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Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:46 pm
by fernando
Hello, I have installed XWAU Craft Pack v1.5 and I have seen that after applying reshade I am only getting about 20 FPS. However, if I replace the ddraw.dll of the XWAUCP v1.5 with the one available at www.xwaupgrade.com/download/files/xwa_d ... 11.1.3.zip, the in-flight FPS increase up to 28 FPS.

Does anyone know why the version of the ddraw.dll included in the XWAUCP v1.5 is getting worse result than the older xwa_ddraw_d3d11.1.3.zip?

Thanks!

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 4:52 pm
by Reimar
There have been many, many changes since that version, you could check the history at https://github.com/rdoeffinger/xwa_ddraw_d3d11/releases for when this happened.
An obvious thing to check would be different settings for RefreshLimit though.

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 8:28 pm
by Darksaber
I must agree with Fernando, just to test this out I replaced the 1.5.3 dll with 1.4.1 versions of the files and the FPS was more stable and higher

Reimar, would it be possible to release a DDraw.dll that doesn't have all the XvT, tie fighter stuff in it, so it's just for use with XWA, please

Half the stuff in the CFG file I haven't a clue what it does and is it all really necessary?

Jeremy's original file only had 5 settings 2 of those I've never understood (EnableMultisamplingAntialiasing and EnableAnisotropicFiltering), but your has 18 different settings, it gets very confusing when probably half of them are to do with the other games in the series and not applicable to XWA.

Thanks

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:04 pm
by Rich C
Multisample Antialiasing is a method where the GPU renders multiple versions of each frame, and then blends them together before displaying the final image, in order to smooth jagged edges on meshes.

Anisotropic Filtering is a method to stop textures becoming less sharp/appearing blurry, when viewed from a steep angle.

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 5:15 pm
by DTM
In recent months I have experienced the following message, which appears at the gamecrash during some campaign missions. I translate from Italian: Direct3DTexture::Load [Suspended GPU Device Instance Use GetDeviceRemovedReason to Determine Appropriate Action.]

This used to happen rarely, until I installed the latest version of DSUCP with the DDraw.dll version 1.5.3.
Some missions give more problems than other missions, but I could not find a rule. In some missions after only a few minutes the game always crashes.

I did some tests, always playing the same mission (mission 5, battle 10 of the REBCP - it is a particular mission that gives me problems, even if it does not seem to have any particularity...on the contrary, it is very basic.): with the versions 1.5.3 and 1.5.2 game crashes always, after few minutes of gameplay. The version 1.5.1 seems to be more stable: half of the time I can finish the mission without crashes.

I also tried some older versions: with the version 1.4.1 the game crashes after a few minutes.
With the version 1.3, the same distributed by GOG, I never had problems. I use this version now...

I can not say if things have changed in my computer in recent months, because the hard disk has changed and the operating system has been reinstalled. I had no problem one year ago.
My system: Windows 10, Intel Core I7 2.60 Ghz, 16.0 Gb Ram, Nvidia GeForce GTX970M.

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 5:44 pm
by JeremyaFr
Hello,
Just wondering: Does the game crash if you set "GenerateMipMaps = 0" in ddraw.cfg?

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 6:56 pm
by Darksaber
I'm starting to come to this conclusion myself, I'm thinking of going back to an earlier version of DDraw, there seem to be a lot more complaints when I update ddraw to the latest version, one of the reasons I asked Reimer to take out the other game stuff.

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:33 pm
by DTM
I jest tested version 1.5.3 setting "GenerateMipMaps = 0" in ddraw.cfg: it crushed after 2 minutes of gameplay :(

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 2:10 am
by Reimar
About the ddraw.cfg: I can look into sorting it into sections and improving the descriptions - might need your help on what is unclear though.
Note that most things are just there to make debug easier or allow special use-cases.
Very little code is specify to the older games, so I don't really see how a separate binary would help.
Also note that the bug reports you see here are likely biased: people report regressions, but not when things suddenly start working. For example it seems like the very sluggish menu issues have been fixed, going back to the old version would probably break that.
Long-term, the best stability would be achievable by working with people who have the issues to find what causes them and fixing it. Which is more effort though for anything not reproducible in my computer...

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 12:11 am
by fernando
Reimar wrote:About the ddraw.cfg: I can look into sorting it into sections and improving the descriptions - might need your help on what is unclear though.
Note that most things are just there to make debug easier or allow special use-cases.
Very little code is specify to the older games, so I don't really see how a separate binary would help.
Also note that the bug reports you see here are likely biased: people report regressions, but not when things suddenly start working. For example it seems like the very sluggish menu issues have been fixed, going back to the old version would probably break that.
Long-term, the best stability would be achievable by working with people who have the issues to find what causes them and fixing it. Which is more effort though for anything not reproducible in my computer...
Hello Reimar, I could support you in the investigation of the issues. Which kind of test would you like that I perform with the lates version of DDraw.dll?

