Shelter from Magnus' Blaze 5 : III - Morrowind

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:26 pm

I agree too.

please Hrnchamd :bowdown:

» Mon May 16, 2011 11:57 pm

hrnchamd, can you make the Sun Stone, Earth Stone, Tree Stone, Beast Stone and Wind Stone on solstheim visible at distance? i dont know how to do this myself, but i think that they should be visible at full distance on fresh install too.
or may this not be possible because i can activate them?

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:40 am

PeterBitt => for this uses a exception's list ^^

» Tue May 17, 2011 10:24 am

Does anyone have an answer to my question about why 3D waves were removed? I'm not complaining, I'm simply curious.

» Tue May 17, 2011 8:17 am

Does anyone have an answer to my question about why 3D waves were removed? I'm not complaining, I'm simply curious.

My graphics card is too old to display the waves vertex displacement, so I can't develop them and check for display or clipping bugs. I can add it back in once the problems people are having with reflections are fixed and everything is stable.

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:28 pm

0.8.18 released

XE

Reported problems with interior water drawing fixed.

Limited amount of MWSE commands are implemented - HUD function group, and zooming function group.
The functions work as before, but the HUD behaves differently for non-power-of-2 size textures. MGE XE does not stretch them on loading as MGE normally does. HUD mods should standardize on power-of-2 textures to be cross compatible.
Zooming behaves differently to normal MGE since the original implementation wasn't designed to handle varying aspect ratios, or to be able to transition to 1:1 zoom easily. Zoom rate commands now accelerate to the target rate smoothly to avoid initial camera jerk on zooming.

Grass should behave better under wind factor adjustment now, please test.

Strange parameters that were used in loading textures from the BSA are corrected, it maybe could have caused problems with loading.
Distant land texture cache size is now reported in the log.

Config

Fixed an issue with the land texture cache not being cleared in the distant land generator, which may reduce out-of-memory problems when generating.

Added the Bloodmoon stone activators to the included static override list.

Mods

Some updated HUD mods are available at the download page (mostly Yacoby's) which are compatible with MGE XE. The aim is for them to be cross compatible with MGE 3.8+ as well.

Close Inspection - Updated to ignore doors & containers. Uses zooming, so it's not quite compatible with regular MGE yet.
Companion Health Bars - The originals had non-power-of-2 textures which exhibited stretching. Textures and code updated to avoid this. Should be compatible with regular MGE.
Ownership Indicator - Optimized, original used a 1024x768 texture to overlay the icon, update uses a 32x32 texture. New ownership texture is called "target_ownership.dds". Should be compatible with regular MGE.
Third Person Crosshair - Optimized, one esp is provided to cover all three original modes. Set X3P_Mode to 0 to always show crosshair, 1 for when a ranged weapon or magic is ready, and 2 for just ranged weapons. Should be compatible with regular MGE.
Time Display - The originals had non-power-of-2 textures which exhibited stretching. Textures and code updated to avoid this. Should be compatible with regular MGE.

These all need cross compatibility checking. Hopefully I can get the Vampire Embrace HUD working and whatever else people need.

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:25 am

Thanks for all your hard work Hrnchamd!!! :shocking:

» Tue May 17, 2011 7:59 am

Thanks a lot, updating now :celebration:

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:36 am

Thanks Hrnchamd!

I was wondering if there is any way I could monitor why my game crashes after a minimum of 15 minutes.

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:27 am

Thanks Hrnchamd!

I was wondering if there is any way I could monitor why my game crashes after a minimum of 15 minutes.

Ram consumption would be my best guess, I would have an overlay program which monitors system ram use, and I would bet that the game is crashing within 1 or 2% of a specific amount of ram utilized, in my case, it is 50% of system ram used for morrowind, once it crosses that threshold(normally 30-40 minutes for me, but depends on MGE settings, mods, ect....if only the game could dump system resources on cell changes instead of just adding them up...), the game crashes, which is why I now save my game every 3 or 4 cells I change....which is tedius, but it keeps me from losing anything when it does crash.

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:39 am

It's what I was suspecting as well. It's really tedious, but the biggest problem is the unreliability. Sometimes I can go for 1 hour, sometimes 15 minutes. I have enough RAM to run Morrowind with a good number of mods, and MGE. At least, I'm guessing 4GB of RAM for the entire system would be enough.
It is interesting to note my crashes near-cease if I use MW in windowed mode through MGEXE, but I dislike that.

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:22 pm

Have you tried using the 4gb patch?
It stopped my hourly crashes completely.

