UFO:Alien Invasion
General => Discussion => Topic started by: VaeliusNoctu on May 12, 2010, 07:32:33 pm
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Many are graphic settings it in this game and I confess I have no idea what the best quality and ensuring the best performance.
Therefore, the request can someone explain briefly what settings improve the quality and what the performance / power?
I click on list all settings:
(http://i40.tinypic.com/2nqcmyw.jpg)
Resolution: Actually, clearly, the higher the better quality and less performance.
Texture resolution: Also easy to understand the configuration options are self explanatory.
Lightmap block size: from small to large, but which setting provides the best quality?
Anisotropic Filtering: clear, more equal better Qualiät.
Full cost: a little power.
Texture compression?
Show FPS: no impact.
Texturdetailierungsgrad?
Isometric: I never quite understood how and whether the effect only in the Geoscape.
Shadd GLSL?
Real-time lighting costs: power, illuminating textures.
Weather has cost: performance.
Vertex Buffer?
Multisampling buffer?
Swap interval:?
Gamma impact: None.
Contrast impact: None.
Brightness impact: None.
Lightmap size: what is it?
stretch picture to 4:3 ratio impacts: No?
Enable post-processing shader effects: Cool effects, cost performance.
EDIT:
GLSL shaders leads me to the earth is transparent.
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this board is english only - except in the translation boards - and i don't think this is translation related.
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Graphic setting options are numerous it in this game and I confess that I know do not have what the Best quality and best performance ensure that.
Therefore, please can someone briefly explain what settings the quality and what the performance / power increase?
I list all settings to:
(http://i40.tinypic.com/2nqcmyw.jpg)
Resolution: Actually, clearly, the higher the better quality and less performance.
texture resolution: Also easy to understand the configuration options are self explanatory.
lightmap Block size: from small to large, but which setting provides the best quality?
Anisotropic Filtering: clear, more but better Qualiät.
fullscreen: costs a little performance.
texture compression?
Show FPS: no impact.
Texturdetailierungsgrad?
Isometric: I never quite understood how the effect that, and if only in the Geoscape.
GLSL Shadd?
real-time lighting costs: power and lights textures.
Weather effects cost: performance.
Vertex Buffer?
multi-sampling buffer?
swap interval:?
Gamma No impact.
Contrast: No impact.
Brightness: No impact.
lightmap size: what is it?
image stretch to 4:3 ratio: No impact?
Enable post-processing shader effects: Cool effects, the performance cost.
EDIT:
GLSL shaders leads me to the earth is transparent.
Hmm... VaeliusNoctu, Bearing in mind the limitations of Google translate's ability to translate between German and English, I can just about gather that you are either asking for or are providing a detailed explanation of each of the graphical settings and their effects in-game, am I right?
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loooool i do this seconds bevor you.
See below I edited with google too.^^
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Admittably I can only explain some of those settings. For the others, I'd like to see some explanation too.
@bayo:
The menu system supports mouseover/tooltips in the HUD. Could we have tooltips in the option menu too (if we had the text for those tooltips) ?
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@Duke
Thanks for help.^^
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@bayo:
The menu system supports mouseover/tooltips in the HUD. Could we have tooltips in the option menu too (if we had the text for those tooltips) ?
Yes. If somebody provide the text.
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Great :)
So could you please provide an example for *one* of those parameters so we can make VaeliusNoctu add each and every explanation that is provided to those tooltips ? ;)
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Oh nooooooo :-X
The end is near, the DAY OF THE TENTAKEL (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MB6ZTxbwAo) comes over us.^^
Yes, i think this topic helps some others too. I was surely not alone with my Problem.^^
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Index: base/ufos/ui/options.ufo
===================================================================
--- base/ufos/ui/options.ufo (revision 29862)
+++ base/ufos/ui/options.ufo (working copy)
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@
string "_Texture Lod:"
pos "85 315"
size "240 20"
+ tooltip "_Use textures from Diablo II: Lord of Destruction"
}
checkbox lod
{
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"Play the game in CGA palette".
