# ============================================================================ # grass.ludic — procedural GPU ground cover with continuous density (no rings). # # The world is cut into 4 m cells; blade j of a cell always stands in the same place # (shaders/grass.vert). Draws are per tile: the CPU walks tiles around the camera, # frustum-culls them, and feeds each visible tile as many blade indices per cell as its # NEAREST point could need; the vertex stage then keeps only the indices that exist at # each blade's own distance, so density is one smooth function of distance everywhere. # Tiles are 16 m near, 64 m in the middle distance and 256 m far, purely to keep the # draw count down — the cells and their hashes are the same in every tile size. # ============================================================================ # The cell (GRASS_CELL until the kinds) is the kind's now: render3d_st.grass_cell (grass_kind.ludic). # A photographed blade, as an atlas of straightened blades side by side (the game sets # this; the renderer does not name a game asset). 0 = the procedural gradient, which is # what this was for a year: a two-tone ramp with a hard edge, and every blade in the # valley the same blade. A real blade has a midrib, a colour that runs olive to straw, # browning where it has dried and a tip that is its own shape - none of which can be # written down, only photographed. # Where a body is standing, and how wide it pushes. The grass has never known the player was # in it: you walked through a meadow and every blade ignored you, which is the single most # noticeable thing missing from every step the game asks you to take. The game sets this each # frame; radius 0 means nobody is there. # Vulkan with multi-draw indirect: every visible tile is a record in one buffer, uploaded once a # frame, and each band draws its records GRASS_CHUNK at a time - one draw for up to 256 tiles. A # record's firstInstance is its place in its chunk times 65536; grass.vert's TILES variant reads that # place's corner and indices per cell from u_tiles. R3D_GRASS_TILES=1 keeps a draw per tile. const GRASS_CHUNK: int = 256 const GRASS_RECS: int = 8192 # Mesh-shader grass (Settings, Video, Advanced): the chunked path's records, but each chunk is one # mesh dispatch - work group y a tile, x a batch of GRASS_MESH_BLADES of its blades - so a blade the # tests reject emits nothing instead of eight degenerate vertices. R3D_MESH_GRASS=1 / 0 overrides. const GRASS_MESH_BLADES: int = 16 function r3d_mesh_grass(render3d_st: mut Render3dState, on: bool) -> void { render3d_st.grass_mesh_on = on if r3d_env_has(render3d_st, "R3D_MESH_GRASS") { render3d_st.grass_mesh_on = Text.to_int(r3d_env(render3d_st, "R3D_MESH_GRASS")) != 0 } } function grass_mesh_live(render3d_st: Render3dState) -> bool { return render3d_st.grass_mesh_on and render3d_st.grass_merge and render3d_st.grass_mesh_prog != 0 and gpu_has_mesh(render3d_st) } # a blade: `rows` rows of 2 vertices (x across, y along, z bend), attribute 2 = uv function grass_blade_mesh(render3d_st: mut Render3dState, rows: int) -> Mesh { let gk = grass_kind(render3d_st) let m = gpu_mesh_new(render3d_st) let v = gl_floats(rows * 2 * 5) var k = 0 # The blade's PROFILE, and it is the whole difference between grass and a green spike. # It used to be `1 - t^2.5` floored at 0.12 with a bend of 0.28t^2: widest at the very # bottom, narrowing to a needle, and standing almost straight. That is the silhouette of # a pine needle, and eighty of them to the square metre read as a bed of nails. # # A real blade is narrow where it leaves the sheath, WIDEST about a fifth of the way up, # and then tapers the rest of the way to a fine point - and it arches over under its own # weight. Both terms below say that. The tip is floored just off zero rather than at 0.12 # so the point is a point and not a cut-off stub, but not so low that the last quad is # degenerate. # # The numbers are the kind's (grass_profile_w / _bend). grass.mesh carries A COPY of the # default profile for the mesh-shader path; change both or the Windows blades stop matching. for r in 0 .. rows { let t = float(r) / float(rows - 1) let taper = grass_profile_w(gk, t) let bend = grass_profile_bend(gk, t) for sd in 0 .. 2 { var x = -0.5 if sd == 1 { x = 0.5 } gl_put_bits(v, k, float_bits(x * taper)); gl_put_bits(v, k + 1, float_bits(t)); gl_put_bits(v, k + 2, float_bits(bend)) gl_put_bits(v, k + 3, float_bits(float(sd))); gl_put_bits(v, k + 4, float_bits(t)) k += 5 } } gpu_mesh_vertices(render3d_st, m, v, gl_bytes_of(rows * 2 * 5), GPU_STATIC) gpu_mesh_attr(render3d_st, m, 0, 3, GPU_F32, 20, 0, false) gpu_mesh_attr(render3d_st, m, 2, 2, GPU_F32, 20, 12, false) free(v) let nq = rows - 1 let idx = words(nq * 6) for q in 0 .. nq { let b = q * 2 idx[q * 6] = b; idx[q * 6 + 1] = b + 1; idx[q * 6 + 2] = b + 2 idx[q * 6 + 3] = b + 1; idx[q * 6 + 4] = b + 3; idx[q * 6 + 5] = b + 2 } gpu_mesh_indices(render3d_st, m, data_of(idx), nq * 6 * 4, 4) free(idx) m.count = nq * 6 gpu_mesh_done(render3d_st, m) return m } # the GPU memory it makes is counted as VKM_GRASS (R3D_VKMEM) function grass_init(render3d_st: mut Render3dState) -> void { let was = render3d_st.gvk_tag render3d_st.gvk_tag = VKM_GRASS grass_init__t(render3d_st) render3d_st.gvk_tag = was } @alloc_ok("start-up: the device, its tables, the programs, the passes and the world's first textures are made once, before play") function grass_init__t(render3d_st: mut Render3dState) -> void { render3d_st.grass_merge = gpu_has_mdi(render3d_st) and not r3d_env_has(render3d_st, "R3D_GRASS_TILES") let defs = grass_defs(render3d_st.grass_merge) if render3d_st.grass_merge { render3d_st.grass_rec = words(GRASS_RECS * 5); render3d_st.grass_tv = floats(GRASS_RECS * 4); render3d_st.grass_chunk_tv = floats(GRASS_CHUNK * 4) render3d_st.grass_band_start = words(4); render3d_st.grass_band_cells = words(4) render3d_st.grass_band_mesh = new []Mesh for b in 0 .. 4 { push(render3d_st.grass_band_mesh, null) } render3d_st.grass_cmds = gpu_buffer_new(render3d_st) } render3d_st.grass_prog = r3d_program(render3d_st, "grass.vert", "model.frag", defs) if render3d_st.grass_merge and gpu_has_mesh(render3d_st) { render3d_st.grass_mesh_prog = r3d_program(render3d_st, "grass.mesh", "model.frag", "#define FOLIAGE\n#define BLADE\n#define MESH\n") } grass_meshes_build(render3d_st) # Matched to the blade's width: a 1 cm blade at 0.11 m spacing covers a third of what a # 2.8 cm blade did, and the meadow goes bare. The game's graphics settings override this # (gfx_grass_spacing), but only once game_init has run - a plain headless render never # gets there, so the two have to agree or a shot shows something no player will see. # That is exactly how the last change measured as "no effect": the render was identical # because this line, not the settings, was deciding. # The spacing doubles every 18 m and the blades stop at 70 m: at 45 m and 1600 m a 1 cm blade # was under a pixel from 20 m on, costing a full blade's vertices to shimmer (5 ms of 9.7 on GL). # The spacing, its doubling distance and the reach are the kind's (0.066, 18 and 70 by default), # held to the settings' tier (grass_quality) and then to R3D_GRASS_S0 / _D0 / _R (grass_derive). grass_derive(render3d_st) if r3d_env_has(render3d_st, "R3D_NOBLADES") { render3d_st.grass_on = false } if r3d_env_has(render3d_st, "R3D_GRASS_DBG") { render3d_st.grass_dbg = Text.to_int(r3d_env(render3d_st, "R3D_GRASS_DBG")) } gg_init(render3d_st) } # The three blades, at the kind's rows: five, four quads, near (the arch needs somewhere to bend, and # at four rows a blade that leans over is three straight