New Release D3D9Client Development

[DaveS]

Hi guys!

do you know why this is happening with d3d9?

D3D9:

INLINE:

Does it spin rapidly as well? In that case, it might be the same issue as the SSU Crawler: http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=546760&postcount=271

 

[jarmonik]

Hi guys!
do you know why this is happening with d3d9?

If disabling reflections fixes the problem then it will be fixed from the next build. There are a number of bug fixes applied to the latest revision but there is still a work in progress on some areas so we need to wait a while before the next binary build is out.

 

[fred18]

Does it spin rapidly as well? In that case, it might be the same issue as the SSU Crawler: http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=546760&postcount=271

No, vessel is just landed in right position but terrain is clipped as in the pic

If disabling reflections fixes the problem then it will be fixed from the next build. There are a number of bug fixes applied to the latest revision but there is still a work in progress on some areas so we need to wait a while before the next binary build is out.

toggling reflection doesn't change it, but here's exactly how this happens:

if i am focused on a vessel in orbit (so no ground terrain for earth is loaded) and then I don't switch focus to the landed vessel but just use the oapiCameraAttach to the vessel->the terrain is clipped.
If I switch the focus to it (even while I have the camera attached to it) -> the terrain immediatly appears.
If before attaching the camera to the object I focus on a landed vessel -> then when I attach the camera everything's working fine.

it's like the terrain is loaded unclipped only if the vessel show is the focus vessel and/or it has been loaded already somewhere on that planet before

 

[jarmonik]

if i am focused on a vessel in orbit (so no ground terrain for earth is loaded) and then I don't switch focus to the landed vessel but just use the oapiCameraAttach to the vessel->the terrain is clipped.
If I switch the focus to it (even while I have the camera attached to it) -> the terrain immediatly appears.
If before attaching the camera to the object I focus on a landed vessel -> then when I attach the camera everything's working fine.

That makes some sense. It's obviously that the near clipping plane code gets confused when the camera target is not the focus vessel. I am pretty sure that's the case. I guess I need to rework the code.

 

[DaveS]

I think I have reported this earlier but in the off-chance that it was missed, here it is again: The RGB sliders for D3D9Client Atmospheric Controls dialog are completely broken and do nothing. This has the effect of completely locking down the the actual atmospheric RGB settings. Changing them in the actual cfgs have no effect whatsoever. This is in D3D9Client RC-1 for Orbiter 2016.

 

[JMW]

While you're there, could you PLEASE give us the option of having base tiles displayed.
It would be lovely to see bases displayed in High Definition through D3D9. :thumbup:

 

[4throck]

You can't have terrain and old style tiles.
That's the way Orbiter 2016 works. It's just different.
(well you can but the tiles will float in the air....)

If you change your Earth config to the old style (flat) then yes, it will work as in 2010.
So really there's nothing missing, if you need the legacy Earth, 2016 can do that.

2016 style planet configuration

; === Visualisation Parameters ===
TileFormat = 2
CloudFormat = 2
MaxPatchResolution = 20        ; surface texture resolution limit (1-19)
MinCloudResolution = 1         ; cloud layer from this resolution
MaxCloudResolution = 9         ; highest cloud resolution level
SpecularRipple = TRUE          ; enable specular water microtexture

2010 style planet configuration

; === Visualisation Parameters ===
MaxPatchResolution = 14        ; surface texture resolution limit (1-12)
MinCloudResolution = 1         ; cloud layer from this resolution
MaxCloudResolution = 8         ; highest cloud resolution level
SpecularRipple = TRUE          ; enable specular water microtexture

Anyway, you can convert the old style tiles using Orbiter Texture Tools. Some actual commands from my tests:
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=547496&postcount=124

 

[JMW]

Apologies, but I'm still not getting this.
My Earth config is as you say in 2016 format
viz:

; === Visualisation Parameters ===
TileFormat = 2
CloudFormat = 2
MaxPatchResolution = 19        ; surface texture resolution limit (1-19)
MinCloudResolution = 1         ; cloud layer from this resolution
MaxCloudResolution = 9         ; highest cloud resolution level
SpecularRipple = TRUE          ; enable specular water microtexture

I have old style surface tiles in the Heathrow base config file:

BEGIN_SURFTILELIST
1 -11 146 1
1 -10 146 1
1 -9 146 1
1 -8 146 1
1 -7 146 1
1 -6 146 1
1 -5 146 1
1 -4 146 1
1 -3 146 1
1 -2 146 1
1 -1 146 1
1 0 146 1
1 1 146 1
1 2 146 1
1 3 146 1
3 -9 585 1
3 -8 585 1
3 -7 585 1
3 -6 585 1
3 -5 585 1
3 -4 585 1
3 -3 585 1
3 -2 585 1
5 -24 2342 1
5 -23 2341 1
5 -23 2342 1
5 -23 2343 1
5 -22 2341 1
5 -22 2342 1
5 -22 2343 1
5 -21 2341 1
5 -21 2342 1
5 -21 2343 1
5 -20 2341 1
5 -20 2342 1
5 -20 2343 1
5 -19 2342 1
6 -45 4684 1
6 -45 4685 1
6 -44 4684 1
6 -44 4685 1
6 -43 4684 1
6 -43 4685 1
6 -42 4684 1
6 -42 4685 1
6 -41 4684 1
6 -41 4685 1
6 -40 4684 1
6 -40 4685 1
END_SURFTILELIST

These show up in 2016 with inline client, and appear fine for elevation (maybe I'm just lucky with Heathrow elev topography)

So why don't they appear in D3D9Client ?....

