Topic

Staff Topic

Test the Experimental Renderer!

I've been working something new and fancy for y'all: A faster renderer so the game plays smoother.

Want to help me test it? Sure you do!

But First Things First:
* You keep an eye out for problems and promise to give me feedback, both positive and, more importantly, negative
* You will use the Bug Report button and mention the "experimental renderer" --  ALSO replying on this thread would be helpful to me
* You understand that, in the very few locations where we have some animations in the background (like waving grass), those animations do NOT currently work in the new renderer, so don't sweat it
* You will give Ilmenskie Caverns another shot, especially Dobak Fathom

Have at it!
beta.glitch.com/game/?SWF_e...

***UPDATE***
The renderer is now enabled by default, as are other optimization I made since the last test.

Posted 18 months ago by Jono Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Render is what I do to bacon.
    Play is what I do to glitch.
    Posted 18 months ago by Vicereine Linnæa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Great description Jono. What kind of problems should we specifically look out for: visual location based ones or game-play (menus, interactive) stuff? Or even better: both? 

    And yah, that q+p FPS meter is mesmerising. Though I prefer watching the flash/RAM memory go up and up and up ;)
    Posted 18 months ago by Hburger Subscriber! | Permalink
  • LMAO!!!

    Not sure you'd want me to test this for you since I kept reading "reindeer" instead of "render" I think I need more coffee :P

    Anything for the non-miner to test for you...such as cooking stuff? :P
    Posted 18 months ago by sgjo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've been working on memory usage; you may find it's higher than before in some cases, and lower in others (Caverns, for instance). Try not to look at it too hard ;-)

    Problems from this feature should be in the static background, nothing to do with items, your avatar, or the game chrome.
    Posted 18 months ago by Jono Subscriber! | Permalink
  • FPS Meter = Frames Per Second. The main measure of how fast an animated image is being drawn. It also applies to television and cinema. Up to a certain point point faster is better. Ideally around 500 FPS, but in practice 24FPS often works just fine (that's the rate a movie is shown at the theater normally.) Your computer's video card is a deciding factor too.
    Posted 18 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Jono: Great, thanks for the extended info! Just wondering: what goes into the optimization of a location? Is it simply the compression of the image files, or the preloading of basic location components into the client's cache? :)
    Posted 18 months ago by Hburger Subscriber! | Permalink
  • wow, you guys are impressive. every time i play this game i think "how did they learn how to do all of this?" do any of you remember turtle? the little programing thing i played with when i was 9 that you could tell to move left and right and draw little pictures? that's as far as i got with drawing and coding in the same sentence.

    so i look at glitch and animation and this whole thread and think "who the hell DID this?!!"
    Posted 18 months ago by greenkozi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Jono, Why has Ilmenskie Caverns been more sluggish in the past than other places? I have noticed it especially in Level 4 East and Level 2 East.
    Posted 18 months ago by Dasher Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ooh and as i typed that, i guess i get to test it!
    Posted 18 months ago by greenkozi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Jono - Working on memory usage? With Flash? I feel your pain. (Embedded systems programmer with 30+ years in the IT field including programming language design/development/implementation).
    Posted 18 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The test engine is amazingly smooth in the Caverns! Well done!
    Posted 18 months ago by Shwan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just my first take on Dobak Fathoms..my computer which is usually very quick and speedy, seems to have a "lag" time with the new feature..just a half sec off.  The animation is cool and takes some getting used to.  Just my first take, but I do like the look and feel. (Just as an aside, my machine is pretty solid one so this would be my first experience with any sort of delay in action)
    Posted 18 months ago by AlmostSilver Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Jono: I am down in Dobak. No lag for me, but when coming from Tharon, the yellow loading bar at the bottom only says 'retickulating splines' and I can not see the yellow bar move. It is loading fast though. Love that.
    Posted 18 months ago by Piece of Serenity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @greenkozi - I remember the turtles. I once did a implementation of Logo.
    Posted 18 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This is the first time I have been able to go to the caverns and actually enjoy it!!
    Before today, I had many problems moving around, jumping, etc. (sent in bug reports before).
    I am no longer having any of those problems or any others!
    Thank you so much!!!!!
    Posted 18 months ago by Molly Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Dobak Fathom and other deeps locations seem to work!  Congrats and thanks!
    Posted 18 months ago by The Stig Subscriber! | Permalink
  • No more lag/freezes in the Deeps! :)
    I haven't seen any other problems with the experimental renderer yet...
    Posted 18 months ago by Varaeth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Serenity, thanks -- I think I just fixed progress bars.
    Posted 18 months ago by Jono Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ugh Testing on the new renderer, I just got connection timed out trying to load dorfsan vex quarter 5200 block, the reticulating splines bar barely loaded at all. Had a couple of GOD temporary disconnects but thats not unusual for me. Trying a reload I wasnt able to send a bug report from the game screen. Reload has worked I'm back in game now.
    Posted 18 months ago by Faereluth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There will be progress now -- I've deployed the changes. The disconnects are unrelated.
    Posted 18 months ago by Jono Subscriber! | Permalink
  • might not be connected but i noticed my avatar is  little wobbly as i enter my house. I kind if vibrate a little lol !
    Posted 18 months ago by Misha Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Might just be me, but I'm sure it's running a fair bit smoother with my crappy atom netbook...
    Posted 18 months ago by Captain Mouldy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sometimes, when loading a location, the screen darkens - like it does when you leave the game - for a moment or two. Then it brightens and works fine. 
    Posted 18 months ago by Zany Serendipity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Testing now - went down to Dobak Fathoms as requested.  Went fine the first time, left, now when trying to go back in, I'm getting the "Uh Oh!" window.  Can't load the game anymore.  Street loading page is stuck at "reticulating splines" with full progress bar.

