Topic: atipblag.dat (ATI/AMD drivers misbehavior) (Read 9189 times)

FlameScion · « **Reply #15 on:** January 12, 2021, 08:28:08 AM »

Don't worry, this is a nice interesting journey into troubleshooting and I might get to learn something neat about it .

So, the message that prompts about atipblag.dat is:

"A file appears to be missing
C:\Windows\system32\atipblag.dat
Press CANCEL to disable this message box"

Tried changing the "db_log_debug_bar = 7" into Output and finally got something less empty, but quite repetitive and with our stellar guest, Mr atipblag.dat.

Sadly I don't have Visual Studio, sorry. And I should be the one apologizing for bringing such a weird problem into this, I tend to have terrible luck with most of PC related things

Holey Moley · « **Reply #16 on:** January 13, 2021, 01:22:08 AM »

This is part of software development, commercial software firms just have means of doing this before it gets to the customer.

Can you do this with the SOM_PRM model viewer (ws.log) so we can see what a successful log looks like?

This atipblag.dat is part of the driver system or some kind of injected DLL that runs in user space. I'm not sure which. Did you try making a 0 sized file with that name in the system32 folder?

Everything before atipblag.dat looks normal, but after it seems to go downhill. I'd like to think of way to determine if the ATI code is actually killing our program (seems really rude if so) or if som_db.exe is killing itself. But I don't see anything here that would give it a reason to kill itself (like an error that it considers a showstopper.)

The only thing I can think to do is track down where som_db.exe calls FindClose and CloseHandle and mark those and see if I can find code where it exits prematurely. Normally it calls dx_ddraw_DirectDrawCreateEx after and starts using Direct3D.

P.S. That missing file prompt is normal for debug builds. I've added some code to just log it. Please let me see what I can set up to get to the bottom of who's responsible.

EDITED: ~~I think you should've tried my suggestion to set it 8.~~ I have a feeling all of this happens inside dx_ddraw_DirectDrawEnumerateExA and it fails to show any display devices. I see som_db.exe uses OutputDebugStringA so I think I will route it to the log so we can see its output. I may try to add a console feature when I have some free time. ~~8 should get some useful info in this context.~~

Strikeout: The new debug build in Reply #17 should output near equivalent info to 8 because som_db outputs that information.

Holey Moley · « **Reply #17 on:** January 13, 2021, 02:29:48 AM »

Log this (http://csv.swordofmoonlight.net/SomEx.dll/1.2.3.4d.zip) please.

It's just a debug version. It looks like if som_db.exe doesn't get a D3D device it will pop up a message box with a Direct3D error.

I've added some output for things that might come up and routed its debug output to the log. Those start with > in the log.

There is a check that the D3D enumeration callback needs to originate in the EXE. If ATI/AMD has some kind of wrapper callback that might be what's happening. I've added output for if that happens.

FlameScion · « **Reply #18 on:** January 13, 2021, 02:55:08 AM »

Wonderful news! after finally creating the 0 sized file the engine started! Since I did a a lot of adjustments i didn't have to, I deleted and redownloaded everything just to be safe. I'll attach the db.log and ws.log just so you can make sure it's okay.

I can really see the difference graphically between the old engine and the update, and I think my poor PC does as well

Thank you for having so much patience with me these days!

Holey Moley · « **Reply #19 on:** January 13, 2021, 04:37:02 AM »

Okay? So I wonder, does this crummy software that needs that file kill every program when it doesn't get its file? How funny, and poor quality. Normally I'm very displeased with outside software that interferes, but I don't know if it's part of AMD's graphics drivers or not. If not it's part of the company's GPU Control Panel solutions.

Thanks for this screenshot, it looks like I need to disable do_stipple in those language packs! Making a note. It used to look very good on a monitor I had, but it depends a lot on the DPI and generally probably the graphics have come a long way since then, with do_aa. (Note, do_stipple only applies to dithered, 16-bit color modes.)

The text based gauges are part of do_st. My thinking at the time is they look better than the image based ones out of the box. My project has a new mode based on KF, but the compass tends to not be lit well in normal projects, and I haven't figured out how to solve that, but I have a plan. (KF2 uses a complicated color formula that just happens to look good with the compass, the best bet would be to see what happens if you brightened its texture image.)

Your maps can have multiple layers and the clipping is a lot more sophisticated than originally so you can do many things that would glitch crazily otherwise.

I haven't had time to doctor most of the art. I've worked mostly on the map geometry. The other things have lots of holes and seams in their textures. If you want to help patch them over I can facilitate that. If you have better art from your past experience you can copy it into your project's DATA folder and set up additional DATA folders if you need them.

The outdoor set should generally blend the lighting between the titles. Some might be too sharp to, but if you think something isn't blending let me know.

P.S. I'm going to continue to investigate this. I wonder why you were able to get it to work with the Moratheia 2.1 demo for instance. And the other tools for that matter

BTW: Your last logs.zip file doesn't really help, but it's probably too much to ask to make more since I'd need you to use ws_log_debug_bar=7, and use the new 1.2.3.4d.zip file, AND go back and delete your atipblag.dat file. If you want to do all of that it can help, but if not we can put it behind us, and just assume the atipblag.dat programmers are amateurs. I will add a pop-up box to tell people to make a 0 sized file.

EDITED: I've changed the New Project [Options] to remove do_stipple mainly. You can see them here (http://svn.swordofmoonlight.net/data/my/prof/Ex.ini) but to truly fix them the same file needs to be changed in the text/English/Default.zip data pack. (Note, the linked to file is Japanese, so only change your [Option] section if you want to do that. I would change it in your project at least.) There's a whole lot of these settings, my KF2 project uses a lot more of them. I maintain an unofficial list here (http://en.swordofmoonlight.org/wiki/SomEx/list_of_extensions) that's usually not very up-to-date.

FlameScion · « **Reply #20 on:** January 13, 2021, 05:10:48 AM »

I don't have any previous experience, I always wanted to create some models and try to create landscapes in game engines, and Sword of Moonlight is one that caught my atention the most since I always liked the KF style, so not sure I could help you with that.

As for the rest, no problem!, you put up a lot with me these days, the least I can do is try to help with that as well

Where would i need to use the ws_log_debug_bar=7 line, any specific part of the Ex.ini file?

Holey Moley · « **Reply #21 on:** January 13, 2021, 06:31:40 AM »

Quote

I don't have any previous experience, I always wanted to create some models and try to create landscapes in game engines, and Sword of Moonlight is one that caught my attention the most since I always liked the KF style, so not sure I could help you with that.

By that I mean if you have/had an old project since you said you used SOM in the past. You might be upset if your old project had better (doctored) versions of SOM's files.

Quote

Where would i need to use the ws_log_debug_bar=7 line, any specific part of the Ex.ini file?

Sorry, my KF2 project already has this at the bottom of the file (disabled) but I guess your New Project doesn't. Those go in the [Output] section. If you don't have one, you can add it.

Unless you're making new models (it's a lot of work) for everything you'll probably run into blemishes in SOM's built-in models. No one really uses SOM (no one sticks with it) so unless you're fine with glaring defects that would be a good place to learn how to work with the models (I have a full editing software for this just as of recently, published here) and now would be a good time to fix them up if you find yourself doing it anyway. I will help you to add you work to the files, and figure how to do things, if you stick with it.

I just have one word of warning, you should make regular backups of your MAP files that you save with SOM_MAP because I think there's probably a chance it will corrupt your file when you save it. It may still have some kinks in it. Even if you save a hundred times successfully, still make backups when you're done with work you want to be sure you can keep. Do this for your whole project from time to time, and don't be discouraged if you lose something, usually if you remake something it will be better than what you lost.

If you want to do something you can't, ask, there might be a way to do it already. Generally speaking guides don't exist. Also from time to time SOM_PRM seems to lose track of its profile assignments. I don't know why, you just have to go down the list and set them back. And if you assign the same profile to two things, there's a bug (I need to work on) that will prevent you from editing that profile with the PRF editor... well you can edit it, but when you save in SOM_PRM it will keep the old settings stored in its PRM files. The only current fix for this is to unset all of them, and then reassign the profile. (Remember this, every time it happens to me I spend about 5 or 10 minutes bewildered until I remember about this bug. Then I want to fix it, then I think about a strategy to pinpoint the code and realize it's probably a tough one to crack. But from time to time I swell up with pride and start hammering these isolated problems down like a round of whack-a-mole.)

Strikeout: I happened to fix this problem today (1mo later to the day)

FlameScion · « **Reply #22 on:** January 14, 2021, 07:27:45 AM »

So, I ran the debug version without the atipblag.dat now and it worked fine (no error prompts whatsoever) which is just weird and doesn't make much sense to me (although i'm no expert here) I'm sending the ws and db logs in case you can find something interesting about them that might help you (or further sends us into this rabbit hole).

Meanwhile i'll just keep focusing into trying out modelling some stuff and try to pull off what I can, so you most likely will see me askingw eird noobish questions.

If you need anything, you know where to ask.

