Effects (Bloom, SSAO, SSDO) and VR/TrackIR Installers

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Re: Installers for New Shaders, Effects (Bloom, SSAO, SSDO) and VR/TrackIR Support

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Ace Antilles
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Post by Ace Antilles » Wed May 06, 2020 4:13 am

I can confirm Dunaris Casino is a FPS killer for everyone.
So if you have that in game it's going to cause issues, better to experiment without it.
There are other issues for people I'm sure and many areas are being looked at but if you are testing stuff do it without major starships and stations in missions and work up from there.
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Post by Darksaber » Wed May 06, 2020 5:59 am

@Blue Max For future release would you fix your DDraw.cfg file

At present for Vsync in you DDraw.cfg it just says

EnableVSync = 0

In Jeremy's version it says

; EnableVSync = 0 (vsync off) or 1 (vsync on)
EnableVSync = 1

I'm not bothered that it's on or off, I dunno what it does anyway, it's just missing the line

; EnableVSync = 0 (vsync off) or 1 (vsync on)

it's just me being OCD lol

Thanks
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Post by keiranhalcyon7 » Wed May 06, 2020 8:09 am

Blue Max, this may be a tangent to the main point of the post, but are you doing something custom there with the side screens? I see portions of the CMD on each side, which normally is not possible.

DS, really? ... In brief, vsync synchronizes the updates to the frame buffer in your GPU to the refresh of your monitor. With vsync off, updates can happen in the middle of a screen draw, which can result in "tearing". Tearing doesn't happen with vsync on, but that caps your frame rate at your monitor's refresh rate. So it's really kind of a personal preference.

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Post by Darksaber » Wed May 06, 2020 9:04 am

Yes, really :?

Sorry, I'm not a big gamer, I haven't a clue what half of this stuff does, and to be honest I don't care, if it works great, if it doesn't then it was a waste of money :D

plus like I said I'm not bothered if by default vsync is turned on or off, that wasn't the point of my post :D

In Jeremy's DDraw.cfg by default it's turned off, in Blue Max's it's turned on (who cares?)

All I'm bothered about is in Blue Max's DDraw.cfg the line

; EnableVSync = 0 (vsync off) or 1 (vsync on)

Is missing and it just bugged me :D

So shoot me :weapon7:
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Post by blue_max » Wed May 06, 2020 5:07 pm

Darksaber wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 5:59 am
@Blue Max For future release would you fix your DDraw.cfg file
Fixed.
keiranhalcyon7 wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 8:09 am
Blue Max, this may be a tangent to the main point of the post, but are you doing something custom there with the side screens? I see portions of the CMD on each side, which normally is not possible.
What do you mean by this? Can you post a picture, perhaps?

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Post by Darksaber » Wed May 06, 2020 5:35 pm

Thank you :)
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Post by keiranhalcyon7 » Wed May 06, 2020 6:15 pm

Blue max, I'm referring to your most recent picture on the previous page of this thread. You're targeting a TIE/F, and its geo is also visible in the left screen, and its name (but not its geo) is visible in the right screen.

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Post by blue_max » Wed May 06, 2020 9:16 pm

keiranhalcyon7 wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 6:15 pm
Blue max, I'm referring to your most recent picture on the previous page of this thread. You're targeting a TIE/F, and its geo is also visible in the left screen, and its name (but not its geo) is visible in the right screen.
Oh... that. Yeah, new features coming for DC soon: the ability to split text and objects on DC displays. I had to split it anyway to implement Jeremy's new text renderer, so I figured... why not? (Also, some people asked about it).

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Post by szoreny » Fri May 08, 2020 2:15 pm

blue_max wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 9:16 pm
keiranhalcyon7 wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 6:15 pm
Blue max, I'm referring to your most recent picture on the previous page of this thread. You're targeting a TIE/F, and its geo is also visible in the left screen, and its name (but not its geo) is visible in the right screen.
Oh... that. Yeah, new features coming for DC soon: the ability to split text and objects on DC displays. I had to split it anyway to implement Jeremy's new text renderer, so I figured... why not? (Also, some people asked about it).
Hey Blue along those lines can the central hovering update line where radio message subtitles, new craft alerts and ship updates like telling you what convergence settings you're setting and giving throttle updates etc etc be visible when flying dynamic pits with no HUD?

