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  1. #51

    CFS3 Shining Tutorial

    CFS3 “Shining” tutorial by Corrado La Posta


    Introduction

    In this tutorial we’ll go seeing what’s inside an M3D for better understanding how CFS3 handles shining and reflecting materials.
    In Gmax you can choose textures for the DIFFUSE, SPECULAR and REFLECTIVE channels, the rest (AMBIENT, BUMP, ETC...) is there but just inactive since CFS3 doesn’t use them.

    You’ll need an HEX editor to work with.
    Pick up one, many are available as freeware on the NET; I use Frheddy.
    http://www.kibria.de/


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------


    Part 1: looking inside an M3D file


    Open an M3D with your Hex-editor, i am using here as an example the stock me_262a_1a.m3d
    First of all you have to locate the Materials and Textures header. Generally it is at the beginning of the file, here it is highlighted for the 262.
    Please notice that the materials section is above, this is where we’ll go making mods, and the textures section is below.
    BTW,
    Texures naming is what you need modding to make a standalone plane.

    You have to understand how to number the tetxures now, it’ll come handy later.
    Simply start from zero, so that

    me_262a_1a_t.dds is # 0
    me_262a_s.dds is #1
    etc...









    Each material is represented by a stream of 36 bytes of code (each one ranging from 0 to ff, that is 255 decimal); this is the meaning of the magic numbers for the first stream

    00 00 00 00 type of drawing (solid, line, etc...), usually set to zeros

    ff ff ff ff diffuse color (RGB components plus intensity)
    lower intensity for transparency effects

    00 00 00 ff ambient color (RGB components plus intensity), not used

    ff ff ff ff specular factor (RGB components plus intensity)

    00 00 00 43 glossiness, usually goes from 00 00 00 40 to 00 00 00 44

    00 00 number (see above) of diffuse texture, ff ff if none

    01 00 number of specular texture, ff ff if none

    ff ff number of reflective texture, none in this plane

    ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff unknown and possibly not used

    Please notice that both Specular and Reflective textures can be loaded at once; they also have a different effect on the model, have a try.




    Part 2: tweaking your own model

    Now it’s time for some fine tuning of your model shining. While most of the effects can be obtained directly in Gmax just a few escape the plugin possibilities and here is where you’ll be using these tricks.

    - MEDAL REFLECTIVE EFFECT

    Put specular factor to 55 55 55 ff
    Put glossiness to 00 00 00 42
    Disable textures loading but diffuse one (insert ff ff where needed)

    - REFLECTIVE CANOPY GLASSES

    This is just my suggestion, you can experiment on your own

    Put diffuse factor to 32 32 32 65
    Put specular factor to e5 e5 e5 ff
    Put glossiness to 00 00 00 42


    Have fun !

    Corrado
    Mc5834@mclink.it

    http://www.isoliti4gatti.com

    November, 3rd, 2004

  2. #52
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    Running CFS3Config

    Running CFS3Config.exe is one of the most important things to do when installing Combat Flight Simulator 3. However very few people would claim to have their setup perfect - it is a very complicated process, with lots of strange terms.

    Recently I can across some information which helps to make sense of some of the more obscure terms you encounter when running the config program. It comes from the Help section of the DX9 SDK.

    This is in terms of tweaking settings like D3DPool and D3Dusage parameters under the Texture Info page on the drop-down menu of CFS3Config.exe. In essence, the SDK article suggests when systemmem would be the best option to select, or when "default" or "managed" options are preferred.

    NB: If anyone knows something about this stuff and is willing to share, might I suggest uploading your configoverrides.xml file from your Application Data pathway, to SOH under CFS3 Other?

    Anyway, here is the extract:

    Resource Management Best Practices
    Default Resources

    While managed resources are simple, efficient, and easy-to-use there are times when using video memory directly is preferred or even required. Such resources are created in the POOL_DEFAULT category. Making use of such resources does cause additional complications for your application. Code is required to cope with the lost-device situation for all the POOL_DEFAULT resources, and performance considerations must be taken into account when copying data into them. Failure to specify USAGE_WRITEONLY or making a render target lockable can also impose serious performance penalties.
    Calling Lock on a POOL_DEFAULT resource is more likely to cause the GPU to stall than working with a POOL_MANAGED resource unless using certain hint flags. Depending on the location of the resource the pointer returned could be to a temporary system memory buffer or it can be a pointer directly into AGP memory. If it is a temporary system memory buffer, data will need to be transferred to the video memory after the Unlock call. If the video resource is not write-only, data will have to be transferred into the temporary buffer during the Lock. If it is an AGP memory area, temporary copies are avoided but the cache behavior required can result in slow performance.
    Care should be taken to write a full cache line of data into any pointer to AGP aperture memory to avoid the penalty of write-combing which induces a read/write cycle, and sequential access of the memory area is preferred. If your application needs to make random access to data during creation and you do not wish to make use of a managed resource for the buffer, you should work with a system memory copy instead. Once the data has been created, you can then stream the result into the locked resource memory to avoid paying a high penalty for the cache write-combing operation.
    The LOCK_NOOVERWRITE flag can be used to append data in an efficient manner for some resources, but ideally multiple Lock and Unlock calls to the same resource can be avoided. Making proper use of the various Lock flags is important to optimal performance, as is using a cache-friendly data access pattern when filling locked memory.
    Using Both Managed and Default Resources

