[The Commander]

djdori11, on 04 June 2011 - 08:31 AM, said:

hi, i wanted to ask if you going to do something about ati problems with polymer, i getting crashes and low performance on Duke Nukem Eternity, and i really wanna play this mod normally, thank you.

http://forums.duke4....dpost__p__88492

That is your answer, something that can't be done in 5 minutes. (Read and Google the words if you have to)

[djdori11]

just finished the first episode again with the lastest eduke and hrp build and all was cool but the first episode ending cutscene was not ok its was like black screen then i saw the duke shooting the boss then nothing happan so i press ENTER then another black screen pressed ENTER and level completed stats, then pressed enter and i was back to the title screen. can you fix it?

[E.C.S]

djdori11, on 08 June 2011 - 04:58 AM, said:

just finished the first episode again with the lastest eduke and hrp build and all was cool but the first episode ending cutscene was not ok its was like black screen then i saw the duke shooting the boss then nothing happan so i press ENTER then another black screen pressed ENTER and level completed stats, then pressed enter and i was back to the title screen. can you fix it?

Yeah, that's a bug from time ago, this is possibly planned to be fixed in the future. The issue is listed in the HRP readme.

[TerminX]

I keep forgetting to fix that... d'oh. I've kind of been taking a break from EDuke32 for the past couple of months (as if anyone hasn't noticed). I hope to get back into things sometime in the next couple of months though.

[djdori11]

TX, on 08 June 2011 - 10:45 AM, said:

I keep forgetting to fix that... d'oh. I've kind of been taking a break from EDuke32 for the past couple of months (as if anyone hasn't noticed). I hope to get back into things sometime in the next couple of months though.

ok, so also finished episode 2 now with eduke 1902 and hrp 5.1.263 and here is a little review:
(i have ati) so, the lag, bad framerate and crashes are obvious i guess, but i also had some sounds cut and missing sounds, the ending cutscens problems, bugs, and some hrp glitches...
but overall it was playable and the graphics and stuff are just amazing
i think reducing the polymer lights will help to the framerate.. but i also have kinda solution to heavy lag, very bad framerate and crashes, just play 10 minutes, save and exit the game, restart your computer and continue playing and so on, if youll play like this its going to be much better.
so hope youll one time fix all the stuff, although duke nukem forever is out so duke nukem 3d going to get old.

[Micky C]

djdori11, on 09 June 2011 - 03:19 AM, said:

i think reducing the polymer lights will help to the framerate..
so hope youll one time fix all the stuff, although duke nukem forever is out so duke nukem 3d going to get old.

I kept the framerate in mind as a medium-high priority when I made the light maphacks for episodes 1 and 2, and it runs at a solid 30+ frames per second with everything maxed out on my nVidia 9800GT.

And you're wrong about Duke Nukem 3D getting old (well yeah technically it's very old), but not only is the gameplay different to Duke Nukem Forever (and in some ways better) so that people will keep on playing it, but the engine is completely different; it's one of the easiest to use, and most modible engines around, and that's saying something. I can easily see eduke32 lasting another 10+ years.


Edit: if you think the framerate is bad on the original levels, you should try out my polymerized version of Project Zero, you'll probably get 1 frame a minute

[djdori11]

Micky C, on 09 June 2011 - 03:31 AM, said:

I kept the framerate in mind as a medium-high priority when I made the light maphacks for episodes 1 and 2, and it runs at a solid 30+ frames per second with everything maxed out on my nVidia 9800GT.

And you're wrong about Duke Nukem 3D getting old (well yeah technically it's very old), but not only is the gameplay different to Duke Nukem Forever (and in some ways better) so that people will keep on playing it, but the engine is completely different; it's one of the easiest to use, and most modible engines around, and that's saying something. I can easily see eduke32 lasting another 10+ years.


