[REL] Solution Solver 1.3 - Page 12

Nico71 · 02-26-10, 04:04 PM

Hello and thank you for your response! The notebook is a modified FIC A550 with PIII 1 GHz with 256 megs RAM and is quite old. GPU is an ATI Rage Mobility AGP (I think). DXDiag test works fine, including those spinning cubes. MoBo and the Attack Disc (Flash) run fine on the system as well. Can't say anything about its 3D performance because I didn't even think about trying it (apart from DXDiag). It can barely handle 2D! LOL! Really, when I've tried to load a sectional chart for FSX the system broke down! LOL! It's my GFs PC anyway, I plan to buy a better one in a couple of months.

It's too bad if it doesn't work, but chances are that you have a good idea!

gutted · 02-26-10, 04:17 PM

Mobo and attack disk working has nothing to do with the problem, as i doubt they use directX and hardware rendering.

The dial graphics are loaded as textures and rendered as hardware sprites for speed. Rotating large images in real-time is not something you want to do with stock windows functions. The early versions of this program were using C#'s built in GDI+ and it was abit sluggish rotating the dials when the window was maximized. Which is why i switched.

The problem may very well be your graphics card not supporting "Non" Power of 2 texture sizes (.ie dimensions other than 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 etc. etc.). It's not a problem on most cards, but old cards didn't like that.

Initially the program didn't use DirectX, so the power of 2 issue was not a problem. When I switched to DirectX, it was on my mind but I never payed it much attention.. and never saw the problem on any machine i tested it with. I just figured cards these days just dont have that issue anymore.

If i get some free time, i'll fix it for you. But it wont be as easy as just resizing the graphics. There's some lines of code that figure out the radius of the dial by looking at the texture's width. For the smaller dials, they likely wont fill the whole texture anymore.. due to the fact that they all need to be of the same scale in their initial state.

Nico71 · 02-26-10, 04:37 PM

Yes, the gfx card has only very limited capabilities. I mean, the notebook was sold at a discount supermarket chain some 10 years ago! LOL! It can barely handle any kind of texture, no matter what size or ratio. The system was meant for office apps.

If you really want to do it, it'd be great, but not just for me, please!

That'd be too much hassle. However, if you need a tester, don't hesitate to ask me!

Ridgeback · 03-04-10, 01:02 AM

Gutted,

Are your Solution Solver vids available anywhere at the moment? They're no longer on YouTube and I can't find them anywhere else.

Just come back to SH4 after a long absence. Finished read 'Wahoo' and now reading 'Clear the Bridge' and am well and truly back in the Fleet Boat mood.

The Solution Solver looks like a tremendous bit of kit and the vids would be very helpful

Thanks

GTHammer · 03-06-10, 05:56 PM

I'm with Ridgeback. I looked for your tutorial vids following the links and they are no longer on youtube. Not that easily dissuaded I turned to the help/readme only to find it, empty?

No matter what I click on in the help section I get the message 'Navigation to webpage was canceled.'

So with no help data on its use or vids...I'm stuck trying to figure this from some of the many overly complicated posts here. I just need a simple introduction, for a layman. Any help would be much appreciated.

magic452 · 03-07-10, 12:22 AM

You might try and send Gutted a PM as he is pretty busy on the SH5 forum.
I hope he won't mind me suggesting this.

Magic

gutted · 03-10-10, 08:12 PM

1.3.3 is up for download. see first post.

Was a minor update.

Haven't had a chance to look into your issue yet Nico71. But, now that i have the dev tools installed again, i'll see what i can do when i have more time.

gutted · 03-10-10, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTHammer

I'm with Ridgeback. I looked for your tutorial vids following the links and they are no longer on youtube. Not that easily dissuaded I turned to the help/readme only to find it, empty?

No matter what I click on in the help section I get the message 'Navigation to webpage was canceled.'

So with no help data on its use or vids...I'm stuck trying to figure this from some of the many overly complicated posts here. I just need a simple introduction, for a layman. Any help would be much appreciated.

Sorry bout that. I had taken the videos off that channel months after release, because it was supposed to be just an Air Combat video channel. Those videos didn't go with the overall theme of it. I forgot i had linked to them from the help file.. and didn't think about what that might do to people looking for them.

I'll see if i still have them on the HD, and setup a different youtube channel for them. Crosses Fingers.

As for the help file being empty. Thats very strange indeed. What windows version are you using? You should have no problems viewing compiled help files. Try to open it with a 3rd party .chm file viewer. Google one.

Let me know if that works for you.

If not, maybe try re-downloading the solution solver. I just re-uploaded it, so maybe the last upload had a corrupted help file.

*shrug*

Ridgeback · 03-13-10, 08:06 PM

Thanks Gutted,

If you've still got them, the vids would be very helpful in trying to wrap my head around how to use the Solution Solver properly.

It really is an excellent piece of work.

Cheers

gutted · 03-23-10, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ridgeback

Thanks Gutted,

If you've still got them, the vids would be very helpful in trying to wrap my head around how to use the Solution Solver properly.

It really is an excellent piece of work.

Cheers

Beta of version 2.0 is up in the SH5 forums:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=165922

As for the vids, sadly i dont have them anymore. I must have deleted them to free up space. But i'll be making some new ones for version 2.0 VERY soon.

Scape · 05-20-10, 02:46 PM

Any ETA for those vids?

I'm goin' down · 05-24-10, 11:45 AM

just rejoined the community. I was looking for your tutorials. They have bee deleted. They are an inidispensible tool for the Solution Solver insofar as I am concerned.

cptroyce · 05-24-10, 01:13 PM

I d/l this tool and it looks great and easy to understand..however, when you need it in sim, do you stop the campaign, go to desktop, activate and then go back into SH with the "numbers"? Or am I completely missing something obvious and there is a way to use this while on patrol??

Thanks,
Royce

I'm goin' down · 05-24-10, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cptroyce

I d/l this tool and it looks great and easy to understand..however, when you need it in sim, do you stop the campaign, go to desktop, activate and then go back into SH with the "numbers"? Or am I completely missing something obvious and there is a way to use this while on patrol??

Thanks,
Royce

Answer to the first question: Yes.
Answer to second question, which is in the conjunctive, so it is actually two questons: First part: No, you are not missing something obvious. Second part: You may use the Solution Solver when playing only by pausing the game, campaign, or mission and activating it on the destop via Alt + Tab keys, using it, and resuming the game, campaign or mission and applying the "numbers" (I prefer the term "data, but who is counting?)

cptroyce · 05-24-10, 10:32 PM

IGD- Thanks for the reply..Uh, replies to my query..Uh queries.
Next time I'll need to be cognizant of my P's and Q's..literally..well, not literally, but "figuratively literally".

Regards,
Royce

02-26-10, 04:17 PM	#167
gutted The Old Man Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: New Orleans, LA. Posts: 1,379 Downloads: 487 Uploads: 11	Mobo and attack disk working has nothing to do with the problem, as i doubt they use directX and hardware rendering. The dial graphics are loaded as textures and rendered as hardware sprites for speed. Rotating large images in real-time is not something you want to do with stock windows functions. The early versions of this program were using C#'s built in GDI+ and it was abit sluggish rotating the dials when the window was maximized. Which is why i switched. The problem may very well be your graphics card not supporting "Non" Power of 2 texture sizes (.ie dimensions other than 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 etc. etc.). It's not a problem on most cards, but old cards didn't like that. Initially the program didn't use DirectX, so the power of 2 issue was not a problem. When I switched to DirectX, it was on my mind but I never payed it much attention.. and never saw the problem on any machine i tested it with. I just figured cards these days just dont have that issue anymore. If i get some free time, i'll fix it for you. But it wont be as easy as just resizing the graphics. There's some lines of code that figure out the radius of the dial by looking at the texture's width. For the smaller dials, they likely wont fill the whole texture anymore.. due to the fact that they all need to be of the same scale in their initial state. Last edited by gutted; 02-26-10 at 04:40 PM.

