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Rustybolts Dec 15, 2010
Quoting: "Hamish, post: 949"I see no reason why Braid would need to use S3TC, it is just a 2D platform game after all. For those of you who do not know the history, that particular patent on S3TC texture compression has been a thorn in the side of the free graphics developers for years. Hopefully the developer will smarten up and switch to something a bit more free, or maybe Ryan could make an alternative just for the Linux port. Though it is somewhat ironic that I am evangelizing a change for the benefit of the free drivers while writing from my Fedora 14 system running Catalyst 10.12... :p

Still, what GPU are you currently using then Rusty, still stuck on an Intel?

yeah afaid so! gma4500m actually its pretty ok for a onboard chip more powerfull than most. It was a bit crap before but has got better with each release of ubuntu. It runs Doom 3 quite nicely now so no complaints really. *Edit* just checked to see if Amnesia runs after this fix, it does but everything is upside down (sigh!), shame as fps seemed quite nice zzz.
Hamish Dec 15, 2010
Ah, the old upside down Amnesia bug (well, if three months is considered old!). It has now been fixed for the the free ATI R300g (Gallium3D) drivers apparently, though I did not even know that the Intel ones could run it.

http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25890#post145646

Still, Intel has been showing a better commitment to Linux recently, and you are seeing that in your improved driver performance. And you have to appreciate the fact they believe in fully free drivers, unlike Nvidia. I am still sticking with ATI though so I can have the best of both worlds, a good free driver and a decent blob.

Still, what frames are you getting in Doom 3? My most impressive Doom 3 experience on the free drivers was on a computer we built for my Aunt built out of old computer parts, it has an old Radeon 9000 GPU in it. It actually ran quite well surprisingly. Still nothing compared to my Radeon HD 3650 though.

And sorry for going off topic everyone. :oops:
Rustybolts Dec 16, 2010
[ATTACH=full]5[/ATTACH]
FPS are higher with flashlight off due to shadows etc.
[ATTACH=full]6[/ATTACH]
Above 31fps with fire effects


Doom 3 i have tweaked the config quite a bit mind whilst keeping the graphics looking very nice (ill post screeny later). At its worst I would get occasional 20-21fps on average it runs 25-40ish fps and has a max of 60 fps ish 60hz lcd @ 640x480. I could get better FPs if i wanted but i like many of the graphical effects on to make it look pretty, not too bothered with a lower resolution though. It at all times feels smooth and playable.

QuoteAh, the old upside down Amnesia bug (well, if three months is considered old!). It has now been fixed for the the free ATI R300g (Gallium3D) drivers apparently, though I did not even know that the Intel ones could run it.


Was the fix for the drivers themselves or in the game itself if the later i might have to re-download and give it another bash.
Hamish Dec 17, 2010
It appears to have been a fix for the drivers themselves unfortunately, but hopefully you should see some improvement down the line at some-point. The free driver developers by their very nature are expected to share code after all, if it can be made applicable.

That is not bad performance for the free drivers on an Intel card, for comparison I have posted some shots I took of Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil running at the highest possible settings on my Radeon HD 3650 using Catalyst 10.12, though I must warn you the FPS shown in the screenshots is lower than what I get during gameplay for some reason:

[

Still, with all the good news coming out of Unigine in the past few weeks and with Rage coming out next year, I might just have to spring for a new card soon, considering that when benchmarking with Unigine Tropics I only got on average 22.2 frames-per-second, and I do not dare even try Heaven. :D

EDIT: Sorry for the large images, I thought I copied the thumbnail links. Damn, that is what happens when you are forced to snowshovel for about four hours I guess.


EDIT 2: Looking more into the bug fix, it seems to be general Mesa specific, so if you get a Mesa update at some point Amnesia might just run properly for you!
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=29420
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