    Mixing allocations of managed and POOL_DEFAULT resources can cause video memory fragmentation and confuse the runtime's view of the video memory available for managed resources. Ideally, you should create all POOL_DEFAULT resources before making use of POOL_MANAGED resources or make use of the EvictManagedResources call before allocating unmanaged resources. Remember that all allocations made from POOL_DEFAULT that reside in video memory tie up memory for the life that resource that is unavailable for use by the resource manager or for any other purpose.
    Note that unlike previous versions of Direct3D, the version 9 runtime will automatically evict some managed resources before giving up on a failed unmanaged resource allocation for a lack of video memory, but this can potentially create additional fragmentation and even force a resource into a sub-optimal location (a static texture in non local video memory for example). Again, it is best to allocate all required unmanaged resources up-front and before using any managed ones.
    Dynamic Default Resources

    Data that is generated and updated at a high frequency has no need for the backing-store since all the information will be re-created when restoring the device. Such data is typically best created in POOL_DEFAULT specifying the USAGE_DYNAMIC hint so the driver can make optimization decisions when placing the resource knowing it will be updated often. This typically means putting the resource into non-local video memory, and thus is usually much slower for the GPU to access than local video memory. For UMA architectures, the driver might choose a particular placement for dynamic resources to optimize for CPU write access.
    This usage is typical for software skinning solutions and CPU-based particle systems filling out vertex/index buffers, and the LOCK_DISCARD flag will ensure that stalls are not created in cases where the resource is still in use from the previous frame. Using a managed resource in this case would update a system memory buffer, which would then be copied to video memory, and then used for only a frame or two before being replaced. For systems with non-local video memory, the extra copy is eliminated by proper use of this dynamic pattern.
    Standard textures cannot be locked, and can only be updated via UpdateSurface or UpdateTexture. Some systems support dynamic textures, which can be locked and use the LOCK_DISCARD pattern, but a capabilities bit (D3DCAPS2_DYNAMICTEXTURES) must be checked before making use of such resources. For highly dynamic (video or procedural) textures, your application could create matching POOL_DEFAULT and POOL_SYSTEMMEM resources and handle video-memory update via the UpdateTexture API. For high frequency partial updates, the UpdateTexture paradigm is likely the better choice.
    As useful as dynamic resources can be, be careful when designing systems that rely heavily on dynamic submission. Static resources should be placed into POOL_MANAGED to ensure both good utilization of local video memory, and to make more efficient use of limited bus and main memory bandwidth. For resources that are 'semi-static', you may find that the cost of an occasional upload to local video memory is much less than the constant bus traffic generated by making them dynamic.


    System Memory Resources

    Resources can also be created in POOL_SYSTEMMEM. While they cannot be used by the graphics pipeline, they can be used as sources for updating POOL_DEFAULT resources via UpdateSurface and UpdateTexture. Their locking behavior is simple, although stalls might occur if they are in use by one of the previously mentioned methods.
    Though they reside in system memory, POOL_SYSTEMMEM resources are limited to the same formats and capabilities (such as maximum size) supported by the device driver. The POOL_SCRATCH resource type is another form of system memory resource that can utilize all formats and capabilities supported by the runtime, but cannot be accessed by the device. Scratch resources are intended primarily for use by content tools.

    General Recommendations

    Getting the technical implementation details of resource management correct will go a long way to achieving your performance goals in your application. Planning how the resources are presented to Direct3D and the architectural design around getting the data loaded in a timely fashion is a more complicated task. We recommend a number of best practices when making these decisions for your application:

