Sweet FX

[RobH]

Found this thread in the FSX forum. http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?73751-SweetFX-for-FSX Thank you YoYo for the heads up. Here is a link to the forum that has the download links http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=368880 . This works in any 32 bit game. It's pretty much like ENBloom, but I like this one better. For me, ENbloom made the horizon way too bright, almost unrealistic for me, otherwise it was ok.

Sweetfx is customizable in many ways. I am still tinkering with it. I like the over all look, but I think it makes the clouds way too bright. One major change for me is that is fixes most of the 'jaggies' for me. Just be sure to turn off anti aliasing in the sim or this wont work.


Here are some pics, of my testing. I am very pleased with it, and at least this one gives us the ability to tweak it. These pics are in a GW3 install.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/sweetfxtestpic1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/sweetfxtestpic2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/sweetfxtestpic3.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/sweetfxtestpic4.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/sweetfxtestpic5.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/sweetfxtestpic6.jpg

[RobH]

More pics, it has the option to temporarily turn on a split screen so you can see the difference it makes.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/sweetfxtestpic7.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/sweetfxtestpic8.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/sweetfxtestpic9.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/sweetfxtestpic10.jpg

[Sunny9850]

Ok..that does look interesting. Might have to give that a try. Thanks.

Cheers
Stefan

[Hurricane91]

Hey Rob, Thanks for the heads-up on this. I am also using GW3 and like the improvements
you illustrated. I would like to know what the settings were when you made the comparison
shots.

Thanks again.
John

[Sascha66]

Good call, works very well in FS9. What is really amazing is the sharpening effects, textures are suddenly crystal clear and into the distance too- check the screenshot below! No more muggy textures for me!

You can also tweak your settings very easily as the setting file is very structured with every line explained.

You can easily replicate enbseries bloom effects but this has a lot more scope!

No noticeable frame rate drop, either! How do they do it!!?

76506

[RobH]

Awesome shot Sascha! Your scenery looks fantastic!

Hurricane91, at this time, I have only just turned the options on or off. I havent got into actually tweaking the number values yet.

Here is what mine is set at as of now.

// Set to 1 for ON or 0 for OFF
#define USE_SMAA_ANTIALIASING 1 //[0 or 1] SMAA Anti-aliasing : Smoothens jagged lines.
#define USE_LUMASHARPEN 1 //[0 or 1] LumaSharpen : Also sharpens the antialiased edges which makes them less smooth - I'm working on fixing that.
#define USE_BLOOM 0 //[0 or 1] Bloom : Makes bright lights bleed their light into their surroundings (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_HDR 1 //[0 or 1] HDR : Not actual HDR - It just tries to mimic an HDR look (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_TECHNICOLOR 1 //[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_LIFTGAMMAGAIN 1 //[0 or 1] Lift Gamma Gain : Adjust brightness and color of shadows, midtones and highlights (avoids clipping)
#define USE_TONEMAP 0 //[0 or 1] Tonemap : Adjust gamma, exposure, saturation, bleach and defog. (may cause clipping)
#define USE_VIBRANCE 1 //[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 1 //[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_SPLITSCREEN 1 //[0 or 1] Splitscreen : Enables the before-and-after splitscreen comparison mode.

[Bjoern]

"It works with all graphics cards as long as they support at least shader model 3."

Aaaaand I'm out.

Anyone wanna buy me a new Thinkpad?

[RobH]

More tweaking. I have been messing with the HDR settings. I think I am getting closer. I am trying to find a happy medium with reducing so much glare off the aircraft, but not darken the scenery textures too much. Getting better with the aircraft, just gotta figure how to brighten up the ground textures.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/b24sweetfx1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/b24sweetfx2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/b24sweetfx3.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/b24sweetfx4.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/b24sweetfx5.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/b24sweetfx6.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/b24sweetfx7.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/b24sweetfx8.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/b24sweetfx9.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/RobH1108/FS9%20Tempest/SweetFX%20pictures/b24sweetfx10.jpg

[Sascha66]

More tweaking. I have been messing with the HDR settings. I think I am getting closer. I am trying to find a happy medium with reducing so much glare off the aircraft, but not darken the scenery textures too much. Getting better with the aircraft, just gotta figure how to brighten up the ground textures.


Could you please post your settings as they are now? I quite like the look of your screenshots already!


Thanks!

[RobH]

Could you please post your settings as they are now? I quite like the look of your screenshots already!


Thanks!


Thanks Sascha. Here you go. Have you noticed any changes to your computer since you installed this? I have noticed that I can no longer use my regular screenshot program by Martin Wright. Also, when I right click on files, I no longer the option of 'open with', nor do I have the option to use winrar instead of winzip. Not a deal breaker, but kind of annoying.

