GF4 and S3TC

[jedipunk]

Right, might be long winded but stick with me.

Since I got my first GeForce 256 DDR, I had to try the S3TC on UT, everything worked amazingly cool, quality was outstanding, but slow.

Now I got my GF4 about a week ago, I had to see it in full 1600x1280x32 but I can't seem to get the S3TC working.

But my question is is there anything better than the S3TC, on GF4, I know you can now have AAx4 with them but does this give you S3TC in D3D, or do you still need to use OpenGL, plus the new opengl.dll file for it (OpenGLDrv.dll).

I am really confussed as to, How to make UT look the best it can.

Please point me in the right direction.

system
Dual P3 1Ghz
512MB PC133 RAM
GeForce4 Ti4600
Windows XP Pro
UT Version: 436

[Klutch]

After I got my GF4 I had a million problems with the compressed textures untill I did the folliwing in this order

Un-install UT
Delete the UT folder
Install UT
Install 2nd CD compressed textures

Run UT once to build the .ini files (may not be necessary) Make sure you select openGL from the all devices list.

Patch to v436
Run UT once more to make sure everything works. Make sure you select openGL from the all devices list

Once again - make sure when you are running UT in theses test phases you are selecting to run in OpenGL. Otherwise it's going to get messed up later on.


replace openGl.dll located in the ut\system folder with this one:


opengldrv.dll (http://knightgames.net/klutch/openGL/OpenGlDrv.dll)

If you're worried about hosing up the current on just rename it to _openGl.dll or whatever the hell it's name is. Anyways, add the one in the link to that location.

Then open up your unrealtournament.ini file and scroll to the openGL subsystem. Once there DELETE EVERYHTING UNDER THE HEADER. EVERYTHING EVEN DELETE THE HEADER. Then paste the fillowing junk where it was.

[OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]
UseS3TC=True
UseTNT=False
MinDepthBits=16
MaxLogUOverV=8
MaxLogVOverU=8
UseMultiTexture=True
UsePalette=True
UseAlphaPalette=False
ShareLists=False
AlwaysMipmap=False
DoPrecache=0
Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=False
ShinySurfaces=True
Coronas=False
HighDetailActors=True
DetailTextures=True
UseTrilinear=True
MaxAnisotropy=0
SupportsLazyTextures=0
GammaOffset=0.000000
LODBias=0.000000
MaxTMUnits=0
RefreshRate=0
DisableSpecialDT=False
UseFilterSGIS=False
Use4444Textures=False
UseVertexSpecular=False
UsePrecache=False
DescFlags=0


Technically you should be able to edit the stack that is already there, but I have found this stack to work every time without a hitch if you copy and paste it and don't add/remove anything.

<edit> Updated link+inst. here: http://utk.knightgames.net/InfoVault.aspx?ArticleID=68 </edit>


Good Luck,

Klutch

[jedipunk]

WOW, cheers Klutch, very explanitory ?sp? :)

Cool, I'll do that. So whats all these other options like:

AlwaysMipmap
VolumetricLighting
UseFilterSGIS
Use4444Textures
UseVertexSpecular

Do they make thigs better or worse, or is it a case of try em, see what ya think?

Cheers again Klutch

[Klutch]

Here's my best guess at the entries in question:


AlwaysMipmap:
True - Slight imporvement in graphic quality
False - Slight performance increase


VolumetricLighting:
This will enable or disable the fog effects on some maps. I think. :)


UseFilterSGIS:
This will help improve the multitexturing quality (if multitexturing is enabled). Enable for a slight graphics quality improvement with no noticeable slowdown on performance.

Use4444Textures:
True - Only if you are playing at 16bit.
False - If you are playing at 32bit.

The setting exists for a performance boost as far as frame rates go if you are running in 16 bit.


UseVertexSpecular:

Haven't got a damn clue.

Hope everything looks good, I do know that after I got it running on openGL I will NEVER go back to D3D. What a washed out POS that was.

[jedipunk]

Thanks.

before we close this up, is there any other games out there using S3TC? I've been playing MOH, GR, RedAlert and none of them look as good as UT now. And how long UT been about.

[Airjy]

There is a LOT of games supporting S3TC, however they only support it to improve performance and not image quality.

UT is one if the only game to have been shipped with specially designed S3TC textures.

I am currently building a website for the Savage4 users and a great part of it will dedicated to S3TC technology.

I will post the link once it will be ready (in about 2 weeks).

