Game update for August 17th, 2022 (8/17 ゲームアップデート)

Sodaboy

Sodabob
Staff member
Gender
Male
Guildcard
11111111
Today, Ephinea has been updated to v1422.

The following changes were made to the game:

- Updated dgVoodoo version to 2.79.2
- SSAA rendering speed improved for dgVoodoo.
- SMAA now works with dgVoodoo.
Note: When returning to the title screen with SMAA enabled, after successfully logging on, the title screen will go white. You will need to restart the client to fix this. (Looking into this.)
- Added Direct3D 12 API rendering option through dgVoodoo. (In testing, this has helped a handful of users who have experienced slowness with dgVoodoo's D3D11 API.)
- Added option for using flip model for dgVoodoo's Direct3D 11 API. (Direct3D 12 API seems to always use flip, regardless of settings.)
- It has been discovered that Vertex Fog does NOT work whatsoever with dgVoodoo. You will need to use Pixel Fog for fog to work properly when utilizing dgVoodoo. (You will receive a warning at startup when Vertex Fog is set when utilizing dgVoodoo.)
- Added a workaround for the black screenshots bug when utilizing dgVoodoo. This workaround causes whatever is in front of your PSO window to also be captured when taking a screenshot, so do remember that.
- Fixed a bug that caused FMVs to be black with dgVoodoo when utilizing the flip model or Direct3D 12 API. (Now videos are rendered directly to the DirectX back buffer instead of a separate SDL renderer over the top of the PSO back buffer. Also, software video decode option is now gone. Videos are always decoded in software now.)
- Added an option to use D3D9On12, which is a Microsoft created mapping layer which maps graphics commands from D3D9 to D3D12.
Note: As you may have heard, Intel has dropped support of native DirectX 9 from it's CPUs with integrated graphics as well as it's upcoming Intel Arc dGPUs.
By adding support for 9On12, we can ensure that PSO can still be played using DirectX 9 on Intel hardware. (D3D9On12 may also improve performance on other moden hardware as well.)
D3D9On12 does not avoid a device lost scenario with UAC prompts, workstation locks, or screensavers, just like native D3D8/9... So, if you still want to be safe from those things causing PSO to shut down, you'd have to use the dgVoodoo D3D 11/12 APIs.
- As always, to get the new options in the launcher to show up, you need to log into the game or simply hit "Patch Download" in the PSOBB client to download the launcher as the launcher will not update itself.

That's all for this update.

Thank you and enjoy playing on Ephinea!

 ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

本日、Ephineaはv1422にアップデートされました。

変更内容は以下の通りです。

- dgVoodoo がバージョン2.79.2にアップデートされました。
- dgVoodooのSSAA(アンチエイリアシング)描画速度を改善しました。
- SMAAがdgVoodooで動作するようになりました。
- 注意:SMAAを有効にしてログオンに成功した後、タイトル画面に戻ると、タイトル画面が真っ白になります。これを修正するには、クライアントを再起動する必要があります。(調査中)
- dgVoodooを使用したDirect3D 12 APIのレンダリングオプションを追加しました。(テストでは、dgVoodooのD3D11 APIで描画が遅かった一部のユーザーに効果がありました)
- dgVoodooのDirect3D 11 APIで flip model を使用するオプション「dgVフリップ」を追加しました。(Direct3D 12 APIは設定に関係なく常にflipを使用します)
- 「Vertex Fog」はdgVoodooでは全く動作しないことが判明しています。dgVoodooを使用する際は「Pixel Fog」を使用しないとフォグエフェクトが正常に動作しません。(dgVoodooを使用する際、Vertex Fogが設定されていると起動時に警告ダイアログが表示されます)
- dgVoodooを使用した際に、スクリーンショットが真っ黒になってしまうバグを修正しました。これにより、スクリーンショットを撮る際にPSOのウィンドウより前面に表示されているものもキャプチャされるようになりますので、ご注意ください。
- 「dgVフリップ」またはDirect3D 12 APIを利用する際、dgVoodooでFMV(※訳注 新キャラ作成時のOPムービー)が黒くなるバグを修正しました。(PSOバックバッファの上に別のSDLレンダラーを重ねるのではなく、DirectXバックバッファに直接ビデオがレンダリングされるようになりました。また、SWビデオデコードのオプションはなくなりました。ムービー再生にはハードウェアアクセラレーションを使用せず、常にソフトウェアでデコードされるようになりました)
- D3D9On12を使用するオプションを追加しました。これはMicrosoftが作成した、D3D9からD3D12へグラフィックスコマンドをマッピングするマッピングレイヤーです。
注意:ご存知のようにIntelは、統合グラフィックスを搭載したCPUと、今後発売されるIntel Arc dGPUから、DirectX 9のサポートを廃止しています。
9On12のサポートを追加することで、Intelハードウェア上でDirectX 9を使用してもPSOをプレイできるようにします。(D3D9On12は、他の最新ハードウェアのパフォーマンスも向上させる可能性があります)
D3D9On12は、デバイス喪失状態を引き起こす可能性があります。ネイティブD3D8/9と同様に、UACプロンプト、ワークステーションロック、スクリーンセーバーによる、デバイスロストのシナリオを排除できません…。ですので、もしあなたがPSOのシャットダウンを引き起こすこれらの要因を回避したいのであれば、dgVoodoo D3D 11/12 APIを使用しなければならないでしょう。
- ランチャーの新しいオプションを表示させるには、いつものように、ゲームにログインするか、PSOBBクライアントで「パッチダウンロード」を押して、ランチャーをダウンロードする必要があります。

アップデートの内容は以上です。

いつもEphineaで遊んでいただき、ありがとうございます!
 
Last edited:
Although dgVoodoo's documentation states flip discard should provide more performance on modern hardware... It seems to lock FPS to your refresh rate, so it's hard to gauge.

Just did some benchmarks with Ender's speedhack on PSO's title screen and these are the numbers I came up with (just noticed I had AF 16x on the whole time):

Native D3D8 = 1430fps
D3D9 via D3D8To9 = 3890fps
dgVoodoo D3D11 "Flip Discard" = 120fps locked (limited to my refresh rate)
dgVoodoo D3D11 "Auto" = 2940fps
dgVoodoo D3D12 = 120fps locked (limited to my refresh rate)
D3D9On12 = 870fps

Food for thought!

Note: This is on an RTX 3090 which does have native D3D9.

D3D11 is still my favorite because of no crashing with loss of focus or dimmed screen.

 ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄
dgVoodooの資料では、「Flip Discard」は最新のハードウェアでより高いパフォーマンスを提供するはずですが…。FPSをリフレッシュレートで固定するようなので、評価が難しいです。

PSOのタイトル画面でEnderのスピードハックを使いベンチマークを取ったところ、こんな数字が出ました(ただ、ずっとAF16倍をオンにしていたことに気づきました)

Native D3D8 = 1430fps
D3D9 via D3D8To9 = 3890fps
dgVoodoo D3D11 "Flip Discard" = 120fps locked (リフレッシュレート上限)
dgVoodoo D3D11 "Auto" = 2940fps
dgVoodoo D3D12 = 120fps locked (リフレッシュレート上限)
D3D9On12 = 870fps

ご参考までに!

注:これはネイティブD3D9を搭載したRTX 3090環境です。

D3D11は、フォーカスが外れたり画面が暗くなったりしてクラッシュすることがないので、今でも愛用しています。
 
Last edited:
Feedback - tested on Radeon 6900XT, driver 22.8.1 [latest this past week, clean/DDU install]
  • [Bug] Screenshot key no longer saves screenshots, instead freezes/crashes game in both DX11 (Flip on) & DX12

  • [Request] Please, may we have an MSAA 8X launcher option? It is a noticeable quality bump over 4X and the last missing feature vs. my old .conf file

  • Note: dgv2's MSAA setting doesn't, on my system, cause any conflicts with Advanced Effect.

  • [News] Vulkan rendering via DXVK[edit: SORT OF] works too -- I wonder how much FPS you would get with that speedhack test?
    - Direct3D 9 in launcher + DXVK 32-bit d3d9.dll ... solves Device Lost Scenarios by itself without dgVoodoo2 [EDIT: graphical glitches :(]
    - Direct3D11 in launcher + DXVK 64-bit dxgi.dll -OR- d3d11.dll [EDIT: I'm not 100% convinced it is actually running in Vulkan mode]

  • [Fixed] AMD fixed the DX11 text rendering bug sometime between Radeon Adrenalin Driver 21.12.1 (bugged) and 22.8.1 (fixed). If an AMD user can't/won't update (new drivers are often buggy, it's why I held out) they can select D3D8 and manually install dgVoodoo 2.74.1's 32-bit d3d8.dll.
[Misc]
  • KeepFilterIfPointSampled = True may be a safe default. In theory it prevents filtering/blurring textures that PSO didn't intend. However, I haven't studied the setting's full effects, and it obviously can't isolate the HUD from post-processing such as SMAA.

  • Offering all filtering options in the Launcher (not just Anisotropic) might be worth it for purists. If I remember right, Dreamcast was Bilinear, GC/XB I have no idea, and PSOBB defaults Trilinear. No version of PSO used Point Sampled (no filtering) but it evokes a Saturn-esque look (I find it charming and hilarious).

  • You may find it fun to experiment with dgVoodoo2's "n-patch tessellation" setting, if your video card supports it. It actually works to increase/smooth polycounts, but affects EVERYTHING causing FPS loss, high GPU usage, and graphical glitches. Beware your GPU temps and start low. I don't know of any way to restrict its effects to playermodels only.

Xira (accidental-deleted post in reply to Soda - after CTB's) said:
Tested - the screenshot button is not saving the screenshots?

Re. DXVK: I had similar experiences in the past - lobbies were pitch dark. Then again, that was back when I was on an NVIDIA. We may be able to chalk some things up to differences in video card. [EDIT: NOPE, it was settings] It was my bad when I failed to notice NVIDIA users were not experiencing the text rendering bug in/after dgVoodoo 2.75+ ... that should have been my first clue that the culprit was AMD drivers being AMD drivers.

I always use Pixel Fog. It is my understanding Pixel is the graphically superior option. I remember back in the day using Vertex only because my hardware was too slow. I migrated to Pixel as soon as I had a system capable of running it.

Your crash sounds like dgVoodoo2 is running out of simulated VRAM allocation. Currently, Ephinea allocates 2GB. I normally run at 1080p - but if I recall, the same crash happened to me when I tried to run MSAA 8X using a 4K forced resolution downscale. AA drastically increases VRAM cost, and HD texture packs will make it worse. Try increasing to 4096MB and see if it doesn't crash anymore.

However, it is dangerous to "one size fits all" the dgVoodoo2 VRAM allocation setting for two reasons:
(1) what if a user has less physical VRAM installed than DGV2 asks for?
(2) if you try to dynamically scale the allocation based on settings, you'll drive yourself insane.
I recommend putting dgVoodoo2 VRAM allocation under user control (maybe have some kind of tool tip to explain what it does).
It is unfortunate that there is no "Auto" setting.
 
Last edited:
Hi, I just resolved the screenshot issue. My b.

I tried DXVK before, but there was a huge shadow over the entire game. I didn't try other fog settings but I imagine it has fog issues like dgVoodoo when using vertex fog. I should try it with pixel.

I didn't add an MSAA 8x option because every time I tried to use it on my 3090, it wouldn't work and just crash. (Probably because I tried at 4K.) I'll look into it.
 
4x options crash me on launch or after character select for whatever reason - no discernible performance difference up to the crashes - but the D3D12 wrapper fixes every problem I was having with 11 otherwise. Not like I can really tell between 2x and 4x with my bad eyes anywho. Thanks champ!
 
My screenshots are saving in the bmp folder without issue. Weird they're not saving for you...? I'll take a peek again, but they seem to be working just fine for me. :'(

Also yea, DXVK, I'm on an NVIDIA card. I'll try it out again and see if it's all black everywhere still...

Pixel Fog is superior, though? I'll have to look into it. Someone reported dgVoodoo messes up with Photon Blasts, which is probably also fog related. Seems most bugs with dgV are fog related...

When I was crashing with 8x MSAA, I wasn't using dgV at the time, just the MSAA quality setting built into DirectX when testing.

As far as the VRAM setting, I set it at 2GB because I think most people should be able to run that. If anyone is using dgV for D3D11 or D3D12, they're most likely running a graphics card or configuration that can at least spare 2GB.

I actually don't want too many user controllable settings as this will lead to more issues than not.

If someone knows what they're doing, they can always edit the configuration and run psobb.exe directly, backing up their configuration file before running the actual launcher for updates or maybe making a batch file to back up, run launcher, and restore it when needed.

EDIT: So, yeah, just tried the latest DXVK on my NVIDIA 3090...

This is the result:

pso133053273097339063.png
 
Last edited:
4x options crash me on launch or after character select for whatever reason - no discernible performance difference up to the crashes - but the D3D12 wrapper fixes every problem I was having with 11 otherwise. Not like I can really tell between 2x and 4x with my bad eyes anywho. Thanks champ!
The higher x you go, the more VRAM is needed.

If you do SSAA 4x and you're running 1080p, PSO is effectively rendering at 7680x4320 before downsampling it.

SMAA gives good enough results at Ultra, so probably just stick with that or SSAA 2x + SMAA Ultra.
 
...EDIT: So, yeah, just tried the latest DXVK on my NVIDIA 3090... This is the result:
(I mistakenly deleted the post you replied to - I edited it into the post before that)
  • Correction, the screenshots are saving -- but now the rendering freezes up when a screenshot is taken. The game can still be controlled in the background, sounds still play, but the rendering just freezes where it stands. DX11/Flip (DGV2 Ephinea official) btw.

  • I haven't checked the differences between Vertex/Pixel Fog in years, but I'm pretty sure that Pixel is better. I'll happily be wrong, though. Fog is a crap-shoot with any 3D graphics wrapper. DGV2, DXVK, you name it, fog sucks.

  • Your DXVK screenshot is exactly what I used to see on my NVIDIA [EDIT: Though turns out AMD vs. NVIDIA is not the reason why - see below]

  • Interesting re. 8X MSAA crash not being related to DGV at all. Though it's possible PSO may dislike running at stupendously high internal rendering resolutions. We're lucky PSO will even run at all above 1080p. I've seen some games just refuse to do so.

  • Yeah there's no sense in duplicating all the dgVoodoo Control Panel inside the Ephinea Launcher. If I need to do tinkering I can just override your dgVoodoo.conf with my own by setting Launcher to Direct3D8 and dropping in my own DLL. Also, now that I think about it, "cookie cutter one size fits all" might be fine if you allocate _too much_ to dgVoodoo2 -- it'll probably not crash, just dip into system shared memory and have performance nosedive. Maybe. I don't know. As I mentioned, I hope dege just creates an Automatic setting for VRAM in the future.
 
Last edited:
Just my setup being stupid. Blue Burst struggles to hit meaningful amounts of VRAM usage from what I can tell.

Here's D3D9 BB 4x supersampling with all optimizations turned off running without issues alongside Blender doing a job in the background. :lenny:

1660856982356.png
 
Just my setup being stupid. Blue Burst struggles to hit meaningful amounts of VRAM usage from what I can tell. Here's D3D9 BB 4x supersampling with all optimizations turned off running without issues alongside Blender doing a job in the background. :lenny:
Yeah, after rereading Soda's reply I think I was worrying too much. Most systems have at least 2GB of VRAM these days. Even if they don't, they will be able to dip into main system RAM for the excess - which will kill performance in most cases, enough to signal "maybe I should turn these settings down."

EDIT: BTW @Soda, game's still freezing and/or crashing when I try to take screenshots, DX11 or DX12 alike. Sorry :(

1660862439009.png1660862536544.png1660863546252.png1660863859673.pngEDIT 2: I explored Vulkan via DXVK (DirectX9 32-bit DLL) - cannot recommend it.
I was able to trigger "the Dark Lobby" on my AMD card by disabling SSAA (what?). Animated textures are broken (Caves lava are flat orange). EP2 Lab P2 lights are blocky. Ragol looks flooded / oceanic. Screenshots are (expectedly) not working. (Pixel) fogs are not rendering. Overall, hope Steam Deck users don't have to deal with all this . . .
 
Last edited:
Yeah, the screenshot thing seems to be bugged for some still for DGV.

I’m just gunna use my render target to get the image from then. Side effect is peoples’ addons won’t be able to be in the saved shots.

It’ll just be a clean shot from PSO instead.
 
:) I see that as a valuable feature, not a side effect! When I wanted to take "clean" photos quickly, I often found myself cropping a ShareX Region Capture in the center of the screen. Many times I wished for a "clean screenshot" button that ignored addons (and maybe disabled /hud too) just before capturing.

For traditional screenshots (end of the rendering pipeline - addons included) there are so many modern methods - ShareX, Windows Snip & Sketch, Windows Game Bar, GeForce Experience, Radeon ReLive, Steam Overlay, MSI Afterburner/RivaTuner, ReShade's screenshot hotkey, etc.
 
Last edited:
OK, I think, screenshots in dgVoodoo now work. HOWEVER, it can't capture your addons or anything in front of PSO.

This is the only way I could get it going and a compromise.

May add this method of capture or an option in the launcher for the other APIs. For people who like to take clean photos.

Ryan said it still froze him but I have no idea how that can be the case!!!
 
Sorry - I'm on v1424 and the same issue as Ryan continues - rendering freezes when I hit Print Screen, and it still produces black screenshots. I noticed it only happens when the Launcher is set to D3D 11 or 12. To test if the workarounds are causing the freezes, I set up Ephinea in D3D11 mode, backed up the generated dgVoodoo.conf, set the Launcher to D3D9, then made a copy of dgVoodoo_d3d9.dll named d3d9.dll. Under these conditions, everything is the same as "normal" D3D11, but the Launcher thinks it's in D3D9 (thus your workaround isn't engaged). The freezes ceased as expected.

The White Screen issue also persists. I notice you are somehow applying AA, AF, and SMAA at an earlier DX8->DX9 stage, before dgVoodoo2? In my experience, DGV2 can misbehave when other DLLs pass effects into it. It 'expects' to be early in the chain. Please consider offloading SMAA to ReShade, loaded last in the DLL chain (ideally a custom build network-enabled for psobb.exe). It could solve 3 problems at once: The white screen issue, your custom shaders idea, AND the screenshots problem (ReShade has its own screenshot functions, more reliable than PSO's antique systems).
 
Last edited:
Jeez, you certainly like to type a lot, don't you?

I take it you're not really a developer, so you're kinda just rambling on about stuff you don't really know about.

There is no "stage" for DX8->DX9, it's a complete wrapper. You're just calling the DX8 commands as usual, there is no stage where you're like "Oh, okay, let's convert to DX8 to DX9 right here and THEN do AA". No, it doesn't work like that.

You set the AA to the render target (if using MSAA, simply set the multisample value when creating the render target) or you render at a higher resolution (SSAA) and bilinear downsample it in the GPU. That's it. There is absolutely ZERO wiggle room.

SMAA, same deal. When you're done rendering, you apply SMAA to the rendered image to post process it. That's it. THAT'S HOW IT WORKS.

Also, you've got to be joking if you think I'm going to offload SMAA to ReShade. Why would I include ANOTHER 3rd party tool when distributing the game?

The whole point is to have everything done internally.

I have no clue why dgVoodoo won't let screenshots work on some setups. And, yes, the white screen issue WOULD persist if you don't load dgVoodoo my way as the hotfix only works when the client knows it is using dgVoodoo.

The main fucking problem is the way dgVoodoo doesn't allow you to read the pixel data from the window when it's rendering in D3D11/12. If it did, we wouldn't be in this situation, but it doesn't, so... here we are.

My workaround is to simply use the tried and true method of copying the render target surface to another surface, lock it, and convert the surface data to a PNG... WHICH WORKS COMPLETELY FINE ON MY SETUP.

I have no idea why your and Ryan's jank setups crash when pressing Print Screen. Ryan's setup also had lag for no good reason on D3D11 with an RTX 3060 Ti where as on my second computer, which has a 3060 Ti, I have no such issue.

So, anyhow, now I have to find another work around or just give people the middle finger who are using dgVoodoo and tell them to use their own screenshot tool.
 
Thank you for clarifying how things actually work. I am indeed not a developer, and I apologize for using jargon incorrectly. I do not like to type a lot: I am deeply ashamed of my longtime struggles with it. If you feel I wasted your time, I apologize.

I understand your position re. ReShade and wouldn't mind losing screenshots for dgVoodoo2 - there are worse things. I am just happy that the benefits of these wrappers are now available to all.

Thank you for your efforts.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top