[EL] No wing flapping....? *FIXED 1.0248*

[matchbox2022]

*Fixed, Game Bug*

Fixed as of next update confirmed.
Plus some other goodies
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Old thread
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Hey there

So. I just realized that my birds....or any flying creatures, are not animating their wings. They keep their wings up, and kind of....glide across the map everywhere. I thought it was a little weird, and asking around found out that indeed everybody elses move.

Any idea as to what could be the issue?

It's a little bit of immersion that's missing

PS. if fps has anything to do with it Im still getting 20fps at the minimum on planetside.

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[Edited on 3-13-2016 by matchbox2022]

[49rTbird]

I have seen them "stop" flapping at times in both an up position and a down position but then they start again. Can't say why tho.
This is in MP not offline.

[Edited on 2-4-2016 by 49rTbird]

[Vice]

Not really sure what it might be. The animation sequences are linked to the system timer. So if that isn't working correctly, that might cause it. But what would cause that would be a mystery.

[matchbox2022]

how would one fix the system timer?
not like my computers time or something?
any ideas. yeah the picture I have is exactly what I see always, no flapping. I tried in single player and multi, graphics on max.

They look so much cooler flapping......and ideas of what I might be able to do? Would re-installing help?

[Vice]

There is a performance timer (a Windows function), but it's probably something else. Reinstalling won't likely help as the problem isn't likely with the software, but instead something specific to the system that is preventing the loading of the animation data and/or the processing of it. Not sure what that could be as it's hasn't been reported before. What kind of GPU make, model, and dedicated memory capacity are you running?

[matchbox2022]

Is there a way I can check that timer / try turning it on/off as a service? It could be disabled?

I'm runing Windows 7 32 bit Embedded
T7200 Core 2 Duo
32 Bit ICH7 chipset
A07 BIOS M1710/E1705 Mobo Inspiron (2007)
4GB DDR2 RAM 666Mhz
Gpu is from 2006
7950 "go" gtx
G71 A2
PCI-E x 16 1.1
256 bit bus
512 MB DDR3
36 Shaders
Direct X 9.0c Ex Shader Model 3.0
Forceware 179.48

So basically old as ....****

[Vice]

The performance timer isn't likely the cause since all of the other timed elements of the game are working as they are supposed to the. The next thing we should look at is the 512 MB of memory and driver. If turning down details doesn't allow the animation, try updating the driver. The driver, which is from 2009, predates some of the game's systems, which could be an issue.

[matchbox2022]

So I just had some time to look at this issue again.
I'm unsure if I can actually update the driver past the version I have, nvidia website doesn't show support past that.

[Vice]

That does appear to be the most recent official driver and that is pretty old. Support must have stopped way back in 2009 for it. If lowering details doesn't allow it to run (freeing enough memory to support the animation), it may just be too old of a setup to support the animation of those models.

[matchbox2022]

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[Edited on 2-23-2016 by matchbox2022]

[matchbox2022]

I have some interesting news to report about this bug for my system and drivers in general on Windows 7


SO. The good news
If you are looking to update your drivers to 309.08 on a 2005-06 machine, it can be done. I'm currently using 309.08 meant for the desktop model of my video card, it involves changing the nvdisp.ini file in notepad to read instead what the notebook model of your video card is as opposed to the desktop one via it's hardware id, which can be found in device manager. I can give a better walkthrough if anyone needs it, but the drivers are still available from nvidia. The architecture on both models is G71, the exact same, and it is working well...dare I say a bit better.
I also "had" a thermal throttling issue with the CPU around planets, which these drivers seem to have solved...though they seem inefficient, I'm pulling sometimes 18fps now planetside (that's with all settings on max / no AA / low shadows)
I did notice my VRAM was almost maxxed out at 480MB planetside at times, lowering settings improved this significantly to 220MB.

The bad news.

I tried looking at flapping animals, on various graphics settings with the new drivers installed, and no joy. Drivers installed fine and games run / look good....so....unsure what's happening Vice.

The animals don't flap, they are stuck with their wings up (I guess the start of their animations?) . As much as Im used to seeing animals forever glide around now, it'd be nice to have a little more immersion.
Should I try reinstalling Direct X 9Ex / 10?

Running windows 7 x86 embedded if that matters.

[Vice]

The game and/or Steam already takes care of installing the needed DirectX modules, so I doubt that would make a difference. I'd be surprised if the chipset doesn't support the animation, but it is a decade old and below the minimum memory requirement. Does the 220 MB level hold even when you descend to planets? Aside from unavailable memory, I'm not sure what it might be either.

[matchbox2022]

The game and/or Steam already takes care of installing the needed DirectX modules, so I doubt that would make a difference. I'd be surprised if the chipset doesn't support the animation, but it is a decade old and below the minimum memory requirement. Does the 220 MB level hold even when you descend to planets? Aside from unavailable memory, I'm not sure what it might be either.

I don't think its a memory issue. Had no problems so far

.I don't have data on the decent. Was already saved planet side on testing but thats what the drivers (new features!:) reported. These drivers kick butt and if anyone has older laptops I suggest doing what I did. Had massive CPU throttles and those are GONE.

