Flashback

Yeah, looks like most TS changes were applied after the master.

EDIT: updated the thread title.

EDIT2: dev version that is a couple of days newer than the one I was porting to already fixes the issue. Nice.

Indeed, a pre-built binary works fine. I guess it's built using 3.9 master, while I ported to development branch from 29.08.16. I'll look into ts/ changes in between, thanks guys.

Hi. So after I ported our game's codebase to 3.9 to fix Radeon rendering freeze issue, I suddenly can't start it up anymore. First I thought this is most likely my problem that appeared during the port, but after compiling clean T3D 3.9, putting this DTS into art/shapes/ and trying to doubleclick it in World Editor, it crashes exactly the same way. Here is the file:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B332rl3XCSW9X3JIUkpIS3ZHbTQ

Again, I'm not exactly proficient in vertex buffers and all the rendering stuff, so I'm having a hard time to understand what new Torque code does wrong. Could someone take a quick look?

Meanwhile, AMD people have managed to reproduce the issue, which is a good start.

Last development commit binary! 32bit & 64bit

http://forums.torque3d.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=665#p6230

Tutorial: How to compile the new version of Torque3D v3.9

http://forums.torque3d.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=713

Torque3D v3.9 Code Engine/Script Reference

http://forums.torque3d.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=751&p=6248#p6229

This is extremely helpful, thanks. I won't bother you until I try SDL and D3D11 approaches.

Heh, the first version of the game, when it was still 2D, was written with SDL - then we switched to TGE to go 3D. Now we may go back to SDL in some sense - the irony, eh?

Can you give me any pointers/links of how to do an SDL build? Is there an #ifndef somewhere?

Also, I talked to another team developing with T3D, they said they made rendering freeze and other issues go away by switchting to D3D11. I don't believe there is an official implementation of this yet, is there?

Yep.

So, some people from AMD introduced me to other people, I described them the problem (again), and 10 days later there is no sign someone is ever going to reply. Bugged them again.

Missed your last question, sorry, and it's an important one. As far as I know, dialogue window doesn't change postFX settings. It's done only per-level, the way T3D allows it. So that's a strong argument against postFX influence...

That's an interesting idea, worth trying. This also makes sense in a way that training level may have PostFX disabled in mission preset, but Teron (first city with the inn) has them enabled.

I have also finally breached AMD first line of tech support and they connected me with some specific engineer person, hopefully he can inspect the issue from another side, but I don't expect him to reply before Monday.

We're expecting our new Radeon card to arrive tomorrow, so we'll be able to experience and reproduce the issue. Not sure this will help, though, and all AMD support managed in two weeks is to ask me what part of Canada is our company from =\

$pref::Shadows::disable = 1; <-- helps

$pref::Shadows::textureScalar = 0.5; <-- doesn't help

Strange, for everyone else the issue is very consistent, rendering the game unplayable. But if it's something about Radeon drivers, incorrect handling of 64-bit pointers and such, it could as well depend on current state of the memory.

Sure, asked my test guy to try that pref.

I also noticed earlier it's one of three prefs that change with a quality level, and I even included it in my "Radeon hack" for the latest build that autodetects lighting to Low for Radeon users.

Emailed AMD support on Friday, hopefully they'll answer something.

Also, one of our player who helps to test the issue says that the game freezes with or without Steam overlay, and the last drivers version working with T3D is 14.12.

Updated to T3D 3.8 on Dec 9, 2015. We've accumulated a lot of modifications regarding gameplay objects and such through the years, but since we started with TGE in 2005, I always tried to stay away from rendering code.

...plus it's somehow related to Lighting Quality setting in Torque. I assume if you set that to Low, it's going to work without freezing.

Thanks for investigation, Jeff. I'm going to approach both AMD and Valve about this. But since there is no guarantee they will do something about it or even reply, it would be good to investigate it on Torque3D rendering end. Valve usually replies that "if Steam overlay is causing problems for you, it's most likely an issue in your rendering code".

We do have an old Radeon at work, but it seems to be considered now a "legacy product" by AMD and problematic Crimson drivers do not support it.

DirectX only, so no idea how it would behave on OpenGL.

Either should let me confirm the issue, but if you have a development build that'd let me use a debugger.

Sent a download link via PM.

A quick track might be able to nail down a potential driver issue is to get release dates of drivers and the dates of player issues and do a quick compare.

Thing is, we introduced 64-bit version relatively recently, and "buggy" drivers (if they're to blame) kicked in immediately.

Also, AMD will have a bunch of people who take pretty specific issues like this and attack them from their end, its worth making contact with somebody at AMD to see how to get hold of the devs there.

I thought of this, but don't really know people to talk to. I guess I can try bothering usual tech support, maybe the will pass my message on to developers.

There is also a possibility that Radeon Crimson driver is to blame, as one of the players said that "while Omega driver was used, everything was fine". But he's not sure about that.

What kind of test build you'd prefer? Is Steam build with compiled scripts ok, or you'd like to look at development version?

Hi, thanks for your reply.

Since you mention lighting-related, just to clarify, are the users able to get to the main menu and stuff even with advanced lighting on and set to high?

Yep, main menu loads up without problems on any settings, and even training mission (not sure, though, if it works for everyone having this problem, or just some people. Training mission is mostly empty terrain, while first "real" mission is a big town, with a lot of light sources and objects). The freeze is happening when players finish character creation (GUI dialog with GuiObjectView to show character model, covering empty level) and do switchMission(). At least one frame gets rendered, so they see the scene, then the screen freezes, while music keeps playing and console keeps spamming the message from the first post).

Also, any chance you can list some of the cards you're seeing this on? Or is it a total random smorgasboard of radeon/AMD cards?

I started collecting card models and driver versions at first, but then understood it's a huge variety of radeons that doesn't tell me anything useful. Here:

1)

o Card    : 'AMD Radeon HD 8760'
  o Version : '8.17.0010.1404'
  o VRAM    : 1024 MB

2)

o Card    : 'AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series'
  o Version : '8.17.0010.1429'
  o VRAM    : 1024 MB

3)

"270x ati
  radeon v16.3.1 (20-03-2016)
  ive got the 2048MB version."

4)

"I'm having the same issue... Picked the game up on Steam this weekend & played a bit... then I updated my video drivers today to version 16.3.2, I have an AMD Radeon R9 200 series, and most games purr on this at the highest settings. AoD was fine until the update; now I log in, load up a game - and the screen just freezes."

5)

"Just purchased AoD on steam this morning and I'm very excited to play but I'm getting a freeze on load after character creation.
The screen shows the opening scene with text overlay correctly (perhaps in the middle of a fade-in) but the screens and mouse will not move, and keyboard input is ignored.
No problems, however, with the training option. That loads fine.
I've updated to the latest Amd Radeon Crimson 16.3.2 drivers and software. Is that the issue?"

Hello. We have a serious issue in our game, Age of Decadence, for quite some time, but not being an expert in rendering/hardware low-level code, I've been unable to resolve it so far. It always happens to Radeon users and affects only 64-bit build of Torque3D. It is also related to lighting/shadow rendering in some way, because the only workaround we've found so far (and recommending our players) is to change Lighting Quality setting in options to Low.

The console message at the end of the logs is repeating:

GFXPCD3D9Device::beginScene - Device needs to be reset, waiting on device...
GFXPCD3D9Device::beginScene - Device needs to be reset, waiting on device...
GFXPCD3D9Device::beginScene - Device needs to be reset, waiting on device...

This is coming from gfxPCD3D9Device.cpp, GFXPCD3D9Device::beginSceneInternal() function, where Torque apparently loses D3D device, but why this is happening remain a mystery to me.

This affects rather large part of our audience and leads to negative reviews and complaints, so we'd be really thankful for a good advice.