Topic: *** MIPMAP FILTERING QUESTION FOR TALDREN/KHOROMAG ***

[Ifrit]

I've been experimenting with a rendering engine, and I just discovered that a simple mipmap filter dramatically improves the appearance of light maps (which otherwise flicker quite a bit).  Iin SFC, this can often be seen in the narrow lines in the nacelles on Federation ships, or the light maps on the Romulan warbird in SFC3.  These textures suffer when viewed from a distance (or when the viewing angle changes rapidly).

The mipmap filter is absurdly simple to implement (which is probably why I missed it when I set my texture stage states), but it makes quite a difference...
 
{ SET MIPMAP FILTER FOR SHIPS }
d3ddevice.SetTextureStageState 0, D3DTSS_MIPFILTER, D3DTEXF_LINEAR
.
.
.
{ RENDER SHIPS }
.
.
.
{ RESET MIPMAP FILTERING, UNLESS REQUIRED ELSEWHERE }
d3ddevice.SetTextureStageState 0, D3DTSS_MIPFILTER, D3DTEXF_NONE
 
I have no idea how taxing this would be on a slower machine, but I'd love to see this applied to SFC (which has always been my favorite game).   D3DTEXF_ANISOTROPIC seems to work pretty well, although it is probably more expensive (and D3DTEXF_LINEAR is pleasant enough to look at on its own).  Any model with a lightmap should benefit from this small change.

Has this been tried and abandoned for some very good reason that eludes me (because I have only been testing it for 20 minutes), or is this something that could be added (perhaps as an option for users with faster machines) to SFC?
 

[FireSoul]

If you're talking about about another patch for SFC2 or SFCOP.. well.. I think it's far too late for that. There will be no more patches.

[Ifrit]

I've been experimenting with a rendering engine, and I just discovered that a simple mipmap filter dramatically improves the appearance of light maps (which otherwise flicker quite a bit).  Iin SFC, this can often be seen in the narrow lines in the nacelles on Federation ships, or the light maps on the Romulan warbird in SFC3.  These textures suffer when viewed from a distance (or when the viewing angle changes rapidly).

The mipmap filter is absurdly simple to implement (which is probably why I missed it when I set my texture stage states), but it makes quite a difference...
 
{ SET MIPMAP FILTER FOR SHIPS }
d3ddevice.SetTextureStageState 0, D3DTSS_MIPFILTER, D3DTEXF_LINEAR
.
.
.
{ RENDER SHIPS }
.
.
.
{ RESET MIPMAP FILTERING, UNLESS REQUIRED ELSEWHERE }
d3ddevice.SetTextureStageState 0, D3DTSS_MIPFILTER, D3DTEXF_NONE
 
I have no idea how taxing this would be on a slower machine, but I'd love to see this applied to SFC (which has always been my favorite game).   D3DTEXF_ANISOTROPIC seems to work pretty well, although it is probably more expensive (and D3DTEXF_LINEAR is pleasant enough to look at on its own).  Any model with a lightmap should benefit from this small change.

Has this been tried and abandoned for some very good reason that eludes me (because I have only been testing it for 20 minutes), or is this something that could be added (perhaps as an option for users with faster machines) to SFC?
 

[FireSoul]

If you're talking about about another patch for SFC2 or SFCOP.. well.. I think it's far too late for that. There will be no more patches.