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DarkBASIC Professional Discussion / Advanced Lighting black screen problem

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Cescano
9
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Joined: 4th Sep 2014
Location: Italy
Posted: 27th Oct 2015 16:36 Edited at: 27th Oct 2015 16:38
Does anyone know what cause the "black screen" problem with the advanced lighting? If I try to run it on 800x600 or 1024x768 it works fine, but If I try higher resolutions I get this problem. (for example 1280x720, 1280x768, 1366x768)
Ortu
DBPro Master
16
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Joined: 21st Nov 2007
Location: Austin, TX
Posted: 27th Oct 2015 20:41
I've run into odd display issues at seemingly random resolutions on different machines, reducing the shadow map size to 512 cleared it up for the most part, though I haven't yet tracked down what the exact issue is.
James H
17
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Joined: 21st Apr 2007
Location: St Helens
Posted: 27th Oct 2015 23:22
Yes this is a strange one, Evolved is aware of it but hasn't been able to fix it. What I have found is that some of the higher resolutions do work but it appears to not be consistent across hardware - I have a monitor and a tv that I use as a monitor, certain higher resolutions work with the monitor that don't on the tv(Sony Bravia that has a PC mode), but not all higher resolutions work on the monitor. The tv only runs AL successfully on one higher resolution - 1920*1080, however I get a black screen with this resolution on the monitor. I took the advice Ortu just gave you with Evolveds previous version of AL regarding the shadow map size some months ago and it worked on the monitor(didn't test on tv), but this same trick made no difference for me in the most recent version on either the monitor or tv. The down side to reverting back to that version is that the terrain is only 1/4 of the newer versions resolution ie 512 instead of 1024 and of course the fact that you lose out on optimizations he made in the newer version(I get better fps in newer version). You have to bare in mind that AL is a WIP and has been for a very long time, there are no guarantees it will work on all hardware. You might want to consider not relying on it, maybe create your own deferred code/shaders if you know what your doing(I most certainly don't!!). Its one thing to get to know your way around his code, make various simple tweaks, alter shader code etc but a whole different ball game to start your own off from scratch. Only other option is to wait and see if he uploads a newer version, maybe one day the completed bug free version if he chooses to continue with it. Unfortunately his forums have been down for a couple of days, but when they are back up one of his threads links you to his older forums that relate to the older version of AL including a link to download the older version if you want to check it out.
wattywatts
14
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Joined: 25th May 2009
Location: Michigan
Posted: 28th Oct 2015 00:29
I personally opted to not use AL because of things like this. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.
Instead I'm using his old system which seems to be much more dependable, the post filters project on his site has most of the nice post processing effects from AL without the unpredictability. But I admit AL does look a bit nicer in the end.
Cescano
9
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Joined: 4th Sep 2014
Location: Italy
Posted: 28th Oct 2015 00:56 Edited at: 28th Oct 2015 01:01
That is why I am using it, I need better graphics than the one I have had with Lift It, and I have had troubles with his shaders so I can't use them even 1 by 1 (the shadow shader and the post effects ones in particular, I have been able to use the old water shader, the normal map, relief, tree and leaf shaders though).

I have another problem also, I can't get sprites to work properly, I do they same way I used with Lift It but they don't work.

I load them like this:



and call them like this:



In this way the sprite SHOULD appear for 2 seconds, then continue the program, but it just get stuck 2 seconds and the program continues.

I have already checked PasteSpriteX and PasteSpriteY Printing them on the screen so it's not a problem of coordinates, also they are globals.
There isn't also a problem of "image not in the correct folder" because if I remove the "hide sprite" command the sprite is locked on the screen at coordinate 100,100.

To me seems like a sync problem, like the sync command is ignored, I don't know why. I have the "sync on" command at the top of my program.

Edit: I repeat, this is the way I have used with Lift It and it worked, so it should work, even adding "show sprite" before calling the "paste sprite" command it doesn't work.
Naesa
18
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Joined: 21st Dec 2005
Location: Sweden
Posted: 1st Nov 2015 08:34
I think it might have something to do with the post effect shaders. This has been an issue ever since the first major rebuild of AL so I don't think it will be resolved anytime soon, if ever.
Cescano
9
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Joined: 4th Sep 2014
Location: Italy
Posted: 16th Nov 2015 01:29
Ortu shadow map size is the one that you can change with DirLight_Create()?

Because if is that I have tried 512 or 256 other than 1024 and doesn't fix the bug.

It's such a shame that some resolutions don't work, the AL system looks very good.

This bug must be fixed, somehow.
Ortu
DBPro Master
16
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Joined: 21st Nov 2007
Location: Austin, TX
Posted: 16th Nov 2015 20:05
Yeah I think that is the one
Cescano
9
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Joined: 4th Sep 2014
Location: Italy
Posted: 16th Nov 2015 20:27
Damn then it doesn't fix the problem, I have also tried to use 0 on the second parameter, it improves fps but the black screen problem is the same.
My laptop supports up to 1366x768 resolution but AL works up to 1024x768.
1280x720, 1280x768 and 1366x768 gives the black screen problem.
James H
17
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Joined: 21st Apr 2007
Location: St Helens
Posted: 16th Nov 2015 21:22
Quote: "I took the advice Ortu just gave you with Evolveds previous version of AL regarding the shadow map size some months ago and it worked on the monitor(didn't test on tv), but this same trick made no difference for me in the most recent version on either the monitor or tv"

Sometimes it pays to read what responses you have recieved...
Cescano
9
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Joined: 4th Sep 2014
Location: Italy
Posted: 16th Nov 2015 21:28
I have readed what you wrote, but Ortu wasn't mentioning the old or newer version of AL, and I am not gonna use an older version with worse framerate and worse graphics, and maybe old bugs.
James H
17
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Joined: 21st Apr 2007
Location: St Helens
Posted: 16th Nov 2015 21:37
You missed the point, I told you this work around didn't work on the new version, perhaps this is a language barrier. I can not see how I could have written it any clearer, oh well never mind, I will refrain from posting from now on. Best of luck
Cescano
9
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Joined: 4th Sep 2014
Location: Italy
Posted: 16th Nov 2015 21:40
Yes but as this bug behave differently on different machines, I have considered your problem just related to your machine, so can't be 100% sure that on a different machine will behave differently.

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