Edit: if you think the framerate is bad on the original levels, you should try out my polymerized version of Project Zero, you'll probably get 1 frame a minute

maybe, and i know there is not too many polymer lights, but there are some places which really lag, a good example was the 2nd boss fight, the room was full of green polymer lights i guess, my framerate was like 5 in this boss fight, i cant belive i killed him before the game crashed.

[djdori11]

ok so also finished episode 3 now XD
the ending cutscene of episode 3 was perfect i think, so just fix the ending of episode 1 and 2, maybe ill also finish episode 4 now.
so for this episode i really wanted to stop the lag so i found the The Commander suggestion in a thread here and added this:
r_pr_specularmapping "0"
r_pr_shadowcount "1"
r_pr_shadowdetail "1"
r_pr_maxlightpasses "1"
r_pr_maxlightpriority "4"
to settings,cfg and also reduced the graphics a bit, and the game worked with much better framerate, less lag, and almost no crashes and stuff.
but i noticed some low res textures in episode 3, and also looks like there is less polymer lights..
but yeah, thanks again for doing this hrp and stuff, its awesome!

[The Commander]

I was doing some testing and saw that ATI released a new driver update that stated,

Quote

Includes performance optimizations and resolves various quality issues for the upcoming release of Brink™

So I put back in my ATI card (was using a 8800 GTS) installed the ATI drivers.

I can't really give proper feedback about Polymer due to the fact that I have gone from 10.5 drivers which HAD shadows where as it seems anything above 10.5 removes any shadows.

Was it known that the latest drivers removed shadows and not just that white box issue?

[JDR13]

First, I'd like to give my thanks to everyone who was involed with EDuke32 and the HRP. Kudos on an incredible job!

I've got a question, and I apologize if it's a dumb one. I've been playing DN3D the last few days, and I just completed the first episode. After the cutscene, it just drops me back to the main menu. Is that normal?
It's been quite a few years since the last time I played Duke, but I thought finishing the first episode sends you to the first level of the next episode.

So is that right? There is no continuity between episodes?

[Plagman]

There is, but you're right that you have to start the second episode manually (and so on). The second one starts just after the first one finishes, and so does the third; you just start without any of your weapons.

[JDR13]

Ok, thank you. I just wanted to make sure that was how it was supposed to work.

I read a walkthrough that mentioned you would automatically start the next episode after the cutscene, but I think that was for the Xbox Live version.

[Hendricks266]

JDR13, on 12 June 2011 - 04:02 PM, said:

Ok, thank you. I just wanted to make sure that was how it was supposed to work.

I read a walkthrough that mentioned you would automatically start the next episode after the cutscene, but I think that was for the Xbox Live version.

It could also be for the N64 or Saturn versions; they had just one campaign.

[MusicallyInspired]

I know Duke64 automatically starts the next episode, but you can't pick which episode you want from the main menu. You have to start from the beginning and go straight through. Makes it quite an epic campaign, actually. It doesn't have episode 4 but some of the secret levels are Duke Burger and Area 51 (which has an alternate entrance). Also, some episode 4 levels are mixed together with levels from the standard 3 episodes. Mostly in Episode 3 I believe.

[JDR13]

MusicallyInspired, on 13 June 2011 - 06:14 PM, said:

I know Duke64 automatically starts the next episode, but you can't pick which episode you want from the main menu. You have to start from the beginning and go straight through. Makes it quite an epic campaign, actually. It doesn't have episode 4 but some of the secret levels are Duke Burger and Area 51 (which has an alternate entrance). Also, some episode 4 levels are mixed together with levels from the standard 3 episodes. Mostly in Episode 3 I believe.

I would have hated trying to play Duke with that horrible N64 controller though.

[MusicallyInspired]

Are you kidding? I love that controller. The only thing I dislike about it is that the analog stick wears out after a while.

[BrentNewland]

MusicallyInspired, on 15 June 2011 - 12:34 PM, said:

Are you kidding? I love that controller. The only thing I dislike about it is that the analog stick wears out after a while.