Is there anything I could perhaps send you to diagnose the issue? Itd be nice for me and others with my make of laptop.I really doubt its memory...the game uses surprisingly little. Think I stated CPU nb sb models
earlier.
If anyone else is running a 2006 dell laptop (theyre all more or less the same motherboard) with no animation issues of birds?

[matchbox2022]

Is the performance timer part of or asdesperate windows service?

[Vice]

It's an internal Windows system. However, if that were the problem, you'd likely encounter a variety of other timing issues that aren't happening. Since that and memory may not be the cause(s), it may be some kind of chipset limitation from 2006 that doesn't work with the animation system for some reason. I could try sending you a test program just to see if something external might work or not. Then we might be able to determine more. If you send me a quick e-mail, I'll try to put something together and send over the download link.

Edit: I went ahead and sent the download to the e-mail address you have linked to your forum account.

[Edited on 2-23-2016 by Vice]

[matchbox2022]

Thx vice . I'm in the lab right now at school but I'll try it this evening.

[matchbox2022]

Lol, I had music playing....fun little animation Thanks for that .exe

The winged creature is indeed beating its wings! Look really good.

What should be the next step? I can attempt to free up more RAM, but I would've thought the game would've had an error if it couldn't get enough for whatever reason / access it......
I might try the nvidia control panel...could there be anything there making life incompatible?
I don't have any anti-virus running while the games on, think it's set to admin rights too

[Edited on 2-24-2016 by matchbox2022]

[Vice]

I'm going to e-mail you a download link for a test build that will print some values to the screen that should be helpful to me in determining one possible cause.

[Vice]

I sent the e-mail a few hours ago, hopefully you have it now.

[matchbox2022]

Sorry Vice was busy, I'll check it out

[matchbox2022]

So, Vice
I tried changing the nvidia control panel around, turned negative LOD to clamp,
tried your text file, tried changing it to disable, tried switching the resolution, tried turning off vsync....with these newer drives reinstalled 2010 direct x.


Apparently everything points to it should work but it doesn't....I'm at a loss,
I've posted a link to a screenshot.
PS the number in the 3rd column 1.3056 I think, never changes while looking at flying creatures.
But it changes fairly constantly when I'm doing anything but that around the city.

https://www.mediafire.com/?54tnr3dhqo1372v

[Edited on 2-25-2016 by matchbox2022]

[Edited on 2-25-2016 by matchbox2022]

[Vice]

Yes, it does seem strange, while the GPU feature set is below the minimum requirements, it should still be able to manage the animation, but doesn't for some reason.

Per my e-mail also:

It could be that with everything else going on from a shader standpoint, some kind of instruction or other resource limit is being reached, preventing the animation from playing. The GPU may be able to handle everything else, but can’t process the animation when those other things are running. That would seem to be a possibility since when only the object and animation is running in the test program, it's able to operate correctly.

Another thing we could try is switching to the ‘Locked (FS) No Vsync’ screen mode, then restart the game and test for changes. It probably won’t change anything, but running in a full screen exclusive mode would change things around a little bit from a rendering standpoint, so it’s worth a try.

[matchbox2022]

Tried that too, and on lowest possible graphics / resolution, with reduced gpu clocks / low 3d mode just in case it was a voltage thing to one shader unit

iunno man!

I'm at the limit of my troubleshooting abilities, the new drivers have very little shader adjustment features, might just have to make a note about it for people using old 7000-6000 Shader Model 3.0 series cards, Im upgrading soon anyways. If anyone else is running the game on that hardware (06-07 computers likely) your input would be very very helpful !

The oddest thing is I'd expect if anything to fail it'd be the water waves and reflections...but they don't at all they look fantastic.
Shrugs

[matchbox2022]

So until I figure out otherwise, I just want to let everyone know that a graphics card with 512MB of RAM will likely run the game, however it is likely the issue I'm having with animations.

If I figure a fix out I will post it.

I do however want to give a HUGE shoutout to VICE! He went above and beyond trying to help me figure out what the issue was, like private emails and diagnostics.
Extremely impressed.
Anyone who wants a game where they will get support when they need it is a fool to pass this one up.



Looking further into this issue, it seems to still honestly not make sense, the GPU should easily be able to support these animations in game. It is potentially due to memory being swapped between system ram and video ram, something that WDDM 2.0 does a lot better than WDDM 1.1..since in EL all other effects seem present, some of which are much more resource intensive, even in more advanced games which cause huge slowdowns, effects that are very demanding on my system have never been absent.

Since the move from xp to this, I have noticed quite a difference in handling and that my RAM is used a lot more in game, likely a good thing considering high textures sometimes crashed my laptop, which no longer occurs, quite possibly due to this (though preformance has been mixed, some worse some better, generally better however)

I am planning a Windows 10 update in order to utilize WDDM 2.0, and will update people on this once there (probably a couple months...can't afford to take the laptop offline while school's going on.)


[Edited on 3-1-2016 by matchbox2022]

[matchbox2022]

I have been able to fix the animation of all flying animals on my laptop, and can reproduce the problem at will.



I narrowed the issue down to this.

If shadows are not on, no animation.
If they are on even low, animation.

I'm thinking this is a bug....no a render or RAM issue after all.

FYI, looks WAY better when they flap


[Edited on 3-9-2016 by matchbox2022]