On some videocards, Quads are extremely slow due to the way they are calculated. Use triangle strips instead of quads when possible (like in a particle engine).
----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris 'Tal-N' Blane" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2002 6:03 PM Subject: Re: [hlcoders] triApi speed problems > Just a comment from me. I'm the prioject leader, this is the particle system > kindly donated to us by friends in Hostile Intent. Just the engine mind you, > not the implementation. The effect ISN'T consistant. On a PIII 350 with GF2 > MX it runs fine, yet on some other systems ( mine in particular) which is a > higher spec and the same gfx card and drivers the frame frate drops by about > 50fps when a single one of these explosions occours. At first it use to > occour even when the blast couldn't be seen but we've gotten around then so > that while there's a slight drop it hardly noticeable. This suggested to us > that it' wasn't graphics related since the effect wasn't on screen and > wasn't even in the same leaf or the rendering pipeline. > > But the point is that we need to know if it's a duff particle engine which > isn't properly handling the effect when blending occours or if the functions > are being called quite right. > > Any hints or suggests are most welcome not matter how small, we've done as > much as we're aware of to avoid this serious frame rate issue. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Frazee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, May 12, 2002 12:00 AM > Subject: [hlcoders] triApi speed problems > > > > This is a multi-part message in MIME format. > > -- > > [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ] > > I have a particle system for my mod, which is really quite nice. Problem > > is, as soon as multiple particles start blending it slows down. For > > instance, with explosions I have cut it down to 5 particles (yeah, 10 > > polys). But that is still slow on some systems. Not to mention when you > > combine explosions. I have optimized it all I can, and decided to come > > to you guys. One thing I didn't try is 2 triangles rather than the quad. > > if that will help I will try. Can you just tell me how to get the most > > juice out of this thing? Thanks. > > -- > > > > _______________________________________________ > > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, ple > ase visit: > > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
