3D-Analyzer - 22.07.2002 Supplemental Readme Document, Rev. 0.94 ------------------------------------------- 3DAnalyze.exe : Control Application V1.5 dat1.000 : DirectX(r) DX8 Core d3d8.dll dat2.000 : OpenGL(r) Core opengl32.dll LiesMich.txt : ReadMe (German) ReadMe.txt : ReadMe (English) releasenotes.txt : Version History beta.txt : Supplemental Information (this file) Copyright ( 2002 Tommti Systems ) All Rights Reserved Tommti Systems http://www.tommti-systems.com thomas@tommti-systems.com ======================================================================= What's in this distribution? ======================================================================= This distribution contains the Beta Release for public testing of target Applications. NOTE: DirectX 8.1 redistributable files must be used with this Tool! ======================================================================= Disclaimer ======================================================================= This Software is provided "as is" for the sole purpose of evaluation. Tommti Systems can not be held liable for any damage this program might cause. It is an unfinished, partly implemented Program meant for beta testing only. Use at your own Risk! ======================================================================= Installation ======================================================================= Requirements ------------ - Windows 95,98,ME,2000,XP - PC with a Direct3D capable VGA Card - 1 GigaByte of free Harddisk space if Debug Logging is desired (warrants approx. 150 seconds of live Debug time) ======================================================================= Capabilities and Limitations ======================================================================= The 3D Analyzer Tool was created and refined to overcome limitations posed by modern 3D Games and other Applications on several current mainstream 3D Cards. Basic functionality will equip non-T&L cards with a software substitute. Advanced functionality will enable User selectable 3D Features not available in many older Cards. Yet, this is presently achieved not by Emulation but by NUL-Rendering. This means, advanced 3D Features the Card is not capable of, are reported as available in Hardware, but have their calls intercepted and the respective 3D Features will not be rendered. These functions are based upon the premise and ideas, that : - 3D Games can be launched, that otherwise would fail due to lack of Hardware support. - No 3D Game should solely rely on a few, isolated rendering features, and therefor loss of image quality by NUL-Rendering 'should' be minimal and acceptable in most cases. ======================================================================= Overview ======================================================================= This version is based on the original V1.3 but has been extended in capabilities to workaround 3dfx-specific limitations. It is used for Beta testing to aid in future development. Feel free to use on any DirectX8 or DirectX8.1 Application for testing. This Version is provided "as is" and is currently lacking fully operational implementation of desired features. It currently contains User selectable options, some of which use can cause the target Application to behave severely abnormal, crash or fail otherwise. Before using this Program, make sure all other Programs are closed. Note - Classic Options are explained in the standing V1.4beta ReadMe. ======================================================================= What's new ? ======================================================================= The V1.3 Version has been found to fail with many target Applications when used with 3dfx Voodoo based Cards. A "Hardware Limits" Block of Options have been created for each workaround required to overcome 3dfx Voodoo specific limitations, as explained below: - Emulate HW TnL caps Effect : This Option will Enable the basic DirectX 8.1 core Emulation. Status : Functional Limiting Factors : Will be recognized only by DirectX8 or DirectX8.1 applications. - Emulate Cube Maps caps Effect : This Option will report Cubic Mapped BumpMapping Hardware capability to the target Application. Status : Functional Limiting Factors : Any surface utilizing this Effect will not be rendered. This can lead to mis-colored Textures, as the Texture beneath is displayed unmodified. Future Goals : undetermined full Software Emulation is pending evaluation and/or prove-of concept - Emulate Pixel Shader caps Effect : This Option will report DirectX 8 compilant Vertex and Pixel Shader Hardware capability to the target Application. Status : Functional Limiting Factors : Surfaces utilizing this effect will be rendered faster, but with lower Texture detail, as no true Pixel Shader features are being rendered. - Emulate Bump Map caps Effect : This Option will report full BumpMapping and Envroinment Mapped BumpMapping Hardware capability to the target Application. Status : Functional Limiting Factors : Any surface utilizing this Effect will not be rendered. In some cases, this can lead to strongly mis-colored Textures (rainbow effect) as the original BumpMap is displayed unmodified. Future Goals : undetermined full Software Emulation is pending evaluation and/or prove-of concept - Emulate Max. sim. Textures Effect : This Option will report full single-pass, 4-layer Multitexturing Hardware capability to the target application. Status : Functional Limiting Factors : This Option will cause applications to use 4-layer Multitextures, of which only 2 will be effectively rendered. This will result in untextured and uncolored Objects, on which 4-layer Multitexturing is applied. In some cases, basic envroinmental Rendering techniques such as Lightmaps might not be rendered, causing undue decrease in visual Quality. Future Goals : undetermined Possibly create a workaround to render a full, second multitexture pass, or comparable rendering techniques as substitute. - Emulate other DX8.1 caps Effect : This Option will enable DirectX 8 Driver compatibility masking, regardless of actual Driver compatibility. It will also enable the advanced DirectX 8.1 Emulation core. Status : limited Functional Limiting Factors : Advanced DirectX8.1 Advanced Pixel Shader capability has not been fuly implemented yet. An Application accessing Advanced Pixel Shader capabilities can either behave severely abnormal or crash. Future Goals : undetermined Possibly achieve full Advanced Pixel Shader capabilities by CPU emulation. ======================================================================= Developer Features ======================================================================= A Debug Option is included in this Release. It should only be used for aquiring vital Debug information and is set to Disabled by default. When to use : - Applications failing to initialize or give Error Messages - Applications reporting missing Hardware Support where some should be (recheck selected Emulation Options) - Applications exert severly abnormal behaviour not caused by known Limiting Factors How to use : Depending on selected Application and .dll Directories, a log.out and a shader.out are generated, as soon as the Application is launched. Shader.out is presently not implemented and will maintain a file size of 0 Bytes. Before debugging, prepare the Application to launch only the 3D scene in question, if possible. This will isolate the problem as much as possible, and keep file size to a minimum. If an Application generates its own specific Logfiles, these should be retained for additional analysis as well. Warnings : ---------- When Debug Logging is active, upto several MegaBytes of Debug Information per Second can be generated! Depending on workload on the 3D Analyzer Tool, this can lead to excessive HardDrive I/O operations. The Performance hit when using debug logging can be as significant as slowing 3D rendering down to well less than 1 frame per second! Do NOT allow Debug File to exceed available remaining Harddrive space! This can lead to severe crashes, and will render the debug file useless! One can expect (depending on rendering complexity) upto 400MB per Minute live rendering time. Hints : Even very large (1000 MegaByte) LogFiles can be very effectively compressed, using common Software like WinZIP, WinRAR or WinACE. 1000 MegaBytes will result in an approx. 12MB compressed Filesize. ======================================================================= Misc. Information ======================================================================= This Readme complements the standing V1.4 beta Readme File. Effective use of this Tool requires full understanding of the embedded Features and Limiting Factors. When encountering errors or malfunctions, make sure these errors can be reproduced, and are not caused by any unrelated component of your system. This includes running Applications, which minimum requirements are not fully met even with the use of 3D Analyzer. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This document is subject to change, and may stand to be verified and corrected by the Developer. Alpha-Testing conducted by : FalconFly falconfly@ewetel.net http://www.falconfly.de AmigaMerlin Amigamerlin@3dfxzone.it http://www.3dfxzone.it Document generated in support by FalconFly, 08/06/2002