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1.14 development


Captain Kitten

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35 minutes ago, RParson99 said:

P.S.  My settings are with VULKAN switched on.   Yes...I did see it work, once.  Performance did take a hit, but it was working via the VULKAN setting. 

 

Have not tried for opengl.

No No No

xEnviro will not work with vulkan checkbox on.
Its developed for OpenGL so that is the only way it will work.

 

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1 hour ago, ashmanmedia said:

No No No

xEnviro will not work with vulkan checkbox on.
Its developed for OpenGL so that is the only way it will work.

 

You sure about that? I ran it just fine on Vulkan when testing the new update. It took a while for the clouds to render, but they did.

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14 hours ago, RParson99 said:

P.S.  My settings are with VULKAN switched on.   Yes...I did see it work, once.  Performance did take a hit, but it was working via the VULKAN setting. 

 

Have not tried for opengl.

how long you wait ?

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In theory it should work having Vulkan Settings Enabled.

However, this does not mean that X-Enviro is actually using the Vulkan render pipeline.

The answer to that is found on Laminar Dev Blog whereby OpenGL Drawing Calls are still served by calling the right API
Ref: https://developer.x-plane.com/2020/02/cloud-add-ons-and-vulkan-episode-iv-a-new-hope/

That Area seems a work in progress and might require some sort of code optimization by the plugin developer to clear out any rough edges...

Quote

The Skymaxx and xEnviro developers are in our private test program and have been great about jumping on new builds while remaining radio silent while we test this new tech. I am pleased to now be able to say: it works!


Correct me on that..

Edited by Bakr
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43 minutes ago, trq46 said:

how long you wait ?

When it worked for me that first time I did note the loading of the environment was a bit slower...but only obvious as in seconds...not minutes.  I did note performance did drop in terms of FPS, but the full Xenviro environment loaded and there was no issue......until I tried another session.  Oh well...it will be great when all these bugs and sync issues are shaken out.

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OMG I would only hope this gets ironed out in 1.14 but I am extremely excited to possibly be able to continue leaving Vulkan enabled and yet have xEnviro clouds using OpenGL while Vulkan is loaded as its base... Unreal I must try...

Stay at home... I need to be selling facemasks not flying.

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We will NOT develop 1.14 for Vulkan.
I have stressed that point enough times and the reasons behind that decision. No beta chasing will be done until we have finished what we started in 1.14.

With that harshness out of the way:
We think we're back on track and hope to yet again begin our work towards beta assembly.

Some screenshots: (NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF FINAL VERSION)13076330_2020-04-1619_42_41-AsPowerBar.jpg.15f76805d90a53f65d170f5990b2601a.jpg958675571_2020-04-1620_17_17-AsPowerBar.jpg.0f645c6b410258a282d1b4c4a50895b7.jpg1411432235_2020-04-1619_42_59-AsPowerBar.jpg.f083155d48f71c4bca6444fd96a463c6.jpg1050896664_2020-04-1619_42_49-AsPowerBar.jpg.f73759558285cb552626bdc8d0bed37a.jpg

 

1125755933_2020-04-1619_41_32-AsPowerBar.jpg.5424d687aa857f4efd202f3b0610b61e.jpg483275741_2020-04-1619_42_31-AsPowerBar.jpg.3a644ac7cfaf84ab0a5474ed99a5939c.jpg1883518228_2020-04-1619_42_22-AsPowerBar.jpg.e7eddc50cdccb508a5b392f0867ae55d.jpg10837351_2020-04-1619_42_11-AsPowerBar.jpg.b40b3184ea5ec9998701b98550f30bfc.jpg1778679112_2020-04-1619_42_00-AsPowerBar.jpg.8361e75d5f4d6476c467d9b90be0f3e0.jpg577139412_2020-04-1619_41_49-AsPowerBar.jpg.b2fc6c4d73de716a9b1f9b5519a59a0f.jpg
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1464385125_2020-04-1619_40_37-AsPowerBar.jpg.9b314fd39499ef87b0173c5aa40b6a92.jpg613327001_2020-04-1619_40_17-unknown.png(PNGImage25601080pixels).jpg.9beeca99c8040c8fc8752d379c969cdd.jpg

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As some may notice in the images posted here: We had a setback and need to do some steps again to get back to where we were before. We were so close to wrapping up, but the cloud edges plainly did not want to cooperate and got either all grainy or bandy - both ways were ugly up close.

