Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Open Beta Test => Topic started by: Skuzzy on August 19, 2015, 02:32:11 PM

Title: Patch 71
Post by: Skuzzy on August 19, 2015, 02:32:11 PM
New version (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,374362.0.html) up!

Another one bites the dust!
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: FLS on August 19, 2015, 03:01:03 PM
AA looks even better than last time.   :D

Checked FPS in F4U-1A cockpit default forward view 112 FOV TIR off on CV and air base.

EM 1 AA on    off  EM none  AA on    off

CV         81   78                    88     91


AB         58     57                   71     69


Clouds, ocean, and wakes look great.  :aok 

Take off and landing normal. Smooth deck. Seafire no problems, despite forgetting the hook the first time.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 19, 2015, 04:00:42 PM
-----
We have a few items left for us to convert / rewrite to the new system.

1) Clouds.
2) Road/ train system.

How do you guys at HTC see the prospects for retaining rivers and lakes?

Thanks
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: hitech on August 19, 2015, 04:39:25 PM
Most likely not, you will need to build them in an object.

HiTech
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: bustr on August 19, 2015, 06:17:28 PM
1. - At A1 I spawned an LVT4 and entered the lake near the VH. Navigated the river to the bridge near the map room and left the river up the steep bank. Parked at the map room. When I drove the LVT4 to the lake, it would only go 8mph. In the large town, every house and building I shot with the LVT4 75mm in any direction blew up.

2. - Tried same at port, LVT2 entered and left water smoothly. LVT2 drove about 12mph on land.

3. - One notch of AA clears up most micro jaggies.

4. - Gunsight reticles in bomber gun positions have non stop bouncing micro pulses.

5. - If you spawn a medium bomber in the hanger at small airfields, there is a group of palms that forces you to make a very sharp left hand turn to get out of the hanger. If you spawn fighters and bombers in the hangers, these new fields are more like real airfields with no intention of aircraft rolling out of the hanger into a take off run. I tested a B17 with the heaviest bomb load and 50% fuel for takeoff from the small airfield. There is no hanger at small airfields large enough for a B17 hanger spawn, but the B17 did get off the ground spawned to the runway. You just need a lot of flaps and pray you don't scrub any trees on the way out.

6. - Still getting bullet impact spray in front and aft of the moving CV.

7. - The destroyers are so old their skin has sagged into big wrinkles and blotches...... :lol  The twin 40mm positions on the destroyers show two guns sitting in the air firing with no support structures holding them.

Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 19, 2015, 06:30:21 PM
Thanks for the quick reply, Hitech.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Drane on August 19, 2015, 08:08:08 PM
Film viewer shows a bailed pilot like 2 pilots siamesed together. Screenshot attached.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Drane on August 19, 2015, 08:16:54 PM
Capture the Flag arena -

P38G sitting on cv dropped bombs with no effect on cv, also dropped while rolling out with no effect on cv.

P38G sitting on cv fired rockets with no effect on cv, however, rockets fired during takeoff run took out some guns. Screenshot attached.

When spawning a new plane on cv there's orange colored text message "Weapon Reload complete"
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: FTJR on August 19, 2015, 11:50:50 PM
No wake is visible.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 20, 2015, 12:30:09 AM
No wake is visible.

Check your settings and if everything looks right in your settings, then you might need to upload some screen shots or film, and post a dxdiag.
I only say this, not to criticize, but because I see the wakes behind a PT Boat as well as the ships in a Task Group.
Who would have imagined that my dx9 wouldn't be up to date and cause me so many problems in the last patch.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: 100Coogn on August 20, 2015, 04:32:14 AM
Anti aliasing is working real nice for me.  Is there a way to smooth the shadows?  I don't see a setting for that.
Game is looking great btw...

Coogan
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Randy1 on August 20, 2015, 05:50:12 AM
The text seem to have sharpened a bit on the opening clipboard. 

Low flying still has the jitters using default setting.  Turning off Ground Clutter stops the jettering.

Anti aliasing was tested at the first notch.  Not sure I could see a difference.  Will push it up for the next run.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Tracerfi on August 20, 2015, 11:58:27 AM
found something with the CVs
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Snork on August 20, 2015, 12:09:34 PM
While flying offline I took a hit at an enemy airfield. Damage was internal fuel tank but no trail of vapors showed from external view.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: JimmyD3 on August 20, 2015, 02:40:44 PM
Upgraded, no problem. Micro stutters at low alt. and with details on are gone, well done. I do see a wake on the CV and support ships, LVT still transitions from water to land just fine. Did notice puffy ack and auto ack over Refinery Strat is deadly. :uhoh Zeke off a CV is interesting to say the least. From the minute you spawn onto the deck to launch, the tire bounce sound starts and continues till you takeoff. :O
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: bustr on August 20, 2015, 03:48:59 PM
Some issues in the CV Bridge.

