v1.1 demo and object pop-ups AND StarForce

[KaBoNG]

I had soooo hoped that ED would address this bug (or is it a performance enhancing "feature"?) in 1.1. I just can't stand coming in low on a ground attack and watching ground objects suddenly pop-up as I approach them.

 

This first appeared in the v1.02 patch (presumably one of the performance enhancements). In v1.0 and 1.01, ground objects did a smooth fade in and the pop-up effect was far less noticeable.

 

Yes, I have tried to tweak around this but after spending days at it on 1.02 and then reinstalling 1.01 and seeing the fade in, I was convinced I was wasting my time. It took me about 10 seconds to see that 1.1 behaves just like 1.02 in this respect.

 

This absolutely destroys the immersion factor for me. If this is representative of the retail version of 1.1, I'll probably be spending my cash elsewhere.

 

Oh wait, and hardware keyed Starforce protection too??? (not to mention Starforce in the demo - now that's just plain dumb)...I WILL be spending my cash elsewhere.

[Guest ruggbutt]

I don't get the popups. I used LOMAN to tweak my settings and I get a farther view distance w/out the popping up that annoys so many people.

[KaBoNG]

ruggbutt,

 

LOMAN is what I was using when I spent all those days tweaking. Never found the right balance. Yes, I could push the pop-ups out, but they still popped up and the frame rate sucked even more.

 

Why didn't ED just go back to the old way of drawing ground objects (i.e. fade in) and stop annoying "so many people"?

 

p.s. Would you mind sharing the LOMAN settings you use to eliminate the pop-ups? That is, assuming you don't have an uber system - I only have a measily P4 3.0 GHz, 1024MB RAM and GeForce 6800GT OC.

[Nomad]

Slightly OT:

(not to mention Starforce in the demo - now that's just plain dumb)

why do people even whine about SF in the demo? I know why - they've got no clue what starforce is all about. Pls read first and you will have no such questions.

[Guest ruggbutt]

Slightly OT:

(not to mention Starforce in the demo - now that's just plain dumb)

why do people even whine about SF in the demo? I know why - they've got no clue what starforce is all about. Pls read first and you will have no such questions.

 

Focus on that and not the topic of this thread. Do you know what myopic means?

[Nomad]

better do what I said instead of posting smartass comments.

[KaBoNG]

hello? nomad? hello?...

 

Firstly, it's a FREE DEMO. Why on God's earth is a CD/DVD checking driver necessary for a FREE DEMO?

 

Secondly, it installs a driver without the user's knowledge and runs without the user's knowledge. I don't care if it's checking for an authentic CD/DVD or taking my CPU's temperature, it's a virus by another definition.

 

Thirdly, more drivers = more chance of system problems. Ever wonder why they removed the copy protection from Half Life 2 or a raft of other games within weeks of release? Because the copy protection system was preventing paying customers from using their software the way the developer intended and/or was causing serious system conflicts. I don't care how much testing Starforce or anyone else puts into their drivers - you can't test for every configuration and inevitably someone somewhere will get stiffed by them.

 

Fourthly, ever have one of those nights when you are doing a hardware upgrade that takes you umpteen attempts to get right? You know, you install the new hardware, start the system, fire up your favorite flightsim (i.e. LOMAC) and boom - CTD/lockup/BSOD, etc. So, you shut down, tweak/swap hardware/swap PCI slots/etc., re-boot, fire up, crash, repeat,... Well, with Starforce, you get the privilege of a whole new layer of frustration heaped on top. Every hardware change requires a new activation key and the number of new keys are limited (rumored to be 3 for LOMAC 1.1). Once you hit your limit, you have to go back to the developer for a new product serial. JUST the kind of frustration I want at 3:00 in the morning when I've been fighting with my system all night.

 

Fifthly, and then there's the security problems reported with certain versions of StarForce. What's to say that some ingenius hacker won't find a way to back door one of the "fixed" versions? Even Microsoft, after releasing their much heralded SP2 security update for WinXP, is scambling to fix the multiple GAPING holes they left open in that fine piece of code!

 

Ya, I've read about StarForce, and the more I've read, the less I like it.

