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Topics - nbohr1more

#1


https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/news/the-dark-mod-206-is-here


After a lengthy public beta phase, we are proud to announce
the release of The Dark Mod 2.06!

The Dark Mod has undergone a lot of reorganization under the hood.

A substantial amount of work was done to improve
rendering performance and overall framework tech.

Legacy OpenGL methods have been replaced
with their equivalents in modern OpenGL.

This is also the first TDM release to offer a native 64-bit build using code ported from Dhemw3.



A full changelog can be viewed here, but some highlights include:


Better Visuals: Duzenko and Stgatilov have implemented a Soft Shadows option that finally removes the sharp edges of TDM shadows. This has a huge impact on the visuals of TDM missions. This option is currently labelled "Experimental" in the menu as we have had reports of issues on certain hardware. See our wiki if you are experiencing flickering or other problems.

(For the id Tech engine folks... Our current Soft Shadow setup is still using Shadow Volumes and is blurring them in an FBO with an algorithm similar to PCSS. It performs pretty well but our development builds already have some Shadow Map support and that has already shown promise for some of our most pathological shadowed scenes. TDM may do exclusively Shadow Mapping if nothing is done to redeem Shadow Volumes in the next development cycle.)

Better Sound: EFX audio now allows users without Creative hardware to enable EAX in the menu—a feature that processes reverb data and changes sounds based on the surrounding environment. Currently, only a few maps, like Volta 2: Cauldron of the Gods, by Kingsal, are set up to use EAX effects, but since all users can now benefit from it, mappers are encouraged to use this feature going forward. Interested mappers should see here. (Another benefit from Dhewm3 porting.)

Better Menus: The TDM menus have also been given a visual update, boosting the resolution and adjusting the graphics for widescreen monitors. Durandall has added scrollbar functionality to the mission menus, and Obsttorte has implemented a new menu option that allows users to customize the size and opacity of HUD elements, complete with a visual preview.

New Assets: A new set of Springheel's architectural modules is included in this release–a set of 50 models for creating church interiors. A number of new models have been added to other sets. Also included is a huge number of new prefabs, allowing mappers to quickly and easily create detailed map sections, as demonstrated in Springheel's Speedbuild series.

Better Mission Intros: This is the first TDM release to offer video codec support other than ROQ. TDM 2.06 allows for FFMPEG video support, which means that mappers will now have an easier time adding video briefings to their missions.

Better Gameplay: An error that kept food from restoring health has been fixed, and all food will now restore a certain amount of health when eaten. Guards can now sleep and wake up while seated.

Better Performance: Finally, experimental multi-core support is included for the first time, via patches from Cabalistic's VR branch. While this can cause performance enhancements, it is currently in "Experimental" form as some users may experience random crashes with this option enabled. Uncapped FPS is also now an option for users after this update.

To update, simply run the tdm_update.exe file in your darkmod folder. Please be aware that old saved games will not be compatible with 2.06, so finish any missions you might be in the middle of first!
#2
Strutt your stuff! / The Dark Mod on Greenlight
February 05, 2017, 11:30:11 PM
Pigs are flying! We finally did it.

(After much acrimony...) We have finally created a Greenlight page to meet a longstanding community request:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=858048394

Feel free to visit and vote if you want The Dark Mod to be a permanent resident on the Steam platform.

Thanks!
#3
id Tech 4 Engine Coding / POM
September 21, 2014, 04:35:38 PM
As a curiosity, has anyone tried the following comparison:

1) Large scene, lots of dense geometry, reasonable number of lights

vs

2) Large scene, low geometry, lots of POM displacement surfaces, reasonable number of lights

I think one of the biggest bottlenecks for rendering in vanilla Doom 3 is CPU Skinning (pushing all that
geometry data over the memory bus).

If all polygon counts were decimated to their lowest logical representation and all detail geometry was built in
the fragment shader via POM would such scenes perform better? Where is the tradeoff point?
#4
id Tech 4 Engine Coding / Portal rendering thoughts
July 31, 2014, 06:05:10 PM
One of the attributes that is spoken of as a shortcoming for id Tech 4's outdoor rendering capability is the portal
rendering model.

7318 recently made HL2 style skybox's for Vanilla Doom 3 and this was reminiscent of the old Prey Style Portals mod.

