1) Remove dependency on the /sim/rendering/shader-effects
2) Fix http://code.google.com/p/flightgear-bugs/issues/detail?id=494 where
toggling the random vegetation on, iff initiall set off, did not generate
new random vegetation. Fixed by forcing a tile reload in the same way as
used for random objects.
Re-enable "random object" checkbox.
(Debug) option for complete scenery reloading (e.g. use after TerraSync
update or changing options such as "random objects").
The dialog-apply binding was setting all the properties in the
rendering dialog, including ones that are tested in technique
predicates. This was causing effects to be reinitialized.
Incorporated changes to effects file syntax. Changed Till's landmass
to mix in the base terrain texture. Some shader cleanup.
Also, add a GUI control for enabling shaders.
- Removes the cloud type re-use code - I think they aren't worth the graphical artefacts that they cause in light of Tim's improvements
- Changes the transparency of the clouds. Previously, the clouds were transparent at 0m distance, opaque at 200m, then gradually more transparent to the fog limits. This meant they were generally quite transparent. Now, they are opaque from 200m to 15km, then become transparent at 20km. A side effect of this is that the current textures could probably benefit from being made slightly transparent to improve the blending of the sprites against each other.
This provides the following enhancements & bug fixes
- Fix the chequer-board bug.
- Add proper cloud coverage function - so scattered clouds are now truly scattered.
- Add real-time control for visibility range.
- Use a limited set of clouds rather than generating a completely new Geode for each cloud. This saves sorting and display time.
- Add controls to Rendering dialog to allow fine-tuning of the number of sprites, cloud visibility and the number of different types of cloud.
- Add some variance to the sort back-off to avoid all clouds being sorted at the same time.
- Pack attributes into vectors for performance
- Re-order the cloud type determination code so that if a cloud layer could either be stratus or cumulus, cumulus is used.
- Lowered the cloud level in the standard cloud configuration slightly so a cumulus layer is generated rather than stratus.
These last two mean that you should see some 3D cumuli if disabling real weather fetch.
My thanks to Yon Uriarte for his help with performance work.
(/sim/rendering/precipitation-gui-enabled) *and* if the aircraft wants it
(/sim/rendering/precipitation-aircraft-enabled). Some aircraft model rain
on the windshield and want to turn rain off for interior views.
