AGEOD Forums

I'm experiencing some mapping issue:

I only got half of Sicily and the other part is on the Sea... The same for the Bordeaux area...

Will try to post a printscreen

Map texture refreshment problem may be...could you post a screnshot or two ?

FLS wrote:I'm experiencing some mapping issue:

I only got half of Sicily and the other part is on the Sea... The same for the Bordeaux area...

Will try to post a printscreen

Your video card has not enough memory to store the whole map textures (mainly open sea zones that are much larger)...

calvinus wrote:Your video card has not enough memory to store the whole map textures (mainly open sea zones that are much larger)...

IIRC, in the AGE engine the map textures were handled by the RAM memory ? Is that not so ?.
In fact one sugestion that I already made, that could improve the game experince for more gamers would be to have an option to NOT load the largest map textures (as the open sea zones, that are more or less irrelevant), as we have in the AGE-engine games.

Another option should be to have lo-res versions of the larger zones bitmaps for those with cheap configs. I checked the map files, there are 64 big sea zones weighing 400MB for a total of 6,000 files and 1 GB size !
Just reducing this 1% of files 50% size will mean 300MB (30%) "memory saving" (because file size will be quartered).
And detailed emptiness is not very useful anyway

PDF wrote:Another option should be to have lo-res versions of the larger zones bitmaps for those with cheap configs. I checked the map files, there are 64 big sea zones weighing 400MB for a total of 6,000 files and 1 GB size !
Just reducing this 1% of files 50% size will mean 300MB (30%) "memory saving" (because file size will be quartered).
And detailed emptiness is not very useful anyway

Those are bitmaps, i.e., the file size is independent from picture detail. Each of the files weights <length in px> times <height in px> times 3 Bit (because of RGB coding). Each file of a given size will weight the same no matter how detailed the picture is.

dooya wrote:Those are bitmaps, i.e., the file size is independent from picture detail. Each of the files weights <length in px> times <height in px> times 3 Bit (because of RGB coding). Each file of a given size will weight the same no matter how detailed the picture is.

In a 3D environment a texture applied to a given surface is "stretched (or shrinked) to fit" and the texture size is independent of the surface itself.
But if the engine is 2D you're right, the texture is just "put" and if we reduce the size it will not fit anymore...
I know that the "other" AGEOD engine is 3D where only 2D is used (thus the full zoom-in & out feature for example), maybe this one isn't...

PDF wrote:Another option should be to have lo-res versions of the larger zones bitmaps for those with cheap configs. I checked the map files, there are 64 big sea zones weighing 400MB for a total of 6,000 files and 1 GB size !
Just reducing this 1% of files 50% size will mean 300MB (30%) "memory saving" (because file size will be quartered).
And detailed emptiness is not very useful anyway

Have you tried to set the option "Low color depth" on? WW1 Configurator...

calvinus wrote:Have you tried to set the option "Low color depth" on? WW1 Configurator...

Hi Calvinus I have the same problem that FLS in the same areas , i tried with this option but the problem persist

Sorry, but that means your graphic card really does not support such large textures...

I have such a problem with my laptop, where the video card is integrated and uses the main RAM as shared vram...

Is this the sort of problems your speaking of with sea zones and the edge of the map?
Or is this something different again?








[img][IMG]http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/6581/ww1axu4.jpg[/img] [/IMG]

Yes... the video card does not support large bitmaps. This is the result... she stores into VRAM what he can do... and the remainder makes a big mess.

I just bought a new computer and didn't think a 2D map would cause a problem?
Compared to the 3D things it handles ok.

Could you send us your DxDiag and various tech/spec data, so we can see if it is another of those hardware conflicts

yes, I've the same problems. But my computer is rather old indeed...

I'll try calvinus's solution and let you know. I will also send you my DxDiag + specs.

Fls

FLS wrote:yes, I've the same problems. But my computer is rather old indeed...

I'll try calvinus's solution and let you know. I will also send you my DxDiag + specs.

Fls

It can be also a limitation of the video card in texture size (max 1024 pixels width/height). In such a case, the low color depth solution would not work...

Phil,
Dxdiag info sent to you.

Phil,
Where can i send that Dxdiag info to?

Please email to support@ageod.com, subject: WW1 map, to the attention of Luca.

PhilThib wrote:Could you send us your DxDiag and various tech/spec data, so we can see if it is another of those hardware conflicts

I'm exactly the same problem i send it tonight

Ok, that's clear now to me.
It's a video card problem. Herewith you can find a good reading:

http://www.vterrain.org/LargeTextures/

So, let's took for example the map tile for Eastern Mediterranean Sea:

[game dir]\Data\Graph\Map\Regions\2864Eastern Mediterranean.bmp

Well, its size is 1981 x 2849 pixels. Surely too large for the video cards that support max 2048 pixels width/height...

The solution is to rework the larger map tiles doing them smaller. But it's a huge job and it needs time...

Thanks for your patience.
Calvinus.

calvinus wrote:Ok, that's clear now to me.
It's a video card problem. Herewith you can find a good reading:

http://www.vterrain.org/LargeTextures/

So, let's took for example the map tile for Eastern Mediterranean Sea:

[game dir]\Data\Graph\Map\Regions\2864Eastern Mediterranean.bmp

Well, its size is 1981 x 2849 pixels. Surely too large for the video cards that support max 2048 pixels width/height...

The solution is to rework the larger map tiles doing them smaller. But it's a huge job and it needs time...

Thanks for your patience.
Calvinus.

Interesting. I have a "technical" question. Is this related to the RAM of the video card or to the PC game, none, or both ?(or it depends on the video card / PC ? :bonk .
One of the reasons is that I have an ATI HD 2600 XT with 1 gig RAM (and have no problems with map textures) but I am considering upgrading to a ATI 4670 with 512 Mb DDR2 RAM. Could I have problems just do to "less" video RAM (although either is above the recomended specs, IIRC)
I have 2 Gig PC RAM, BTW

hi,
I'm the same problem with my ATI card (256mb).
It's not easy to play.
May be the next patch???
I hope this.
Thanks

calvinus wrote:Ok, that's clear now to me.
It's a video card problem. Herewith you can find a good reading:

http://www.vterrain.org/LargeTextures/

So, let's took for example the map tile for Eastern Mediterranean Sea:

[game dir]\Data\Graph\Map\Regions\2864Eastern Mediterranean.bmp

Well, its size is 1981 x 2849 pixels. Surely too large for the video cards that support max 2048 pixels width/height...

The solution is to rework the larger map tiles doing them smaller. But it's a huge job and it needs time...

Thanks for your patience.
Calvinus.

Next patch...
This is a very long job.... for Philippe... so he can answer, not me!

It's on my heavy task list...

Yes I'm having the same problem with my video card (ATI 256MB ).Only get half of Sicily,and lots of brown instead of blue.Only thing spoiling this great game.