Keep 3do model support - Page 4

Keep 3do model support

Discuss the source code and development of Spring Engine in general from a technical point of view. Patches go here too.

Moderator: Moderators

User avatar
PicassoCT
Journeywar Developer & Mapper
Posts: 10450
Joined: 24 Jan 2006, 21:12

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by PicassoCT »

Question .. would it be feasable to have a auto-converter in spring, that converts 3do models on game-load to s3o?
User avatar
Beherith
Posts: 5145
Joined: 26 Oct 2007, 16:21

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by Beherith »

Feasible yes, sensible I dont think so, This is much better done externally.

This preliminary shot shows 0 performance delta between 3do and s3o. There are some minor bugs and some rendering things I need to work on still.

Image

Image
Attachments
screen01037.jpg
(1.02 MiB) Not downloaded yet
screen01035.jpg
(907.4 KiB) Not downloaded yet
ivand
Posts: 310
Joined: 27 Jun 2007, 17:05

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by ivand »

Don't worry, even basic step to replace many rendering buffers with single buffer proved to require fixing half of the rendering code. This won't be fast. And until completed, there's no reason to enforce 3do assassination.
ivand
Posts: 310
Joined: 27 Jun 2007, 17:05

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by ivand »

Early prototype class implementation shows very significant FPS boost. Something like 500% growth.

Although this number might go change in either direction: the implementation is not yet optimized, so it can go up, but in the same time it's not complete, so it may go down. In any case it's certainly worth the effort.
Image
Attachments
screen01921.png
(5.74 MiB) Not downloaded yet
Super Mario
Posts: 823
Joined: 21 Oct 2008, 02:54

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by Super Mario »

ivand wrote: 10 Apr 2021, 10:02 Early prototype class implementation shows very significant FPS boost. Something like 500% growth.

Although this number might go change in either direction: the implementation is not yet optimized, so it can go up, but in the same time it's not complete, so it may go down. In any case it's certainly worth the effort.
Image
Other than gpu performance increases, any other plans for FPS improvements?
ivand
Posts: 310
Joined: 27 Jun 2007, 17:05

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by ivand »

Super Mario wrote: 10 Apr 2021, 15:06 Other than gpu performance increases, any other plans for FPS improvements?
What do you mean specifically?
User avatar
Beherith
Posts: 5145
Joined: 26 Oct 2007, 16:21

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by Beherith »

The frame rate gains here are from reducing the cpu/driver load from drawing units. Spring rendering is more cpu bound anyway.
Super Mario
Posts: 823
Joined: 21 Oct 2008, 02:54

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by Super Mario »

ivand wrote: 10 Apr 2021, 21:34
Super Mario wrote: 10 Apr 2021, 15:06 Other than gpu performance increases, any other plans for FPS improvements?
What do you mean specifically?
Other than porting spring to modern opengl, do you have any other improvements regarding performance that you have in mind?
ivand
Posts: 310
Joined: 27 Jun 2007, 17:05

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by ivand »

Super Mario wrote: 11 Apr 2021, 19:37 Other than porting spring to modern opengl, do you have any other improvements regarding performance that you have in mind?
No. But if I happen to see the part that can be MT-ed, I'll MT it without any specific plan.
That said, right now the biggest perf. hog is rendering.
ivand
Posts: 310
Joined: 27 Jun 2007, 17:05

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by ivand »

Well, CUnitDrawer class is something special in spring.
It took me most of the weekend to get from early in-place prototype to something more or less sustainable.

200+ FPS vs ~30-40 FPS as in status quo.

Image

P.S. Don't mind shading, as it only shows model color + teamcolor at the moment.
Attachments
screen01926.png
(5.63 MiB) Not downloaded yet
ivand
Posts: 310
Joined: 27 Jun 2007, 17:05

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by ivand »

AlphaPass is something most of the games replace with LUPS transparency, but it's anyway important for drawing ghosted buildings and cannot be left empty.

Status quo:
Image

Work In Progress:
Image
Attachments
screen01931.png
(6.23 MiB) Not downloaded yet
screen01930.png
(6.18 MiB) Not downloaded yet
Manmax
Posts: 78
Joined: 19 May 2011, 13:57

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by Manmax »

Like every software, there's a limit to the support given to any product/technology, I don't get why you seem to be apologizing yourself or trying to get consent before getting rid of old parts of the code that are too costly to maintain.

I would say: who does the work, decides what is done.
ivand
Posts: 310
Joined: 27 Jun 2007, 17:05

Re: Keep 3do model support

Post by ivand »

You are right in the sense: whoever does the job decides what is right and what is not.

In the same time we cannot distance from the community needs too much otherwise a very few or none will be using new engines. Some games use 3do exclusively (I'll leave IPR infringement question out) and the lack of people with shaders/OpenGL programming is real here.

We will take a measured approach so the removal is gradual and migration tools are provided. That doesn't mean engine team will do everything themselves, game devs will need to invest some time too to leverage future perf improvements (akin to FPS numbers seen above).
Post Reply

Return to “Engine”