    I'll try restarting my browser, and if that still fails, I'll install the debugging flash engine.
    Posted 18 months ago by Darque Subscriber! | Permalink
  • After restarting browser, I was able to get back in.
    Posted 18 months ago by Darque Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I just had a reload fast enough that I glanced over to the chat (really just glanced) and I missed it. Amazing!

    New renderer is wonderful, thank you programming specks. The speed really makes the whole game experience better :)
    Posted 18 months ago by duien Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Seems to be working well so far... :)
    Posted 18 months ago by Lelu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I found a rube in Loimi Linger. He won't talk to me. Is that normal?
    Posted 18 months ago by g33kgurrl Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ETA - nevermind, wasn't a bug. 
    Posted 18 months ago by Folderol Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ok after that reload earlier the new renderer worked fantastically, things seemed to load very smoothly when teleporting and moving between streets. Like this new experience :)
    Posted 18 months ago by Faereluth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Shimla Mirch is getting laggy for me. That's unusual. 
    Posted 18 months ago by Zany Serendipity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Jono: Left a couple minor things as bugs. Overall it's slick, items are loading faster... but Teleport seemed to take longer to load the new streets. Will take another look later.
    Posted 18 months ago by Travinara Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks Travinara and everyone else! It's true that loads will take longer than before; I'm gonna work on that, but it's mostly likely how it's going to be going forward (that's the tradeoff, unfortunately).

    For those that are computer science inclined: Time or Space: Choose one.
    Posted 18 months ago by Jono Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Definitely seems faster loading, I went and worked at the project at Kolan Presence all good. But when it finished I was jumping on the rocks at the far left of Kolan Presence when it threw me to the top of Bishops Arch!

    Off to check out Ilmenskie Caverns / Dobak Fathom...
    Posted 18 months ago by Teena Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Seems smooth and responsive.  
    Posted 18 months ago by welshcorgi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Time. I like time.
    Posted 18 months ago by g33kgurrl Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Love the "reticulating splines" message, giving me good nostalgic SimCity vibes.
    Posted 18 months ago by girlhacker Subscriber! | Permalink
  • haha, yeah, me too on the “reticulating splines” love.
    Posted 18 months ago by Bedap Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Jono - I experienced the same instant throw to Bishop's Arch, a few minutes ago (bug report filed) I was at the same place in Alakol, Kolan Prescence, before my instant trip to the Heights.
    Posted 18 months ago by MicklePickle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @girlhacker There is definitely spline/vector work going on under the hood in our case ;-)
    Posted 18 months ago by Jono Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @MicklePickle That's one of our accidentally formed wormholes. Fixing!
    Posted 18 months ago by Jono Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sorry to hear you are fixing the wormholes. LOL
    Posted 18 months ago by Piece of Serenity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've made my way around the Ilmenskie Deeps, concentrating on Dobak Fathom trying everything and all is good. Slightly better than usual cos I can jump better :) Was a tad slow to pick up guano, but nothing I don't experience at odd times anyway.
    Posted 18 months ago by Teena Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Pretty responsive, but have had a few more flash crashes than normal.
    Posted 18 months ago by Cristy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I first signed on as usual and headed for Ilmenskie. I normally don't have much trouble with lag. I'm using Chrome. For some reason it was awfully slow tonight, lots of lag. I checked the forums and saw this post  and began using the ER. I've been wandering all over the deeps including Dobak Fathom and it's MUCH improved! In fact I'm not having any lag. Might be my imagination but the action seems nice and smooth. Can't explain why I started out having lag when I don't usually have that issue, but no problems trying this new program.
    Posted 18 months ago by Riverwalker Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I spent the first part of my game time in Ilmenskie, including Dobak Fathoms.  Everything was very smooth.  About the last hour, I'm starting to get a little laggy, so rather than reloading, I think I'm going to sleep for a little while.  I'll pick up with this again tomorrow, but the caverns were GREAT for me today.  Thanks so much for all your hard work!
    Posted 18 months ago by kat65 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It's a noticeable difference. Very impressive considering the dodgy flash support on Linux. The tool animations are much faster. Whereas before the tool sounds would finish before the animations, now the animations finish before the sounds. Maybe synchronizing the animation and sound would be possible with the improved renderer.

    I'll be in the caverns quite a bit, and I will post back with any comments.
    Posted 18 months ago by Tofu Casserole Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I spent time in the caverns and Dolak Fathom moving very quickly and smoothly--traveled through GM, GF and Anakol with no problems (other than normal falling down cuz my eye/hand coordination sucks). Only issue was switching to profile and/or auctions---it seemed to load slower than usual. And I did have one crash, but suspect that's related to FF4 not the experimental renderer.
    Posted 18 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The Great Hole to Ix and Groddle Ladder seemed to break the renderer.  I put in a bug report about it, too.

    Is it possible to host certain game stuff locally, so as to boost loading times?
    Posted 18 months ago by Leimailu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • A couple of times now, the flash has crashed as I load into the system for the first time.  a refresh has handled it, but it never gets past the bulb on the thermometer on the first try.
    Posted 18 months ago by knitmeapony Subscriber! | Permalink