Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[greybeard]

I tried the same mission with and without your palms, no shadow. In both cases, I took note of the average FPS after the first five minutes of the mission; the environment was 4.12.2 + Mod Act 5.30, map of Burma, elaborated by Cyberolas. With your palms I got 45 and without 37. I don't know how many palms are in the Cyberolas map (but there are: I checked!) And I'm not sure I did exactly the same things in the two attempts, but it seems to me that your mod absolutely doesn't make framerate worse - it could even improve it!

Thanks,
GB

[WxTech]

Thanks for the feedback, Giuseppe. It's gratifying to see that there's the potential for an actual gain in fps for some folk.

One way to reduce the chance for random or unaccounted for variables to influence results is to check fps in the FMB. Just load a palm-heavy map, set the camera in the same place and aiming in the same direction, at the same FOV, and then compare frame rates.

In this way one is leaving out of it all the other activity that impacts things while flying a mission.

If others have any results to report, good or bad, I'd love to see 'em.

[SAS~Bombsaway]

Still getting a large FPS drop.

Without your trees....






With your trees...





I'm not sure why of the FPS drop. Maybe my PC? Yet without your tress I get a higher FPS. It doesn't make sense.

[WxTech]

Bombs,

Such a radical drop (approaching a factor of 4!) would seem to be strangely excessive.

What do you get if you just open up a bare map in FMB, zoom in and hit ENTER, then move the camera viewpoint about?

How far back from my trees would you need to get before fps get back up to 'normal'?

[henkypenky]

Visual the WX palms are a great improvement, on the fps; I only have the free version of Fraps and have to see the numbers myself, so perhaps not completetely accurate. In a QMB mission on Net3 Islands map without it was between 60 and 50, with 55 - 50 and 45!

[stanislao]

   I loaded your mod and tried a few missions between the islands of the pacific .... I must say that the visual impact is absolutely spectacular, an abysmal difference compared to those miserable coconut palms and especially those horrible date palms that Oleg had served us! Thank you, I really appreciated your palms, you are modernizing our old and wonderful game.

[WxTech]

It seems different computer systems respond differently.

A way to suffer a smaller fps drop is to fiddle with the LOD values at the top of each .msh file. Any text editor will do.

The total number of objects is probably more impactful than is the relative number of the higher detailed ones. This would imply reducing the farthest (bottom and largest) LOD value. But lowering the others as well helps, of course. Indeed, for some it could be more beneficial to mainly lower the nearest (top and smallest) LOD value.

I should try making up a single .tga, by combining the two currently used. It would end up rectangular, but this approach is used for some number of other textures, at least in mods (I can't recall with certainly any such stock images, but am reasonably sure there are a few.)

I did ask previously if anyone knew if there was a performance hit due to using more than one texture for a static object. The fact that the single texture approach is seemingly adhered to religiously makes me wonder. It would be nice if this was known for a fact.

Off to cook up a new version....

[SAS~Bombsaway]

I'm wondering if it may be a side effect of me using BAT that has the high def mod in. Does anyone else use BAT and these trees?

[WxTech]

Ah ha! This could very well be a factor. For the basic tree .mat files (palm1o, p and q) I had long ago assigned a small amount of specularity so as to get a little sheen off the leaves.

Open those three files and make Specular 0.0. I suspect it'll make a difference,  at least for some folk.



I'm close to finishing the new version where I'm combining the two separate textures into one. This might also make some difference, but I suspect not so much... we'll see! Stand by for that...

[WxTech]

After spending a couple of hours making up a whole new version based around a combined texture (2 into 1), it seems the game doesn't like it being rectangular! For these trees, anyway. I do know that other objects can and do have rectangular .tga's.

The mesh viewer has no problems, and reports no issues. But if I try to open a map having palms, a pile of errors about failing to make a palm fills up the log and the game is stuck (requiring the 3-fingered salute).

Anyway, I went back to the 'old' mod, but made the Specular values in the .mat files 0.0. Compared to my pevious 20 fps for the Green_Hell map's gazillion palms 'test area', I now get 25 fps; a 25% gain. That's as reported in the FMB, not during flight.

Anyway, for some folk having less potent hardware, maybe their gains will be better than this 25% I obtain...

I'm updating the first post to instruct to make Specular values zero. With the new bushiness, the specularity is less apparent anyway, so why not kill that frame rate impactor, eh?

[WxTech]

Towns having palm trees about are really transformed scenically.

An evening stroll along the sea wall, Gavutu Island, Solomons, Fall 1942.

[greybeard]

Nice pic! When have you been to Gavutu?