 

Why don't cha slide on over to gamecopyworld.com and take a look at where a "cracked" exe for v1.1 will be posted within hours of its release for every pirate on the Internet to download and use with an ill gotten copy of the game? Copy protection only hurts paying customers, period.

[Nomad]

1. The demo is protected to prevent pirates from using certain files to crack the release version. Thats probably how they can break the protection normally. I remember my friend who had Hitman cd a few years ago. And they've had some similar protection system, he had to activate it with the cd-key bla bla. I couldnt get it working on my comp. But I've had a free demo on some cd from a computer magazine. So I took the hitman.exe file and copied it over to the fullversion folder. And guess what, it worked! Now thats just a simple example, but you get the point.

2,3,4 etc. I dont want to repeat what has been written in about 3-4 other threads by many clever people, so I recommend you just go and read for yourself. But remember, you are always running a risk of getting malware/spyware/viruses bla bla etc by simply connecting to the internet! Some things can reduce the risk, but its always there ;).

 

And again, if you dont like SF, well then have fun with 1.02, no one is forcing you.

[KaBoNG]

 

And again, if you dont like SF, well then have fun with 1.02, no one is forcing you.

 

Actually, my plan was to have fun w 1.01, since 1.02 messed up ground object drawing, and...ED doesn't get what they want, a sale of their upgrade to me (and quite a few other users, judging from the backlash here).

 

toodles!

[Nomad]

Oh, sry, I mean have fun with 1.01 :D.

[SwingKid]

I don't know what happened here and didn't have anything to do with it AFAIK, but I should comment that I much prefer the pop-ups over the fade-in. The fade-in was nice cosmetically when just flying around for fun, but trying to find and hit a "barely-there" assigned target that was half-transparent was really making me go blind and insane - I could never tell if the object was there or I was just imagining things. Yes, the pop-up is annoying, but much less so for me - now I can actually aim at buildings on the ground the instant they are visible at all.

 

-SK

[jason_peters]

I for one prefer the fade-in -- it only faded in over a second or 2 but made all the difference

 

U could replace the Dxrenderer.ddl with the 1.01 to fix this problem in 1.02 --- but 1.1 will crash if u do this I am told (Not d/l the demo - waiting for the full product).

 

There are some fog perameters in the cfg but I never got rid of the pop up. I really wish ED would go to the fade-in aproach. Its sooooooo much better.

 

as for Starforce I have it from the GTR game and have had no problems so far (been installed for about 2 months)

[Guest ruggbutt]

better do what I said instead of posting smartass comments.

 

The pot calling the kettle black.

[ZoomBoy27]

Do you know what myopic means?

 

myopic

 

MY Own toPIC

 

myopic :)

[Nate--IRL--]

Gentlemen i have a graphics.cfg (V1.02) that mostly removes popup and fade in in the far distance. But you better have a horse of a computer to run it. see below.

 

The fog prameters were adjusted to achieve this. However some small items in citys will continue to popup close in (eg individual houses, trees etc)

 

Nate

 

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

 

start_position = {-61, 1.2, -70};

start_position = {-180, 10.2, 630}

start_position = {-153.5, 0.1, 438};

start_position = {-60, 0.2, -60};

start_position = {0, 0.2, 0};

PlugIns

{

Renderer = "DXRenderer.dll";

Plugin1 = "MitkaGraphics.dll";

Plugin2 = "ZweiBlau.dll";

Plugin3 = "AVIMaker.dll";

Plugin4 = "Weather.dll";

GrEffects = "Effects.dll";

Plugin5 = "RenderEffects.dll";

}

DisplayMode

{

resolution = {1024, 768};

bpp = 32;

fullscreen = 1;

aspect = 1.333333;

Interface

{

resolution = {1024, 768};

bpp = 32;

fullscreen = 1;

}

Simulation

{

resolution = {1024, 768};

bpp = 32;

fullscreen = 1;

aspect = 1.333333;

}

}

SurfaceMaterials

{

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\mfd.lma";

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\map.lma";

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\infrared.lma";

FixedPipeline

{

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\landGf2.lma";

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\mirrorGf2.lma";

}

SWPipelineNoFog

{

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\landGf2.lma";

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\mirrorGf2.lma";

}

SWPipeline

{

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\landGf3.lma";