If my theory is correct, a full scene traversal in a wide open outdoor area would be more expensive than 2 or more
recursive portal sky renderings approximating the same view distance because each skybox will have a more confined
dataset which will be easier to evaluate than evaluating all scene geometry for all lights even with early outs.

Of course, BFG confines shadow evaluation to the light volume so it's less susceptible to this weakness but I image
there are still scene wide evaluations that would benefit from breaking the scene into multiple portal views composite-ed
rather than one big portal view.
#5
Doom 3 and light-mapping have been discussed to death over at Doom3world but not much after the GPL release.

I wanted to start this topic to discuss the relative performance tradeoffs for possible implementations.

My main interest is using the lightmap to modulate ambient lights rather than replace "real lights" though some
of the approaches below might work for that purpose too.

Approach 1: Full map low resolution 3D texture sparse sampled per ambient light

Positives:
works for both static and dynamic geometry
only one input resource per map
could be used for "real" outdoor lighting with a single source (sun \ moon) if the ambient shader is modified to
set normal shading based on the light_center of the ambient light

Negatives:
Large dataset
May require LOD hierarchy or interpolation (or both) to avoid resolution artifacts
3D textures are not widely used (driver issues?, performance?)
May require hacks like scripting the light_center to move to change lighting in
interior vs exterior situations

Approach 2: Multiple definable brush volumes with mapped 3D textures sample per associated Ambient light

Positives:
works for both static and dynamic geometry
could be used for "real" outdoor lighting with a single source (sun \ moon) if the ambient shader is modified to
set normal shading based on the light_center of the ambient light
each ambient can produce it's own unique scene contributor
easily modulate the ambient contribution to the scene via dynamically raising or lowering ambient light levels per light
no need to script light_center behavior as with approach 1

Negatives:
Large dataset (not as large as approach 1)
3D textures are not widely used (driver issues?, performance?)
More overhead and complexity than approach 1 (performance?)
Multiple light-map bake operations (per ambient light)

Approach 3: Full map medium resolution traditional 2d light-map sparse sampled per ambient light

Positives:
uses traditional 2D UV based light-map data
low dataset requirement
only one input resource per map (low complexity)
should have a good performance profile

Negatives:
Dynamic objects wont match the ambient shading quality of static objects (mitigation: probes?)
Cannot be used in place of real lights because of issues with dynamic objects (see point above)
Ambient solutions with normal shading may look incorrect since only one light_center can be defined

Approach 4: Multiple definable UV regions with light maps sample per associated Ambient light and interpolated
ambient attenuation from the radius of the light volume towards the light_center (inverse projection) cubemap
or spherical harmonic
(similar to HL2 ambient cubemap?)

Positives:
uses traditional 2D UV based light-map data
lower dataset requirement than 3D textures
approximates real light bounce behavior
per ambient light contributions and dynamics possible

Negatives:
still some mismatch between dynamic and static lighting (better than approach 3)
more overhead than approach 3, more UV data
Multiple light-map bake operations (per ambient light)
Multiple cubemap or SH bakes (per ambient light)

Approach 5?: add more pseudo radiance bounces to Maha'X's Brilliant Highlights shader.
add the same bounce behavior to ambient lights


Thoughts? Options?  Analysis?
#6
Strutt your stuff! / The Dark Mod 2.02
July 19, 2014, 10:38:33 PM
I know it's a bit late but it took me awhile to find this forum.

The Dark Mod 2.02 is out:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/news/the-dark-mod-202-is-out


This version includes a number of new features and bugfixes for The Dark Mod

grayman and taaaki spent some extra time tracking down memory leaks and game-save related crashes. You should find that this version runs noticeably more stable.

Several exploits have been dealt with, such as a fix for the bunny-hop exploit by SteveL, and new behaviour that allows AI to notice if you blatantly grab onto a door they're in the process of closing, by grayman.

A fix of a sound bug that was causing sound to drop off too quickly in large spaces (resulting in AI frequently ignoring noise arrows and calls for help) has also been fixed by grayman, and a new AI Hearing slider has been added to the main menu.

New Horizon has adjusted our blackjacking detection so that players are less likely to fail by being too close to an AI.

AI may notice that they've been pick-pocketed, and will add that to their evidence of an intruder if you cause a mild alert while snatching something from their belt.

In addition, Springheel has added a new AI and vocal set (acted by Goldwell) for mappers to play with: The Moors.