    • Pre-process all your resources. Relying on expensive load-time conversion and optimization for your resources is convenient during development, but puts a high performance burden on your users. Pre-processed resources are faster to load, faster to use, and gives you the option of doing sophisticated off-line work.
    • Avoid creating many resources per frame. The driver interactions required can serialize the CPU and GPU, and the operations involved are heavy-weight as they often require kernel transitions. Spread out creation over several frames or reuse resources without creating/releasing them. Ideally, you should wait several frames before locking or releasing resources recently used to render.
    • Be sure to unbind all resource channels (i.e. stream sources, texture stages, and current indices) at the end of the frame. This will ensure that dangling references to resources are removed before they cause the resource manager to keep resources resident that are actually no longer in use.
    • For textures, use compressed formats (e.g. DXTn) with mip-maps and consider making use of a texture atlas. These greatly reduce bandwidth requirements and can reduce the overall size of the resources making them more efficient.
    • For geometry, make use of indexed geometry as this helps compress vertex buffer resources and modern video hardware is heavily optimized around reuse of vertices. By making use of programmable vertex shaders, you can compress the vertex information and expand it during the vertex processing. Again, this helps reduce bandwidth requirements and makes vertex buffer resources more efficient.
    • Be careful about over-optimizing your resource management. Future revisions of drivers, hardware, and the operating system can potentially cause compatibility problems if the application is tuned too heavily to a particularly combination. Since most applications are CPU bound, expensive CPU-based management generally causes more performance issues than they solve.

  3. #53

    CFS3 will not re-start in Windows 7?

    Irritating one this, you run CFS3 in Windows 7, shut it down and do something else and then try to run CFS3 again only to be told "Another copy of CFS3 is already running".

    You have several options:-
    log off and back on or reboot and start Windows again (slow)

    start Task Manager and end the cfs3.exe process (nuisance) and ignoring the "CFS3 did not shut down properly the last time it was run" message

    or

    shut CFS3 down with Ctrl+Shift+Q - easy!
    Tom
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  4. #54
    SOH-CM-2023 mongoose's Avatar
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    ETO_Mission_Building.zip

    Quote from my thread on this

    A new entry has been added to Add-Ons Library, category CFS 3 Missions Add-Ons

    Description: ETO_Mission_Building. What you can do! (530) CFS3 Missions & Campaigns (Other)

    ETO_Mission_Building.zip (958.84 Kb) (downloaded 319 times)

    The zip includes both a doc and pdf file of all the main points that O-1Driver made in the post at http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...ad.php?t=13942 This from O-1Driver and the ETO Team

    by mongoose (2009-03-28 21:52:13)

    To check it out, rate it or add comments, visit ETO_Mission_Building.zip
    The comments you make there will appear in the posts below.

    Cato said "Carthaginem esse delendam"
    I say "Carthago iam diu deleta,sed enim Bellum Alium adhuc aedificandum est"

  5. #55

    Engine Sound Tune-up

    Just came across a tweak for setting up engine sounds for particular aircraft. Say you found a new sound set for a plane but when you install it, the engine never sounds like it reaches full power, even with your, prop, throttle and mixture at 100% and flying on the deck. Or perhaps the sound reaches full power sooner than it should, say 80% throttle.


    Solution: open your the aircraft.cfg of the aircraft in question, and find the max horsepower value in the piston_engine section. If your sound is not reaching full power, adjust the horsepower value down and test. If you're reaching full power sound too early, adjust the value up and test.


    I have checked and this value does not affect the performance of your aircraft at all, it exists only for the sound cfg to know when to play the full power sounds and sets the scale for lower power sounds from there.


    I hope this is useful information for everyone. Have fun!


    Daniel

  6. #56

    Go To Bombadier Key (F7) Not Working

    Sometimes something simple can drive you nuts to find. If you discover a key command is not working it pays to check if that key has been taken over by another program. In this case the default function key assignments in TrackIR prevents the F7 key from bringing up the bomb sight window. Either disable it, or reassign it and everything will be back as it should be in CFS3.
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  7. #57

    Game Was Working Fine, But Now Won't Start

    The airplane you were flying last may be trying to use a non-existent engine sound file. Check that first.

    Another thing that will make your install go crazy is if you deleted the last plane you were flying from the aircraft folder.

    You can always go into the game.xml file and set ShowUIWorld="true" to false to get it running long enough for you to switch out the offending plane.
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  8. #58

    M3D Compatibility With AnKor's DX9 Mod

    In order to correct the M3D files that get disturbed (planes with relectance layers typically have sections that turn white, become transparent, etc.) by the new d3d8.dll please start with reading this Tutorial again. http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...dge-base/page3 (it's at the top of this page)

    Always start by making a back-up copy of your original M3D files.

    Each material is represented by a stream of 36 bytes of code (each one ranging from 0 to ff, that is 255 decimal); (I set my Hex editor to 36 columns wide so the patterns repeat making it easier to see where to edit.)
    this is the meaning of the magic numbers for the first stream


    00 00 00 00 type of drawing (solid, line, etc...), usually set to zeros (The 3rd set will be FF for problem aircraft and needs to be changed to 00 Be careful to only do this for rows that actually have a reflective texture file in it as this also can be FF associated with something else.)

    ff ff ff ff diffuse color (RGB components plus intensity)
    lower intensity for transparency effects

    00 00 00 ff ambient color (RGB components plus intensity), not used

    ff ff ff ff specular factor (RGB components plus intensity) (For Win 7 I have these all at 30 30 30 FF to avoid over bright reflections)

    00 00 00 43 glossiness, usually goes from 00 00 00 40 to 00 00 00 44 (For Win 7 I have this at 42)

    00 00 number (see above) of diffuse texture, ff ff if none

    01 00 number of specular texture, ff ff if none

    ff ff number of reflective texture, none in this plane (If these have a dds file number here it needs to be changed to FFFF)

    ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff unknown and possibly not used
    US Army, Major, Ret.

