Some graphics memory improvements (GL_OUT_OF_MEMORY)

[schema]

Hi,

just a little update with three improvements:

• The game is using compressed textures now: This will for one give more performance in general (texture throughput is a bottleneck), and also hopefully fix the GL_OUT_OF:MEMORY exception that some people are getting when using highres texture packs, shadows, normal maps, etc. The memory gain form this is immense (ultra-shadow + 256res + normal maps down from ~700mb to ~400mb)
• Better cleanup: A little less work for the graphics driver when shutting down the game (especially when it's launched again immediately after that)
• Physics-collision performance: Sometimes objects that not visually move were causing physics calculations (microscopic fluctuations caused by the timestep), leading to high-ping(server sided) and fps drop (client sided)

Please be especially careful with this pre-build if you plan to use it on a server, and even in singleplayer please make sure you backup your database before you use this build. Also please don't use this build to work on big projects, as i can't guarantee the data generated by the pre-build to be 100% error free, because a database migration has to be done from the old version.

You can download the build here: http://files.star-made.org/build/pre/starmade-build_20140203_140500.zip

(The username and password is "dev")

This version will be installed on play.star-made.org:4242 to test.

The next time will be dedicated to bug-fixing only (as long as it takes to make it stable)



thank you for playing StarMade,

- schema

 

[4ZeroFive8]

So, current maps can be used in the dev version?

 

[Pholopalus]

Yes, but expect corruption and bugs galore. Always back up maps and blueprints before using them with a prebuild.

 

[Syleiel]

Nice to hear. ~700mb to 400mb, pretty big improvement!

 

[ToyotaSupra]

>Also please don\'t use this build to work on big projects



He wasn\'t kidding on this one, kids. Deleted my whole set of ships on some BS \'shop pricing\' bug crap.

Hope you can get it fixed soon, this update is good so far.

 

[Konkurrent]

Please fix the Admintool Nullpointexeption.

 

[aceface]

What does normal map do, I dont notice any change in the map generation :/

 

[Omni]

Normal maps are a kind of shader applied to surfaces, in this case the blocks. It will cause light such as sunlight to illuminate them as if they were not a flat surface, as the normal maps contain information on what the contour of the texture/block would be if it were actually modeled out with polygons rather than being a simple flat square. This is a highly efficient way to make lighting appear far more realistic on surfaces.

One of the easiest ways to observe this is by having it on and looking at hardened hull where the light from the nearest star is creating glare on the surface. With normal maps on, you should be able to see the grooves in the hull between the plates. (Meaning you can actually see something in the glaring pure-white light!)

 

[Omni]

Based on comments on the previous news post and the experiences of many players, MAKE SURE TO MAKE BACKUPS. It seems to be quite common for the upgrade to cause irreversible changes to the universe and things within it. Before upgrading any current universe, make sure to make a backup of the StarMade folder in case the prebuild doesn\'t work for you!

 

[aceface]

i\'ll check it out!

 

[aceface]

omg this is so cool! now starmade\'s graphics is better than space engineers!!!

 

[joezone619]

i got the pre build and for some reasion i am transparent with the olf skin shape and i don\'t have a custom skin

please fix this i want to see my animations

 

[therimmer96]

so, is star-made 0.1 going to be the move to beta? It would make sense, and justify the huge amount of stuff

 

[mindlord0013]

Schema is a whole new level of awesome.

 

[Moraligus]

there has been no official statement that we are moving to beta. omni even denied rumors.

 

[schema]

You mean the blueprint got deleted because it was falsely detected as an attempt to modify the price?

If that happens, a backup is always created first in blurprints/exported

 

[Vyor]

We are now in alpha baby!

 

[aceface]

I think when it\'s 1.0 then it\'s beta. 0.1 is 10% to beta.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

Yes, that is exactly what happened. However, it also corrupted the blueprint file, leaving a .sment file with 1/2KB.

 

[aceface]

Schema please fix the lighting glitch with upside down tetras & pentas.