New effects and installers

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Re: New effects and installers

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keiranhalcyon7
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Post by keiranhalcyon7 » Sun May 17, 2020 8:09 am

General_Trageton wrote:
Fri May 15, 2020 5:02 pm
That might actually work, I recall there was a modified Endor mission, where you actually got to fly as Wedge rather than the Falcon.
Was way more forgiving in terms of room to maneuver XD
I vaguely recall a debate from waaaaaay back over how big to make the XWAUP Falcon. IIRC, the TG Falcon was significantly undersized, but sizing the ship correctly dramatically increased the difficulty of the final mission. Anyone remember the outcome of that discussion?

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Post by Ace Antilles » Sun May 17, 2020 1:06 pm

keiranhalcyon7 wrote:
Sun May 17, 2020 8:09 am
General_Trageton wrote:
Fri May 15, 2020 5:02 pm
That might actually work, I recall there was a modified Endor mission, where you actually got to fly as Wedge rather than the Falcon.
Was way more forgiving in terms of room to maneuver XD
I vaguely recall a debate from waaaaaay back over how big to make the XWAUP Falcon. IIRC, the TG Falcon was significantly undersized, but sizing the ship correctly dramatically increased the difficulty of the final mission. Anyone remember the outcome of that discussion?
I can tell you I've only been messing with it on Invincible but it is a really tight fit lol I think it could be doable.
The time limit is the tough one
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Vince T
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Post by Vince T » Sun May 17, 2020 1:20 pm

There's a few ships that were resized to match the movie originals, like the bloody shuttle, whicin combination with the Space Colony 2 h became a gamebreaker, as it no longer fit through the hangar tunnels. As a result I nowadays use the shuttle as a benchmark for scaling hangars. Ah good times XD
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Post by Darksaber » Sun May 17, 2020 1:57 pm

Just a thought has anyone ever just tried rescaling the individual DS Tunnel opts? I've just imported a few and you would have thought they might be in some sort of jigsaw arrangement, (one next to the other) but they aren't, they are all centred around 0, 0, 0 or there abouts.

Each opt either has an AccStart or AccEnd hardpoint on them, so my theory is that they use these hardpoints to all fit together forming the tunnels and so on, I'm really not sure, either it's the hardpoints or it could possible be hardcoded I don't know?????

Rescaling the opts might work and they might still fit together, again I don't know????????????? Each opt would have to be rescaled to the same percentage or multiple

There are 56 opt to be rescaled, and I don't even know if it would work, when the final opt is rescaled, it might just be a giant waste of time if it didn't work.

Optech works on percentage when rescaling, XWA Opt Editor I thing work in multiples of meters (I think) I haven't messed around with scaling it that, so it would need to be explained.

Could work I duuno!
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Post by Bman » Sun May 17, 2020 6:17 pm

Dornil wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 9:58 pm
Right! It was due to TIR being off. Now everything seems to work and it is just... wow! I never thought that this kind of stuff will ever be possible in XWA!
BTW, can a TIE Fighter conversion work with all those improvements?
Yes. We're working on it. Also waiting for all of these crafts to get "finished" dynamic cockpits/effects and all the bugs worked out so it everything can be included. No ETA yet.
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Post by Bman » Sun May 17, 2020 6:25 pm

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Last edited by Bman on Sun Jun 14, 2020 7:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Vince T
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Post by Vince T » Thu Jun 04, 2020 11:59 am

@Yautja Hunter I've split off your error report and moved it into a separate topic in the SW/HW Help Forum here:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12652
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Post by Yautja Hunter » Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:34 pm

Thank you.

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Ace Antilles
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Post by Ace Antilles » Thu Jun 04, 2020 4:42 pm

Good news everyone! As in more news. Effects by Blue Max version 1.1.3.1 is now available on the download page.
This is a small upgrade from the previous version, which introduces new settings that Blue_Max is constantly working on ;)
Obviously if you have customised any options already make sure you know the settings to reapply after installing.

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Headlights: Press Ctrl+H to active frontal Headlights to illuminate your way.
It was discovered when flying inside the Death Star it was a little dark, well duh. That was because there was no outside light sources.
Solution? Turn on the high beams! If you do this in the Death Star or Salvage Yard not only can you see but it looks more realistic too.


