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2000-09-01
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Open-GL Stars 0.5.0.0500
___________________________________________________________________________
Tomasz Porosinski ReadMe File
Open-GL Stars is a benchmark/demo program I've written to test my Open-GL
and Win32 programming skills. It was meant to be a small project to test
some nice Open-GL features but developed into a fully featured application.
This program was created over the time period of about 2 months and its
status is freeware - have fun and enjoy!
___________________________________________________________________________
1. MAIN FEATURES
- easy to use BeOS-like user interface
- fully customizable screen resolution and bit depth
- full-screen or window rendering
- adjustable texture filtering mode: bilinear/bilinear+mipmaps/trilinear
- adjustable gamma setting
- MAPI support
- many different parameters to play with (press "h" to see on-screen help)
- all parameters are accessible through easy to use menu and stored in one
.ini file
- many statistics (frames per second, polygons per second, polygons per
frame...)
- benchmark mode (2000 frames, animation updated by frame - you will see
identical frames regardless to your machine performance, only time of
the benchmark pass will vary - just like in Quake 3 timedemo)
- nice Open-GL effects (like lens flare and some nice particles)
- screenshot feature (using Targa file format) - just press "s"
- detailed report of program run and benchmark results are displayed in two
separate windows
If you want to return to default settings - just delete "stars.ini" file
which is located in the main program directory.
___________________________________________________________________________
2. THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU BEGIN...
This 'Software' is free. You can distribute it to anyone as long as it is
given for free and unmodified. However, I do ask you to register it
because I would like to know how far it spreads. Registration is simple
- send an e-mail to the following address: stars@stars.benchmark.pl.
Please use it for personal purposes only, don't include this 'Software'
in your projects/themes/whatever without EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION
of The Author. Thank you.
Now, let's begin...
___________________________________________________________________________
3. FILE LIST
Distribiution package contains:
Short name | Size | Date | Time | Full name
-------------+--------------+----------+-------+-------------
STARS EXE | 180 736 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | stars.exe
BENCH TGA | 262 188 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | bench.tga
CHARS TGA | 32 812 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | chars.tga
END TGA | 65 580 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | end.tga
FLARE1 TGA | 16 428 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | flare1.tga
FLARE2 TGA | 16 428 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | flare2.tga
FLARE3 TGA | 16 428 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | flare3.tga
FLARE TGA | 1 068 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | flare.tga
GLOW TGA | 65 580 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | glow.tga
INTRO TGA | 262 188 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | intro.tga
LOGO TGA | 524 332 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | logo.tga
OTHER TGA | 65 580 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | other.tga
SPACE TGA | 65 580 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | space.tga
STAR1 TGA | 300 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | star1.tga
STAR2 TGA | 300 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | star2.tga
STAR3 TGA | 300 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | star3.tga
STARS TXT | 13 461 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | stars.txt
STARS-PL TXT | 16 248 | 00.09.01 | 12:00 | stars-pl.txt
___________________________________________________________________________
4. INSTALLATION
Unzip downloaded file (you must have done it already if you are reading
this) with full pathnames and you are ready to go. Enjoy!
___________________________________________________________________________
5. UNINSTALLATION
Just delete Stars directory - this program does not change your system
at all and the settings are stored in "stars.ini" file which is located in
the main program directory.
___________________________________________________________________________
6. KEYS
- press "h" to see on-screen help
Warning! All the keys are active only in demo-mode.
___________________________________________________________________________
7. HARDWARE / SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
Minimal requirements:
- any PC with Windows 95/98/ME or WindowsNT/2000 and Open-GL driver
Recommended hardware:
- PII or AMD-K6II processor
- 16 Megs of RAM
- 3D accelerator with full Open-GL ICD
This program was developed on:
- PentiumII 233, 64Mb, Riva 128 4MB AGP (ref. drivers 3.37 & 3.41)
- Celeron 566E, 128MB, ATI Rage 128 Pro 32MB (ref. drivers 06.33 CD21)
And tested on:
- Celeron 300A, 64Mb, intel740 8MB AGP (ref. drivers 3.2 & 4.0) - not
tested with the newest builds
- PentiumII 450, 128MB, Riva TNT 16MB AGP (ref. drivers 3.68 and newer)
Tested with the following systems:
- Microsoft Windows 98 Polish (4.10.1998)
- Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition Polish (4.10.2222)
- Microsoft Windows Millenium Edition English (4.90.3000)
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Polish(?) - version 0.4.4 only
It runs pretty smooth on those computers - around 30 fps on i740, 40 fps
on Riva128, 60-70 on RivaTNT and Rage128 Pro (640x480x16 fullscreen).
To achieve high and constant fps you need graphic card with good
fill-rate. I recommend to use 32-bit color if it is possible
- the difference between 16 and 32-bits is clearly visible.
This program looks pretty ugly on my Riva128, much better on i740 (good
dithering) but it requires 32-bits to look brilliant. Since it uses
blending to draw virtually everything, don't bother enabling 22-bit color
if you have a Voodoo 3 - it will not improve visual quality. Only true
32-bit rendering looks really good - if your graphic card offers this
feature - you are the winner!
___________________________________________________________________________
8. "END.TGA" TEXTURE
You can modify "end.tga" texture to put your own logo into the program (for
example - when you put this program on your website). The file should have
the dimension of 128x128 pixels and it MUST be a 4 channel, 32 bit Targa.
First 3 channels (RGB) are used for color and the 4th (Alpha) is used for
transparency (blending effect). If you have any questions - look at the
original "end.tga" file.
___________________________________________________________________________
9. VERSION HISTORY
0.5.0.0500 - [01.09.2000]
- next official version (Polish version also available)
- added introduction (only in demo-mode)
- added adjustable texture filtering mode: bilinear/bilinear+mipmaps
/trilinear
- improved textures - new Stars logo, Open-GL logo is now stored in
other.tga, better space texture
- particle system optimizations (new equation when rendering
as points)
- all selected options are now added to benchmark results (texture
filtering etc.)
- full information about initialization and program run in console
window
- all screenshots include the address of the official Stars home-page
- better save dialog on older systems (no "open as read-only" option)
- messages are now blended correctly
- revised MAPI support - the program will try to use normal shell
calls if the MAPI support is disabled
- fixed WinME wrong icon bug
0.5.0.0411 - beta1 [15.08.2000]
- tested and developed under Windows ME (4.90.3000 - Final, English)
- improved MAPI support
- improved UI (uses new save dialog from Win2000/WinME)
- you can now set gamma if you want brighter (or darker) picture
- completely new Open-GL Info and Help windows
- finally got rid of some stupid screen-shot bug
- rewritten clipping planes for stars (huge improvement in panoramic
/wide resolutions, but it is far from being perfect)
- more precise lens-flare positioning and rendering
- (too) many bug-fixes and optimizations
0.5.0.0250
- MAPI support
- customizable fonts and colors
- you can put your own logo (end.tga) - for example to let everybody
know where to download the good software from
- improved GUI (more hints and shortcuts) and space rendering
- all settings are now stored in stars.ini file
- the cursor changes to hand when moved over labels linking to some
web-pages or e-mail addresses
- many bug-fixes and optimizations
0.5.0.0201
- completely new space rendering
- new user BeOS-like interface
- more statistics (fill-rate, polygons per second, etc.)
- updated link to UPX
- removed command-line
0.4.4 - first public release [20.03.200]
- completely new background rendering
0.4.3 - many small bugfixes (too many...)
- text and icons are properly scaled with the resolution
0.4.2 - added lens-flare effect
- added debug mode to test lens-flare algorithms
- particles may be rendered as normal textured GL_Quads (some cards
(like my old i740) do not accelerate smoothed points so it was
extremely slow with GL_Points)
0.4.0 - added experimental particle system (using anti-aliased GL_Points)
- pressing [Alt]+[Tab] closes rendering window
- more accurate timer routine (timeGetTime)
- some minor (and major) bugfixes
0.3.6 - reduced number of glBindTexture calls (stars drawing) from about
300-1000 (depends on number of stars) to just 3 -> 5% performance
increase (with 400 stars)
0.3.5 - rearranged menu (separate Results tab, resizable window...)
- added textures authenticity verification
- added extra error checking
- added console window
0.3.0 - improved low-level routines, huge performance improvements (added
clipping to stars code -> jumped from 48 fps to 72 fps and to
meteors code -> 3-10% fps increase in close view)
0.2.5 - lots of improvements to error checking code
- found a bug in Riva 128 3.37 Open-GL ICD (unable to set proper
pixel format after selecting 8 or 32 bit software rendering)
- added error checking, no workaround yet
- menu now works perfectly
- resolved bug that caused to slow down animation at very high
frame-rates
0.2.2 - lots of improvements to meteors code - finally got rid of this
annoying "drizzle" bug - it should be smooth now!
0.2.0 - no more command line only parameters! added menu to select
resolution and mode (command line options still work
- for hard-core users)
0.1.8 - benchmark mode (2000 frames run)
- resolved command-line parameters bug
- screen saver is now disabled
- some code improvements and bug fixes
- added logo & other things
0.1.6 - added keys to change Stars and Meteors number
- added some authenticity verification data
0.1.4 - results are now exported to Clipboard
...
0.0.1 - start of the Stars project
___________________________________________________________________________
10. KNOWN BUGS
As for now - there are no known bugs. If you find a bug - drop me an e-mail
(support@stars.benchmark.pl) with a detailed description of your problem
and your configuration.
___________________________________________________________________________
11. THANKS
Special thanks go to:
- Benchmark3D (http://www.benchmark.pl) - The best Polish hardware site
and Ceti S.C. - Internet Operator (http://www.ceti.com.pl) for hosting
my web-site
- 2 Polish computer magazines - Enter (http://www.enter.pl) and Reset
(http://www.reset.com.pl) - for releasing the previous version on their
CD's
- Przemek for being the first person I received the results from
- Aleksander Ewich, who sent me the most results
- Aleksander Jerzy Jerzak for being the first registered user of my program
- Markus Oberhumer & Laszlo Molnar for UPX - The Ultimate Packer
for eXecutables (http://upx.tsx.org)
- Mike Lischke (Lischke@imib.med.tu-dresden.de) for excellent Open-GL
header files translation and some vector and matrix arithmetic code
- Scott Franke (druid-), author of Ambient Psychosis, for some really
useful Meteors code (http://www-scf.usc.edu/~sfranke/glj)
- Nate 'm|d' Miller (vandals1@home.com, http://members.home.com/vandals1)
for some stars code and excellent Open-GL sample code
___________________________________________________________________________
12. CONTACTING WITH THE AUTHOR
If you have any suggestions or questions about this program,
you can contact me at the addresses below:
WWW:
http://www.stars.benchmark.pl/
Email:
stars@stars.benchmark.pl
Smail:
Tomasz Porosinski
Zmudzka 13/27
51354 Wroclaw
POLAND
___________________________________________________________________________
13. LEGAL COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2000 Tomasz Porosinski. All rights reserved.
Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.
___________________________________________________________________________
01.09.2000 12:00 (GMT +01:00)