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We should also agree & find a consensus which resolutions the game should support, add important missing resolutions & make a advanced graphics option menu with the possibility to customize all the details there & I am also for mouseover tooltips everywhere...
See here (feature request additional graphic options):
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=2975351&group_id=157793&atid=805245
Here (patch for additional resolutions):
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=3000123&group_id=157793&atid=805244
btw., I also like the idea of vector-graphics or ultra high-resolution downscaled, instead of low resolution upscaled for the GUI & HUD...
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The resolutions list should be populated by asking the graphics driver what resolutions are available, like all games do.
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What about the resolutions in window mode, which can differ from those available in the graphics driver ?
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I shouldn't think anyone would ever want to go lower than what their driver supports in fullscreen. And even if they do, they can always manually override the resolution with a command-line parameter.
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Sorry, BTAxis, that is a stupid argument, really...
If my monitor has a native resolution of 1920x1080 & my gfx-card is not very speedy, I maybe want to play the game in 1024x768 upscaled to have a fluid gameplay & acceptable framerates...
Also I cannot really understand why so many important resolutions like 1920x1080 are missing @ the moment, while strange uncommon resolutions are supported ?!
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Not everyone owns a GTX-280 ;)
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I own a GTX-280, and it does 640x480. What's your point? Make sense, please.
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Sorry, read your argument again & I must admit I misunderstood your point first, so if someone here could code this 'asking the graphic cards driver which resolutions it supports'-thing, I am for that also...
Sorry for the misunderstanding here again ;)
Nevertheless in the meantime (until someone codes something better) we should imho update our list with the most common resolutions which are missing @ the moment...
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Remember you can anyway custom to screen resolution you want http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/Manual/Screen
That's not the same as providing a big resolution list which will be often useless.
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Maybe you should tell the average computer-user that. We could also delete all of the resolutions in our menu if those are useless in your opinion, because you can adjust that in the console also...
Afaik many of those options in the graphic menu are cvars which we can also set in the console, maybe we should delete all of those options too ?
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Maybe you should tell the average computer-user that. We could also delete all of the resolutions in our menu if those are useless in your opinion, because you can adjust that in the console also...
Afaik many of those options in the graphic menu are cvars which we can also set in the console, maybe we should delete all of those options too ?
stop trolling please.
-geever
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as bayo said already - sdl can query the available resolutions - those should be shown. and of course custom resolutions via cvar.
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@Mattn: Works like it should in first tests...
I agree that this is the best & most elegant solution for the resolutions.
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Maybe someone could also prepare a patch for the mouseover information to the video-settings.
I could help, but I also do not know how to precisely describe & explain all of the functions there...
Just to not forget about VaeliusNoctu's problems...
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Thanks MCR.^^
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VaeliusNoctu,
do you know how to provide a patch ?
Imho it would be a good idea if you applied your knowledge about the params you know in the way bayo described.
In a second step, make a list of the params you don't know.
When can then collect the missing knowledge here.
I assume there is no *one* person who knows it all ;)
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Ok No Problem and thanks:
Lightmap block size: from small to large, but which setting provides the best quality?
Texture compression?
Texturdetailierungsgrad?
Isometric: I never quite understood how and whether the effect only in the Geoscape.
Shadd GLSL?
Vertex Buffer?
Multisampling buffer?
Swap interval:?
Lightmap size: what is it?
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You will get your mouseover tooltips today ! :)
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please also add an option to disable flares - they might eat a lot of fps, too
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Will do that (@least try to ;)).
Not much place left there though...
& we will soon need a complete reorganization for the graphic options when arisian finishes what he is currently doing ?!
What about splitting the normal options like resolution, brightness, gamma, contrast, fullscreen & the advanced graphic options ?
But this has not to be done today, but maybe in the near future...
What do you think ?
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organisation sounds always good :P.
btw. maybe u need also an option, that the later downloadable mod "higher resolution" can be turned off.
