modern warfare reaches 0 A.D.

[Pureon]

It worked quite nicely ,thanks .The shaders are loking great .

This wiki page may also be helpful: http://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Manual_Settings#AdvancedgraphicsGLSLonly

[poVoq]

Heh, those buildings give me a bit of a steam-punk vribe, still nice looking... though as previously mentioned a bit too monochrome.

Oh and great to hear that you are going open-source with your game... please also use CC-by-SA the the license for the graphics to have full compatibility with 0 AD assets.

[Ilves]

Ok, the combined efforts of us and your engine continues to inhabit the ancient world with tanks:

Buuuut... this is still fat from that goodness what Mythos_Ruler presented us. Can you be so kind to explain what made his screenshots looking so smooth? Maybe, materials or DDS saving setting? (the notorious mip maps for instance). And how to enable normal maps working?

Moreover, I'm going to ask how to make Alpha Channel working (it's included in the dds file but not working as you can see from the black square in place of wheels):

Here you can see the wheels of the tanks and the shaders working:

Thanks

Edited January 15, 2013 by Ilves

[Enrique]

I'm going to try answering some questions.

First, about the transparency.

The transparency is handled different depending on the material used in the xml actor:

• If you use a material with "player_trans" means that the transparencies in the texture will show playercolor.
  
• If you use a material with "basic_trans" means that the transparencies will be handled as basic transparency, achieving the effect needed in the tank wheels.
  

Therefore, you'll need different .xml actors in the unit. (example: main actor the hull with playercolor, and attached to it the props of the turret [also with playercolor if there's no transparent elements], and the wheels with basic transparency)

To enable the normal/parallax and specular effects, you need to do the two following changes (and have a graphics card/driver with good OpenGL 2.1 support)

-First, you need to make some changes on the .cfg file of the game. The best way to do this is making a new copy of the file binaries\data\config\default.cfg an rename it as local.cfg

Open the file with a text editor and make the following changes:

• Set preferglsl=true (this enables GLSL mode)
  
• Set gentangents=true (this enables AO, normal/parallax, and specular mapping)
  
• Set materialmgr.quality=10 (value 10 to enable all the effects, 5 to enable only some of the effects, or 0 to turn them off)
  

-Second you have to specify the correct material in the .xml actor files in order to use the effects. I've already explained the transparency differences.

• basic_trans_parallax_spec -> this enables "basic transparency", "normal/parallax" map and specular map (i.e for the wheels)
  
• player_trans_parallax_spec -> this is like the first, but with playercolor (i.e. for the turret and hull)
  
• player_trans_ao_parallax_spec -> this one enables the same as the above, but also "Ambient Occlusion" map (I think you don't need it because the AO is already in the diffuse texture)
  

You can find all the material files in the folder "0AD\binaries\data\mods\public\art\materials". But I think those two first are the ones you're looking for.

Final note:

When specifying the texture's location in the .xml actors, you have to tell the engine which type of texture is, like the following example (not sure but I think It has to be in this order):

<textures>

<texture file="structural/rome_struct.png" name="baseTex"/>

<texture file="structural/rome_struct_norm.png" name="normTex"/>

<texture file="structural/rome_struct_spec.png" name="specTex"/>

<texture file="structural/ao/rome_market_struct1.png" name="aoTex"/>

</textures>

For more information about the graphic options, you can follow the link that Pureon posted: http://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Manual_Settings#AdvancedgraphicsGLSLonly

I wish you good luck with your project!

[Ilves]

I'm going to try answering some questions.

First, about the transparency.

The transparency is handled different depending on the material used in the xml actor:

• If you use a material with "player_trans" means that the transparencies in the texture will show playercolor.
  
• If you use a material with "basic_trans" means that the transparencies will be handled as basic transparency, achieving the effect needed in the tank wheels.
  

Therefore, you'll need different .xml actors in the unit. (example: main actor the hull with playercolor, and attached to it the props of the turret [also with playercolor if there's no transparent elements], and the wheels with basic transparency)

Oh-oh. That's bad news - we use both transparency (for most cylinder details) and housecolor often. Is it theoretically possible to modify the engine to allow one material using both maps? For e.g. housecolor or opacity will be kept in a seperate map file then.