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\mirrorGf3.lma";

}

SWPipeline

{

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\landE3Gf2.lma";

file = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\mirrorGf2.lma";

}

}

Precaching

{

around_camera = 100000;

around_objects = 50000;

around_types = {"world", "point"};

preload_types = {"map"};

}

TexturePaths

{

path = ".\\Bazar\\TempTextures\\";

path = ".\\Bazar\\Effects\\WaterNormals\\";

path = ".\\Bazar\\TestTextures\\";

}

ModelDescriptions = ".\\Bazar\\ModelLOD.txt";

ModelPaths

{

path = ".\\Bazar\\World\\Shapes\\";

path = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Structures\\High\\";

}

Camera

{

current = "medium2";

Low

{

near_clip = 4.;

middle_clip = 4.;

far_clip = 60000;

structures = {30, 2000};

trees = {60000, 3000};

dynamic = {300, 20000};

objects = {3000, 40000};

mirage = {3000, 10000};

surface = {10000, 50000};

lights = {50, 10000};

lod = 0.7;

}

Medium

{

near_clip = 0.2;

middle_clip = 4.;

far_clip = 80000;

structures = {40, 5000};

trees = {100000, 8000};

dynamic = {300, 20000};

objects = {3000, 50000};

mirage = {3000, 15000};

surface = {14000, 80000};

lights = {100, 30000};

lod = 1.;

}

High

{

near_clip = 0.2;

middle_clip = 4.;

far_clip = 80000;

structures = {200, 10000};

trees = {200000, 20000};

dynamic = {300, 20000};

objects = {5000, 80000};

mirage = {5000, 20000};

surface = {20000, 80000};

lights = {200, 80000};

lod = 1.5;

}

medium2

{

near_clip = 0.2;

middle_clip = 4.;

far_clip = 80000;

structures = {100, 7500};

trees = {200000, 15000};

dynamic = {300, 20000};

objects = {3000, 80000};

mirage = {3000, 20000};

surface = {20000, 80000};

lights = {100, 80000};

lod = 0.8;

}

}

ShadowLevel = 3;

LightsLevel = 2;

MirrorsLevel = 1;

TextureLevel = 2;

WaterQuality = 1;

FogQuality = 1;

SceneFile = "Medium";

ScreenNoise = 0;

TextureCollections

{

highFolder = ".\\Bazar\\TempTextures\\";

Collection1 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Surface\\High\\LandTexturesBMP.cdds";

Collection1 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Surface\\High\\LandTexturesTGA.cdds";

summer = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Surface\\High\\LandTexturesSumBMP.cdds";

summer = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Surface\\High\\LandTexturesSumTGA.cdds";

winter = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Surface\\High\\LandTexturesWinBMP.cdds";

winter = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Surface\\High\\LandTexturesWinTGA.cdds";

Collection2 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Surface\\High\\MapTexturesBMP.cdds";

Collection3 = ".\\Bazar\\Effects\\EffectTexturesTGA.cdds";

Collection4 = ".\\Bazar\\World\\WorldTexturesTGA.cdds";

Collection5 = ".\\Bazar\\World\\WorldTexturesBMP.cdds";

Collection11 = ".\\Bazar\\World\\WorldTexturesBMP1.cdds";

Collection6 = ".\\Bazar\\World\\ShipTexturesBMP.cdds";

Collection7 = ".\\Bazar\\World\\ShipTexturesTGA.cdds";

Collection8 = ".\\Bazar\\World\\CockpitsTexturesBMP.cdds";

Collection9 = ".\\Bazar\\World\\CockpitsTexturesTGA.cdds";

Collection10 = ".\\Bazar\\Effects\\effects.cdds";

Collection12 = ".\\Bazar\\World\\Cockpit-SU39-TexturesBMP.cdds";

Collection13 = ".\\Bazar\\World\\Cockpit-SU39-TexturesTGA.cdds";

Collection14 = ".\\Bazar\\World\\WorldTexturesTGA1.cdds";

}

bSummer = 1;

RenderStates

{

Folder = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\";

Parser = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\RenderStateParser.cfg";

DefaultRsFile = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\default.rsbin";

}

MaterialAliasFile

{

GF3 = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\materials.lma";

