Aristotle's Mudlord & Rice Video

After 3 weeks, I finally got it to compil and without problems. I worked on the Fog rendering code and repaired the fog problems, compiled the plugin with DirectX 8.1+. Details below.

As I thought, it has video problems with DirectX 9.0..Take notice to the recent version of Mudlord's plugin. It says it's using 8.0, not 9.0 as I've seen people saying that it does, on different topics and sites. Dunno why.

Anyway, here it is, and I'll be continuing on this project. I'm still learning windows programming, so please be patient.

Let the bug testing begin! Check this post for newer versions and past versions.

This plugin requires the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package in order to run. You can download it Here.

==================

2/23/09 - Version 6.1.8 - Download
-Increased texture scale support, to 128X the original texture size-
-Changed INI game settings file to "Aristotle Video.ini" to avoid Rice Video conflicts-
-Changed all the names to "Aristotle Video" throughout the project-
-Changed Registry saving location to "Root\Software\Aristotle\Aristotle's Video Plugin" to avoid conflicts with Rice Video Builds-
-Repaired debug code so it compiles in Debug Mode-


1/3/09 - Version 6.1.7 - Download

Microdev:
-Fixed some texture handling slowdowns-
-Fixed texture scaling code, All textures load now-


12/17/08 - Version 6.1.6 - Download

-Partial full Texture Caching/pre-loading-
-Further corrected the fog rendering code-
-Cleaned up some areas of the code-
-Compilled without optimizations, because of them causing slowdowns-


12/11/08 - Version 6.1.5

-Corrected the Fog rendering code-
-Compelled with speed optimizations-
-Compelled using Visual Studio 2008 Express, Visual C++-
-Compelled using DirectX 8.1+- (Plugin was originaly using 8.0, and 9.0 seems to have many
graphics errors.)
-Compressed the plugin using UPX, new small file size-

Wow, very cool! I'll have to try this! Thanks for picking up the project and good luck with everything guy!

cool rice video lives on

Good job.
But Harvest Moon 64 is really speed down in some screen. I tried mudlord's plugin its ok in that screen.
Some filter are missing. (HQ2xS, LQ2xS)

Which screen is it slowing down on? I tested the game on both, and they seem the same, unless I use Texture enhancement or any filters, on ether plugin, with this game. Then yes, it slows down badly. I've never played this game before, so I really don't know where it's not supposed to be slowing down on.

Yes, I see now those two filters are missing. I tested them on Mudlord's recent plugin, and they seem the same as the HQ2x and LQ2x filters. I'm assuming they are those filters, plus sharpness? I'll look in the code and see if it's just disabled. Though those two don't seem to be any different. (HQ2xS, LQ2xS - HQ2x, LQ2x)

Congratulations!

Btw. could you maybe give me a hint were I could still find the DirectX 8.1 SDK? They don't seem to be available at Microsofts website anymore...

thx,

microdev

Rice Video has LOD issues with various games (Majora's Mask for example)

Originally Posted by microdev

Congratulations!

Btw. could you maybe give me a hint were I could still find the DirectX 8.1 SDK? They don't seem to be available at Microsofts website anymore...

thx,

microdev

It was hard to find. I was actually looking for the 8.0 version on Google, but came across this 8.1+ version on a forum.

Download

Squall_Leonhart: Yes, I know, I believe that is in the main parsing code, which I will look into later..

Also, same for Zelda 64, Mario Kart 64 with that display screen that shows the player's current view. It's related to the fact that this plugin has very little Framebuffer emulation. Unfortunately, I have no clue how it works. (Internally) I will research it however, another time..

Currently, I'm now working on Texture caching. Something everyone has been wanting for many months with this plugin. Even if it takes me a few months, I'm not going to give up on making this happen. I'm not a quitter.

Also, I found in Castlevania: LOD and a few other games, the distance the fog is rendering at, is still just a little incorrect. Much better than it's ever been, but still, and also I think the alpha blending is set just a little too high, as I compair between the plugin, and the real unit. I'm working on this as well. Just give me time everyone.

The plugin already has good texture caching. What it didn't have was proper handling on the memory freeing, and it doesn't have pre-loading of the textures. I'll be working on that next. Right now, once a texture loads, it doesn't have to reload from the hard drive, unless you change to or from full screen. Best example on how this is working now, is with Castlevania: LOD, using Gitech's graphics pack. You'll notice a big difference.

I also further corrected the fog rendering. I noticed some areas that it ended up tearing, like on Castlevania: LOD. This should be fixed now.

Satan666: Yeah, it finally did it to me, once I got to different areas of the game. I believe this was because of using the optimizations..Also, Mario 64 was as slow as a snail. These problems should be gone now.

Legend: Thank you.

Download

----------

12/17/08 - Version 6.1.6

-Partial full Texture Caching/pre-loading-
-Further corrected the fog rendering code-
-Cleaned up some areas of the code-
-Compilled without optimizations, because of them causing slowdowns-

Very nice work. It's good to see progress on this plugin continue. Much appreciated.

BTW, your current release is a violation of the GPL.