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  9. #59

    MAW Installer Crash at DR_BF110 File

    I don't know if this has been discussed before but this issue had come up several times in the past. I have experimented and I believe the solution to this problem has been found. A lot of people have had the problem where the installer fails around the time the DR_BF110 files are being installed. Through my tinkering around I have discovered that if you have all of these files and the installer in your My Downloads folder, this issue will come up. However, if you move these files to any folder outside of My Downloads, example would be someplace in your My Documents folder, the installer will run normally. This is probably old news but I know a lot of guys in the past had this come up and through trial and error this resolved the problem for me.

    Lt. Heinz Becker

  10. #60
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Pattle View Post
    It is possible to view cfs3 models outside of the game. This applies to most .m3d models such as aircraft, buildings, vehicles etc.

    Make a copy of your desktop shortcut, right click on it and in the box where it says 'target' add this to the end of the entry: -m3dview

    Mine looks like this:

    "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Combat Flight Simulator 3\cfs3.exe" -m3dview

    You can then also change the name of the shortcut to read 'm3d viewer' or whatever by right clicking on the shortcut again, selecting 'rename' from the drop down menu and then typing in your desired name.

    The viewer opens just like cfs3 with the same screen. Once open click on 'window' and select 'text' from the options, this will show on-screen instructions on how to use it.
    The window on the m3d viewer is quite small. So if you add "-1280" after a space to Pat's line above (ie. after -m3dview) this will give you a much better window, handy when looking at big models!

  11. #61
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    Microsoft Knowledgebase Articles

    OK girls and boys,

    I guess I have a bit of time on my hands....

    Here are the MS knowledgebase articles that turn up on a recent search...

    Microsoft Support Articles for CFS3

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/331562
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/813195
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/815069/en-us
    How to Troubleshoot Joystick Problems:
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/811463
    Known Multi-Player Game Issues:
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/kbview/331570

    There is at least one other that I couldn't find but IIRC is already in this thread - that is, what to do if white objects appear in your terrain. (something to do with Dual Pass Render in cfs3config????)

  12. #62

    Shimmering and Stuttering

    First, I know everyone's computer stet up is different, but it may be helpful to see what worked for me and why. (Win 7, Phenom X4 955, GTX 670, Nvidia Drivers 353.30)

    I've spent a fair amount of time tuning my system to minimized both shimmering and stuttering while maximizing IQ. This became more noticeable after the recent update to the MAW scenery files.

    My 3.2 GHz CPU is only good for OC to 3.6 GHz (recently managed to nudge it up to 3.8 GHz), so I know that's one major limitation on FPS, and I'm using Sparse Grid Super Sampling to eliminate the shimmer ( http://naturalviolence.webs.com/sgssaa.htm
    ), but that just about maxes out the GPU. Just to add to the workload I'm running at 3840 x 1024 (three 1280 x 1024 screens).

    For me the key to cutting down the micro-stuttering was being able to balance the CPU and GPU workloads, so that neither one was going at a much different rate than the other. That meant picking a max FPS limit (in my case 44) and then dialing in a combination of graphics settings and max pre-rendered frames for the CPU in Nvidia Inspector. The CPU now runs at a high utilization rate without clipping at full 100% load very often (I just monitored it with task manager during the tuning process) for the two cores that were assigned to the game (set with Process Lasso). The GPU is generally running within a couple of FPS of the limiter setting without lots of big rate drops.

    My current settings are:
    Frame Rate Limiter 44 (You want this as high as you can go and still be able find a CPU/GPU balance point)
    Max Pre-rendered Frames 2 (This Setting Significantly Impacts Frame Rate and CPU Load. For me 1 held back the GPU waiting for the unbuffered CPU data to be finished for each frame, and 3 was too much for the CPU to stay that far ahead of the GPU without overloading)
    Triple Buffering On
    Vsync Smooth On
    Vsync Standard (Adaptive does not appear to eliminate Screen Tearing)
    Vsync Force On (Eliminates Screen Tearing With TrackIR Head Movements)
    AA Gamma Correction On
    AA Override Application
    AA 4x Multisampling (Should Match Strength Of Transparency Setting)
    AA Transparency 4x SGSS (This Had The Biggest Influence On Eliminating Shimmering)
    Anisotropic 16x
    LOD Bias -1 (Sharpens Textures Degraded By Super Sampling)
    Neg LOD Allow
    Texture Filtering Quality (I Used This To Fine Tune The GPU Workload Without Incurring Big Reductions In IQ)
    Trilinear Optimization ON
    Power Prefer Maximum Performance
    Threaded Optimization ON

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  13. #63
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    Effects Master List

    Uploaded under CFS3 Other > Effects is a pdf file of the Effects Master List provided with GMax CFS3 package. Not everybody has MS Excel so pdf is more accessible. If you want to add wake effects or muzzle flash effects, you might be surprised at the variety available in the stock effects.xml, nicely summarised in the master list.

