EDuke32 snapshot thread

[TerminX]

Here's a new snapshot, featuring the awesome new texture caching system I wrote when I was baked last night. The "texcache" dir is no longer required as I've instead opted for a single file approach. This gives a huge boost to both read and write performance as we can take advantage of any I/O buffering going on (and we always have the file open and ready for use) whereas previously, we were forced to flush the I/O buffer when opening and closing each individual cache file.

Since it's a new system there are still a few problems but there appears to be nothing major wrong with it. You might get the occasional texture that ends up in the wrong spot but that's easily fixed by restarting the game. Comments I've got on test builds I've sent out have been along the lines of "those loading speeds are godly" and "It seems like once the texture lands in your humongous cache file, it then loads at near Quake 3 speed", but YMMV.

Test it out now!

Edit: this thread is now for snapshot discussion only, please create new threads with the prefix [EDuke32] for valid bug reports, coherent requests for new features, et cetera. If something is obviously wrong with just the last couple of snapshots, post about it here, but if there's a bug which occurs in several versions, make a new thread.

[Sobek]

Deleted my old texcache dirs, dropped in the new EXE's, and after the initial load... Wow. Load times are indeed near-instant now after that initial caching has been completed.

No issues to speak of, but I'll be trying it out more at home later.

[Spiker]

Wow, souds great. I wonder how much have you learnt while coding eduke32. I wouldn't mind if you learnt more and added another cool updates

[TerminX]

Originally Posted by Spiker

I wonder how much have you learnt while coding eduke32.

A lot.

[The Commander]

Originally Posted by Spiker

Wow, souds great. I wonder how much have you learnt while coding eduke32. I wouldn't mind if you learnt more and added another cool updates

I wouldnt consider it a how much he's lernt but more of a how much the engine can take.

[TerminX]

I don't think I knew most of what I know now about coding worth a shit when I started. Lots of trial and error/bothering people like JonoF with stupid questions/reading stuff on the Internet.

[Qbix]

yeah actually doing coding is a great teacher.

[Hendricks266]

I've been hoping for something like this a very long time. Waaay back when I first got the March 2005 HRP.

Originally Posted by Qbix

yeah actually doing coding is a great teacher.

As I know with CON coding.

[NightFright]

I appreciate this new precaching system quite much. Deleting that texcache dir always took ages, especially since I was using secure file deletion with three wipes per file. Having a large single file instead of thousands of small ones is just the right step. I can only congratulate TerminX on this decision!

[The Commander]

Originally Posted by NightFright

I appreciate this new precaching system quite much. Deleting that texcache dir always took ages, especially since I was using secure file deletion with three wipes per file. Having a large single file instead of thousands of small ones is just the right step. I can only congratulate TerminX on this decision!

Yes this does come in handy very much espicaly when backing up my Duke stuff and having to delete the old texchache from all my duke folders took ages.

[Mateos]

You're a god, thanks to you for your hard working, and thanks to continue to make Duke better and better ^^

[Dr. Kylstien]

Sometimes glow textures are misaligned/scaled on particular (3D) sprites. I also saw some sprites switch to models before my eyes. Just minor quirks, but I want to make sure they are known.

[Puritan]

There seems to be some error with the shrinker after this snapshot-release?

http://dukerepository.com/forum/inde...pic,8.105.html

[NightFright]

The only thing I'd like to be added still is a larger version of the optional status display (time/kills/secret) above the HUD. I'm playing @ 1280x1024 and it's really tiny.

[CraigFatman]

Shrinker doesn't shoot when I load a saved game. How did you test it? I have the latest 11/25 snapshot.

[Usurper]

Today, let us give thanks for superfast loading speeds in EDuke32. Amen.

[NightFright]

Praise to the TerminX! Praise, long life and success! *worship* *adore* *chant*

[TerminX]

Originally Posted by NightFright

The only thing I'd like to be added still is a larger version of the optional status display (time/kills/secret) above the HUD. I'm playing @ 1280x1024 and it's really tiny.

Change the text scaling option in the menu!

[eddym4814]

Thank you very much for this change. I just reinstalled the HRP and what a difference. On my old pc the fps before was 60 at idle and 30 to 40 in game. Now it's 180+ at idle and averages around 100 fps in game. The only problem I had was some strange textures but I removed sd_duke from the autoload folder and now it looks fine. It's been a while since I played with the HRP because of the lag. Thanks again.