Cheers,
Fernando

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 5:56 am
by Reimar
fernando wrote:
Reimar wrote:About the ddraw.cfg: I can look into sorting it into sections and improving the descriptions - might need your help on what is unclear though.
Note that most things are just there to make debug easier or allow special use-cases.
Very little code is specify to the older games, so I don't really see how a separate binary would help.
Also note that the bug reports you see here are likely biased: people report regressions, but not when things suddenly start working. For example it seems like the very sluggish menu issues have been fixed, going back to the old version would probably break that.
Long-term, the best stability would be achievable by working with people who have the issues to find what causes them and fixing it. Which is more effort though for anything not reproducible in my computer...
Hello Reimar, I could support you in the investigation of the issues. Which kind of test would you like that I perform with the lates version of DDraw.dll?
I missed DTM's post, so if you have the same issues it might not be so helpful, but generally the thing to start with would be to go through the releases https://github.com/rdoeffinger/xwa_ddraw_d3d11/releases and figure out when the issue started to appear (and of course describe the issue).
From there, I'd probably have to ask you to either test some options or try out custom builds to narrow it even further down to a specific change.
If there are error messages like the texture load, I should probably add more error checks and better error messages, plus possibly running against a debug build of DX.

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 6:21 am
by Reimar
DTM wrote:I also tried some older versions: with the version 1.4.1 the game crashes after a few minutes.
With the version 1.3, the same distributed by GOG, I never had problems. I use this version now...
There is also a v1.4, did/could you test that one as well?
I'll also add more diagnostics to the error you are getting, however usually the "device removed" thing essentially means the driver had a hickup and crashed/had to reset the GPU/...
Also, how much RAM does the GTX970M have? Just to know if it could be some resource leak and it runs out of VRAM.

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:32 pm
by Reimar
I released 1.5.4 which hopefully gives a slightly more useful error message in case of the "device suspended" error.
Not included in that release, but I also tried to order and clean up the ddraw.cfg a bit:
https://github.com/rdoeffinger/xwa_ddra ... /ddraw.cfg

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:23 pm
by fernando
Reimar wrote:
Fri Feb 23, 2018 5:56 am
fernando wrote:
Reimar wrote:About the ddraw.cfg: I can look into sorting it into sections and improving the descriptions - might need your help on what is unclear though.
Note that most things are just there to make debug easier or allow special use-cases.
Very little code is specify to the older games, so I don't really see how a separate binary would help.
Also note that the bug reports you see here are likely biased: people report regressions, but not when things suddenly start working. For example it seems like the very sluggish menu issues have been fixed, going back to the old version would probably break that.
Long-term, the best stability would be achievable by working with people who have the issues to find what causes them and fixing it. Which is more effort though for anything not reproducible in my computer...
Hello Reimar, I could support you in the investigation of the issues. Which kind of test would you like that I perform with the lates version of DDraw.dll?
I missed DTM's post, so if you have the same issues it might not be so helpful, but generally the thing to start with would be to go through the releases https://github.com/rdoeffinger/xwa_ddraw_d3d11/releases and figure out when the issue started to appear (and of course describe the issue).
From there, I'd probably have to ask you to either test some options or try out custom builds to narrow it even further down to a specific change.
If there are error messages like the texture load, I should probably add more error checks and better error messages, plus possibly running against a debug build of DX.
Hello Reimar,

Following your indications on testing other releases of ddraw.dll, I think that the instability with the frame rate started in the version 1.4.0. At least, this is my case.

In case some extra information helps, my computes has a video card radeon rx560.

Regards,
Fernando

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:18 pm
by Reimar
fernando wrote:
Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:23 pm
Hello Reimar,

Following your indications on testing other releases of ddraw.dll, I think that the instability with the frame rate started in the version 1.4.0. At least, this is my case.
Just to be clear: you have a performance issue, not crashes or anything?
That would be even harder to figure out I have to admit.
I checked all the changes from 1.3 to 1.4 and none would obviously cause bad performance.
I assume you tried the options in ddraw.cfg like EnableMultisamplingAntialiasing and
EnableAnisotropicFiltering already?

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:12 pm
by Cpt. Spaulding
Hi at all, I'm spamming again...
I have also the Direct3DTexture::Load [Suspended GPU Device Instance Use GetDeviceRemovedReason to Determine Appropriate Action.] issue in a custom built mission with a big fleet of ISDS an SSD and the Eclipse... Every time I run this mission sometimes earlier but latest after a few minutes game is crashing with the above mentioned error message. :(
I have
- Win 10 64 bit
- Intel graphics (activated for that game) or Nvidia GTX 1050 (but causes the same problem if i switch the game to this card in the Nvidia control center)
- Using the latest main hook (dinput.dll) by Jeremy.
- Using the latest ddraw 1.5.4 by Reimar (tried also using 1.4.0, but with the same problem)
Setting "GenerateMipMaps = 0" in the ddraw.cfg doesn't help unfortunately.

