ZylonBane on 25/10/2010 at 15:51
Quote Posted by Eldron
I actually loved this, rarely do we ever get full transparency, because alpha testing and especially sorting is just expensive even in this day, It's good stuff, but like everything else it's lowres
Eh? SS2 is absolutely jam-packed with this sort of thing. Every blood spatter, the bloody writing, the arrows on the floor, indeed nearly all signage, uses this rendering mode.
Quote Posted by Muzman
I think we have to wait until the source code project codes in curved surfaces or phong shading on terrains too, for that one to really do justice to the idea (if my vague technical know how serves)
What you want to say here is
bump mapping.
Eldron on 25/10/2010 at 16:01
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
Eh? SS2 is absolutely jam-packed with this sort of thing. Every blood spatter, the bloody writing, the arrows on the floor, indeed nearly all signage, uses this rendering mode.
What I meant is, even today in this modern age stuff with transparency has to be drawn in the right order, which mean it has to be sorted, and sorting is expensive.
Mostly stuff does not even have to be sorted, since polygons behind other polygons can even be draw after the fronting polygon was drawn.
In the case of the dark engine some stuff is sorted so it is a nice visual bonus to be able to have full transparency on these objects.
Quote Posted by Muzman
I think we have to wait until the source code project codes in curved surfaces or phong shading on terrains too, for that one to really do justice to the idea (if my vague technical know how serves)
Which is all nice and so, but I really see nothing that couldn't be achieved with good old fashioned diffuse texturing and artistic abilities in terms of ss2's original visual goals.
Nameless Voice on 25/10/2010 at 16:14
Quote Posted by Eldron
I really see nothing that couldn't be achieved with good old fashioned diffuse texturing and artistic abilities in terms of ss2's original visual goals.
Is that an offer? ;)
ZylonBane on 25/10/2010 at 16:25
Something nice to have added to SS2's renderer would be additive blending. Would certainly make the "ghost" sequences look better.
But, this has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Some of the things I'm already planning on attacking if I ever get time to actually do this:
- The common floor textures
- That big Hydroponics logo right in front of the elevator
- Anything with text on it
- The Xerxes column
It's something that has to be done very carefully, to avoid creating obvious disparity between the original and upgraded textures.
Eldron on 25/10/2010 at 16:39
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
Something nice to have added to SS2's renderer would be additive blending. Would certainly make the "ghost" sequences look better.
But, this has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Some of the things I'm already planning on attacking if I ever get time to actually do this:
- The common floor textures
- That big Hydroponics logo right in front of the elevator
- Anything with text on it
- The Xerxes column
It's something that has to be done
very carefully, to avoid creating obvious disparity between the original and upgraded textures.
For them it probably would've been as easy to just change the blendmode in code to add it to ss2.
Eldron on 25/10/2010 at 16:41
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
Is that an offer? ;)
It's the whole thing about tackling a fulltime project which was originally made by a full team of artists, while having a fulltime job on the side.
If you managed to warp time for me so I got 48h a day, I'd promise I'd do it.
ZylonBane on 25/10/2010 at 16:48
Quote Posted by Eldron
For them it probably would've been as easy to just change the blendmode in code to add it to ss2.
I don't know what you're saying here. Of course the blend mode would be changed in code. It's not like it could be changed any other way.
Eldron on 25/10/2010 at 17:40
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
I don't know what you're saying here. Of course the blend mode would be changed in code. It's not like it could be changed any other way.
In code terms it's pretty much about setting bits, I don't know how it's done in direct3d, but in opengl it goes like this:
before something with blending, like the ghost, is drawn, you set how the calculation will be done:
glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA);
something like that, but if you'd want to use additive blending you'd just do it by changing that line to:
glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE);
Now I dont know much about catching directx calls, but it should be able change the ghost specific material, which probably uses a specific blending mode to switch to additive.
ps. sorry for the derail
ZylonBane on 25/10/2010 at 17:50
I'm guessing that you mean doing such a change via something like DDfix, as opposed to waiting for the source code.
Eldron on 25/10/2010 at 19:08
Exactly that, since some stuff like muzzle-flashes and ghosts could probably be a bit better off by using additive blending rather than what it uses now