So our new approach set us back a couple of weeks =( The fact that "this is the life of a developer" doesn't really help us much - that Andrey managed to whip out some magic after a couple of days in the sauna helps a lot.

So, back on track but be aware that the clouds look worse again since several steps have to be remade..

And yeah - of course these images are hand picked and only show what works - we don't show the ugly sides of the development since we haven't taken that approach publically. If this were my primary occupation I could post the process and show the ugly bits too but it demands so much explenation. Would have been fun to do but none of us have the time for it.. Sadly.

But one thing is sure: Nothing is altered in the screenshots. Every screenshot and video I have posted from development are X-Plane and xEnviro only. But now at least you know why the screenshots may depict clouds and features that look worse than our final approaches towards beta.

(In test versions we go back and forth with modules anyways and testing is often done with very ugly versions)

People usually don't read so I'll try to ignore the comments on how the clouds look worse 😄 These updates are for the people that do read. And I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you that stick with us and encourage us to push through. We wouldn't have done this without you!

Alright folks - take care, happy landings and stay safe!

57942248_2020-04-1718_41_40-b738_-_2020-04-08_17_18_06.png(PNGImage19201046pixels).jpg.cd451c6fdad9a0a3538ed7f30db1676c.jpg1896601944_2020-04-1718_41_16-AsPowerBar.jpg.3242a2f81110915abb9872c465ef8f6e.jpg1586560308_2020-04-1718_40_59-AsPowerBar.jpg.7b62a1937cf803a9c50b1ef38dc5bd4d.jpg894750159_2020-04-1718_40_50-AsPowerBar.jpg.6e45bb77c41236c185a4af4ba3b63454.jpg268638413_2020-04-1718_40_15-AsPowerBar.jpg.3281ecce6e69c6bdc3147a9e13b2dba4.jpg1204419164_2020-04-1718_40_06-AsPowerBar.jpg.c6d86a168cb7ce1dc8852a1dee199717.jpg251303924_2020-04-1718_37_47-b738_-_2020-04-17_17_15_22.png(PNGImage19201046pixels).jpg.66ddcb35d5bee0ef3c9f66be6c44b5a8.jpg

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Just a thought,

Guess the main challenge in the VOXEL based rendering is the VOXEL Density and its pressure on the GPU resource..

Talking about performance optimization paths ... have you considered the abstract concept of: De-Voxeling and Sub-Voxeling.

For example, Say a cloud is far from camera, then with some calculus derivations (or utilization of a cloud boundary gizmo as mnemonic and derive a mesh or multiple globule meshes to reproduce it ) you could de-voxel it (decrease the count  of voxels and offload the GPU and gain more performance - and rather render it with help of approximating shaders that take into account some parameters of opacity sub-surface scattering 

image.png.450be5d574f3d86d87a2634b658a2663.png

The Vexel Object is not a hull - the Mesh object is hull and empty from inside - so the smart shading like (sss) as well as ray-marching approximations works to give impression of being volumetric .

  • Whereby all above is done while still maintaining the overall cloud dimensions , form and shape).... technically converting it into a Mesh rather than a Voxel object with any approach you seem fit..
  • Whereby you still need to maintaining a two-way logical path to convert it from a mesh into a dense Voxel object  "The Sub-Voxelation")
  • whereby it should in theory work like tessellation .. i mean in a Dynamic fashion.
  • whereby the Sub-Voxelation is activated only for cloud objects of x-distance from camera (not from airplane).. we focus on the eye of beholder.

