Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Pyro on March 24, 2004, 04:36:15 PM

Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Pyro on March 24, 2004, 04:36:15 PM
HT has been working on frame-rate optimization for the next beta.  As a result of the changes that he's been making, Beta 19 will require DirectX 9.  If you are using an older version of DirectX, you will need to upgrade your DirectX version to run the next beta release.  If you are using an older set of video drivers, you may be required to update your video drivers as well.

Either Beta 19 or Beta 20 will be a substantially large update as we plan to enable all or nearly all of the remaining planes and vehicles.
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Grits on March 24, 2004, 04:54:57 PM
Excellent. Good news indeed.
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Rafe35 on March 24, 2004, 05:19:16 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Grits
Excellent. Good news indeed.
I have to agree and I already have DirectX 9 since long time ago.  :)
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: BenDover on March 24, 2004, 05:25:05 PM
OoOo


Btw, if that seems like its just something i made in 5 sec to get a post in before the thread might get locked.........well, yep!:D
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: acepilot2 on March 24, 2004, 05:26:57 PM
all planes and vehicles?

*gets ready to have a skinfest*:eek:
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: eskimo2 on March 24, 2004, 05:34:23 PM
Pyro,

Will the rest of the planes-set be on 1024 bitmaps?  Or will some/most of them use the existing skin sized maps until SF & ND get caught up?

eskimo
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: GODO on March 24, 2004, 05:54:51 PM
What would be the effect of DX9 over actual AH1?
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Octavius on March 24, 2004, 06:09:18 PM
Great news indeed.

DX9 allows for neat graphical improvements.. Maybe HT is coding some spiffy water effects!  Most likely he's using it for the FR optimizations though.
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Wilbus on March 24, 2004, 06:19:09 PM
WOHOW!
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Pei on March 24, 2004, 06:33:15 PM
Just a note to those who might be worried by the required DX upgrade: I have been running DX9b for a while now and have had in no problems in any of my games (including AH, Il2:FB and CoD).
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: REDNECKWV on March 24, 2004, 07:42:59 PM
Where Can Download the betas?
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Octavius on March 24, 2004, 08:03:21 PM
News section:  here (http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=111969)
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: jstcruising on March 24, 2004, 11:31:10 PM
This is great news as beta 18 is stalling at 0 fps randomly :confused: unlike previous betas.    Full planeset sounds cool, any new planes after that?  Or will you have a back log of new textures to do?

jstcruising
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Wilbus on March 25, 2004, 02:57:04 AM
WOOOHOW!
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Dawggus on March 25, 2004, 05:28:30 AM
How can you find out which version of DX you are running?

Cya Up!

Dawg
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Flossy on March 25, 2004, 06:23:56 AM
Dawggus - Click on Run in Start menu, then type in dxdiag and click OK.  This will open up a box on screen, and the DX version is shown in System Information, under the System tab. :)
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: mipoikel on March 25, 2004, 07:37:12 AM
Not locked yet??:D :aok
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Pyro on March 25, 2004, 09:16:48 AM
Quote
Originally posted by eskimo2
Will the rest of the planes-set be on 1024 bitmaps?  Or will some/most of them use the existing skin sized maps until SF & ND get caught up?


No, we're going to be playing catch-up.  However, you can still skin planes those planes that aren't done yet with the 1024 bitmaps.
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Mitsu on March 25, 2004, 10:37:52 AM
Japanese planes are included? and will it get better quality than AH1's one?
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: AKIron on March 25, 2004, 10:50:01 AM
Two weeks right?
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: VWE on March 25, 2004, 10:55:36 AM
Oh.... that'll get it locked for sure now! I'm in... :D
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: mars01 on March 25, 2004, 11:19:24 AM
Sounds like were getting close!!!!!   Whooo hoooooooo
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: lionxxx on March 25, 2004, 11:19:57 AM
What is the video card MB thats best for the AH2 ?
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: mars01 on March 25, 2004, 12:05:30 PM
I have a 9700 Pro and it worked well.  Some frozen frames once in a while, lasted about 1 sec or so.  I think HT is still optimizing for ATI though.
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Pyro on March 25, 2004, 12:13:22 PM
HT has stuck an ATI card in his development box and has been working on the frame-rate issues that ATI users have reported.  He's made some pretty major changes and ATI users should see a pretty big performance boost in the next beta.
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: mars01 on March 25, 2004, 12:15:39 PM
I feel like one of pavlovs dogs - can't wait!!!!!
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Wilbus on March 25, 2004, 12:19:36 PM
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOWWWW!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Octavius on March 25, 2004, 01:46:37 PM
I second that motion, Wilbus!

WOOOOOHOOOWWW!!!!!!
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Charon on March 25, 2004, 03:24:09 PM
Farrrrrrr Out

Gotta see about flashing the bios to unlock my 9500 pro now :)

Charon
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Wilbus on March 25, 2004, 05:07:58 PM
Just did to my 9700 Charon. Unlocked and flashed to 9700 Pro
 Can OC it from 270mhz to 370 Mhz now. Memory from 270 to 300. Got 5400 points in 3D Mark 04 :D
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: streakeagle on March 25, 2004, 05:48:04 PM
I retired the last of my Voodoo 5500s since it couldn't even run AH2. All of my cards are Radeon now: 2xRadeon 9100 128MB, 1xRadeon 8500 128MB, and 1xRadeon 9800 Pro 128MB.

