Viewport Questions

[Dylen]

Just a couple questions regarding "Viewport" type mods:


1) As an extreme example, let's say I used the viewport to reduce the visibible screen view to about 50% of normal size, would my frame rate be the same, worse, or better. Basically I am concernec about it becoming worse due to the CPU doing more work.

2) When you adjust the viewport is the resulting view still at (or close to) the same perspective? For example, let's say I used viewport to have a 2 inch black strip on each side of the screen, would I end up missing some of the view or woudl it all resize and stretch to give the same type perspective?

I dunno that I worded my questions real clear. Still a total newbie with the viewport thing. So far I am liking what it can do though.

-Dylen

[MidgetMage55]

I read in a few forums that adjusting the viewport was similar to adjusting the resolution of your game/display.your rendering a smaller image so the system is working less so in theory your framerate could improve. it should not get worse.

In answer to #2 when you add viewport to your UI you are in actuality resizing the rendered area. Think of it like a Photo. Your monitor is the frame. A viewport is basically taking the same size frame and resizing your picture within that frame. So you end up with the full picture just smaller.

[Dreadlorde]

I'm confirming that changing your resolution to some thing bigger (EX: 800x600), you frame rate will improve. Mine at 1280x104 is around 10fps with a bunch of addons. At 800x600 its 15-20 in org on a friday.

[Seerah]

1. Midget has it right - the computer is rendering less, so things should improve.

2. Think of viewing a widescreen movie on a regular aspect ratio television. You get the black strips at the top/bottom, and you see the whole picture. Take that same movie in normal (non-widescreen) format, and you actually get parts of the picture (the sides) cut off. Now think about the viewport. If you add strips to the top/bottom of your screen, it's like taking a widescreen monitor - you actually add to what you can see on the sides.

[Rigorous]

i am (no longer) much of a videocard wiz, but i'm going to have to disagree here on one point:

a viewport shouldn't, in theory, change your framerate significantly. because the same screen is simply being compressed into what is a essentially a smaller area (albeit some fraction wider) the same number of polygons will still need to be rendered and the textures still need to be laid on. therefore the same work has to be done by your system. you refer, however, to putting strips on the sides of your screen and that would have the same non-effect on your framerates.

i'm running at 1680x1050 (with all settings/AA maxed) and typically maintain a framerate in the 30-50 range in Org (and 50-100 in less busy places) and adding SunnArt in top/bottom viewport mode (it also does sides, btw) made no noticeable change to that.

the perspective will not change significantly enough to be noticeable and gaining the screen real estate off of the playing area is well worth whatever little change there is, imo.

[Seerah]

I almost added a disclaimer in my #1 response saying that whether you noticed an improvement is another thing. But I figured that the OP was just asking if a viewport would make performance worse, so...

[Kaomie]

I would have said if we are talking real viewport (that is anything modifying the rendering area using WorldFrame:SetPoint) and not overlay mask panels hiding part of the screen (like eePanels or Discord or etc...) you should see some performance improvement.
My understanding is when you reduce the WorldFrame you actually crop the rendering zone rather than compress it, so like MM55 said you basically render less.
Or have I been self-deceiving myself for all those years ?

[Seerah]

It's not cropped. Your character sits in the center of the screen. Put a 2-3 inch viewport at the bottom. If it were merely cropped, your character would still be sitting in the middle of your screen/monitor. But you'll notice that your character actually moves up, so as to be in the center of the rendered area. But the image isn't compressed either. If it were compressed, in my understanding, it would squash the image vertically. Actually, the image seems zoomed out further and you can see more to the sides... Then again, I'm thinking of this from an image point of view and not a rendered, 3d game.

[Kaomie]

I do not think the relative position of the character within the rendering area actually changes. Your character absolute position should actually move half-way toward the top of any value you raise the bottom border with. Try this: put the same margins at the top and bottom (or left and right for that matter) and you should still have your character at the same place with no zoom factor.

[Dreadlorde]

When you change the space that the game is rendered it changes your resolution. So lets say you have a resolution of 1280x1024. If you put a viewport at the bottom that is 175 pixels tall, your resolution technically changes to 1280x849. This gives you a wide-screen affect like seerah said, you can see more to the sides.

[Seerah]

I didn't say that it moves up within the rendered area. I said that it moves up on your screen/monitor to stay in the center of the rendered area.

[Dreadlorde]

Originally Posted by Seerah I didn't say that it moves up within the rendered area. I said that it moves up on your screen/monitor to stay in the center of the rendered area.

That's what I ment. I couldn't think of how to word it.

[Kaomie]

You 2 are just confusing the hell out of me. What I meant it cropped the rendering area (not the content) rather than resizing it like Rigorous was mentioning (I think). So the point is you render less of the game content and it would improve your frame rate. The character is always at the center of the WorldFrame, then it all depends on what you take as a reference (frame or screen).

[Dylen]

Thanks for all the answers!!



-Dylen

[Rigorous]

SunnArt (I'm honestly not familiar with any other viewport mods, perhaps they all work the same way) is a good way to look at the issue you're discussing because it allows you to adjust the size of your "viewport bands" (? the black parts at the top/bottom/sides of the screen) by very small increments. you can see the image size adjusting and because it also has an overlay mode which can be switched on and off (top and bottom independently), you can see the difference.

in overlay mode, your character's position does not change in the screen, because the black sections are merely covering parts of your screen and thus rendering less content (although I believe it would continue to be rendered, but not visible). in viewport mode, the bottom of your "world view" actually moves up to the top of the bottom "viewport band" and your character, therefore, moves up somewhat in your "view of the game world" and it resizes somewhat. in other words, in overlay mode, your characters legs may be behind the viewport, but in viewport mode, your feet would become visible as the image shifted up and you are therefore rendering the same content.

god thats a lot of words to try to describe something simple.

and as far as performance, after thinking about it some more, i think that if your videocard is fill-rate limited at a given resolution, you'll likely see a small improvement in performance with a viewport at the same resolution. i don't think worse performance could possibly result.

[Kaomie]

OK I did some tryouts with Aperture and changing the viewport does a little of both things mentioned here.
It does crop a little bit of the rendered content area on the borders and it does change the FoV (Field of Vision) to compensate even more for the loss of rendering space.
So the impact on performances may not be as evident as it would have seemed...