Multi-Shader Error

Started by rcallicotte, January 13, 2007, 10:23:17 PM

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rcallicotte

This isn't meant to beat a droning drum, but I have a problem and hope it can be understood and addressed by the programmers.  Not sure I completely understand it, but here are the two errors that follow the adding of a certain texture and it isn't a consistent thing.  It first showed up during rendering.  Maybe it's a memory allocation trouble?

So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

Tim O'Donoghue

I've gotten  messages [similar to] the second one frequently on an Athlon64 machine when loading an 8193 terrain.  Oddly enough, another Athlon (not a 64) with otherwise similar characteristics, loads the same terrain just fine.   I never got a definitive answer, but the indications were that it was likely a memory allocation issue.

It seems odd to me that it's *just* memory though, since the second machine had the same amount of RAM and similar speed. Maybe it's in the way the 64 bit allocates memory.

Tim O

Will

Im not a programmer but Terragen 2 is not yet optimizd and im guessing that 64 bit prosseors might have some memory allocation errors beucase of the added string length.
The world is round... so you have to use spherical projection.

rcallicotte

Mine is a P4 3GHz with 2G of RAM.  I'm pretty sure it's about how some things are allocated.  This is only one texture that is a problem.  I'm going to look at trying different things.  Still believe it's not something I'm actually at fault in doing.
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

Will

it is probuably not your fualt just the fact that this is the first public test release of Terragen 2 so there will be bugs and Planetside is working on them.

Regards,

Will
The world is round... so you have to use spherical projection.

Oshyan

How large (resolution) is the texture you're trying to load?

- Oshyan

rcallicotte

3000X4000 - 696K

Do you think it would help to save this object as a TGO and then try again?
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

Oshyan

Saving as a TGO might help in general, but with this particular error it's generally indicating a memory-related issue with the loading of that particular image. It's surprising to see that message with 2GB of RAM, but if you have large populations or other memory-intensive things going on it's more understandable. Can you try loading the image in a default scene just for testing purposes?

- Oshyan

rcallicotte

I made it work before with only one other object in the scene, but maybe it is the fact I have four objects.  When I eliminate this one object, I can render just fine.  There must be something going on at a level I couldn't presently understood until we get the fix.  And then it won't really matter any more.  Sad life, programming.   ;D

But, if there's something you'd like me to try to help anything you guys are doing, let me know.  I'm not sweating it for now.
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

Oshyan

Thanks for the additional info. I don't think we need anything more to troubleshoot the error as it's an issue we're fairly well aware of and is somewhat widespread. It might be interesting to know more about the other objects though - number and size of textures and poly count or file size of the objects in question, as well as any populations in use.

- Oshyan

rcallicotte

The details on the objects are:

AMS.obj - 7.76Mb, 15 textures ranging from 528K to over 12M (this includes both textures and bumps)
Gateway.obj - 2.5Mb, 13 textures ranging from 7K to 948K (includes both textures and bumps)
Tower.obj - 4.8Mb, 17 textures ranging from 7K to 948K (includes both textures and bumps)
blonde_tiger.obj - 41Mb, 59 textures ranging from 64K to 9M (includes both texures and bumps)

The blonde_tiger.obj was disabled to be able to render the scene.  I understand why, though I tried to set the MTL for this particular object to just take the basic textures I needed.  Even then, I couldn't render.

Another thing that might affect the entire scene is that I used a complex shader setup to create 6 steps behind the mech.  I did nothing else, except a small amount of cloud manipulation.  No populations.


Quote from: JavaJones on January 19, 2007, 10:08:43 PM
Thanks for the additional info. I don't think we need anything more to troubleshoot the error as it's an issue we're fairly well aware of and is somewhat widespread. It might be interesting to know more about the other objects though - number and size of textures and poly count or file size of the objects in question, as well as any populations in use.

- Oshyan
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

Oshyan

Sounds like a lot of fairly complex objects. What was reported memory use by TG2 A: after loading the scene and B: after attempting to render?

- Oshyan

rcallicotte

Oshyan,

It's a pretty busy scene.  When I checked the Task Manager for memory use, I remember it dropped considerably after I disabled the blonde_tiger object, which was the problem object.  If I remember right, it went from 1.2G use to around 800K.  I could check it again, though I have a lot of other things happening right now.  But, if it would actually help someone, let me know and I'll make time to go back and look at this specifically.
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

Mandrake

I've had these errors also.
Once I go over 7 or more populations.
I've tried many things to side step the problem with no luck.
If I decrease the instances or spread the bunch, it will often go further, or not.
If I decrease the render size it would finish the render.
So I figured it was some buffer problem.