Moreover, wheels can't be props, they need to play rotation animation while in move.

Edited January 15, 2013 by Ilves

[idanwin]

Yes, you can make your object in multiple parts and merge these together in the game by making multiple actors and then adding one of these as a prop to the other. this way one actor can use player transparency and the other can use base transparency.

[Ilves]

The hull (the main part) needs to have housecolor. While the wheels need to have transperancy. But wheels can't be props, they ought to play rotation animation, while props are static.

[Enrique]

The hull (the main part) needs to have housecolor. While the wheels need to have transperancy. But wheels can't be props, they ought to play rotation animation, while props are static.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but imo:

Props are static respective to their "parent" but they can be animated. And IIRC the props inherit the state of it's parent, so if the hull is moving (in moving or "walking" animation) the wheels will look for a "moving" animation and play the rotation or whatever animation they have assigned to move and play the "idle" animation (stop) when the hull is in the same state/animation

[Gen.Kenobi]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but imo:

Props are static respective to their "parent" but they can be animated. And IIRC the props inherit the state of it's parent, so if the hull is moving (in moving or "walking" animation) the wheels will look for a "moving" animation and play the rotation or whatever animation they have assigned to move and play the "idle" animation (stop) when the hull is in the same state/animation

You are pretty right

That was what we noticed when we put the archer as a turret. It would still use it's fire animation even though it was a prop of the chassis, I guess... Gudo made the example.

[Ilves]

Ok, that helps a bit. Rays of greatefullness to everybody who helped us.

But one question continues to bother me from sleeping and I'm going to continue asking it

Look what goodness Mythos_Ruler has achieved with our tank:

And look what we get:

The normal maps are turned on, but they are hardly visible from RTS distance. The texture is 1024x1024 (separate for turret and the hull), still it's no use since the skin degenerates at speed of light with every 1 m away from camera. I also want to turn on anti-aliasing. What should we do?

[Gen.Kenobi]

You should try to give the normal texture a paralax map. This will make the details pop out way more.

Just add a new Alpha Channel into the difuse texture and remake the normal map. This should fix your problem, unless you're already using Parallax.

Also, bear in mind that Mythos used Post-Processing in these screens he took. You can see Bloom, DOF, ect. Last time I checked those features were only avaliable into Atlas - could be wrong though.

[feneur]

You should try to give the normal texture a paralax map. This will make the details pop out way more.

Just add a new Alpha Channel into the difuse texture and remake the normal map. This should fix your problem, unless you're already using Parallax.

Also, bear in mind that Mythos used Post-Processing in these screens he took. You can see Bloom, DOF, ect. Last time I checked those features were only avaliable into Atlas - could be wrong though.

I would assume you can set them manually in the map file as well But it's certainly a lot easier to set them in Atlas where you get some feedback immediately

[Ilves]

but what to do with the texture degenerating (blurring) quickly at distance? The texture on the tanks at the end of the screen look like if they have a 32x32 texture.

I would assume you can set them manually in the map file as well But it's certainly a lot easier to set them in Atlas where you get some feedback immediately

Which way you can set bloom and all the rest in the map file?

Edited January 16, 2013 by Ilves

[zoot]

but what to do with the texture degenerating (blurring) quickly at distance? The texture on the tanks at the end of the screen look like if they have a 32x32 texture.

This is potentially a graphics driver issue. Same with anti-aliasing.

[Evropi]

For the license question above:

well, it's not really fair to compare software licenses to artistic works ones. As far as I know, there is no pre-existing license that makes the entire collection of art free culture. Besides, making distribution of the entire work necessary but individual models and textures being disallowed would render the art useless to others as they'd only be able to make clones of the game. CC-BY-SA is a good choice. Even better because you get credited (the freelance artist's most powerful tool is their portfolio!) and anyone who modifies has to release under the same license, benefitting all.

[Ilves]

There won't be much use for a license if I won't cope with graphic issues The current perfomance just sux scarily (look the screenshots on thee previous page).

