QZDoom-q1.3.0.1-x64 - sluggish speed & skewered skyboxes

[cacomonkey]

Been playing around with this fork of Zdoom (?) and I love the 32-bit high color software rendering that removes the ugly banding effects of other software source ports.  But it has sluggish speed on my system compared to the last released version of Zdoom.  I have an Asus 1070 GTX card in an i5-based system so my rig has plenty of muscle.  Is there any way I can tweak it to be as responsive and zippy as Zdoom or nearly so?  Also, I prefer mouselook enabled and unfortunately QZdoom has severely distorted skyboxes when I look up (see below the screencapture of AfterDoom's skybox).  Is there a fix for this?  If these issues could be worked out it could become my source port of choice for wads that don't require GZdoom.

 

Thanks to the developers for their work on making a decent high color software renderer for Doom

 

[VGA]

First of all you should go here

https://zdoom.org/downloads

 

and download the latest GZDoom and extract it into a new folder because it has merged QZDoom and now you have the latest version. By default, it uses OpenGL which should run fine. If you want to try the software renderer change the rendering output and restart the program. So test with this and report back.

 

There are some skybox-specific options, too, these may fix that problem.

[Voros]

The true color renderer requires a multi core processor to run decently. I think at least 2-4 cores.

 

Looking up and down in software mode can distort the whole screen thanks to y-shearing (I'm assuming all software rendering ports do this). Freelook is better suited for OpenGL.

 

Download GZDoom and switch to the true color renderer, and tinker with the options.

 

I've heard of good things about Eternity's software renderer and Eternity in general. If you're looking for a port that's not GZDoom and just as good, Eternity seems like the good choice.

[Graf Zahl]

The most important things have been said already.

 

One more thing to consider is that graphics hardware has virtually no effect on software rendering performance. It's a *software* renderer, after all!

[cacomonkey]

Thanks for the info, boys.  I didn't know that the latest GZdoom (which I've been using since I got back into Doom after a 5 year hiatus) had the true color 32-bit software renderer built in.  I'll experiment a bit and see what happens.  I'm trying to wean myself off of OpenGL with its bilinear filtering (?), going for that lovely retro-pixel look but couldn't stand that hazy, washed out banding effect the further you looked out in less well-lit areas with software renderers.

[cacomonkey]

Update:  Okay, just did some preliminary tests using the 32-bit true color software rendering in GZDoom 3.1.0-64-bit and here are my impressions:

 

Firstly, my selected settings:

 

Hardware Acceleration: Doom Software Renderer

Software Canvas: OpenGL

 

Well, it looks fantastic and runs as fast as Zdoom (as long as I select OpenGL as the Software Canvas... Direct3D causes a 30-50 FPS drop in framerates, I suspect.  I say "suspect" because using OpenGL of any kind on GZDoom causes my MSI Afterburner OSD hardware monitoring to not report FPS rates or any on-screen hardware monitoring for that matter... is this a bug?  Direct3D doesn't have this problem).  Very happy about this since I always wanted 32-bit true color software rendering on a doom source port.  But, alas, the skybox issue remains.  It's completely skewered using mouselook, just like in the screenshot I posted above.  I need to figure out the values to get it exactly like zdoom or PrBoom.  If anyone else has figured out those values please post them.

 

So, in summation:  GREAT job, guys, implementing and incorporating the 32-bit true color software renderer into the latest versions of GZDoom.  I no longer need to use QZdoom.  I prefer to use just one all-purpose source port build for all my dooming needs, and it looks like the latest GZDoom is it.  Just need to get that pesky skybox issue using mouselook working right.

[VGA]

Have you checked the options inside Display>Software renderer? There are some options for skyboxes. For me the default is capped, try changing that maybe.

 

Also look here, there is a bench command in GZDoom to check the performance:

 

 

[cacomonkey]

13 minutes ago, VGA said:

Have you checked the options inside Display>Software renderer? There are some options for skyboxes. For me the default is capped, try changing that maybe.

 

Also look here, there is a bench command in GZDoom to check the performance:

 

 

Thanks, VGA.  I'll look further into the skybox issue and fiddle with the settings.  That benchmarking tool will come in handy though I just updated my RivaTunerStatistics server and now my on-screen display is working and shows a nice, speedy 100-120 FPS (vsync enabled) using the 32-bit true color software OpenGL renderer in GZDoom 3.1.0 on a fairly intensive map (Skillsaw's Aeternum).