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:05 pm

Aeven, Matilla,
have you tried the http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php on Morrowind.exe? For Morrowind to fully utilize more than 2 GB RAM, the executable has to be patched. I was terribly annoyed by constant crashes until I applied this patch and the problem disappeared completely.

Hrnchamd,
it never ceases to amaze me how you manage to improve MGE even further.

Now both lava flickering and DL blending glitch are gone. Keep up the amazing work.

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:15 am

Great! I was waiting for 0.8.18, long live Hrnchamd.

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:02 pm

Aeven, Matilla,
have you tried the http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php on Morrowind.exe? For Morrowind to fully utilize more than 2 GB RAM, the executable has to be patched. I was terribly annoyed by constant crashes until I applied this patch and the problem disappeared completely.

Hrnchamd,
it never ceases to amaze me how you manage to improve MGE even further.

Now both lava flickering and DL blending glitch are gone. Keep up the amazing work.

I was just referring to the root of what causes morrowind to crash almost like clockwork, I do use the 4gb patch, and while it most definitely improves the situation, it doesn't resolve it, however at least now I can play for long enough between crashes to not completely remove my immersion with the game.

» Tue May 17, 2011 9:55 am

Thanks for the update! This runs so much better on my computer than the regular mge.

» Tue May 17, 2011 6:22 am

Ownership Indicator - Optimized, original used a 1024x768 texture to overlay the icon, update uses a 32x32 texture. New ownership texture is called "target_ownership.dds". Should be compatible with regular MGE.

Where is this texture? I'm not seeing it in the main MGE XE download, and it's not in the HUD Mods download either.

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:52 am

Where is this texture? I'm not seeing it in the main MGE XE download, and it's not in the HUD Mods download either.

I was just checking if people were testing it at all. The HUD mods package has the textures available now.

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:14 pm

Yay! new release!
Cool

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:16 pm

Ram consumption would be my best guess, I would have an overlay program which monitors system ram use, and I would bet that the game is crashing within 1 or 2% of a specific amount of ram utilized, in my case, it is 50% of system ram used for morrowind, once it crosses that threshold(normally 30-40 minutes for me, but depends on MGE settings, mods, ect....if only the game could dump system resources on cell changes instead of just adding them up...), the game crashes, which is why I now save my game every 3 or 4 cells I change....which is tedius, but it keeps me from losing anything when it does crash.

Wow. that does sound tedious. Why not resolve it though by setting up a macro that quicksaves for you every 6 or so minutes? They won't be usable loading points but they definitely keep the game running much longer when set up and are hardly noticeable when they trigger.

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:48 pm

thats one nice update! 3rd person crosshair :celebration:
unfortunately i have the following problems with this beta:

"Reported problems with interior water drawing fixed"
confirmed for the underwater reflection bug, but there still some bad reflections from above (http://www.file-upload.net/download-3348341/InteriorWaterBug.wmv.html)

"Added the Bloodmoon stone activators to the included static override list"
cant confirm this, they are still only visible in morrowind viewdistance (tested only the activated ones with the particle effects, maybe different than without the particles?)

"Some updated HUD mods are available ..."
only compatible with english version? i get the usual error message telling something like "plugin created on different version of the game ..." with my german version.
here some feedback on how the mods are working on my system:

TimeDisplay = working -do you plan to improve visual quality? font and the dots look like not same fonttype)
OwnershipIndicator = not working
ThirdPersonCrosshair = not working
CompanionHealthbar = not tested
Clotikspection = working -i have a suggestion for better inspection of many items which is hard to explain with my english, here it is:
- 1 > pointing at item > zoom starts to increase after 3 seconds waiting
- 2 > moving cursor away from item > zoom decreasing when cursor is not pointing at item
- 3 > pointing at item again > zoom should start to increase imidiantly, dont keep zooming out for 3 seconds

and a here is a little reminder for some older issues wich are still true: :hubbahubba:

i experienced now a few times that on target spells going right through an npc or creature without hiting them (pls fix this, i wasted some of my best scrolls this way...)
still some artifacts on the border between mge and vanilla viewdistance (http://img146.images...45/blending.jpg)
the latest beta has some problems with castles as it seems: http://img20.imagesh.../i/castleu.jpg/

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:38 am

0.8.18 seems worse than the previous version.

