Split: Discussion on version 1.80

[CaptSolo]

What can I say that hasn't been already? To all the devs: Thanks. I will soon be enjoying the game on a new custom built desktop. Thing is, the game has never executed so well on my 8 year old machine. Yes, a lot of visual stuff was taken away, but game play has always been more important to me than eye candy. Whatever you did actually doubled the frame rate on my old PC. Makes a big difference when battling a bunch of crime bosses and their cronies attacking a Seedy Space Bar, and then a band of pirates join the fray.

[Diziet Sma]

Thing is, the game has never executed so well on my 8 year old machine.
...
Whatever you did actually doubled the frame rate on my old PC.

I have to second this.. the game has never run better on my afore-mentioned old laptop. Combat with lots of ships used to involve drastic drops in framerate, and the occasional pause, and hyperspace jumps used to involve long 20-30 second pauses at one or two points during the jump.. but all that changed after efforts were made to optimise what had been excessively long OXZ loadup times during the game-start. All of a sudden, performance in-game improved dramatically as well.

[Cody]

I will soon be enjoying the game on a new custom built desktop.

Presumably you'll switch from XP - to Win7 (or have you already switched)? What is your FPS now, btw? If that's on XP, then expect a possible increase with Win7.

[CaptSolo]

I will soon be enjoying the game on a new custom built desktop.

Presumably you'll switch from XP - to Win7 (or have you already switched)? What is your FPS now, btw? If that's on XP, then expect a possible increase with Win7.

New computer will run Windows 8.1, 64 bit. Old PC runs XP and frame rate varied. Onboard intel video chipset has two color modes: 16 bit (high color) and 24 bit (true color). With the true color setting frame rate peaked at about 24 FPS but dropped to unplayable levels when the things got busy. Later dev versions of 1.79 and 1.80, I began to see frame rates near 50 with no significant drop off. The trade off was that I was limited to minimum graphic detail which left my Ooniverse rather dark and uninteresting.

[UK_Eliter]

I just want to say that the various improvements, particularly perhaps to AI, in this release are really great.

EDIT: And that I am updating my OXPs - Fer-de-Lance 3G, Interstellar Tweaks, Extra Thargoids, Nexus Missile, and SuperSidewinder - for the new release / new expansion pack format. All of them seem to work alright as they are, though - although testing for the new build has revealed some bugs in some of them (which I am fixing). The new versions of most of those expansion packs will be leaner, i.e. use fewer resources, than the old ones. I've pretty much finished the revision but am testing at the moment. When I've finished they'll be available via the in-game pack manager.

EDIT 2: Anyone downloading the 'resources' part of Random Hits, in-game, should be aware that this 100MB download can take about five minutes, even on a fairly fast connection, and that, on Windows, alt-tabbing away to another program can generate errors from Windows and might (I didn't verify this properly) really lock-up Oolite (i.e. move it from seeming to have hung to actually hanging).

[Ranthe]

Eric makes a good point, Ranthe.. it might just be a case of needing to shut down all unnecessary processes in Windows.

My laptop is about the same age as your machine, and before I ditched Vista and put Linux on it instead,

I've working on switching from Windows Vista to Linux Mint and hope to have a dual-boot setup with Mint 17 64-bit by Christmas (once I upgrade the HD to give enough space to run both side-by-side).

I used to use GameBooster to kill un-needed processes and get maximum performance out of Oolite. It made the process simple and automatic, and made quite a difference in-game. It's free software, and I still have a couple of older versions around, which some claim perform even better than the latest one.. give it a shot, and if you want, I can give you links to my older copies.

Thanks... I'll give that a go.

@Ranthe: Could you please post a log from a run of version 1.80? It looks like you may be experiencing software rendering, but just want to be sure.

Here we go... this is on a machine that runs a AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ CPU with 4 GB RAM, and an ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics card.

Code: Select all

Opening log for Oolite version 1.80 (x86-32) under Windows 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 32-bit at 2014-07-02 18:50:40 +1200.
2 processors detected.
Build options: OpenAL, new planets.

Note that the contents of the log file can be adjusted by editing logcontrol.plist.