I asked about this in the new Z-95 5.0 thread cause I really like flying dynamic with no HUD and Track IR, but its still very handy to have the volume of info that passes through the central line, like I mentioned convergence above, that's the only place to get that info far as I know, and without it you're switching ranges blind.

Looking through the .dc files I don't see a line item that describes this area of the HUD, and when flying with normal HUD if you turn off all regions with the six hotkeys this central line is the only thing that remains so it must be its own thing maybe with a master show/hide command?

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Post by BenKenobi » Fri May 08, 2020 2:24 pm

szoreny wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 2:15 pm

Hey Blue along those lines can the central hovering update line where radio message subtitles, new craft alerts and ship updates like telling you what convergence settings you're setting and giving throttle updates etc etc be visible when flying dynamic pits with no HUD?

I asked about this in the new Z-95 5.0 thread cause I really like flying dynamic with no HUD and Track IR, but its still very handy to have the volume of info that passes through the central line, like I mentioned convergence above, that's the only place to get that info far as I know, and without it you're switching ranges blind.

Looking through the .dc files I don't see a line item that describes this area of the HUD, and when flying with normal HUD if you turn off all regions with the six hotkeys this central line is the only thing that remains so it must be its own thing maybe with a master show/hide command?
I asked the same question about info messages here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12475&p=167098#p167098 :D

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Post by szoreny » Fri May 08, 2020 2:40 pm

BenKenobi wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 2:24 pm
I asked the same question about info messages here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12475&p=167098#p167098 :D
Oh cool, I was going to try rolling some things back too, - maybe compare some .cfg files between the old and new effects and dynamic cockpits versions.

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Post by blue_max » Fri May 08, 2020 4:43 pm

szoreny wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 2:15 pm
Hey Blue along those lines can the central hovering update line where radio message subtitles, new craft alerts and ship updates like telling you what convergence settings you're setting and giving throttle updates etc etc be visible when flying dynamic pits with no HUD?
Of course! This is actually a bug: I'm an idiot and I disabled these messages by mistake when coding the simplified triangle pointer. Please download the fix here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v9xq8iyu3pgy5 ... 0.zip?dl=0

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Post by szoreny » Fri May 08, 2020 4:59 pm

blue_max wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 4:43 pm
szoreny wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 2:15 pm
Hey Blue along those lines can the central hovering update line where radio message subtitles, new craft alerts and ship updates like telling you what convergence settings you're setting and giving throttle updates etc etc be visible when flying dynamic pits with no HUD?
Of course! This is actually a bug: I'm an idiot and I disabled these messages by mistake when coding the simplified triangle pointer. Please download the fix here:
Uh, I think evidence suggests you're far from an idiot! Thanks for the fix and all your hard work -

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Post by blue_max » Thu May 14, 2020 3:10 am

Micro-update:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1x59o0immhh3b ... 0.zip?dl=0

In this update, I've fixed a few things:

* Added support for accents when using the new Text Rendered. So this release is on par with Jeremy's 1.3.10.1
* Dynamic Cockpit: Fixed the sub-component bracket in the CMD: it now shows as part of the targeting computer.
* Dynamic Cockpit: When hiding the cockpit, the full HUD will now be visible.
* Dynamic Cockpit: Per-craft FOV. If your cockpit is DC-Enabled, you can now adjust the FOV of this craft with Ctrl+Alt+Shift + Left/Right Arrows. The FOV will be saved to the .DC file automatically.
* VSync: Added a new setting to enable VSync only in the hangar.
* Headlights: Pressing Ctrl+H will now turn on an additional light centered on your craft. This may help in missions where lights go out, like the Death Star. The color and intensity of the headlights is configurable in SSAO.cfg.
Last edited by blue_max on Thu May 14, 2020 3:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Ace Antilles » Thu May 14, 2020 3:25 am

blue_max wrote:
Thu May 14, 2020 3:10 am
Micro-update:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1x59o0immhh3b ... 0.zip?dl=0

In this update, I've fixed a few things:

* Added support for accents when using the new Text Rendered. So this release is on par with Jeremy's 1.3.10.1
* Dynamic Cockpit: Fixed the sub-component bracket in the CMD: it now shows as part of the targeting computer.
* Dynamic Cockpit: When hiding the cockpit, the full HUD will now be visible.
* VSync: Added a new setting to enable VSync only in the hangar.
* Headlights: Pressing Ctrl+H will now turn on an additional light centered on your craft. This may help in missions where lights go out, like the Death Star. The color and intensity of the headlights is configurable in SSAO.cfg.
Amazing stuff Max! :) I'll have a play tomorrow.
Headlights sound cool but still hope there's another alternative fix for the DS thing too
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Post by maggee » Thu May 14, 2020 9:56 am

Headlight worked nicely as a way to make the mission playable again, tested it with no drama :)

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Post by Trevor » Thu May 14, 2020 10:37 am

* Dynamic Cockpit: Per-craft FOV. If your cockpit is DC-Enabled, you can now adjust the FOV of this craft with Ctrl+Alt+Shift + Left/Right Arrows. The FOV will be saved to the .DC file automatically.
I hope VR will ignore this as FOV is hardware related and not artistic choice.

However, what I would mention is for cockpit builders to make sure they build the cockpits to the right scale since I have noticed in some cockpits - while they look ok in 2D on a monitor - things are further away/closer than they should be.

Note regarding scale: I calibrated my VR setup with Jeremy's Opt editor for the 10cm and 1meter cube (with Cola cans on top)
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Post by korekwerner » Thu May 14, 2020 2:54 pm

@Blue_Max you are the Boss :-).
Thank you.

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Post by blue_max » Thu May 14, 2020 4:31 pm

Trevor wrote:
Thu May 14, 2020 10:37 am
* Dynamic Cockpit: Per-craft FOV. If your cockpit is DC-Enabled, you can now adjust the FOV of this craft with Ctrl+Alt+Shift + Left/Right Arrows. The FOV will be saved to the .DC file automatically.
I hope VR will ignore this as FOV is hardware related and not artistic choice.
The FOV is saved on the DC files using a new setting called "xwahacker_fov". If you remove it, the global FOV will be used again.

BTW, I didn't notice anything unusual in VR; but who knows? Other people might experience distortion (?)...

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Post by Ace Antilles » Thu May 14, 2020 9:53 pm

blue_max wrote:
Thu May 14, 2020 3:10 am
Micro-update:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1x59o0immhh3b ... 0.zip?dl=0

In this update, I've fixed a few things:

* Added support for accents when using the new Text Rendered. So this release is on par with Jeremy's 1.3.10.1
* Dynamic Cockpit: Fixed the sub-component bracket in the CMD: it now shows as part of the targeting computer.
* Dynamic Cockpit: When hiding the cockpit, the full HUD will now be visible.
* Dynamic Cockpit: Per-craft FOV. If your cockpit is DC-Enabled, you can now adjust the FOV of this craft with Ctrl+Alt+Shift + Left/Right Arrows. The FOV will be saved to the .DC file automatically.
* VSync: Added a new setting to enable VSync only in the hangar.
* Headlights: Pressing Ctrl+H will now turn on an additional light centered on your craft. This may help in missions where lights go out, like the Death Star. The color and intensity of the headlights is configurable in SSAO.cfg.
So far it's all looking good :) It also seemed ok with the ProcessAffinityCore=2 but I'll leave it at 0 for now.
The headlights thing is good too. For some reason I imagined lights in front lol but you just made it brighter.

Can I ask a few things I may have asked before, sorry.
Is there a option to turn off Lens Flare from the suns if necessary?
Is there an option to turn off Inertia once the FX are installed?
Do you recommend MSAA and FXAA at the same time?
EnhanceExplosions = 0 and the rest are 1. Any reason for that?
I'll probably think of more lol Great work though Max
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Post by blue_max » Thu May 14, 2020 10:32 pm

Ace Antilles wrote:
Thu May 14, 2020 9:53 pm
Is there a option to turn off Lens Flare from the suns if necessary?
So, leave the procedural suns, but don't render the flare? You can't do this right now, but it's very easy to enable. Would you like me to add a setting for this?
Is there an option to turn off Inertia once the FX are installed?
I think the insallers provide options to disable that; but if you don't want to re-run it, do the following:

cockpit_inertia_enabled = 0
external_inertia_enabled = 0

In CockpitLook.cfg
Do you recommend MSAA and FXAA at the same time?
Well, I usually don't bother with either because I can't see individual pixels unless I really *really* try to.
However, if you're going to do this, I suggest you use a low count for MSAA. The default in my system is MSAA count = 8. When I combine the two, I set MSAA count = 2, FXAA on.
MSAA has a relatively high impact on performance.
EnhanceExplosions = 0 and the rest are 1. Any reason for that?
With the 32-bit mode hook, the lasers, explosions etc became a little dull and de-saturated. If you choose to enhance these, they will become brighter and more saturated. It's partly a matter of choice: this is what looks "good" to me with the 32-bit mode hook on. Without it, you probably don't need them at all.

