Home Register Arcade Gallery Chatroom Members Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Log In
Go Back   Inside: SereneScreen Fan Forum > SereneScreen Products > Marine Aquarium 3 for Windows > Marine Aquarium 2 for Windows Archive
Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 03-19-2001, 05:38 AM   #1
Digital Lungfish
Obey the toad!
 
Digital Lungfish's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2001

Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 2,557
New Version 99H Released - BANDING BUG

Stop by Jim's site to pick it up -

www.serenescreen.com/news.htm

Be aware that while the Purple Tang and Queen Angel are now available, this version does not yet make use of or require DirectX 8.

- DL
Steve
www.tron-sector.com - www.badcartridge.com - www.classicgaming.com - www.dinofish.com
Today is the tomorrow you were worried about yesterday...
Digital Lungfish is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 05:52 AM   #2
Digital Lungfish
Obey the toad!
 
Digital Lungfish's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2001

Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 2,557
Re: New Version 99H Released

Jim,

Here's my personal observations with regards to the new version -

* No noticable improvement in the banding issue on the Powder Blue Tang.

* Purple Tang appears to have the same texture compression banding as the Power Blue Tang, only far more noticable.

* Not sure if this is a texture issue or what, but there's a hovering artifact just above the coral in the background. I've seen fish swim behind it as they pass by and from time to time it disappears and reappears.

<img src=http://www.facelink.com/edit/raw/rawimage/03/1676903.jpg>

- DL
Steve
www.tron-sector.com - www.badcartridge.com - www.classicgaming.com - www.dinofish.com
Today is the tomorrow you were worried about yesterday...
Digital Lungfish is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 07:02 AM   #3
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
Jim Sachs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
Re: New Version 99H Released

There is no banding on any machine here. The artifact you point out also does not show up here.

Refresh my memory as to what card and drivers you are using.
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
Jim Sachs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 07:05 AM   #4
Guest
 

Posts: n/a
RE: New Version 99H Released

Jim,
I've got the same thing that DL does in the new version.
  Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 07:20 AM   #5
Jav400
Administrator
 
Jav400's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
22 Highscores

Location: Tennessee
Posts: 9,725
RE: New Version 99H Released

I also have noticed that if I watch it closely that speck or hairline or whatever you want to call it, changes color from brown to black. Back and forth over and over. And by the way right now I use a TNT2 Ultra / Det3 v6.50 Drivers
Jav400 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 08:41 AM   #6
asprague
Regal Angel
 
asprague's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Posts: 80
The on-again, off-again artifact

Jim,

The artifact that DL pointed out appears on my machine, but *not* all the time.

I am using an ATI Expert 2000 video card, DirectX 8a.

Arnold
asprague is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 08:51 AM   #7
hooters
Percula Clown
 
hooters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Location: Ummmmm
Posts: 84
New Version 99H Released

I also have the litle mark on mine now , but not all the time it goes and comes and changes colour as described above - in wireframe mode it seems to be present all the time - cant say anything about the colour banding though none hear and my framerate went up with the new version and the new fish look Gr8 so Im happy thnx Jim
oh i'm hearing a new sound mixed with the other bubble sound was another soundloop added or am i hearing things ?
~RELAXATION IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT~
hooters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 11:33 AM   #8
Xandrin
Registered
 
Xandrin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Location: Saint Joseph, MI
Posts: 9
New Speck

I also see this speck now. System is...

Compaq Deskpro EN
800mhz P3
128MB System RAM
Onboard Intel 815 4MB Video Accelerator

Speck fluctuates in color as mentioned above.
Xandrin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 11:45 AM   #9
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
Jim Sachs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
Re: New Version 99H Released

Yes, the sound was broadened a bit. I'll look into the "speck" problem. Is it there when the Purple Tang is not in the tank?
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
Jim Sachs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 12:37 PM   #10
Jav400
Administrator
 
Jav400's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
22 Highscores

Location: Tennessee
Posts: 9,725
RE: New Version 99H Released

Jim,
Yes, it is. What I did was to download the new version, moved the old version from the system files to the recycle bin, and installed the 99H to the desktop. It uses the old registry files, and the same fish and settings as before. I have tried this on my system at home and my system at the office on my desk and the "speck" shows up in both with no other changes. Michael
Jav400 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 12:45 PM   #11
Dave Snotear
Registered
 
Join Date: Jan 2001

Location: Pasadena,Texas
Posts: 20
Artifact........

First of all,love the new fish.The new queen angel looks beautiful as does the purple sailfish.Secondly,I see an improvement in the background with the lights all the way up.It's much smoother looking.Third,(I'm not sure if thirdly is a word),I have a 25-30 FPS increase.As for the artifact,yes I have it,but only when the clown triggerfish is in the tank.I ran the aquarium with only 1 fish through the entire list of fish and found said artifacts only with the triggerfish.I also loaded up the aquarium w/7 fish of different assortments and only noticed the artifacts when the triggerfish was present.Hope this helps you out.This is still an amazing simulation and I don't regret for a second my investment.



