D3D with FSAA?

frostg1ant · 05-23-2001, 07:04 PM

Hi everyone,

First I want to say this is a great board full of wonderful, friendly people!!

Second, I am wondering about the D3D portion of the game. I posted this in another topic, but it was buried under quite a few posts...

When the game first came out there were many problems with D3D...namely lockups, green crypt, etc. Have these problems been resolved with the patch? Is it better to run the game now in D3D mode? I am wondering because I have a Voodoo 5 5500 and could run the D3D mode with FSAA turned on. Haven't tried it yet, as I am still at work, but I am bored and thought I would ask.

frosty

Wyvern · 05-23-2001, 07:07 PM

frosty -

I don't know the answer BUT
Don't worry about your post getting lost way down in a thread - the regulars here check threads thoroughly when they see they've moved back up on the list of posts - that way we know there is something new to read and answer.

Saz should be along soon, he will probably know. I'll go check the "what this patch does" file in another window and see if I can't come back with an answer!

Wyv

Wyvern · 05-23-2001, 07:10 PM

THE LIST OF WHAT THE PATCH IS SUPPOSED TO DO:

Quick List of Changes in Wizards&Warriors Patch 1.00 12/8/00

Several changes were made to correct issues that could potentially affect the overall stability of the product. Among these was a specific crash that could occur if the characters were using hurled weapons such as throwing knives, throwing axes, darts or thowing stars on certain monsters, saving the game before killing them, and then reloading the savegame. There were also several other changes made that might resolve any problems potentially involved with a few people experiencing crashes when entering/exiting a scene or returning to town.

When trading items between characters in the Town Inn, the characters were not being properly saved if removed from the party at the Inn. This could result in characters losing important game items. The problem has been resolved and the characters are now properly saved at the Inn.

All of the town guilds and shops now ignore button clicks from the player when the GuildMasters are checking to see if the characters have completed any quests, in order to insure the player always receives quest completion acknowledgement when they enter the shop. Previously, the player could click on shop buttons causing the GuildMaster to abort completing the character’s quests. In addition, this protection is also now done when the GuildMaster is assigning quests, or when the character is undertaking Role Ascension.

Equipping the Vampire’s Ring, one of our favorite items in the game, no longer crashes the game. Our sincerest apologies.

For those experiencing DARK DUNGEONS in D3D mode, we have installed a command line parameter which you may add to the command line under properties of the W&W desktop icon: -LIGHT=n where n is a number between 0 and 16. Using the –LIGHT=n option with any number will automatically turn on a new monster brightness feature which makes the monsters much brighter when standing near a light source. The “n” value will increase the overall brightness of the environment, 0 being none and 16 being the most. You may still use the GAMMA control on your CONFIG PAGE to help increase the overall brightness of the game, in addition to the –LIGHT=n option.

Example Command Line: deep6.exe –LIGHT=8

This will increase the overall ambient scene lighting by a increment of 25%. Note that this parameter only works in D3D mode, and is not supported when running in software mode.

Some minor problems associated with certain Quests were addressed as follows:

The EYE OF THE SERPENT should no longer disappear if you kill the Colanth and then leave the area.

When the player is assigned the quest to find Scabban, the game was checking to see if the player went to Scabban’s laboratory, regardless of whether the player met Scabban before reaching the lab. The game should now recognize the quest completed if the player happens to meet Scabban outside the lab.

When the player is assigned the quest to travel to the Toad Village, the party is required to actually enter the Toad Village and travel down into the tunnels to receive credit for completing the quest.

Giving the Scroll to Jathil, and Assassin’s quest to defeat Grue Morde were potentially always awarding the character experience and/or gold for completing the quest. This has been corrected.

The Toad Villagers running in the Toad Village tunnels could potentially get stuck. We have made some changes to help prevent this, but it may still occur on occasion. When this happens, try TALKING to the Toad Villager (HAIL will do) and walking up to them, or bump into them. They should try to follow you, and you can lead them to an area where there is enough room to get around them. You can also try just pushing them out of the way.

The ability to pick up items in the outdoors should now be improved. Some users experienced that no matter how close they would stand to the item, in certain parts of the outdoors they couldn’t pick up the item.

The “CRAZY DANCE” that the party would do when the player clicked on unreachable objects, items, props, switches, etc. should now be corrected. The party will try to walk directly to the object regardless of whether or not they can actually reach it, pushing things aside if they can.

The ALTAR ELEVATOR in the SHRINE OF ANEPHAS was being disabled once the party had activated it and left the area. The elevator should continue to operate now so that the player can go back up into that area.

The PYRAMID OF CET was teleporting the party away from the entrance to avoid the party escaping during the final scene. This teleporter remained active after the game was completed, and the party couldn’t go back to the Pyramid without being permanently trapped. The teleported is now disabled once the player has completed the game so that you can go back to the Pyramid at will.

Some users expressed that the ability of a Vampire to feed was sometimes “Out Of Range” even when standing close to the monster they were attacking. This should be corrected now.