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Post by Ace Antilles » Thu May 14, 2020 10:43 pm

blue_max wrote:
Thu May 14, 2020 10:32 pm
Ace Antilles wrote:
Thu May 14, 2020 9:53 pm
Is there a option to turn off Lens Flare from the suns if necessary?
So, leave the procedural suns, but don't render the flare? You can't do this right now, but it's very easy to enable. Would you like me to add a setting for this?
Is there an option to turn off Inertia once the FX are installed?
I think the insallers provide options to disable that; but if you don't want to re-run it, do the following:

cockpit_inertia_enabled = 0
external_inertia_enabled = 0

In CockpitLook.cfg
Do you recommend MSAA and FXAA at the same time?
Well, I usually don't bother with either because I can't see individual pixels unless I really *really* try to.
However, if you're going to do this, I suggest you use a low count for MSAA. The default in my system is MSAA count = 8. When I combine the two, I set MSAA count = 2, FXAA on.
MSAA has a relatively high impact on performance.
EnhanceExplosions = 0 and the rest are 1. Any reason for that?
With the 32-bit mode hook, the lasers, explosions etc became a little dull and de-saturated. If you choose to enhance these, they will become brighter and more saturated. It's partly a matter of choice: this is what looks "good" to me with the 32-bit mode hook on. Without it, you probably don't need them at all.
Ref Suns. All the circles you get across the screen when looking at a sun. I assume that's the flare?
An on/off option could be helpful. It's too early to decide if I don't like it lol I know some people aren't fond of this effect in films.

Cockpit_inertia - didn't know if you had a fancy shortcut ;)

MSAA and FXAA - Do you suggest not using either?
Will that make the game run better and look worse though? If enabled does it look a little better but slow things down slightly?

32-bit mode hook - I don't really understand this hook. Is it on by default?

Hangar issues. I think the launching issue has been fixed. BUT I think the issue is now landing lol I'll have to see more on that as I play. Sorry ;)
Thanks for helping with all your advice for this effect novice :)
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Post by blue_max » Thu May 14, 2020 11:54 pm

Ace Antilles wrote:
Thu May 14, 2020 10:43 pm
Cockpit_inertia - didn't know if you had a fancy shortcut ;)
Press Ctrl+I to toggle the effect while flying ;)
MSAA and FXAA - Do you suggest not using either?
Will that make the game run better and look worse though? If enabled does it look a little better but slow things down slightly?
Probably a matter of personal choice. MSAA/FXAA is inteded to eliminate or reduce the "jaggies" we see on the edges of things. It took me about a year to bother adding support for it because I can't see any jaggies unless I stick my face right next to the screen. If I turn either setting on, I quickly forget it's either on or off. However, the lack of MSAA seems to have bothered a lot of people... I assume they had either a really low resolution or a big monitor, or both.

So yes, MSAA/FXAA: the game looks better, but slows down a bit (or a lot if you use many samples for MSAA).
32-bit mode hook - I don't really understand this hook. Is it on by default?
It's on by default if you download Jeremy's latest. This hook allows loading 32-bit images, so we have better control over transparency and much richer color. This is specially obvious on backgrounds where the edges of the planets are clearly visible (and a bit cartoonish) without this hook.
Hangar issues. I think the launching issue has been fixed. BUT I think the issue is now landing lol I'll have to see more on that as I play. Sorry ;)
Well, if you find a good repro for that, we'll try to fix it :)

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Post by keiranhalcyon7 » Fri May 15, 2020 5:15 am

Is there a README with a comprehensive list of added shortcuts?

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Post by Ace Antilles » Fri May 15, 2020 11:59 am

keiranhalcyon7 wrote:
Fri May 15, 2020 5:15 am
Is there a README with a comprehensive list of added shortcuts?
Look in the backup folder.
Theres a reader file and some extra vr text files
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