Spell visual effects previously used a fixed 3.5s duration for all
effects, causing some to linger too long and overlap during combat.
Now queries the M2 model's default animation duration via the new
getInstanceAnimDuration() method and clamps it to 0.5-5s. Effects
without animations fall back to a 2s default. This makes spell impacts
feel more responsive and reduces visual clutter.
Captures the Vulkan swapchain image to PNG via stb_image_write.
Screenshots saved to ~/.wowee/screenshots/ with timestamped filenames.
Cross-platform: BGRA→RGBA swizzle, localtime_r/localtime_s.
loadSpellVisualDbc() now builds two distinct maps:
spellVisualCastPath_ — visualId → M2 via SpellVisual.CastKit chain
spellVisualImpactPath_ — visualId → M2 via SpellVisual.ImpactKit chain
playSpellVisual() accepts useImpactKit=false (default, cast) / true (impact).
SMSG_PLAY_SPELL_IMPACT passes useImpactKit=true so impact effects (explosions,
debuff indicators) use the ImpactKit model instead of the CastKit model.
Added ImpactKit field to all four dbc_layouts.json files.
Parse SMSG_PLAY_SPELL_VISUAL (casterGuid + visualId) and spawn a
transient M2 spell effect at the caster's world position.
DBC chain: SpellVisual.dbc → SpellVisualKit.dbc → SpellVisualEffectName.dbc
Lookup priority: CastKit.SpecialEffect0, fallback to MissileModel.
Models are lazy-loaded and cached by path; instances auto-expire after 3.5s.
DBC layouts added to all four expansion layout files (Classic/TBC/WotLK/Turtle).
The lightning system (lightning.hpp/cpp) was fully implemented but never
wired into the renderer. Connect it now:
- Enable lightning during server storm weather (wType==3, intensity>0.1)
and heavy rain (wType==1, intensity>0.7) as a bonus visual
- Scale lightning intensity proportionally to weather intensity
- Render in both parallel (SEC_POST) and fallback rendering paths
- Update and shutdown alongside the weather system
- Show active lightning info in the performance HUD weather section
- FXAA path: repurpose _pad field as 'desaturate' push constant; when
ghostMode_ is true, convert final pixel to grayscale with slight cool
blue tint using luma(0.299,0.587,0.114) mix
- Non-FXAA path: apply a high-opacity gray overlay (rgba 0.5,0.5,0.55,0.82)
over the scene for a washed-out look
- Both parallel (SEC_POST) and single-threaded render paths covered
- ghostMode_ flag set each frame from gameHandler->isPlayerGhost()
Single shadow depth image shared across MAX_FRAMES=2 in-flight GPU frames
caused a race: frame N's main pass reads shadow map while frame N+1's
shadow pass clears and writes it, producing visible flashing standing
still and while moving.
Fix: give each in-flight frame its own VkImage, VmaAllocation, VkImageView,
and VkFramebuffer for the shadow depth attachment. renderShadowPass() now
indexes all shadow resources by getCurrentFrame(), and layout transitions
track per-frame state in shadowDepthLayout_[frame]. Cleanup loops over
MAX_FRAMES=2. Descriptor sets already written per-frame; updated shadow
image view binding to use the matching per-frame view.
- Motion vectors: single unjittered reprojection matrix (80 bytes) instead of
two jittered matrices (160 bytes), eliminating numerical instability from
jitter amplification through large world coordinates
- Sharpen pass: fix Y-flip for correct UV sampling, double-buffer descriptor
sets to avoid race with in-flight command buffers
- MSAA: auto-disable when FSR2 enabled, grey out AA setting in UI
- Accumulation: variance-based neighborhood clamping in YCoCg space,
correct history layout transitions
- Frame index: wrap at 256 for stable Halton sequence
Full FSR 2.2 pipeline with depth-based motion vector reprojection,
temporal accumulation with YCoCg neighborhood clamping, and RCAS
contrast-adaptive sharpening.
Architecture (designed for FSR 3.x frame generation readiness):
- Camera: Halton(2,3) sub-pixel jitter with unjittered projection
stored separately for motion vector computation
- Motion vectors: compute shader reconstructs world position from
depth + inverse VP, reprojects with previous frame's VP
- Temporal accumulation: compute shader blends 5-10% current frame
with 90-95% clamped history, adaptive blend for disocclusion
- History: ping-pong R16G16B16A16 buffers at display resolution
- Sharpening: RCAS fragment pass with contrast-adaptive weights
Integration:
- FSR2 replaces both FSR1 and MSAA when enabled
- Scene renders to internal resolution framebuffer (no MSAA)
- Compute passes run between scene and swapchain render passes
- Camera cut detection resets history on teleport
- Quality presets shared with FSR1 (0.50-0.77 scale factors)
- UI: "Upscaling" combo with Off/FSR 1.0/FSR 2.2 options
- Overlap M2 and character animation updates via std::async (~2-5ms saved)
- Thread-local collision scratch buffers for concurrent floor queries
- Parallel terrain/WMO/M2 floor queries in camera controller
- Seed new M2 instance bones from existing siblings to eliminate pop-in flash
- Fix shadow flicker: snap center along stable light axes instead of in view space
- Increase shadow distance default to 300 units (slider max 500)
- Add movementSuppressTimer to camera controller that forces all movement
keys to read as false, preventing held W key from carrying through
loading screens (fixes always-running-forward after instance portals)
- Increase shadow frustum default from 60 to 72 units (+20%)
- Make shadow distance configurable via setShadowDistance() (40-200 range)
- Add shadow distance slider in Video settings tab (persisted to config)
Fix VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST crash by allocating per-frame scene history
images (color + depth) instead of a single shared image that raced
between frames in flight. Water refraction can now be toggled via
Settings > Video > Water Refraction.