/*-----------------------------------------------------------. / Choose effects /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/


// Set to 1 for ON or 0 for OFF
#define USE_SMAA_ANTIALIASING 1 //[0 or 1] SMAA Anti-aliasing : Smoothens jagged lines.
#define USE_LUMASHARPEN 1 //[0 or 1] LumaSharpen : Also sharpens the antialiased edges which makes them less smooth - I'm working on fixing that.
#define USE_BLOOM 0 //[0 or 1] Bloom : Makes bright lights bleed their light into their surroundings (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_HDR 1 //[0 or 1] HDR : Not actual HDR - It just tries to mimic an HDR look (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_TECHNICOLOR 1 //[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_LIFTGAMMAGAIN 1 //[0 or 1] Lift Gamma Gain : Adjust brightness and color of shadows, midtones and highlights (avoids clipping)
#define USE_TONEMAP 0 //[0 or 1] Tonemap : Adjust gamma, exposure, saturation, bleach and defog. (may cause clipping)
#define USE_VIBRANCE 1 //[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 1 //[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_SPLITSCREEN 0 //[0 or 1] Splitscreen : Enables the before-and-after splitscreen comparison mode.




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ SMAA Anti-aliasing settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/


#define SMAA_THRESHOLD 0.12 // [0.05 to 0.20] Edge detection threshold
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS 16 // [0 to 98] Determines the radius SMAA will search for aliased edges
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS_DIAG 6 // [0 to 16] Determines the radius SMAA will search for diagonal aliased edges
#define SMAA_CORNER_ROUNDING 0 // [0 to 100] Determines the percent of antialiasing to apply to corners.


// -- Advanced SMAA settings --
#define COLOR_EDGE_DETECTION 1 // [0 or 1] 1 Enables color edge detection (slower but slightly more acurate) - 0 uses luma edge detection (faster)
#define SMAA_DIRECTX9_LINEAR_BLEND 0 // [0 or 1] Using DX9 HARDWARE? (software version doesn't matter) if so this needs to be 1 - If not, leave it at 0.




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ LumaSharpen settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
// -- Sharpening --
#define sharp_strength 0.70 // [0.10 to 3.00] Strength of the sharpening
#define sharp_clamp 0.035 // [0.000 to 1.000] Limits maximum amount of sharpening a pixel recieves - Default is 0.035


// -- Advanced sharpening settings --
#define pattern 2 // [1|2|3|4] Choose a sample pattern. 1 = Fast, 2 = Normal, 3 = Wider, 4 = Pyramid shaped.
#define offset_bias 1.0 // [0.0 to 6.0] Offset bias adjusts the radius of the sampling pattern.
// I designed the pattern for offset_bias 1.0, but feel free to experiment.

// -- Debug sharpening settings --
#define show_sharpen 0 // [0 or 1] Visualize the strength of the sharpen (multiplied by 4 to see it better)




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Bloom settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define BloomThreshold 20.25 //[0.00 to 50.00] Threshold for what is a bright light (that causes bloom) and what isn't.
#define BloomPower 1.446 //[0.0000 to 8.0000] Strength of the bloom
#define BloomWidth 0.0142 //[0.0000 to 1.0000] Width of the bloom




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ HDR settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define HDRPower 2.00 //[0.0 to 8.0] Strangely lowering this makes the image brighter
#define radius2 0.87 //[0.0 to 8.0] Raising this seems to make the effect stronger and also brighter




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ TECHNICOLOR settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define TechniAmount 0.11 //[0.0 to 1.0]
#define TechniPower 2.8 //[0.0 to 8.0]
#define redNegativeAmount 0.88 //[0.0 to 1.0]
#define greenNegativeAmount 0.88 //[0.0 to 1.0]
#define blueNegativeAmount 0.88 //[0.0 to 1.0]




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Cineon DPX settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Red 8.0 //[1.0 to 15.0]
#define Green 8.0 //[1.0 to 15.0]
#define Blue 8.0 //[1.0 to 15.0]


#define ColorGamma 2.5 //[0.1 to 2.5] Adjusts the colorfulness of the effect in a manner similar to Vibrance. 1.0 is neutral.
#define DPXSaturation 3.0 //[0.0 to 8.0] Adjust saturation of the effect. 1.0 is neutral.


#define RedC 0.36 //[0.6 to 0.2]
#define GreenC 0.36 //[0.6 to 0.2]
#define BlueC 0.34 //[0.6 to 0.2]


#define Blend 0.2 //[0.0 to 0.1] How strong the effect should be.




