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October 12th, 2007, 00:23 Posted By: wraggster
News/release from Gonetz
Hello everybody,
The second major version of GlideHQ, the texture enhancements module for Glide64, is ready for public release. Project description, taken from GlideHQ readme file by KoolSmoky:
"This is a realtime texture enhancer library with hi-resolution texture
pack support for Glide64 (http://glide64.emuxhaven.net). Traditional and
non-traditional techniques have been used to achieve speed and high image
quality even on a 9 year old 3Dfx Voodoo2.
Although the 3Dfx Glide3x texture format naming conventions are used, the
library can be expanded for generic use.
Supported:
Enhancers: Hq4x, Hq2x, Lq2x, Super2xSai, x2
Filters: Smooth (1,2,3,4), Sharp (1,2)
Compressors: FXT1, S3TC
Input formats: GR_TEXFMT_ALPHA_8,
GR_TEXFMT_RGB_565,
GR_TEXFMT_ARGB_1555,
GR_TEXFMT_ARGB_4444,
GR_TEXFMT_ARGB_8888,
GR_TEXFMT_ALPHA_INTENSITY_44,
GR_TEXFMT_ALPHA_INTENSITY_88
Output formats: Same as input unless compression or hires packs are used.
Hires texture packs: Rice format (Jabo and GlideHQ format coming later)
Acknowledgments:
I hope you enjoy GlideHQ (texture enhancer library for Glide64). Greatest
thanks to Gonetz for making this happen in his busy time. We've rushed
everything to share the eye-candy with all of you N64 emulation fans. I
would also like to thank a great friend of mine, Daniel Borca for providing
the texture compression code, Maxim Stepin (hq2x 4x), and Derek Liauw Kie Fa
(2xSaI) for the filtering engines, and Rice for his N64 graphics plugin
source code. GlideHQ also uses the boost C++ libraries, zlib general purpose
compression library, and the Portable Network Graphics library. Thanks to
all the developers for making them available.
The source code for GlideHQ is released in hopes that it will be improved.
I know the coding is not on par after so much late night caffeine boosts.
If you have suggestions or modifications, please feel free to post them on
the Glide64 forum at emuxhaven.
...
-KoolSmoky"
To install and test GlideHQ:
1. If you used previous version of GlideHQ, remove all its files and texture caches.
2. Download GideHQ distributive (GlideHQ_bin.zip ) and unpack it I somewhere.
3. Run included gltest.exe ((c) mudlord) to learn about capabilities of your video card.
3. Copy contents of Plugin folder into Plugin folder of your N64 emulator.
4. For OpenGL, copy glide3x.dll from Wrapper folder into your emulator's folder. This is important, because older version of the wrapper do not support texture compression.
5. Run your emulator, select 'Glide64 Wonder Plus HQ' as your video plugin
6. In Glide64 configuration dialog, open "Texture enhancement" tab and select options you like. If you are not sure, which option to use, press presets buttons below. Presets do not affect your choices for texture filtering and enhancement, so pick them manually, according to your preference. If you want to use hires textures (I'm sure you want), select "Rice format" as format.
7. GlideHQ has the same requirements for hires packs, as Rice Video. If you already used hires packs with Rice Video, you know what to do. If not, there are tutorials for you:
http://www.emutalk.net/showthread.php?t=29577
http://www.emutalk.net/showthread.php?t=26329
http://www.freewebs.com/jantarctica/texturepacks.htm
8. Run your game and enjoy.
Note: Current version is a prototype, based on Glide64 "WonderPlus". That is, for end-users this is Glide64 "WonderPlus" with texture enhancements. Since it is a prototype, it can be buggy, slow, inconvenient and so on. Thus, we need your feedback to make it better.
Note2: GlideHQ_src.zip is actually 7-Zip archive, renamed to zip.
Update 1: Fixed CRC calculation for 4bit textures.
Update 2. This update is a major one. Changes:
- Fixed a lot of problems with texture CRC calculation. Now most of hires textures are loaded.
- Instant load from saved texture cache. You have to wait while hires textures are loaded only on the first run. Game will be loaded in a blink on subsequent runs.
- Various fixes in texture coordinates calculations.
- Various attempts to increase plugin’s stability. Not all problems are fixed here. Plugin may crash on exit if texture cache is not saved yet (on the first run of a game). Temporal workaround:
On the first run, close game/emulator right after all hires textures are loaded and the game is started to run. Texture cache will be saved, and you should not have problems on subsequent runs.
Two new options:
Texture enhancement – Ignore backgrounds. It is used to skip enhancement for wide narrow textures, usually used for backgrounds. This may save texture memory greatly and increase performance. Default value: On.
Hi-resolution textures – Alternative CRC calculation. This option enables emulation of palette CRC calculation bug in RiceVideo. Default value: On.
Gonetz.
http://www.emuxhaven.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6490
For more information and downloads, click here!
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