Holey Moley · « **Reply #23 on:** January 14, 2021, 11:51:08 AM »

The ws.log doesn't show the atipblag.dat file. I wonder why it would be any different. The game uses AvSetMmThreadCharacteristicsA to change its category to "Games" which was one of the crazy secrets you have to learn of to get a game to run at a consistent framerate on Windows. Maybe that makes it to try to find a game profile for it.

Since the behavior was so bad I'm guessing it's an amateur bug in those drivers. Maybe after it didn't crash itself it was able to change its behavior. I wonder why that wasn't on your system. Maybe it's normally in a 64-bit folder? Maybe system32 was the wrong place to be looking for it.

Quote

Meanwhile i'll just keep focusing into trying out modelling some stuff and try to pull off what I can, so you most likely will see me asking weird noobish questions.

It's always baffled me that I'm all alone here doing this, it makes me to have a dim view of everyone out there. Please use this sub-board for questions. It's for disposable posts. The main board is for agenda setting, technical topics. If you feel a feature is missing, don't be afraid to ask, but I would still ask on this board, and if something seems feasible in the near term or I have an idea I will put it onto the main board.

I'm excited for new projects. I'd like more varied project spaces to work with. I have hardly any. Don't hesitate to share early results. If you run into a problem (bug/glitch) you'll need to share your files somehow (over link if large) or make a test project that reproduces the problem and link to it.

EDITED: Does the non-debug version NOW work without atipblag.dat?

FlameScion · « **Reply #24 on:** January 14, 2021, 12:02:56 PM »

Quote

I'm excited for new projects. I'd like more varied project spaces to work with. I have hardly any. Don't hesitate to share early results. If you run into a problem (bug/glitch) you'll need to share your files somehow (over link if large) or make a test project that reproduces the problem and link to it.

Thanks, I'll try my best and see if my PC doesn't explode whiel trying it but will keep you informed of what I can pull off. SoM is one of those things I've wanted to try for quite some time but just didn't have the time for. I'll keep you updated of what I can do

Quote

EDITED: Does the non-debug version NOW work without atipblag.dat?

Yup, works like a charm

Holey Moley · « **Reply #25 on:** January 14, 2021, 05:10:19 PM »

Hey if you're still reading this I broke something (http://www.swordofmoonlight.net/bbs2/index.php?topic=316.msg3039#msg3039) when I hastily uploaded those patches the other day. It's about rotating with SOM_MAP. (Edited: Although the view is incorrect in the game, not SOM_MAP.)

Holey Moley · « **Reply #26 on:** January 17, 2021, 01:12:01 PM »

I don't see shadows on your screenshot. Since you seem to have an older GPU (I hope) how do the shadows (round blobs underfoot) look for you? I ask because it's been suggested to me sometimes they don't look right. (I think it may have something to do with how some GPUs implement ddx/ddy instructions.)

FlameScion · « **Reply #27 on:** January 18, 2021, 03:54:34 AM »

I'd say they look okay. My PC may be a potato but the shadows seem to be generated correctly

Holey Moley · « **Reply #28 on:** January 18, 2021, 03:59:12 AM »

You've still not turned off do_stipple in your screenshots!!

(Games shouldn't turn on do_stipple. I should've disabled it a long time ago. It can help with aliasing and filter biasing, and alpha blending on things like grass, but it looks awful on displays with large pixels and televisions. If you can see pixels with your naked eye it looks worse than it helps.)

Edited: Also, in case you haven't noticed, the shadows now fit to irregular surfaces (like the grass mounds or ledges) in case you have past memories of having to turn them off.

Flying monsters tend to have their shadows permanently disabled, but I'm going to edit their PRF files to change that at some point. It does make sense to force off the wall monster's shadow (stoneface) I suppose.

Edited: BTW in your earlier screenshot, you can use the layer system to build a seamless transition from the exterior/castle set into an interior set. Just put them on different layers, and use the ramparts, etc. to build a canopy over the entrance.

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Author Topic: atipblag.dat (ATI/AMD drivers misbehavior) (Read 9189 times)

FlameScion

FlameScion says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

FlameScion

FlameScion says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

FlameScion

FlameScion says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

FlameScion

FlameScion says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

FlameScion

FlameScion says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

FlameScion

FlameScion says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

simple machines forum

News:

Sword of Moonlight| Archive (pre 2023)| Beginner and other Nonsense| atipblag.dat (ATI/AMD drivers misbehavior)

Author Topic: atipblag.dat (ATI/AMD drivers misbehavior) (Read 9189 times)

Sword of Moonlight|

Archive (pre 2023)|

Beginner and other Nonsense|

atipblag.dat (ATI/AMD drivers misbehavior)