Graphics poll
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 12:03 pm
Some of the new features we might be including for Oolite 1.80 - the new explosions, new planet shaders, anti-aliasing options, and possible future graphics improvements - can have quite an effect on frame rate on older cards (mine, for instance, slows down quite a bit with all of these turned on, but runs 1.77 completely fine)
What I would like to do is do a bit more work with the graphics detail options to let people pick settings that work for them, but without overloading the settings page with options which won't get much use.
There's now a completely anonymous survey up at Oolite Graphics Survey - please complete it, especially if you have an older graphics card and/or computer, so that we can get a better idea of the sorts of options we need to provide (and how well the existing options are working for people)
If you have more than one computer you use for playing Oolite, and there is a significant difference in performance, go ahead and fill in the survey more than once.
Optional tests
There are a few optional tests which could go in the "Other information" box. These tests are more complex to perform, so don't feel that they're required.
1) SetIt might not be exactly the same as that (and you'll need Oolite 1.77 to get it at all) but one of those blocks from "Begin update" to "End drawing" would be useful. If you have lots of OXPs installed, doing the same in strict mode (or no-OXPs mode in 1.79) might also be helpful.
2) If you've got a modern enough graphics card to get 60FPS or more constantly with full graphics settings in normal play, then a couple of checks:
- what do you get staring into the docking bay of a Griff Rock Hermit (full shader version, full texture size)?
- if you have a 1.79 nightly installed and are on Windows or Linux, add the settingto your GNUStepDefaults hidden setting file. Do you still get 60FPS? If not, how much do you lose?
3) If you have any other information you think might be relevant (e.g. "Normally get 60FPS, but it drops to 10FPS if I fly into the planet's atmosphere"), that can go in here too.
What I would like to do is do a bit more work with the graphics detail options to let people pick settings that work for them, but without overloading the settings page with options which won't get much use.
There's now a completely anonymous survey up at Oolite Graphics Survey - please complete it, especially if you have an older graphics card and/or computer, so that we can get a better idea of the sorts of options we need to provide (and how well the existing options are working for people)
If you have more than one computer you use for playing Oolite, and there is a significant difference in performance, go ahead and fill in the survey more than once.
Optional tests
There are a few optional tests which could go in the "Other information" box. These tests are more complex to perform, so don't feel that they're required.
1) Set
universe.profile = yes; in your logcontrol.plist. This will generate a lot of log file data, so don't forget to turn it off again afterwards. Launch from the station, look at the planet, and then close the Oolite program (without pausing and using the F2 menu - you want to exit while still displaying forward view). The end of your Latest.log will now have some blocks looking something like
Code: Select all
11:48:41.730 [universe.profile.update]: Begin update
11:48:41.730 [universe.profile.update]: update:entity
11:48:41.731 [universe.profile.update]: updating linked lists
11:48:41.731 [universe.profile.update]: collision and shadow detection
11:48:41.731 [universe.profile.update]: clean up
11:48:41.731 [universe.profile.update]: Update complete
11:48:41.731 [universe.profile.draw]: Begin draw
11:48:41.732 [universe.profile.draw]: Begin opaque pass
11:48:41.737 [universe.profile.draw]: Begin translucent pass
11:48:41.740 [universe.profile.draw]: Begin HUD
11:48:41.749 [universe.profile.draw]: End drawing
2) If you've got a modern enough graphics card to get 60FPS or more constantly with full graphics settings in normal play, then a couple of checks:
- what do you get staring into the docking bay of a Griff Rock Hermit (full shader version, full texture size)?
- if you have a 1.79 nightly installed and are on Windows or Linux, add the setting
Code: Select all
<key>anti-aliasing</key>
<string>YES</string>3) If you have any other information you think might be relevant (e.g. "Normally get 60FPS, but it drops to 10FPS if I fly into the planet's atmosphere"), that can go in here too.
: