PDA

View Full Version : Custom skins "enabled" in server 1



ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 11:25
All,

We are running some tests on server 1 with customs skins.
If all goes well, you should be able to select any of the skins that come with the game and such skins will be visible by others.

Personal or modified skins will not work.

Please report here any stutters or issues.

Thanks,
ATAG.

ATAG_Snapper
Nov-02-2012, 11:48
Wow!!!!! :stunned:

Will check in an hour or so and note if there's any undue lagging or other hiccups during gameplay.

ATAG_JTDawg
Nov-02-2012, 11:59
Hey mate, did it start last night, couse if it did i got a story, Flying over the french side at 14000 last night , with a hurri , who must have lost me on the way to french point. looked over my shoulder here he comes , could see roundels , turned back up for calias , with what is still looking like a hurri (roundels) even in sound , When it opened up on me ,missing at first . with me yelling i'm a friendly ! only to see him open up again an again (i'm still flying straight an level)then my screen did a couple 3 freezes ( 1 sec each) he finally got some good hits in , as i turned red , just then some more screen freezes , an low an behold a yellow nose , even the sound changed to a 109 . I know the differance between hurri an 109 an this plane did not turn back into a 109 till i was wounded, the whole time me yelling who is this friendly an why is he still shooting me !!! not so nice towards the end ! :(

ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 12:02
Sorry Dawg,

Was put in place 1 minute before the post.

ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 12:46
Well, more than an hour up and no complaints or comments.

No news is no news.

III./ZG76_Keller
Nov-02-2012, 13:59
Just tested it out for about an hour, a couple of 1 second stutters but nothing out of the ordinary; I do get stutters now and then regardless of the skins being on.

So far so good.

I was using the green skin with the red stripe on my 109 and had another 109 pull up behind me about to go guns, I exposed my wingtops to him in a last ditch effort to avoid friendly fire and it worked.

109s without yellow are going to be the cause of a lot of confusion for the next little while; aircraft recogniton will be paramount now. It's going to be fun now with the added variety.

ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 14:07
Thanks Keller.

We would need every one's input on this one.
Not only to report any issues (or the lack of them) but also to know if we can leave as it is or we have to disable the skins again due to performance issues.

I specially don't want tomorrow's event screwed up by this :)

Furious
Nov-02-2012, 14:15
GEtting mini freezes every couple minutes. Didnt before.

ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 14:22
Thanks Furious,

Was it manageable as in, worth leaving skins on?

Doc
Nov-02-2012, 14:39
Predict a lot of friendly fire accidents :) for the next week or two. Some intentional passed off as accidents :devilish:

JG52_Krupi
Nov-02-2012, 14:43
WHHHHHAAAAYYYYYYY :D

Thanks, unfortunately I am going to have to reinstall windows :( so I will join you guys in an hour or so :D

ATAG_Snapper
Nov-02-2012, 15:42
Experiencing brief one-second mini-freezes occasionally. Manageable, not a show stopper for me. Worth keeping the custom skins IMHO. Just have to be very careful not to confuse 109 profile with Hurricane profile -- as always.

ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 15:51
Thanks Snapper.

ATAG_Slipstream
Nov-02-2012, 16:30
Its great for me, Like Keller and Snapper reported, very very occasional stutters, but nothing I didn't have before.
Got in to a tangle with about 12 to 15 planes, it was smooth as ice-cream.

Thanks for your work Colander, :salute:

ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 16:37
Thx Slipstream.

I guess we could reduce the stutters even further by limiting the amount of different skins to 2 o 3 per plane only.

I might create a poll after we have a few days testing.

ATAG_Snapper
Nov-02-2012, 16:43
I'm wondering if the stuttering will decrease for each player as the skins are gradually loaded into his computer the more he plays (as long as he doesn't clear his cache).

III./ZG76_Keller
Nov-02-2012, 17:22
Skins are already on your computer.

Could the server be checking for authenticity and that's what might be causing a pause?

Ivank
Nov-02-2012, 17:27
First go with Skins enabled (also running SweetFX injection). Getting occasional 2 sec pauses. No big deal just a little pain for some gain.

ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 17:42
Each stutter is the moment the game client loads the skin for the first time. Each plane that spawns with a "not yet in game" skin will cause this on all other clients.
By reducing the amount of different skins, we could minimize the number of new loads hence the stutters. This is what we are trying to achieve by filtering real (as in created by players) customs skins.

Perhaps we need to evaluate limiting the possible skins to only 2 or 3 per plane.

III./ZG76_Keller
Nov-02-2012, 18:22
Each stutter is the moment the game client loads the skin for the first time. Each plane that spawns with a "not yet in game" skin will cause this on all other clients.
By reducing the amount of different skins, we could minimize the number of new loads hence the stutters. This is what we are trying to achieve by filtering real (as in created by players) customs skins.

