[simpits-tech] Falcon4 Data

Erwin Neyt simpits-tech@simpits.org
Wed, 12 Feb 2003 11:43:51 +0100


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May I comment on this?
 
Well I will:
 
First there is the issue of releasing an exe. I personally think it's a bad
idea to start releasing .exe's on your own. It could provoke a 'hostile'
reaction from the current developers, which could hurt the community as a
whole. It seems that G2I has some plans for OIR and F5, and although there
is some scepsis among most of us, it seems logical to wait and see where the
future of Falcon is progressing to. I spoke to G2I about this, and they have
shown a lot of interest in this matter, so I hope they will commit their
support to the current available data and put some effort in making the
display data available.
And please don't start flaming G2I, they took up a challange to develop a
new version of Falcon, only to find that the community (from which G2I
spawned) turned their back on them (well that's the impression I got reading
the forums). I think they lost sight of what we really want: an even better
hard-core F-16 sim. 
 
Second on the actual modifications to get to the MFD data, I have tried to
accomplish a way to get to this data, only to find the current graphics
engine is not able to provide this data fast enough to be acceptable. 
Some benchmark results:
I got a system running F4. On this system I get 35 fps without MFD
extraction. When I enable MFD extraction for only 1 MFD image (240x240), the
frame rates drop to 15 fps. That's too much a penalty IMO.
So I can conclude: with the current gfx engine (DX7) there is no structural
way to solve the MFD extraction problem. 
Or to put it more technical: As long as there is no support for rendering to
a surface in system memory (needs DX8+) extracting a surface from display
memory is way to slow.
There is however an alternate approach (the above is focussed on
distributing data). This would involve implementing multi-monitor support,
and render the MFD to a second (local) display. (Currently there is no
multi-monitor support in Falcon)
 
so far my comments,
 
Erwin Neyt

-----Original Message-----
From: L39driver@aol.com [mailto:L39driver@aol.com] 
Sent: woensdag 12 februari 2003 9:23
To: simpits-tech@simpits.org
Subject: Re: [simpits-tech] Falcon4 Data


yes 


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<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>May I 
comment on this?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
size=2></FONT></SPAN>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Well I 
will:</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
size=2></FONT></SPAN>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>First 
there is the issue of releasing an exe. I personally think it's a bad idea to 
start releasing .exe's on your own. It could provoke a 'hostile' reaction from 
the current developers, which could hurt the community as a whole. It seems that 
G2I has some plans for OIR and F5, and although there is some scepsis among most 
of us, it seems logical to wait and see where the future of Falcon is 
progressing to. I spoke to&nbsp;G2I about this, and they have shown a lot of 
interest in this matter, so I hope they will commit their support to the current 
available data and put some effort in making the display data 
available.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>And 
please don't start flaming G2I, they took up a challange to develop a new 
version of Falcon, only to find that the community (from which G2I spawned) 
turned their back on them (well that's the impression I got reading the forums). 
I think they lost sight of what we really want: an even better hard-core F-16 
sim. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
size=2></FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial 
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT 
face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Second 
on the actual modifications to get to the MFD data, I have tried to accomplish a 
way to get to this data, only to find the current graphics engine is not able to 
provide this data fast enough to be acceptable. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Some 
benchmark results:</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I got 
a system running F4. On this system I get 35 fps&nbsp;without MFD extraction. 
When I enable MFD extraction for only 1 MFD image (240x240), the frame rates 
drop to 15 fps. That's too much a penalty IMO.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>So I 
can conclude: with the current gfx engine (DX7) there is no structural way to 
solve the MFD extraction problem. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Or to 
put it more technical: As long as there is no support for rendering to a surface 
in system memory (needs DX8+) extracting a surface from display memory is way to 
slow.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>There 
is however an alternate approach (the above is focussed on distributing data). 
This would involve implementing multi-monitor support, and render the MFD to a 
second (local) display. (Currently there is no multi-monitor support in 
Falcon)</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
size=2></FONT></SPAN>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>so far 
my comments,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
size=2></FONT></SPAN>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=449065208-12022003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Erwin 
Neyt</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE 
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
  <DIV></DIV>
  <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT 
  face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> 
  L39driver@aol.com [mailto:L39driver@aol.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> woensdag 12 
  februari 2003 9:23<BR><B>To:</B> simpits-tech@simpits.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> 
  Re: [simpits-tech] Falcon4 Data<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><FONT 
  face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 
  FAMILY="SANSSERIF">yes</FONT> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>

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