And then you have to replace the analog stick. At least those controllers have spare parts available for sale, and replacing the stick isn't too much work.

It was an interesting controller design, but I found that most games either used 2 out of 3 of the "handles" (whatever you want to call them), or that switching your hands to a different "handle" was a bit awkward. Also, I got a lot of thumb blisters.

[Fox]

Rotatesprite16 is quite a usefull command to scale a Hud, however a problem I have faced is that you can't do the same with gametext displayed content, which is casually used for a Hud.

Would it be possible to transfer the "shift 16" stuff into a orientation flag instead of a different command?

[Micky C]

Ever since polymer became the required renderer to use with the HRP, there have been several people complaining that their RPG looks strange and other things, despite the warning that graphical glitches will occur when using polymost. I believe that polymer should be made the default openGL renderer, with the checkbox made to select polymost. It's logical because a lot of people wanting to look at Duke 3D coming from DNF will have no idea what all the options and renderers are, and god knows they don't read the text, so since polymer is the main HRP renderer, so should it be the default eduke32 renderer. Those of us on the forums who still use polymost for whatever reason would know what to do.

I hope people agree with me.

[Danukem]

Micky C, on 15 June 2011 - 07:57 PM, said:

Ever since polymer became the required renderer to use with the HRP, there have been several people complaining that their RPG looks strange and other things, despite the warning that graphical glitches will occur when using polymost. I believe that polymer should be made the default openGL renderer, with the checkbox made to select polymost. It's logical because a lot of people wanting to look at Duke 3D coming from DNF will have no idea what all the options and renderers are, and god knows they don't read the text, so since polymer is the main HRP renderer, so should it be the default eduke32 renderer. Those of us on the forums who still use polymost for whatever reason would know what to do.

I hope people agree with me.

I totally understand why you feel that way, but the problem is that Polymer still has a lot of issues, and the result of making it default would probably be even more complaints than we are getting now. Also, we don't know how many people use the HRP -- it seems like a high percentage because of the complaints, but that could be due to the fact that non-HRP users have nothing to complain about so are staying quiet and happy. They won't be happy when their frame rate drops to 10 in a big map. Plagman is planning an overhaul, and until that happens I believe Polymer should not be the default renderer.

While we are on this subject, one thing I would like --and have requested several times now-- is some way to detect in CON code whether models are being used for sprites. If there were an mdflag for it, that would be very useful. In DukePlus, I could use this to make an informed guess as to whether the player is using the HRP, and then I could have a message pop-up if Polymer is not being used. It would have other uses as well.

[The Commander]

DeeperThought, on 15 June 2011 - 08:09 PM, said:

While we are on this subject, one thing I would like --and have requested several times now-- is some way to detect in CON code whether models are being used for sprites. If there were an mdflag for it, that would be very useful. In DukePlus, I could use this to make an informed guess as to whether the player is using the HRP, and then I could have a message pop-up if Polymer is not being used. It would have other uses as well.

Maybe need this again... lol

[Micky C]

DeeperThought, on 15 June 2011 - 08:09 PM, said:

I totally understand why you feel that way, but the problem is that Polymer still has a lot of issues, and the result of making it default would probably be even more complaints than we are getting now. Also, we don't know how many people use the HRP -- it seems like a high percentage because of the complaints, but that could be due to the fact that non-HRP users have nothing to complain about so are staying quiet and happy. They won't be happy when their frame rate drops to 10 in a big map. Plagman is planning an overhaul, and until that happens I believe Polymer should not be the default renderer.

I see your reasoning, but polymer really isn't that bad at the moment, especially when playing the original maps. You said that the people who don't use the HRP are quite satisfied at the moment, and wouldn't be happy if their framerate suddenly drops. What I'm trying to say is, if they're not using the HRP with all the hires textures and bump/spec maps, their framerate shouldn't drop down that low anyway, so there wouldn't be anything to worry about. I don't think anyone's going to complain saying "how do I switch off these amazing lights?", then again, maybe they will.