Dave Snotear


PS If you would like my system info,let me know.
Dave Snotear is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 12:54 PM   #12
Jav400
Administrator
 
Jav400's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
22 Highscores

Location: Tennessee
Posts: 9,725
Re: Artifact

Jim,
I concur with Dave. Evidently he and I had the same idea. I followed the same process and got the same results, when I returned he had already posted this info. Whatever is causing it, is tied in with the Clown Trigger.
Jav400 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 01:39 PM   #13
feldon34
Forum Administrator
 
feldon34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
Re: Artifact + Banding

The plot thickens! Depending on the fish you have selected for the tank, this little object is revealed in the wireframe (at various sizes depending on the fish, which explains why certain fish will minimize/eliminate its visibility in rendered mode):



And as for the Powder Blue Tang, there's only one way that the banding can be demonstrated, and that's with a Photoshop mockup with the banding smoothed out. Here's my shot at it:



And I agree that the Purple Tang has even more banding than the Powder Blue Tang. None of the other fish (maybe the Yellow Tang) have appreciable banding as they don't really have one large swath of color, but intricate details which require fewer smooth color changes.

"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman
feldon34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 01:44 PM   #14
feldon34
Forum Administrator
 
feldon34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
Re: .99H

The new sound effect is the first thing I noticed!! And the Queen Angel looks just unbelieveable (actually, it looks VERY believable!). Also, I haven't tried to reproduce this yet, but under Windows 2000, after running .99H and turning on the Purple Tang, I then tried to run .99G and it just hung at a black screen with the sound going. Looks like the "oops, that fish doesn't exist in this version" bug has resurfaced. Just passing this on.

Otherwise Jim you can have some peace as the DirectX 8 saga continues

Of course the moment I found out about this release, I updated my website.
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman
feldon34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 01:47 PM   #15
asprague
Regal Angel
 
asprague's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Posts: 80
Re: Artifact + Banding

Morgan,

To thicken the plot even more, sometimes there is one line/artifact as shown above in the wireframe and sometimes two. They are very close to each other, one above the other.

Arnold

P.S. What *is* banding???? Maybe a pic with a fish and an arrow pointing toward the banding might help us dummies out here.
asprague is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 01:53 PM   #16
hpman77
Blue Angel
 
hpman77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2001

Location: Santander (Spain)
Posts: 285
Re: .99H

I also noticed that spot, and also only when clown trigger is swimming around.
It also changes it's color too, from brown to black.
The sound is better now, and my frames got a bit increased (15fps) with all 7 fish swimming.

Pentium III 450mmx
192MB Ram
Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Windows ME
.:: AMD Athlon XP 1700+ :: 512MB SDRAM :: Windows XP SP1 :: shappire ATI radeon 9600 PRO :: Soundblaster Live Player 5.1 :: Directx 9.0 :: (Always latest drivers for everything) ::.
hpman77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 02:07 PM   #17
cimeboat
Registered
 
cimeboat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Posts: 11
99h

I'm not seeing 99h at Jim's site?
cimeboat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 02:09 PM   #18
feldon34
Forum Administrator
 
feldon34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
Re: 99h

CIME,

You can grab it here:

www.serenescreen.com/Aquarium99H.exe

Or from my website.

You probably just need to hit Refresh/Reload on Jim's site as it is probably a cached version.
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman
feldon34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 02:12 PM   #19
cimeboat
Registered
 
cimeboat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Posts: 11
99h

Thanks Feldon that was it!
cimeboat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2001, 03:01 PM   #20
feldon34
Forum Administrator
 
feldon34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
Re: Artifact + Banding

from asprague
What *is* banding???? Maybe a pic with a fish and an arrow pointing toward the banding might help us dummies out here.
Banding is a bit hard to explain. It's not a lack of colors, because both the .99H version and my mocked-up version of the Purple Tang both start to lose definition when you try to bring the number of colors down below 350. It's as if, somewhere along the way from the original texture map, to the final version, color definition was severely clipped to something like 128 colors (6 bit) or worse.

I think the compression engine being used by Jim is seeing similar areas of purple and throwing away too much relevant information. And actually, the Purple Tang and Powder Blue Tang also exhibit some color splotching where incorrect interpolation of colors is being introduced to the image. If you look at the Purple Tang, many of the purple colors have shifted to brown and green in splotches.
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman
feldon34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply
Go Back   Inside: SereneScreen Fan Forum > SereneScreen Products > Marine Aquarium 3 for Windows > Marine Aquarium 2 for Windows Archive



Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:31 AM.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.