What's new for OS X

[dirkpitt]

The tricky test is with Celestia AA on (smooth lines) and FSAA in 2x; if both could edit your own messages with new shots this would be cool to really compare...

(This thread is getting really disorganized - there are about 3 different discussions going on at once )

ElChristou, FYI I recently edited my post to include a new screen shot with 2x, 4x, with or without line smoothing: my edited post

[ElChristou]

...Second part of this mistery... How do I put my object in orbit?
I checked Nasa's website. I can't afford the payload, so I'm looking for another solution...

Here you should begin to make some search on the forum, analyse some existing addons by watching carefully the ssc file and the organization of the folders inside the addon (textures/medres and models)...

[ElChristou]

The tricky test is with Celestia AA on (smooth lines) and FSAA in 2x; if both could edit your own messages with new shots this would be cool to really compare...

(This thread is getting really disorganized - there are about 3 different discussions going on at once )

ElChristou, FYI I recently edited my post to include a new screen shot with 2x, 4x, with or without line smoothing: my edited post

Yep, the result on your config is also quite strange indeed...

[ElChristou]

...Off hand, I'm not sure how to do it. Perhaps another Mac coder would like to try implementing this feature?

huch!... this is not a good sign
No way to find some dev forum or something similar to find the info?

[tech2000]

Sorry to interupt your thread, but will there be a release for the pc users soon to take part of the new features?

[ElChristou]

Sorry to interupt your thread, but will there be a release for the pc users soon to take part of the new features?

Apart the Japanese nationalization, I'm not sure there is something new here that is not already in the last Windows Built...

[dirkpitt]

Sorry to interupt your thread, but will there be a release for the pc users soon to take part of the new features?

Apart the Japanese nationalization, I'm not sure there is something new here that is not already in the last Windows Built...

I'd beg to differ:

Changes:
- Includes recent non-power-of-two texture code by Chris (more freedom for add-ons)
- New star rendering (press @)

Another recent "arrival" is overlay textures (alt surface) finally work in OpenGL 2.0 render path, but that's not in my recent build.

[ElChristou]

Sorry to interupt your thread, but will there be a release for the pc users soon to take part of the new features?

Apart the Japanese nationalization, I'm not sure there is something new here that is not already in the last Windows Built...

I'd beg to differ:

Changes:
- Includes recent non-power-of-two texture code by Chris (more freedom for add-ons)
- New star rendering (press @)

Another recent "arrival" is overlay textures (alt surface) finally work in OpenGL 2.0 render path, but that's not in my recent build.

Oops sorry...

BTW, those features are ok only for Higher config or mister everybody is able to use all this?

[Cham]

[for add-ons)
- New star rendering (press @)

What are the differences in the star rendering ? Can you show somehing ?

[tech2000]

Sorry to interupt your thread, but will there be a release for the pc users soon to take part of the new features?

Apart the Japanese nationalization, I'm not sure there is something new here that is not already in the last Windows Built...

I'd beg to differ:

Changes:
- Includes recent non-power-of-two texture code by Chris (more freedom for add-ons)
- New star rendering (press @)

Another recent "arrival" is overlay textures (alt surface) finally work in OpenGL 2.0 render path, but that's not in my recent build.

Thats what I mean dirkpitt... Thanks for filling in the blanks for me... Any new release for the PC to be expected soon?

[dirkpitt]

Changes:
- Includes recent non-power-of-two texture code by Chris (more freedom for add-ons)
- New star rendering (press @)

Another recent "arrival" is overlay textures (alt surface) finally work in OpenGL 2.0 render path, but that's not in my recent build.

Oops sorry...

BTW, those features are ok only for Higher config or mister everybody is able to use all this?

Actually my own graphics card (ATI 9700) does not support non-power-of-two textures either. This feature basically means your tile sizes can be 100x83 or as Fridger points out, 84k textures are possible, etc and not forced to power-of-two dimensions like 128 etc.
The new star rendering unfortunately only seems to work properly in Tiger 10.4+. Try switching to Fuzzy Points to see it.

[Cham]

Dirkpitt,

I tried the new built, and I've found two issues about stars :

The star flare disappears when I get closer than about 5 AU from the star.

And apparently, there's a white spot appearing in the middle of any star, if I get close enough to the star. At first sight, it isn't very obvious, but once you have spotted it, it's very clear that something is wrong in the middle of the star (at close range).

I use OS X Tiger 1.4.6.

[t00fri]

Dirkpitt,

I tried the new built, and I've found two issues about stars :

The star flare disappears when I get closer than about 5 AU from the star.

And apparently, there's a white spot appearing in the middle of any star, if I get close enough to the star. At first sight, it isn't very obvious, but once you have spotted it, it's very clear that something is wrong in the middle of the star (at close range).

I use OS X Tiger 1.4.6.

I kept reminding Chris periodically about this white spot in the dev list and by direct email. It's NOT particular to OS-X builds.

[cartrite]

This is some results from CVS build from 05/17/2006. I tried the texture thing by scaling a 4k texture to 5400x2700 and it works fine. That will mean the BMNG textures can stay at 84k. And Mars has all kind of different sizes.

Thanks Chris and all others who took part.

I also seen that the moons have a halo around them when the @ key is toggled. Was that key ment to do that for moons or just stars?

EDIT: Sorry, these results were for Windows XP.
EDIT: Suse 9.3 too.

cartrite

[julesstoop]

I can't seem to get the new star rendering style to work. Will it become a choice in the star style menu? (my problem might be key-mapping related?)

(I am on a fully updated MacBook Pro)

[selden]

Jules,

The new code is turned on by typing an @ (shift-2; This replaces the "object orientation edit" mode in the CVS version of Celestia). Then "Star style: scaled discs" displays the new glare effects.

[chris]

New star code:
The new star code is definitely still in the testing phase. I will be fixing it up in the next week (including getting rid of the white dots.) Eventually, it will be enabled by default and the old star rendering will go away.

Non power of two textures:
Yes, you should be able to use the native resolution BMNG images now. However, only certain graphics cards support non power of two textures: GeForce 6 and 7 series, and Radeon X1xxx cards. On other cards, the textures will be rescaled to the nearest power of two size when they're loaded.

Another caveat with non power of two textures: you can use non power of two DXT compressed textures, but they cannot be automatically rescaled on hardware that doesn't support non power of two textures. This will likely result in black textures on older hardware. Also, splitting of large DXT non power of two DXT textures is not supported. You should not attempt to use a non power of two DXT larger than the maximum texture size supported by your hardware (usually either 2k (ATI) or 4k(NVIDIA). Virtual textures with non power of two DXT tiles will work fine however.

--Chris

[cartrite]

Chris wrote:

Non power of two textures:
Yes, you should be able to use the native resolution BMNG images now. However, only certain graphics cards support non power of two textures: GeForce 6 and 7 series, and Radeon X1xxx cards. On other cards, the textures will be rescaled to the nearest power of two size when they're loaded.

Another caveat with non power of two textures: you can use non power of two DXT compressed textures, but they cannot be automatically rescaled on hardware that doesn't support non power of two textures. This will likely result in black textures on older hardware.

I can confirm this. Thats why the pause when drawing the 5400x2700 png texture. I guess I'll be getting that new card sooner rather then later.

cartrite

[ElChristou]

...Off hand, I'm not sure how to do it. Perhaps another Mac coder would like to try implementing this feature?

I was trying to recall which app has a popping menu bar... the dvd player of course!
no way to find the source? I mean not the source but something about this?

[t00fri]

On other cards, the textures will be rescaled to the nearest power of two size when they're loaded.
...

Yes, but will that internal reduction to the nearest power-of-two be equally good than my optimized external reduction at the original 16bit raw graylevel (normalmaps) or 8x3 rgb raw level (other textures)??

If non-power-of two NORMALMAPS are internally rescaled, will they be renormalized properly (r*r+g*g+b*b=1) ? Unlike the original grayscale elevation maps, the rescaling of rgb normalmap textures MUST be done with an advanced algorithm >= cubic in order to retain their crucial smoothness.

I don't believe that the normal map quality will not suffer this way....Normalmaps are the most sensitive part of the whole texture set for a given body.

Bye Fridger