Different FOVs: Added an additional FOV to DC files called "xwahacker_large_fov". DC files can now have a regular "xwahacker_fov" FOV and a large one, in addition to the global FOV.
What this does is allows you to configure your view inside of Dynamic Cockpits so that you are either sat closer or further away.
This new feature is essential to get the full experience of the updated Rebel and TIE Fighter Dynamic Cockpits. See more in those Forum threads.
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12552&start=50

Ctrl+F: To cycle between the different FOVs
Ctrl+Shift+Alt + Right/Left: Adjust FOV


Speed Effect: This effect adds small debris that moves with your current speed. It's enabled by default, so it's very easy to notice.
This is a simple effect that adds small thin trails around you when the ship is moving. It looks like this:
speed-effect-1.jpg
So essentially you get more of the feeling that you are flying through space at super speeds!
Please see SSAO.cfg for more details on this effect and customisation options.


Multi Core Option: - A new option that when enabled really helps to boost the FPS from low levels to much more playable.
This solves the performance problems, which many complained about. There is a warning attached with using this option though.
Unfortunately, this option resets the old music bug, which some of you may remember. The in game music will start looping or stuttering non stop until you restart the game.
Right now it happens rarely but at any time. If it does happen then you will need to carry on your mission or restart the game. Otherwise disable your music.
Jeremy is trying to work on a fix with team members testing. It's hard to pin down and recreate but we have high hopes it can be found. :)

I hope you all enjoy Blue_Max amazing work on the Effects!
He's already started work on other features that you can read about here:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12650
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Tony Knightcrawler
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Post by Tony Knightcrawler » Sun Jun 07, 2020 1:56 am

Multi-core in XWA? That's amazing, absolutely amazing!

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Post by ucrjedi » Tue Jun 09, 2020 1:03 am

Is the multi core option only in the new sound effects or can it be downloaded individually?

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Tue Jun 09, 2020 3:55 am

Multi Core Option is an outstanding improvement. But how can I enable/disable it?
Is there a new option in the ESC menu?

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Post by Ace Antilles » Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:05 am

To answer both questions it's in the DDraw.CFG file in the main XWA folder.

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
To turn on you set ProcessAffinityCore = 0
To turn off you set ProcessAffinityCore = 2

The recent Effects installer just automatically does it to help out.
Also don't forget that right now with it ON you will get music bugs randomly. But we are getting closer to fixing that
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Post by Ace Antilles » Sat Jun 13, 2020 4:33 pm

Multi Core Option: - A new option that when enabled really helps to boost the FPS from low levels to much more playable.
This solves the performance problems, which many experienced. There is a warning attached with using this option though.
Unfortunately, this option resets the old music bug, which some of you may remember. The in game music will start looping or stuttering non stop until you restart the game.
Right now it happens rarely but at any time. If it happens you will need to carry on your mission or restart the game. Otherwise disable your music.
UPDATE: JeremyaFr has created a new Hook which we believe fixes the music bug issue so far.
If everyone who is using Multi Core options can use it and test it that would be appreciated so we can see if it solves the issue.
Please see this thread for more details. viewtopic.php?f=33&t=12668
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Post by KuMoNKo » Sun Jun 14, 2020 11:47 pm

Ace Antilles wrote:
Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:05 am
To answer both questions it's in the DDraw.CFG file in the main XWA folder.

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
To turn on you set ProcessAffinityCore = 0
To turn off you set ProcessAffinityCore = 2

The recent Effects installer just automatically does it to help out.
Also don't forget that right now with it ON you will get music bugs randomly. But we are getting closer to fixing that
I cannot seem to get it working. After reinstalling XWA, XWAUCP1.6, all extra ships, rebel cockpits 2.1, empire cockpits 2, new effects 1.1.3.2, superbackdrops 3.0 and hooksetup, in that order, and checking ProcessAffinityCore is set to 0 in ddraw.cfg, game is utilizing only 1 thread to 100% while my GPU is at 0% most of the time. May I be doing something wrong? Is there something I missed?

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Post by blue_max » Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:53 pm

KuMoNKo wrote:
Sun Jun 14, 2020 11:47 pm
ProcessAffinityCore is set to 0 in ddraw.cfg, game is utilizing only 1 thread to 100% while my GPU is at 0% most of the time. May I be doing something wrong? Is there something I missed?
The only thing you need to check is that ProcessAffinityCore is set to 0 for this. When the game is running, open the Task Manager and right click on the process. Make sure Windows is allowing xwingalliance.exe to run on all cores. See the following link:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/processo ... y-windows/

When playing the game, make sure hardware acceleration is enabled and that it's using the right video card in your system (if you have multiple cards). If you have an nVidia card, you can force the game to run on a specific card through nVidia's control panel. Also, the game probably won't show much GPU usage unless you're actually flying.