Any suggestions to solve this problem? Will also try if it happens also in the standard XWA campaign...
Thank you very much.

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:43 pm
by Reimar
Please use the latest version of the ddraw.dll: https://github.com/rdoeffinger/xwa_ddraw_d3d11/releases
It will print a more detailed error message that might help tracking down the cause.
EDIT: it seems I did not read fully, you used 1.5.4. Please quote the error you get with that one, the error message should NOT be what you quoted with that (if it is, I'll have to check for other/additional issues).
Checking the Windows error log might also be a good idea.
EDIT2: Note that most comments when searching for this error (DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED) say this is caused by either bad drivers or bad graphics card (e.g. overclocked, even if factory-overclocked).

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 7:44 pm
by Cpt. Spaulding
Hi Reimar, thank you for the answer. Yes I'm using the last ddraw.dll. There is nothing to do other than placing it in the XWaroot directory is it?
Here the error log I got a few minutes ago:
http://i67.tinypic.com/j9tuh5.png
The error window in the game also says driver crash..
The Edit 2 sounds not so good. I buyed the notebook last year and didn't make any changes or modifications at the graphics card neither hardware or software... :( For Intel Graphics HD 630 the newest driver is also installed...
Maybe the error log helps. Sorry that it is in German, but maybe you can extract some relevant information. Thanks again for your effort!!

EDIT: Let me add that I have the subjective feeling the crash occurs preffered if a big explosion (e. g. destruction of an ISD) happens in game...
EDIT 2: Here is the last "in game" error message when it crashed (again as a shipyard in exploded....): http://i68.tinypic.com/k1dnb8.png

EDIT 3: Tried another custom made mission with a fleet of ISDs and an SSD attacked by a big rebel fleet with Mon Cals and many fighters. I had no crash...
This brought me to the question could this kind of crash, I had in the one specific mission, depend on the amount of ships inside it or also depend on specific ships (in the crashing mission I had an Eclipse SSD that I added via MXvTED by myself)?

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:52 pm
by Reimar
Don't worry about German, I'm from Germany (even though I live in Sweden nowadays).
However that error log was not useful after all.
The message from edit 2 however is.
The error says "driver internal error". While you can never be sure if people use the error codes correctly, that one pretty much is the driver saying "oops, I messed up badly", i.e. I'd say this is likely an actual bug in the drivers and probably only Intel could properly fix that.
I read that sometimes e.g. disabling anti-aliasing might help, you could try that in the ddraw.cfg, just in case. Might also be worth checking how much RAM is reserved for the graphics, if there is any such setting.
It seems unlikely to me that you'd be able to track this down to a specific ship or such really as it's an internal driver error and thus something more complex.
But if I had to make a guess, based on it reporting the issue in the texture upload function, it would be related to textures, for example how many unique textures, or some unusual texture or such.

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 7:46 pm
by Cpt. Spaulding
Hi Reimar, thanks for your detailed message. I will try to disable the Anti-aliasing and if this will not help I will reduce the amount of ships in that specific mission. will report if one or both will work. ;)

Edit: Unfortunately disabling Anti-Aliasing and exchanging the Eclipse by another ship doesn‘t help. Will now try to reduce the number of ships to reduce the unique textures in the mission. ;)

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 4:09 pm
by JeremyaFr
UPDATE
Hello,
I've updated my ddraw.dll v1.3.1.

The changes are:
  • Remove dependence on Visual C++ 2013 Runtime
  • Set CPU affinity to single core
I've added the following setting to ddraw.cfg:

Code: Select all

; ProcessAffinityCore = int value
; When set to 0, the process affinity is not changed
; The value indicates the core you want the process to run on
ProcessAffinityCore = 2
https://github.com/JeremyAnsel/xwa_ddra ... tag/v1.3.1

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:22 pm
by Darksaber
Hmmm....... this is a bit confusing now, do we start using Jeremy's v1.3.1 or wait for Reimar to update his version???

Also which is better?

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2018 5:08 pm
by Justagai
Based on feedback from my Discord community, the best version of Reimar's ddraws was 1.5.1.

I would like to use Jeremy's ddraw although it would be strictly for XWA due to the missing fixes for the other games.

One thing I would like to see added that was in Reimar's ddraw is the option for refresh limit (or more so, the ability to disable it).

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2018 8:27 pm
by Darksaber
I can't understand why there isn't a ddraw specifically JUST for XWA without all the crap for the other games, after all this little community and project deals with, well, the game X-Wing Alliance!

Re: Direct3D 11 via DDraw.dll

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 1:19 am
by Bman
Didn't realize they both had their own .dll. :-) Thought it was collectively combined and enhanced each time a new release came out. Duly noted.
Anyway, thanks Jeremy.