[fsphiladelphia]

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[fsphiladelphia]

I am pretty excited about the results I'm getting with the settings, so here's a few shots!

[Mars]

Try ramping up you spec settings and toning down your ambient lighting.

[Turey]

I wish I had the comp for those kind of shots.

[Herra Tohtori]

I noticed that the warp-in effect you are using are not the latest ones...

New Warp-In effect by Axem: http://www.game-warden.com/narfin/models/a_subpace.rar

And the tread discussing them is found here.


And as for lighting settings, I find the following custom command line does wonders to specular lighting properties...

-ambient_factor 0 -no_emissive_light -fov 0.55 -spec_exp 16.7 -spec_point 0.6 -spec_static 0.9 -spec_tube 1

Note that using ambient factor zero does make things rather dark if they aren't illuminated, but that's how I like my game... also, you might want to drop out the -fov 0.55 option or perhaps try something like -fov 0.65. Basically, the smaller the number, the shallower field of view. I find that value pretty much good for the most part, but experiment and find the good settings yourself.


Btw, what kind of anti-aliasing setting did you use taking these shots?

[Polpolion]

What happened to the backgrounds?

[fsphiladelphia]

Try ramping up you spec settings and toning down your ambient lighting.

I noticed that the warp-in effect you are using are not the latest ones...
-ambient_factor 0 -no_emissive_light -fov 0.55 -spec_exp 16.7 -spec_point 0.6 -spec_static 0.9 -spec_tube 1

Note that using ambient factor zero does make things rather dark if they aren't illuminated, but that's how I like my game... also, you might want to drop out the -fov 0.55 option or perhaps try something like -fov 0.65. Basically, the smaller the number, the shallower field of view. I find that value pretty much good for the most part, but experiment and find the good settings yourself.

Thanks for the tips -- based on what you guys said, I have dropped my ambient from 65 to 50 and have upped the spec settings in the command line.  I also added the FOV setting.  I found a thread with a formula and have it at .675 now.  At the risk of sounding dense, I have to admit I'm not quite sure I grasp the FOV stuff, so I'll just go with it and see what happens

I also downloaded the updated warp-in effects -- I just place the .vp file in my mediavps directory, correct?

Btw, what kind of anti-aliasing setting did you use taking these shots?

It's at 8xS in the nvidia control panel.

What happened to the backgrounds?

I guess there aren't any in this mission?  I'm playing through Derelict right now.  Hopefully I'm not missing anything.  There was a background on at least one of the missions -- a giant planet -- so that leads me to believe that everything is set up correctly, but maybe not?

Anyhow, I'll post a couple more shots based on the settings changes.

[Herra Tohtori]

Do you have Lightspeed's nebulae installed?

If you don't know, then you don't have them... Possibly the best way to install them is to commit download from this thread.

EDIT: Don't bother, the link is down... But you can find Lightspeed's nebulae elsewhere as well. You just have to look for them. Derelict uses them as backgrounds as far as I know...

EDIT2: Here's another link to a VP packed version of LS Nebulae: http://fs2source.warpcore.org/mediavp/ls_neb.exe

Make a new mod directory (name it for example ..\Path\To\Freespace2\FS2_Lightspeed\) and install the package into that directory.

Then activate both Derelict and this new mod by adding command line options

-mod Derelict,FS2_Lightspeed,mediavps


And you should be set.


If anyone can think of a better way, please tell it. You could also shove it into MediaVP's but I'm not sure about overriding issues and stuff like that, but the way I have it done works all the same.

And if some problems arise later, it's easier to solve them if you don't have all kinds of random stuff lying around your mod folders...

[BurntCornMuffin]

Okay, here's a quick primer in FOV's a-la MSPaint.  The field of view(FOV) is like a cone growing off of your eyeball in the direction you're looking, and anything within that cone you can see.  At the left side in the image, you have the normal sort of everyday "human-eye" FOV that everyone sees.  If you set the FOV "cone" to a small size, like the center, everything will look zoomed in, not unlike using a telescope or binoculars.  If you set the FOV to a large size, like the right, you'll get what's called the "fisheye" effect, and despite the fact that you can see a lot more, it's all pretty squashed.

[fsphiladelphia]

That makes sense.  I guess by following the FOV formula presented in another thread, you're basically making it so that everything appears as correctly proportioned as it would be if you were actually in the cockpit, based on how your proximity to the screen.

Do you have Lightspeed's nebulae installed?

I downloaded the fs2lightspeedmissions.vp and the nebulae.vp, and placed both in my mediavps folder.  I will keep the suggestion of giving it its own directory though, if I sense the mediavp folder is becoming a mess.

Anyhow, here's a couple of shots based on your lighting suggestions, and one including the new warp effect.  I notice this way there now seems to be a lot more contrast between space and lighted objects -- so the colors are more vibrant where there is light, and yes, the dark areas are a bit darker (though I only lowered ambient to 50, not 0).  BTW:  the new warp effects are really cool.

After these shots I'll see what it all looks like with the nebula backgrounds.



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I'll note that the FPS are at only 33 in the shot with the warp effect -- but i think that's the lowest it has been since I got most of my act together earlier.  If that's as low as it's going, that's great as far as I'm concerned!

[Herra Tohtori]

Hmm.