18:50:40.259 [dataCache.notFound]: No data cache found, starting from scratch.
18:50:41.385 [display.mode.list.native]: Windows native resolution detected: 1680 x 1050
18:50:42.576 [joystick.init]: Number of joysticks detected: 0
18:50:42.576 [rendering.opengl.version]: OpenGL renderer version: 3.3.11653 ("3.3.11653 Compatibility Profile Context"). Vendor: "ATI Technologies Inc.". Renderer: "ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics".
18:50:42.577 [rendering.opengl.extensions]: OpenGL extensions (187):
GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once, GL_ARB_framebuffer_sRGB, GL_AMD_draw_buffers_blend, GL_ARB_transform_feedback_instanced, GL_ARB_depth_texture, GL_ARB_texture_env_add, GL_NV_texture_barrier, GL_EXT_pixel_buffer_object, GL_ARB_draw_instanced, GL_EXT_texture_compression_rgtc, GL_ARB_half_float_vertex, GL_EXT_texture3D, GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array, GL_EXT_texture_shared_exponent, GL_EXT_separate_specular_color, GL_ARB_framebuffer_object, GL_EXT_shadow_funcs, GL_NV_copy_image, GL_EXT_texture_cube_map, GL_EXT_rescale_normal, GL_ARB_shader_texture_lod, GL_ATI_draw_buffers, GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_ARB_texture_rgb10_a2ui, GL_ARB_texture_compression_rgtc, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp, GL_ARB_multisample, GL_ARB_half_float_pixel, GL_ATI_separate_stencil, GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two, GL_ARB_shading_language_packing, GL_EXT_bgra, GL_ARB_sync, GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3, GL_EXT_direct_state_access, GL_EXT_provoking_vertex, GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays, GL_ARB_sampler_objects, GL_ARB_vertex_shader, GL_ARB_shader_objects, GL_ARB_map_buffer_range, GL_NV_texgen_reflection, GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays, GL_AMDX_debug_output, GL_EXT_texture_object, GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_KTX_buffer_region, GL_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB, GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3, GL_ARB_get_program_binary, GL_ARB_base_instance, GL_ARB_texture_float, GL_ARB_imaging, GL_AMD_sample_positions, GL_ATI_texture_compression_3dc, GL_ARB_draw_buffers_blend, GL_AMD_shader_stencil_export, GL_ARB_fragment_coord_conventions, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap, GL_EXT_bindable_uniform, GL_EXT_texture_swizzle, GL_NV_primitive_restart, GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit, GL_ARB_uniform_buffer_object, GL_ARB_shader_precision, GL_ARB_vertex_array_bgra, GL_ARB_texture_compression, GL_EXT_blend_color, GL_ARB_vertex_array_object, GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_texture_integer, GL_EXT_gpu_shader4, GL_EXT_transform_feedback, GL_ARB_shader_bit_encoding, GL_EXT_texture_lod, GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc, GL_EXT_subtexture, GL_ARB_occlusion_query2, GL_ARB_timer_query, GL_ARB_point_sprite, GL_ARB_depth_clamp, GL_EXT_vertex_array, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_NV_blend_square, GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object, GL_ARB_instanced_arrays, GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample, GL_ATI_envmap_bumpmap, GL_NV_conditional_render, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_EXT_vertex_array_bgra, GL_ARB_seamless_cube_map, GL_ARB_copy_buffer, GL_EXT_texture_storage, GL_ARB_draw_elements_base_vertex, GL_ARB_transform_feedback2, GL_ARB_geometry_shader4, GL_ARB_transform_feedback3, GL_ARB_viewport_array, GL_ARB_shadow, GL_EXT_draw_instanced, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_AMD_pinned_memory, GL_ARB_internalformat_query, GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow, GL_ARB_texture_storage, GL_ARB_shader_stencil_export, GL_ARB_window_pos, GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat, GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_ATI_meminfo, GL_ARB_texture_multisample, GL_AMD_depth_clamp_separate, GL_EXT_texture_snorm, WGL_EXT_swap_control, GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar, GL_ARB_point_parameters, GL_ARB_shadow_ambient, GL_ARB_depth_buffer_float, GL_NV_float_buffer, GL_ARB_vertex_type_2_10_10_10_rev, GL_ARB_shading_language_420pack, GL_EXT_timer_query, GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp, GL_EXT_copy_texture, GL_ARB_texture_rg, GL_EXT_texture_sRGB, GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_WIN_swap_hint, GL_ARB_fragment_program, GL_AMD_performance_monitor, GL_ARB_explicit_attrib_location, GL_EXT_packed_float, GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic, GL_EXT_texgen_reflection, GL_ARB_texture_buffer_object_rgb32, GL_EXT_histogram, GL_ATI_fragment_shader, GL_EXT_draw_range_elements, GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object, GL_EXT_texture_buffer_object, GL_EXT_copy_buffer, GL_EXT_packed_depth_stencil, GL_ARB_texture_snorm, GL_ARB_texture_rectangle, GL_EXT_geometry_shader4, GL_EXT_fog_coord, GL_ARB_separate_shader_objects, GL_AMD_conservative_depth, GL_NV_half_float, GL_SGIS_texture_lod, GL_ARB_ES2_compatibility, GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters, GL_ARB_fragment_shader, GL_ARB_shading_language_100, GL_EXT_secondary_color, GL_AMD_debug_output, GL_EXT_point_parameters, GL_ARB_draw_buffers, GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap, GL_NV_copy_depth_to_color, GL_EXT_texture_rectangle, GL_EXT_draw_buffers2, GL_ARB_blend_func_extended, GL_AMD_name_gen_delete, GL_NV_explicit_multisample, GL_EXT_blend_func_separate, GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_buffer_object, GL_EXT_texture_array, GL_ARB_occlusion_query, GL_EXT_texture_mirror_clamp, GL_EXT_packed_pixels, GL_EXT_framebuffer_object, GL_ARB_compressed_texture_pixel_storage, GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3, GL_EXT_texture_compression_latc, GL_ARB_map_buffer_alignment, GL_ARB_provoking_vertex, GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate, GL_ATI_texture_float, GL_ARB_color_buffer_float, GL_EXT_texture_env_add, GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp, GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_conservative_depth
18:50:42.877 [rendering.opengl.shader.support]: Shaders are supported.
18:50:42.878 [dataCache.notFound]: No data cache found, starting from scratch.
18:50:42.896 [searchPaths.dumpAll]: Unrestricted mode - resource paths:
    Resources
    ../AddOns
    ../AddOns/adcks_galactic_navy_facelift_1.1.5.oxp
    ../AddOns/AI Trading Assistant 2.0.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Audible_Docking_Clearance_1.3.oxp
    ../AddOns/AutoSkim.oxp
    ../AddOns/BattleDamage(forSmivses)v1.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/BeerCooler1.0.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/behemoth 2.6.oxp
    ../AddOns/BGS-A1.9.oxp
    ../AddOns/BGS-Soundset_Pagroove2.3.oxp
    ../AddOns/BountyScannerv2.0.oxp
    ../AddOns/BountyStatus 1.00.oxp
    ../AddOns/buoyRepair1.3.2.oxp
    ../AddOns/Cabal_Common_Library1.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/Camera_Drones_1.2.oxp
    ../AddOns/Cargo Contract MOD v1.4.oxp
    ../AddOns/Cargo_wrecks_teaser 1.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/ChupacabraHUD.oxp
    ../AddOns/Commanders Log 1.00.oxp
    ../AddOns/Commies 2.12.oxp
    ../AddOns/Cup_of_Tea-v1.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/CustomShieldsv083.oxp
    ../AddOns/Deep_Horizon_Advanced_Navigation_Computer.oxp
    ../AddOns/Deep_Horizon_Nav_Buoy.oxp
    ../AddOns/Destination ETA 1.0.4.oxp
    ../AddOns/Dictators v1.5.oxp
    ../AddOns/display_reputation.oxp
    ../AddOns/Distant Suns 0.5.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Distant Suns 0.5.1.oxp/Distant Suns of Chart 1 version 0.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/Distant Suns 0.5.1.oxp/Distant Suns of Chart 2 version 0.2.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Distant Suns 0.5.1.oxp/Distant Suns of Chart 3 version 0.2.oxp
    ../AddOns/Distant Suns 0.5.1.oxp/Distant Suns of Chart 4 version 0.2.oxp
    ../AddOns/Distant Suns 0.5.1.oxp/Distant Suns of Chart 5 version 0.2.oxp
    ../AddOns/Distant Suns 0.5.1.oxp/Distant Suns of Chart 6 version 0.2.oxp
