FWIW, the current precipitation rendering code is raw-gl-based as well, not even done with proper branching via ssg; we just have a special call to its rendering from within the renderer. I am currently working on texturing-based precipitation which needs multitexturing, and naturally it can't be done fully above ssg w/o raw gl codes since multitexturing is not supported in ssg. My plan is to first achieve a sensible visual effect/performance, (at which point a demo patch will be posted over to the list with a call to you texture artists for better textures for rain, snow. and hail) then ssgify it properly to make sure the gl state is managed in a coordinated way between the precipitation code and the other ssg-based one (a milestone for another patch), and, finally, fix the culling issues (so that we no longer rain into underground etc.)
Currently I am having some nasty visual artifacts which make the whole thing look worse than the GL_LINES based current code; I am getting 25-33% FPS drop here on various nvidia cards (33 on older ones, 25 on better ones). I might be able to improve the FPS drop though, as I have some GL optimization tricks unused yet. Nevertheless, since the FPS impact is no longer negligible (like it's in the lines-based code), it means that there will be a configurable rendering option to stay with the GL_LINES based old code for those who don't want the penalty, although I won't guarantee a runtime-switchable (i.e., you need to reload fgfs). For cards w/o the multitexturing capability, it's automatically going to be using the old precipitation code. Vassilii ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys -- and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
