A 3d pinball game made by students

[Steely]

While surfing I fell onto this... a single 3d fantasy pin game created by some computer students at the NHTV University of Applied Sciences, Breda, The Netherlands.
http://igad.nhtv.nl/~bikker/

This game is in a self contained folder called "TimeOfLight".
Just extract the folder and run one of the two .EXEs, no install needed.

I've found TimeOfLight_sse3.exe runs faster for me. Also with all the option settings set to low.
I believe it's OpenGl, so maybe turning down/off the hardware acceleration will help. (I don't know, my freaking ATI driver won't let me. )
It's graphics engine is suppose to allow for faster speeds with dual/quad cores, but my setup may still need some tweaking.
If anyone has better luck tweaking their settings than I have found, let me know, Thanks.

Keys: (I've found, no instructions)
L-R shift - to flip, aims cannon
Spacebar - to nudge
Enter - releases ball, shoots cannon (I think)
P - pause

Don't expect a lot as far as game play goes, but it's worth having a look.

If you enjoy 3D graphics, there's a few other games on this site... I've yet to them check out.

[TheMcD]

Yeah, I played that. Couldn't get it to play at a managable framerate with my ATI card.

The McD

[Ike Savage]

thanks, tom. always interesting to see something different.

had all settings at rock bottom but both versions ran slow. dual core 2ghz machine here with geforce 7300LE video card, i think. (not totally sure, since i know very little about hardware anymore)

i kind of wish it was named "legends of light", because then the archive would have been named "lol.rar" instead of "tol.rar".

[Steely]

Mine's a dual 3g and it was only playable at the lowest res.
Oh well... this is more of a graphics rendering demo than a functioning pinball game. A good attempt though.

I just tried the "let there be light" game, pushing a ball through a maze with a little space pod. It runs smooth not having to render a fast moving ball like the pin game.

[Phoenixx]

Doesnt work for me.

Clicking on the executables is like clicking on an empty space, nothing happens, no game, no error, nothing at all.

Maybe a Vista thing? (XP CompMode didnt work either, though.)

[Steely]

Hmm... It ran on my vista64 and with no CompMode.

Maybe it worked for me because, I had previously installed dx9. Vista only comes with dx10.
Installing 9 will not effect 10 and has components needed to run some programs. You could try that.

[Phoenixx]

I run a lot of DX9 Games, and since some of them install DX prior to installing the actual game files i probably already have it.

(The truth is i wouldnt know since Windows always jumps straight to 'Done' when you try to install a DX older than the one that you already have. And if the installation is silent, well, then you wont even see the 'Done'.)

But then it cant hurt to install the latest redist anyway,...who knows, maybe it helps,...

[Steely]

Yes, that happened to me too, it went straight to 'done' with the original dx9 installer.
Then I tried this 'directx_mar2009_redist.exe', the most resent updater, and that seemed to add older dx.dlls. I still can't run the 9 dxdiag though, it always say 10? Maybe it registered 9 anyways, not sure.

It did add a dx9 dll that I needed for another program, so something happened.

[Phoenixx]

Isnt DX10 actually supposed to be backward compatible?

[Steely]

I think thats what MS wants you to believe, or for programmers to follow.
For most programs DX is backward compatible, however they did leave out some of the com objects/dlls that a few programs still use.
In that respect, DX is more like NetframeWorks, a cumulative product.

[sleepy]

Does this need vb.net 3 or will it run on vb.net2?

[faralos]

doesn't even run at all here, I gave up on it

[Steely]

Originally Posted by sleepy

Does this need vb.net 3 or will it run on vb.net2?

I wish I could answer that Sleepy, but I have no idea.

When I first ran it, an error message said it could not find this file "d3drm.dll". I did a search on my pc for the dx file. Copied and pasted it next to the polybius.exe, then it worked.

[m4paws]

I had the same problem as Phoenix and Faralos - won't run at all, either version. All it does it create an applog.txt file that contains "Logging started". No errors, no nothing else. Running XPSP3 with DirectX 9.0c, nVidia GTX260 graphics.

Any thoughts?

[Phoenixx]

I have installed the DX9c March09 redist yesterday because i hoped it might solve the 'cannot_create_wma_source_filter' problem with Ford Racing 2. Of course it didnt, (what a surprise), but since the installer didnt jump to 'done' right away i assume it has actually installed a couple of files this time.

So i just gave TOL a second try but its still no good. When you click one of the exes for the very first time the applog.txt appears, but apart from that clicking the exes is still like clicking on an empty spot.

