Experimental D3D9 Build (2009-12-13) Updated!

[Ultraken]

Update: I fixed the disappearing smoke and Z-buffer problems (I think) and replaced the original build since it's still December 13th here.  

New build:
Battlezone D3D9 Executable

For those who want to help track down crashes with Visual C++ 2008 Express:
Battlezone D3D9 Program Database (unpack to the same place as the executable)

Anet libraries (submitted by Dx)
Compatible (works with normal BZ executable)
Compiled with VC++ 2008 (includes new winets2.dll)

Changes:

• Increased maximum number of smoke sources to 256 (submitted by Dx)
• Fix for getting 5 pilots when one jumps out out of Barracks (submitted by Dx)
• Send out player pings (submitted by Dx)
• Fix buffer overflow when joining a game (submitted by Dx)
• Automatic configuration of Z buffer setting (off for software, on for hardware)
• Switched all "shake" effects to Perlin noise and ensured "round down" float-to-integer conversion
• Fixed occasional floating-point invalid operation in the clipper when submitting a zero-vertex polygon (probably harmless, but still...)
• Linked with latest Anet headers and libraries (submitted by Dx)
• Fixed uninitialized member variables in Weapon, which could crash AI
• Possible fix for visual glitches in the shell
• Prevent camera view change after player dies (untested)

Usual reminders:
1. This build requires the Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redstributable Package
2. If using a retail install, rename the "splash" folder to "splash_" to disable Windows 7's compatibility layer
3. If running on Windows Vista or 7, make the install folder writable
4. If having trouble, try the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer

[bb1]

•Switched all "shake" effects to Perlin noise and ensured "round down" float-to-integer conversion


What should I look for here?

[Ultraken]

What should I look for here?

For that particular change, just make sure the earthquake effect (last American mission), explosion shake, and seismic wave (Thumper shot) feel right.  The big thing is that their strength should no longer depend on frame rate.

[Commando]

The shell comes up black for me.  I literally have to alt-tab then restore to see anything.  This will force it in windowed mode until I click on a button forcing the shell screen to change.  Once this happens, it goes black again, forcing me to alt tab then restore again.

[Commando]

After going through the alt-tab on shell screen procedure, I loaded my savegame which didn't crash.  I did notice two issues ingame.

1.  The Construction Rig's large build square did not render.  The one that turns red when you can't build, turns yellow when there is no power, and is green when you can build.  Instead I got the small go to square.  Basically there is no indication whether you can build somewhere or not.

2.  The scavenger's texture is buggy at times.  It turned green with what appeared to be smears until I got close to the unit then it looked fine.

3.  The NSDF supply depot had some large holes in the model which I didn't notice in the last build.

These issues appear to be new to this build.

It's a shame you don't have the TRO soucecode.  I had a 100% reproduceable crash that would occur if I tried to build gun towers at a specific spot.

I'm glad I could get one reproduceable bug to occur yesterday.  I was able to get something accomplished.  I guess testing 1.3 for 5 years put me in more of a testing mindset when it comes to games than a playing mindset.

[Ultraken]

This build turned out pretty sketchy, so I'll try to get it straightened out by tonight.

[Commando]

Yeah, even the Recycler Build effect and geyser steam effects fail to play.

[Ultraken]

They might be getting sorted behind other things, but I'll take a look.

[sabrebattletank]

I should probably wait until I finish this paper before doing any more testing :p

[Ultraken]

I found out what was going wrong with the smoke, and it was something that made me wonder how the renderer ever worked.  I had bypassed some code in the rendering system that set some important control flags based on the Z-buffer state, so rendering ended up in a messed-up state.

[Commando]

That's good to hear that it was easy to track down.  I'm surprised there isn't a changelog for the latest patch included.  Has that weapon error been in bz1 since release, if so, I can't believe it hadn't been caught sooner.

[Ultraken]

The Weapon hardpoint matrix was only invalid for the brief interval between mission load and the first Control phase.  AI is almost never in an active combat state the first frame after loading, so it almost never mattered.  This was one of the few cases where it did. 

[Commando]

I remember one of my savegames when I first purchased bz1 going bad because I made an ingame save.  I bet it was due to the same issue.  After that point, I learned to never save ingame, only trying ingame saves within the last year.

[Red Devil]

Sometimes I wonder if the code has developed a mind of its own after dealing with Fury biometal.   

[Ultraken]

That would explain a lot...