segments); three; and one quad far out. # Made again only when a kind with other rows or another profile is set (grass_kind_set). @alloc_ok("start-up, and a kind of another shape set at a world build: the blade meshes are made once") function grass_meshes_build(render3d_st: mut Render3dState) -> void { if render3d_st.grass_prog == 0 { return } let k = grass_kind(render3d_st) mesh_free(render3d_st, render3d_st.grass_mesh) mesh_free(render3d_st, render3d_st.grass_mesh3) mesh_free(render3d_st, render3d_st.grass_mesh2) render3d_st.grass_mesh = grass_blade_mesh(render3d_st, k.rows_near) render3d_st.grass_mesh3 = grass_blade_mesh(render3d_st, k.rows_mid) render3d_st.grass_mesh2 = grass_blade_mesh(render3d_st, k.rows_far) if render3d_st.gg_on { gg_meshes_build(render3d_st) } } # indices per 16 m cell that could exist at distance d (the count the shader computes) # Under a fog wall the blades end at three quarters of it. A blade's tip stands against ground # much farther off, and a dark blade 85% fogged read as a dark band against fully fogged ground # behind it; ending here, they thin out (the cull's last 30%) while the fog is still coming in. const GRASS_FOG_END: float = 0.75 function grass_reach(render3d_st: Render3dState) -> float { let w = render3d_st.r3d_fog_wall * GRASS_FOG_END if w > 0.0 and w < render3d_st.grass_radius { return w } return render3d_st.grass_radius } function grass_count_at(render3d_st: Render3dState, d: float) -> int { let spacing = render3d_st.grass_s0 * (1.0 + d / render3d_st.grass_d0) let n = float(render3d_st.grass_cell * render3d_st.grass_cell) / (spacing * spacing) return int(n) + 1 } # one tile size over one distance band function grass_tiles(render3d_st: mut Render3dState, size: int, d_min: float, d_max: float, blade: Mesh) -> void { let p = render3d_st.grass_prog let cells = size / render3d_st.grass_cell if d_min >= grass_reach(render3d_st) { return } if render3d_st.grass_merge { render3d_st.grass_band_start[render3d_st.grass_band_n] = render3d_st.grass_n; render3d_st.grass_band_cells[render3d_st.grass_band_n] = cells render3d_st.grass_band_mesh[render3d_st.grass_band_n] = blade; render3d_st.grass_band_n += 1 } else { u_i(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_tile_cells"), cells) } let sz = float(size) let half = sz * 0.5 let reach = d_max + half * 1.5 let tx0 = int(Math.floor((render3d_st.cam_pos[0] - reach) / sz)) let tx1 = int(Math.floor((render3d_st.cam_pos[0] + reach) / sz)) let tz0 = int(Math.floor((render3d_st.cam_pos[2] - reach) / sz)) let tz1 = int(Math.floor((render3d_st.cam_pos[2] + reach) / sz)) let corner_r = half * 1.42 var tz = tz0 while tz <= tz1 { var tx = tx0 while tx <= tx1 { let ox = float(tx) * sz; let oz = float(tz) * sz let cx = ox + half; let cz = oz + half let dx = cx - render3d_st.cam_pos[0]; let dz = cz - render3d_st.cam_pos[2] let dc = Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dz * dz) # the tile's nearest and farthest points decide which band it belongs to let dnear = Math.max(dc - corner_r, 0.0) if dc < d_min or not (dnear < d_max) { tx += 1; continue } let cy = terrain_height(render3d_st, cx, cz) if cam_sphere_visible(render3d_st, cx, cy, cz, corner_r + 6.0) { let per = grass_count_at(render3d_st, dnear) if per > 0 and render3d_st.grass_merge { if render3d_st.grass_n < GRASS_RECS { var inst = per * cells * cells if inst > 65535 { inst = 65535 } let r = render3d_st.grass_n * 5 render3d_st.grass_rec[r] = blade.count; render3d_st.grass_rec[r + 1] = inst; render3d_st.grass_rec[r + 2] = 0; render3d_st.grass_rec[r + 3] = 0 render3d_st.grass_rec[r + 4] = ((render3d_st.grass_n - render3d_st.grass_band_start[render3d_st.grass_band_n - 1]) % GRASS_CHUNK) * 65536 let t = render3d_st.grass_n * 4 render3d_st.grass_tv[t] = ox; render3d_st.grass_tv[t + 1] = oz; render3d_st.grass_tv[t + 2] = float(per); render3d_st.grass_tv[t + 3] = 0.0 render3d_st.grass_n += 1 } } else if per > 0 { u_f2(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_tile"), ox, oz) u_i(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_per_cell"), per) mesh_draw_instanced(render3d_st, blade, per * cells * cells) render3d_st.grass_draws += 1 } } tx += 1 } tz += 1 } } function grass_live(render3d_st: Render3dState) -> bool { return not render3d_st.grass_env_off and (render3d_st.grass_on or render3d_st.grass_force) and render3d_st.grass_prog != 0 } function grass_draw(render3d_st: mut Render3dState) -> void { if not grass_live(render3d_st) or render3d_st.ter_reflect { return } if render3d_st.gg_on { gg_draw(render3d_st); return } var p = render3d_st.grass_prog if grass_mesh_live(render3d_st) { p = render3d_st.grass_mesh_prog } gpu_use_program(render3d_st, p) grass_bind(render3d_st, p) gpu_cull(render3d_st, false) render3d_st.grass_draws = 0 render3d_st.grass_n = 0 render3d_st.grass_band_n = 0 gpu_mesh_bind(render3d_st, render3d_st.grass_mesh) grass_bands(render3d_st) if render3d_st.grass_merge { grass_flush(render3d_st) } gpu_cull(render3d_st, true) } # the blades' uniforms, shared by the per-vertex path and the culled one (grass_gpu.ludic) function grass_bind(render3d_st: mut Render3dState, p: int) -> void { u_mat4(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_view"), render3d_st.cam_view) u_mat4(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_proj"), render3d_st.cam_proj) u_mat4(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_vp"), render3d_st.cam_vp_clean) u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_wind"), grass_kind(render3d_st).wind) grass_bind_kind(render3d_st, p) # copied into a local first: a global reaching a uniform call is the codegen fault # CLAUDE.md records against u_wade and u_flutter, and it costs a day every time let btex = render3d_st.grass_blade_tex let bcols = render3d_st.grass_blade_cols u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_blade_cols"), float(bcols)) var bon = 0.0 if btex != 0 { bon = 1.0; r3d_bind_2d(render3d_st, p, "u_blade_tex", 12, btex) } u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_blade_tex_on"), bon) u_f3(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_push"), render3d_st.grass_push_x, render3d_st.grass_push_z, render3d_st.grass_push_r) u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_rough_scale"), 1.0) u_v3(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_tint"), render3d_st.sc_blade_tint) u_v3(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_blade_base"), render3d_st.sc_blade_base) u_v3(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_blade_tip"), render3d_st.sc_blade_tip) u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_cull"), grass_reach(render3d_st)) u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_model_h"), 0.0) u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_s0"), render3d_st.grass_s0) u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_d0"), render3d_st.grass_d0) u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_radius"), grass_reach(render3d_st)) var ph = render3d_st.post_h if ph <= 0 { ph = gl_height() } u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_px"), 2.0 * Math.tan(render3d_st.cam_fov * 0.5) / float(ph)) u_i(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_dbg"), render3d_st.grass_dbg) var orthotex = render3d_st.ter_ortho_tex var oon = 1.0 if orthotex == 0 { orthotex = render3d_st.ter_height_tex; oon = 0.0 } r3d_bind_2d(render3d_st, p, "u_ortho", 4, orthotex) u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_ortho_on"), oon) var lake = -100000.0 if render3d_st.ter_lake_ex != 0.0 { lake = render3d_st.ter_lake_level } u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_lake_level"), lake) var