SPARK open-source advanced particle engine

Ulf · Post by **Ulf** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:06 pm

Thanks Juff and Darktib, I'll play around with it.

I don't know if it is my hardware but when I run the demos, even the pre-compiled demos, it crashes my computer. The demo freezes and I end up getting a blue screen sometimes. Makes me think it is my video card or my RAM, but it only happens with the spark demos.

It's a severe problem for me actually. At first it seemed to only happen if I press space bar quickly too many times (maybe 5 .. less than 10). But it happens sometimes just pressing space once. It doesn't happen on the first explosion but sometimes happens after a few. other times it happens minutes later.
Is there some memory issues with the engine?

It happens in some of the other demos as well, but I'm referring specifically to Tuto1 demo.

I nearly pick my computer up and throw it out the window.

Darktib · Post by **Darktib** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 6:44 pm

You're getting BSoD ?

What is your configuration please ? Maybe your video card doesn't support some features... With which video driver are you getting these errors ?

Ulf · Post by **Ulf** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 7:57 pm

Yea BSoD.

I need to upgrade, my PC is old.
It's an AMD 2600+ (single core!)

This is the video card info:
Name NVIDIA GeForce 6200
Adapter RAM 256.00 MB (268,435,456 bytes)
Installed Drivers nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version 6.14.11.7813
Color Planes 1
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1440 x 900 x 59 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32

Maybe your video card doesn't support some features...

Probably. But.. what kind of features do you mean?

But also, if the video card does not support the features, how would it work at all? It doesn't happen on the first explosion for example.
So I don't see how it could be the features..

Juff · Post by **Juff** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 12:55 pm

That s a problem indeed...

I doubt a blue screen is related with some kind of memory issue (at least not software), I guess it is more a driver issue.

So are your GPU drivers up to date ?
Problem seems to happen on the tuto1 example which is OpenGL based. Are your running other OpenGL application with no issue ?
Can you tell me in which other demos do you encounter the issue ?

Do you have a kind of log for the error (should be a minidump file *.dmp) somewhere. If so can you show it ?
Can you tell me which renderer is used in the tuto1 demo (Enter and exist the demo and check in the console whether it is a GLQuadRenderer or a GLPointRenderer) ?

You can also try to recompile the OpenGL Module by defining the macro SPK_NO_GLEXT and replace the SPARK_GL.dll in the demos directory by the one generated in the lib directory. Sometimes OpenGL extensions are not well supported by the drivers.

Ulf · Post by **Ulf** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 2:05 pm

I'll check it out over the next few days and get back to you.

Darktib · Post by **Darktib** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 6:29 pm

Its weird, because you have a NVidia GeForce 6200 and I have a NVidia GeForce 6800... and it works flawlessly for me.
My drivers are the sames and - I think - up to date, but for updates you'll need to search manually on the web; you may find some updates on the website of the trademark of your pc (Packard Bell, NEC, Dell, etc...)

Ulf · Post by **Ulf** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:47 am

I should point this out....

I installed Google Chrome recently and when I watch some videos on Youtube, if I press the button to make the video fullscreen, that sometimes crashes my computer as well. I don't know if Mozilla and Explorer do it yet.

This is messed up. Must be my computer somehow.

Ulf · Post by **Ulf** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 7:42 pm

My computer broke down and I have reinstalled 3 or 4 times now I think.
This is hard to work out. Several things have been trouble.

Before I was starting to think it had something to do with installing MSVC Express 2008. But now I haven't installed it yet and I am still getting problems with google chrome. (I haven't tested SPARK again yet as I need MSVC 2008!)
Now I am starting to wonder if this has something to do with a Windows update. I have downloaded all the recommended updates but not service pack 3. Before I have tried going to SP3 but the problem still persists.

Before my computer was crashing when I watched HD videos in fullscreen mode on youtube. Now it doesn't actually freeze my pc, but when I watch HD videos in full-screen, the shockwave player crashes. I have installed the latest shockwave player too.

I normally keep updates off, but occasionally I manually update. I did do that in the weeks leading up to the problems but now I don't know which update I was up to before the problems.

I'm not sure where to go from here. Because of the shockwave problem it doesn't seem as though it's SPARK. I don't know!
I'm downloading VS 2008 Pro and I'll test it again soon.

3DModelerMan · Post by **3DModelerMan** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 11:30 pm

Have you completely formatted the drive before installing windows? And does Linux work?

Ulf · Post by **Ulf** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:51 am

Have you completely formatted the drive before installing windows?

Yea I reinstalled by booting the CD.

I tested the SPARK demos again, without recompiling them.
They are working fine for now (now I just have the stupid shockwave error).

I will let you know what happens after I install VS2008 and start building and debugging the demos again.

I'm actually looking into using Code Blocks compiler. I installed it but I can't seem to get the demos set up properly to compile. I imported them into code blocks. I'm also having problems getting the IRR and SFML engines to compile. Anything where I need to link the dll's and libraries. The core and GL extension compile no worries.

Can someone upload a Code Blocks project with the correct settings to compile one or 2 of the demos? And the IRR extension to the engine?
Would be fantastic! and much appreciated. I need an example.

Darktib · Post by **Darktib** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:47 am

Gcc is not bad, but gdb ( the degugger) is not as good as msvc debugger.

I will give you a c::b project. Just a question : which version of gcc do you use?

Ulf · Post by **Ulf** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:51 pm

Thanks Darktib.

I installed MinGW 5.1.6 which has mingw32-gcc-3.4.5

Darktib wrote:Gcc is not bad, but gdb ( the degugger) is not as good as msvc debugger.

Then I might just debug with Visual Studio, but I still would appreciate a Code Blocks project with debug ability setup in the project and libraries linked correctly.

Darktib · Post by **Darktib** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 3:57 pm

Here is the link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?w5dkjdgyhgh

I hope it works - I cannot test today, because I've booted my computer under Linux.

You have to change only one setting in the irr project : the location of irrlicht.
Actually, Irrlicht is located in D:\IrrlichtLib in the project. (you could also move Irrlicht in this location to get it work)

If you encounter errors, could you post it ?

Darktib · Post by **Darktib** » Thu Aug 26, 2010 11:09 am

About SPARK:
SPARK 2 is under active development, now it is possible to attach emitters to particles in this version. You can download it from the svn:
https://sparkengine.svn.sourceforge.net ... arkengine/

The latest version of SPARK 1 is 1.5.3, with some fixes, and new modules (zones, etc...) and some new demos (galaxy, etc...) You can download it here or in the svn ('trunk' branch)

About the editor:

There is a new version:0.5 with lot of bufixes, and a new curve editor. You can also write your own plugins with the 'sdk' (not really a sdk for the moment^^).

You can download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?typtrc2wxtmhz0t

Enjoy!

Brainsaw · Post by **Brainsaw** » Thu Aug 26, 2010 11:49 am

That particle editor looks nice. How does it work? You create your particle system with the editor and save the system to a file, i guess. I think I have to check it out as I'm trying to create an IrrEdit plugin for Spark, and it would be a lot easier if there was only a single file with the settings I could reference (instead of serializing all parameters Spark has).