Enchantments were not being removed when the party returned to Town, and some effects would become permanent. This has been corrected and the enchantments are removed when the party re-enters the Town.

The SPIRIT SHIELD trait was corrected to work properly when equipped with ROBES or with the any of the karate suits (Ninja Garb, etc.).

Hope that helps! Wyv

Sazerac · 05-23-2001, 07:17 PM

AFAIK, the Voodoo 3dfx is supported by the game. The patch should resolve some of the "greening" problems that occur in the dungeons. I'm not sure if running FSAA will help or not, but it couldn't hurt to try. If it doesn't work, switch the configuration back to the way it was before.

-Sazerac

Wyvern · 05-23-2001, 07:19 PM

What did I tell you??

Knew Saz would be informative!

Wyv

frostg1ant · 05-23-2001, 07:47 PM

Cool! Thanks for the input!

I will give it a try and post back the results...

frosty

frostg1ant · 05-24-2001, 01:42 PM

Ick...the D3D did not work very well on the V5 5500. The characters in the view window had a white outline and the graphics looked jagged even running FSAA.

So, back to software mode...

I am continuously amazed at the level of detail I keep finding in this game. Even down to the swords/shields/etc. when you equip them a resultant change is shown in your character picture. Very cool...

Found the dragon shield in the crypt...it is amazing how well I can block attacks with that thing!

frosty

Sazerac · 05-24-2001, 01:54 PM

Ewww...sorry about that, Frosty! Well, I had looked some stuff up on FSAA on C|Net and no one there was overly enthusiastic about it...apparently it's a rather old configuration.

Software will do fine...actually, there's some things that occur in software mode that you don't get to see in Hardware mode. I can't imagine why, but I won't say anything else because it would "spoil" the ending.

-Sazerac

Glycerine · 05-24-2001, 02:38 PM

Yep...same thing happened to me. The best choice is to run it in 640x480 mode, either software or hardware. If you turn FSAA on at all you get those lines. (I chose hardware because I like the colored lighting...)

Personally, I'd rather stick with the crisp interface and inventory gfx. It just looks horrible in 1024x768. (The 3D window looks great, though!)

Glycerine

05-23-2001, 07:04 PM	#1
frostg1ant Dungeon Master Join Date: May 22, 2001 Location: Colorado, USA Posts: 52	Hi everyone, First I want to say this is a great board full of wonderful, friendly people!! Second, I am wondering about the D3D portion of the game. I posted this in another topic, but it was buried under quite a few posts... When the game first came out there were many problems with D3D...namely lockups, green crypt, etc. Have these problems been resolved with the patch? Is it better to run the game now in D3D mode? I am wondering because I have a Voodoo 5 5500 and could run the D3D mode with FSAA turned on. Haven't tried it yet, as I am still at work, but I am bored and thought I would ask. frosty

05-23-2001, 07:07 PM	#2
Wyvern Ironworks Moderator Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Rural Paradise, MI Posts: 5,701	frosty - I don't know the answer BUT Don't worry about your post getting lost way down in a thread - the regulars here check threads thoroughly when they see they've moved back up on the list of posts - that way we know there is something new to read and answer. Saz should be along soon, he will probably know. I'll go check the "what this patch does" file in another window and see if I can't come back with an answer! Wyv