My laptop at work has a Mobility 9000 as well which stomps my wife's work laptop's GeForce4Go.

'bout time the ATI issues get addressed :) I want AH2 to run on my machines at least as fast as those with Ti4200s.
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: BenDover on March 25, 2004, 06:10:33 PM
Voodoo - hehe
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Charon on March 25, 2004, 06:46:10 PM
Quote
Just did to my 9700 Charon. Unlocked and flashed to 9700 Pro
Can OC it from 270mhz to 370 Mhz now. Memory from 270 to 300. Got 5400 points in 3D Mark 04


I've been planning on it for a while, time to pull the trigger. I should be able to overclock it to around 9700 levels after the flash :)

Charon
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Wilbus on March 25, 2004, 06:52:01 PM
Just don't forget new cooling ;)

Using a Zahlman Sink + Fan, works exelent.
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: streakeagle on March 25, 2004, 08:27:29 PM
Quote
Originally posted by BenDover
Voodoo - hehe


Voodoo 5500 was nothing to laugh at. Aside from its inability to run AH2, it still ran AH1, OFP/Resistance, and Strike Fighters Project 1 respectably compared to the 8500/9100... only no TnL and only good fps at 1024x768 (but with FSAAx2 it ran well and looked almost as good as 8500 at 1600x1200). In my opinion, the 9700/9800 cards are the first ones to surpass the IQ of the Voodoo 5500. I haven't seen 5700/5800/5900 IQ, but GF4 and earlier FSAA never impressed me at all.
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: BenDover on March 25, 2004, 08:49:32 PM
I know voodoos were good cards, my voodoo 4 lasted me until last year when i needed to replace it so i could use DX 8/9.

Interesting to note I've gone through 2 geforce cards since then:rolleyes:
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: LWACE on March 26, 2004, 05:10:28 AM
Has the FM been changed on all planes already, or how does that work?
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: BenDover on March 26, 2004, 06:47:46 AM
I'm guessing all of them
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: jodgi on March 26, 2004, 08:27:40 AM
I have this feeling that things are getting close...

...Am I setting myself up for frustration? ;)
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Wmaker on March 26, 2004, 11:07:23 AM
Quote
Originally posted by streakeagle
Voodoo 5500 was nothing to laugh at. Aside from its inability to run AH2, it still ran AH1...


AH1 runs with VooDoo 3 and Celeron 466MHz.
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: streakeagle on March 26, 2004, 12:16:23 PM
Voodoo3 won't run AH1 at 1024x768x32 with FSAAx2

if I could have lived with 16-bit color, the 5500 ran AH1 well at 1600x1200x16 with FSAAx4

my original retail 5500 AGP got killed right after I ordered the 9100 to replace it. power supply went bad and took it out along with a hard drive. it served well from 2000 to 2004. I still have one OEM 5500 AGP that never worked well due to cheap RAM and two retail 5500 PCI which I will keep for Glide compatibility.

but I digress...

Hitech must make AH2 run well on ATI cards!!!!![
Title: how bout some new gv's
Post by: 68DevilM on March 26, 2004, 03:27:10 PM
t72 and sherman:confused:
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Wilbus on March 26, 2004, 03:38:00 PM
Quote
Hitech must make AH2 run well on ATI cards!!!!![



Wow, take it easy and read this (http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=1169038#post1169038) thread instead...
Title: BIG Boost in my FPS in beta 19
Post by: Hyrax81st on March 29, 2004, 03:12:25 PM
WOW !

I was in the 39FPS range consistenly until Beta 19 came out - bounced back up to 59FPS with this Beta which is comparable to what I experience in AH 1.

Graphics still stutter a bit when entering enemy field area (ground objects ?) and also encountering enemy AC for first time.. but after about 3 passes, its pretty smooth. First use of views in any particular direction causes a brief delay - but livable right now. I am going to see if I can get my squad in AH2 to work each other over... it feels "close" to usable.

AMD 2800+ at 1.6Ghz
ATI Radeon 9800 XT with 256MB RAM
1GB RAM
Windows XP Home Edition
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Octavius on March 29, 2004, 03:20:10 PM
Ditto everything Hyrax said.  Seeing some minor graphical glitches.  Check the bomb craters in this pic:

(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/52_1080595245_craterweird.jpg)

^ Is this the z-buffer issues mentioned in the News?

AMD 1.2ghz T-bird (athlon)
ATi Radeon 9600XT (128mb)
512mb PC2700 RAM
WinXP Home
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: hitech on March 29, 2004, 03:23:00 PM
Yes it's the zbuffer issue.

HiTech
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: simshell on March 29, 2004, 05:12:44 PM
hitect when aces high opens with its first full version will i be able to download a patch upgrading from beta to full version
Title: Beta 19 info
Post by: Overlag on March 29, 2004, 08:00:36 PM
Quote
Originally posted by simshell
hitect when aces high opens with its first full version will i be able to download a patch upgrading from beta to full version


probably not.......