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No, because this is already done by 'texture resolution cap'. ;)
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Here is a small preview:
@Mattn: I would also like to restructure the video options to sort them more logically, but I do not know if that would cause execution problems somewhere as options.ufo structure already indicates, so maybe it will be better to upload v1 of this upgrade first...
Also it would be nice if you could doublecheck my explanations after I upload this ;)
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can you give diff too?
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Sure !
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I cannot make a correct upload with this 'long' jpg somehow, but you get the idea...
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@Kildor: You want it now ? It is not ready, but I can give you the wip if you want, so you can doublecheck everything, but I am still adjusting stuff & I know that there are inconsistencies & errors there still...
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To be honest with you, I did not imagine this to be so much work, almost incredible how many options we have already :D
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Sorry, I can't see images, since I currently from mobile, but, have you thought about tabs in this menu?
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I have thought about many things, I will upload a diff now for you, please post some code what you exactly would like or if you like you can polish this after my first version is finished (~1 hour)...
I would also like to see many improvements to the GUI & the HUD also, but I thought that tooltips for the graphics menu especially would really be important for 2.3, so I started with those...
Note again: This is still wip !
WIP version deleted as new version is already in trunk.
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@MCR
Nice, very Nice.
Lightmap block size: from small to large, but which setting provides the best quality?
Texturdetailierungsgrad?
Isometric: I never quite understood how and whether the effect only in the Geoscape.
Multisampling buffer?
Swap interval:?
Lightmap size: what is it?
Only this Options confusing me now.^^
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Isometric affects the battlescape. It means that everything is drawn at the same size no matter how far away it is from the camera. If it is off, you will get a perspective view.
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@VaeliusNoctu: Read the .diff, where (almost) all of your questions are answered already or wait till it is finished. ;)
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@BTAxis
thanks.
@MCR
Ok thx.
EDIT:
Where i must put this file?
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@VaeliusNoctu: You can update your UFO:AI version now, all your questions should be answered then.
@Others: Please test all the new mouseover tooltips in the options menu.
@mattn: No new cvars (yet).
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@MCR
29944 right?
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r30022 is the latest version @ the moment.
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I dont found them in the thread for Windows Installer.
I have my UFO in H:\UFO A.I. 2.3 dev
Can i Install the new Versions in the self directory to overwrite the old Version, or must i deinstall and install new?
Thanks for your help.
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Read this & follow the links ;)
http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/FAQ
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::) A long english description with lots of links.
You like to have people jumping through burning wheels right?^^
EDIT:
hmmm i dont found a link to an Windows Installer for 30022.
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Right now there is no installer for 30022. You need to compile an installer yourself, which is really easy with Muton's script. See the links in the Windows subforum, he has a thread about that and his sig has a link to the guided compiling process in the wiki.
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Easy? My English was good enough to read and play the most games. And i understand the most of this very good description. But not all and its very much work to play a trunk version. I think i use the official Windows Versions and wait. To Bad, so i can not help with Beta playing. A Bug i see was eventually fixed in a newer Version.
But thanks for the help.^^
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Tooltips are now everywhere !
That should be enough motivation for you ;)
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Do you really think that peoples don`t know how to work with computer programs? «Check to set», «Click to start edit» and so on. Be clearler, please.
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?
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All 'Click to' & 'Check to' removed in r30033.
Sorry bayo, I really did not see your commit & thanks a lot for repairing this nasty 'glsl ATI black rendered models bug' !
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If someone else wants to continue my work regarding this subject feel free to do so. I am getting a little bit tired of it when doing this too long ;)
I will revisit my animations now ;)
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Can you explain your shortscuts (all that * and + before strings)?
Also, is there any reason to move checkboxes, so now all menu doesn`t look consistent?
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This is wip, but my goal was to make everything logical & consistent.
The * stands for submenu.
The + stands for special options worth changing & there is only max one 'special' option at the end of the submenu.
I moved stuff because I thought it would be more logical to have all battlescape camera options in one place, all battlescape gameplay options in another place.