Note: Almost any aircraft viewed in the CV hanger, it's wheels are in motion. Once on deck, I could find none in motion.

Back of Captain's Chair.

(http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee508/KDavis6030/CVBr03.jpg)

View up from Captain's Chair.

(http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee508/KDavis6030/CVBr02.jpg)

Blue Flickering Area

(http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee508/KDavis6030/CVBr01.jpg)
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: MachNix on August 20, 2015, 05:03:17 PM
Reflection of the aircraft still visible in gunsight after Disable Reflection checked.
Opened the Graphic Detail settings while in the tower and placed a checkmark in Disable Reflection box then click OK.  Launched to the carrier deck in an F6F and there where reflections in the canopy and instruments.  Opened Graphic Detail settings and cycled the checkmark in Disable Reflection box so the final state was with a checkmark in the box.  The reflections disappeared from canopy and instruments.  Took off and noticed reflections in the gunsight that moved as the aircraft maneuvered.  The attached image shows one of the black-handled knobs being reflected in the gunsight.
Image: p71_gunsight_refl.jpg

Film Viewer: Propeller damaged but viewer shows prop still turning.
Broke the landing gear while landing a Seafire on a carrier.  The engine was then damaged when the prop hit the deck – the engine stopped and the prop was bent.  Reviewing the film latter shows the prop still turning.  Also noticed in the film that the engine has stopped because the engine oil pressure is bleeding down but the rpm gage still shows the engine is turning.  Attached the last 10 seconds of the film in case it helps.
Film: p71_propDamage.ahf

CV Operations: Sea Hurricane Mk I spawning below the deck.
When spawning a Sea Hurricane on a carrier, the aircraft falls a short distance and a wheel screech is heard.  Occasionally the aircraft will spawn below (or fall through) the deck.  Attached is a short film.  I started in an F6F and moved forward on the deck and stopped. (I was attempting to repeat an earlier sequence that lead to falling through the deck but I don’t think it has anything to do with it.)  I started recording, ended flight in the F6F, changed to a Sea Hurricane and spawned to the deck (00:20) without any problems – notice the slight drop and wheel screech.  I then ended flight and spawned again (00:39).  This time the spawn was below the deck and the aircraft falls to the water.
Film: p71_SeaHurry_spawn.ahf

Film Viewer: Player info area has the speed cut off.
The area that shows the player info is not wide enough to fully display the information and the speed information is not completely visible.  There is no way to alter the size of the area to make it wider and the only way to see the speed is to either use the scroll bar or shrink the width of one of the other fields such as Alt or Range.  Maybe this is more of a wish.
Image: p71_filmViewer_speed.gif

Observation: CV ground effect.
The ground effect over the carrier deck is very strong and seems different from the old CV.  The onset of the effect will be sharp when you go from 70 feet over the water to 10 above the deck, but now you can "feel" when you are over the deck and the aircraft wants to float over the wires.  Not sure if this helps or hurts the chances of catching a wire but it does require a change in technique.  I cannot stay if it is right or wrong but is it what you intended?
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: MachNix on August 20, 2015, 05:05:56 PM
CV deck will sometimes show a bullet splash on the deck. (bustr's #6)
With the CV guns shooting at the drones, sometimes a bullet splash will appear on the front of the deck and move aft as the ship moves forward.  It is possible the splash starts on the water and teleports to the deck when the ship sails over it.
Image: p71_CV_bulletSplash.jpg
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: bustr on August 20, 2015, 05:43:11 PM
I tested the Sea Hurri and it didn't fall through my deck. When I was testing shift_H mouse view with F8 to look for issues with the first plane I spawned today onto the deck. When I was 90 degrees left of the plane and down below the deck, swinging around to the rear of the plane I was looking up through the deck and it's structures.

When I swung on around to the left again to reproduce it, I could only get it to happen a tiny bit. When I swung completely around and came back to the left, it stopped happening. Then I was only seeing the outside of the CV. Subsequent aircraft spawned to the deck, the feature was not reproducible.