[Tetsuo]

How do I switch off these damned dirty amazing lights? JK

Personally I'm not having any frame rate\lag issues with polymer more like odd bugs with the renderer that may be specific to the platform I'm on (OS X) which I have mentioned elsewhere (has to do with the way it handles sectors and on my system it sometimes seems to forget to draw them for one reason or another so I see the skybox). But if a polymer overhaul could address those at problem as well it would be great. On the one hand I do have a separate gaming PC I use to play games sometimes I'd like to be able to play it on my main system without that problem cropping up.

[Tea Monster]

There is a LARGE cadre of users on this forum who only want Duke to appear in his 8bit glory and view any attempt to upgrade this as an abomination against God, 3DRealms and GB.

Polymer is badly in need of optimization before it can be used in major projects like Eternity.

[Danukem]

Micky C, on 16 June 2011 - 01:34 AM, said:

I see your reasoning, but polymer really isn't that bad at the moment, especially when playing the original maps. You said that the people who don't use the HRP are quite satisfied at the moment, and wouldn't be happy if their framerate suddenly drops. What I'm trying to say is, if they're not using the HRP with all the hires textures and bump/spec maps, their framerate shouldn't drop down that low anyway, so there wouldn't be anything to worry about. I don't think anyone's going to complain saying "how do I switch off these amazing lights?", then again, maybe they will.

Maybe you have an awesome rig and this isn't an issue for you, but on my rig at least (which may not be awesome but is still better than a lot of eduke32 users) frame rate with Polymer gets unplayably low on _many_ user maps even without the HRP. I'm not talking about the original episodes or Duke in DC, or any of that ancient stuff (although I think it drops down low in some of those maps as well). I mean the big and complex maps, which are some of the best ones. And I have an Nvidia card. People with ATI cards are completely fucked, from what I've heard --either it won't work at all, or it crashes after a few levels due to the memory leak. As much as I love Polymer when it is working well (and I really do, believe it or not), it should honestly be considered alpha software at this point. And I didn't even mention various bugs and unfinished stuff.

[The Commander]

Yes, at first I thought having Polymer as the default render may have been a good option but then the people who are not to smart/don't bother reading shit may not bother to disable it even if they are not using the HRP.
Then what if one of them people go and load a user map that takes certain little effects like the "FIRE" sprite wall aligned and pasted like 16x at slight angles to give the effect of a cool 3D fire, even with out the HRP thats a ton of lights in one spot and would look like complete shit for the users who are not so smart to read and turn things off, then they come here and complain.

So now I agree that Polymer should be made default any time soon.

[TerminX]

DeeperThought, on 15 June 2011 - 08:09 PM, said:

While we are on this subject, one thing I would like --and have requested several times now-- is some way to detect in CON code whether models are being used for sprites. If there were an mdflag for it, that would be very useful. In DukePlus, I could use this to make an informed guess as to whether the player is using the HRP, and then I could have a message pop-up if Polymer is not being used. It would have other uses as well.

Would something like "ifmd3" suffice?

[Awesomebob]

DeeperThought, on 16 June 2011 - 06:34 AM, said:

People with ATI cards are completely fucked, from what I've heard

I don't know if something was done in polymer itself, or if it's in one of the AMD patches, but I can run duke in polymer with no crashes and only a slight FPS drop during busy times.

[The Commander]

Awesomebob, on 16 June 2011 - 11:03 AM, said:

I don't know if something was done in polymer itself, or if it's in one of the AMD patches, but I can run duke in polymer with no crashes and only a slight FPS drop during busy times.

Is that using the HRP 5.0?

[gt1750]

My ATI HD4850 512MB died a week ago after 2,5 years of service so I replaced it with a nice new GTX560 Ti 1GB. I've just tried it with Polymer + HRP 5.0 and ran through Episode 1. I must say I'm really pleased with the difference - no more random crashes, all shadows and lights work and the game runs smoothly (with the exception of the beginning of E1L1).