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[Holey Moley]

Holey Moley Website System Administrator Offline

look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology

Holey Moley says,

random

I've spent a lot of time the past two days working on MapComp diagnostics. Somehow the error code forwarding (to SOM_MAP) seems to have broken down, which I've fixed, but I also found myself in a weird situation where somehow the DELETE character (127) was injected into the MHM field of one of my PRT files, by Microsoft's text box.

The MHM field was supposed to be blank. So MapComp was trying to open up an MHM file called character-code 127 .MHM. Of course that didn't go well. What it did do however is reveal how brittle MapComp/SOM_MAP are in this regard, since all MapComp generates in this case is a single error code... and (IOW) it's up to you to figure out (assuming you know what it means) which PRT file is the offending one... and of course that's a literal software "hell" since there are thousands of such files to comb through.

Another fun quirk is there is no error code if a PRT file itself doesn't open. In theory that might leave a hole in the MPX file, but in practice MapComp seems to not be able to abide by this and will crash. I guess if running it via SOM_MAP then SOM_MAP would have likely reported the missing PRT file, but I'm not sure these days since I've relaxed that some so that you can at least open and repair a MAP file with missing PRT references (it does raise a box.)

So I've invented a PRT error code (which hopefully isn't already taken) and have added a pop-up box to give a hint about which PRT the MHM or MSM error codes refer. Oh yeah, another point of failure is the do_missing_file_dialog_ok extension wasn't working. Otherwise it would tell you the missing file's name. In practice an MHM or MSM file may have a very similar file name to a PRT file, but this isn't a certainty (so maybe you could reason backward to it.) One reason it was failing is Microsoft's PathFileExistsA was lying about the file's existence. This was because (I think) it was being given a fake path with a > in it that I use to fake SOM into supporting Unicode folders. I fixed some code that was allowing that to happen. A second problem is do_missing_file_dialog_ok can be disabled (that's what it does) and maybe it shouldn't be so for tools, but for MapComp I changed the code to ignore it since MapComp will fail to make the MPX file, so it needs to give a reason. I opted to ignore missing objects (it reads every object MDO file so it can use their CPs for lamp flames, but this is a bit extravagant since it really ought to just read the lamp MDO files when the maps actually use lamps!! I should fix that sometime as an optimization.)

I have a database inside the site here of all of the files and their references (and back references) which was essential at one point, butt less vital these days now that the DLC tools like PrtsEdit are built into SOM proper. Unfortunately the new art system is going to outmode this database since it largely dispenses with all of these file formats (by making them transient files) so it's very likely to remain a time capsule going forward until I disconnect it or something happens. It's a shame because it has a cool WebGL based 3D model viewing system (largely an experiment at the time) that I'm not sure I want to try to salvage with the new extra level of indirection required. It gives me a head ache to think about it. But anyway, the only way to rectify it would be to build x2mdl into this website to convert art files into runtime files, and then redirect the WebGL system to a second cache level to convert those to its format. I think it's probably too tall an order to do anything with.

Formerly "Holy Diver" ("Holy") [Holy will be back as soon as I'm back to full form]

[Holey Moley]

Holey Moley Website System Administrator Offline

look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology

Holey Moley says,

VR again maybe?

I've just placed an order for an Nvidia 3060 RTX video card (GPU) for my newer system, that I haven't been using for development, that I bought expressly for VR work. I had a bad turn of events with it after I signed up for Microsoft's Windows developer preview program, so I could try some WSL features. Don't ever do that, it was a horrible experience, that forced me to reinstall Windows to get out of it (after it stopped offering me updates) so that I lost all of the time I spent setting up the system for work, although I was able to salvage some of the disk contents for basic things like portable apps (like SOM is.)