[Sobek]

Originally Posted by eddym4814

Thank you very much for this change. I just reinstalled the HRP and what a difference. On my old pc the fps before was 60 at idle and 30 to 40 in game. Now it's 180+ at idle and averages around 100 fps in game. The only problem I had was some strange textures but I removed sd_duke from the autoload folder and now it looks fine. It's been a while since I played with the HRP because of the lag. Thanks again.

Your old PC? You reinstalled the HRP on a new one? (That might explain such a large improvement in framerate!). sd_duke will cause some serious performance drops in most situations... No doubt it's the removal of sd_duke that's spiked your FPS so nicely, and not this new release of eDuke32 (obviously no offence intended TX, and assuming you aren't on a newer / better PC now).

[eddym4814]

Sobek
Re: EDuke32 snapshot thread
Quote:
Sobek:
Your old PC? You reinstalled the HRP on a new one? (That might explain such a large improvement in framerate!). sd_duke will cause some serious performance drops in most situations... No doubt it's the removal of sd_duke that's spiked your FPS so nicely, and not this new release of eDuke32 (obviously no offence intended TX, and assuming you aren't on a newer / better PC now).

Sorry I wasn't clear. It's the same pc. After I just read your post I put sd_duke back in the autoload folder to check the framerate. It was all over the place but still much better than before. At idle it ranged from 100-140 fps. At random, and every time I killed an alien though a big green wall appeared, like the one's in the mothership and the fps would drop right down to 50-60.
Next I totally uninstalled the HRP and reinstalled it using the copy of eduke32 that came with it. Without sd_duke the framerate at idle was 60 and in game 40-50. So there was an improvement in the in game fps by removing sd_duke but not a lot. To tell you the truth at this point I'm just happy I can finally play Duke using the HRP. If there are other people using older computers out there who had a problem with the HRP they should definitely try this version of eduke32 out.

[PimpUigi]

Hmm, that's note worthy.

I'll start putting it on my old computers that the kids use.

[The Commander]

Originally Posted by PimpUigi

Hmm, that's note worthy.

I'll start putting it on my old computers that the kids use.

Just a heads up.
The computers still have to be able to display 32bit polymost.

[KillerBudgie]

Hey TX. I like the new snapshot. Loading times are at least 4X faster than previous snaps. Good work!

[The Commander]

Originally Posted by KillerBudgie

Hey TX. I like the new snapshot. Loading times are at least 4X faster than previous snaps. Good work!

Im still waiting for it to make my sandwich though.

* It makes sandwiches

[NightFright]

THX for the hint with the status/chat text sizes. That helped! Amazing how this whole thing keeps getting better still.

[TerminX]

Originally Posted by The Commander

Im still waiting for it to make my sandwich though.

You get your sandwich in the post 6-8 weeks after downloading. Unfortunately, it rarely survives.

[KillerBudgie]

You should be a comedian, not a programmer!

[XTHX2]

He can be both

[KillerBudgie]

Originally Posted by XTHX2

He can be both

Perhaps... If his humor is as strong as his programming skills, we're in trouble!

[XTHX2]

Not we, but our stomaches are in trouble...

[Mr.Fibbles]

Humor in programming. . .coders sometimes have too much fun with things like variable names and methods. There are also the joys of sneaking in a easter egg or two in a loading screen.

I will have to download this new snapshot when I get home from my parents house next week. I am looking forward to trying it out.

[PimpUigi]

Limp Lip here we come?

[Skulldog]

Wow, It loads really fast now. THANKS!

[Mateos]

Fast loading but lag

[MusicallyInspired]

Where can I find the linux port? Been looking but there doesn't seem to be a download link for it on the website.

EDIT: Never mind. Just delete this post.

[Qbix]

fixed a few errors on 64 linux.
I noticed I can't move my mouse up and down currently.
Why is -lprofile on the LIBS line in the Makefile for linux ? It's not needed for compilation and I don't have it hence I noticed )

[TerminX]

Oh, I was playing with the Google CPU profiler and I accidentally committed it a while back and forgot to revert it.

[Qbix]

Thank you for your answer. Now I wont feel bad when removing that part.

[ilovefoxes]

The 32-bit and etc modes have a engine to display sprites through paralaxed skys. This cause some blocking during mapping, so I think this could be modified? =)