Do you guys know a nice place to ask an advanced Direct3D question?

I'm running into behaviour that is quite unexpected and unexplainable to me here:

I'm calculating a depth map on the CPU and via rasterization on the GPU (as a reference), but when I let D3D write to the depth buffer automatically or write out the z component in the SV_POSITION input from the PixelShader, values are for some reason different to my CPU depth map. When I pass the depth from the VS to the PS in a non SV_POSITION variable, I can write out the correct depth value I get on the cpu. This is with either (x, y, depth * z, z) or (x/z, y/z, depth, 1), so the persp. divide should not matter.

I simply don't get what magic behind the scenes is fucking with my results. 

And i got some useful responses from the Herb Gardening Forum ( www.gardenstew.com/ forum-8.html ), and also the "BabyAndBump" teen pregnancy forum ( www.babyandbump.com/ teen-pregnancy/ ) gave some pretty insightful feedback also. 

K 

take a week off! 

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=761 

i was searching for the bug for two days and then an hour after the post i find it: i had slopebias (offsets the zvalues slightly depending on surface angle) on when rasterizing :( 

Playing DOE out of bordom and weirdness. How does one solve the issues with the cd music again? The tracks only play once, don't loop, and sometimes the music stutters. Fitz. 

IIRC, I had this issue where the soundtracks for both the Quake mission packs sounded like some cheap synthesised thrash metal garbage, and the fix that worked best for me was: once the software was installed, to take the CD out of the drive, hide it in a broom cupboard, and pretend it never existed. 

Yeah, that sounds like the type of solution I'd expect from a BabyAndBump veteran. 

could always just rip them and use the new quakespasm?

also, agree about the doe music. i remember way back i would use the original quake cd instead of doe for music. then i realized you could put ANY music cd in. :P 

I thought the Scourge of Armagon soundtrack was quite good. DoE on the other hand, not so much.

never gonna happen but it'd be nice to see a few of the better SoA (lost mines, say, or black cathedral) and DoE (curse of osiris or tempus fugit) maps remade for RMQ. 

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/crysis-2/video/6307650?hd=1 

 

Makes me wonder what all the "crysis 2 looks awful" internet angry men are smoking, imo its one of the best looking games I have ever seen!

Just completed the single player campaign for the 3rd time, it's that much fun! 

That's a result of expectations by Crysis 1 fans applied to Crysis 2, I think. That it would be another huge step forward graphics wise (comparable to Crysis, "a game from the future") which it apparently isn't (since it needs to run on Xboxes etc). There were also the usual tech freaks who expected it to be DX11 just for the sake of it.

It's still the Cryengine though so it can't really look bad.

Many (PC) people were underwhelmed by the multiplayer demo I think. tbh it's a noteworthy blunder to leave "press Start to play" in a PC game when it would probably have been fixable. Makes me wonder about their QA. Apparently the engine is still buggy, too, just like Crysis 1.

I'll probably buy it though. 

It is far from perfect in some regards, as mentioned the "press start to begin" crap is laughable, and the lack of a graphics options menu completely baffled me from a Crytek game.

But on the whole, I can comfortably say its the most enjoyable fps I've played in the last... oh say 5 years? Maybe more.

The multiplayer is where most of the bugs are at from my point of view. The matchmaking system is broken and my weapon and module unlocks keep resetting whenever I restart the game, very irritating! The most obvious bug in the single player is that enemies ai can sometimes go a bit haywire and then stand around vibrating in a corner somewhere, while its hilarious it doe's ruin the immersion somewhat.

Very fucking awesome / 10 overall :D 

 

Officially confirmed by Crytek. My graphics card is shaking already ;) 

I hope the DX11 patch will allow me to finally play the game without the constant hard locks. 

Try this (if you havent already):

Assuming you have Win7, find the crysis 2 executable in your steam folder, or crysis 2 folder, right click it, and select 'troubleshoot compatibility', and set it to run in compatibility mode for Windows XP.

Always run the game 'as administrator' too.

Did this work? 

Besides, when has the compatibility mode ever solved any problems with software?

This must be an odd hardware issue, either incompatibility or some fault in the card. The latter would be strange as it's new, although that doesn't outrule the possibility of course. The manufacturer (Colorful = cn :/) doesn't seem to have regular tech support and I haven't tried with Nvidia yet.

I shouldn't be surprised though - when starting the game, an "unsupported video card" message appears. :P 

 

> when starting the game, an "unsupported video card" message appears. :P

They did announce it would run faster and better than Crysis 1...

On an Xbox! 

Rage weapon trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zm7HJ4Pun8&feature=player_embedded

Meh, pretty boring selection of weapons. Also a pretty boring selection of enemies and locations. Looks solid if you're up for a polished Quake 4 though. I'm not sure I am.

I like that they've tried to move out of their comfort zone at least a little with the driving and RPG elements, but as a developer they still seen like this old lumbering beast. They know what they've done well before so they do that. I feel like I'm trying to get someone to not order the plain cheese pizza every damn time.

The gameplay will likely be kinda fun though... who doesn't enjoy a nice run-and-gun. After 4 years on a new IP, though, my fingers were crossed for a real original spark or wildcard move.

Probably I hold them to too high standards. Id clearly aren't Valve, but because of the history, I think of them with similar reverence. Objectively though, they don't really have a sense of humour or irony and they don't think much about player psychology beyond "People like shooting guns". Carmack probably still thinks stories are for sissies. Sissies who feel emotions.