Engine Testing - 3. Dec 2012 (91.0.1-566-g3bf8eb3)

[abma]

We soon try to make a release, so a new testing version:

Major changes are:
- Linux cross-distro binary builds
- much faster Sim (~20% and ~50% with working OMP)
- new cmdline arguments
- better pathing

The installer also contains the newest SpringLobby (version 0.154) which has rapid support! So please test it, too. (but please report springlobby related bugs to the springlobby bug tracker). Before a release we want to merge spring with spring-mt, but this test release is already a showcase what will come.

For details of changes look at the "92.0" section in changelog.txt.

See the Testing Release Wiki page for general info about how to obtain the release, and an archive of all testing releases since the last stable one.

If you find a bugs, please report in this thread or on Mantis.

Remember to attach infolog.txt as file, if you crash!

[Beherith]

Thank you Engine Devs for working on this, ill get cracking :)

[smoth]

OMP?

[abma]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenMP

OpenMP can make spring use multiple cores... OMP should work on all platforms (win32/linux/osx)

[smoth]

is that separate from zerver's work?

[abma]

yep

edit:

seperate is maybe wrong. omp and mt can be enabled at once. the "work" is seperate. (jk implemented it, me and jk setup a win32 buildslave with an omp enabled compiler)

[smoth]

is this new version the one that uses mt by default?

[abma]

no, it will be default disabled, as sadly its still unstable, but it can be easily enabled by a config setting. see the fixme in changelog.txt.

[Forboding Angel]

Abma, you sir, are a gentleman and a scholar!

I've been dying for the static linux builds! I'll get testing asafrigginp!

[Beherith]

Does the windows build have OMP on by default?

[abma]

yep, omp is enabled as default...

@Forboding Angel:

jk made the linux static build, not me! also as note: the linux static build currently is 64 bit as we could either compile 32 or 64 bit (the upload overwrites each other). as the 64 bit buildbot should be 24/7 up, i chose this one.

[Beherith]

CollisionVolumes:
! drop support for ellipsoid-cylinders and ellipsoids
cylinders with round(!) baseplates are still supported!
simplify how damage from an explosion is calculated, fewer magic numbers, etc
no more distance approximations means no more invincible units (or features)
and no more general "weird" cases like 3103
THIS WILL CAUSE BALANCE CHANGES, BE PREPARED

Can anyone advise the nature of the expected balance changes? If not, a point to commits would be welcome too. Thanks!

[abma]

https://github.com/spring/spring/commit ... b1d6367ef9

hopefully no invulnerable units any more

also i guess weapons with area damage do different damage in some case. but i'm not sure about that...

[smoth]

CollisionVolumes:
! drop support for ellipsoid-cylinders and ellipsoids
cylinders with round(!) baseplates are still supported!
simplify how damage from an explosion is calculated, fewer magic numbers, etc
no more distance approximations means no more invincible units (or features)
and no more general "weird" cases like 3103
THIS WILL CAUSE BALANCE CHANGES, BE PREPARED

Can anyone advise the nature of the expected balance changes? If not, a point to commits would be welcome too. Thanks!

Just use a cylinder

[Google_Frog]

The most obvious balance changes will occur because there was a bug with the previous handling which caused units to take significantly reduced damage from some weapon types. This is all dependent on the hitsphere etc... of the unit so there is no easy way to say what was changed.

Also large, long hitvolumes would take no damage from small explosions (aoe = 100) which occur right next to their hitvolume because distance to explosion was underestimating distance to hitvolume. As this change should use the distance to the nearest point on the hitvolume as explosion distance the reduced damage should be fixed. It might have been possible for units to take increased damage from explosions but I never noticed it.

[Silentwings]

I downloaded the portable install and tried to test - but literally nothing happens when I run spring.exe. Same problem with the multihreaded.exe. It thinks for a second and then does nothing; no change to what's on screen, no infolog generated. The same happens if I try and use the mission editor to run spring. Any ideas?

edit: Same issue if i use the regular installer with portable option.

[abma]

does the install path contain a space? if so, please try a path without space.

if it works then you are affected by http://springrts.com/mantis/view.php?id=3353

[Silentwings]

Got it in one. Ten points & tyvm. Works when I don't have a space.

[xyz]

Gave this build a spin (Linux static build 64bit on a Fedora 18 beta) and found a few problems.

First the map was glowing like crazy (Tabula v4 I can post a screen-shot when I get home)
Secondly the small bushes were drown purple. The trees on the other head were ok.
I did not try it with other map yet, I'll check that first and then open a bug.

The biggest issue is with performance on the MT executable.
I play a 1v1 with a kAIK AI.
At first I got 200+ fps but after 2-3 minutes of play the frame rate started fluctuating from 200+ to 15-16 fps for half a second and then back to 200+ and then down again.

My hardware:
AMD 8350 at 4000 ghz
Asus Sabertooth r2
16 G ram at 1600
Nvidia Geforce 9800 GT
Intel SSD
os: Fedora 18 beta x64

Note: This is a new system and I am still playing with the tunning, but I did not see any slowdowns at all in games like Xonotic or Dota 2 over wine.

Thank you.

[gajop]

Fresh mageia 2 install on work, and here's what i get when i try to run the static build:
./spring: error while loading shared libraries: libopenal.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Installing openal fixes that, but still doesn't let it run. Btw, can this error be avoided, either by shiping openal with spring or using a different sound system/library?

New Errors:
./spring: /lib64/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.15' not found (required by ./spring)
./spring: /lib64/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.15' not found (required by ./spring)
Seems mageia 2 (current stable) uses a 2.14.1 version of glibc.

PS: It works normally on my arch (which is bleeding edge, duh). Do we need to enforce the glibc >=2.15 ?