No, this is not video card driver's problem. I've tested my mod on 3 (!) different computers with the same scary blurry result.

And still no reply on how to fix it or what should we do.

[zoot]

There won't be much use for a license if I won't cope with graphic issues The current perfomance just sux scarily (look the screenshots on thee previous page).

No, this is not video card driver's problem. I've tested my mod on 3 (!) different computers with the same scary blurry result.

And still no reply on how to fix it or what should we do.

Unfortunately we can't expect 24/7 support for a non-commercial engine It's not really important how many computers you have tested it on, if those computers don't support the feature you are looking for. In my own experience, not all drivers/card do mipmapping equally well, and that often leads to the blurred textures you are reporting on lower to mid-end systems.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Ok, that helps a bit. Rays of greatefullness to everybody who helped us.

But one question continues to bother me from sleeping and I'm going to continue asking it

Look what goodness Mythos_Ruler has achieved with our tank:

And look what we get:

The normal maps are turned on, but they are hardly visible from RTS distance. The texture is 1024x1024 (separate for turret and the hull), still it's no use since the skin degenerates at speed of light with every 1 m away from camera. I also want to turn on anti-aliasing. What should we do?

These do not look blurry to me. I am curious if you have imported these meshes into other engines and given them a go. Not just compared pyrogenesis to high quality renders.

[poVoq]

Honestly... I agree those look fine for ingame models.

However maybe actually using a smaller resolution texture (currently there are multiple 1024x1024 maps, right?) might help. After all on a typical screen the model is maybe 500x500 pixels in total at maximum, so the engine has to combine a lot of texels into one on screen pixel. A sharper 512x512 texture would thus maybe look better in game than what you currently have, without loosing any real texture detail on screen at all.

[Enrique]

May be because .DDS compression type? have you tried using .PNG to see if there's any difference?

[Mythos_Ruler]

Honestly... I agree those look fine for ingame models.

However maybe actually using a smaller resolution texture (currently there are multiple 1024x1024 maps, right?) might help. After all on a typical screen the model is maybe 500x500 pixels in total at maximum, so the engine has to combine a lot of texels into one on screen pixel. A sharper 512x512 texture would thus maybe look better in game than what you currently have, without loosing any real texture detail on screen at all.

That's what I was thinking. Also, there's a chance the engine may have a LOD (level of detail) system put in place in the future.

[Ilves]

The work never stops:

Now all what I may ask for is a way to turn on anti-aliasing and fog ^^

[Mythos_Ruler]

I'm thinking the models need scaled up. How big do they look next to a soldier (a hoplite or something)?

Antialiasing needs to be turned on with your graphics card driver program. Fog is turned on this way:

All graphics options (distance fog, HQ water, normal maps, bloom, wind, etc.) enable in the local.cfg file (binaries/data/config).

Just open the binaries/data/config/default.cfg file in your favorite text editor. Then copy these lines to a new empty text file and edit them to look like this:

; System settings:

waternormals = true

waterbinormals = true

waterrealdepth = true

waterfoam = true

watercoastalwaves = true

waterrefraction = true

waterreflection = true

watershadows = true

postproc = true

; Quality level of shader effects (set to 10 to display effects)

materialmgr.quality = 10

; Prefer GLSL shaders over ARB shaders (not recommended). REQUIRES gentangents=true.

preferglsl = true

; Experimental probably-non-working GPU skinning support; requires preferglsl; use at own risk

gpuskinning = true

; Generate tangents for normal and parallax mapping. REQUIRES preferglsl=true. Incompatible with gpuskinning.

gentangents = true

; Use smooth LOS interpolation; REQUIRES preferglsl=true.

smoothlos = true

Save the new text file as local.cfg in binaries/data/config/. Boot up the game and you will see the new graphics features.

[quantumstate]

They look pretty good next to trees for realistic scale. Soldiers might be pretty tiny though with that scale.

[Mythos_Ruler]

They look pretty good next to trees for realistic scale. Soldiers might be pretty tiny though with that scale.

Most of our trees are not scaled correctly (they are too small).