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FlightGear Newsletter August 2014: Difference between revisions
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FlightGear Newsletter August 2014 (view source)
Revision as of 12:54, 4 September 2014
, 4 September 2014→FlightGear 3.2 delayed
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Follow us on [http://facebook.com/FlightGear Facebook], [http://google.com/+flightgear Google+] or [http://twitter.com/flightgearsim Twitter] to get a notification when FlightGear 3.2 has arrived. | Follow us on [http://facebook.com/FlightGear Facebook], [http://google.com/+flightgear Google+] or [http://twitter.com/flightgearsim Twitter] to get a notification when FlightGear 3.2 has arrived. | ||
== Feedback required: DDS textures in FlightGear == | |||
We are looking for feedback about possibly adopting DDS textures in FlightGear: | |||
* dds is a compressed format, hence the download size of the FG base package may be decreased | |||
* compressed dds can be directly used by many graphics cards, reducing also GPU memory consumption | |||
* dds stores all texture resolution levels, i.e. no lower resolution levels have to be generated when the texture is used, hence it loads much faster into memory | |||
* the resolution levels ('mipmaps') can be customized, allowing for some interesting effects at no performance cost | |||
Practically all commercial simulations use dds for these reasons. | |||
However, the dds compression algorithm is patented, which means that it is not readily available for OpenSource graphics drivers used by Linux distributions. Dependent on the specific hardware, this may or may not be a problem (modern graphics cards typically do not need the driver to process dds, for older graphics cards there are non-patented workarounds available which decompress the dds on the software level). The development team is concerned about making the Flightgear experience pleasant for all users, hence we would like to gather feedback how many users would be affected by a change in practice. | |||
If there are no problems reported, FG will change defaults to textures in dds format with the 3.4 release, and then phase out the use of png textures. | |||
Continue reading at [[DDS Textures in FlightGear]]... | |||
==Development news== | ==Development news== | ||