I noticed the CV's side wake starts from about 1\3 forward on the sides as though there is a straight line 90 degrees out from each side and the top of the wake is flat emanating back. It does not start from a point near the bow widening out then trailing to the rear. It makes no contact with the bow wake where it should originate. Only noticed this while looking at the CV in mouse view with F8 from above the deck.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: NatCigg on August 20, 2015, 09:29:52 PM
The prop shows as a strange shape similar to a Chinese fan when looking down through the 10k light cloud deck at a16, at early sunset, with p-39q and 109 f, and most likely all planes.  looks fine from under the cloud deck.  :headscratch:
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Pudgie on August 20, 2015, 10:38:20 PM
Updated to Patch 71 w/o issue & set Alpha Video Settings AA slider to None (to use the new fixed AH In-Game Post Processing AA exclusively). Cat 15.7.1 drivers Alpha profile set @ Cat default settings.

Alpha in-game settings for post processing AA are checked, all sliders are full right, EM set @ 2 & all checkboxes that disable graphics features are unchecked except for "disable other plane's skins" & "disable ground clutter when in flight"..............

Went up in Capture the Sheep arena to test......................... ............

FPS held steady at 59-60 w/ most flying time pegged at 60 FPS.

AH Post Processing AA was working very well as all objects as well as lighting edges were very clean & smooth w/ virtually no jaggies visable.............the big surprise was the amount of vid card resources that wasn't needed to run this vers:

(http://s27.postimg.org/soihpr4nz/AMD_R9_Fury_X_Alpha_Patch_71_PPAA_8_20_15.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/soihpr4nz/)

I know that this isn't a true representation as there wasn't 100 other players on at the same time as I was but I've noticed at least 15%-20% drop in GPU % usage & 300Mb-350Mb drop in mem usage running the Alpha w/ just me flying around in this patch compared to patches prior to Patch 70 so this is getting good from a performance perspective as well......the graphics imagery speaks for itself.

Good work, Hitech!

 :salute
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: FTJR on August 21, 2015, 04:38:45 AM
Check your settings and if everything looks right in your settings, then you might need to upload some screen shots or film, and post a dxdiag.
I only say this, not to criticize, but because I see the wakes behind a PT Boat as well as the ships in a Task Group.
Who would have imagined that my dx9 wouldn't be up to date and cause me so many problems in the last patch.

Thanks Easy, will check it out over the weekend.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Randy1 on August 21, 2015, 05:23:00 AM
Tested the Anti aliasing slider at every setting from zero to full on using graphic default settings in plane and GV.   I could not detect any difference in the Anti aliasing slider setting.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Chilli on August 21, 2015, 07:39:55 AM
Original AA Patch 70 said to turn AA slider to "NONE" in video settings.  If you follow that instruction, you will find that the "Enable AA" box will work.  I don't even know if the video settings slider is functional. 

So is this the slider everyone is talking about???? or is there an AA slider inside of the game past the splash screen that does not appear on my computer?
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: hitech on August 21, 2015, 08:21:30 AM
Tested the Anti aliasing slider at every setting from zero to full on using graphic default settings in plane and GV.   I could not detect any difference in the Anti aliasing slider setting.

The AA Slider will be removed when I get a moment.

HiTech
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Randy1 on August 21, 2015, 12:25:20 PM
My bad, from the test goals I assumed the slider was working.

Quote
Test goals:
------------------
Test the new anti-alias settings.
Test the new CV for any issues (take-offs, landings, anti-xxx gun fire, check man guns....)

I assume the setting mentioned are incorporated into the alpha eliminating the need for the slider.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Ratsy on August 21, 2015, 12:27:03 PM
The prop shows as a strange shape similar to a Chinese fan when looking down through the 10k light cloud deck at a16, at early sunset, with p-39q and 109 f, and most likely all planes.  looks fine from under the cloud deck.  :headscratch:

Nat,

Chilli and I observed the same thing (me - A6M5 and Seafire @10K...Chilli - FM2).  Arena time was ~0800 and the effect for me was most evident in the 11 and 1 views.

 :salute
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Tracerfi on August 21, 2015, 12:50:53 PM
i found glitching while i was in the capture the flag arena i was at one of the v bases and the ground was glitching blue and the original color of the ground and upon viewing the flim it doesnt show up in the flim so could it be my computer?
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: bustr on August 21, 2015, 03:39:43 PM
The AA Slider will be removed when I get a moment.

HiTech

Will this mean the clipboard Graphics options AA check box, will switch the game from using AA we set in our graphic card control panel, to not responding to that setting?
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: hitech on August 21, 2015, 04:37:51 PM
Will this mean the clipboard Graphics options AA check box, will switch the game from using AA we set in our graphic card control panel, to not responding to that setting?

It is impossible to do any type of post lighting and have your card do normal FSAA. Do some research on the net and you can find out why.

So to have anti aliasing different methods have been developed, we are using the a shader provide by nvida called FXAA.