In comparison, the clouds of True sky library and fs2020 seem to be using such techniques... am not sure at all..

But the ideas of coming up with a Hybrid of techniques and blend them in a smart way seems to make sense...

Now when an airplane comes very close within a range of say 5 kilometers , then you would voxelate these clouds as you please at the granular level that achieves the visual fidelity and acceptable noise level - all done without putting a strain on the GPU like before.. for Full Modelling or Half Modelling approach..

Frankly the clouds in P3Dv5 look great from far distance and ugly from low distance . (similar issue with fs2020 to an extent)

i think making a hybrid cloud modeling approach would be a win-win for an efficient  volumetric clouds real-time rendering pipeline

The shader-based cloud volume is having advantage of being fast in performance such as:

But after all, nothing comes close the the REAL thing (the Voxel Approach is the Mother of all Volumetric clouds provided the GPU hardware can handle take it... i think we need to wait for Navi 21 and GTX3080 TI to witness a new era of what is possible)
Hope my coffee is doing good as Andrey's bania ruska..

Final Note::

I have mixed up the Term Texel and Voxel... my intention was about Voxels and not Texels.
Therefore, all "Texel" words been replaced by "Voxel" now.

Edited by Bakr
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/16/2020 at 11:36 AM, Captain Kitten said:

We will NOT develop 1.14 for Vulkan.
I have stressed that point enough times and the reasons behind that decision. No beta chasing will be done until we have finished what we started in 1.14.

With that harshness out of the way:
We think we're back on track and hope to yet again begin our work towards beta assembly.

Some screenshots: (NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF FINAL VERSION)13076330_2020-04-1619_42_41-AsPowerBar.jpg.15f76805d90a53f65d170f5990b2601a.jpg958675571_2020-04-1620_17_17-AsPowerBar.jpg.0f645c6b410258a282d1b4c4a50895b7.jpg1411432235_2020-04-1619_42_59-AsPowerBar.jpg.f083155d48f71c4bca6444fd96a463c6.jpg1050896664_2020-04-1619_42_49-AsPowerBar.jpg.f73759558285cb552626bdc8d0bed37a.jpg

 

1125755933_2020-04-1619_41_32-AsPowerBar.jpg.5424d687aa857f4efd202f3b0610b61e.jpg483275741_2020-04-1619_42_31-AsPowerBar.jpg.3a644ac7cfaf84ab0a5474ed99a5939c.jpg1883518228_2020-04-1619_42_22-AsPowerBar.jpg.e7eddc50cdccb508a5b392f0867ae55d.jpg10837351_2020-04-1619_42_11-AsPowerBar.jpg.b40b3184ea5ec9998701b98550f30bfc.jpg1778679112_2020-04-1619_42_00-AsPowerBar.jpg.8361e75d5f4d6476c467d9b90be0f3e0.jpg577139412_2020-04-1619_41_49-AsPowerBar.jpg.b2fc6c4d73de716a9b1f9b5519a59a0f.jpg
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Those clouds look great in the day time shots... but negligible in the dusk shots... 

Hope v1.14 is right around the corner. 

Any update?

 

 

Edited by Kreemerz
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12 hours ago, trq46 said:

i'm tired hoping update everyday.

I certainly wouldn't wait every day... I don't even think 1.14 is even in beta yet from what's been posted here.  I hear you, though.  Any performance upgrade of 1.14 would be very welcome here as well...

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11 hours ago, Windows98dragon said:

@Captain Kitten a thing now.

Can we know if in the 1.14, or in a future update, lightning/shadows issue will be fixed? 

it's quite annoying to don't see the shadows in the sceneries (this only in some payware) or in the cockpit (most of times and on all the planes when the Sun is "behind" the plane

Cockpit shadow bug is not an XEnviro bug. It's an xplane native bug. But we have fixed it anyways. 

As for general shadows I don't know what you're talking about. Xe doesn't remove scenery shadows. 

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