OpenCL - Once more

  • ToshNeox
    31st Aug 2012 Member 3 Permalink

    Hi everyone. First post on TPT Forums, so please be kind :D

     

    Sorry to be a nuisance, but, I've read time and time again about OpenCL and CUDA acceleration for TPT, but I've never found any progress. Has anyone been able to get it to run or at least got anywhere on it?

     

    I was wondering how much of a boost I'd be able to get from my nVidia GeForce GTX 460 (336 CUDA cores) over my first gen Intel Core i5.

     

    I bet this is a very posted topic, but I really, really, really would like to see something come of this. Imagine not lagging with a full scene of water!

  • lorddeath
    31st Aug 2012 Member 0 Permalink

    Um. i8 need faster TPT...

  • Uberness
    1st Sep 2012 Member 0 Permalink

    @ToshNeox (View Post)

    Going to have GTX 560 Ti, with Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge soon.

    This would be great, performance wise.

  • savask
    1st Sep 2012 Developer 0 Permalink

    @ToshNeox (View Post)

    There is no progress at all.

    Yes, that's bad, and what devs are doing, blah, blah, but it's really hard to parallelize TPT, that's the problem. Though a long time ago I heard Simon is going to try to use GPU for pixel color calculations - I'm not sure if it will give any burst, but still.

    Also, new TPT (TPT++) has an improved OpenGL mode, and it indeed gives some FPS increase. Let's hope it will be finished, so people with video cards will enjoy fast TPT :-)

  • ToshNeox
    1st Sep 2012 Member 0 Permalink

    @savask

    I just thought I'd ask once more as I'd love to see some development on GPU acceleration.

     

    Could you tell me a bit more about TPT++? I don't think I've heard of it.

  • savask
    1st Sep 2012 Developer 0 Permalink

    @ToshNeox (View Post)

    Okay.

    Once upon a time, our admin Simon has noticed that TPT code became very complicated. He tried to improve it several times, but failed. And he decided that it's time to rewrite TPT into a new, better language - C++. He worked hard for many months, rewrote thousands of code lines and now we have a new TPT version, called TPT++. It has many potential abilities, better GUI, not bad OpenGL mode, etc... So it's in the finishing stage now, and we can expect Simon to start working on improving OpenGL support (it will speed up the game with the help of GPU) and other cool features. That's it. Here is the new game repo, if you can compile: https://github.com/FacialTurd/PowderToypp

  • boxmein
    1st Sep 2012 Former Staff 0 Permalink
    @ToshNeox (View Post)
    Improving on savask's post ( @savask (View Post) ): Version 82 Beta is TPT++.
  • ToshNeox
    3rd Sep 2012 Member 0 Permalink

    @savask @boxmein

     

    Oh cool, thanks! I hear so much about C, C++ and C#, although I've only ever done C# and don't really like it :3

     

    EDIT: Just downloaded it - is OpenGL enabled by default, or do I have to use command line arguments or enable it via the console? I can't see any extra GPU usage, but the speed is amazing!

  • boxmein
    3rd Sep 2012 Former Staff 0 Permalink
    @ToshNeox (View Post)
    C# is a kind of a middle-language: it partially gets compiled and partially is compiled when it's run. Those are called Just-In-Time languages. Java and Python also belong here.
    C++ and C are compiled languages, they are fully translated to machine code before running. This means they are quick, nimble and require no extra software to run. Then again, this also means they have a really advanced syntax. If you've learned C# before it's still going to be a bumpy ride but it will be totally worth it. (One of) Those languages are essential to any (non-web) programmer.
  • ToshNeox
    3rd Sep 2012 Member 0 Permalink

    @boxmein (View Post)

     Yea, see, I always feel bad when I say what languages I do, but; I've learnt/can do HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery (framework, but still has it's own syntax), PHP, VB.NET, Java, DOS, Shell, and a little C#. I also dabble in server hosting, as I run my own at my house.

     

    ?? "is OpenGL enabled by default, or do I have to use command line arguments or enable it via the console? I can't see any extra GPU usage, but the speed is amazing!" ??