The BA commands seem tricky, with the sequence, I can't remember what sequence you said, for each? I dont remember saying anything about a sequence for SetOtherMode_H. The only thing I remember saying about SetOtherMode_H was it seemed waistfull because each parameter uses a seperate bit, yet they need to be called seperately. I don't think fog in B7 command would really be used, not sure what does. [ADVANCED] Fog in GeometryMode is like a parent flag that enabels FOG to start with. Without it, the FOG colour register will not be read and therefore any call by the Blender for FOG will result in 0. It should always be enabled. I included it in the dialoge for completness. Why does B7 command have Texture Gen and Texture Gen Linear (in editor we use 0x6000 for env map, I thought was lighting + texture gen) [ADVANCED] Correct, 6000 = 4000+2000. The second mode Linear is described in SDK as; 11.7.5.3 Texture Coordinate Transformations http://fgfc.ddns.net/NINTENDO%2064%20SDK%205%20_CDROM/man/allman50/pro-man/pro11/11-07.htm#05-03 What this means is, Regular is Spherical Env Map. Linear will not move up and down, at least it uses the whole map and not just a circle. I beleve its also view independent, i.e. as you move you see a new part of the image to represent behind you. What does shade do in B7? [ADVANCED] Quite Simple, Enables or Dissables reading of Vertex Colours. It should ALWAYS be on. The only time it should be dissabled is for 2d texture sprites using PrimColour. I cant see any reason for this. And Z Buffer would it really be something edit? [ADVANCED] Well... Possibly... If you have a level or object that can only be rendered 1 way (like a gun) then you can dissable z-buffering to double the fill rate. I would not dissable it in GeometryMode though. Only dissable it in rendermode. If we wanted to experiment with Z-buffered guns, this would be a flag to check for. FC would people be editing? [ADVANCED] I would :) It allows for Combining Textures with shade in different ways to achive burnout effects or rich textures etc, see http://fgfc.ddns.net/PerfectGold/SetCombine%2Ehtm for example OK RenderMode, what is difference Image Read (AA) and Anti-Alias? [ADVANCED] So, AA is exactly that. The difference is more of an implementation addition. i.e. you cant use IM_RD without AA. Implementation: AA reads the coverage value for an edge, it then uses this value to combine the surface edge colour with the background colour. When IM_RD is used it allows the blender to both read AND write coverage values for AA. If something changes such as a face is drawn behind the first then the colour will be allowed to change to match. eg, take Coverage value, multiply it with surface colour and BG. If new face, take coverage value and multiply it with Surface and New Surface. What is Alpha Coverage vs Coverage * Alpha vs Colour On Coverage [ADVANCED] Colour On Coverage : only update color on coverage overflow (transparent surfaces) Coverage * Alpha : use alpha multiplied by coverage for pixel alpha and coverage (Transparent textures 1bit) Alpha Coverage Select : use coverage (or alpha*coverage) for pixel alpha (Transparent Textures multi-bit and Opaque Surfaces) What's Z Update / Z Compare? [ADVANCED] Z Compare simply compares the currently drawing pixel z value with that of a previously drawn value. If a display list is in front to back order then this is all that is needed. Z Update will update the pixel z to the new z based on distance of closest surface. Any future comparisons will now compare to this new value. if they are closer then they will also update the value etc etc. What's Force Blender? [ADVANCED] Place New colour to pixel regardless of conditions. Always use FORCE_BL on non-z-buffered modes. Used in Transparent and Decal Surfaces And I'm still confused by Mux in rendermode vs FC command The difference between the Blender and the Combiner is that the Blender can use the framebuffer RGB and the framebuffer alpha as input sources The Combiner uses Textures and shades as input sources. It works by loading textures, mixing it with vert shade, pass it to blender which then mixes it with fog and framebuffer in the case of AA or transparent faces. What's on bottom of Rendermode dlg? [ADVANCED] The 2 textboxes at the bottom are where the preset name appears if it is a match. Basicly its just the name of the mode just like reading off the checkboxes. eg. AA_ZB_OPA_SURF. it doesnt really have any specific use other than for comparrison to CCBL. BB Command what is ON checkbox? [AUTO] Literally it means Texture on... if its off then the command is ignored and the texture will not be used. Im quite sure from what I read on zoinks stuff that it will cause a glitch if you used it alone to dissable textures. BA Command, prob don't need let them choose cycle, how determine cycle? [ADVANCED] well... I have put little text next to each question. Auto = hide from user, Advanced = editable but hidden dialog. Cycle could be used if you want to render an object as fast as possible and it wont mip-map. This would not be easy for AUTO becuase the only condition for AUTO is texture... It may be desired to set to 1 cycle even if textured. While not a common to edit feature, I think it would be usefull. Not sure if any params there are really editale? Like Texture LUT? [AUTO] well, ill list them with edit/advanced/Auto. Alpha Dither [ADVANCED] (Video Interface, Affects whole frame, not dl) Colour Dither [ADVANCED] (Video Interface, Affects whole frame, not dl) Combine Key [AUTO?] TextureConvert [AUTO] Texture Filter [ADVANCED] really should be Bi-Linear all the time though. Texture LUT [AUTO] Texture LOD [AUTO] Texture Detail [EDIT] Texture Persp [AUTO] Always ON Cycle [ADVANCED] Extreme caution, but for the likes of us, we have some knowlege and understanding and may be able to use them to our advantage for speed. Pipeline [ADVANCED] Extreme Caution. What's pipeline http://fgfc.ddns.net/NINTENDO%2064%20SDK%205%20_CDROM/man/allman50/n64man/gdp/gDPPipelineMode.htm If Not Coherent then advere effects could arrise, however Non-Coherent primitives draw much faster as they dont wait for other blender operations to finish before drawing. --- For RMW (Read/Modify/Write) cycles, the RDP is smart enough to pre-fetch a row of pixels as soon as the X, Y coordinates of the span are determined. The RDP pre-loads the framebuffer content of this span into an RDP on-chip span buffer. The RDP then waits for the pipeline to process the parameters for the outgoing pixels. When the outgoing pixels are computed, they are "Combined" with the pre-loaded framebuffer pixels before writing back to the framebuffer. An example of this operation is Z buffer and transparency blending. (This was not shown in the logical pipeline description, to help simplify the explanation.) The RDP has enough on-chip RAM to hold several span buffers. Therefore, if two spans in succession happened to overlap the same screen area, the RDP would pre-fetch the first span into a span buffer while the pipeline started processing this span. Then it would pre-fetch the next span into another span buffer. This is where the problems occur: the pixel data for the next span is not yet computed. The RDP does have span buffer coherency, at the cost of some performance. If errors are objectionable in your animation, use gsDPPipelineMode(G_PM_1PRIMITIVE) to cause all primitives to add between 30 to 40 null cycles after the last span of a primitive is rendered. These dead cycles can be expensive in terms of fill rate so it is recommended not to use the 1PRIMITIVE mode unless absolutely necessary.