This Could Be Very Interesting - AnKor's Shaders

[liquidchicken]

G'day all..

I'm having the same issue as grover1..I tried changing the base opacity,but didn't have any luck..the clashing files is something I'll have to look at (so far I only have pto solomons on my current computer..)..I'm currently looking at the water files themselves eg: cfs3h2o and the h2od_1 etc dds' in regards to the alpha layers to see if I've balls'd up after so much chopping and changing over time..I'm currently running jbsceneryV2 and the stock cfs3h2o dds (does this have it's own alpha layer?)..I can see this mods potential,but it's definitely giving me some head scratching moments ..any chance of a basic summary of what works (or doesn't..) best for the majority?..

Cheers!..jason

[gosd]

These lines are from shaders30 folder, what values need to be canged?
// Water background texture with slight transparency
Color.rgb = tex2D(Tex0, In.TexCoord0).rgb ;//* TFactor.rgb;
Color.a = BaseOpacity + fr;

[MajorMagee]

#define BaseOpacity 0.95

It's at the top of the Seawater.fx file.

[gecko]

Some exciting new screenshots have been posted over on the WOFF forum. Sounds like Ankor is getting closer to the next release of his shaders, should be really good!

[MajorMagee]

The variable ground shadows are beautiful, but they won't be in the next update.

[AnKor]

Yes, they won't be in the next update. Besides they don't look as good in the stock CFS3 - the density of trees is much lower and the ground texture is so low res that shadows are visually lost in all those huge pixels. I know there are addons which improve the scenery, but I haven't tried them.

However, there is going to be another surprise regarding ground shadows

Additionally, the next update will have some features specifically for CFS3:
- working cockpit light
- proper support for stock panoramic dds texture
- shaders will make use of specular map (*_s.dds) to improve the shine quality

[Pat Pattle]

That all sounds great Ankor! Thank you again for providing such a huge improvement to cfs3.

One question concerning your mouse-view mod - do you think that the other views could ever be improved too? CFS3 has an odd fish-eye lens quality which prevents decent close-ups and puts the background far away from the foreground.

Clive

[AnKor]

I've seen several mentions of this wide angle lens issue, but I never really noticed any inconveniences about it though.
Actually I've already tried experimenting with the FOV in external views, and while I can override it in my dll, there are some issues with labels, smoke effects and clouds - the game doesn't provide 3D world space coordinates for them, but instead draws them already projected in 2D screen space. It is a bit difficult to explain in simpler words, but basically it means that when I change the camera FOV all clouds and labels stay in the old places on screen as if the FOV was unchanged.
I think it might be possible to "unproject" them back into 3D world, and I hope to research this subject someday because I'd like to try adding cloud shadows and I will need 3D coordinates to do this.

Another option could be to disassemble the game exe, find where the FOV is stored and change it directly. I've made several approaches on this (for slightly different, but similar purpose), but without much success.

By the way, my mouse look tool doesn't make any changes in the game, it just interfaces with FaceTrackNoIR which in its turn interfaces with the game as if you were using TrackIR. No magic, just linking existing features together.

[hairyspin]

The fisheye view is a Flight Simulator legacy: FS9, FSX et al all do it.

[gecko]

Yes, they won't be in the next update. Besides they don't look as good in the stock CFS3 - the density of trees is much lower and the ground texture is so low res that shadows are visually lost in all those huge pixels. I know there are addons which improve the scenery, but I haven't tried them.

However, there is going to be another surprise regarding ground shadows

Additionally, the next update will have some features specifically for CFS3:
- working cockpit light
- proper support for stock panoramic dds texture
- shaders will make use of specular map (*_s.dds) to improve the shine quality

The newer scenery is pretty good, not quite on the level of WOFF, but we'll certainly be able to appreciate all the shadows being cast on it. The next update also sounds mouth watering, very much looking forward to release!

[gecko]

Was just wondering, are the reflective *_r.dds textures also supported in conjunction with the panoramic dds?