    However such a list cannot be comprehensive. For example, useful entries in the effects.xml providing effects for torpedos, are not mentioned in the master list. There are all sorts of experimental effects/drafts/copies etc in the stock effects.xml never fully actualised.

    Anyhoo this file can be printed off and stuck on the wall for compulsive modders!

  14. #64
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    Changing the size of Grassland Areas using Landclasses.xml

    Landclasses.xml can be found in the terrdata.zip file within the Terrains folder.

    If you want to change the look and feel of the scenery you fly over, this file can be edited using Notepad. For example, if you struggle to find fields big enough to land your aircraft when the engine stops, you can edit the Grasslands entry so that tiles identified as Grasslands are larger in size. This has been done in addons in the past.

    Here is a thread where ideas by scenery gurus Henk and Winding Man are discussed:

    Sent: Friday, 26 October 2007 1:05 p.m.


    Subject: Updated terrains xml tweaks


    Some more tweaking options courtesy of Henk,





    For Johnno’s latest scenery version Oct 2007:





    “Daiwilletti, I changed the following xmls a bit:
    The Composite scenerybudgets XML:
    setting in "Five"
    changed the level of detail to 15,25,50 and last 50 (instead of 250).
    density unchanged (0,00005, 0,0002, 0,00025, 0,00025). Changing (ingreasing) the density gives you more and more trees!
    But, beware of a dramatically drop of framerates especially when you like to see trees in the far distance.............


    Setting in "Five"
    The CompositeTextureBudgets XML:
    Changed the ImageQuality all to 0 (zero)
    No use of mips (so UseMips="n")


    Landclasses.xml:


    Changed the following settings:
    ID8 "Crops and Town", set the dim on "4096"
    ID10 "Grass, crops & shrub", set the dim on "4096"
    ID15 "Crops" set the dim on "4096"


    I like to express here my thanks to Winding Man who give us the discovery of tweaking the landclasses xml! Do not forget the delete the texture and scenery zx files in the terrain folder.


    Important is also the setting of your videocard: try to set the aniosotropische filtering on 16.”


    ....


    "The original settings in the landclasses XML for the mentioned lines are all "5120". WM used especially (I think) for Over Flanders Fields the settings "9216", in that case the grassfields are much bigger so it is easier to land without the interfering of trees.........


    Notice that you can change the settings by steps of 1024, f.i. 3072, 4096, 5120, 6144, 7168, 8192, 9216, 10240, 11264, 12288, 13312, 14336, 15360.
    Try some settings, the higher the fields will be more expanding, however the lower settings gives a more realistic landscape, but it takes a high end pc."

    Henk

  15. #65
    I've been looking into the weather and skybox relationships this week.

    If you are drawing new images each patch is drawn as Front, Left, Back, Right, Front to make the joins seamless.
    Front is displayed looking South
    Left is displayed looking West
    Back is displayed looking North
    Right is displayed looking East

    In the panoramic_cubic_test.dds file these should be placed in Back, Front, Top, Bottom, Left, Right sequence.
    (The default that came with cfs3 was not done correctly.) Some of AnKor's shaders use this file to create cloud reflections on the water, and I think it may be used for the UI background scene as well. You will notice mismatched seams at the edges of the sections if the sequence is not correct.

    There is a setting in the weather xml files called skyboxcloudType that can have a few different predefined descriptions:
    NoClouds (and ThinClouds) will display the clear_bk, _fr, _up, _dn, _lf, and _rt textures from the effects\skybox folder
    FewClouds will display the cirrusonly_bk _fr, _up, _dn, _lf, and _rt textures from the effects\skybox folder
    ScatteredClouds will display the scatteredclouds_bk, _fr, _up, _dn, _lf, and _rt textures from the effects\skybox folder
    BrokenClouds will display the lowcumulusonhorizon_bk, _fr, _up, _dn, _lf, and _rt textures from the effects\skybox folder
    ThickClouds will display the grayhorizon_bk _fr, _up, _dn, _lf, and _rt textures from the effects\skybox folder
    If you don't have it explicitly defined in the weather xml file it seems to default to the NoClouds version.

