Concerns with backgrounds

[ghost]

I've been comparing the backgrounds of SnL with the original engine on RTW, and am concerned that some of them might not be most optimally rendered, or can be improved to better match the feel from the original version. All images are shown side-by-side, with the original engine on the left and SnL on the right.

Not sure if it's just my computer though, so a cross-check from other CPU/GPUs as well as other general input/feedback might help as well. I'm running v2.751b, on an Intel Core i7-11800H with a GeForce 3060 (laptop).

Any changes to the background ought to be careful due to possible major bugs appearing (e.g. issue #565) -- so may need quite a bit of experimentation, can set this on lower priority.

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1. (Stars): High brightness (?) and a rather short distance from the player ground level makes the background look pixelated and rather surreal; this becomes amplified during panning (as the background moves quite significantly), giving a feel that the background's like a canvas plastered to the bottom of the level. It is a lot less pronounced on the original engine.

2. (City): Similar to the issue with Stars.

3. (Swamp / Grass): High brightness and shorter distance from the player ground level makes the background lose a bit of mysticism.

4. (Warp): The vortex spokes appear more blurred:

5. (Sky): While the "roll" issue is fixed, there no longer appear to be any visible moving clouds in the background.

[tooda02]

Fixed V2.78. Please provide feedback. For testing, I used:

• stars: Rainbow ch 6 lvl 34 (Boarding Party)
• City: Entering ch4 lvl 33 (Floating Platforms)
• grass: Entering ch 3 lvl 26 (Roof Top Challenge)
• sky: Deeper ch 5 lvl 37 ((Knight's Move)

[ghost]

On v2.772b, not sure if this is the already updated one. Based on what I can see:

• (Stars) The tessellation pattern appears a lot better (no more visible pixelation; tessellation is visible but not prominent or distracting). This should be fine now.
• (City) Still the same on this version, will check if there's any future changes.
• (Grass) Still the same.
• (Sky) The texture of the moving clouds is less sharp than the original Wonderland engine, but a lot better than the previous SnL version. Looks fine by me as well.
• (Warp) I used Deeper ch4 lvl32 (Ghostbustin'); the spokes are brighter now, but their pixelation still looks quite prominent; another point of contention is that the apex of the spokes is outside the game window, compared to the original Wonderland engine where it is inside the game window (near the bottom).

[tooda02]

@yEngineer7 This was closed as "Fixed V2.78", which is not yet published. Please take another look after it's published, which I'll do after incorporating your latest CafeTran update.

[ghost]

Ok am on v2.78b now.

• (Stars) There seems to be a zoom-in of the background since v2.772, which accentuated the "brightness" of the colour (it's still looking dark grey). Personally I'd prefer the v2.772 version; if we use this one, then the background could be made blacker to be closer to the original. Still, might be just my computer, so can check with other players how theirs look like.
• (City) Looks slightly better. The edges can be made sharper; if need be can be zoomed out further.
• (Grass) Saturation can be improved, the rest looks okay.
• (Sky) This looks fine now.
• (Warp) As above; the spokes' pixelation still looks quite prominent; another point of contention is that the apex of the spokes is outside the game window, compared to the original Wonderland engine where it is inside the game window (near the bottom).

[ghost]

Warp section rementioned and fixed #654