[fozz]

i need a little bit of extra info on this-ive downloaded the file but how exactly do i replace the opengl.dll file-i cant find it-im ok with the last bit just replacing the dll-any help would be appreaciated-im a bit new to this type of thing

[fozz]

bump

[Klutch]

Well if you've gotten past unzipping it just put it in the ut\system folder.

DOh, I bet you aren;t viewing hidden/sys files. Open my compuer select the tools menu then hit folder options. There should be a bullet in the Hide system files box. move the bullet down to "Display system files and floders" then when you go back into the UT\system folder you will see the existying openGl.dll file.

[fozz]

i have done all this but still no hi res?? any other ideas-i put the new dll in system and it asked me if i wanted to replace the old one and i said yes-and i pasted all that stuf where the old stuff was and saved it-btw clutch thanks for your help as im sure im nearly there

[fozz]

finnaly got it working not as good as i thought it would be but you can definatly see the differance-thanks for the help

[Klutch]

Sounds good dude :mad: :up:


If you want poke your head in the UT forum and start a thread about tweaking your system. I'm usually in there with a lot of other hardware guys. I'm sure we can walk you through getting better performance. We'll need some hardware specs from you though.


Klutch

[fozz]

thanks- but no probs with performance,
xp1900 and ti4600-its just that i thought the high res would be a bit better after seeing the screenshots on the s3 site years go-some of the later levels seem to look no different to without?

[SkaarjMaster]

I'm getting a GeF4Ti4400 in about a month and would like to ask a ? about the S3TC textures. I tried OpenGL on my present card (ATI Rage Fury) and it didn't work, so I just stuck with D3D; I heard the ATI runs better this way anyway.

These textures, which seem to be for Savage4 cards, are OK used with the GeF4's? I'm just a little confused on this part. Thanks for any quick explanation.

[fozz]

all ge forces and radeons have s3tc built in-it was part of direct x 6 but for some reason it only seems to work in open gl on geforces(to the best of my knowledge anyway)-open gl works fine on any of the nvida drivers

[Mytheral]

*bump*

[SirQuestor=UTK=]

Okay Klutch. I just got linked to this and it looks good; but....

I installed these textures yesterday and used the patch to fix the skating players but the players wouldn't fall down when fragged. I didn't follow this exact process.

If I follow exactly what you have laid out here, will players fall down when fragged, even on servers that don't have the textures enabled?

[Klutch]

heh, I haven't read this thread in ages, i just keep referencing it so I don't have to retype all that.


AFA your question goes Q, I would try the S3fix found here (http://my.core.com/~mlittle/s3fix.exe)


That needs to be run from inside your textures folder.

That should take care of it.

I will tell you though, that following those exact steps has allowed me to run in OpenGL and NEVER experience the skaring bug.


GL.

[If you see kay]

Why cant I use S3TC in d3d?
I wanna really bad :cry:
Anybody know how?
I got a gf 4 mx 420 pci
dont laugh it gets over 300 fps:D
And I dont wanna use open gl :mad:

[rivers_cuomo]

compressed textures (in UT) only work with my Radeon in opengl as well. the thing with opengl is that there is stuttering (and with the new driver set, sliced up and jutting polygons all over the place). thats probably due to my 128mb of ram, but there is almost no stuttering in D3D, and 0 stuttering in UT2K3. thats interesting.

[If you see kay]

there gotta be something you can enter in your d3d ini to get compresed textures to work in d3d
Or something?,,,,,,,,,,right?:cry:

[Obispo]

Originally posted by If you see kay
there gotta be something you can enter in your d3d ini to get compresed textures to work in d3d
Or something?,,,,,,,,,,right?:cry:

Wrong.

S3 Texture compression has to be writtten in to the rendering engine for use.
The D3D one does not have it written in, and will not make use of it even if your card supports it.

There is no way to get S3 Texture compression in UT under D3D.

UT2003 however, does support S3 texture compression under Direct3D.

[If you see kay]

:cry:

[Bass´n Treble]

I have a Q.

When you install UT, do u guys untick the DirectX option in the UT installation window, since u prolly already have a newer version of DirectX installed.

That is, if u have XP installed.

The version that comes along whit UT is DX7 if im not mistaken

[Klutch]

bump so it doesn't get "pruned"

i still link it quite a bit. hence the massive number of views.

[Mytheral]

*bump* i come back to this thread just about everytime I install ut, must save from being axe'd

edit: Updated Third Party Ogl Render
http://cwdohnal.home.mindspring.com/utglr/

[Klutch]

-Bump-

Updated link and instuctions here:

http://utk.knightgames.net/InfoVault.aspx?ArticleID=68

The links work in that one too ;)