    Within the weather xml files there is a parameter called fogcolor that uses a 10 number sequence to define it's color. This is a decimal that converts to hexidecimal as FF followed by the Red, Green and Blue color values as numbers from 00 (darkest) to FF (lightest). A pure gray would have R = G = B. For example scatteredclouds4low.xml has the BackgroundWeather fogcolor as 4288529397 which converts to FF 9D C3 F5 which is a light blue R=157, G = 195, B = 245. The choice of this shade will have a significant impact on how well the fog will blend into the skybox background colors. AnKors latest shaders address the grey band that frequently was seen along the horizon, but they cannot completely make up for poorly matched fog/skybox colors.
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  16. #66
    Whit the recent Ankor shader mod 2016-03-29 will these corrections still be needed?

  17. #67
    A useful explanation from AnKor.

    http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...resting/page15

    See reply #369 and #370.
    US Army, Major, Ret.

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  18. #68
    Just for reference:

    [contact_points]
    //0 Class
    //1 Longitudinal Position (feet)
    //2 Lateral Position (feet)
    //3 Vertical Position (feet)
    //4 Impact Damage Threshold (Feet Per Minute)
    //5 Brake Map (0=None, 1=Left, 2=Right)
    //6 Wheel Radius (feet)
    //7 Steer Angle (degrees)
    //8 Static Compression (feet) (0 if rigid)
    //9 Max/Static Compression Ratio
    //10 Damping Ratio (0=Undamped, 1=Critically Damped)
    //11 Extension Time (seconds)
    //12 Retraction Time (seconds)
    //13 Sound Type
    //14 Airspeed limit for retraction (KIAS)
    //15 Airspeed that gear gets damage at (KIAS)
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  19. #69
    SOH-CM-2023 mongoose's Avatar
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    Mission Builder-mb on multiple installs with Windows 10

    I have posted before on the problems of getting mb to work with multiple install using Windows 10 in particular. My son solved the problem in a few minutes, so I am adding the solution here.

    1. Copy paste the mb folder (from a vanilla CFS3) into the expansion, (ETO, BoB, or whatever)
    2. In that mb folder, make a shortcut of mb exe (see 1st pic)
    3. Right click the shortcut and in "start in", change "start in" to main folder; ie NOT start in the mb folder. (See 2nd and 3rd pic)
    4. Run shortcut AND mb exe as adminisrator. (I also make them WindowsXP(SP3) compatible)



    I do this for all my install and make a folder with all the appropriately renamed mb shortcuts.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails mb1.jpg   mb2.jpg   mb3.jpg  

    Cato said "Carthaginem esse delendam"
    I say "Carthago iam diu deleta,sed enim Bellum Alium adhuc aedificandum est"

  20. #70

    Installation of AnKor's Shaders

    This incredible addition to CFS3 was begun by Andrey Korchinskiy in December of 2013 and was originally intended to become part of WOFF so that it could access DX9 functionality making it compatible with the SweetFX shader injector. Since then it has grown to be so much more that it's easy to forget that it still provides the bridge to using SweetFX in CFS3. It's major features are:

    Aircraft Self Shadowing
    Anti-alias Aircraft Shadows On The Ground
    Tree and Building Shadows
    Dynamic Lighting
    Environmental Reflections
    Horizon Line Haze Blending
    Eliminated In Cloud Square Border
    Bump Mapping
    Ability To Add Shading Textures To Aircraft That Don't Reference Them In Their Model File
    Realistic Water Rendering
    Cloud and Terrain Shadows
    Adjustable Field Of View Angle
    Adjustable Night Sprite Effects Levels
    Searchlights
    Tree Rendering with Alpha Transparency Effects
    Dynamic Reticles With Variable Range Settings
    Mouse Look
    Mouse Scroll Zoom
    Cockpit Lighting
    Luminous Gages
    Improved TrackIR Image Rendering
    Multi-Processor CPU Management
    Modern Rendering Optimizations
    Cfs3config.exe No Longer Needed Everytime Video Drivers Update
    Auto Generates MipMaps

    These files are installed into the CFS3 root directory:
    d3d8.dll
    d3d8.ini
    Optional - suneffect.xml

    shaders30 Folder containing
    Clouds.fx
    Fog.fx
    Generic.fx
    GroundShadow.fx
    Light.fx
    Models.fx
    RenderShadows.fx
    Scenery.fx
    SeaWater.fx
    Skybox.fx
    Terrain.fx
    Texture.fx
    TextureMagic.ini

    Optional - effects\fxtextures Folder containing my modified water effects files
    h2od_01.dds
    h2od_02.dds
    h2od_03.dds
    h2od_04.dds
    h2od_05.dds
    h2od_06.dds
    h2od_07.dds
    h2od_08.dds
    h2od_09.dds
    h2od_10.dds
    h2od_11.dds
    h2od_12.dds
    h2od_13.dds
    h2od_14.dds
    h2od_15.dds
    h2od_16.dds

    *** Warning ***
    You must turn off Dual Pass Render, and turn on the High Resolution Z Buffer, and Disable Shadows. in cfs3confing.exe.