Without refraction: richer blue base colors, animated caustic shimmer,
and normal-based color shifts give the water visible life. With
refraction: clean screen-space refraction with Beer-Lambert absorption.
Disabling clears scene history to black for immediate fallback.
- Extract initializeRenderers() from loadTestTerrain() so WMO-only maps
(dungeons/raids) initialize renderers directly without a dummy ADT path
- Defer setState(IN_GAME) until after processing any pending deferred world
entry, preventing brief IN_GAME flicker on the wrong map
- Remove verbose area trigger debug logging (every-second position spam)
Remove freeze-while-moving and idle smoothing logic from shadow
center computation. Texel snapping already prevents shimmer, so
the shadow projection can track the player directly each frame.
Player interaction ripples: vertex shader adds radial damped-sine displacement
centered on player position, fragment shader adds matching normal perturbation
for specular highlights. Player XY packed into shadowParams.zw, ripple strength
into fogParams.w. Separate 1x render pass for water when MSAA is active to
avoid MSAA-induced darkening — water renders after main pass resolves, using
the resolved swapchain image and depth resolve target. Water 1x framebuffers
rebuilt on swapchain recreate (window resize).
MSAA change was called mid-frame from settings UI, destroying the render pass
and framebuffers while the command buffer was still recording. Now deferred
via pendingMsaaSamples_ flag, applied in beginFrame() before any GPU state.
Also add +180° to M2 game object orientation to fix facing direction.
- renderWorld() now calls wmoRenderer, characterRenderer, m2Renderer (+smoke,
particles) in the correct opaque→transparent order; water moved after all
opaques; per-subsystem timing active in live path
- Deleted the 310-line #if 0 GL stub block and removed #include <GL/glew.h>
(last GL reference in renderer.cpp)
- Full-screen overlay pipeline (postprocess.vert + overlay.frag, alpha blend,
no depth test/write) for underwater tint; lazily initialized, renders a blue
tint when camera is meaningfully below the water surface; canal vs open-water
tint colours preserved from original design
- overlay.frag.glsl / overlay.frag.spv added
- ensure player transform sync is not gated by third-person so player shadow stays consistent
- hold shadow projection center during movement and snap once on stop to remove delayed catch-up
- smooth foliage caster transitions using blended phase-shifted UV samples
- tune foliage motion frequencies/amplitudes for less popping
- increase shadow map resolution to 2048 and retune terrain PCF texel scale
- increase global shadow strength from 0.62 to 0.68 for stronger, clearer shadows
- keep shadow projection center fixed while moving to remove per-frame projection churn flicker
- replace delayed post-move catch-up with immediate stop transition and idle smoothing
- rework foliage shadow caster motion to use blended phase-shifted UV samples for continuous position transitions
- reduce high-frequency foliage threshold popping by removing threshold warping path
- sharpen terrain receive filtering with tuned 5-tap PCF weights/offset for more detailed shadows
- raise shadow map resolution to 1536 and keep light-space texel snapping for stable sampling
- set shadows enabled by default and lower global shadow strength from 0.65 to 0.62
- keep foliage animation speed consistent between moving and idle at 80%
Hide NPC cloak/object-skin mesh when no cape texture resolves by using a transparent texture fallback, preventing skin-texture bleed on cloaks. Tighten NPC equipment region compositing by slot and add safe humanoid geoset selection to avoid robe-over-pants conflicts and odd pants texturing.
Reduce login/runtime hitching by deferring non-critical world-system initialization across frames, lowering per-frame transport doodad spawn budget, and demoting high-volume transport/MO_TRANSPORT diagnostics to debug. Gate M2 glow diagnostics behind WOWEE_M2_GLOW_DIAG and make zone music prewarm opt-in via WOWEE_PREWARM_ZONE_MUSIC.
Use actual WoW 3.3.5a PlayerExertions and Vox sound paths from MPQ
manifests for attack grunts, wounds, and death sounds. Handle Blizzard
naming quirks (HumanFeamle typo, OrcMale no Final suffix, Scourge→Undead).
Add COMBAT_IDLE animation state with ready weapon stance between swings.
Restore deleted MPQ sound manifest docs.
Replace 2D screen-space ding rings with real WoW LevelUp.m2 particle/geometry
effect. Fix FBlock particle color parsing (C3Vector floats, not CImVector bytes)
which was producing blue/red instead of golden yellow. Spell effect models bypass
particle dampeners, glow sprite conversion, Mod→Additive blend override, and all
collision (floor/wall/camera) to prevent camera zoom-in. Other players' level-ups
trigger the 3D effect at their position with group chat notification. F7 hotkey
for testing.
- SHADOW_MAP_SIZE 2048→1024: 4x fewer pixels rasterized in depth pass
- Replace 9-tap manual PCF loop with single hardware PCF tap in all 4 receiver
shaders (terrain.frag, wmo_renderer, m2_renderer, character_renderer).
GL_LINEAR + GL_COMPARE_REF_TO_TEXTURE already gives 2×2 bilinear PCF per
tap for free, so quality is maintained while doing 9x fewer texture fetches.
- Throttle shadow depth pass to every 2 frames; OpenGL depth texture persists
between frames so receivers always have a valid shadow map. 1-frame lag at
60 fps is invisible.