I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64, ATI HD5770. Catalyst reports the following:
Driver Packaging Version 8.831.2-110308a-115928C-ATI
Catalyst Version 11.3
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.1134
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0000
Direct3D Version 7.14.10.0817
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.10600
Catalyst Control Center Version 2011.0308.2325.42017

The problems I notice are:
1. The provided Ownership Indicator.esp doesn't work - the crosshair stays white and unchanged, rather than becoming red.
2. There is a new problem - when I walk around Hla Oad I can see huge chunks of grass flicker on and off. MGEXE.log complains "Too many grass instances.": The problem persists after I turn Ownership Indicator.esp off.

Spoiler

MGE XE 0.8.18
MWSE dll injected
>> CreateD3DWrapper
-- CreateD3DWrapper calling Direct3DCreate9
<< CreateD3DWrapper
>> D3D Proxy CreateDevice
-- D3D Proxy Factory OK
<< D3D Proxy CreateDevice
>> CreateInputWrapper
<< CreateInputWrapper
-- Proxy Keyboard OK
-- Proxy Mouse OK
>> Distant Land init
>> Distant Land init shader
-- Shader compiled OK
-- Shadow map shader compiled OK
-- Depth shader compiled OK
>> Distant Land init post shaders
>> Post Process shader init
-- Post shader Data Files\shaders\XEshaders\Depth of Field.fx loaded
-- Post shader Data Files\shaders\XEshaders\Sunshafts.fx loaded
-- Post shader Data Files\shaders\XEshaders\Bloom Fine.fx loaded
-- Post shader Data Files\shaders\XEshaders\HDR.fx loaded
-- Shader chain indicates HDR On
<< Post Process shader init
>> Distant Land init depth
>> Distant Land init shadow
>> Distant Land init water
>> Distant Land init world
>> Landscape Load
-- Landscape textures loaded
<< Landscape Load
>> Distant Land init statics
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_wall14.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_wall13.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_metal_iron_rusty.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_trim03.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_rustpipe10.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_rustpipe00.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_obsrv12.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_obsrv11.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_wall14.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_wall13.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_metal_iron_rusty.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_trim03.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_rustpipe10.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_rustpipe00.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_obsrv12.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_obsrv11.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_wall14.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_wall13.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_metal_iron_rusty.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_trim03.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_rustpipe10.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_rustpipe00.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_obsrv12.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures\tx_dwrv_obsrv11.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures/tx_dwrv_trim03.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures/tx_dwrv_rustpipe10.tga
Cannot load texture data files\textures/tx_dwrv_rustpipe00.tga
-- Distant static textures loaded, 1258 textures
-- Distant static texture memory use: 57 MB
-- Distant Land finished loading distant statics
<< Distant Land init
Too many grass instances. (4213)
Too many grass instances. (4573)
Too many grass instances. (4577)
Too many grass instances. (4576)
Too many grass instances. (4577)
Too many grass instances. (4583)
Too many grass instances. (4590)
Too many grass instances. (4585)
Too many grass instances. (4588)
Too many grass instances. (4595)
Too many grass instances. (4595)
Too many grass instances. (4596)
Too many grass instances. (4613)
Too many grass instances. (4614)
Too many grass instances. (4613)
Too many grass instances. (4610)
Too many grass instances. (4612)
Too many grass instances. (4610)
Too many grass instances. (4606)
Too many grass instances. (4621)
Too many grass instances. (4436)
Too many grass instances. (4424)
Too many grass instances. (4425)
Too many grass instances. (4428)
Too many grass instances. (4419)
Too many grass instances. (4413)
Too many grass instances. (4415)
Too many grass instances. (4413)
Too many grass instances. (4493)
Too many grass instances. (4498)
Too many grass instances. (4761)
Too many grass instances. (4719)
Too many grass instances. (4731)
Too many grass instances. (4733)
Too many grass instances. (4723)
Too many grass instances. (4724)
Too many grass instances. (4733)
Too many grass instances. (4735)
Too many grass instances. (4740)
Too many grass instances. (4742)
Too many grass instances. (4745)
Too many grass instances. (4741)
Too many grass instances. (4742)
Too many grass instances. (4735)
Too many grass instances. (4745)
Too many grass instances. (4749)
Too many grass instances. (4756)
Too many grass instances. (4756)
Too many grass instances. (4756)
Too many grass instances. (4756)
Too many grass instances. (4756)
Too many grass instances. (4756)
Too many grass instances. (4756)
Too many grass instances. (4760)
Too many grass instances. (4765)
Too many grass instances. (4767)
Too many grass instances. (4762)
Too many grass instances. (4755)
Too many grass instances. (4756)
Too many grass instances. (4753)
Too many grass instances. (4749)
Too many grass instances. (4749)
Too many grass instances. (4748)
Too many grass instances. (4746)
Too many grass instances. (4746)
Too many grass instances. (4745)
Too many grass instances. (4739)
Too many grass instances. (4748)
Too many grass instances. (4746)
Too many grass instances. (4747)
Too many grass instances. (4749)
Too many grass instances. (4744)
Too many grass instances. (4742)
Too many grass instances. (4512)
Too many grass instances. (4388)
Too many grass instances. (4573)
Too many grass instances. (4588)
Too many grass instances. (4593)
Too many grass instances. (4596)
Too many grass instances. (4594)
Too many grass instances. (4595)
Too many grass instances. (4590)
Too many grass instances. (4596)
Too many grass instances. (4601)
Too many grass instances. (4594)
Too many grass instances. (4599)
Too many grass instances. (4606)
Too many grass instances. (4611)
Too many grass instances. (4622)
Too many grass instances. (4629)
Too many grass instances. (4222)
Too many grass instances. (4379)
Too many grass instances. (4523)
Too many grass instances. (4532)
Too many grass instances. (4536)
Too many grass instances. (4531)
Too many grass instances. (4538)
Too many grass instances. (4537)
Too many grass instances. (4540)
Too many grass instances. (4530)
Too many grass instances. (4530)
Too many grass instances. (4530)
Too many grass instances. (4529)
Too many grass instances. (4547)
Too many grass instances. (4546)
Too many grass instances. (4546)
Too many grass instances. (4546)
Too many grass instances. (4546)
Too many grass instances. (4546)
>> Distant Land release
<< Distant Land release

