Testing Ankor's shaders at night

mongoose

mongoose

SOH-CM-2023
This is a test at full moon. The first 2 are from the bomb sight of a Wellington. The last from the cockpit. IMO all is still too bright; escpecially the towns. To see these as I do in very dim light on a 46" screen, one might have to sim down your lights!!

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This is the serchlights. Not bright at all. have these been redone?
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I noticed in the only sdaytime check so far that my sea is far too green. This shows up even at night + the shoreline is now dark, not white "surf". How is this changed?
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Ankor`s shaders causes CFS3 ti Bomb

I installed this add on but my sim goes west and will not work at all,i guess it might be "*** Warning ***You must turn off Dual Pass Render in cfs3confing.exe".
This i cant find in the exe orcfs3_cinfigdatabase.txt either so where is Duel Pass Render,please?
alcanallen.
 
This is not my current config but you can see dual pass render. Change value to "n"

<Config>
<FileVersion val="60"/>
<Adapter val="0"/>
<Device val="0"/>
<Mode val="33"/>
<MultisampleType val="D3DMULTISAMPLE_8_SAMPLES"/>
<VendorId val="4318"/>
<DeviceId val="5058"/>
<VersionNumberLowPart val="859563"/>
<VersionNumberHighPart val="1376277"/>
<TextureLimits>
<aircraftmodels Scale="0" MaxDim="1024"/>
<compositeterrain Scale="0" MaxDim="0"/>
<compositeterrainsource Scale="0" MaxDim="0"/>
<effects Scale="0" MaxDim="256"/>
<hud Scale="0" MaxDim="0"/>
<nonaircraftmodels Scale="0" MaxDim="0"/>
<precompiledterrain Scale="0" MaxDim="0"/>
<shadows Scale="0" MaxDim="512"/>
<ui Scale="0" MaxDim="0"/>
<uncategorized Scale="0" MaxDim="0"/>
</TextureLimits>
<ConfigOverrides>
<DisableWarningBoxes val="n"/>
<DisableSound val="n"/>
<DisableIntroMovie val="y"/>
<DisableMovieUI val="n"/>
<DisableUIAnimations val="n"/>
<SafeMode val="n"/>
<NoDXT1 val="n"/>
<NoDXT3 val="n"/>
<NoDXT5 val="n"/>
<DisableIndexBuffers val="n"/>
<DisableVertexBuffers val="n"/>
<Disable1600x1200 val="n"/>
<Disable1280x1024 val="n"/>
<Disable1024x768 val="n"/>
<DualPassRender val="y"/>
<HighResolutionZBuffer val="n"/>
<TerrainDetailTexture val="y"/>
<DisableWindowed val="n"/>
<DisableValidateDevice val="y"/>
<DisableWriteOnlyVB val="n"/>
<DisableWriteOnlyIB val="n"/>
<DisableTriangleStrips val="n"/>
<UnsupportedHardware val="n"/>
<UnsupportedDriver val="n"/>
<DisableCompositeTerrainTextureMips val="n"/>
<DisableCompositeTerrainTextures val="n"/>
<DisableCompositeGroundPlaneTextures val="n"/>
<DisableCompositeAircraftTextures val="n"/>
<DisableScenery val="n"/>
<DisableEnvironmentMapping val="n"/>
<DisableShadows val="n"/>
<DisableWhiteOut val="n"/>
<DisableTerrainLighting val="n"/>
<DisableSceneryLighting val="n"/>
<DisableSun val="n"/>
<DisableStars val="n"/>
