Oolite Bulletins

Posted: **Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:16 pm**

Thanks for the info about the shaders – how could I do that (in a config file somewhere, right?)

I have d/l'ed the Omega drivers, but they specifically don't include OpenGL support, AFAIK.

I'm just trying some old Catalyst versions from guru3D, might work...

Posted: **Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:26 pm**

nrubdarb wrote:
Thanks for the info about the shaders – how could I do that (in a config file somewhere, right?)

Yes, if you get the game to load and are able to see text, it's f2 or 2 while you are docked.

If you cannot do that, locate .GNUstepDefaults which for me is in the subfolder GNUstep\Defaults from oolite.app folder.

Pretty far to the bottom of that document, there's an entry like

Code: Select all

	"shader-effects-level" = <*I3>;

which can then be changed to

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	"shader-effects-level" = <*I1>;

to disable shaders.

Screet

Posted: **Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:55 am**

Update this morning (I know it's boring everyone, but anyway...)

Guru3D has pretty much every Catalyst version from the last year or so, here:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Videocards- ... t_c18.html

I tried the latest (9.9), but that didn't recognise my card.

I went back to 8.12 – that was OK. I'm now going to work up from there when I find some time today, to see whether I can get the test version going OK.

I'm up to 9.1 so far, and that's fine, but the test version is still corrupted.

Driver details (reported by Catalyst):

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Driver Packaging Version	8.573-090113a-074230C-ATI	
Catalyst™ Version	09.1	
Provider	ATI Technologies Inc.	
2D Driver Version	6.14.10.6903	
2D Driver File Path	System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Video/{5815D173-FB55-4CDA-AC2B-9A7F2DB7FB9E}/0000	
Direct3D Version	6.14.10.0636	
OpenGL Version	6.14.10.8395	
Catalyst™ Control Center Version	2009.0113.2222.40119	
AIW/VIVO WDM Driver Version	6.14.10.6238	
AIW/VIVO WDM SP Driver Version	6.14.10.6238

I'll post if I get this to work, since if anyone has an nx6325 and wants to run the game, they'll need a pretty precise version of the ATI drivers!

Posted: **Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:37 am**

nrubdarb wrote:
I have d/l'ed the Omega drivers, but they specifically don't include OpenGL support, AFAIK.

Actually, the Omega drivers do support OpenGL and in some cases better than the official ATI ones. Without OGL support, it would have not been possible for people to solve their ATI drivers issues in the past.

Posted: **Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:38 am**

Right, final report from me on this.

The ATI Catalyst package (driver and CCC) works up to Version 9.3.

This sets up a system as follows:

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Driver Packaging Version	8.591-090225a-076825C-ATI	
Catalyst™ Version	09.3	
Provider	ATI Technologies Inc.	
2D Driver Version	6.14.10.6925	
2D Driver File Path	System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Video/{59BDFFEC-1DB8-4226-896F-6ED46EDCD4B5}/0000	
Direct3D Version	6.14.10.0647	
OpenGL Version	6.14.10.8543	
Catalyst™ Control Center Version	2009.0225.1546.28221	
AIW/VIVO WDM Driver Version	6.14.10.6238	
AIW/VIVO WDM SP Driver Version	6.14.10.6238

This runs stable fine, but has corrupted graphics for the test version.

I also tried the latest OmegaDrivers package for ATI, namely: "ati_omega_xp2k_48442". This unfortunately made zero difference. So I went back to the ATI drivers – for some reason, I couldn't get the Omega tray tools to extend my desktop properly.

Interestingly, I still cannot get the test version to run properly (well it runs OK, but you can't see what you're doing ...) even after setting my shaders to off.

This is the entire contents of my .GNUstepDefaults file:

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{
    NSGlobalDomain = {
    };
    oolite = {
	"shader-effects-level" = <*I1>;
    };
}

Cheers,

Ed

Posted: **Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:45 am**

Just a shot in the dark, but this has resolved some problems with NVidia drivers and, you never know, it might just work for you as well:
Start the game with the -nosplash switch. Run it from Start->Run... and add the switch there. Not promising anything, but I hope it helps. It would also help if you could post the Latest.log after running the game with the latest good drivers.

Posted: **Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:07 am**

Your shot hit the mark!

Not only that – it now works with full shader effects as well!

Many, many thanks. I'l now report any "proper" bugs if I find any.

Before:

After:

Cheers,

Ed

P.S. Latest.log, for completeness' sake, after starting with -nosplash:

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[log.header]: Opening log for Oolite version 1.73.4 (x86-32 test release) under Windows at 2009-10-21 12:11:11 +0200.
2 processors detected.
Oolite Options: [Procedural Planets] [Docking Clearance] [Wormhole Scanner] [Target Incoming Missiles]