» Tue May 17, 2011 9:54 am

Thanks, Hrnchamd, for this and the MCP - wish this stuff have existed for my first game 8 years ago - but your work makes it feel like a whole new game.
All the new HUD functions are working great for me.

About the crashing - how hard would it be to implement a PCB (purge cell buffer)? It would be incredible to get SkyRanger-1 to port OSR/FSR (Oblivion Stutter Remover) to MW, but that would require a rewrite of MWSE at the very least. Ah, dream, dream, dream.....

» Tue May 17, 2011 9:46 am

Hmm... having a bit of a problem with MGE (XE)...

I was originally running Distant Land and everything was running fine. However I wanted to improve FPS, taking it down to 1 cell and eventually turning it off completely (which I reversed because the water was awful without reflections). So I turned it on again set it to 20 cells but it still has the same distance as when it was set to off. I tried fiddling with the ingame distance settings, and regular MGE settings but to no avail.

Any ideas what I should do? Reinstall MGEXE? Cheers and thanks in advance!

» Tue May 17, 2011 8:03 am

OwnershipIndicator and ThirdPersonCrosshair HUD mods had a start script conflict, I have updated the download so they work together.

unfortunately i have the following problems with this beta:

"Some updated HUD mods are available ..."
only compatible with english version? i get the usual error message telling something like "plugin created on different version of the game ..." with my german version.
here some feedback on how the mods are working on my system:

TimeDisplay = working -do you plan to improve visual quality? font and the dots look like not same fonttype)
OwnershipIndicator = not working
ThirdPersonCrosshair = not working
CompanionHealthbar = not tested

The video link doesn't download anything, only opens ads for hot Frauen.

Okay, I didn't make any of these textures, it's Yacoby's mods, but I know the time display needs a lot of work. Check the third person crosshair mode is what you expect, it only appears for ranged weapons and magic stance by default. I will try to eliminate the morrowind.esm dependencies later on.

2. There is a new problem - when I walk around Hla Oad I can see huge chunks of grass flicker on and off. MGEXE.log complains "Too many grass instances.": The problem persists after I turn Ownership Indicator.esp off.

That is a lot of grass, it's trying to draw >4096 models per frame which would normally be bad for performance, which grass mods are you using in that area?

About the crashing - how hard would it be to implement a PCB (purge cell buffer)? It would be incredible to get SkyRanger-1 to port OSR/FSR (Oblivion Stutter Remover) to MW, but that would require a rewrite of MWSE at the very least. Ah, dream, dream, dream.....

There's cell buffer limits in the ini that you should be able to reduce, otherwise it's not really what MGE is supposed to do.

Hmm... having a bit of a problem with MGE (XE)...

I was originally running Distant Land and everything was running fine. However I wanted to improve FPS, taking it down to 1 cell and eventually turning it off completely (which I reversed because the water was awful without reflections). So I turned it on again set it to 20 cells but it still has the same distance as when it was set to off. I tried fiddling with the ingame distance settings, and regular MGE settings but to no avail.

Does Config tab > Reset settings, then restarting MGEXEgui do anything for you?