(EDIT: Sometimes the process (goes for both sse2 and sse3) appears in the taskmanager. Sometimes it flashes for a microsec just to vanish immediately thereafter, sometimes it remains in the tasklist like all other active processes. But even if one remains, (sse2 or sse3), still nothing happens. In other words sometimes there is an active thread, but it is somehow being blocked from executing whatever it is supposed to execute.)

Pretty wierd given that it works for others. An nVidia thing perhaps? Because i have a GTX260 too.

(BTW, m4 what brand is yours? I have a question regarding the auto-downclocking,...)

[m4paws]

eVGA if I recall correctly... But to be honest I'm not 100% sure. It was a gift, I opened it, installed it, and have no idea how to tell without opening the PC. And when you say "auto-downclocking", if you're not talking about something that automatically puts your watch on the floor, I might not have a clue what you're talking about. Give it a shot though...

[Phoenixx]

The GTX260 has an energy saving feature. When there is no significant load (e.g. working on the desktop, browsing the internet, etc.) it downclocks from the default 576/1242/999 MHz (Core/Shaders/Memory) to 301/602/100 MHz. That way it draws less power and therefore it runs much cooler too.

However, there is one more step between Full and Low - Medium if you will - which clocks the card at 400/799/297. This mode is for everything that doesnt need full accelleration, in particular media (video-)players.

The problem with my Zotac is that when i start a video, the clocks immediately go to Full and stay at Full until i close the player. It never goes to Medium though, not even when i pause the video, even though Medium is more than enough power for watching videos. (And quite certainly for a simple still picture.) The only time my card goes to Medium at all is when i close the player (or a game) and the card does its down-stepping from Full to Low. Then, and only then, Medium is active for a couple of seconds because the card cant switch from Full to Low directly.

Now since the ramping for the modes is controlled via the cards BIOS i wondered how yours behaves in this regard. Does it go to Full too when you watch a video or does it go to (and stay at) Medium as it should? Because if yours does in deed go to Medium then i might need a different BIOS, which is why i wanted to know how other brand 260s behave.

To see the cards clockspeeds in realtime you can use Everest. Install, run, and look at the bottom of the 'Computer/Overclock' section. If the trial doesnt show you those values just drop me a line and i can borrow you my full version,...

[Phoenixx]

Better still use GPU-Z.

Its only one exe and doesnt need to be installed.

It doesnt show the Shader clocks but you can see Core and Memory.



Usage:

Run and go to 'Sensors' tab

Check 'GPU Core Clock' and 'GPU Memory Clock'

Start a video and see if the Core Clock and Memory Clock values change

Note: Switching from Full to Medium to Low (in other words downwards) takes about 5-10 seconds per step. So give it some time and keep your eyes on the values, the card will switch eventually.

[m4paws]

I have Everest, forgot all about it. (duh!) It's an EVGA card. I see the clock speeds you're talking about (or similar anyway) under "Display / GPU":

Standard 2D: 300/600/100
Low-Power 3D: 400/800/300
Performance 3D: 626/1350/1053

The "Computer / Overclock" section indicates 626/1350/1053. That doesn't really surprise me as I use the card for folding, so I expect it to be running at full power. Pausing the folding process and refreshing Everest doesn't change anything though. I'm not sure how long it should take to downclock ... I waited a few minutes and nothing changed.

[Phoenixx]

I see, you have one of these factory-overclocked models. Hence the higher-than-default clocks.

Anyhow, i think pausing the folding process wont do it. Like i said, pausing a video doesnt make the card clock down either, it only clocks down when the process that caused the upclocking is being shut down completely. (And then it still takes up to 10 seconds for the downclocking to begin.)

So in case you want to check that out for me, (please take your time - im not in a hurry), please quit the folding process completely and wait until the card enters 2D mode. Then run a video (i use BSPlayer+FFDShow) and see what mode it goes into then. If it goes to Full then your BIOS is probably no better than mine, but if it goes to Medium (and stays there) i would be very interested in its ramping values,...

[m4paws]

Quitting the folding process made no difference, even after waiting several minutes. I also had WinAMP running, so I closed that because I know it has video capability, but still no change. Nothing else I have running is really video related, unless it's built-in to the OS. (This version of XP is MCE2005, so I suppose it's possible there's video processes still running in the background?)

[Phoenixx]

Thats odd,...perhaps your BIOS is even more screwed up than mine?

Actually, if theres nothing running but the desktop then the card should be clocking down. (Matter of fact it shouldnt even clock up in the 1st place.) Background processes are unlikely to cause that, because no such process known to me would need so much power that it would cause the card to upclock.