GF3 = ".\\materials_TT.lma";

GF2 = ".\\Bazar\\Graphics\\Materials\\materialsE3GF2.lma";

}

landfile2 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Surface\\High\\land.lsa2";

BinScene = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Scenes\\Medium.scn";

roads

{

road = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Roads\\roads.rn2";

road = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Roads\\rails.rn2";

}

superficial

{

file2 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Onlay\\High\\Onlay_VPP.sup";

file2 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Onlay\\High\\Onlay_Coastline.sup";

file2 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Onlay\\High\\Onlay_Crim.sup";

file3 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Onlay\\High\\Onlay_Cauc_East.sup";

file3 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Onlay\\High\\Onlay_Cauc_North.sup";

file3 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Onlay\\High\\Onlay_Cauc_West.sup";

file2 = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Onlay\\High\\Onlay_Mount_Borders.sup";

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\map_buildings.sup";

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\map_lep.sup";

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\map_rivers.sup";

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\land_map_L0.sup";

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\land_map_L2.sup";

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\map_towns_crim.sup";

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\map_towns_cauc.sup";

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\map_towns_names_crim_en.sup";

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\map_towns_names_cauc_en.sup";

}

ru

{

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\map_towns_names_crim_ru.sup";

map = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Map\\map_towns_names_cauc_ru.sup";

}

LandLodDistances

{

LandDay

{

L01 = 15000;

L12 = 35000;

}

LandNight

{

L01 = 10000;

L12 = 20000;

}

Map

{

L01 = 16000;

L12 = 50000;

L23 = 100000;

L34 = 200000;

L45 = 400000;

}

MapAlt

{

L01 = 16000;

L12 = 50000;

L23 = 100000;

L34 = 200000;

L45 = 400000;

}

MapTex

{

L01 = 16000;

L12 = 50000;

L23 = 100000;

L34 = 200000;

L45 = 400000;

}

MFD

{

L01 = 10000;

L12 = 25000;

}

}

LModelFiles

{

lmf = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Structures\\model.lm";

lmf = ".\\Bazar\\Terrain\\Structures\\land_offside_model.lm";

}

LandTextureLighting = 1;

LandSunFactor = 0.75;

OldLandNoise

{

perSquare = 5;

perSquare2 = 150;

front = 1000;

back = 15000;

top = 2000;

map_high = 20000;

bottom = 2000;

noisemax = 0.6;

noisemin = 0.1;

}

NoiseStrip

{

min = 2095;

max = 2505;

}

ScreenshotQuality = 90;

ScreenshotExt = "jpg";

EffectOptions = 3;

Exhaust = 0;

ShadowDensity = 0.7;

PilotName = "No";

FogParam1 = 15;

FogParam2 = 1.1;

ObjectFogMultiplier = 0.5;

CivilianRoutes = ".\\Bazar\\Routes\\";

PilotNames = 1;

[Roman G]

better do what I said instead of posting smartass comments.

 

The pot calling the kettle black.

 

The title of topic say "... AND STARFORCE". So Nomad IS partially on topic.

[KaBoNG]

Nate--IRL--:

 

Thanks for your suggestion but this is not a fix (some objects still pop up and horsey needed to run it).

 

Why can't ED just go back to the old fade in method in v1.00/v1.01 or at least give us an option to render this way???

[KaBoNG]

bumpalicious (for pop-ups - any response ED?)

[jason_peters]

did a bit more testing on the 1.02 version at the weekend and the pop ups is down to one variable in then graphichs.cfg

 

structures = {40, 6500};

 

The first number (40) is the number of buildings that are rendered in all directions of your plane. The structures also have a priority so that high priority get rendered even if further away than the low ones. The low priority structures are well within the visibility range when their priority gets to a level to render - hence the pop-up.

 

The second in the distance structures get rendered.

 

Increasing the 40 (in this example) to 145 removes th popup with a FPS hit.

 

The fade in of objects only seems to apply when they come in on the visabiliyt distance (ie 6500 in our example). So ED should make the fade in on all objects when they triger the priority render - not just at the full visibilty distance

[KaBoNG]

Bumparooni! (for pop-ups - GIVE US A FADE-IN OPTION IN V1.1!!) :D