Taking SS by print screen (via ddfix 1.2.4) is buggy for me. I've tried to take ss 4 times, and 2 out of 4 it would take several good seconds (freezing the game for that period of course) instead of normal < 1 sec. and produced during that try screenshotx.bmp's were empty (both were only 54 bytes in size). When taking SS by PS was fast/instant (<1s), produced screenshotx.bmp were ok (proper size and contents).
I don't remember now, vanilla T2 was taking SS in pcx? Is it like jpg? Png format would be nice, I guess.
EDIT: just checked: normal screens taken with game-configured keys are all black as expected (named dumpxxx.pcx).
Last edited by Hiatus; 14th Mar 2008 at 11:41.
Odd. Taking screenshots by printscreen should always be slow now. (Takes ~4 seconds on my computer.) It certainly shouldn't take <1 second if the attempt was successfull.Originally Posted by Hiatus
Anyway, I'm off for the weekend so it's too late to do major anything about it now. I've made one little tweak to my screenshot code, so you can try redownloading and seeing if printscreen is a little less buggy now. (I didn't change the version number; it's still 1.2.4.)
just tried again 5 times (with "older" 1.2.4, will try with updated one later) and only 2 attempts were successful - in 3 other cases screenshotx.bmp produced was always 54 bytes in size. Successful attempts were conderably shorter than unsuccessful ones - I could guess at once when given PS attempt will be success or not (and after closing the game I confirmed it). So now I know ~how long successful and unsuccessful attempt takes. I didn't time successful attempt - maybe it's in 1-2 sec range not <1sec (?) but unsuccessful try is always noticeably longer for me (3-4 sec?). I'll try to time them somehow if possible. So in my case successful tries are much shorter for some reason, and unsuccessful take ~the same as your successful even though they are not for me for some reason (reversed situation). Again, maybe it's nVidia vs. ATI specific thing?
Are yours *always* successful (please try 5-10 times)?
Have a good weekend, Timeslip
Last edited by Hiatus; 14th Mar 2008 at 11:38.
fixed!
just tested with updated 1.2.4 and out of 9 tries all were now successful (no 54 bytes files produced any more). Taking SS takes <2sec imo (didn't time it exactly but it's much shorter than 4s for sure). I can count to 2 and starting saying "3" (average speed) and game freeze stops and SS is done.
Thank you for fixing this issue before the weekend
Changing the overlay colour in SS2 has rather... humorous results.
The entire screen is a solid block of that colour, with the exception of the parts that are supopsed to be black (the background of the inventory, ammo counter, etc.), which are transparent and allow the world to be seen through them.
Looks like it's done exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to do!
If I had been playing Morrowind when you were developing MGE I would have offered you a card back then :-)
As Ive said before I cant code or have the patience to make FM's. But what I can do is help out Devs and Fm authors with some free hardware to help them along. If it helps the community enjoy playing Thief/Ss2 then I'm more than happy to help. This sort of thing is indicative, that makes this forum better than any other I've used on the net.
biker
Since this now works so well with all three games, I've uploaded the hexedited files necessary to use DDFix for all three games and their respective DromEds. Using these without DDFix.dll being present will give you a crash, of course:
Thief 2
DromEd 2
Thief Gold
DromEd 1
System Shock 2
ShockEd
Last edited by Nameless Voice; 15th Mar 2008 at 16:26.
Thanks for that NV
:-)
I plan to play test a few T2 OMs/FMs during the weekend to specifically search for and find any bugs still left when using latest ddfix.
if you got some spare time during the weekend, I'd like to ask you to play test T1DP/TG/T2/SS2 OMs/FMs and take notice of any potential graphical glitches/anomalies/bugs/stability! (using ddfix 1.2.4 updated version of course - redownload to have it if needed). Or simply use your save games with beaten missions (if you got them) and revisit the levels looking for bugs etc. Be careful/concentrated.
Goal is to find any visual bugs/glitches/anomalies which might be related/specific to current ddfix version in order to help Timeslip to improve it even further and squash any remaining bugs when he returns to us next week, hopefully
Please report any found bugs/stability issues here (1st check with vanilla exe's to make sure it's ddfix specific and not game engine wide bug etc). Also include your basic H/W graphics config (ATI/nVidia, graphics chipset used, driver version, OS used etc).
