Aberations in graphics

[reece146]

I dunno if these are known bugs or if they are Mac specific or...

First off, build 1511 built w/ XCode 2.4.1 running on latest Mac OS X all patched up (10.4.8), dual PPC @ 2.0 GHz, 1.5 GB RAM, ATI RADEON 9800 Pro.

1.) Whenever I hit the "Advanced Display Options" my graphics get corrupted. This is completely reproducible. The only way to correct it is to exit VDrift. Here are some examples:

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-12.jpg

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-7a.jpg

The corruption carries over into the actual game play as well - makes everything darker.

2.) I'm noticing "gaps" in parts of the scenery and sky and when I look off into the distance other parts of the track that are in sight (or maybe they are not meant to be?) show up in light blue.

Here are some examples:

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-7.jpg

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-8.jpg

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-10.jpg

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-11.jpg

Otherwise neither of these things seem to affect game play as far as frame rate and such is concerned.. just screws up the eye candy. :)

[thelusiv]

1. Does it happen when you enter the Advanced Display Options menu, or when you press OK to leave it? Can you take a screen shot of what it looks like in-game?

2. Do you see skybox gaps on any tracks besides the ring? There are indeed some areas on that track where you can see that there's no ground below the area immediately around the track. That track needs work...

[reece146]

1. Does it happen when you enter the Advanced Display Options menu, or when you press OK to leave it? Can you take a screen shot of what it looks like in-game?

After hitting OK. I'll snap a picture of in game shortly.

2. Do you see skybox gaps on any tracks besides the ring? There are indeed some areas on that track where you can see that there's no ground below the area immediately around the track. That track needs work...

Hmm, I think so but then I see that thread about the work that has been doone to the tracks.

I'll get back to you.

[reece146]

1.) Hmm, this time it completely corrupted the screen - nothing but blue when going into the cockpit. Exit and restart then I get the "dark world"

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-20.jpg

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-21.jpg

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-22.jpg

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-23.jpg

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-24.jpg

2.) LeMans seems to have a vertical line down that is visible from anywhere along the straight. Also, the track appears to be blue off in the distance like the Ring.

http://moose.ca/content/projects/vdrift/Picture-18.jpg

Laguna on the other hand, completely rocks! No gaps or blue to be seen there. It is noticably better than it was. This is the first time I've played it since it was tweaked. I don't have the cycles to test the other tracks tonight (damn, almost midnight again).

[joevenzon]

Looks like something isn't reloading its textures properly. What lighting mode are you using? Medium?

[reece146]

Looks like something isn't reloading its textures properly. What lighting mode are you using? Medium?

I think so but will verify tonight if I can find the time.

Edit: "Lighting Quality" -> "Low".

Btw, the new Lighting Quality set to anything above Low makes my machine lucky to see 9 FPS. I really need a new display card or get X Window running on the Linux server in the workshop.

[thelusiv]

Can you post the [ display ] section of your VDrift.config? I tried switching to low lighting quality and everything's fine for me. I suspect that the problem is that perhaps textures are not getting properly deleted somewhere, and then when VDrift tries to reload its textures, it runs out of space (since your video card probably doesn't have much VRAM).

If your video card has shared video memory, then try sharing more system memory to your video card.

Does this happen when you change settings in-game, before you start a game, after you start a game, or any time?

[reece146]

Can you post the [ display ] section of your VDrift.config? I tried switching to low lighting quality and everything's fine for me. I suspect that the problem is that perhaps textures are not getting properly deleted somewhere, and then when VDrift tries to reload its textures, it runs out of space (since your video card probably doesn't have much VRAM).

If your video card has shared video memory, then try sharing more system memory to your video card.

Does this happen when you change settings in-game, before you start a game, after you start a game, or any time?