The menu was not consistent, all the checkboxes where anywhere. Now all the checkboxes in all menus have the same x position.
Now all the apply settings (sound & graphics) buttons have the same x position.
Now you can read all the text because the windows have enough place to hold it.
Now everything in the 'options' has a tooltip explaining stuff in detail.
But I have to go & make some final bugfixes now...
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I hope you like the new look.
I have not changed any of the background graphics !
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The * stands for submenu.
The + stands for special options worth changing & there is only max one 'special' option at the end of the submenu.
Just tested in r30039.
I really like the grouping :)
But I think we should get rid of those special characters.
'*': The indentation should be enough to indicate a 'group'. Also, the yellow falls out of the style imho. Maybe bold or highlighted text will do ?
'&': it didn't deliver any information to me, so just take it out.
'+': I didn't encounter any...
Anyway, good work so far :)
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I don`t like «pseudographic» icons, since we have normal graphical ones. And if you use this symbols, use correct unicode, not -->> but ↠. But again, look to the icons and don`t make players more silly then they are (We can guess what label is belong to each control).
But nice work with grouping, thanks alot.
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i like the grouping too - but as Kildor said, please remove those * and -->> . Using unicode here isn't possible because we are only parsing ascii from the script files. so please remove them.
& Hud Options looks wrongly aligned and the & should not be needed, too.
nice job.
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I`ve wrote to the wrong thread, so just repaste my opinion here:
=======
Btw, I have one more suggestion, make bars a bit shorter, to give more space for labels, since there is not enough place for Russian i/e/. May be we should move all labels some left for the same.
And one more, please, don`t do as you done in revision #30039, look to the wiki about component node. And be consistent with all UI, may be change options page to make it consistent with main menu?
Now text in mainmenu looks very bright and irritates the eyes, It was much better before.
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@Mattn: Thanks for the 'nice job'. At least I got 1 vote ;)
@Kildor: Is there even some compliment hidden somewhere ? It seems I posted to the wrong thread also, here are my answers:
http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php?topic=4829.msg38586#msg38586
@Duke: Thanks.
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We still have to reorganize the video options as it is 'quite a mess' there still, I have not rearranged those logically yet, because there has to be a 'placing concept' first, as we will probably not be able to present those & all of the future ones arisian is going to bring us on this one page without starting to become unconsistent with the other menus...
But I think it is good enough for 2.3 as it is now.
Here some code to underline what I mean:
cvar_t *r_flares;
cvar_t *r_coronas;
cvar_t *r_shadowmapping;
cvar_t *r_shadowmap_width;
cvar_t *r_map_maxlevel;
cvar_t *cl_worldlevel;
cvar_t *r_debug_normals;
cvar_t *r_debug_tangents;
cvar_t *r_debug_lightmaps;
cvar_t *r_debug_deluxemaps;
cvar_t *r_debug_normalmaps;
cvar_t *r_debug_shadows;
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@BTAxis: Thanks for removing this 'poorly phrased comment', was not satisfied with this either, but wanted to provide some kind of explanation for some of the maybe 'not so bright' players to explain how exactly 'isometric view' will look like & I thought 'unnatural' would be the right word for it, but I did not like the phrase either.
But we should provide some explanation maybe...
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I should probably rephrase everything in that file at some point. It's just that the word "unnatural" didn't rub the right way (since I like isometric mode).
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I should probably rephrase everything in that file at some point. It's just that the word "unnatural" didn't rub the right way (since I like isometric mode).
Rephrasing 'everything' would not be very nice... >:(
I am not a native English speaker, but I would say that this would not be necessary for sure ;)
This description was not meant valuing.
But 'Isometric view' is looking unnatural, that is a fact, as every real object you look at 'has a perspective correction'.
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But it would be a great idea to build a camera that makes 'isometric' pictures !
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I think a lot of the tooltips are hard to read, or to understand. So I'll try to make them more comprehensive. That's all.
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You are the lead designer. I trust your judgement. Your decisions are normally very reasonable & intelligent. No problem for me as long as you do not remove all of the funny stuff ;)
Maybe you want to add other tooltips also, imho it would be nice for the UFO:AI newbie to get tooltips for 'Skirmish Mode' & other stuff also, no ?
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The tooltips for the graphics options are nice... but i think some options could better explained. Information about improved or decreased performace or quality (in all tooltipps) would help alot. if its possible to creat one button for best possible graphics settings would be very nice too.
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On the subject of graphic settings:
Can we please get a setting for "Assume my display is properly calibrated"? I've posted this in the mac subforum, but I suspect I was in the wrong place. Now that Vista and/or 7, as well as Mac, have a native OS concept of a calibrated display, can we get a setting to use that instead of trying to replicate the display adjustments internally?
(Or do you want to add controls for tint adjustments, color drift, adjustments to make dark colors brighter without making the bright colors even more bright, etc.)
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So is someone working on improving this further @ the moment ?
We still need to integrate quite a few cvars here & the graphic options menu should be split into a standard graphics options menu & an advanced graphic options menu to have a place for all those cvars ;)...
Also Kildor requested more space for the translations, as those are sometimes much longer than the English version of things & asked to make the sliders smaller to allow for all languages to be displayed correctly...
I would personally like to see much higher resolutions or vectorgraphics, new fonts, more colors, new backgrounds, maybe even some 3d backgrounds for the menus, like our rotating, season-changing earth (our engine would easily manage that), more effects like transparency & this also intertwines with a new GUI as we should keep 1 look throughout the game...
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Just wanted to inform everyone interested in this topic, that the next big upgrade for our menus is in the making ;D
I will implement many additional options & cvars, restructure the whole menu once again, introduce tabs navigation for the several submenus, add icons for tooltips, make some easy setting options (set all gfx to low/med/high with 1 button) like requested in this thread, extend & debug the comments & tooltips, restructure the *.ufo files internally for easier debugging & will also try first experiments to upgrade & enhance our background graphics, icons & UI-graphics & bring some nice colors & maybe even higher resoltions into our menus...
Also I want to take a look @ the possibility of 3d animations in the background of our menus (like used for 'Credits') ;)
That is the plan @ least ;)
Feel free to tell me via this thread what you like & definitely do NOT want to see, as I am in the process of implementing all of that above & should be finished within the next few weeks...
I simply feel for the next versions of our game we need a more modern & upgraded version for the menus & UI also, as players should feel that v2.4+ is a massive upgrade compared to previous versions from the first second the game starts...
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Also I want to take a look @ the possibility of 3d animations in the background of our menus (like used for 'Credits') ;)
menus != sequences. ATM you can't do 3d stuff in menus (other than showin' a model).
To tell you the truth, the menu system should be strengthened with features that sequences support ane more and sequences system should be removed. (In many terms our menu system is much more advanced already) Not an easy task...
-geever
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menus != sequences. ATM you can't do 3d stuff in menus (other than showin' a model).
To tell you the truth, the menu system should be strengthened with features that sequences support ane more and sequences system should be removed. (In many terms our menu system is much more advanced already) Not an easy task...
-geever
First of all, thanks for your input.
The 3d stuff was not intended to be in the next version of the menu, but in the mid-term I could imagine having our 3d globe turning in the background, so that you can actually watch the graphical highlights Arisian already implemented (like the changing of the seasons texture morphing animation), while changing the options.
Additionally we could have some of our (flying) models pass in the background randomly or show some far away ufo fights over the earth ;) or other things from the codebase we could 'misuse' (XVI spread for example)...
We also could have some previews for the individual graphic settings, maybe I will implement this also in some of the future versions (could make this with small preview pictures like we already have for the levels or with realtime 3d graphics (would probably need help for that version))...
3d graphics in the background would also have the advantage of scalability & would therefore be always displayed sharp (@ least the edges of the triangles) no matter what resolution the player has chosen...