Debris fields (FO 3.2.5)

posted on June 7th, 2011, 1:41 pm

i just saw it on ray's replay and going to try it


also does this mean that it will affect normal games meaning that I have to turn it off so i can join other peoples games?

posted on June 7th, 2011, 1:50 pm

No it won't. Although it lags like crazy in big fights.

Maybe you could have it break into bigger pieces Tyler? That would reduce lag and look really cool. Plus, I think you should put a limit on the lifetime of the debris. All game can be a bit much. Especially with Borg ships exploding every time they are built and leaving debris is a bit weird.

posted on June 7th, 2011, 2:14 pm

There is a limit on debris, the reason there was none in stock was it only stayed for about 1 second. This one lasts much longer, but will vanish after a time.

posted on June 7th, 2011, 3:36 pm

where is the game directory?

sorry for being a newbi...

also may i ask how long does the debrie stay before it disappears?

posted on June 7th, 2011, 3:44 pm

The 'Data' folder is where they go.

The 1-2 second default is set to 4 and the mod is set to 4000, so probably about an hour at most.

posted on June 8th, 2011, 1:15 am

Hi,

have in my (private) multimod found an good compromiss between "good look" and game speed.
->
float ST3D_CHUNK_SIZE_FACTOR = 0.4;

float ST3D_CHUNK_LIFETIME_AVG = 400.0;

float ST3D_CHUNK_LIFETIME_DEVIATION = 20.0;

float ST3D_CHUNK_MAX_ANGULAR_VELOCITY = 0.90;

float ST3D_CHUNK_MAX_VELOCITY = 10.0;

and have found an unnecessary slow down:
The debris is allways visible - even at long distance - no clipping.Can this be fixed the game lag should be lower.

Regards
R-TEAM

posted on June 8th, 2011, 2:30 am

Exellent work buddy i love this mod  .Cant beat more realism (and the same for team weapons colours)hehehe  looking forward to more stuff like this from ya buddy

oh and thanks Ray320 for the link coz i probably wouldnt have got this otherwise 

posted on June 8th, 2011, 4:59 pm

The debris is allways visible - even at long distance - no clipping.Can this be fixed the game lag should be lower.

Nothing we can do about that.

posted on June 10th, 2011, 2:19 am

Hi,

@086gf

mean you it is no variable in the config files ?
(have found the "float cfgOBJECT_CULLING_DISTANCE" that control the visibility range in 3D from objects - but its more unknow "...clipping.." variables here...)

As - the devs can patch the exe direct i see no point ATM to say it is not doable ......

@Unleash Mayhem

can you make an test for me ?

If you play FO with debris - and the game start to lags - can you switch over the inbuild menue button to the desktop window from FO and then back over "return to game" in this window.
(so the Direct3D conntet musst be reinitialized ..)
It would be interesting if the FPS the same .....

Regards
R-TEAM

posted on June 10th, 2011, 10:29 am

Hi,

@086gf

mean you it is no variable in the config files ?
(have found the "float cfgOBJECT_CULLING_DISTANCE" that control the visibility range in 3D from objects - but its more unknow "...clipping.." variables here...)

As - the devs can patch the exe direct i see no point ATM to say it is not doable ......

@Unleash Mayhem

can you make an test for me ?

If you play FO with debris - and the game start to lags - can you switch over the inbuild menue button to the desktop window from FO and then back over "return to game" in this window.
(so the Direct3D conntet musst be reinitialized ..)
It would be interesting if the FPS the same .....

Regards
R-TEAM

Can you explain the test in more detail please?

posted on June 10th, 2011, 12:20 pm

Hi,

as i have wrote here Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations - Fleet Operations 3.2.4 post #40 , i have played with an friend over internet FO - and after a couple of hours its was laggs like hell.
As in multiplayer it is no save available ATM - and so no need to switch from fullscreen gaming to the FO window on the desktop to save the game ....
If i play instant action alone i switch periodicaly from game to the desktop to save and back then ...

Last time i played with my modifyed version of the debries field add on.
I was not surprised if the game become with more and more debrise fields more slow (my gaming PC is not more soooo actual P4 2.8Ghz IBM workstation with 2GB RAMBUS ram and an AGP ATI 1950XT card with 256MB DDR3 ram ).
But after an intresting gaming over ca. 3h without save (i have it simply forgotten ) the game become very laggy and from time stuck for 0,2 - 0,5 sec ... i think "sad - my PC iss maxed out even with this optimized debris field add-on  .. but it looks sooo cool ...".
I was then aware that long time have passed i saved last ... i switched with the menu button back to the desktop with the FO window and save .. then with the "Return to Game" button from the FO window back to the game.
And - wow - i was very suprised that the game was suddenly much smother and no stuck more.It was a bit laggy as much things going on (many ships already here - fights - moves and so one ..) but not more as i expectet ...
I dont know if this happen if you switch with windows system keys back to desktop too - but i think it should be the same.

My knowing ist:
Anything musst be wrong with inGame Direct3D initialisation.
As by the method above - no sim data or other game data was changed as the Direct3D content - it was fresh initialized only.
So it can be an error on my side with the gfx driver (it is the latest version from the AMD site and the latest DirectX 9.x ) or an error in the game engine that produce garbage by ingame initialisation from  vertices/textures/effects and drop the performance more and more down and with my slow system i notice it much earlyer as with an powerfull PC.
By the switch to desktop and back the 3D content is fresh and right initialized.

Regards
R-TEAM

posted on June 11th, 2011, 6:06 pm

I have replaced it with a new one. The new one has larger ship bits for less small pieces floating around. It also stays for a shorter amount of time, so debris shouldn't build up as much.

posted on June 12th, 2011, 4:52 am

Hi,

yes -have this doing too - but as a main problem stay :

Debris is allways rendered all over the whole map and borg ships "explode" in an enourmouse amount of debris compare to other ships - not that this dont look cool
But its slows the game if 3-4 borg ships explode in a short time frame ...
(but i think on both problems you cant doing anything - both engine hardcoded)

Regards
R-TEAM

posted on November 4th, 2011, 8:56 pm

I watched TheRay's replay, probably my favorites aside from Yandoman's, and through his replays and suggestion tried the debris field mod and have to say it's a blast. It gives the game just that extra touch that makes an already great Mod and game that much better. Thank you Ray and Tyler for making me enjoy FO even more!