User:Tarvis

UFO Extender D3D tweaks

Get here: ufoe_d3dtweaks.zip

For TFTD: tftde_d3dtweaks.zip

I've added a couple features to d3d.cpp. (Based on UFO Extender v. 1.29. and TFTD Extender 1.061.1)

• Width/Height options for fullscreen resolution (D3D Width/D3D Height in .ini). Set both to 0 to use current desktop resolution (default/original behavior)
• Bilinear Filtering option (Linear Filter in .ini) Setting to 2 will prescale the game first, which will be a compromise between blocky and blurry.

Linear Filter=0

Linear Filter=1

Linear Filter=2

Thanks for the great work! I definitly can tell that the image is sharper with the Linear=2. Although, I don't see much difference if it is =1 vs =0. Bad eyes, old system, or am I not looking for the right things?- Tycho

It's because Imgur converted them to .jpgs. I'll make (smaller) example images and upload them here. (done)

New changes

These are things that have been recently added to the package.

• Reading the window size from the .ini didn't account for window borders and the title bar, so the actual client resolution was smaller. Fixed that.
  • For clarity, window size is now stored in their own options ("D3D Window Width" and "D3D Window Height") instead of them being tacked on at the end of the D3D Window Position option.
  • D3D buffer is resized when window is resized instead of just scaled
• Mouse scaling was scaled to height 240 instead of 200, resulting in the cursor moving faster vertically. Fixed; now Scale Mouse=1 makes it 1:1 with the Windows cursor
  • Mouse scaling/clipping is now adjusted to the aspect ratio setting
• Mouse clipping is always enabled in fullscreen mode
• Mouse is unlocked when game is unfocused (alt+tabbed out)
• Mouse no longer goes too far right/down when Scale Mouse=0 (uses mouse clipping to accomplish this; no conflict with Clip Cursor setting since mouse is always scaled in windowed mode)
• Screen Ratio INI setting behavior is changed. Set to 1 to letterbox the game to 16/10 (if needed), or specify your own ratio to scale the game to, in fraction or ratio form (4/3, 16:9, etc)

Things I'd like to look into eventually

• Alt+Enter to toggle fullscreen
  • Might have to make it an F# key to avoid conflicts with the keyboard shortcut mod
  • Or make it so holding Alt will disable keyboard shortcuts
• Make Alt+F4 close the game when fullscreen too
• Add option to keep redrawing screen even if nothing is changed. This will fix issues with Steam Overlay and others.
  • I'm not sure I can do this without assembly knowledge, since the function to update the screen texture is called by the game itself and not the patcher
  • On further experimentation, a new looping thread calling D3D_Render(); works but I still need to get framerate limit delay working with it properly
• Raise cap for new "Battlescape Speed" value as 5 still seems too slow

The values I put into each setting are just initial values. There is no way for me to evaluate what settings are needed for faster systems. What kind of system are you running (Are you using any other speed mods)? When I set the value to 5, the icon above the current unit and smoke animations are blurrs with an occasional pause. I have a five year old laptop with XP.

update: What are you using to zip the files? I get an 'unknown method' error on all the files except for patcher.dll -Tycho.

I have a Phenom II X4 on Windows 7, with just the stock .EXE and no other speed changes. At setting 5, the unit selection arrow only moves for me at about 3 times a second. FPS setting is not capped. The reason I'd like to uncap the Battlescape Speed value is so that the value can be adjusted for any system since performance on other machines can't be anticipated. Also, I repackaged the .zip (using Windows this time, before I used 7zip) and uploaded it. -Tarvis

Strange. I have a Core Duo, with XP Home that I got in 2006. How does the game run if the option is disabled? The delay at setting five is 34ms-(time to run through the next loop of the battlescape routine[ms]). Are you running with any compatibility options of Windows 7? Thanks for uploading a new version of the zip, BTW!-Tycho

Nope, no other settings. With it turned off it runs at blazing blur speed (unless FPS cap is on, but if I do it that way it's still a bit too fast) I figure if I could set it to 10 or 15 it would be just fine. Weird that it runs slower for me than it does for you, though... -Tarvis

For me, 5 is ploddish (about 3fps sounds about right), 1 is crawling, and 0 is full speed (a blur). Works the same on both my XP and 7 rigs. I'm inclined to blame graphics drivers for any discrepancies people see (over hardware or OS), given that my XP rig used to have usable scrolling without mods until I upgraded them. -  Bomb Bloke (Talk/Contribs) 02:02, 29 December 2012 (EST)

Thanks BB! I'm thinking I'll set the possible delay values at 68, 51, 34, 16, 10, and add and option for 6. - Tycho

I finally figured out how to get the game to read the value and patch that into the program directly. It was actually quite simple. I was trying to be TOO creative. So, now the player can directly set the delay (in ms) and fine tune it for their particular system.-Tycho 23:20, 31 December 2012 (EST)

• Perhaps move music/MP3-related settings into its own .ini file (so if someone releases a music pack they can make a music.ini for it instead of making the user copy/paste it into his own UFOExtender.ini file)
• Get the MP3 engine to play Intro tracks too (AbraM's MP3 and/or FMOD patch does this, perhaps I could look there)
• Slow down text screens (ending) in TFTD (so you can read them before they switch)
  • Or perhaps an option where they don't automatically advance at all (click/key to advance)