After that I was really disappointed that OpenGL is unusable on AMD's GPUs. So I've been waiting for this drought on GPUs (since COVID mainly) to pass. I got a really basic GPU (OEM) from the company (Computer Upgrade King) that put the PC together. I really just hope it's not too loud and works. It's not a powerhouse, but I'm not a gamer, and I just hope it can do video well on my 4K PC VR set. And I hope it's enough for SOM work. I calculated in theory it can fill 63 times the number of pixels I need to run my VR set at 90 fps...

I just hope that's enough, plus it may take longer to compute real pixels with some additional math, but in general SOM does one texture sample per pixel, so I figure it's close to the theoretical limit, except for the effects pass. So I'm hopeful it's within margins, and may even be able to squeeze out some 4K super-sampling.

EDITED: In theory these cards can do ray-tracing. I don't know if it will be practical to test SOM with that, but in practice its graphics are really basic, so it could work. On this card it would just be enough to develop it and see. I think it would run only at 60 fps at 1080 or maybe some slightly higher super-sampling target, downsampled to a square aspect ratio on slightly less than 1080.

Formerly "Holy Diver" ("Holy") [Holy will be back as soon as I'm back to full form]

[Holey Moley]

Holey Moley Website System Administrator Offline

look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology

Holey Moley says,

VR update

RE the last post, in the past 2 days I had to stop using my old work PC because I'm hoping its little CR2032 watch battery died. So I finally had to get set up with the new PC since it's going to take some soldering to replace that battery. I'll be sad if that doesn't fix that PC up, but I'm pretty well situated with the new PC now.

I've been trying to finish up a project that's turned into quite a slog, to add some animation enhancements to the software I use to work with animation models. I think I'll have it finished and published tomorrow. I didn't get as far as I wanted with it. Instead I had to stick with it as long as it took to get to an initial stopping point. I'm planning to switch gears to VR work immediately after I'm done with that. It should be interesting.

I may also be playing some VR, I'm not sure. I got a game for cheap off the PS4 that is Doom 3 in VR. It looks like the whole game plus some expansion campaigns. I did own and play Doom 3. I remember the last boss was a big disappointment. But that means I did finish it. I wonder if I'll still enjoy it or not. In theory I could even get some VR games for the PC now. I'm not sure what's out there.

Formerly "Holy Diver" ("Holy") [Holy will be back as soon as I'm back to full form]

[Holey Moley]

Holey Moley Website System Administrator Offline

look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology

Holey Moley says,

So what's next?

Here lately I've been indecisive on what to work on next for SOM. There are a number of projects I know I should be doing but I just feel like I don't want to do them now, maybe lingering effects of burnout from earlier in the year. Then I've got a list of large projects and small projects.

On the "large" front I feel like 2 or 3 seem possible. First I think this is what I may look at next, it is to sort/split transparent triangles for more correct/stable transparency blending. I've been wanting to do this for a long time. The other projects seem related, that is to finally make a UI for Exselector, or rewrite/refactor the OpenGL font/text rendering code I have (it's based on a Github hosted project called nanovg) which I figure a UI project might want to do first. There's reason it has to be done, but I just have a bad feeling about this code and it will be needed for the UI project.

As for the "small", I'm probably forgetting something, but I think it might be a good idea to develop code for animation that doesn't use a fixed integer time signature. That's because it's a problem for high frame rate displays and VR sets. I could look at reducing load on BGM changes, since that is more likely to hiccup during/after the new seamless map changes. I think I should return to working on NPC flying/swimming extensions for my KFII demo. I ended up dropping the ball on that last year. I might look at detecting when monsters are walking directly into obstacles (not progressing) and make them turn to seem less robotic.

This is just a list of possibilities I can refer back to. Motivation has been a problem for me lately. Don't worry. I usually mix small projects in with a bigger project. I just have to write these down because I have to pick something to start work on soon. I definitely have some art work to do on my KFII project, but I just don't feel up to it yet. I'll have to focus on that before long though. Possibly until the end of the year. I think many of these projects are the things I wanted to get into the demo this year.

Formerly "Holy Diver" ("Holy") [Holy will be back as soon as I'm back to full form]