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Lift Gamma Gain settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define RGB_Lift float3(1.000, 1.000, 1.000) //[0.000 to 2.000] Adjust shadows for Red, Green and Blue
#define RGB_Gamma float3(1.000, 1.000, 1.000) //[0.000 to 2.000] Adjust midtones for Red, Green and Blue
#define RGB_Gain float3(1.000, 1.000, 1.000) //[0.000 to 2.000] Adjust highlights for Red, Green and Blue




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Tonemap settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Gamma 1.0 //[0.00 to 2.00] Adjust midtones


#define Exposure 0.50 //[-1.00 to 1.00] Adjust exposure


#define Saturation 0.50 //[-1.00 to 1.00] Adjust saturation


#define Bleach 0.50 //[0.00 to 1.00] Brightens the shadows and fades the colors


#define Defog 0.000 //[0.00 to 1.00] How much of the color tint to remove
#define FogColor float3(0.00, 0.00, 2.55) //[0.00 to 1.00, 0.00 to 1.00, 0.00 to 1.00] What color to remove - default is blue




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Vibrance settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Vibrance 0.15 //[-1.0 to 1.0] Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation.




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Curves settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Curves_contrast 0.30 //[-1.0 to 1.0] The amount of contrast you want


// -- Advanced curve settings --
#define Curves_formula 7 //[1|2|3|4|5|6|7] The constrast s-curve you want to use.




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Sepia settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define ColorTone float3(1.40, 1.10, 0.90) //[0.00 to 1.00, 0.00 to 1.00, 0.00 to 1.00] What color to tint the image
#define GreyPower 0.11 //[0.0 to 1.0] How much desaturate the image before tinting it
#define SepiaPower 0.58 //[0.0 to 1.0] How much to tint the image






/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Vignette settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define VignetteRadius 1.00 //[-1.00 to 3.00] lower values = stronger radial effect from center
#define VignetteAmount -1.00 //[-2.00 to 1.00] Strength of black. -2.00 = Max Black, 1.00 = Max White.
#define VignetteSlope 8 //[1 to 16] How far away from the center the change should start to really grow strong (odd numbers cause a larger fps drop than even numbers)
#define VignetteCenter float2(0.500, 0.500) //[0.00 to 1.00] Center of effect.




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Dither settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
//No settings yet, beyond switching it on or off in the top section.


//Note that the checkerboard pattern used by Dither, makes an image harder to compress.
//This can make your screenshots and video recordings take up more space.




/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Splitscreen settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define splitscreen_mode 3 //[1|2|3|4|5] 1 = Vertical 50/50 split, 2 = Vertical 25/50/25 split, 3 = Vertical 50/50 angled split, 4 = Horizontal 50/50 split, 5 = Horizontal 25/50/25 split

[TuFun]

Very cool program... did a test with the Howard, really makes the terrain pop! Also, tested with Shade, with both together really enhance the experience.

[Hurricane91]

Hey Rob, Thanks for posting your settings. Some of my FS utilities such as Autower and
Snapper started a bit quirky at first, but seem to have smoothed out. I have noticed a
frame rate hit of about -10fps for some of the settings but will do more testing.

Thanks again,
John

[Sascha66]

Thanks Rob for posting your settings:salute:
Sascha

[SSI01]

I wish I could report success, but there have been problems instead. Here are some screenies:

766027660376604

I'm not sure this is tinting (for which there is a setting) or what. Note the runway surface in the middle shot should be shades of grey, not earth tones. It may all be academic anyway, b/c my keyboard doesn't have the necessary key to activate/deactivate the effect. I tried pushing the mouse wheel in and out, also side to side - no effect. I have to activate the generic pop-up keyboard. What's worse, I now have icebergs again in my scenery. Tried OBIO's fix by deleting all references to icebergs in the XML file, which won't let me make changes to it. I experienced a slowdown and eventual lockup in the machine when going from full screen to windowed view in order to make changes to the effects. I'm also now experiencing a delay when quitting a flight and shutting down the sim. It's beginning to look like this program won't work with this machine. How do I get rid of those icebergs if the .XML file in the AUTOGEN won't let me delete anything out of it?

[RobH]

Mike, would you please copy and paste your settings.text info for me to see, like what I have done above.

Also, just noticed that if you open the file 'injector.ini' with notepad, you can change there, what button you want to use instead.

Not sure yet on the .XML file.

[RobH]

Btw, I just googled the specs on your card, it supports up to Shader model 5.0, so you should be good there.

Try this, copy and save your settings.text file somewhere. Try putting in my settings folder that I will included here. Give this a try and let me know.

76607

[hawkeye52]

Rob, please educate me. I have a Radeon HD3850 which I believe is shader model 4.1.

Do I have to D/L anything? Do I have to activate or select anything in my card's setup? Is it all set to go?

- H52

[RobH]

Rob, please educate me. I have a Radeon HD3850 which I believe is shader model 4.1.

Do I have to D/L anything? Do I have to activate or select anything in my card's setup? Is it all set to go?