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

[joystickHandler.init]: Number of joysticks detected: 0
[display.mode.list.native]: Windows native resolution detected: 1280 x 1024
[rendering.opengl.version]: OpenGL renderer version: 2.1.8543 ("2.1.8543 Release")
Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Renderer: ATI Radeon Xpress Series
[rendering.opengl.extensions]: OpenGL extensions (93):
GL_AMD_performance_monitor GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_draw_buffers GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow GL_ARB_fragment_shader GL_ARB_framebuffer_object GL_ARB_half_float_pixel GL_ARB_half_float_vertex GL_ARB_map_buffer_range GL_ARB_multisample GL_ARB_multitexture GL_ARB_occlusion_query GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_ARB_point_sprite GL_ARB_shader_objects GL_ARB_shading_language_100 GL_ARB_shadow GL_ARB_shadow_ambient GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp GL_ARB_texture_compression GL_ARB_texture_cube_map GL_ARB_texture_env_add GL_ARB_texture_env_combine GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 GL_ARB_texture_float GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two GL_ARB_texture_rectangle GL_ARB_transpose_matrix GL_ARB_vertex_array_object GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_vertex_shader GL_ARB_window_pos GL_ATI_draw_buffers GL_ATI_envmap_bumpmap GL_ATI_fragment_shader GL_ATI_meminfo GL_ATI_separate_stencil GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3 GL_ATI_texture_float GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array GL_EXT_copy_texture GL_EXT_draw_range_elements GL_EXT_fog_coord GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample GL_EXT_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_EXT_packed_depth_stencil GL_EXT_packed_pixels GL_EXT_point_parameters GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_secondary_color GL_EXT_separate_specular_color GL_EXT_shadow_funcs GL_EXT_stencil_wrap GL_EXT_subtexture GL_EXT_texgen_reflection GL_EXT_texture3D GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc GL_EXT_texture_cube_map GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_EXT_texture_env_combine GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3 GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias GL_EXT_texture_mirror_clamp GL_EXT_texture_object GL_EXT_texture_rectangle GL_EXT_texture_sRGB GL_EXT_texture_swizzle GL_EXT_vertex_array GL_KTX_buffer_region GL_NV_blend_square GL_NV_texgen_reflection GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_lod GL_WIN_swap_hint WGL_EXT_swap_control
[searchPaths.dumpAll]: ---> OXP search paths:
(Resources, ../AddOns)
[dataCache.upToDate]: Data cache is up to date.
[script.load.world.listAll]: Loaded 5 world scripts: "oolite-cloaking-device" 1.73.4, "oolite-constrictor-hunt" 1.73.4, "oolite-nova" 1.73.4, "oolite-thargoid-plans" 1.73.4, "oolite-trumbles" 1.73.4
[dataCache.willWrite]: About to write data cache.
[dataCache.write.success]: Wrote data cache.

Posted: **Tue Nov 03, 2009 5:55 pm**

another_commander wrote:
Just a shot in the dark, but this has resolved some problems with NVidia drivers and, you never know, it might just work for you as well:
Start the game with the -nosplash switch. Run it from Start->Run... and add the switch there. Not promising anything, but I hope it helps. It would also help if you could post the Latest.log after running the game with the latest good drivers.

Just about to post to ask for help because I was having the same issue with GeForce 7300 graphics. The -nosplash flag worked great.

Any idea why?

Posted: **Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:09 pm**

CarolHaynes wrote:
Just about to post to ask for help because I was having the same issue with GeForce 7300 graphics. The -nosplash flag worked great.

Any idea why?

I have a theory, but it has yet to be tested and for that we will wait for the next release (or you can test the latest nigthly trunk builds and let us know if they work for you). With the splash screen, 1.73.4 starts up with a default client window of 792x573, while without splash, it defaults to 800x600 startup. My theory - which could be completely wrong, but what the hey - is that that 792x573 seems to be doing something bad to certain drivers. Alternatively, it could simply be an issue with some drivers trying to resize the SDL window unsuccessfully.

From 1.74 onwards, the game starts up at standard 800x600 regardless of splash being displayed or not. If my first assumption is correct, it should be possible to have both splash screen and hardware acceleration on all cards and driver revisions.

Posted: **Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:21 pm**

Seems to be a possible reason - it will be interesting to see what happens with the next release.

I only found out about Oolite yesterday but I used to play Elite on a BBC Micro back in the dark ages (well grey ages).

It is really fun to see an updated take on an old friend

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 4:01 pm**

I installed oolite on a Lenovo Thinkpad x200 (using a Mobile Intel 4 series chipset as video adapter) and I had the same problem has nrubdarb.

If I launch oolite with -nosplash everything works perfectly.

many thanks for helping to solve this problem

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:08 pm**

Is it possible to change the default on 1.73.4's installer to include -nosplash?

This might cut down the number of newbies with these kinds of problems.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:27 pm**

Or, equivalently, disable the splash screen for SDL builds until it can be done in a way that doesn’t break things horribly. (Rendering it in OpenGL seems the obvious way.)

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:40 pm**

1.73.4 is already out and there is nothing that we can do about its installer's defaults anymore. I would invite anyone who has experienced graphics corruption when -nosplash is not used to give a try with the nightly builds. I believe that the problem should be fixed there.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:49 pm**

another_commander wrote:
1.73.4 is already out and there is nothing that we can do about its installer's defaults anymore. I would invite anyone who has experienced graphics corruption when -nosplash is not used to give a try with the nightly builds. I believe that the problem should be fixed there.

Well maybe we should put a note on the website by the downloads for people to try nosplash if they encounter problems. Would save a lot of heartache for newbies.

Oolite Bulletins

Graphics Corruption