That would help Timeslip in fixing any possible remaining bugs next week
For now, ddfix looks great in its current version but I feel it still wasn't tested enough in various missions/games. Some more or less obscure bugs may still lurk in the shadows
Anyone with some spare time willing to help is welcome.
Last edited by Hiatus; 14th Mar 2008 at 17:46.
All FOUR, you mean.
Thief: The Dark Project v1.33
I just played all the way through the Thief 2 demo, The Unwelcome Guest, and I didn't run into any problems. Works great!
Here's the edited executable:
Thief 2 Demo: The Unwelcome Guest
@timeslip,
Thank you so much for fixing DDFIX! Your continued involvement is greatly appreciated by the community. Now DDFIX can be used with no reservations. This is good, but in a way I am sorry we don't have to fight with Nvidia anymore. You have let them off the hook.
My only suggestion is that you modify your web page and put DDFIX in the left margin, like the other things you have developed. It deserves a place of prominence. Finding it in the news is not so obvious.
I tried it on Thief 2 with a Radeon X1950 Pro and Cat 10.1, and it works great with fog, stars, etc. Actually, since the X1950 Pro already had perfect rendering with fog (the reason I bought it), the only difference I noticed was the lack of resolution switching when reading a book (much faster and better with DDFIX) and the differences in screen shot behavior - file type and speed. I took screen shots using DDFIX with Thief 2 and Hypersnap. Used PrintScreen in both cases. The difference is that when using Hypersnap the image appears in the Hypersnap window and not as a BMP file. From the window I can edit its gamma and save it as any format I want (JPG), which is better than fussing with a separate operation. So, I am happy.
One thing I am curious about is why does the screen shot take so much longer than the original version? This is true using either Thief of Hypersnap.
I am going to swap the ATI card for an Nvidia 7950GT, which previously had bad sky and no stars. Assuming that works, and I have no doubt, then I can buy a faster Nvidia card and sell the X1950 Pro.
Last edited by smithpd; 15th Mar 2008 at 15:12.
I don't understand what DDFIX is supposed to do with Thief gold, since I never saw a problem with its rendering, other than it looks dated. What am I missing? Is it just the resolution switching for menus and books?
EDIT: I successfully applied DDFIX manually to my fixed version of Thief.exe, changing the first instance of ddraw.dll to ddfix.dll. After manually adjusting resolution in ddfix.ini, it works fine, and the resolution switching is gone.
@Nameless Voice,
I tried downloading your version, and it had an old date, behaved the same as my un-ddfixed version, and had no text "ddfix.dll" in its EXE. Might you have uploaded the un-ddfixed version?
Last edited by smithpd; 15th Mar 2008 at 15:33. Reason: corrected an error
Hmm... I just manually edited my own Thief Gold exe and it worked fine for me. Make sure you set your resolution the same in both the ddfix.ini and the cam.cfg.
I use a x1950, too. For us it will just enable 24-bit zbuffer (if you set UseCompatibleZBuffer to "0") and properly scale readables and the menu, map and objectives screens.
I honestly can't tell the difference between the 16-bit and 24-bit rendering. *shrug* Maybe if I took a few screenshots and compared them side to side... but Nameless Voice seems to think it makes a difference, and I trust he knows the Dark Engine better than me, so I just go with it.
But I love the quick and seamless transition for readables and the menu screens, so that's worth the effort for me.
Thanks, Twist. Setting the resolution was my failing. It works now. Actually I edited my post before I saw your response. Sorry for the trouble I caused.
I agree that it is worth the effort.
My apologies, it looks like I accidentally uploaded the unfixed version of the Thief 1 / DromEd 1 files. I've uploaded the correct versions now, and fixed the links in the above post.
As for the difference between Thief 1 with and without DDFix, Thief 1 basically looks like vanilla Thief 2 on a DX10 card, since Thief 1 never supported dithering in the first place.
These two screenshots show the difference:
(People will probably complain that I didn't apply enough gamma correction to these...)
Now, these screenshots aren't exactly fair, since they were both taken on an 8800GT, but I remember that it rendered the same on my laptop's ATI card (which I don't have access to right now.)