That is what the check box turns on in AH.

HiTech
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: bustr on August 21, 2015, 05:49:00 PM
Thanks Prof, just what I needed this weekend. Home work.

Something simple and to the point from a forum:

 I see two uses for FXAA: first, if you want AA, but the penalty of MSAA/CSAA is too high for your hardware; second, if a game heavily relies on alpha and shaders and your hardware is not godly enough for FSAA.

-----------------------------

Still reading about it. I found the Nvida white paper pdf. Are you then implementing it yourself and the check box allows us to enable\disable FXAA?

Now it makes sense why everything looks a little softer recently. After the current bit of research, I sat in an 88 checking\unchecking AA. Went from crisp to soft with a 2-3 FPS loss upon checking it. My AMD card was set to use the game's AA, so my question to you implementing it yourself. Otherwise I suspect I'd have to run my own injector.

I can find articles on the bloom and other effects. Now finding something labeled: Here is the reason Post Lighting Effects won't work with FSAA.... :O

I'll get back to you if I find it. I'll keep looking for articles about FSAA.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: bustr on August 21, 2015, 06:06:34 PM
Does this have something to do with it?

Multi-Sampled Anti-Aliasing (MSAA). This is what you typically have in hardware on a modern graphics card. The graphics card renders to a surface that is larger than the final image, but in shading each "cluster" of samples (that will end up in a single pixel on the final screen) the pixel shader is run only once. We save a ton of fill rate, but we still burn memory bandwidth.

This technique does not anti-alias any effects coming out of the shader, because the shader runs at 1x, so alpha cutouts are jagged. This is the most common way to run a forward-rendering game. MSAA does not work for a deferred renderer because lighting decisions are made after the MSAA is "resolved" (down-sized) to its final image size.

--------------------------------

Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA) and Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA). These techniques analyze the image after rendering and attempt to identify and blur out stair-stepped patterns.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Pudgie on August 21, 2015, 08:10:40 PM
Here is a HARDOCP article that went into testing the various forms of AA on AMD & Nvidia cards.............

Gives a lot of data & may help to explain Hitech's choice to implement FXAA w/ the Alpha....................

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/07/18/nvidias_new_fxaa_antialiasing_technology/1#.VdfKlJBFC6I

I thought it to be a good read...........

 :salute

PS--Note the date of this article..........this tech has been out in the wild for quite some time & under most folks radar.............
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Pudgie on August 21, 2015, 08:47:37 PM
Here is the Nvidia white paper.pdf that bustr mentioned.................

Another good read on this subject.................

Enjoy!

 :salute
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 21, 2015, 09:10:31 PM
One of the things I am glad to see fixed in this version of the game is the off-map arrows when someone ups from a field in the last sector column along the eastern edge of the map.

However, I notice that in the northern row of sectors, we still have the off-map arrows while the drones are still on-map.

My testing terrain is 64x64.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 21, 2015, 09:51:28 PM
Something I see along the shorelines.

The base of my custom bridge is at zero elevation but near the shoreline, it highlights that the water appears to be either transparent or below zero elevation.

The ends of the bridge ramp are both at zero elevation. the terrain verts at each end of the bridge are set exactly to zero elevation as well. The ends of the (ramps) bridge meet the terrain verts at zero. The start of the first arch meets the water, also at zero elevation, but between those two points, in the breaking wave area, you can see under the structure of the bridge ramp.

It seems to me the wave animation should be above zero elevation with the basic view under the bridge block by water at zero elevation.

I hope that all made sense. Jpg looks terrible but attached and I can send your the terrain if you need it.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: hitech on August 22, 2015, 09:13:14 AM
Is this a square object or simply a single object?

HiTech
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 22, 2015, 01:09:39 PM
It's just a single object, not a square tile object. It struck me that you can't see under it at 165' from the terrain vert line or at the vert line itself.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 22, 2015, 01:38:43 PM
I don't know if anyone else will notice this so it's probably not important. Better pics of the shoreline attached.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: FLS on August 22, 2015, 03:37:00 PM

--------------------------------

Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA) and Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA). These techniques analyze the image after rendering and attempt to identify and blur out stair-stepped patterns.

So Morphological Anti-Aliasing is AMD's version of FXAA and is used by the nVidia shader on AH Alpha?

Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: bustr on August 23, 2015, 12:58:05 AM
From reading, it looks like Hitech can write his own FXAA injector and it will work with AMD and NVIDIA based cards. MLAA is only compatible with AMD cards and requires more grunt out of the card than FXAA.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: mustng2 on August 23, 2015, 07:55:47 AM
Has anyone been able to make the carrier burn?  I can sink it, but it never seems to burn.  Is that intentional?
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: hitech on August 23, 2015, 09:08:47 AM
From reading, it looks like Hitech can write his own FXAA injector and it will work with AMD and NVIDIA based cards. MLAA is only compatible with AMD cards and requires more grunt out of the card than FXAA.

An injector is a slightly different concept that implies working out side the normal flow of events. I.E. the program is assuming it is writing to the frame buffer, but a different program intercepted it and then modifies (injects its code) and writes to the frame buffer.

AH simply uses the FXAA shader code (source is provided by nvidea) as part of its post processing .

Also some things are also displayed after the FXAA takes place, all the 2D gui text and the clip board when it is maximized (except the ICONS) is displayed after FXAA processing. As soon as I figure out how to handle some Zbuffer issues, the icons will also display post FXAA.

HiTech
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Krusty on August 23, 2015, 10:49:51 AM
While flying offline I took a hit at an enemy airfield. Damage was internal fuel tank but no trail of vapors showed from external view.

Was that tank empty? Trails stop when the fuel runs out in AH.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: bustr on August 23, 2015, 05:46:10 PM
An injector is a slightly different concept that implies working out side the normal flow of events. I.E. the program is assuming it is writing to the frame buffer, but a different program intercepted it and then modifies (injects its code) and writes to the frame buffer.

AH simply uses the FXAA shader code (source is provided by nvidea) as part of its post processing .

Also some things are also displayed after the FXAA takes place, all the 2D gui text and the clip board when it is maximized (except the ICONS) is displayed after FXAA processing. As soon as I figure out how to handle some Zbuffer issues, the icons will also display post FXAA.

HiTech

So SweetFX may have been slowing us down all this time. Or will if run with the alpha.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Pudgie on August 23, 2015, 07:56:17 PM
So SweetFX may have been slowing us down all this time. Or will if run with the alpha.

Interesting.................. .........

 :salute


An injector is a slightly different concept that implies working out side the normal flow of events. I.E. the program is assuming it is writing to the frame buffer, but a different program intercepted it and then modifies (injects its code) and writes to the frame buffer.

AH simply uses the FXAA shader code (source is provided by nvidea) as part of its post processing .

Also some things are also displayed after the FXAA takes place, all the 2D gui text and the clip board when it is maximized (except the ICONS) is displayed after FXAA processing. As soon as I figure out how to handle some Zbuffer issues, the icons will also display post FXAA.

HiTech

If I understand correctly, the Alpha going forward will only be using FXAA code in-game to perform all in-game AA........no low-level FSAA\MSAA w/ the enhancements ahead of it, correct?

Just curious here as I really like how the Alpha looks & runs from a resources standpoint when using FXAA only....................

Good stuff!

 :salute
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: hitech on August 24, 2015, 09:26:43 AM
I don't know if anyone else will notice this so it's probably not important. Better pics of the shoreline attached.

The way you could fix this is to extend your polies below ground so the blend with the transparency of the water.

Look at the port see wall as an example.

HiTech
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 24, 2015, 07:22:11 PM
Thanks. Yes, that should work well.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: hitech on August 25, 2015, 09:42:36 AM
Thanks. Yes, that should work well.

BTW we do this with all our buildings.

HiTech
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 25, 2015, 11:13:40 AM
Thanks again.

I'll need to learn new habits. I'm in the habit with the old version of meeting the terrain because of what happened to GVs if you didn't but I can already think of several possible fixes for the bridge.

Is there any chance we'll see htc bridges available for MA terrains? I have a couple.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: hitech on August 25, 2015, 12:44:01 PM
Is there any chance we'll see htc bridges available for MA terrains? I have a couple.

The existing ones in the Alpha, or new ones?
I would think the existing ones are already available.

HiTech
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 25, 2015, 03:02:50 PM
I envisioned rivers between GV bases with bridge crossings for the MA. I may have missed a long enough bridge in the Alpha? It would need to be at least 1320' long.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: Easyscor on August 25, 2015, 03:08:52 PM
btw, I love what the alpha allows us to do with the quality of custom objects.
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: mustng2 on August 29, 2015, 11:47:36 AM
Any idea when we will get custom arenas in the Alpha?
Title: Re: Patch 71
Post by: JimmyD3 on September 01, 2015, 04:22:04 PM
This may have been mentioned already, but can't find it so to be sure.........

Noticed while flying a Niki as you transition through 10,000 feet, the prop graphics changes from normal prop views to a blocky squared off prop view, much like what we saw when the props where displaying black fans.