XWA Upgrade

JeremyaFr wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 10, 2020 8:40 am

Ldebroy wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:05 am

the game is been displayed on a 4:3 format, not widescreen 16:9 as before. Do you know how can I resolve this issue?

Check the DDraw.cfg file. There is a setting to preserve or not the aspect ratio.

Code: Select all

; PreserveAspectRatio = 0 (no) or 1 (yes)
; When set to 0, the display will be stretched.
; When set to 1, the aspect ratio will be preserved.
PreserveAspectRatio = 1

Open DDraw.cfg with notepad
and change the bottom


From PreserveAspectRatio = 1 to PreserveAspectRatio = 0

Excelent! Thanks, now i can see it widescreen

Hey there,
Just wanted to say thanks a lot for this new upgrade. I was thinking of digging out XWA for quite awhile last weekend, so this came at a really good time.

I've been playing on Steam VR with an HTC Vive at 1600x900, and it's a JOY, honestly a wonderful experience - the pixelated graphics remind me a lot of the old model 3 Star Wars Arcade machine, but the added shaders really make up for it and make it feel very real. Kudos to all involved, it's a real achievement!

Couple of questions -
I've been tinkering with the VR rendering options to try and make the whole thing more comfortable. Are the default settings already reasonably optimised? Will optimisation differ between headers and would future releases have pre-optimised settings for any given headset?
The difference between the location of the crosshair between my left/right eye is quite distinct, making aiming a little bit of a hit or miss affair - is this based on the location of my head?

Hello RichSC21 and thanks for your comments!

The SteamVR settings are not optimized at all. In fact, I encourage you to share your settings on this thread: https://xwaupgrade.com/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 33&t=12166 once you find something that feels optimized. We'll try to build a database of settings so that this becomes easier in the future.

You can place the crosshairs at any depth you want. You can go to VRParams.cfg and change the "HUD_depth" setting (I know, poor name, it's not the whole HUD, just the aiming reticle). It's in meters from your head. To reapply the settings, just press Ctrl+Alt+L while flying.

Alright, in the spirit of posting all the updates on the same thread, here's the next preview. You'll need to install 1.1.2 and then replace the old ddraw.dll with the following (make a backup first!). Again, this is a preview, so there might be bugs:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/79dpfkteokaxh ... 0.dll?dl=0

I've added the following parameters to SSAO.cfg to customize the lights:

; XWA lights saturation.
; 1: Original saturation
; 0: All lights become grayscale
xwa_lights_saturation = 0.8

; Intensity multiplier: if the lights seem to dark, you can increase their power
; by setting the following above 1. Setting it to 0 will shut down the lights.
; Do not set it too far above 1 or you'll overexpose the render
xwa_lights_global_intensity = 1.0

Thats magic what you guys are doing

JeremyaFr wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 10, 2020 6:50 pm

DTM wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 09, 2020 6:46 am

Try lowering the resolution. XWA is an excellent game even at the resolution of 1600x900. In fact, the game engine isn't made to work at very high resolutions.

Is this related to the Windows DPI setting?

Hi JeremyaFr,

The DPI is 100% as default, the resolution (windows and game setting) is native 1920x1080 like my default monitor setting.

The only difference is the language that is Italian and not English, I don't know if depend by this.

Blue_Max , Curious...not trying to get off topic but can I use this awesome Xwing Cockpit for Spyder's Xwing?

Sincerely, Rogue518

I doubt it, Spyders Xwing with have different rotating meshes on his xwing, the 2 will conflict with each other, you'll have bits rotating that you don't want to rotate

Thanks Darksaber, for the responce.... I didn't think so, I was just curious. I've been using the DSUCP's Red5 Xwing with this enchanced XwingCockpit of your model....

Sincerely, Rogue518

I have the upgrade 1.6 and the Dynamic Cockpits, which look great!
BUT, when I install the new Effects, the game won't launch. I get the following..

Device:Intialize
The parameter is incorrect

Then,

X-wing Alliance
Direct Draw Int Failed at 0

I uninstall the Effects and the game works again. Any ideas?

I was just thinking... with all these incredible new hackers working on the game, would it be possible to make a new keybind for a second animation? Specifically for landing gear. With the S-Foils restrictions being defeated, a lot of ships can now have landing gear. But the ships that have S-Foils now lower their landing gear whenever they close them, like going into hyperspace, right? I know you guys somehow managed to insert a new keybind for SLAMS. I guess the downside to this request is that ships in the hangar probably wouldn't have their landing gear down, huh? I wonder if there's also a way to get ships that are docking with other stuff to lower their landing gear...

There's talk in another thread of this, about S foils I think. Not being able to jump to hyperspace with landing gear down for example

Thanks to Jeremy landing gear already has its own keybind. CTRL+L - and much, much more
See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=11693

Wow, even that is already done? Insane.

stafdady wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 12, 2020 8:38 pm

Device:Intialize
The parameter is incorrect
Direct Draw Int Failed at 0

Hello,

What is your system specs?

Does your graphics card support DirectX 11?

JeremyaFr wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:43 am

stafdady wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 12, 2020 8:38 pm

Device:Intialize
The parameter is incorrect
Direct Draw Int Failed at 0

Hello,

What is your system specs?

Does your graphics card support DirectX 11?

Yes, I have DirextX 12.
Windows 10 and using Steam version of the game. NVIDIA GeForce 9400

Hello,

For now, blue_max's new effects require Shader Model 5.0 and Feature Level 11.

According to this page:
NVIDIA GeForce 9400

It seems that your card supports only Shader Model 4.0 and Feature Level 10.

That's why the initialization of the device has failed.

Well that sucks. Lol. Thanks for the info! It was driving me nuts. I should really get an upgrade..

What we need then is a way to fail gracefully rather than CTD.

There must surely be a way to check the Graphics capabilities on start and then disable features unsupported?

like Trev

Do you need the new effects to make the cockpits work? I've tried installing with the no HUD option but the HUD stays on and the displays on the cockpit don't work. Like Stafday, my graphics card can't support Shader Model 5.0 so I can't install that.

Also, it seems if i have the new cockpits installed I can launch Skirmish missions fine but trying to load a campaign mission crashes back to the desktop.

graphics card: AMD HD 3000 Series
Windows 10 64
8 gb ram

I'm guessing my graphics card can't handle this. Damn shame because those cockpits looks amazing

Trevor wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:37 am

There must surely be a way to check the Graphics capabilities on start and then disable features unsupported?

All the shaders in the new effects are compiled with Shader Model 5, so nothing would work if this feature set isn't supported.

@XDragon: The new cockpits are independent of the new effects; but the HUD-in-the-cockpit only works if you have the new effects installed.

I'll try to downgrade the shader model of the new effects so that more people can use them; but I can't make any promises here

I'll try to downgrade the shader model of the new effects so that more people can use them; but I can't make any promises here

Looks like all the shaders work well on Shader Model 4.0.

@stafdady, @XDragon: Please replace your ddraw.dll with the following version and try again:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7t3rwuecamvr4 ... 0.dll?dl=0

Also new in this version: support for Jeremy's Text Renderer and Increased brightness for DC elements.

Maybe not the right place to ask but is there a simple way to toggle between the 2 Hyperspace effects?
Without running the installers again that is. I want to see which I prefer easily.

Ace Antilles wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:47 pm

Maybe not the right place to ask but is there a simple way to toggle between the 2 Hyperspace effects?

That's the one effect I didn't make a toggle switch for, sorry! If you want to see the old hyperspace effect, you'll need to use Jeremy's ddraw. Just swap the DLLs, that's all you need to do.

Hello everyone!

I am new here but I do have a question regarding the newest effects and shaders. If this has been answered already I do apologize but, I was wondering if there is a remedy for the massive drop in FPS when utilizing this update? Are there steps in place to improve performance?