[AnKor]

Yes, it is. I've spent some hours yesterday fine tuning reflections. And you can already try them
The new is available here: http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3881675/

The surprise I mentioned before is that standard ground shadows no longer have jagged edges. It makes a big difference.

As before the shine needs shaders.xml edit to work:
<ModelSpecularGloss Desc="Vertex lighting w/ Specular modulated by Gloss map"
Lighting="True" SpecularEnable="True"

Someday I will make an option in the ini file to let the shine work out of the box without any other edits.

[Daiwilletti]

The surprise I mentioned before is that standard ground shadows no longer have jagged edges. It makes a big difference.

Thank you! That removes one of the last "daggy bits" of CFS3

[Snaker]

Thanks for all you hard work on this!! I love the smooth shadows. Makes a big difference. However, I kept getting a weird line across the middle of my screen. It looked like a little strip of another part of the scenery going all the way across the screen. Also the roofs on the hangers were nearly transparent. I know everything is still beta so I went back to the March version and that worked fine.
Cheers!!

[Pat Pattle]

The latest version is working great for me Ankor. I'm getting better fps in-cockpit and the sea looks better too.

Another option could be to disassemble the game exe,

Is that possible?? What wonders could be unlocked and problems fixed if so!

[grover1]

Hi all,

I recently downloaded Ankor's update and for some reason I'm getting some strange effects.

I've attached two screenshots showing what I mean.

The water looks just like the ground and there's a large horizontal line cutting the cockpit right in half.

Any ideas?

Chris

[Threedp]

I'm getting the same thing with the latest update.

[AnKor]

If you are getting a strip of land near the horizon visible through the cockpit you need to turn off (uncheck) the "Dual Pass Render" option in cfs3config overrides screen.

grover1, your screenshots are a bit too dark to say definitely but it also seems to be your case.
As for the water, if it disappears only with the latest version but works with the one from March 25th, then it is a new bug. But if it is missing in both versions the it has something to do with your settings.
At this moment I'm not sure what is the cause, but I'll surely try to figure out.

Is that possible?? What wonders could be unlocked and problems fixed if so!

With enough time and knowlegde anything is possible. People did wonders with some old and not so old games by reverse engineering small parts of game's code.
I spent quite a few hours digging through cfs3.exe and learned a bit about its graphics engine code, but unfortunately nothing really useful. While I know a thing or two about reverse engineering it is definitely not my strongest side.
So theoretically it is possible, but practically I can't do it.

[grover1]

Hi Ankor,

I'll change the settings for CFS3 so you can see how the water looks.

Thanks,

Chris

[Snaker]

I unchecked the Dual Pass Render and all is good now for me with the latest version. Thanks AnKor!!!

[HouseHobbit]

Just a bump along..

[HouseHobbit]

Bumping along..

[Snaker]

FYI- there is a new update released on August 30. It Will be interesting to see how the reflector sites work!

[AnKor]

So far reflector sights aren't moving when you move your head as they should. The only change is that they are properly lit now and will have the same brightness in day and night.
I'm still planning to make them fully working with realistic movement, but right now I'm too busy with other features.

To explain, although I've made a demo of working sight months ago (page 6 of this thread) there was a problem that different crafts were modeled differently. That demo worked for P51D, but didn't work for Spitfire. I figured out how to make it work for Spitfire, but then German crafts came along and required a completely different approach.
We discussed it with gecko back then and he proposed a good solution, but it will require some modifications for xdp files and some additional coding from me... So right now this feature is not available to avoid messing up gunsights on unsupported crafts.

[Pat Pattle]

So far reflector sights aren't moving when you move your head as they should.

It depends on how they're modelled. In the ETO/BoB mk1 Spits I placed the reticule behind the reflector glass so as you move the viewpoint the reticule appears to be floating. I think the MAW 109's may be done like this as well.

There's a great clip of a working mk1 sight here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blem3FlkaMc