Your explosions look a bit pixelated. You might want to check what happens if you create two new files:

..\Path\To\Freespace2\mediavps\data\tables\mv_fireball-fbl.tbm
..\Path\To\Freespace2\mediavps\data\tables\mv_expl-wxp.tbm


and paste the following text into them:

mv_fireball-fbl.tbm

Code: [Select]

; fireball.tbl
;
; Table file for specifying which filenames are to be used for which explosions
;
;
#Start

$Name: exp04 ; Used for the 4 little explosions before a ship explodes
+Explosion_Medium
$LOD: 1

$Name: WarpMap01 ; Used for the warp in / warp out effect
+Warp_Effect
$LOD: 1

$Name: WarpMap02 ; Used for the KNOSSOS warp in / warp out effect
+Knossos_Effect
$LOD: 1

$Name: exp05 ; Used when an asteroid explodes
+Asteroid
$LOD: 1

$Name: exp05 ; ship explosion 1
+Explosion_Large1
$LOD: 1

$Name: exp06 ; ship explosion 2
+Explosion_Large2
$LOD: 1

#End
mv_expl-wxp.tbm

Code: [Select]

; weapon_expl.tbl
;
; Table file for specifying which filenames are to be used for which explosions
;
;
#Start

$Name: exp20 ; flak explosion
$LOD: 1

$Name: ExpMissileHit1 ; missile hits, etc.
$LOD: 1

$Name:  exp05
$LOD:       1

$Name:  exp06
$LOD:       1

$Name:  exp04
$LOD:       1

$Name:  Subach_Impact
$LOD:       1

$Name:  Mekhu_Impact
$LOD:       1

$Name:  Akheton_Impact
$LOD:       1

$Name:  MS_Impact
$LOD:       1

$Name:  Prometheus_Impact
$LOD:       1

$Name:  Maxim_Impact
$LOD:       1

$Name:  Kayser_Impact
$LOD:       1

$Name:  Circe_Impact
$LOD:       1

$Name:  Lamprey_Impact
$LOD:       1

$Name:  Shivan_Impact01
$LOD:       1

$Name:  Vapula_Impact
$LOD:       1

#End

Other way is to open mv_effects (?), extract the tables and edit them to have LOD number one on all explosions, but I think this is a faster way... It should make all explosions to use their highest resolution or somesuch.

In fact, I don't remember whether you actually need to do anything about mv_expl-wxp.tbm ot if the settings are already maxed out in the MediaVP's, but better safe than sorry....

[fsphiladelphia]

In fact, I don't remember whether you actually need to do anything about mv_expl-wxp.tbm ot if the settings are already maxed out in the MediaVP's, but better safe than sorry....

I take it these are settings tables the game will look at when determining what particular level of detail to retrieve from the various .vp files, correct?

Whether that's the case or not, I've taken your suggestion (again) 

Here's a quick shot with the nebulas.  I'll post more tomorrow, it's past my bedtime for a Wednesday!

[WMCoolmon]

Finally! Someone who understands the importance of anti-aliasing!

[jr2]

cool shots

[fsphiladelphia]

Finally! Someone who understands the importance of anti-aliasing!

Once I started reading these forums a couple of weeks ago and seeing the screenshots people were posting, I knew I wanted to replicate that on my computer.  I've noticed that in order to make the game playable a lot of people's first suggestion is to turn down the AA settings, or turn it off entirely.  That's understandable, because it takes some hardware and everyone's budget/computer setup (and, in fairness, preferences) is/are different.

When I realized the 7300gs was not going to be able to run FSO with 4x AA (that card's highest setting) I pretty much knew I'd be returning it.  Much to my surprise, the 7600gt is able to run not only 4x AA, but 8xS AA, and maintains great framerates no matter what.  Of course, it took getting some settings right and getting the correct .vps/glowmaps...so thanks again to everyone who pointed me in the right direction.

But yeah, I definitely get the importance of anti-aliasing.  For me, getting it to run in 1280x1024, and at at least 4x AA with playable framerates was really the entire goal.

cool shots

thanks!

[Herra Tohtori]

Well, since we're showing our screenies...


Don't you think the FLAK explosions need to be upgraded?





Stuff blowing up.

NTC Impervious meets it's match...

...and the same destiny met this Shivan Demon destroyer.

...and what is this?...Holy Crap!


That last shot is from a campaign that introduces a true test of strength as far as a computer's ability to run FS2_Open is concerned. It unleashes tons of particle effects which slowed my computer down to <19 FPS momentarily...

Deimos-class corvette is a work of art.



And despite being resource-hogs... I must admit that them shockwaves are indeed drop dead gorgeous.




...these next two shots were actually taken on my old MSI GF6600 256MB, which got replaced by the current XFX 7600GT XXX 256MB card. That did decent work with FS2_Open too, for the most part anyway.






By the way, regarding anti-aliasing.

On Linux, I can set 16xAA from nvidia-settings. Is there any way to enable it on Windows drivers? Just for some extra zazz for taking screenshots... the best combination of playability and visul quality is at either 8xS or 4x, depending on the mission. Mostly I just use 8xS on FS2_Open, and lower settings for other games.

For example, IL-2 Sturmovik FB+AEP+PF can't really be played properly with AA enabled, the FPS simply drops too low if the shaded water and trees are enabled, which makes flying accurately and aiming practically impossible... If the shader graphics are turned off, it plays much better on higher AA settings, obviously.

[Snail]

It's the ExpMissileHit01 explosion that needs serious upgrading. Inferno's one looks good

BTW, JAD2!!! YAY

[Herra Tohtori]

Actually, as far as I can see it's the Exp20 effect in mv_effects.vp. But it seems that in Inferno (and INF:A) ot's replaced by a 512*512 res effect...

I'll see what I can cook up as a fast experimental job...

[Snail]

No, its the beam hit one, which is ExpMissileHit01. INFA and Inferno's look better, as in they don't look like crap.

ExpMissileHit01 really needs an upgrade.

[Herra Tohtori]

Well, to be honest all of the explosion bitmaps do need to be replaced by higher resolution stuff. However, right now I am talking about the effect in the current MediaVP's that is used as flak explosion, and that's what you see in that reddish screenshot I posted, right in the middle of the image... That's what I mean. And it is named Exp20.