    Z Bias Resolution should be typically be limited to 15. Higher values can lead to some rendering problems on some systems.

    Z Bias Flat effects should be set to 25 to reduce flickering of the bomb crater decals.

    The CFS3 Default Water Detail Texture Size is 5 and the SeaWater.fx settings in this package are preset to match. Using a different texture size will change the appearance of the wave dimensions unless you adjust the values in SeaWater.fx to match.
    US Army, Major, Ret.

    Service To The Line,
    On The Line,
    On Time

    US Army Ordnance Corps.

  21. #71
    There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about the relationship between AnKor's Shaders, and SweetFX.

    AnKor's Shaders bring a quantum leap to the features and performance of CFS3 without changing the underlying artistic look of the game rendering. It can be used just as it is to full effect without any need to employ SweetFX in any way.

    SweetFX changes the fundamental look of the game through various special effects, but will only work with CFS3 if AnKor's shaders are installed and working there first. Personally, I find very few of these special effects to be worthwhile, but a few do have merit if you are trying to do something in particular to CFS3 like sharpen the image, enhance the contrast, shift the color balance, or expand the brightness range.

    Here's a list of the SweetFX effects you can activate in version 1.5.1:


    #define USE_SMAA_ANTIALIASING 0 //[0 or 1] SMAA Anti-aliasing : Smoothens jagged lines using the SMAA technique.
    #define USE_FXAA_ANTIALIASING 0 //[0 or 1] FXAA Anti-aliasing : Smoothens jagged lines using the FXAA technique. WIP - Currently only works in DX9 and you need to use the FXAA injector dlls.
    #define USE_EXPLOSION 0 //[0 or 1] Explosion : Scatters the pixels, making the image look fuzzy.
    #define USE_CARTOON 0 //[0 or 1] Cartoon : "Toon"s the image. (Interferes with SMAA, CRT, Bloom, HDR and Lumasharpen)
    #define USE_ADVANCED_CRT 0 //[0 or 1] Advanced CRT : Simulates an old CRT TV display. (Interferes with SMAA, Cartoon, Bloom, HDR and Lumasharpen, and it has a very high performance cost)
    #define USE_BLOOM 0 //[0 or 1] Bloom : Makes bright lights bleed their light into their surroundings (relatively high performance cost)
    #define USE_HDR 0 //[0 or 1] HDR : Not actual HDR - It just tries to mimic an HDR look (relatively high performance cost)
    #define USE_LUMASHARPEN 0 //[0 or 1] LumaSharpen : Also sharpens the antialiased edges which makes them less smooth - I'm working on fixing that.
    #define USE_LEVELS 0 //[0 or 1] Levels : Sets a new black and white point. This increases contrast but causes clipping. Use Curves instead if you want to avoid that.
    #define USE_TECHNICOLOR 0 //[0 or 1] TECHNICOLOR : Attempts to mimic the look of an old movie using the Technicolor three-strip color process (Techicolor Process 4)
    #define USE_DPX 0 //[0 or 1] Cineon DPX : Should make the image look like it's been converted to DXP Cineon - basically it's another movie-like look similar to technicolor.
    #define USE_MONOCHROME 0 //[0 or 1] Monochrome : Monochrome makes the colors disappear.
    #define USE_LIFTGAMMAGAIN 0 //[0 or 1] Lift Gamma Gain : Adjust brightness and color of shadows, midtones and highlights
    #define USE_TONEMAP 0 //[0 or 1] Tonemap : Adjust gamma, exposure, saturation, bleach and defog. (may cause clipping)
    #define USE_VIBRANCE 0 //[0 or 1] Vibrance : Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation.
    #define USE_CURVES 0 //[0 or 1] Curves : Contrast adjustments using S-curves.
    #define USE_SEPIA 0 //[0 or 1] Sepia : Sepia tones the image.
    #define USE_VIGNETTE 0 //[0 or 1] Vignette : Darkens the edges of the image to make it look more like it was shot with a camera lens. May cause banding artifacts.
    #define USE_DITHER 0 //[0 or 1] Dither : Applies dithering to simulate more colors than your monitor can display. This lessens banding artifacts (mostly caused by Vignette)
    #define USE_BORDER 0 //[0 or 1] Border : Makes the screenedge black as a workaround for the bright edge that forcing some AA modes sometimes causes.
    #define USE_SPLITSCREEN 0 //[0 or 1] Splitscreen : Enables the before-and-after splitscreen comparison mode.

