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Toaster
08-04-04, 07:37 PM
To enable/disable Ultrashadow use the r_useDepthBoundsTest command.(enabled by default if card supports it)

r_useDepthBoundsTest 0 to enable it.
r_useDepthBoundsTest 1 to disable it.

Corak tested this on his GT and got ~40fps without and ~50fps with ultrashadow. Thats a 25% speeddifference, more than I thought it would be.

I'm curious what speed differences it makes on HW that supports it, so anyone with a nv35/nv40 please give it a try and report back the results.
jAkUp
08-04-04, 08:06 PM
Wow.. thats nice :) Ultrashadow II is a nice feature :)
Revgen
08-04-04, 10:39 PM
Thats interesting. In the hardocp benchmarks the 6800 ultra would usualy beat the X800XT-PE between 20% to 25% at high quality settings. I wouldn't be surprised if Ultrashadow is the reason behind it.
-=DVS=-
08-04-04, 10:54 PM
Is it off by default ?

Edit: im blind i blame doom :retard:
Clay
08-04-04, 10:55 PM
Is it off by default ?

.
To enable/disable Ultrashadow use the r_useDepthBoundsTest command.(enabled by default if card supports it)
SH64
08-04-04, 10:57 PM
I'm using a 5950 & it wasent On by default for me .

i got nothin' by enabling it too .
Timothyb
08-04-04, 11:07 PM
I'm using a 5950 & it wasent On by default for me .

i got nothin' by enabling it too .

Isn't it only the 6800 cards that support it? Or at least Ultrashadow II.
SH64
08-04-04, 11:12 PM
Isn't it only the 6800 cards that support it? Or at least Ultrashadow II.

No .. the GeForce FX 5700/5900/5950 series supports it too . (UltraShadow)
Timothyb
08-04-04, 11:15 PM
Also, don't settings with "1" usually mean on and "0" means off.

So how does this work where r_useDepthBoundsTest 0 enables it and 1 disables it?
Toaster
08-05-04, 05:16 AM
I have no idea why 0 = enabled (does sound a bit illogical) but since there is a fps jump when set to 0 I assumed that 0 enables it. Anyway if 0 disables it then the feature would slow down the card by 25%.. not very usefull then.

It's strange that it makes no speed difference on nv35 cards. wonder why that it.
Skrot
08-05-04, 07:04 AM
5900XT here... No change in frame rate with it on or off (whichever they might be). By the way, there's some cool "demos" in Doom3, called shotdemo_001.demo4 and 002 or something like that. They're just one frame rendered. Would be good for image quality comparisons.
Timothyb
08-05-04, 01:08 PM
I have no idea why 0 = enabled (does sound a bit illogical) but since there is a fps jump when set to 0 I assumed that 0 enables it. Anyway if 0 disables it then the feature would slow down the card by 25%.. not very usefull then.

It's strange that it makes no speed difference on nv35 cards. wonder why that it.

I set it at 0, ran timedemo, set it to 1, ran timedemo, no difference. my Avg fps after the second run when everything is loaded is 53fps, on the first run with the pauses it's 47. But I ran it several times back and forth with that setting and no change.

I'm using a 6800nu.
Toaster
08-05-04, 06:10 PM
Update:

Asked Corak to retest it just to be sure because no one else seemed to notice any speeddifferences from it and he too got the same fps with/without the command set.

And the reason why also became clear after reading this article at firingsquad (http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/doom3_perf/page11.asp).
The most startling part about it is that NVIDIA’s ace in the hole, UltraShadow, isn’t even enabled currently in DOOM 3.

It's not even possible to use Ultrashadow in the current version of D3! (heh, everything makes a lot more sense now) Sorry for the consusion.
nvnews-reader
08-05-04, 07:23 PM
Wow, whats the hold up? I checked my config file and couldn't find the line included in it.

But there is this line:

seta r_debugLineDepthTest "0"

:confused:
Skrot
08-05-04, 07:27 PM
If it's not there, add it.
SH64
08-05-04, 07:37 PM
Update:

Asked Corak to retest it just to be sure because no one else seemed to notice any speeddifferences from it and he too got the same fps with/without the command set.

And the reason why also became clear after reading this article at firingsquad (http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/doom3_perf/page11.asp).


It's not even possible to use Ultrashadow in the current version of D3! (heh, everything makes a lot more sense now) Sorry for the consusion.

Maybe Creative asked id not to enable it until EAX gets implemented in Doom3 ?? :p

seriously though .. thats pretty interesting .. why it wasent enabled ??
on the other hand its pretty good to see the nVIDIA 6 series cards are faster even without UltraShadow .

Is there any chance to enable it soon ??
MUYA
08-05-04, 08:01 PM
Update:

Asked Corak to retest it just to be sure because no one else seemed to notice any speeddifferences from it and he too got the same fps with/without the command set.

And the reason why also became clear after reading this article at firingsquad (http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/doom3_perf/page11.asp).


It's not even possible to use Ultrashadow in the current version of D3! (heh, everything makes a lot more sense now) Sorry for the consusion.

What the whatta????

hmmmm...


I expect a 100 MB patch next for iD or soemthing .....uhhh.

I hate oversized patches
SH64
08-05-04, 08:10 PM
Yep .. Doom3 patch 1.1 will include UltraShadow support for nVIDIA cards , EAX support & a High res textures pack ! :p

aaaaand let the rumors begin !! :D
ragejg
08-05-04, 08:21 PM
Can I quote you on that?
ragejg
08-05-04, 08:21 PM
Please?
SH64
08-05-04, 08:25 PM
Hmmm .. let me think because theres an NDA for that .
Kamel
08-05-04, 08:48 PM
actually, they are legally obligated to include EAX support in their first patch (along with legally obligated to release the patch). i'll find you a link if you must, but i'm too lazy to look one up on my own free will.

not that i'm pleased at all with this, their surround sound method is far superior to any game ever released IMO, i really was disappointed when i got my surround sound because it added very little to my experience... not true with doom3, i've been completely immersed with the sound; and even better i can pinpoint the location of something just by hearing it o_0
mario64
08-06-04, 02:36 PM
Maybe Creative asked id not to enable it until EAX gets implemented in Doom3 ?? :p

seriously though .. thats pretty interesting .. why it wasent enabled ??
on the other hand its pretty good to see the nVIDIA 6 series cards are faster even without UltraShadow .

Is there any chance to enable it soon ??
That's my question exactly. Why in the world wasn't it enabled upon release? UltraShadow has been around since nv3x. Seems like Carmack would have implemented it in the engine a long time ago. We all know he uses nv cards in his primary dev machine. Could it be nv has to do something via drivers? Or maybe it is in fact Creative's fault.....

Mario64
fivefeet8
08-06-04, 02:39 PM
Isn't ultrashadow used in a few games already? Why wouldn't it be in Doom 3 already? Bugs?
mario64
08-06-04, 03:29 PM
Found this post by Rev over at Beyond3d:

"Using NVIDIA's "UltraShadow"
Not fully implemented in box version of game. The variable that toggles/controls this is "r_usedepthboundstest". Set this to either 0 (off) of 1 (enabled) and do a vid_restart. Explanations of this is kinda hard to come by atm coz Carmack refuses to reply to my emails about this.

[edit]Ah, John was probably too busy when I last asked him. He just (Aug 6th) told me :
John Carmack, to Rev via email, wrote:
Nvidia claims some improvement, but it might require unreleased drivers. It's not a big deal one way or another."

Not a big deal one way or another? I thought that was the feature nv specifically implemented into nv3x and 4x to enhance Doom 3 performance. Seems to me like it would be a major big deal. Maybe I've just been listening to nv's PR machine too long. :)

Mario64