Demo made for nVidia exposes bug.

lsd

Golden Member
Sep 26, 2000
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From: &quot;Patrick Moynihan&quot; <patrick@wxp3d.com>
To: <privateer@scifi-gaming.com>
Subject: RE: Register Article
Hey Jean,

The problem lies not in the GeForce2's texture compression, but rather in
the Radeon's lack of support for the type of hardware fog/haze effect we
implemented for DMZG.

The GeForce2 screenshot is correct. The Radeon 32 screenshot is only
differentiated by the lack of fog.

Patrick
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Why don't you two look at the sky again and tell me which one looks right.. I personally see nothing wrong with the geforce sky... maybe you're blinded by hatred..
 

AdamK47

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
15,811
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Yep. I've tried the DMZG demo with my Radeon. The fog is broken with the Radeon. There is no bug for nVidia cards when running the DMZG demo. The sky is suppose to look orange not blue.
 

BFG10K

Lifer
Aug 14, 2000
22,709
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Yes, it's the Radeon that has a driver bug which causes it to incorrectly render DMZG. Hopefully ATi can fix this soon.
 

snow patrol

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2000
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Most people don't seem to realise this, but if you play with texture detail slider at max, with texture compression on with a RADEON - the sky in Quake 3 looks hideous! So much so, that I actually have high detail sky off. Not because I need the frame rate boost (pretty small) but because the ghastly looking sky (particularly on 'red sky' levels) really puts me off.

This is with the RADEON remember folks! :(
 

PeAK

Member
Sep 25, 2000
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OK...who was actually there when the picture was taken?

We need a reference image to clarify the artists intention
before anyone can go off making statements about which of the renderings is the more accurate. This much I can say...they are different.

There are lies and then there are damm lies.
 

oldfart

Lifer
Dec 2, 1999
10,207
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Snow, that is the way the Q3 sky looks with TC. It looks FAR from hideous. I think people make way too much of the Q3 sky thing, both the Nvidia issue and the TC in general. You turned HQ sky off?? That means you have no sky. Just black. I wouldn't call that an improvement. Why don't you just turn off TC?
seta r_ext_compressed_textures &quot;0&quot; in ver 1.27 (and 1.25???)
seta r_ext_compress_textures &quot;0&quot; in 1.17 version.
You will have nice, uncompressed sky.
 

lsd

Golden Member
Sep 26, 2000
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<< before anyone can go off making statements about which of the renderings is the more accurate. >>


1st Use your brain.... Have you ever seen a sun set/sun rise?
2nd read my post.
3rd Go to the developers web page for screen shots. Here is one right here
4th Good nite :)
 

themadmonk

Senior member
Sep 30, 2000
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1) LSD - I didn't write the article, merely posted a link here. Honestly couldn't care less if the sky looks good, bad, dead or alive. The article to me was interesting enough seeing that it is the second about this issue. It in no way affects how I sleep at night.

2) Ahfung - Get a hold of yourself. The title of the thread is the idea behind what I read on The Register.
 

lsd

Golden Member
Sep 26, 2000
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<< ) LSD - I didn't write the article, merely posted a link here. Honestly couldn't care less if the sky looks good, bad, dead or alive. The article to me was interesting enough seeing that it is the second about this issue. It in no way affects how I sleep at night. >>


Well I'm sorry I shot the messenger in the head... I'm just clarifying some facts which people like to distort.
 

themadmonk

Senior member
Sep 30, 2000
397
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Thanx for your concern, but I didn't state any opinions towards the quality of the sky on any card. I didn't post the link because of any preference of video, nor am I trying to point the strengths and weaknesses of the other. I really didn't need any clarification. Maybe you should clarify this with The Register. It was merely an interesting article.
 

snow patrol

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2000
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Oldfart - well I suppose it's a matter of opinion, but I reckon that with texture compression ON, and texture detail set at 4/4, the sky does look pretty terrible.

However, with texture compression still ON, but the detail slider at 3/4, the sky looks fine but the other textures aren't quite so sharp.

Also, the reason I don't run with texture compression OFF, is that I only have a 32meg card and I loose around 30-40% of my frame rate.
 

PeAK

Member
Sep 25, 2000
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Interesting,

When I look at the reported TC problems on the Nvidia part, I noticed that the artifacts look like the picture in the bottom photograph of the link. It seems like the register interchanged the labels. So the top photograph should be labelled the GeForce2Mx. I think somebody should notify the Register of their mistake. One last thing is that a lot this discussion is covered in a previous thread

There are truths and then there are damm truths :)
 

lsd

Golden Member
Sep 26, 2000
1,184
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What are you getting at peak? As far as a I know Dagoth moor does not use TC.
I have the demo and I have seen what it looked like, it doesn't look like the top one. Why don't you download it for yourself?
If you look closely at the the sky both look the same except for the Radeon missing the fog.
Maybe your just being hard headed...
 

BenSkywalker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
9,140
67
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The demo made for nVidia clearly exposes a bug, it just happens to be an ATi driver bug.

1) The Bottom shot looks pretty close to a GF2MX AFAICT, just standard compressed for the web artifacts from what I can see(you all did notice that the image was in jpeg format, right?).

2) DMZG doesn't use texture compression

3) The reference rasterizer for DMZG is a GeForce, any deviation is an error

4) The Ati and 3dfx hardcore zealots are clearly in force here at AT(not just this thread, there were others on this Register &quot;article&quot; also). This is one that is an ATi fvck up but not everyone cares to look at the issue, just bash nVidia at any chance. Tell ATi to fix the fog table emulation in their drivers and you will see the image as it is supposed to look, or you could just take a look at the GeForce shots:)
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
24,165
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From the picture it seems the 32-bit sky with texture compression looks MUCH worse than normal 16-bit. Yikes! That would drive me up the wall. I do like the frame rate though. :)
 

snow patrol

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2000
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Eug - that's exactly why I play without sky, rather than resorting to either turning texture compression off (frame rate hit) or putting detail slider down one notch (walls etc don't look as crisp). Btw, both of those shots are in 32bit colour, it's just the second nice sky one has the detail slider down to 3/4.