Particles inconsistent
by c-level · in Torque Game Engine · 09/10/2005 (1:11 pm) · 7 replies
Brief: If I have enough dts objects in my world my explosions are inconsistent.
Description: In my mission, I have 225 health kits in a relatively close proximity. (They don't do anything but sit on the ground). They make up a grid 15x15 - evenly spaced - on flat ground.
For testing, I have an explosion going off every second. (This is really just the particle effect plus the sound from the 'crossbow' explosion). With this setup, an explosion happens about once for every 10 attempts.
When I make the grid 13x13, it's a little more consistent. And 10x10 allows explosions to happen nearly every time. 5x5= 100%.
Of note, I also have 8 of the Torque Orcs in the world. (Lowering their numbers seems to help to some extent.)
But when I look at the sky or in the opposite direction of my content there is not change.
Fog doesn't help, but running far away from my grid does.
Lowering the amount of particles per explosion doesn't seem to help. But looking at the ground does!
Am I putting too much activity in the camera's view? It really doesn't seem like too many polygons and particles.
And if so, do you think it is hardware specific?
Any ideas would be great. *My test/results probably aren't perfect, so if one of my above findings doesn't match a theory, that's probably ok.
Description: In my mission, I have 225 health kits in a relatively close proximity. (They don't do anything but sit on the ground). They make up a grid 15x15 - evenly spaced - on flat ground.
For testing, I have an explosion going off every second. (This is really just the particle effect plus the sound from the 'crossbow' explosion). With this setup, an explosion happens about once for every 10 attempts.
When I make the grid 13x13, it's a little more consistent. And 10x10 allows explosions to happen nearly every time. 5x5= 100%.
Of note, I also have 8 of the Torque Orcs in the world. (Lowering their numbers seems to help to some extent.)
But when I look at the sky or in the opposite direction of my content there is not change.
Fog doesn't help, but running far away from my grid does.
Lowering the amount of particles per explosion doesn't seem to help. But looking at the ground does!
Am I putting too much activity in the camera's view? It really doesn't seem like too many polygons and particles.
And if so, do you think it is hardware specific?
Any ideas would be great. *My test/results probably aren't perfect, so if one of my above findings doesn't match a theory, that's probably ok.
About the author
#2
I feel like I've pushed Torque much harder than this in the past though. Building, bots, vehicles, all with intricate textures, along with particles; on worse computers. In my test, I just have a bunch of default health kits. Strange.
09/10/2005 (2:03 pm)
I believe you. So having a heavy texture load would just kill particles?I feel like I've pushed Torque much harder than this in the past though. Building, bots, vehicles, all with intricate textures, along with particles; on worse computers. In my test, I just have a bunch of default health kits. Strange.
#3
I feel like I've pushed Torque much harder than this in the past though. Building, bots, vehicles, all with intricate textures, along with particles; on worse computers. In my test, I just have a bunch of default health kits. Strange.
09/10/2005 (3:22 pm)
I believe you. So having a heavy texture load would just kill particles?I feel like I've pushed Torque much harder than this in the past though. Building, bots, vehicles, all with intricate textures, along with particles; on worse computers. In my test, I just have a bunch of default health kits. Strange.
#4
hasLight = false;
...helps more than any other single thing.
09/10/2005 (3:25 pm)
Getting rid of the explosion's light...hasLight = false;
...helps more than any other single thing.
#5
Explosions SHOULD happen, but it could be that it's assuming a minimum framerate (ie, one frame a tick) in the code, and the explosions are dropping. It could be a neat performance saving feature! It could be a bug! All depends on your perspective. ;)
09/10/2005 (8:06 pm)
Make a journal using -jSave and play it back using -jPlay. Are the results consistent? If so, it's a deterministic bug (which is good). A journal tracks all input and output of a game, allowing you to completely replay a game session. It's great for debugging fiddly stuff like this.Explosions SHOULD happen, but it could be that it's assuming a minimum framerate (ie, one frame a tick) in the code, and the explosions are dropping. It could be a neat performance saving feature! It could be a bug! All depends on your perspective. ;)
#6
torqueDemo_DEBUG.exe -jSave test1.jrn
....creates 'test1.jrn' in the example folder
but
torqueDemo_DEBUG.exe -jPlay test1.jrn
...gives me this error:
setModPaths: invalid mod path directory name: 'jPlay'
-
I'm using .bat files to do this.
09/11/2005 (2:29 pm)
I got -jSave working, I thinktorqueDemo_DEBUG.exe -jSave test1.jrn
....creates 'test1.jrn' in the example folder
but
torqueDemo_DEBUG.exe -jPlay test1.jrn
...gives me this error:
setModPaths: invalid mod path directory name: 'jPlay'
-
I'm using .bat files to do this.
#7
09/11/2005 (7:34 pm)
Sounds like your main.cs is borked. 
Torque Owner Sam M