Code:

[ display ]
FOV = 67.500000
anisotropic = 0
antialiasing = 2
car_shadows = on
depth = 32
fullscreen = on
height = 640
input_graph = off
lighting = 0
mph = off
reflections = 0
show_fps = on
show_hud = on
skin = simple
texture_size = large
view_distance = 10000.000000
width = 1024

Here's info on the display card:

Code:

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro:

  Chipset Model:    ATY,R350
  Type:    Display
  Bus:    AGP
  Slot:    SLOT-1
  VRAM (Total):    128 MB
  Vendor:    ATI (0x1002)
  Device ID:    0x4e48
  Revision ID:    0x0000
  ROM Revision:    113-A14401-117
  Displays:
Apple Cinema Display:
  Display Type:    LCD
  Resolution:    1680 x 1050
  Depth:    32-bit Color
  Core Image:    Supported
  Main Display:    Yes
  Mirror:    Off
  Online:    Yes
  Quartz Extreme:    Supported
  Rotation:    Supported
Display:
  Status:    No display connected

I don't think it is shared memory. To my knowledge there would be no way to tweak it from the defaults on the Mac anyway.

It happens whenever I hit the advanced button. At least I think so. I'll need to confirm later as I have other obligations I need to tend t currently.

T!

p.s.: Is there a way to have the build number built into the binary and displayable? Maybe stick it under the FPS counter in a small font or maybe in the menus somewhere? Again, JAT.

p.s.^2: I've got another Linux server humming in my workshop/garage. I'll try to install VDrift on it some time over the weekend and see if it occurs under Linux as well. The display card is either a V9400 or a 6400... Can't rememebr which one I stuck in it - to rushed to ssh.

[thelusiv]

Well you have the same amount of video memory as me, so that's not the problem. This is definitely a bug that only seems to affect OS X.

[reece146]

Well you have the same amount of video memory as me, so that's not the problem. This is definitely a bug that only seems to affect OS X.

Just thinking out loud...

Is there a video "buffer flush" that occurs when this menu is accessed? Maybe the way the GL stuff in OSX needs to be re-initialized is different enough to make this occur?

[thelusiv]

Well what happens is when we change display properties it's likely that the textures need to be reloaded. On Windows, the GL context is lost when you change resolutions, color depth, or just about anything else. So all the textures must be reloaded or everything will get funky like the screenshots you show. OS X may be the same, or maybe not. In Linux, I can change graphics/display stuff all day and don't necessarily have to reload my textures, so if this is the problem then that explains why I don't see it. However I doubt this is it, the textures are actually getting reloaded, after all.

Come to think of it there are times when I reload textures in-game and one of the car's wheels becomes a giant triangle...however I think this is unrelated. I think I'm going to need some more help figuring this one out; I'm sure abs1nth will have some interest in fixing it since he maintains the OS X build. I'll contact him and see if he can replicate your problem.

[abs1nth]

I'm sure abs1nth will have some interest in fixing it since he maintains the OS X build. I'll contact him and see if he can replicate your problem.

i'll have a look but i can promise nothing

Well what happens is when we change display properties it's likely that the textures need to be reloaded. On Windows, the GL context is lost when you change resolutions, color depth, or just about anything else. So all the textures must be reloaded or everything will get funky like the screenshots you show. OS X may be the same, or maybe not. In Linux, I can change graphics/display stuff all day and don't necessarily have to reload my textures, so if this is the problem then that explains why I don't see it. However I doubt this is it, the textures are actually getting reloaded, after all.

SDL on Mac OS X is the same as on Windows and neccisitates texture reloads. BTW. this is not a fundamental problem with windows/osx but related to the broken implementation of SDL on those platforms. However the

[abs1nth]

However the SDL people claim this isn't a problem and it won't be fixed.

[abs1nth]

btw. i had a look at this for another game i'm managing the mac port but it didn't work right:

http://www.idevgames.com/forum/showthrea...fullscreen

[abs1nth]

like the last time i looked at this issue i haven't been able to find the cause .. ;-(

it occurs when changing display options for the second time => calling SDL_SetVideoMode for the third time

(because of this you saw it when going to the advanced display options because this triggers two display changes - one for each OK button)

i've commited some changes which make the problem harder to trigger (we don't need to call SDL_SetVideoMode if the mode didn't change), but it still exists and is triggerend when changing the resolution or fullscreen mode twice.

please review the changes i've commited to make sure i didn't break anything.