New cnc-ddraw release (Red Alert 1 & C&C95)

[FunkyFr3sh]

On 11/14/2018 at 9:58 AM, hgjcool said:

U are not online this day ， how to send message to U in cncnet forums( no topics no  posts ) ?

Can you use discord ?

 

 

New test release is out with support for 16 bit color depth games

https://github.com/CnCNet/cnc-ddraw/releases

 

Support for 16 bit color depth games

Some games that were tested:
Dune 2000
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge

'handlemouse' must be set to 'false' for Tiberian Sun / Red Alert 2. Don't use the games built-in windowed mode, use the cnc-ddraw windowed mode instead (Alt+Enter)

[hgjcool]

8 hours ago, FunkyFr3sh said:

Can you use discord ?

 

 

New test release is out with support for 16 bit color depth games

https://github.com/CnCNet/cnc-ddraw/releases

 

Support for 16 bit color depth games

Some games that were tested:
Dune 2000
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge

'handlemouse' must be set to 'false' for Tiberian Sun / Red Alert 2. Don't use the games built-in windowed mode, use the cnc-ddraw windowed mode instead (Alt+Enter)

Very good , i ll try later

[FunkyFr3sh]

New stable release

https://github.com/CnCNet/cnc-ddraw/releases

 

Changelog

• Support for 16 bit color depth games
• Several bug fixes and improvements

The following games should be working with this release (and probably some others):
Dune 2000
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge
Nox

Note: For better performance this release was built with visual Studio 2017 (v141_xp) and requires now at least Win XP SP3

Instructions

1. Download cnc-ddraw.zip and extract it into your game folder
2. Disable all compatibility modes for all of the game executables
3. Start the game

Hotkeys

• [Alt] + [Enter] = Switch between windowed and fullscreen mode
• [Ctrl] + [Tab] = Unlock cursor
• [Right Alt] + [Right Ctrl] = Unlock cursor

[[CC] RaVaGe]

Great work, works well with Yuri's Revenge, very low latency and lets me use SweetFX post processing shaders.

[bright_hawkins]

On 10/13/2018 at 7:04 PM, FunkyFr3sh said:

 

The frame rate limiter doesn't slow down the scroll speed anymore with the latest cnc-ddraw since that was a pretty bad solution from many years ago. It actually slowed down the whole game, not just the scroll (which ended up causing lag in online games).

I assume you're talking about CnC95, not RA95? The CnC95 campaign doesn't have the scroll speed limiter patch yet, so you'll have to enable a workaround I added to cnc-ddraw until nyerguds updates his installer.

 

Add the following line to ddraw.ini

 

You can choose a number between 1 and 16, higher number means slower scroll speed. It's probably the best to keep the number as low as possible to prevent slow downs during the gameplay.

OK

Edited December 2, 2018 by bright_hawkins

[touko]

Is it possible to handle pillarboxing from cnc-ddraw 1.3.2.0? 

I’m trying to get C&C95 rendered in 640x400 and upscaled to 2400x1800. The problem is I can’t get the fullscreen to be pillarboxed on a 2880x1800 display.

I’ve been tweaking AMD Radeon settings to use GPU scaling with maintaining aspect ratio setting, but I see no difference. It also seems like maintas setting is for the upscaling part, so enabling it does not help with required stretching from 8:5 to 4:3. 

1. Does setting width and height make a difference in what resolution is requested with fullscreen=true? I’m not sure whether it’s my driver forcing the stretching at this point.

2. Is setting windowed=true supposed to make a difference in this case? My expectation was it would create a window to fill the screen while only using the requested width and height, but that did not happen. 

[FunkyFr3sh]

 

59 minutes ago, touko said:

Is it possible to handle pillarboxing from cnc-ddraw 1.3.2.0? 

I’m trying to get C&C95 rendered in 640x400 and upscaled to 2400x1800. The problem is I can’t get the fullscreen to be pillarboxed on a 2880x1800 display.

I’ve been tweaking AMD Radeon settings to use GPU scaling with maintaining aspect ratio setting, but I see no difference. It also seems like maintas setting is for the upscaling part, so enabling it does not help with required stretching from 8:5 to 4:3. 

1. Does setting width and height make a difference in what resolution is requested with fullscreen=true? I’m not sure whether it’s my driver forcing the stretching at this point.

2. Is setting windowed=true supposed to make a difference in this case? My expectation was it would create a window to fill the screen while only using the requested width and height, but that did not happen. 

 

fullscreen=true would use whatever resolution you're using currently in your OS. Once it's set to true, width and height are both ignored.

 

If you set fullscreen=true+windowed=true it will look the same for you as if you had fullscreen=true+windowed=false, the only difference is that one is using fullscreen exclusive mode and one not. 

For best performance:            fullscreen=true+windowed=false       (Fullscreen exclusive)

For no tearing/fast alt+tab:    fullscreen=true+windowed=true        (Windowed-Fullscreen)

 

However, you don't really need to use fullscreen=true, you can also set the width/height manually as shown in the example below.

 

 

For stretching 8:5 to 4:3 you can either have letterboxing:

[ddraw]
width=2400
height=1800
maintas=true
boxing=false

 

Or windowboxing:

[ddraw]
width=2400
height=1800
maintas=false
boxing=true

 

Or stretched to fill the whole screen:

[ddraw]
width=2400
height=1800
maintas=false
boxing=false

 

[Mafier]

Singlecpu=false doesn't work

[FunkyFr3sh]

19 minutes ago, Mafier said:

Singlecpu=false doesn't work

 

Maybe something else set it to CPU 0 (not cnc-ddraw). All games on cncnet are patched to set CPU 0 with all renderers.

What game are you playing?

[Mafier]

Mental Omega.But ts ddraw is exceptional.

[FunkyFr3sh]

16 minutes ago, Mafier said:

Mental Omega.But ts ddraw is exceptional.

 

Yes, ts-ddraw overrides all settings and enables all CPUs.

 

By default all CPUs are used, that means something in Mental Omega changes it to CPU 0. Do you maybe have any compatibilty modes enabled for your game executables? Disable all and then try again.

[Mafier]

15 minutes ago, FunkyFr3sh said:

 

Yes, ts-ddraw overrides all settings and enables all CPUs.

 

By default all CPUs are used, that means something in Mental Omega changes it to CPU 0. Do you maybe have any compatibilty modes enabled for your game executables? Disable all and then try again. 

No, I just set Renderer Option and replace their ddraw.ini  . Can cnc-ddraw be designed to override all settings directly like ts-ddraw?

 

[FunkyFr3sh]

22 minutes ago, Mafier said:

No, I just set Renderer Option and replace their ddraw.ini  . Can cnc-ddraw be designed to override all settings directly like ts-ddraw?

 

Ah, maybe Ares is doing it...

Yes, I will add it to cnc-ddraw on the next release.

[Mafier]

1 hour ago, FunkyFr3sh said:

Ah, maybe Ares is doing it...

Yes, I will add it to cnc-ddraw on the next release.

Nice , Thanks !

[FunkyFr3sh]

On 12/9/2018 at 2:39 PM, Mafier said:

Nice , Thanks !

Done! https://github.com/CnCNet/cnc-ddraw/releases

[Lightning Hunter]

Just a quick question here.  I got a new widescreen monitor (native resolution of 1920x1080).  I was tinkering with C&C95 for a few hours, and it seems that the only decent setting without bugs is 1024x768 but stretched to fit my monitor height (I have the black bars on the side by setting my Nvidia profile to scale on the GPU).  Although the game looks ok, it looks very blurry compared to what I am used to on my old fullscreen monitor...  The odd thing is that Linear looks no different than Nearest.  You would think that Nearest would look sharper, but it still looks just as blurry.  Any ideas on what else I can tweak?

Edited May 9, 2019 by Lightning Hunter

[FunkyFr3sh]

The linear and nearest settings have been removed long time ago, in newer versions you'll have to use "shader=" + "renderer=opengl"

http://downloads.cncnet.org/addons/td-config.7z

 

For nearest use "shader=", linear doesn't exist anymore but you can use "shader=Shaders\cubic.glsl" instead.

 

Here some examples of other shaders: https://imgur.com/a/kxsM1oY

[Lightning Hunter]

Ok, so I messed around with this for a few more hours, but I only managed to make the game look worse instead of better.  I checked all the shaders that came with the pack, and I also downloaded some from https://github.com/libretro/glsl-shaders.

I honestly saw barely any difference no matter what shader I tried, except for the scanlines which are just ugly.  I sure do miss how sharp the game looked on my old monitor!  What I've done is set the resolution to 1024x768 (any higher and the game is played on the top left corner of the screen), and I set my Nvidia settings so the game is not stretched (I prefer the black bars on the sides to get the original aspect ratio).  However, all this makes the game look blurry.  Here are my settings:

	; cnc-ddraw - https://github.com/CnCNet/cnc-ddraw - https://cncnet.org
	[ddraw]
; ### Optional settings ###
; Use the following settings to adjust the look and feel to your liking
	
; Stretch to custom resolution, 0 = defaults to the size game requests
width=0
height=0
	; Override the width/height settings shown above and always stretch to fullscreen
; Note: Can be combined with 'windowed=true' to get windowed-fullscreen aka borderless mode
fullscreen=false
	; Run in windowed mode rather than going fullscreen
windowed=False
	; Maintain aspect ratio - (Requires 'handlemouse=true')
maintas=false
	; Windowboxing / Integer Scaling - (Requires 'handlemouse=true')
boxing=false
	; Real rendering rate, -1 = screen rate, 0 = unlimited, n = cap
; Note: Does not have an impact on the game speed, to limit your game speed use 'maxgameticks='
maxfps=180
	; Vertical synchronization, enable if you get tearing - (Requires 'renderer=auto/opengl/direct3d9')
vsync=false
	; Automatic mouse sensitivity scaling  - (Requires 'handlemouse=true')
; Note: Only works if stretching is enabled. Sensitivity will be adjusted according to the size of the window
adjmouse=True
	; Preliminary libretro shader support - (Requires 'renderer=opengl') https://github.com/libretro/glsl-shaders
; Example: shader=Shaders\crt-lottes-fast-no-warp.glsl
shader=
	; Window position, -32000 = center to screen
posX=-32000
posY=-32000
	; Renderer, possible values: auto, opengl, gdi, direct3d9 (auto = try direct3d9/opengl, fallback = gdi)
renderer=opengl
	; Developer mode (don't lock the cursor)
devmode=false
	; Show window borders in windowed mode
border=true
	; Bits per pixel, possible values: 16, 24 and 32, 0 = auto
bpp=32
	; Enable C&C video resize hack - Stretches C&C cutscenes to fullscreen
vhack=False
	 
	; ### Compatibility settings ###
; Use the following settings in case there are any issues with the game
	
; Hide WM_ACTIVATEAPP messages to prevent problems on alt+tab
noactivateapp=false
	; Max game ticks per second, possible values: 0-1000
; Note: Can be used to slow down a too fast running game, fix flickering or too fast animations
maxgameticks=0
	; Gives cnc-ddraw full control over the mouse cursor (required for adjmouse/boxing/maintas)
; Note: This option only works for games that draw their own cursor and it must be disabled for all other games
handlemouse=true
	; Use Waitable Timer Objects rather than timeGetTime+Sleep to limit FPS/Ticks/Flip
; Note: To workaround tearing/stuttering problems, set maxfps 1 lower than screen refresh rate (59 for flip games)
accuratetimers=false
	; Force CPU0 affinity, avoids crashes/freezing, *might* have a performance impact
singlecpu=false
mhack=False
filter=nearest
	 
	; ### Game specific settings ###
; The following settings override all settings shown above, section name = executable name
	
; Carmageddon
[CARMA95]
renderer=opengl
noactivateapp=true
maxgameticks=30
	; Command & Conquer Gold
[C&C95]
maxgameticks=120
windowed=False
fullscreen=False
	; Command & Conquer: Red Alert
[ra95]
maxgameticks=120
	; Age of Empires
[empires]
handlemouse=false
	; Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
[empiresx]
handlemouse=false
	; Age of Empires II
[EMPIRES2]
handlemouse=false
	; Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
[age2_x1]
handlemouse=false
	; Outlaws
[olwin]
noactivateapp=true
maxgameticks=60
	; Dark Reign: The Future of War
[DKReign]
maxgameticks=60
	; Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
[battlegrounds]
handlemouse=false
	; Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
[battlegrounds_x1]
handlemouse=false
	; Carmageddon 2
[Carma2_SW]
renderer=opengl
noactivateapp=true
maxgameticks=60
	; Atomic Bomberman
[BM]
maxgameticks=60
	; Dune 2000
[dune2000]
maxfps=59
accuratetimers=true
	; Dune 2000 Online
[dune2000-spawn]
maxfps=59
accuratetimers=true
	; Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
[game]
noactivateapp=true
handlemouse=false
maxfps=60
	; Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun Online
[ts-spawn]
noactivateapp=true
handlemouse=false
maxfps=60
	; Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge
[gamemd]
noactivateapp=true
handlemouse=false
maxfps=60
	; Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge Online
[gamemd-spawn]
noactivateapp=true
handlemouse=false
maxfps=60
	
[cnc95]
windowed=False
fullscreen=False

Edited May 11, 2019 by Lightning Hunter

[FunkyFr3sh]

With those settings you're using right now you leave the scaling up to your graphics card, if you want cnc-ddraw to take care of it (and make all shaders working) then set this:

fullscreen=true

maintas=true

 

 

[Lightning Hunter]

It actually looks exactly the same when I choose those settings.  Any other options I can try, or am I just expecting too much?

Edit:  Hmm, maybe the shaders do more when I stretch the image to widescreen. Is there a way to set it so the black bars are on the sides to maintain fullscreen aspect ratio?  I was doing that through my graphics card before, but maybe I should do it through ddraw if possible.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Lightning Hunter

[FunkyFr3sh]

You should be able to see quite a big difference between "shader=" and "shader=Shaders\cubic.glsl" with fullscreen=true

 

use maintas= to enable/disable the black bars on the sides

 

 

Edit:

Remove this here first (Settings written on the bottom override the ones on the top). 

[C&C95]
windowed=False
fullscreen=False

[cnc95]
windowed=False
fullscreen=False

 

Instead of removing the sections on the bottom you can also do it via the config program instead, set display mode to "stretched"

[Lightning Hunter]

That did the trick!  Now I can really see the difference with the shaders.  I will have to experiment some...  Thanks Funky.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Lightning Hunter

[Lightning Hunter]

So I pretty much went through every single shader in that link above.  Although I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, I found a few that are nice.  One in particular I think you should include in your pack, Funky.  It has a unique photographic-style feel to it that has really grown on me. Although it is not for everyone,  I personally feel it emphasizes the gritty feel of the original game.  It is kind of how I always pictured the game based on the original C&C DOS instruction manual.

https://github.com/libretro/glsl-shaders/blob/master/xbr/shaders/super-xbr/custom-jinc2-sharper.glsl

 

[FunkyFr3sh]

54 minutes ago, Lightning Hunter said:

So I pretty much went through every single shader in that link above.  Although I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, I found a few that are nice.  One in particular I think you should include in your pack, Funky.  It has a unique photographic-style feel to it that has really grown on me. Although it is not for everyone,  I personally feel it emphasizes the gritty feel of the original game.  It is kind of how I always pictured the game based on the original C&C DOS instruction manual.

https://github.com/libretro/glsl-shaders/blob/master/xbr/shaders/super-xbr/custom-jinc2-sharper.glsl

 

 

Just tried it, but it looks like nearest (no shader). Maybe it just doesn't work for me, you got a screenshot?

 

btw... you get the best results with integer scaling, since you said your monitor supports max 1920x1080 you could run the game at 960x540 (2x scaling) rather than 1024x768

[Lightning Hunter]

2 hours ago, FunkyFr3sh said:

 

Just tried it, but it looks like nearest (no shader). Maybe it just doesn't work for me, you got a screenshot?

 

btw... you get the best results with integer scaling, since you said your monitor supports max 1920x1080 you could run the game at 960x540 (2x scaling) rather than 1024x768

How do I take a screenshot in C&C?  I never was able to... I read Nyergud's tutorial once, but all I ever get is a completely black image when I use print screen (no image data at all).  Also, his palettes cannot be imported by photoshop.

I tried turning on integer scaling with 960x540, but there are just black bars on top, bottom, and the sides now (the game is centered and looks tiny).  Is there a certain combination I need with maintas and fullscreen?

Edit: So I just figured out that pressing print screen while in-game creates a screenshot in the C&C folder, but all the screenshots look the same no matter what shader I'm using (so I guess it does not capture shaders in the shot).  Even xbrz-freescale.glsl looks the same in the screenshot.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Lightning Hunter