03-04-10, 01:02 AM	#169
Ridgeback Seaman Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 34 Downloads: 56 Uploads: 0	Gutted, Are your Solution Solver vids available anywhere at the moment? They're no longer on YouTube and I can't find them anywhere else. Just come back to SH4 after a long absence. Finished read 'Wahoo' and now reading 'Clear the Bridge' and am well and truly back in the Fleet Boat mood. The Solution Solver looks like a tremendous bit of kit and the vids would be very helpful Thanks __________________ "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer." - Frank Zappa

03-06-10, 05:56 PM	#170
GTHammer Machinist's Mate Join Date: May 2007 Location: Iowa Posts: 127 Downloads: 4 Uploads: 0	I'm with Ridgeback. I looked for your tutorial vids following the links and they are no longer on youtube. Not that easily dissuaded I turned to the help/readme only to find it, empty? No matter what I click on in the help section I get the message 'Navigation to webpage was canceled.' So with no help data on its use or vids...I'm stuck trying to figure this from some of the many overly complicated posts here. I just need a simple introduction, for a layman. Any help would be much appreciated. __________________ GT USS Hammer

03-07-10, 12:22 AM	#171
magic452 Sea Lord Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Reno Nevada USA Posts: 1,860 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	You might try and send Gutted a PM as he is pretty busy on the SH5 forum. I hope he won't mind me suggesting this. Magic __________________ Reported lost 11 Feb. 1942 Signature by depthtok33l

03-13-10, 08:06 PM	#174
Ridgeback Seaman Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 34 Downloads: 56 Uploads: 0	Thanks Gutted, If you've still got them, the vids would be very helpful in trying to wrap my head around how to use the Solution Solver properly. It really is an excellent piece of work. Cheers __________________ "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer." - Frank Zappa

02-26-10, 04:04 PM	#166
Nico71 Medic Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 168 Downloads: 145 Uploads: 0	Hello and thank you for your response! The notebook is a modified FIC A550 with PIII 1 GHz with 256 megs RAM and is quite old. GPU is an ATI Rage Mobility AGP (I think). DXDiag test works fine, including those spinning cubes. MoBo and the Attack Disc (Flash) run fine on the system as well. Can't say anything about its 3D performance because I didn't even think about trying it (apart from DXDiag). It can barely handle 2D! LOL! Really, when I've tried to load a sectional chart for FSX the system broke down! LOL! It's my GFs PC anyway, I plan to buy a better one in a couple of months. It's too bad if it doesn't work, but chances are that you have a good idea!

02-26-10, 04:37 PM	#168
Nico71 Medic Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 168 Downloads: 145 Uploads: 0	Yes, the gfx card has only very limited capabilities. I mean, the notebook was sold at a discount supermarket chain some 10 years ago! LOL! It can barely handle any kind of texture, no matter what size or ratio. The system was meant for office apps. If you really want to do it, it'd be great, but not just for me, please! That'd be too much hassle. However, if you need a tester, don't hesitate to ask me!

03-10-10, 08:12 PM	#172
gutted The Old Man Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: New Orleans, LA. Posts: 1,379 Downloads: 487 Uploads: 11	1.3.3 is up for download. see first post. Was a minor update. Haven't had a chance to look into your issue yet Nico71. But, now that i have the dev tools installed again, i'll see what i can do when i have more time.

05-20-10, 02:46 PM	#176
Scape Gunner Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Kanada Posts: 92 Downloads: 57 Uploads: 0	Any ETA for those vids?

05-24-10, 11:45 AM	#177
I'm goin' down Ocean Warrior Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Notify command we have entered the Grass Sea Posts: 2,822 Downloads: 813 Uploads: 0	hey gutted just rejoined the community. I was looking for your tutorials. They have bee deleted. They are an inidispensible tool for the Solution Solver insofar as I am concerned.

05-24-10, 01:13 PM	#178
cptroyce Gunner Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 99 Downloads: 298 Uploads: 0	I d/l this tool and it looks great and easy to understand..however, when you need it in sim, do you stop the campaign, go to desktop, activate and then go back into SH with the "numbers"? Or am I completely missing something obvious and there is a way to use this while on patrol?? Thanks, Royce

05-24-10, 10:32 PM	#180
cptroyce Gunner Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 99 Downloads: 298 Uploads: 0	IGD- Thanks for the reply..Uh, replies to my query..Uh queries. Next time I'll need to be cognizant of my P's and Q's..literally..well, not literally, but "figuratively literally". Regards, Royce