Very odd this, i think i for one will ask Zotac about this. And if i were you i would ask EVGA why your card doesnt enter 2D mode at all. After all besides pure performance the energy saving feature is one of the strongest arguments for buying such a card, so one should expect that this works as it should. Aside from the obvious increase in power consumption the card also runs a fair 10°C hotter than in 2D mode, (an overclocked one like yours probably even more), which means more strain on the entire electronic, ergo a shorter lifespan of the device.

[m4paws]

I'd be happy to try anything you'd like me to, but I'm not going to be opening any support cases with EVGA over this. It does exactly what I ask it to do, and due to the way I use the card it's at full power all the time anyway so if it should down-clock but doesn't, I'd never notice. I went looking to see if there was a BIOS/firmware upgrade I could install just out of curiosity, but I couldn't find anything anywhere. Am I missing something?

[m4paws]

This morning I casually checked GPU-Z and low and behold it did show my card as being clocked down. I thought that was weird because the folding process should have still been running, but as it turned out it had recently finished a work unit and was having trouble downloading new work. In all it was not folding for about 15 minutes, I think I caught it about half way through that window. Perhaps I just didn't want long enough for the card to clock down on previous attempts? It's certainly not doing it within 10-20 seconds as you suggested. I'll poke around a little more and see what I can figure out.

[Phoenixx]

I just timed it, as soon as the load is cancelled it takes my card precisely 20 seconds to go from Full to Medium and then another 15 to go from Medium to Low. Thats 35 seconds total from load-cancel to entering 2D Mode. Upclocking is instantly.

Your card is a different brand so it has a different BIOS. Hence it doesnt have to behave exactly like my Zotac. From what you describe i think yours has even more 'relaxed' ramping values than mine, (very, very relaxed), which means it waits longer until it starts to downclock. Tough luck for me, because i hoped yours has sharper/narrower values than mine,...


If the behaviour of your card is fine with you then there is of course no need for you to contact support. I just meant 'If i were you...', because when i pay for a certain feature then i expect it to work as advertised. IMO there is little sense in having the card rocket to full 3D accelleration when i do no more than starting a video - thats precisely what the Medium Mode is for, where the performance is sufficient for the task while the card still draws less power and runs cooler,...

[Phoenixx]

I just went to download the latest nVidia driver and found this under 'New in Release 190.38':

Adds a new user-controlled power management setting for select GeForce 9-series and later graphics cards (cards must already support more than one power state). This option allows users to set a performance level for each DirectX or OpenGL application.

Sounds exactly like what we need, and it can even be used on a per-app basis!

Will install as soon as download finished and report,...

[Phoenixx]

WOW, they made a whole new installer and its great!

1.) The temporary files under C:\NVIDIA\ are being auto-deleted now

2.) Updating the drivers no longer requires a reboot [!]

3.) The new power management feature really works!

When set to 'Adaptive' the card still clocks up to full when i start BSPlayer, but after 20 seconds (correction: 14) it now goes down to Medium, exactly like it should.

IMO 190.38 is really well done,...if everything works as great as the power management then this might easily be the best nVidia driver ever released,...

[Phoenixx]

Magnificent!

• Instant upclocking from Low to Full - [BSPlayer Start]
• 14 seconds from Full down to Medium - [BSPlayer Playing]
• Instant downclocking from Medium to Low - [BSPlayer Quit]

        Date        , GPU Core Clock [MHz] , GPU Memory Clock [MHz] ,

2009-07-23 20:25:52 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:25:53 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:25:54 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:25:55 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:25:56 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:25:57 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:25:58 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:25:59 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:00 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:01 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:02 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:03 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:04 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:05 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:06 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:07 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:08 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:09 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:10 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:11 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:12 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:14 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:15 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:16 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:17 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:18 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:19 ,              576.0   ,                999.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:20 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:21 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:22 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:23 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:24 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:25 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:26 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:27 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:28 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:29 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:30 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:31 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:32 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:33 ,              400.0   ,                300.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:34 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:35 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:36 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:37 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:38 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:39 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:40 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:41 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:42 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:43 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:44 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

2009-07-23 20:26:45 ,              300.0   ,                100.0   ,

Well, what more can you ask for? I for one am definitely a happy camper now, and i didnt even need to mess with any foreign BIOSes,...

[m4paws]

I'll try it out and see what happens here.

[m4paws]

I guess I just don't get it. Pausing the folding app doesn't seem to clock down the card. Closing the folding app does, but it's not quick like you say, even with the new drivers. Where is the "adaptive" setting?

BTW - I needed to reboot after the install.