sea = lake if render3d_st.ter_sea_set { sea = render3d_st.ter_sea_level } u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_sea_level"), sea) u_f4(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_lake"), render3d_st.ter_lake_cx, render3d_st.ter_lake_cz, render3d_st.ter_lake_ex, render3d_st.ter_lake_ez) u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_snow_line"), render3d_st.ter_snow_line) sky_bind_lighting(render3d_st, p) shadow_bind(render3d_st, p) fog_bind(render3d_st, p) # 0.15 was enough to put a hard white highlight down the length of a blade whenever it # caught the sun, and a white blade of grass is the one thing grass is never. Measured: # at 0.15, 0.70% of a near-ground frame was over 210 of 255; at 0.0 it is 0.05%. A blade # does have a faint sheen, so this is small rather than nothing - the foliage layers have # used 0.05 all along and never showed the fault. The kind's `spec` (0.008). u_f(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_spec_scale"), grass_kind(render3d_st).spec) } # the per-vertex path's tiles, in four bands function grass_bands(render3d_st: mut Render3dState) -> void { # four bands: the tile grows and the blade loses rows with distance (a band past the radius is # skipped); a tile asks for what its NEAREST point needs, so a wide tile far out wastes the rest # the kind's row bands, inside the 40 m where the tiles grow to 16 m let mid = Math.min(grass_kind(render3d_st).band_mid, 40.0) let near = Math.min(grass_kind(render3d_st).band_near, mid) grass_tiles(render3d_st, 4, 0.0, near, render3d_st.grass_mesh) grass_tiles(render3d_st, 4, near, mid, render3d_st.grass_mesh3) grass_tiles(render3d_st, 8, mid, 40.0, render3d_st.grass_mesh2) grass_tiles(render3d_st, 16, 40.0, grass_reach(render3d_st), render3d_st.grass_mesh2) } # the records gathered this frame: uploaded once, then each band GRASS_CHUNK records a draw function grass_flush(render3d_st: mut Render3dState) -> void { if render3d_st.grass_n == 0 { return } var p = render3d_st.grass_prog let mesh = grass_mesh_live(render3d_st) if mesh { p = render3d_st.grass_mesh_prog } else { gpu_buffer_upload(render3d_st, render3d_st.grass_cmds, render3d_st.grass_n * 20, data_of(render3d_st.grass_rec), GPU_DYNAMIC) } for b in 0 .. render3d_st.grass_band_n { let s = render3d_st.grass_band_start[b] var e = render3d_st.grass_n if b + 1 < render3d_st.grass_band_n { e = render3d_st.grass_band_start[b + 1] } if e > s { u_i(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_tile_cells"), render3d_st.grass_band_cells[b]) } let blade = render3d_st.grass_band_mesh[b] if e > s and not mesh { gpu_mesh_bind(render3d_st, blade) } var k = s while k < e { var m = e - k if m > GRASS_CHUNK { m = GRASS_CHUNK } for q in 0 .. m * 4 { render3d_st.grass_chunk_tv[q] = render3d_st.grass_tv[k * 4 + q] } if mesh { # one dispatch per tile, as many blade batches as that tile has: sized for a chunk's largest # tile, the far tiles beside a near one ran thousands of empty invocations (9.8 ms against the # chunked path's 2 at 4K on an RTX 3070 Ti) let cells = render3d_st.grass_band_cells[b] for q in 0 .. m { var total = int(render3d_st.grass_tv[(k + q) * 4 + 2]) * cells * cells if total > 65535 { total = 65535 } if total > 0 { for c in 0 .. 4 { render3d_st.grass_chunk_tv[c] = render3d_st.grass_tv[(k + q) * 4 + c] } u_f4v(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_tiles"), 1, render3d_st.grass_chunk_tv) gpu_draw_mesh_tasks(render3d_st, (total + GRASS_MESH_BLADES - 1) / GRASS_MESH_BLADES, 1, 1) render3d_st.grass_draws += 1 } } } else { u_f4v(render3d_st, gpu_uniform(render3d_st, p, "u_tiles"), m, render3d_st.grass_chunk_tv) gpu_draw_mesh_indirect(render3d_st, blade, render3d_st.grass_cmds, k * 20, m, 0, 0) } if not mesh { render3d_st.grass_draws += 1 } k += m } } }