FFR Smoothing Tool

[spinal_compression]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

I highly demand a Vista patch.

I can't play FFR at all on this **** OS and hopefully this might do the trick!

[MRichards]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

Made it work in Vista, but FFR R1 lags too much in Vista on my systems. I've upped the version on the website anyway, try it if you like:

http://www.latent.demon.co.uk/ffr_smooth.html

XP users: anyone with a half decent machine should have a look if you haven't already...

[bluguerrilla]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

I'll DL it tonight (mac at work).

My machine is ok I guess. 2.2 Ghz and 2 gigs of ram and a Radeon card (came with the laptop, don't remember model).

Does the static background remover actually work? If so, awesome.

[MRichards]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

Yes, it removes static backgrounds effectively. The arrows/text get a little rough around the edges, but it works. Can't do anything about those god-awful animated backgrounds though... It uses pixel shaders to do the job, so you'll need a half-decent video card.

I'm currently adding support for normal resolution FFR, which will massively improve the graphics. It'll require a high resolution or multiple monitors, and probably a fairly powerful machine.

[I wonder if 3rd Style will come out soon and waste all my efforts...]

EDIT: Some laptop video cards are awful - you need one with dedicated memory to run this kind of thing. If your laptop video card shares main memory then it might not work well for you. Otherwise your specs are fine.

[bluguerrilla]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

I don't have all the specs with me but I know it's an ATI Radeon Mobility card. I'll let you know how it runs tonight.

[MRichards]

85fps Full-Screen! FFR==SM

I don't know if anyone is using this tool, but here goes anyway...

Firstly, I've sorted out some issues with the program freezing. But mainly, the latest version now supports normal resolution rather than just low resolution, and allows full screen, perfectly smooth play.... but only if you've got a half-decent gaming rig. I tested it on this setup:

Intel 2.4Ghz Core Duo
2 Gig RAM
NVidia GeForce 7600GT (256Mb)
Using NView to stretch the desktop across two monitors

I ran the game in the second monitor, and my program in a full-screen window in the main monitor. I got silky smooth arrows at 85fps - just like StepMania \(^^)/

Look (2560x960 screenshot - FPS can be seen in window corner):

http://www.latent.demon.co.uk/images/ffr_smooth_fullscreen_dual.jpg

The fps and resolution could have been higher, but I was using a pair of old CRT monitors. I used the latest beta Adobe Flash player, which gave a noticeable FPS increase: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer9/

Well, my work here is done... I hope some other people can get this working too:

http://www.latent.demon.co.uk/ffr_smooth.html

Time to start playing again...

[HeZe]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

Hax

[heyitsmee]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

sounds good but i dont even get how this is possible to increase a given frame rate
your program duplicates the ffr window and shows it using your GPU or something but i think the actual frame rate movement of the arrows will remain the same it will only be shown in a nicer way

[MRichards]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

Although your scepticism is understandable, it *really* does increase the frame rate. On a decent machine, the program picks up 30fps from the FFR game running in Flash. The trick is to realise that all you have to do to generate the "missing" in-between frames is to scroll the arrows down a bit from the given frames.

ASCII Example:

FFR Frame 1 FFR Frame 2
+---------+ +---------+
| < . . . | | . . . . |
| . . . . | | . . . . |
| . . . . | | . . . . |
| . . . . | | < . . . |
| . . . . | | . . . . |
| < ^ v > | | < ^ v > |
+---------+ +---------+


The arrow has moved a considerable distance, generate extra frames in-between:
Generated A Generated B
+---------+ +---------+
| . . . . | | . . . . |
| < . . . | | . . . . |
| . . . . | | < . . . |
| . . . . | | . . . . |
| . . . . | | . . . . |
| < ^ v > | | < ^ v > |
+---------+ +---------+

Technically:
- Let's say the FFR frame rate is 1/30s and the monitor is at 90Hz, i.e. we ideally want one frame every 1/90s for perfect smoothness
- The speed of the arrows is known: 300pix/s at x1.0
- We copy a FFR frame - render it (not expecting another frame for 1/30s)
- The next monitor frame, 1/90s later, we don't have another FFR frame
- So generate one from the previous frame by moving the arrow area down by 300 x 1/90 pixels = 3.33 pixels.
- Note we move the entire area, there's no need to find where the arrows are. Also note that DirectX understands floating point movement like this
- Next monitor frame do the same, move area by another 3.33 pix (total 6.66pix)
- By the next monitor frame 1/30s has passed and we have another FFR frame - in which the arrows will have moved down by 300/30 = 10 pix
-Repeat...

There's more detail, not scrolling static text, dealing with uneven frame rates etc. etc., but you should see that this is a real generation of the frames needed to get a smooth frame rate

So there :P

[heyitsmee]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

so the program really generates arrows ? impressive.

so how hard is it to build something that will "see" and play a perfect game

EDIT: i most say i just installed your program it really works impressive.

[MRichards]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

No, it doesn't generate arrows, it just scrolls the entire central area. It uses a pixel shader to identify pixels that didn't move in the last two FFR frames - it doesn't change these pixels. That way the static arrows and other text don' t get scrolled down. So there's no need to analyse the actual arrow positions.

Would it be possible to analyse the arrow positions? With a fair bit of work, I guess it would. However, it would become progressively more difficult/inaccurate as there were more and more, especially overlapping arrows. I've no intention of doing that, I play to hone my skill and keep my ageing brain from degenerating...

[heyitsmee]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

why is the combo counter jumping ? its because the program generating arrows doing the copy paste?

i know about the cheating iam just asking because you seem to know alot in the field
and i have been told by other guys that it is possible also

very nice work ill use it

[MRichards]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

The combo counter only jumps a little when it fades in and out in the latest version (1.12).

The program moves the entire screen downwards to make the extra frames, including combo counter etc. That makes the combo counter jump. It used to do it all the time. It's smarter now, and can identify areas that shouldn't be moved. So the jumping is much reduced.

However, if your machine (video card) can't handle the pixel shaders, then it will use the old method and be very jumpy.

[MRichards]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

Just became a subscriber and noticed that this tool doesn't work for the subscriber-only beta versions. Upped a new version (1.13) to fix.

[MRichards]

Re: FFR Smoothing Tool

I've made another update for this FPS smoothing tool (1.14) - I've improved the stability, performance and browser compatibility. The program is now mainly targeted at those with better machines - NVidia 7-series or better, or equivalent ATI graphics - performance multimedia laptops only. These machines should be able to get 60-100 fps on the normal resoultion FFR R1 (over the usual 30fps). Dual monitors are now fully supported - and get the best results.

Older machines are still supported, but will not see such benefits...

Also provided it in a simple zip file, so it can be put on a memory stick or similar.

I've also improved it's behaviour with my other keymapping tool - a new version of that (1.09) is out to complement this release.

http://www.latent.demon.co.uk