[New Release] D3D9Client Development

[jarmonik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProAuroraX

 I downloaded RC33 last night took all the necessary files and now even at night i get full lighting on my ship. like the suns shining from all directions. any clues?

1. Check the ambient light level from the Visual Effects tab.
2. Reinstall the client and make sure that every file is replaced. It's probably most common issue that shader files and executable are from a different installations.

---------- Post added at 00:36 ---------- Previous post was at 00:31 ----------

You can use nVidia texture tools. It's a command line tool but probably the best available. Just copy the nvdxt.exe in a texture folder and execute the commands form a command line.

for an example:
nvdxt -file dgmk4_2_ns_norm.bmp -v8u8
or:
nvdxt -file dgmk4_2_ns_norm.bmp -dxt5nm

[diogom]

How do I know which version of the nVidia tools to download, 32-bit or 64-bit?

[jarmonik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by diogom

 How do I know which version of the nVidia tools to download, 32-bit or 64-bit?

32-bit will work for sure in any OS. (64-bit will require 64-bit OS).

[orb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by diogom

 How do I know which version of the nVidia tools to download, 32-bit or 64-bit?

Is your operating system 32-bit or 64-bit (32-bit I guess)?

You can use the 32-bit version on both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems, and the 64-bit version only on 64-bit operating systems.

[diogom]

Ok, I installed the Texture Tools, and I see no nvdxt.exe. Just 4 folders: bin, lib, src and include, and a MS-DOS batch file called 'nvttcmd'

[orb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by diogom

 Ok, I installed the Texture Tools, and I see no nvdxt.exe. Just 4 folders: bin, lib, src and include, and a MS-DOS batch file called 'nvttcmd'

Try "DDS utilities" from this page:
http://developer.nvidia.com/legacy-texture-tools

[diogom]

That did it, thanks! Now to convert them...

---------- Post added at 11:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 PM ----------

I copied the nvdxt.exe file into a folder with the .bmp's, but when I execute the file, I see the command line window for like two seconds and that's it, nothing else happens...

[orb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by diogom

 I copied the nvdxt.exe file into a folder with the .bmp's, but when I execute the file, I see the command line window for like two seconds and that's it, nothing else happens...

Press "Windows key"+"R", write "cmd", press enter, then change the working directory to the one where those files are located, and execute the commands to convert files, like below (an example if you had them in D:\Orbiter Files\bitmaps):

D:

cd "D:\Orbiter Files\bitmaps"

nvdxt -file dgmk4_1_norm.bmp -dxt5nm

nvdxt -file dgmk4_2_norm.bmp -dxt5nm

nvdxt -file dgmk4_2_ns_norm.bmp -dxt5nm

exit

[martins]

Ok, the good news is that I managed to get the RC33 client working with 2010P1 on my old laptop with shameful lack of anything resembling a graphics card , which is the only thing I can use for Orbiter development for the next few weeks.

The semi-good news is that RC33 also mostly works with my latest orbiter build. However:

• the new main menu/info box implementation doesn't work, and
• everything with Atlantis crashes after the first frame is rendered

Atlantis does work for me with 2010P1, so something has changed. I don't think it's the Atlantis code itself, because there were only cosmetic changes. So it must be something deeper in the graphics code.
As for the main menu, D3D9 complains that CopyRect failed. I've attached the log for reference. The mechanism I used was fairly similar to the way the old info boxes were implemented. As you can see, I was trying to be a good boy and have separate textures for source and target for blits. Maybe you can spot what I did wrong. One question: should the source surface _not_ have a texture interface?

Anyway, I'll try to upload a new beta soon to make this easier to analyse, although I am currently severely limited regarding orbiter development.

[diogom]

In advance, sorry if I'm starting to be a pain

This command lines thing is new to me.
I have the folder with the bitmaps in the desktop.
When I open the Command Line, I get, besides the OS info:

C:\Documents and Settings\my name>

By looking at it, the Desktop folder is inside that "my name" folder.
I tryed putting:
C:\Documents and Settings\my name>Desktop\bitmaps (I named the folder where the bmps are 'bitmaps') and then the 'nvdxt' lines. I get that 'Desktop\bitmaps' isn't recognized as an internal or external command, operational program or batch file.

Again, sorry, and thanks for the help so far.

[orb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by diogom

 C:\Documents and Settings\my name>

By looking at it, the Desktop folder is inside that "my name" folder.
I tryed putting:
C:\Documents and Settings\my name>Desktop\bitmaps (I named the folder where the bmps are 'bitmaps') and then the 'nvdxt' lines. I get that 'Desktop\bitmaps' isn't recognized as an internal or external command, operational program or batch file.

Commands you need to write are highlighted (assuming you copied the nvdxt to the bitmaps folder):

C:\Documents and Settings\my name> cd Desktop\bitmaps

C:\Documents and Settings\my name\Desktop\bitmaps> nvdxt -file dgmk4_1_norm.bmp -dxt5nm

C:\Documents and Settings\my name\Desktop\bitmaps> nvdxt -file dgmk4_2_norm.bmp -dxt5nm

C:\Documents and Settings\my name\Desktop\bitmaps> nvdxt -file dgmk4_2_ns_norm.bmp -dxt5nm

C:\Documents and Settings\my name\Desktop\bitmaps> exit

[diogom]

Coverted using -dxt5nm, DG still black. -v8u8 as jarmonik suggested earlier also gives the same result.

[jarmonik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by martins

 Atlantis does work for me with 2010P1, so something has changed. I don't think it's the Atlantis code itself, because there were only cosmetic changes. So it must be something deeper in the graphics code.

I have no idea what's going on with the Atlantis. But the problem could be related in a software vertex processing. I got a few strange effects when I tested software processing. I'll take a look in the Atlantis when the beta is released.

Quote:

Originally Posted by martins

 As for the main menu, D3D9 complains that CopyRect failed. I've attached the log for reference. The mechanism I used was fairly similar to the way the old info boxes were implemented. As you can see, I was trying to be a good boy and have separate textures for source and target for blits. Maybe you can spot what I did wrong. One question: should the source surface _not_ have a texture interface?

You didn't do anything wrong. It's ok and recommended to use textures as an source surface. The error was caused because there was no corversion rule programmed for this particular case. The problem is that there doesn't exists a blitter that could blit between two textures in a video memory. In this case the client has two options.

1. Upgrade the target type from a texture to a rendering target texture.
2. Bring the source texture into a system memory pool.

I have implemented the first option. I'll do some testing with the new build and I'll upload the dll after that.

[jarmonik]

Here is RC33b with the new texture to texture conversion rule implemented. The package contains only a dll file and it's compatible with the existing shaders (*.fx files).

[Eraser]

I copy my question from the normal map topic.
jarmonik, can you use a similar approach for animated textures?
Something like "texture_anim_2_500.dds", where "2" is the frame number, and "500" - the frame duration, in milliseconds. This could be useful for making cool rocket exhaust, or explosions.