 

[Face]

These show up in 2016 with inline client, and appear fine for elevation (maybe I'm just lucky with Heathrow elev topography)

:lol: Welcome to the club. I've been mislead the same way. It only appears to be fine, but in reality it shines through the elevation above the tile. Tilt the cam until you look at it from ground level. IMHO it shouldn't show up at all in the inline client, because as it is now it is a visual artifact.

So why don't they appear in D3D9Client ?....

Pretty simple: OVP clients are a different beast than the inline engine. They need to implement the tile loading and display routines all on their own. I guess Jarmo and kuddel did just not focus on re-implementing the new inline engine's behavior bit for bit.

Normally I'm all for replicating the inline engine as good as possible in OVP clients, so addons don't have to decide if they should optimize for orbiter.exe or orbiter_ng.exe. However, in this case I wouldn't recommend to replicate what looks like a bug to me.

 

[JMW]

OK, thanks Face "Now I understand" :thumbup:

Next question, how do we use the treeman app ?
Is there a SUPER idiot's guide for me someplace?
I can't even get textconv.exe or treeman.exe to run.
Just flashes up n disappears. Tried Run as Administrator etc to no avail.
(Gotta feeling I'm exposing a basic ignorance here, but) 4throck makes it sound so easy.....

As I say, maybe it's just lucky that it's pretty flat in southern England.
(Can just see the hills in the background on horizon)

 

[Face]

OK, thanks Face "Now I understand" :thumbup:

Next question, how do we use the treeman app ?
Is there a SUPER idiot's guide for me someplace?
I can't even get textconv.exe or treeman.exe to run.
Just flashes up n disappears. Tried Run as Administrator etc to no avail.
(Gotta feeling I'm exposing a basic ignorance here, but) 4throck makes it sound so easy.....

As I say, maybe it's just lucky that it's pretty flat in southern England.
(Can just see the hills in the background on horizon)

treeman is a command-line tool. This means you have to use a console to be able to enter the necessary command line. Just double-clicking it in Windows-Explorer will only make it show the help text and disappear again. Try Start->cmd.exe to start a console window, then navigate to the utils folder by means of the "cd" command. Then you can enter treeman to see and read the help text, or commands to make it actually do something.

There is no beginner's guide to it yet. At least none that I wrote, because I'm a SUPER idiot myself when it comes to tutorials . However, I can try to patch up a quick GUI front-end to the base conversion feature of treeman.

In your screenshot, I think those faint "hills" in the background are not in the background. You are inside the "hills", and what you see there is the cross section projected on the horizon.
I agree that the effect is not very visible there, though. Try zooming out and play with the camera path going over and under ground level. Check the horizon "hills" and try to see if they really behave like far away terrain should.

 

[4throck]

What is easy is to simply remove the lines:
TileFormat = 2
CloudFormat = 2

from your Earth.cfg. That will make Orbiter 2016 work as 2010 (provided that you add the 2010 global Earth textures).

For example, Mercury, Venus, etc use the legacy flat surface and base tiles are visible.
At least last time I landed there, correct me if I'm wrong...

Please be careful with those changes, you may need to install Orbiter all over again to revert them.

 

[JMW]

Got into treeman but haven't figured enough to get it working yet. Keeps giving errors that can't open files..... incomplete paths etc.
Gonna give up for tonight as fatigue set in.
Thanks Face. Getting further along the road :thumbup:

As for the "hills" they seem normal enough. Just seems that Heathrow is on a flat plane ? What d'you reckon ? (Or am I missing the point again ...?)

4throck:
If that mod means I lose elevation, I don't want to do that. That's the beauty of 2016 !

 

[4throck]

JMW I get what you want :thumbup:
We are just pointing out what you can do with 2016 right now.
Treeman is certainly the best option.

I'd recomend continuing this discussion on the the OT3 thread:
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=547496

Here's an example of parameters and paths:
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=547496&postcount=124

I'm using two orbiter installs, one for 2016, the other for 2010 (named 2015 on my example above). Just change the paths and base config to what you are using.


This will take care of the tiles. Terrain is also editable, but I haven't done it myself.
It's possible that the runways will be bumpy with the default 2016 terrain. But one thing at a time.

 

[JMW]

Thanks 4throck and Face.
I'll continue over on http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=547496
:tiphat:

 

[jarmonik]

Old BaseTiles are currently disabled because it's not a good idea to have two overlapping surface meshes. It doesn't work if the terrain isn't totally flat. BaseTiles should be baked into the actual surface textures.

 

[wthess]

D3D9 client CTD with latest 2016 Beta

D3D9 works ok with the latest stable release of Orbiter. However, it does not work with the latest beta. Loading any scenario, any vessel, etc, results in a CTD every single time. I downloaded the vanilla Orbiter Beta and tried it without any addons... Just the stock download of the Beta and the D3D9 client. CTD every single time. Nothing noted in the log files of D3D9 or Orbiter log files. There appears to be an issue with D3D9.

 

[Abloheet]

D3D9 works ok with the latest stable release of Orbiter. However, it does not work with the latest beta. Loading any scenario, any vessel, etc, results in a CTD every single time. I downloaded the vanilla Orbiter Beta and tried it without any addons... Just the stock download of the Beta and the D3D9 client. CTD every single time. Nothing noted in the log files of D3D9 or Orbiter log files. There appears to be an issue with D3D9.

There is a different d3d9 client version separately for beta version. Find it in this thread

 

[PoiterToi]

How can I submit a bug-report for the D3D9 client? When I use D3D9 Client in conjunction with the Dragonfly, I get an error when I move in the cockpit to the left panel (Ctrl - Left Arrow). I already made a post on this forum about it, but other than a confirmation from another user he got the error as well, there has been no response. I've been looking for a bug-report-functionality on the website for the D3D9 client development, but I'm unable to find the correct place. Can anybody point me in the right direction, or is this the best place?

 

[Ripley]

...or is this the best place?

This :thumbup: