Eternity Engine v3.35.90 "Simorgh"

Simorgh has finally been officially unleashed. Please enjoy!

Win32 Binaries
Source
Small Compiler and Documentation
Spare EDFs
Readme File

Neat!

On my machine (w98se & geforce2) EE fails to setup resolutions 320x200 and 640x400 in fullscreen.
Another sdl-based ports works fine.

I'm just run EE first time and completely unfamiliar with it. I don't ever know where output logs are stored.

Just out of curiosity, what is 'Simorgh'?

Also spelt Simurgh. I like the recent release names - much better than "alpha", "gamma" and "delta".

Hitherto said:

On my machine (w98se & geforce2) EE fails to setup resolutions 320x200 and 640x400 in fullscreen.
Another sdl-based ports works fine.

I'm just run EE first time and completely unfamiliar with it. I don't ever know where output logs are stored.

This could be because other ports will give you a resolution other than the one you asked for if they can't set the one you're trying to use. We consider it more friendly to let the user know they're not getting what they asked for. Because we use SDL for setting video modes, there's nothing else different between what we do and what they do except this little fact.

I know for certain that PrBoom will change to the "closest" resolution to the one you asked for if it failed to set the one you wanted.

To set custom resolutions in EE, you can use the -geom command-line parameter at startup, which works like this:

-geom ####x####[w/f]

where the first #### is the width, the second #### is the height, and [w/f] is one of either w or f, meaning windowed or fullscreen respectively. We're going to be changing the resolution setting system entirely before the next release, though, and raising the highest res you can use to something completely ridiculous. We meant to have it done in time for this release, but it just didn't happen.

Quasar said:
This could be because other ports will give you a resolution other than the one you asked for if they can't set the one you're trying to use.

Well, I'm also getting the issue and it's evidently as bug 489 in Odamex. If I am not mistaken drivers have a list of allowed resolutions which sometimes exclude valid ones, such as these more archaic VGA resolutions, and list only more standard desktop resolutions. PrBoom and Chocolate Doom have workarounds for this. In Chocolate Doom it's a setting (as described in the bug report listed above).

The issue was not present in older versions of SDL.

>>This could be because other ports will give you a resolution other than the one you asked for if they can't set the one you're trying to use.

No. All is fairly right for chocolate and prboom-plus.

prboom:

I_InitScreenResolution: 320x200 (fullscreen)
V_InitMode: using 8 bit video mode
...
HU_Init: Setting up heads up display.
I_InitGraphics: 320x200
I_UpdateVideoMode: 0xe0000000, own buffer, lock-and-copy

D_SetGraphicsMode: Set graphics mode
Couldn't set video mode 320x200

myk said:
The issue was not present in older versions of SDL.

Yes, ee33333 runs these modes fine.

OK I think I know what the problem might be then. You need to change your video driver. SDL has changed the default behavior to using Windows GDI rather than DirectX. In order to use DirectX video modes with Eternity, you need to do one of the following:

1. Before starting Eternity (and every time), you could do:
set SDL_VIDEODRIVER=directx
at a command prompt. You must then run Eternity from the same command prompt, without having closed it, for the variable to take effect.

2. Use the command-line parameter -directx to Eternity directly, and EE will set the proper environment variable on its own.

3. Find out how to permanently set environment variables in the version of Windows that you are running (you said Win98SE earlier, so in that case you would add them to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file under the root of the primary hard disk). If you add the same command from above, or add the variable to the list box that is used in NT-based Windows OSes instead, you will never have to worry about it from then on. However, all SDL programs will use this setting.

If this doesn't fix it, or causes other problems, let me know.

Thanks, it works.

Heh, silly me. I should have known that because I've gone through it before. In fact, for Windows ports I use a command prompt that loads with @set SDL_VIDEODRIVER=directx but absentmindedly decided to test eternity by double-clicking its icon instead of using the command line...

Wah, and I just wasted all that time the last week or two not getting the SVN to work.

Alright, gotta try this :D

Documentation..? Nice to have, so one might actually know how to use new features :)

Hitherto said:

On my machine (w98se & geforce2) EE fails to setup resolutions 320x200 and 640x400 in fullscreen.

I have something similar, in that I cannot properly load Eternity from the Command Prompt in fullscreen mode... It usually bombs out with "Could not set video mode 640x400" or whatever. The solution is to run it from windowed Command Prompt mode, or directly from Explorer.

But this is an old issue, which I haven't even verified for Simorgh. It might be caused by my computer systems too and not be EE's fault (but SDL's which is not Quasar's work).

Anyway, good work.

Eternity does work from a full screen command prompt in Windows 98 if the command prompt is set up correctly, but it's pretty pointless because, unlike Doom, Eternity doesn't use the DOS screen for anything. You're just forcing it to minimize the DOS screen when a DOS window makes much more sense.

For the actual solution to the resolution issue, see what Quasar said above.

myk said:

but it's pretty pointless because, unlike Doom, Eternity doesn't use the DOS screen for anything.

Yeah, I just prefer the prompt because of the command-line (unless I use the front-end). Getting the prompt into windowed-mode is really no problem.

Right, I use it too (it makes much more sense than drag and drop or whatever when one's got files in many directories, depending on their type). Except for online engines, which have their necessary launcher. I meant setting it to full screen mode is pointless to launch Windows executables. I do have a shortcut to a full screen DOS prompt for Doom (and Boom), however, because there it makes sense.