Matrix (WARNING: Math Ahead!)

[SheenBR]

Now that KPT has DX9, they gave us a present... now we can hook DX 9 which is easier (more documented at least) and then we would be able to add new features (correct if I am wrong..)

 

[Vormav]

I'm sorry to hear that. Open repositories rock for getting bugs found and resolved.

PT reversed this logic for me :> Give code right away and you will never see any bug reports...

As to "shadows" PT already supports all the latest and most amazing hardware 3D shading and light casting techniques made available in DX6. I think OpenGL, at the time, had some nicer techniques available, but hardware at the time rendered such techniques at 6 - 10 fps fullscreen. (it looked neat on a GL Teapot in a window though)

Example would be nice... DX6 documentation tells me that shadows are done via stencil buffers... and that's all DX6 documentation says about shadows...

Actually, if you can "hook" into the render, you may be able to get a depth map render which would allow you to apply DoF and faux ray-cast shadows as a SM2.0 shader after-effect? IMHO it's highly unlikely though.

Minimaps are best I can do lol.

Now that KPT has DX9, they gave us a present... now we can hook DX 9 which is easier (more documented at least) and then we would be able to add new features (correct if I am wrong..)

DX9 is only for text. Everything else still runs on DX6/DirectDraw. There is too much dx6/ddraw glue. PT will never be able to support dx9. Yes you can do it but its like writing 2nd wine project.

 

[bobsobol]

Example would be nice... DX6 documentation tells me that shadows are done via stencil buffers... and that's all DX6 documentation says about shadows...

Stencil is <PTClientFolder>\image\shadow.tga. That's what they are referring to. It is applied as an overlay to the texture surface of the map directly below characters. (player, or non-player) Projected like light from above, but subtracted, rather than added light.

PT will never be able to support dx9. Yes you can do it but its like writing 2nd wine project.

Well said, and I said the same when they, and earlier rPT said they "ported it to DX7". (actually, I don't think sandurr ever said that, but the phrase was bandied about by supporters and staff alike) They *have* increased the minimum DX version required to play by adding some newer features, but "ported to" is an overstatement.

 

[Vormav]

Stencil is <PTClientFolder>\image\shadow.tga. That's what they are referring to. It is applied as an overlay to the texture surface of the map directly below characters. (player, or non-player) Projected like light from above, but subtracted, rather than added light.

I always thought that thing is attached to some plane; it can float with you. Too bad dx6 sdk vanished from internet. DX7 examples showing quite complex process of creating stencil buffer... and most those dx7 examples are different from what I had to do in DX6.

Well said, and I said the same when they, and earlier rPT said they "ported it to DX7". (actually, I don't think sandurr ever said that, but the phrase was bandied about by supporters and staff alike) They *have* increased the minimum DX version required to play by adding some newer features, but "ported to" is an overstatement.

Some apps detect PT as DX7 game some as DX6. Everything I did was in DX6, I did not seen single function that is DX7 or newer until newest kPT. Sandurr rewrote lot of code back to C/C++ so I'm sure he knows more about it. All I can say for sure is that geometry is DX6... rest is an ugly mix of ddraw and dx.

 

[bobsobol]

I did not seen single function that is DX7 or newer until newest kPT.

I'm not sure if they've written it out of the client now, but even the 1997 I was working on still had the ability to play .asx FMV cut-scenes if the server pushed it out to it. That is WMV DirectShow which is a DX7 technology. DX6 still worked only on ActiveX / ACM style streaming media playback. (AVIs and such, no support for variable bandwidth video stream multiplexing)

I think it's the target render surface which DX6 can't provide DirectShow. Anyway, again sandurr actually had rPT pushing little FMV sequences out to players, but official PT never used that feature. Rather like the unused push-to-talk in game speech chat features it has.