0.2.8.3 servers cause low fps on 0.2.8.2.1 clients

[Jonathan]

You like retro graphics, no? Switch to nearest filtering and use binary alpha in your wall texture.

Edit: whoa! I looked at source (0.2.8.2.1 which was around on my disk) because I never really noticed alpha testing before. But when I scrolled up a bit (sr_ResetRenderState, rScreen.cpp):

Code: Select all

    // and polygons
    switch(sr_polygonAntialias){
    case rFEAT_OFF:
        glDisable(GL_POLYGON_SMOOTH);
        glHint (GL_POLYGON_SMOOTH_HINT, GL_FASTEST);
        break;
    case rFEAT_ON:
        glEnable(GL_POLYGON_SMOOTH);
        glHint (GL_POLYGON_SMOOTH_HINT, GL_NICEST);
    default:
        glHint (GL_POLYGON_SMOOTH_HINT, GL_DONT_CARE);
    }

Missing a break. Maybe a few years past prime time, but a bug nonetheless. If that code even does anything sane...

[Z-Man]

Whoops. That setting is long gone, however, and wouldn't have worked properly without that bug anyway.

[Phytotron]

Actually, I do use 'nearest' for the font. Otherwise it's all smudgy and hard to read.

So, I'm not talking about setting alpha_blend to anything but 0 or 1. I'm talking about the opacity of the texture itself over the alpha channel. Are you? If so, and that's unsupported, then why is it in the menu, and/or allowed to apply to the graphics at all?

[Lackadaisical]

Yeah he's talking about the same thing, I had a topic about it some time ago as well.

[Jonathan]

So, I'm not talking about setting alpha_blend to anything but 0 or 1. I'm talking about the opacity of the texture itself over the alpha channel. Are you?

Yeah. I and Z-Man meant using only full on and full off alpha in the texture. That should let anything behind it show through reliably.

If so, and that's unsupported, then why is it in the menu, and/or allowed to apply to the graphics at all?

I guess because it even has a clear purpose with other textures, and the same subsystem is reused.

[Z-Man]

Humm, looked at the duplicate wall rendering performance problem, here's a small patch that should fix it, hopefully without side effects:

Code: Select all

diff -u -r ../armagetronad-0.2.8.2.1/src/tron/gWall.cpp ./src/tron/gWall.cpp
--- ../armagetronad-0.2.8.2.1/src/tron/gWall.cpp        2006-05-13 16:17:32.000000000 +0200
+++ ./src/tron/gWall.cpp        2010-02-01 20:34:39.000000000 +0100
@@ -848,7 +848,7 @@

 #ifndef DEDICATED
 void gPlayerWall::Render(const eCamera *cam){
-    if (!cycle_)
+    if (!cycle_ || begAlpha_ * endAlpha_ > 0.01 )
         return;
     RenderList(true);
 }

Save to a file, change into source directory, call

Code: Select all

patch -p 0 < saved_patch

compile, hopefully be happy.

[candy pants]

Thanks Z-Man I like quick and simple mods like this

I didnt have the patch utility (where do I get it ?) so I searched the gWall.cpp for gPlayerWall::Render and located the code and patched it manually

Recompiled and tested on cheers, it does seem to be a lot better but so far the server hasnt had many players so i'll try it again when the server is almost full to give it a real test

I have not seen any side effects so far

Thanks again.