendering. E.g only first PiP worked properly.
  10. bgolus

    bgolus Uber Alumni

    Messages:
    1,481
    Likes Received:
    2,299
    Actually I believe the health bars and strategic icons are part of the same 3d rendering path, they just get rendered after the resolution is scaled up (or down) to the actual screen resolution.
    Last edited: March 17, 2014
  11. varrak

    varrak Official PA

    Messages:
    169
    Likes Received:
    1,237
    Yep. Only soon they will be rendered as particles... which will speed things up a little.
  12. SXX

    SXX Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,896
    Likes Received:
    1,812
    Weird, and what about metal spot icons? :confused:
  13. varrak

    varrak Official PA

    Messages:
    169
    Likes Received:
    1,237
    They're the same path as strategic icons and healthbars. The idea is they'll all be rendered through the same path as particles, eventually.
    SXX likes this.
  14. Corang

    Corang Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    772
    Likes Received:
    313
    I asked before but I don't think it ever got answered and I am a very curious person, I was wondering how much work changing PA to being a multicore application entails, does it require an entire engine rewrite or just a few lines? Also, I don't even really know why I'm asking this question but can we expect multicore soon® or soon?
  15. LavaSnake

    LavaSnake Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,620
    Likes Received:
    691
    You know what the answer to those questions always is...
    soon delta.jpg SOON.png Soonest.jpg Sorian soon.jpg
  16. Corang

    Corang Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    772
    Likes Received:
    313
    that halley soon is killing me cause the halleys aren't open
  17. LavaSnake

    LavaSnake Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,620
    Likes Received:
    691
    make a better one then, my list can always be longer.
  18. Corang

    Corang Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    772
    Likes Received:
    313
    i'll see what i can do
  19. LavaSnake

    LavaSnake Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,620
    Likes Received:
    691
  20. bgolus

    bgolus Uber Alumni

    Messages:
    1,481
    Likes Received:
    2,299
    Keep this up and you'll make me lock this thread ... soon...
    [​IMG]

Share This Page