Perhaps we need to evaluate limiting the possible skins to only 2 or 3 per plane.

Where are these stored after they've been loaded?

ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 18:32
Where are these stored after they've been loaded?
Video card memory. If you close the game you'll have to reload them. However...
All the skins in game will be loaded on the moment you see the "0% to 100%" bar so, unless some one spawns with a new skin, you should have them all loaded once you enter a plane.

But I suspect you ask about the jpgs...
The custom skin JPG is converted to BMP and from BMP to DDS and then loaded to the video card. Those temp files are on the cache folder.
I'm not sure if it will go, or not, through the same process if the DDS file is already there.

If it reuses the DDS, the stutter might be smaller.

III./ZG76_Keller
Nov-02-2012, 18:44
...
All the skins in game will be loaded on the moment you see the "0% to 100%" bar so, unless some one spawns with a new skin, you should have them all loaded once you enter a plane...

What do you mean by "new skin"?

At this point we aren't using "custom" skins we're using "in-game" skins.

ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 19:03
New as in not in your video memory because it was not in the game when you joined.

Fried
Nov-02-2012, 19:37
Same report as everyone else, joined the server on the new map where gerry has taken over Manston etc (I have now grown to like this map, loads of action and vulcing is quiet good fun :devilish: ) and was getting the stutters and 1 or 2 secs pauses but after a while they went away and have flown the rest of the evening with no stutters. Sounds like you have the cause figured out exactly and it cause me no more problems for the rest of the evening :thumbsup:

ATAG_Colander
Nov-02-2012, 20:39
A trick to avoid stutters is to go through all skins of all planes in the plane selection window. This forces the game to load them all.

Catseye
Nov-02-2012, 21:14
Hmmmmm,
Changed skins and lost my loadouts.

Was playing around also with squadron choices.

When I checked the user.ini, it had been completely overwritten and only the skins info was showing. No loadouts at all.

Will have to recheck.

Good job guys! esp. the RR.

Salmo
Nov-02-2012, 23:14
I've experienced occassional mini-freezes, perhaps 0.25 to 1 second. These are a little longer than the micro-stutters that sometimes occur. Ping 250-300, but not unplayable for me though.

Doc
Nov-03-2012, 00:26
Worked great for me.

MK.Mr.X
Nov-03-2012, 05:59
Today I was also murdered in his 109, since I've been in the skin with a red stripe and a little like a Spitfire. There hang pictures of 1-3 seconds. This is bad.
Of course it was very good to fly with different skins.
I agree!: Thumbsup:

ATAG_JTDawg
Nov-03-2012, 11:39
Predict a lot of friendly fire accidents :) for the next week or two. Some intentional passed off as accidents :devilish:

Some stutters, not to bad . Was going after some bombers last night , my wingman got jumped, by 109 so i got on 109 at 15000 all the way to deck , with me shooting him up , I let him go as he was all shot up , when oh no 2 g-50s on my 6 ,1 got hits on me I got hits on the other , just when i thought i was in deep trouble , here comes that same venting 109 to rescue me hosing down a g50 , i mean tore him up , i did end up landing in the water ,in my spity, salute to the 109 that kept those g-50 off me :devilish:

ATAG_Colander
Nov-03-2012, 11:41
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I think I heard that over TS on the blue side.

Bak
Nov-05-2012, 05:52
I've gotten occaisonal 5 seconds or so freezes since the introduction of this feature.
Is there a way to turn them off on the client only?

Most likely cause is that my documents are networked, so the textures are written/read from a server which would take a bit longer than when they are read from my SSD.
If the answer to the above question is no, i'll try to fool around with junctionpoints etc.

Furious
Nov-05-2012, 08:06
BAk I think you can turn it off in "NETWORK"

Doc
Nov-05-2012, 09:04
Big improvement in the game now with this. Thanks! :)

Bak
Nov-07-2012, 01:40
BAk I think you can turn it off in "NETWORK"

Thank you, i'll give that a try.

III./ZG76_Keller
Feb-18-2013, 02:34
When did the skins get disabled on Server 1? 109's are back to "default" only.

ATAG_Colander
Feb-18-2013, 09:05
As far as I know nothing has been changed :S

Dice
Feb-18-2013, 09:53
I could be mistaken but I think it has been the default skins (for 109`s anyway) since the map rotation was trimmed down.

Edit: If (thats a big IF) I remember correctly, the custom skins showed up on the maps that were removed and not on the ones currently running. Specifically, from my point of view in cockpit, my skin would be as selected but all other 109`s would be default, heard the same comment from one or two different players.