Background Stars

from GalCiv2 Forums
Should the Background stars be showing up at this point? There is an awful lot of black, and the nebulas show up (they look great!)

Thanks
9,556 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yes, the background looks great, but I have a complaint about it. So much of the background is so black that there are times I can't see what is in front of it.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
IIRC, The stars use point sprites instead of a simple texture or anything like that... Brad has mentioned before that point sprites are only supported on somewhat newer video cards, so they probably won't show up if your card is more than a couple years old. I'm not sure if there's any plan to add an alternative simple background for hardware without point sprite support.
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Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I was about to post to ask what video cards you guys have. I see *tons* of stars in the starfield. In fact with the newest beta I actually see a few *above* the galactic plane which is even cooler.

Radeon 9800 Pro here.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Mine is a "Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller". So it is a couple of years old. I don't think I will be upgrading for another 2-3 years.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Mine is a "Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller". So it is a couple of years old.


I would imagine pretty much any on-board video like that, aside from nForce, will not support point sprites.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i hav a 9800 Pro also and i hav no problems w/ the backropund. it looks great. maybe for people w/ older video cards it could be an option in the video control section of the UI to hav a simple backround
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think the coders have determined the problem has to do with certain video cards...some on-board and (it appears) all NVidia cards, so we'll be coming up with another solution for those computers that hopefully looks as good as the current point-sprite meathod 
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top


Thanks
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I think the coders have determined the problem has to do with certain video cards...some on-board and (it appears) all NVidia cards, so we'll be coming up with another solution for those computers that hopefully looks as good as the current point-sprite meathod


Thanks
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yes, definitely, THANKS.