    ../AddOns/Distant Suns 0.5.1.oxp/Distant Suns of Chart 7 version 0.2.oxp
    ../AddOns/Distant Suns 0.5.1.oxp/Distant Suns of Chart 8 version 0.2.oxp
    ../AddOns/Dock_Assist_System1.2.oxp
    ../AddOns/DTT_Atlas_1.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/DTT_Cyclops_1.0.oxp
    ../AddOns/Escape_Capsule_Locator_1.4.1_2012-06-05.oxp
    ../AddOns/Escort_Contracts_1.5.6e_2013-03-05.oxp
    ../AddOns/Escort_Formations_1.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Explorers'_Club_1.3.2_2012-03-05.oxp
    ../AddOns/Famous_Planets_v2.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/Far_Arm_ships_v3.0.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Flight Log 1.07.oxp
    ../AddOns/Font-Dangerous-Square-v.1.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Fuel Station 1.36.oxp
    ../AddOns/Galactic_Navy 5.4.3.oxp
    ../AddOns/GalaxyInfo.oxp
    ../AddOns/griff_alloys_and_wreckage.oxp
    ../AddOns/Griff_Shipset_Addition_v1.22.oxp
    ../AddOns/Griff_Shipset_Resources_v1.2.25.oxp
    ../AddOns/griff_station_bundle_fullsize_tex_v1.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Hired Guns 1.26.oxp
    ../AddOns/hOopyCasino1.2.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Hyperradio1.26.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/hyperradioJFRG01.oxp
    ../AddOns/hyperradioPSY01.oxp
    ../AddOns/Illegal_goods_tweak_1.7.3_2012.05.30.oxp
    ../AddOns/ionics-1.3.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/JamesonFaces_0.1_bis.oxp
    ../AddOns/Library_Extracts_1.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Medical Anaconda 1.0.oxp
    ../AddOns/Missionaries.oxp
    ../AddOns/Murghs_Stations2.0.oxp
    ../AddOns/New_Cargoes_1.2.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/NumericHUDv3.14.oxp
    ../AddOns/OXPConfig2.2.4.oxp
    ../AddOns/Pitviper_1_0_0_2012-09-09.oxp
    ../AddOns/PlanetFall 1.50.oxp
    ../AddOns/Q-Bomb_Detector_1.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/RandomHits1.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/randomshipnames1.3.oxp
    ../AddOns/Satellite1.03.oxp
    ../AddOns/sb-taniwha.oxp
    ../AddOns/Serpent_Class_Cruiser_V1.02.oxp
    ../AddOns/ships_cat_alpha_1.0.oxp
    ../AddOns/Ships_Library_0.6.oxp
    ../AddOns/Smivs'Shipset-v4-HD-replace.oxp
    ../AddOns/Sniper Sight 2.0.3.oxp
    ../AddOns/SniperLockv1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Snoopers2.5.oxp
    ../AddOns/System_Features_Rings_1.0.oxp
    ../AddOns/System_Redux.oxp
    ../AddOns/TCA_v1.03.oxp
    ../AddOns/technical_reference_library_1.0.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/The_Feudal_States_v1.16.2.oxp
    ../AddOns/TOGY_Main 1.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/TOGY_Memorials_v1.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/TOGY_Monuments pack.oxp
    ../AddOns/TrackerCam 1.02.oxp
    ../AddOns/Traders_Almanach_0.1.oxp
    ../AddOns/Traffic Control 1.11.oxp
    ../AddOns/transhab.oxp
    ../AddOns/Transports 2.52.oxp
    ../AddOns/Vampire_Dominatrix.oxp
    ../AddOns/Welcome Mat 1.12.oxp
    ../AddOns/YOUR_AD_HERE_4.1.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/YOUR_AD_HERE_set_A_4.1.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/YOUR_AD_HERE_set_B_4.1.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/YOUR_AD_HERE_set_C_4.1.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/YOUR_AD_HERE_set_D_4.1.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/YOUR_AD_HERE_set_E_4.1.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/YOUR_AD_HERE_set_F_4.1.7.oxp
    ../AddOns/YOUR_AD_HERE_set_G_4.1.7.oxp
18:50:45.448 [shipData.load.begin]: Loading ship data.
18:50:46.332 [shipData.load.error]: ***** ERROR: the shipdata.plist entry "grs_cobra3_redux1" specifies non-existent model "cobra3_redux1.dat".
18:50:52.931 [startup.complete]: ========== Loading complete in 12.19 seconds. ==========
18:51:01.681 [exit.context]: Exiting: Shift-escape pressed.
18:51:01.683 [gnustep]: 2014-07-02 18:51:01.683 oolite[5444] Defaults path 'C:\Oolite/oolite.app/GNUstep/Defaults' did not exist - created it