05-23-2001, 07:10 PM	#3
Wyvern Ironworks Moderator Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Rural Paradise, MI Posts: 5,701	THE LIST OF WHAT THE PATCH IS SUPPOSED TO DO: Quick List of Changes in Wizards&Warriors Patch 1.00 12/8/00 Several changes were made to correct issues that could potentially affect the overall stability of the product. Among these was a specific crash that could occur if the characters were using hurled weapons such as throwing knives, throwing axes, darts or thowing stars on certain monsters, saving the game before killing them, and then reloading the savegame. There were also several other changes made that might resolve any problems potentially involved with a few people experiencing crashes when entering/exiting a scene or returning to town. When trading items between characters in the Town Inn, the characters were not being properly saved if removed from the party at the Inn. This could result in characters losing important game items. The problem has been resolved and the characters are now properly saved at the Inn. All of the town guilds and shops now ignore button clicks from the player when the GuildMasters are checking to see if the characters have completed any quests, in order to insure the player always receives quest completion acknowledgement when they enter the shop. Previously, the player could click on shop buttons causing the GuildMaster to abort completing the character’s quests. In addition, this protection is also now done when the GuildMaster is assigning quests, or when the character is undertaking Role Ascension. Equipping the Vampire’s Ring, one of our favorite items in the game, no longer crashes the game. Our sincerest apologies. For those experiencing DARK DUNGEONS in D3D mode, we have installed a command line parameter which you may add to the command line under properties of the W&W desktop icon: -LIGHT=n where n is a number between 0 and 16. Using the –LIGHT=n option with any number will automatically turn on a new monster brightness feature which makes the monsters much brighter when standing near a light source. The “n” value will increase the overall brightness of the environment, 0 being none and 16 being the most. You may still use the GAMMA control on your CONFIG PAGE to help increase the overall brightness of the game, in addition to the –LIGHT=n option. Example Command Line: deep6.exe –LIGHT=8 This will increase the overall ambient scene lighting by a increment of 25%. Note that this parameter only works in D3D mode, and is not supported when running in software mode. Some minor problems associated with certain Quests were addressed as follows: The EYE OF THE SERPENT should no longer disappear if you kill the Colanth and then leave the area. When the player is assigned the quest to find Scabban, the game was checking to see if the player went to Scabban’s laboratory, regardless of whether the player met Scabban before reaching the lab. The game should now recognize the quest completed if the player happens to meet Scabban outside the lab. When the player is assigned the quest to travel to the Toad Village, the party is required to actually enter the Toad Village and travel down into the tunnels to receive credit for completing the quest. Giving the Scroll to Jathil, and Assassin’s quest to defeat Grue Morde were potentially always awarding the character experience and/or gold for completing the quest. This has been corrected. The Toad Villagers running in the Toad Village tunnels could potentially get stuck. We have made some changes to help prevent this, but it may still occur on occasion. When this happens, try TALKING to the Toad Villager (HAIL will do) and walking up to them, or bump into them. They should try to follow you, and you can lead them to an area where there is enough room to get around them. You can also try just pushing them out of the way. The ability to pick up items in the outdoors should now be improved. Some users experienced that no matter how close they would stand to the item, in certain parts of the outdoors they couldn’t pick up the item. The “CRAZY DANCE” that the party would do when the player clicked on unreachable objects, items, props, switches, etc. should now be corrected. The party will try to walk directly to the object regardless of whether or not they can actually reach it, pushing things aside if they can. The ALTAR ELEVATOR in the SHRINE OF ANEPHAS was being disabled once the party had activated it and left the area. The elevator should continue to operate now so that the player can go back up into that area. The PYRAMID OF CET was teleporting the party away from the entrance to avoid the party escaping during the final scene. This teleporter remained active after the game was completed, and the party couldn’t go back to the Pyramid without being permanently trapped. The teleported is now disabled once the player has completed the game so that you can go back to the Pyramid at will. Some users expressed that the ability of a Vampire to feed was sometimes “Out Of Range” even when standing close to the monster they were attacking. This should be corrected now. Enchantments were not being removed when the party returned to Town, and some effects would become permanent. This has been corrected and the enchantments are removed when the party re-enters the Town. The SPIRIT SHIELD trait was corrected to work properly when equipped with ROBES or with the any of the karate suits (Ninja Garb, etc.). Hope that helps! Wyv

05-23-2001, 07:17 PM	#4
Sazerac Ironworks Moderator Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Monroe, LA Age: 60 Posts: 7,387	AFAIK, the Voodoo 3dfx is supported by the game. The patch should resolve some of the "greening" problems that occur in the dungeons. I'm not sure if running FSAA will help or not, but it couldn't hurt to try. If it doesn't work, switch the configuration back to the way it was before. -Sazerac

05-23-2001, 07:19 PM	#5
Wyvern Ironworks Moderator Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Rural Paradise, MI Posts: 5,701	What did I tell you?? Knew Saz would be informative! Wyv

05-23-2001, 07:47 PM	#6
frostg1ant Dungeon Master Join Date: May 22, 2001 Location: Colorado, USA Posts: 52	Cool! Thanks for the input! I will give it a try and post back the results... frosty

05-24-2001, 01:42 PM	#7
frostg1ant Dungeon Master Join Date: May 22, 2001 Location: Colorado, USA Posts: 52	Ick...the D3D did not work very well on the V5 5500. The characters in the view window had a white outline and the graphics looked jagged even running FSAA. So, back to software mode... I am continuously amazed at the level of detail I keep finding in this game. Even down to the swords/shields/etc. when you equip them a resultant change is shown in your character picture. Very cool... Found the dragon shield in the crypt...it is amazing how well I can block attacks with that thing! frosty

05-24-2001, 01:54 PM	#8
Sazerac Ironworks Moderator Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Monroe, LA Age: 60 Posts: 7,387	Ewww...sorry about that, Frosty! Well, I had looked some stuff up on FSAA on C\|Net and no one there was overly enthusiastic about it...apparently it's a rather old configuration. Software will do fine...actually, there's some things that occur in software mode that you don't get to see in Hardware mode. I can't imagine why, but I won't say anything else because it would "spoil" the ending. -Sazerac

05-24-2001, 02:38 PM	#9
Glycerine Manshoon Join Date: April 4, 2001 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Posts: 150	Yep...same thing happened to me. The best choice is to run it in 640x480 mode, either software or hardware. If you turn FSAA on at all you get those lines. (I chose hardware because I like the colored lighting...) Personally, I'd rather stick with the crisp interface and inventory gfx. It just looks horrible in 1024x768. (The 3D window looks great, though!) Glycerine

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