[Freeciv-Dev] Performance (was: [Re: [OpenGL client (was Re: Re: Project)] (fwd)])

[* <spurius@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I mentioned in the previous mail about performance issues.  The main issues
are:

1) due to the nature of openGL and 3d, most people will be unable to run it
full screen with a framerate high enough to support animation, and as of yet I
know of no way to do localized animations with OpenGL/glut.  

2) The big issue, the number of polygons.  Its obvious that we'll want more
than one polygon per terrain square, as a general rule  ;)  In fact, for a
realistic mountain square, for example, you'd probably want at least 5x5 (25
squares, 50 triangles).  On a reasonable map of, say, 600 squares with only 20
triangles per terrain, thats 12,000 triangular polygons.  Which is 48 megs of
ram to store just the shape.  Which is a bad thing  ;)  While that isn't that
uncommon for a modern game, it is still quite unfortunate, and with larger
maps, that number will become huge.  Disk caching is indeed a possibility, and
probably will be implemented.  Also, not every unit or city could be drawn at
the same time, because 3d models eat up many polygons.  Even my company of
penguins got about 1 frame a sec on my p2/233 (no 3d acceleration, albeit..),
mostly limited by polygons, not resolution. 

Again, any suggestions for either are welcome  :)

 - Rob

Franck Guillaud <f.guillaud@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> 
>       Sorry about the delay Rob. Concerning the project, I think that
> your motivation is higher than mine, because of your grade :). I just
> do it in my spare time for the pleasure of teaching unix programming.
> 
>       So, don't wait for me and go ahead ! I could always join later,
> help with patchs ans so on. We'll see...
> 
>       Annyway, an IRC meeting could be cool. I've seen many problems to
> solve when thinking about the OGL client, so maybe this can help you.
> Some issues are : terrain modelling, terrain & tile  rendering, building
> tile texture according to neighbors tiles... My time zone is Paris ie GMT
> time +1. 
> 
>         Do you have an exact subject fo your course project ? How much
> time do you have ? What expects your teacher ?
> 
>       Consider that if you choose glut, you'll have to rewrite all the
> client-side code, including network code. You can take it from the
> existing code, but you could also go with the existing gtk code, just
> adding a gl area widget to do opengl drawing. You'll also benefit easily
> from the autoconf stuff.
> 
>        I attached a screenshot of my actual work.
> 
>                                  Franck.
> 
> 
> On 1 Feb 2000, * wrote:
> 
> ->
> ->Havent heard from you in response to my last message... lemme know if
you're
> ->still out there and want to work with us on the project  :)  We met last
> ->sunday and have started working on it.  We'll keep you posted  :)
> ->
> -> - Rob
> ->
> ->Franck Guillaud <f.guillaud@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> ->> 
> ->>                Hello World,
> ->> 
> ->> On Tue, 25 Jan 2000, Jules Bean wrote:
> ->> ->Hi Rob!
> ->> ->
> ->> ->Exciting ideas!
> ->> ->
> ->> ->> > I, and (potentially) 4 others, plan to be making an opengl
interface
> ->for 
> ->> ->> > freeciv as a final project for a graphics course at Rose-Hulman
> ->> ->> > Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, Indiana).
> ->> ->
> ->> ->Someone else was working on an opengl interface once - they posted
here a
> ->> ->couple of months ago. Maybe they'll speak up again, or maybe they can
be
> ->> ->found in the archives.
> ->> 
> ->>   It's me. I wanted to post a screenshot on a web site, but my ISP ftp
> ->> server don't accept my files !? Sorry about that. I can send a 19K jpeg
> ->here
> ->> or to anyone asking for.
> ->> 
> ->>   What you'll see is only the geometry data, with different colors for
> ->> each tile type. The map is an array of heightfields. Each "smoothed"
tile
> ->> (mountains, hills and their neighbors, rivers, and also beachs) 
> ->> has heightfield data. Other tiles are 'flat' and drawn as simple quads.
> ->> 
> ->>           Actually, the code is a patch to the 1.9.0 gkt client and uses
the
> ->gtk
> ->> GLArea widget. It works on my P133 and a voodoo2 card, GNU/Linux OS.
> ->Another
> ->> option would be to use the SDL libs (because work on BeOS,
> ->Win32,Unix,Mac...). 
> ->> The patch doesn't alter the server, but it only works with an existing
game
> ->: 
> ->> you need to create a game, save it and load it with the client.
> ->> 
> ->>   Autoconf stuff is done, also basic terrain generation and texture
> ->> loading with Imlib. My plans are first to make this code clean and
> ->efficient.
> ->>  I then plan to add script and/or plugins capabilities to allow themes.
> ->After 
> ->> that, I need to handle textures & textures masks rendering, with also 
> ->> plugins and/or script. I think it will be complex, but the existing code

> ->> will help.
> ->> 
> ->>   To handle units & cities, I think a good 3D object loader (.3DS,
> ->> .lwo,...) is needed. If it is efficient, it would handle most of the
work.
> ->> 
> ->>   I must say that this work is my first attempt to be involved in a
> ->> free software project. So I spend must of my time learning how to
program
> ->> and use GNU tools under Linux. But I enjoy a lot. I do it on my spare
time,
> ->> and urgency is low.
> ->> 
> ->>   What are your plans Rob ? Maybe we could merge our efforts. My
> ->> code is actually too bad to be shared but I hope it will change, sooner

> ->> or later ;-).
> ->> 
> ->> 
> ->> 
> ->> 
> ->>                                   Franck.
> ->
> ->
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> ->
> 
> 

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