    On my particular system, I found an odd issue with the CFS3 program code that prevents GSync from activating unless I have SweetFX running, and that only works if I have AnKor's Shaders installed first. I have SweetFX set up with all null settings so it's not actively doing anything, but evidently their d3d9.dll needs to be there for Nvidia's GSync to think it can turn on. GSync is an amazing piece of technology that lets me run at high frame rates without any screen tearing, so I took the extra time to configure SweetFX after installing AnKor's Shaders even though it serves no other purpose than being a signal to my Nvidia drivers to switch it on.
    US Army, Major, Ret.

    Service To The Line,
    On The Line,
    On Time

    US Army Ordnance Corps.

  22. #72
    The key to getting JSGME to work with CFS3 is that the MODS folder needs to be outside of CFS3.
    http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/...-Enabler.shtml

    I have a single copy of the JSGME program installed, and then created multiple desktop shortcuts for each of my 16 CFS3 install locations.

    Open the shortcut and set the Target location to S:\JSGME\JSGME.exe (or wherever you have JSGME.exe located), and the Start In: to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games" (or wherever you have the MODS folder located for one of your CFS3 installs).

    For the normal location C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games the MODS folder is at C:\Program Files\MODS.

    JSGME will create C:\Program Files\JSGME.ini the first time you run the shortcut.

    Its contents will look something like this:

    [MODS FOLDER]
    Name=MODS
    [JSGME DETAILS]
    FullPath=S:\JSGME\JSGME.exe
    [FORM SIZE]
    Main Height=529
    Main Left=396
    Main Top=693
    Main Width=676
    Main WindowState=0

    Inside the MODS folder you will create folders that contain the modified files that you want to add or exchange with the originals.
    At the top level (1) the folder needs to have a descriptive name for the individual mod. (For example 25 Feb 17 Shaders - Bob, Weather Mod - PTO, etc.)
    At the next level (2) is a folder named the same as your specific CFS3 install. (Combat Flight Simulator 3, CFS3 PTO Rising Sun, DPC CFS3 Korea, etc)
    The next levels (3+) are all the various files and folders that make up the mod itself. These need to be structured that same way they are in the game directories.

    As you add and remove mods it will write a file at C:\Program Files\MODS\JSGME.ini (I know, using the same name again is confusing, but that's what the programmer chose to do)

    Its contents will look something like this:

    [DEPENDANCIES]
    Feb 2016 Gunsight Shaders - PTO="25 Feb 17 Shaders - PTO"
    [MODS]
    New Composite Budgets - PTO - No Stutters=1
    Weather Mod - BoB=2
    Weather Mod - PTO=3
    Feb 2016 Gunsight Shaders - PTO=4
    25 Feb 17 Shaders - Bob=5
    25 Feb 17 Shaders - PTO=6

    Don't mess with the !BACKUP or !INSTLOGS folders inside MODS or you will destroy the ability to restore the original state of your game.

    *** Once you've created the level(1) and level (2) folders in the JSGME MODS folder, you can directly unpack everything in the the zip file for AnKor's Shader package there to populate level (3+). ***
    US Army, Major, Ret.

    Service To The Line,
    On The Line,
    On Time

    US Army Ordnance Corps.

  23. #73
    For those of you wanting to modify the color of the canopy glass posts #51, and #58 above describe how to recognize the section (diffuse color) of the m3d file that you would need to edit.

    The first three pairs of that section are the color, and the last pair defines the level of transparency.

    The trick is discovering the correct row/rows (there can be more than one entry) for the glass you want to edit. The colors are in B G R order, so for green glass you're looking for the second pair to have a higher value that the first and third, with a low value in the fourth pair to make it clear glass.

    The type of drawing that precedes it is typically 00 00 FF 00, but that can apply to other situations as well so its not a sure thing that you've found the glass just because of that.

    It's not always easy to figure out. For example, the new SJE_Typhoon_mkib_198q_44 has 75 7F 5F 35 (opaque blue green) starting at address 97C, and I changed it to 99 99 99 16.
    US Army, Major, Ret.

    Service To The Line,
    On The Line,
    On Time

    US Army Ordnance Corps.

  24. #74
    SOH-CM-2020
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Aotearoa, New Zealand
    Age
    63
    Posts
    2,896

    Fix Recon Missions in Campaign Play

    Quote Originally Posted by Frosty View Post
    Campaign playing tips from days long gone (saved from a thread):

    ". . . Recon: There's a bug - the mission will always be a failure. "
    IIRC there is a simple fix for the recon bug - the recon xml spawn files are faulty. You need to add the campaign mission objectives as per other campaign spawns, to the recon xml spawn files (no prob with the spawn table file). Without the objective, the spawns fail. Not at my cfs3 'puter otherwise would be more specific.

  25. #75
    SOH-CM-2020
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Aotearoa, New Zealand
    Age
    63
    Posts
    2,896

    Recon Missions Fix

    I have uploaded a fix for recon missions, for the stock spawn set.

    http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...id=70&id=23583

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