New Release D3D9Client Development

[turtle91]

I got tons of (orbiter_d3d9.log)
warn: D3D9DeviceEx::QueryInterface: Unknown interface query
warn: 85c31227-3de5-4f00-9b3a-f11ac38c18b5

2.5 megabytes of log in just a couple of minutes Orbiter up/runtime, might could cause issues on an SSD drive on a long term.

And I see this one....not so important:

Maybe WINE specific, at the end of "orbiter.log" I got some:
D3D9: ERROR: Call [Àu)EPEøPèûÿÿuüEüÿuøPèÁlûÿMÉtjÿå]Â] Failed. D3D9 Graphics services off-line

I tried different encodings, but always got the above "Call".
However, I believe those messages can be ignored...maybe another race condition caused by delyed SYS/FUNCTION calls within an emulated env.

 

[4throck]

- Terrain "vibration" should be fixed.

Did a few tests and it seems fixed! Thanks!

 

[Felix24]

I've noticed a small bug in the lens flare effect. It is in the right place vertically, but it's not in the right place horizontally. It's as if there is an invisible mesh occluding the lens flare effect that is distorted and stretched horizontally on the screen, and doesn't match mesh that is visible. This leads to the sun shining through places it shouldn't, like the tail of Shuttle Atlantis. And not shining where it should be, since it sometimes thinks there's an occlusion where there isn't one. Here's a screenshot:

 

[DaveS]

How is the new exhaust system coming along? Or the reflection system?

 

[Mr. Residuals]

Question, so basically the PBR shadier is enabled by default or do I have to enable it manually. Also, how do you save your changes once you change that thing to the shader.

 

[Mr. Residuals]

I could get used to this:

View attachment 24266

Randomly wondering how you got the CSM to look like that. I tried it, but it didn't work.

 

[n72.75]

Randomly wondering how you got the CSM to look like that. I tried it, but it didn't work.

It took a lot of fiddling with the metalness and specularity settings. This was with the release that was contemporary with my post (can't remember).

I didn't save it because:
NASSP needs an external texture overhaul for the CSM anyway.
D3D9 client for Orbiter BETA isn't updated with this feature yet, so NASSP wouldn't be able to use it. (I'm not complaining about the lack of updates for orbiter beta, just in case it sounded like that.)

But down the road I am very excited by this feature and would love to implement it for all the shiny metal parts.

 

[Mr. Residuals]

NASSP needs an external texture overhaul for the CSM anyway.

Pretty true if you ask me.

 

[n72.75]

Pretty true if you ask me.

And we're always open to new contributors, btw. ?

 

[JDat]

Sorry for offtopic and, maybe, silly question: Is D3D9 project open source?

 

[Mr. Residuals]

And we're always open to new contributors, btw. ?

tbh I'm not good at making textures and things, but I could contribute and test out the new updates.

 

[kuddel]

Sorry for offtopic and, maybe, silly question: Is D3D9 project open source?

Yes, yes it is! The source code rpository is here: svn://mirror.orbiter-radio.co.uk/D3D9client/
2016 branch: svn://mirror.orbiter-radio.co.uk/D3D9client/branches/2016/
BETA "branch": svn://mirror.orbiter-radio.co.uk/D3D9client/runk/

 

[jarmonik]

New "stable" Build for Orbiter 2016 is available
New build for Orbiter Beta is also available

I haven't done much testing with Orbiter Beta due to limited time, so, it might be good idea to run some tests with the Metalness shader to see if everything is working properly.

 

[jarmonik]

I've noticed a small bug in the lens flare effect. It is in the right place vertically, but it's not in the right place horizontally. It's as if there is an invisible mesh occluding the lens flare effect that is distorted and stretched horizontally on the screen, and doesn't match mesh that is visible. This leads to the sun shining through places it shouldn't, like the tail of Shuttle Atlantis. And not shining where it should be, since it sometimes thinks there's an occlusion where there isn't one. Here's a screenshot:

The lens flare should be re-implemented. Personally I don't really like it due to being too bright and large. Also, it's mathematically heavier that everything else we have all together. With the time used for that effect we could have SSAO running. Also, the sun and other light sources are usually visualized as sharper and spikier not as a smooth "flowers". I suppose we could use simple textures for flares and glares. and some math to control size and intensity. That's what most games do.

 

[jarmonik]

How is the new exhaust system coming along? Or the reflection system?

I am currently working on the "Terrain Toolkit". I am adding a mesh and elevation import tools and some terrain flattening tools. I'll try to finish that before starting to work any other features.

 

[4throck]

Terrain editing is very much welcome, but the current terrain seams bug is pretty nasty.
I know it's not your fault but it got worse today after updating Nvidia drivers.
I just tried the Alps 2016 scenario and the black seams become visible as soon as the terrain loads....

 

[clipper]

The lens flare should be re-implemented. Personally I don't really like it due to being too bright and large. Also, it's mathematically heavier that everything else we have all together. With the time used for that effect we could have SSAO running. Also, the sun and other light sources are usually visualized as sharper and spikier not as a smooth "flowers". I suppose we could use simple textures for flares and glares. and some math to control size and intensity. That's what most games do.

I played around a little bit with the LensFlare.hlsl file some time ago and ended up removing the diffraction spikes altogether and thought it looked really good IMO to the point where i just replaced the usual sun texture (Star.dds) with a blank transparent one (not really viable beyond the asteroid belt region tho as it pretty much disappears altogether at that distance unlike the standard sun texture).



One minor thing i'd like to point out tho for future reference is that the current lens flare implementation has this somewhat contrary effect on the stars as well as the celestial sphere background where they both seem to be considerably brighter when they're overlaid by any of the lens flare elements; but then again i'm completely ignorant on how this would actually behave in reality so it might just be a misconception on my behalf.

 

[DaveS]

I played around a little bit with the LensFlare.hlsl file some time ago and ended up removing the diffraction spikes altogether and thought it looked really good IMO to the point where i just replaced the usual sun texture (Star.dds) with a blank transparent one (not really viable beyond the asteroid belt region tho as it pretty much disappears altogether at that distance unlike the standard sun texture).

View attachment 26091

One minor thing i'd like to point out tho for future reference is that the current lens flare implementation has this somewhat contrary effect on the stars as well as the celestial sphere background where they both seem to be considerably brighter when they're overlaid by any of the lens flare elements; but then again i'm completely ignorant on how this would actually behave in reality so it might just be a misconception on my behalf.

It is just too smooth, it looks more like a comet than a star. I have attached three photos of the sun taken during various ISS and shuttle missions.

 

[dgatsoulis]

I have been using the terrain flattening feature lately with pretty good results, combined with astrogull's ElvTile Splitter.
I was wondering though, is it possible to set the elevation of an area, without having it rendered?
It might be handy for creating elevated platforms, or bases that hang on the edge of a cliff or even bridges that one can walk on (just don't try to go under it).

 

[n72.75]

New "stable" Build for Orbiter 2016 is available
New build for Orbiter Beta is also available

I haven't done much testing with Orbiter Beta due to limited time, so, it might be good idea to run some tests with the Metalness shader to see if everything is working properly.

I'll give Orbiter Beta a thorough test with the update and make sure it doesnt break anything in NASSP.