18:51:01.686 [gnustep]: 2014-07-02 18:51:01.686 oolite[5444] Creating empty user defaults database

18:51:01.705 [gameController.exitApp]: .GNUstepDefaults synchronized.

Closing log at 2014-07-02 18:51:01 +1200.

[Smivs]

I've working on switching from Windows Vista to Linux Mint and hope to have a dual-boot setup with Mint 17 64-bit by Christmas (once I upgrade the HD to give enough space to run both side-by-side).

I've been running Mint (16 cinammon) for a few months now and it is excellent - by far the best O/S I've ever used. Highly recommended.

[Ranthe]

Okay, I've done a bit more testing on my setup, and it seems that the performance issue is mostly around the audio stuttering (unfortunately GameBoost has had no effect in this area). The graphics performance after launch seems to be around the same as under 1.77.1, and I'm getting an FPS of 45-50 which is reassuring.

The audio however sounds horrible. Starting music, BGS background sounds, other sound effects... it sounds like it's being played over a busted-up car tape recorder while driving over the roughest dirt road you can find. It's a real immersion-breaker. It doesn't appear to be OXP-related as I've tried running it with no OXPs installed and the same audio problem persists.

Suggestions appreciated!

[another_commander]

Okay, I've done a bit more testing on my setup, and it seems that the performance issue is mostly around the audio stuttering ... [snip] ... Suggestions appreciated!

Running on a Vista 32-bit OS, Tricky seemed to have a very similar issue. Check this thread, it contains the solution he found. Maybe it can be of help to you too.

[Ranthe]

Okay, I've done a bit more testing on my setup, and it seems that the performance issue is mostly around the audio stuttering ... [snip] ... Suggestions appreciated!

Running on a Vista 32-bit OS, Tricky seemed to have a very similar issue. Check this thread, it contains the solution he found. Maybe it can be of help to you too.

Yes, this seems to have fixed the stuttering sound issue. Many thanks!

[maik]

Dear devs and OXP authors: thank you! And congratulations on this milestone release!

[mossfoot]

OXZ question - how can you tell what is newly added to your list? The color coding is great for identifying stuff with updates and stuff that needs other stuff to run, but as the list grows people are just going to wonder "what's new?"

I know something got added recently, because the last page of the menu is longer than it was before... but I'll be damned if I know what was added!

[mossfoot]

Regarding the A.I. -- did anyone consider having a little pirate-on-pirate action? Would be interesting to see two rival pirate groups duking it out rather than always cops/merchants vs pirates.

Yes, I say this because I am picturing dropping a Q bomb in the middle of it, why do you ask?

[SteveKing]

OXZ question - how can you tell what is newly added to your list? The color coding is great for identifying stuff with updates and stuff that needs other stuff to run..."

You've been talking to 'Nakor' haven't you? Didn't you know all Ooniverses are made of stuff?

[mossfoot]

Heh... it happens when I'm typing and watching TV... lots of unintended filler... and stuff