Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

DarkBASIC Professional Discussion / First Look at DarkSHADER

Author
Message
Duffer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Feb 2003
Location: chair
Posted: 22nd Nov 2006 07:47
@ Paul,

Will DarkShader come with some basic shader files to tinker with - water effect? halo / glow? etc?

a long time dabbler with DBC and DBPro with no actual talent but lots of enthusiasm...
Paul Johnston
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 22nd Nov 2006 13:51
Quote: "Will DarkShader come with some basic shader files to tinker with"


Yes, examples of both object shaders and fullscreen shaders will be included for you to use.
ICERGB
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Nov 2002
Location: Canada
Posted: 22nd Nov 2006 14:09 Edited at: 23rd Nov 2006 04:14
Just a thought or two,

-I am finding it difficult to find out why shaders use a dds with three or more levels with transparency and bumpmapping, and what layer is used for what. Sometimes adding a tga image.

-A skymap dds might use a lighting fx file with special code.

-or a water shader would need a special loop code.

-Even the simple bumpmapping environment fx files look very usefull.

It would be nice if the program actually made some basic code to work with for the several different uses for shaders, or even specific code for that shader.

I hate to be cynical, but the more I try to figure out shaders as they are right now the more I feel like am learning pascal or C++ and any leads I get to answer questions is like pulling teeth. Not to mention all the areas that lead to so many different building aspects.

If Dark Shaders simplifies this, this could be a big boon to selling Dbpro.

Edit: Also the need for a lower quality water shader for fast games and a higher quality one for other things.
Jagulaar
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Nov 2006
Location: RF, Moscow
Posted: 24th Nov 2006 11:36
Should I buy DarkShader in 2007 if I use win98SE and RadeOn-8500 (PS1.4) or DS will be XP(NT) and PS2.0 only? What limitations I'll get?

~~~/\==/\-
x1b
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Sep 2004
Location:
Posted: 29th Dec 2006 23:13
Any rough estimated cost on DarkShader and can I prepay now and recive when its ready.

Paul Johnston
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 2nd Jan 2007 15:03 Edited at: 2nd Jan 2007 15:07
I've deleted the recent off topic posts please keep this about DarkShader, thanks.

Quote: "Should I buy DarkShader in 2007 if I use win98SE and RadeOn-8500 (PS1.4) or DS will be XP(NT) and PS2.0 only? What limitations I'll get?"


It is unlikely to support Windows 98 I have no machine to test it, but the product will include shaders from all PS versions so your graphics card will still be able to display the 1.1 and 1.4 shaders. For best results it is advised you have XP and PS2.0 or greater. Some shaders will require PS2.0a or PS2.0b

Have a look here to see the highest version your card can support.

Quote: "Any rough estimated cost on DarkShader"

Not yet.
EdzUp
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Sep 2002
Location: UK
Posted: 9th Jan 2007 12:57
Could you do a high poly demo with multitexturing it would be interesting to see how well it performs with that, with the youtube vid it was just a static untextured mesh which didnt give much indication of how well it would perform in a gaming enviroment.

-EdzUp
Paul Johnston
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 15th Jan 2007 13:24
I've attached the help file in its current form, this is your chance to tell me what information you think should be included or areas that need more explaining.
Lost in Thought
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 15th Jan 2007 14:21
Help file looks good to me. Are you creating DarkShader Paul? I'll be buying DarkAI in a few weeks and I'll get this as well. Hope yall have an EA or preorder by then while I have the money

One thing I have been wondering about is the ability to use shaders to blend the textures on the limbs of an object. Since DBP doesn't support blendmapping per limb, but has a set limb effect command. It would be awesome if we could do blendmapping with shaders.

Green Gandalf
VIP Member
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jan 2005
Playing: Malevolence:Sword of Ahkranox, Skyrim, Civ6.
Posted: 15th Jan 2007 14:27 Edited at: 15th Jan 2007 14:40
Quote: "It would be awesome if we could do blendmapping with shaders."


You certainly can and have been able to for some time - I posted an example some time back. If I can find the link I'll edit this post.

Edit: actually, it's far quicker to give you a new demo than to find the link.

Here is a simple demo - you can of course do much fancier things in the shader.
Lost in Thought
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 15th Jan 2007 14:48
Very cool. I'll give this a closer look tonight. It will be awesome having a DarkShader to view and edit such as this in

Syncaidius
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 22nd Mar 2005
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 16th Jan 2007 09:11
@Paul:
Consider one DarkSHADER already sold, hehe.

EdzUp
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Sep 2002
Location: UK
Posted: 16th Jan 2007 12:30 Edited at: 16th Jan 2007 22:26
How much will Darkshader cost?

The help file explains it MUCH better than the vid does , seems amazingly useful for shader enabled cards.

-EdzUp
pdq
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 20th Jul 2006
Location:
Posted: 24th Jan 2007 00:16
This may have already been answered but,

Since DirectX 10 and Vista is being released shortly, are there
any plans for Geometry Shader support in Dark Shader? For example being able to apply a displacement map to produce detail geometry.
Sunflash
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jun 2005
Location: Seattle, Wa
Posted: 25th Jan 2007 15:53 Edited at: 26th Jan 2007 02:41
Hmmm, I was wondering if you could also create water like effects, complete with vertex manipulation? This would be sweet, then there could be "wave" effects you could apply to objects to make them jiggle!

Mountain Dew, happyness in a bottle.
Green Gandalf
VIP Member
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jan 2005
Playing: Malevolence:Sword of Ahkranox, Skyrim, Civ6.
Posted: 25th Jan 2007 18:57
@Sunflash

Have a look at the wave shader I posted on the following thread a week or so ago:

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=97446&b=1
Sunflash
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jun 2005
Location: Seattle, Wa
Posted: 26th Jan 2007 02:44
Lol, saw it, it's what spured my interest in this area. Amazing peice of code! Only problem is that I don't have enough knowledge of shaders to edit your code to make the water act like I need it too. Hmmm, on second thought, I think I'll try again.

Mountain Dew, happyness in a bottle.
Julius Caesar
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 14th Apr 2006
Location:
Posted: 27th Jan 2007 16:45
@Green Gandalf, how do you edit the shader code?

This will sound like a very noobish question but I am on XP and I can open up the .fx files with notepad, but I can only save them as say "bloom.fx.txt"?!?! You cannot see the extensions in XP as you could in Win 98 so I cant just change them.

Notepad works fine saving as .htm but not as.fx, its ver annoying! What do you use?

I came, I saw, I conquered. The die is cast. It is not these well-fed long haired men that I fear, but the pale and the hungry looking. Et tu, Brute?
-The Man Himself
EdzUp
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Sep 2002
Location: UK
Posted: 27th Jan 2007 18:46
Simple in XP, in the folder you want to see extensions go to the Tools menu, select 'Folder options...' then View then untick 'hide extensions of known file types'. This will make all file extensions visible and editable.

-EdzUp
Green Gandalf
VIP Member
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jan 2005
Playing: Malevolence:Sword of Ahkranox, Skyrim, Civ6.
Posted: 27th Jan 2007 20:12 Edited at: 27th Jan 2007 20:13
Quote: "This will sound like a very noobish question but I am on XP and I can open up the .fx files with notepad, but I can only save them as say "bloom.fx.txt"?!?!"


You can save them as "bloom.fx" by choosing the "All files" option in the Notepad "Save As Type" box. I agree this is annoying and there ought to be a simple way of changing this action. My PC saves them as "bloom.fx" anyway, but my laptop works just like your PC - both use XP. I don't know why they differ.

And, to answer your first question, at the moment I usually use Notepad to type up my first draft of a shader and then test and edit it using FX Composer which you can download for free from www.nvidia.com (search for "FX Composer 1.8" when you're on the site). But note that shaders developed in FX Composer sometimes need adjusting for use in DBP.

With any luck we'll be able to use DarkSHADER instead at some point.
Jagulaar
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Nov 2006
Location: RF, Moscow
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 11:06
Where can I download trial DarkShader or demo DarkShader? I couldn't find URL... I use PS 1.4 card and win98SE, so I want to check DS before buying...

~~~/\==/\-
Paul Johnston
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 17:40
I've attached the final help file for those that want to take a look.

Quote: "Where can I download trial DarkShader or demo DarkShader? I couldn't find URL..."


There are plans for a demo version.

Quote: "I use PS 1.4 card and win98SE, so I want to check DS before buying..."


A lot of the shaders will require PS 2.0, there are some 1.4 and 1.1 shaders included and DarkShader will show you which shaders might not work before you select them. I do not know if it will work on windows 98, so I suggest you wait for the demo to make sure.
JerBil
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th May 2004
Location: Somewhere along the Z axis...
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 22:29
It would be nice if shader abilities could be added to video card capabilities in DBP as well as resolution.

Ad Astra Per Asper
RalphY
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Sep 2004
Location: 404 (UK)
Posted: 3rd Feb 2007 17:56 Edited at: 3rd Feb 2007 17:58
Can anyone with Dark Shader get fullscreen effects to work in dbpro? Using the code in the help file to load a fullscreen effect and the edge detect effect, all I get is garbage displayed to the screen (see attached image).

I get similar output for the DOF effect too, they all run fine in Dark Shader just not in dbpro.

Code I'm using to load shader:
Paul Johnston
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 3rd Feb 2007 19:22
Make sure you have version 6.4 for DBPro, there was a bug in 6.3 that would prevent the background from refreshing.
RalphY
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Sep 2004
Location: 404 (UK)
Posted: 3rd Feb 2007 20:32
Thanks, got it working now. Seems DBPro didn't update correctly the first time I installed the 6.4 patch, just tried reinstalling it and it's working now.
Red Ocktober
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Dec 2003
Location:
Posted: 4th Feb 2007 21:13
question about DarkShader and fog... is fog one of the variables that can be adjusted or factored in using DarkShader?

thx

--Mike
Morcilla
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 1st Dec 2002
Location: Spain
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 11:04 Edited at: 6th Feb 2007 09:58
Quote: "there was a bug in 6.3 that would prevent the background from refreshing"


Can you point me to some description/testing of this bug?

I'm currently testing DGDK and I see the texture of the shader-applied object over imposed to the background.
Is that the same issue that you describe?

(Shader in question is a Depth Of Field kind, but not fullscreen.
I do not own DarkShader yet, so I can't test that fullscreen one.)

[EDIT] Sorry if that was a little bit off-topic...
Tapewormz
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Sep 2002
Location: Winnipeg, Mantoba, Canada
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 06:43
Seems a little bit pricey for what it does. I'll just stick to the free nvidia shader software.

greenlig
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Aug 2003
Location: Melbourne
Posted: 8th Feb 2007 00:46
Nice piece of software. I have been able to get most if not all of the shaders from the ultimate shader pack running in it as well. Good stuff.

Blender3D - GIMP - WINXP - DBPro
greenlig
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Aug 2003
Location: Melbourne
Posted: 10th Feb 2007 01:26 Edited at: 10th Feb 2007 02:34
Dammit. After all these nice visuals inside DS, I can't get them to run in Dbpro! all I get with the Aiko+normal mapping is a blue screen and a black Aiko with no shading whatsoever. Same with every other effect.

My system is no problem, and I just re-installed patch 6.4

Any help?

greenlig

edit - Scratch that, I got it all working.

Blender3D - GIMP - WINXP - DBPro
Mike Inel
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 14th Feb 2003
Location: Sa upuan ko po...
Posted: 13th Feb 2007 03:52 Edited at: 13th Feb 2007 04:27
Edit: (Wrong post)

Programmers does a big participation in a game, yet they have the least credit.
Portfolio: http://mike-inel.cgsociety.org/gallery/
Website: www.Altiz-Studio.com
Spotaru
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Dec 2006
Location: Over the next rise.
Posted: 13th Feb 2007 04:24
d3dx9_31.dll is "ONLY" in Direct X SDK (Oct. 2006) version.
DVader
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 13th Feb 2007 20:03
It may seem like a silly question, but where exactly do I have to copy this dll? Just got Ds today but get the message that the application can't run because of a missing dll file. I have copied the dll into system 32, also into the DS root folder with no change.

I can't see any mention of this problem apart from the last post which doesn't really explain much. So annoying to have just got it and then can't run the damm thing!

<center><img src="http://tinyurl.com/oz8mf"><center>
ESP
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 2nd Aug 2006
Location: London, England, U.K.
Posted: 14th Feb 2007 11:33
Hi DVader,

Move the dll to system.

Robin
Paul Johnston
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 14th Feb 2007 13:41
If you are missing the d3dx9_31.dll you need to download the latest DirectX runtime, available here
Bodo
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 17th May 2005
Location: Germany
Posted: 19th Feb 2007 18:27
Hello, I has a problem with following code. My DarkBasic compiler always announces, to the instruction GET Object Effect (1, - 1) can the command not understand. I hope it can me help. Thank you Bodo Reissig


sync on
sync rate 0

rem Load model and shader effect
load object "Pilz2dick.x",1
autocam off
load effect "Normal Mapping.dbs",1,1
set object effect 1,1
Get Object Effect(1,-1)
null=make vector4(1)
set vector4 1,0,0,0,0
set effect constant vector 1,"AmbientColor",1
set vector4 1,0,-200,0,0
set effect constant Vector Element "LightPos",0,1
set vector4 1,255,0,0,0
set effect constant Vector Element "LightColor",0,1
null=delete vector4(1)
Release Effect Pointer
do
rem Draw main camera
sync mask %001 : sync
loop
Whong
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Jul 2004
Location: Turku Finland
Posted: 24th Feb 2007 10:48
Looks very nice!



Click to hear more about these spectacular programs for special effects!
Paul Johnston
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 24th Feb 2007 20:37
Quote: "My DarkBasic compiler always announces, to the instruction GET Object Effect (1, - 1) can the command not understand."


There should be a dll called "ShaderData.dll" placed into your "Darkbasic Professional\Compiler\plugins-user" folder on install. Check that the file has been placed in this directory.
Green Gandalf
VIP Member
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jan 2005
Playing: Malevolence:Sword of Ahkranox, Skyrim, Civ6.
Posted: 24th Feb 2007 23:29 Edited at: 24th Feb 2007 23:33
Paul,

I am afraid you have missed the point. The example code in the Dark Shader Help file does NOT compile and gives the error. Look at the bit I've circled in the attached screenshot. The code snippet compiles if you replace



with something like



This is precisely the point that Freddix made in another thread a few days ago.

Could you check this for us please - and tell us how to use the function?

Edit: Dammit! Forgot to put in the red circle!!
Paul Johnston
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 26th Feb 2007 13:59
Quote: "x=get object effect(1,-1)"


I see what you mean now, yes DBPro does require that returned values be put somewhere and it looks like I forgot to do that in the example. Bad habit from C++ where ignoring the return value is valid.

The value returned is just an error code or 0 if it succeeds. I've attached a keywords file and command list with these commands added.
EdzUp
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Sep 2002
Location: UK
Posted: 26th Feb 2007 14:44
im sure C++ has a 'function must return a value' error, thats why all functions must have a 'return 0' at the end.

something like


That would result in an error or a warning in VC++ 6 there always has to be a return something there.

-EdzUp
Paul Johnston
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 26th Feb 2007 17:02
No no, I mean you can do:


and have the return value go no where, DBPro doesn't like this so you would have to do:
Green Gandalf
VIP Member
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jan 2005
Playing: Malevolence:Sword of Ahkranox, Skyrim, Civ6.
Posted: 26th Feb 2007 17:02 Edited at: 26th Feb 2007 17:15
Quote: "I've attached a keywords file and command list with these commands added."


Thanks Paul, that's appreciated.

Edit:

Paul,
Just had a quick look at the two files you've just posted and there seems to be a discrepancy. The "ShaderData.ini" file refers to "get object effect", whereas "ShaderData Commands.txt" refers to "get effect pointer". I assume you mean "get object effect" in each case - or will both versions work?
EdzUp
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Sep 2002
Location: UK
Posted: 26th Feb 2007 20:02
oops too c++ orientated, I see what ya mean now

-EdzUp
Freddy 007
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Nov 2004
Location: Denmark
Posted: 5th Mar 2007 23:15
Quote: "Dammit. After all these nice visuals inside DS, I can't get them to run in Dbpro! all I get with the Aiko+normal mapping is a blue screen and a black Aiko with no shading whatsoever. Same with every other effect.

My system is no problem, and I just re-installed patch 6.4

Any help?

greenlig

edit - Scratch that, I got it all working."


Can you please tell how? I just got DS, but I can't get anything to work in DBP, it's really strange. Some shaders crashes, and some of them just show up as completely black, and so on. I have installed the runtime and DBP 6.5. I also have the latest gfx drivers and the latest DX updates.

Please help

Green Gandalf
VIP Member
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Jan 2005
Playing: Malevolence:Sword of Ahkranox, Skyrim, Civ6.
Posted: 5th Mar 2007 23:45
Freddy 007

Could you post a simple example dba program and shader plus media that fail?

Do the shaders work OK in Dark Shader?
Freddy 007
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Nov 2004
Location: Denmark
Posted: 6th Mar 2007 11:08
Quote: "Do the shaders work OK in Dark Shader?"


Yes, they show just fine in DS, just not when I compile the exported projects in DBP. To this post I've attached a cube with glass shader, but in DBP it just doesn't show up.

The Nerd
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 5th Jun 2004
Location: Denmark
Posted: 6th Mar 2007 11:28 Edited at: 6th Mar 2007 11:34
I too bought DarkShader yesterday, and I'm having the exact same problem as Freddy. When I compiled the example he attached, I actually got nothing more than a blue screen

I have really no idea what's going on here. And my GFX card should be fully capable of showing them, as it has SM3.0.

The shaders also works just fine in the DarkShader program here, which is really strange when they doesn't work in DBPro.

[EDIT]

If it should clear things up a bit, I got DBPro v. 6.5 installed.

[/EDIT]

Paul Johnston
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 6th Mar 2007 16:12 Edited at: 6th Mar 2007 16:12
Quote: "If it should clear things up a bit, I got DBPro v. 6.5 installed."


I've just installed 6.5 and sure enough I'm getting the same problems. I suspect it is because a newer version of the SDK has been used which doesn't support VS 1.1 nor PS 1.1, try setting both VS and PS version to 2.0 or greater and see if that solves it. I've notified Lee of the problem.

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2025-08-08 11:14:11
Your offset time is: 2025-08-08 11:14:11