I second that, DDfix deserves pride of place along with your other achievements
biker
NV, could you take some before and after FOG shots and state what video card/s your using..?
thanks
biker
Fog? Any particular mission?
Here are a few:
Schwaa's Left For Dead:
Hazelshade Cemetery (Only subtle fog in the normal sense):
Both on an Inno3D GeForce 8800GT 512MB.
I don't actually know what version of the drivers I'm using (they'd be the ones that came with the card, and I'm not particularly eager to install newer ones just yet). The driver version listed by DXDiag is 6.14.0011.6906, so I assume that means 169.06?
Last edited by Nameless Voice; 15th Mar 2008 at 17:46.
DDfix is almost the only way to get Dark engine games working on Nvidia cards (under XP at least) released from November 2007 onwards.
With the 8800GT you could use some shitty unoptimised, leaked beta XP32 driver (Forceware 167.76 IIRC), but with any later card you're completely stuffed without DDfix.
I just swapped an x1950 Pro (Cat 8.1), which worked fine, for a 7950 GT. That also works perfectly. Sky, stars, fog, and no resolution change. Using driver 163.73.
EvaUnit32,
Thanks. I didn't realize that T1 was a problem. I am ready for the newer cards.
1.2.4 is working GREAT here except for one TINY little bug - it's so inconsequential I hate to even bring it up.
T2 now crashes on quitting the game... No big deal, you WANT to exit the program at that point anyways - but thought I should mention it. The specific error is:
The exception unknown software exception (0xc0000005) occured in the application at location 0x00183abc
System stats if it helps:
640 Meg Ge8800GTS, Q6600 OC'd to 2.7ghz, nForce 680i chipset mainboard, 4 gigs RAM, Audigy 2 ZS, XP x64 (there's also a 8400GS driving my secondary displays, but that shouldn't matter) - 169.21 on the drivers.
Apart from the crash on exit - I've got fog, I've got sky, I've got good shadows, I'm not seeing any texture errors, the frame rates are good, the problem of the movies stuttering is gone, the cursor no longer flashes wierd when moved - and while I miss being able to set the AA in the config, I'm able to force it with nHancer anyways.
Though I wish nHancer/nvidia tools properly detected the .exe - I have to set the profile manually... Still, 1600x1200 @ 16xQ coverage sampled AA, 16x AF, Sync on, high texture quality with fraps reporting a solid 85fps.....
KICK ASS.
Hey Timeslip, I do web design/development for a living - you want a free template for your site, ah heck, I'll toss in a custom cms type back-end? Feel I should give you something back for all your greatly appreciated hard work.
Last edited by deathshadow; 16th Mar 2008 at 04:55.
yes 169.06. Im running 169.44 on my old 8800ulkrtra with no problems, but as you know your card being G92 based runns much newer driver, the latest being 174.xx.
And is it me or does Thief now look even better with DDfix that it ever did, even better than the original thief2.exe - I get shivers while playing its so good....
hey DS, nice one dude :-) I offered him a Radeon X300 so he could test DDfix on that, but he graciously declined ;-)
biker
I can confess that since version 1.2.4
But no major deal.
Thanks NV for updating the exe Thief Gold. Works well on OM's.
But CTD when loading any Thief 1 FM
(169.28 on 8800GT, Win XP)
Last edited by Dusk-Sailor; 16th Mar 2008 at 08:50.
I can confirm no problems on an ATI X1950XTX, Catalyst v8.3 on XP Pro SP2!Odd. Taking screenshots by printscreen should always be slow now. (Takes ~4 seconds on my computer.) It certainly shouldn't take <1 second if the attempt was successfull.
Anyway, I'm off for the weekend so it's too late to do major anything about it now. I've made one little tweak to my screenshot code, so you can try redownloading and seeing if printscreen is a little less buggy now. (I didn't change the version number; it's still 1.2.4.)
Color fidelity is much better than with the default 16 bit rendering - very noticeably in dark situations (not unlikely in these games ;-).
Menu and readables come up instantaneously and movies play without problems.
Saving a screen takes about two seconds (CPU: Opteron 185 which has the same performance as a Athlon64 X2 5000+).
Thank you very much for improving this program and making Thief somewhat "futureproof"!
Calibrator
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