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Post by KuMoNKo » Mon Jun 15, 2020 6:15 pm

Thanks.
I have a ryzen 1700x and an rx580 so I'll check affinity.
It's true that other single core games jump from one core to others in different executions, but xwa keeps executing in the third thread. Might be windows locking it.
I'll report back my findings

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Post by KuMoNKo » Tue Jun 16, 2020 4:18 pm

Hi,
After looking at the windows affinity settings, it has all threads enabled for Xwingalliance.exe, so I wondered what would happen if i let it use only 4, and it was using one of them heavily, but the other 3 where mildly used. I've noticed a slightly increase in FPS since before, although, i can't surpass 30 in the hangar unless i change some models for the original ones

Conclusion: multicore is working and helps increase FPS. More load balancing would be good, but any improvement is worth it and this one is particularly hard to accomplish to my understanding,

Thanks!

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Post by Bob_Sinclar » Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:42 pm

Hi Just FYI,

I installed the new Stardrop exe file v 3.0. No issue.
I used Xwing 6.0 installer and the cockpit (I tried with standard and alternate versions, but same issue) was completely different than the previous one. No more radar with a yellow dot on right and left, no presence of enemy crafts on the centre of the hud... Strange lines. A catastrophe.
Furthermore the lasers of enemy ties created fixed green lines on screen during a few seconds...

So I installed Rebel dynamic cockpit v 2.1 to get back the previous cockpit. But a part of the X-Wing cockpit (range of yellow squares + a list of letters) were moving during the battle.

Sole option to go back to "normal" situation:
a) reinstall effect by blue Max 1.1.3.2
b) reinstall rebel dynamic cockpit version 2.0 (issues -letters on the left and yellow squares on the right moving during flight- remained with version 2.1)
Now the game works like a charm.

So I had problems with XWing v 6.0 and Rebel Dynamic cockpit v 2.1 exe files, Just to let you know...

Edit: I reinstalled rebel dynamic cockpit v 2.1 and it works well. So the problem for me is xwing v 6.0.

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Post by blue_max » Thu Jun 18, 2020 7:44 pm

KuMoNKo wrote:
Tue Jun 16, 2020 4:18 pm
I can't surpass 30 in the hangar unless i change some models for the original ones
You can try EnableVSyncInHangar = 0 in DDraw.cfg to see if you get better performance. Some people have reported issues when doing this, though.

If your computer is powerful enough, you should be able to get 60-90fps while flying. This varies depending on the complexity of the models and other details, though. Check if you've got the latest hook_time.dll as that can unlock higher FPS.

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Post by blue_max » Thu Jun 18, 2020 7:46 pm

Bob_Sinclar wrote:
Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:42 pm
So I had problems with XWing v 6.0
I don't think I've heard of this before. Is this a custom cockpit? Is it part of the official XWAU installers?

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Post by Bob_Sinclar » Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:56 pm

Hi Blue Max,

I have official cockpit from XWAU official installers only.
In my game XWing v 6.0 has not the same cockpit as the cockpit available before this exe file.
I have just reinstalled XWing v 6.0, a nightmare: no circles on right and left, no image in the bottom center where AI crafts are targeted, ...

Hopefully I can get back to a situation without this XWing...

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Post by Ace Antilles » Thu Jun 18, 2020 9:07 pm

Bob_Sinclar wrote:
Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:56 pm
Hi Blue Max,

I have official cockpit from XWAU official installers only.
In my game XWing v 6.0 has not the same cockpit as the cockpit available before this exe file.
I have just reinstalled XWing v 6.0, a nightmare: no circles on right and left, no image in the bottom center where AI crafts are targeted, ...

Hopefully I can get back to a situation without this XWing...
The cockpits in the X-wing and the Cockpits shown in the Dynamic Cockpits installer for the X-wing are different. That's the point.

If you read on the download page it says:
ATTENTION* Install those after you install the additional crafts! In case of the Dynamic Cockpits installations need to be redone after installing any of the crafts that are included in them

So if you want the Dynamic Cockpit look then install that after the X-wing. Don't keep reinstalling stuff constantly or you will break everything.
Alternatively you will have to restart from scratch and install Dynamic Cockpit LAST if you want that look.
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Post by Vince T » Thu Jun 18, 2020 9:09 pm

lol, now we both posted at the same time.
I'll remove my post :)
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Post by Bob_Sinclar » Thu Jun 18, 2020 9:34 pm

Thx a lot, now it works like a charm.
So we need to install all crafts with the "New" Markings and only then, reinstall the Dynamic cockpit exe file.
It was good to know.

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