- H52

H52,

I have never had any experience with the Radeon cards, but as far as I know you shouldn't have to change anything with your card.

[hawkeye52]

In other words, just D/L & install Sweet FX 3.7 and fire up the sim?

- H52

[RobH]

Yes, that is it. Be sure to install the files as they are in your main FS9 folder:salute:

[hawkeye52]

Thank you kindly, Rob! :applause:

- H52

[RobH]

Here are some tutorial videos posted on Guru3d.com Might be helpful to some.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v21m_p7d2A4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxFOx-9wZPM

Tomorrow I am going to give the SweetFX configurator a try. http://sweetfx.thelazy.net/

[SSI01]

Btw, I just googled the specs on your card, it supports up to Shader model 5.0, so you should be good there.

Try this, copy and save your settings.text file somewhere. Try putting in my settings folder that I will included here. Give this a try and let me know.

76607

Will do, need to bag some z's and then review for a final in the morning. After that we'll put everything back in the FS and then swap documents just like you said.:salute:

[Sascha66]

Rob, this program is awesome! I have never had this sense of depth when "in the air"!

I am using the file you posted as a zip with a small reduction in sharpening.

Thanks again!:salute:

766657666676667

[SSI01]

Well, Rob - I put in your settings and have to report the result is AWESOME. Never had clarity like this in the sim before. Aircraft texture detail is CRYSTALLINE.

I took the P-boat for a little spin from Travis AFB (home port), then from Denmark. Here are some screenies:

76668766697667076671

The first two shots show the bird at Travis, and over the Sierras near Lake Tahoe. I had excellent distance resolution for the scenery; everything else, like building colors, etc seems to be OK. The inst panels show it's a lilttle difficult to read the panel lettering. I wasn't sure what was causing this (contrast or brightness). The chromate green on the FE's panel is a bit intense, plus the mixture/prop levers in the PBY cockpit aren't quite the right shade of red/blue. Based on these photos, I wanted to try something a little shinier because I thought that might make the problem clearer. Here we are w/an F-104 at Howard AFB, Panama:

7667276673
I love the shine on this bird! Only problem is it's a little bit TOO shiny - on the opposite pole, the vegetation below the aircraft is so dark it's almost black. This looks like a contrast problem, I think. BTW the clouds in the background are Pablo Diaz's work. If you can't see any of the details in the clouds (and I've got everything maxed out on the sim, and in the video card settings to get rid of the "ziggies") I think we're a little too bright maybe. Suggestions?

If you get me started with a rudimentary understanding of the settings I think I can figure it out from there and not be too much of a burden. For sure I want to thank you for providing the info and settings you have, they've made a TREMENDOUS difference.

[RobH]

Looks great folks!

I have not been able to find a 'happy medium' with the settings either. When you get the metal planes looking good, the scenery is too dark, and then when you switch to a painted plane, thats too dark as well. I have created 2 different settings.text files. One for bare metal aircraft, and one for painted. It's a pain to remember to switch them, but it's all I can do until I can find a setting in the middle, lol.

Just like you, I am very pleased with at least the clarity difference.

[SSI01]

Sat down this afternoon with an AT-29A from USAF AACS and went for a LONG hop over various terrain to fine-tune the settings. I can now say I am thoroughly pleased with this add-on. I was able to achieve what is for me a quite acceptable balance between the shine on bare metal and ground detail involving trees and forests. Here's a screenie to show the end result:

76737

I know it's a cloudy sky but the breaks in the clouds disclosed a very clear landscape for quite a long ways beneath the aircraft. It was a meandering flight through a lot of cloud from Travis AFB to Boeing Field in Seattle. Wanted to check on FPS hits with the new clouds and setup. The heavy cloud cover did NOT affect the frame rate with this setup, which is something that normally happened before. Even when letting down into the famously cloudy/foggy winter night around Seattle, the fog effect was totally different from what I've been experiencing. Another thing I've noted is the ground detail in built-up areas is much more detailed with my settings. In addition, approach lights and the VASI/PAPI show up much farther away and in greater detail as well. I have a wave effect in the water in my sim and even that is more detailed now, you can even see a little "curl" to the waves. I've got my frame rate frozen at 30FPS to free up a little system resource to be used elsewhere, but I was running it at "unlimited" for a little whille during the setup to check on frame rate hit and noted every now and then the FPS went up to 105!

One last thing - I still got the "D3D9.dll" disable message during startup, but after getting into the sim and going to SweetFX settings I noted there was a section in the settings file that related to "useDPX1." that was checked "0." I changed it to "1" as I noted it had to do with FX9 effects, and on the off-chance this was what was keeping the D3D9.dll from being accepted. We'll see on the next startup.

Thank you Rob for this most useful accessory!!