<DisableRenderText val="n"/>
<DisableLabels val="n"/>
<DisableTacticalDisplay val="n"/>
<DisableTargetCone val="n"/>
<DisableHUD val="n"/>
<DisableChat val="n"/>
<DisableAdvisor val="n"/>
<DisableSimWarnings val="n"/>
<DisableTimeCompress val="n"/>
<DisableWeather val="n"/>
<DisableClouds val="n"/>
<DisableBlendToOffscreen val="n"/>
<DisableClear val="n"/>
<DisableTerrainRender val="n"/>
<DisableTerrainUpdate val="n"/>
<DisableSceneDBRender val="n"/>
<DisableWaterRender val="n"/>
<DisableWaterShorelineRender val="n"/>
<DisableWaterReflectionRender val="n"/>
<DisableWaterAnimationRender val="n"/>
<DisableTerrainTextureRingBlend val="n"/>
<DisableFog val="n"/>
<DisableRain val="n"/>
<DisableTexturedAlphaMaterial val="n"/>
<DisableShellCasings val="n"/>
<DisableTerrainDiffuseLighting val="n"/>
<DisableTerrainDecalRender val="n"/>
<DisableVCFog val="n"/>
<DisableInCloudEffect val="n"/>
<DisablePropDiscs val="n"/>
<CompositeAircraftTextureBudget val="8192"/>
<CompositeAircraftTextureMaxDim val="1024"/>
<CompositeAircraftTexturePool val="D3DPOOL_DEFAULT"/>
<CompositeAircraftTextureUsage val="0"/>
<CompositeTerrainTextureBudget val="five"/>
<VertexBufferPool val="D3DPOOL_DEFAULT"/>
<IndexBufferPool val="D3DPOOL_DEFAULT"/>
<PreCompiledTerrainTextureBudget val="four"/>
<UserShadowTextureBudget val="1"/>
<AIShadowTextureBudget val="10"/>
<ObjectShadowTextureBudget val="250"/>
<UserShadowSize val="512"/>
<AIShadowSize val="256"/>
<ObjectShadowSize val="256"/>
<MaxParticles val="5000"/>
<ZBiasBitsResolution val="15"/>
<ZBiasTerrainDecal val="0"/>
<ZBiasWaterPolyNear val="1"/>
<ZBiasWaterPolyFar val="0"/>
<ZBiasWaterLineNear val="1"/>
<ZBiasWaterLineFar val="0"/>
<ZBiasFlatEffects val="25"/>
<ZBiasShadow val="0"/>
<ZBiasTerrainAlphaNear val="0"/>
<ZBiasTerrainAlphaFar val="0"/>
<ZBiasObject val="0"/>
<ZBiasObjectFar val="0"/>
<ZBiasEffects val="1"/>
<ZBiasClouds val="1"/>
<TerrainVertexBufferCapacity val="16384"/>
<TerrainIndexBufferCapacity val="32768"/>
<VertexCacheSize val="15"/>
<BackClipDist val="128748"/>
<InteriorWaterLoadingFactor val="0.800000011920929"/>
<WaterDetailTextureSize val="5"/>
<WaterElevationBias val="4"/>
<WaterElevationBiasFactor val="0.5"/>
<NearPassBackClipDist val="13200"/>
<FarPassNearClipDist val="13000"/>
<FogStartDist val="128748"/>
<CloudScale val="10"/>
<TerrainBestImageQuality val="0"/>
<MaxLandClassVariations val="0"/>
<TerrainMaxBlenderInstPerFrameNear val="256"/>
<TerrainMaxBlenderInstPerFrameFar val="128"/>
<SceneryTriangleBudget val="five"/>
<TerrainTriangleBudget val="five"/>
<MaxModelLOD val="100"/>
<FullscreenSwapEffect val="D3DSWAPEFFECT_DISCARD"/>
<CompositeTerrainTexturePool val="D3DPOOL_DEFAULT"/>
<CompositeTerrainTextureUsage val="0"/>
<TextMaxTextures val="0"/>
<OverallGraphicDetail val="5"/>
<AircraftDetail val="5"/>
<SceneryDetail val="5"/>
<TerrainDetail val="5"/>
<EffectsQuality val="5"/>
<CloudsQuality val="5"/>
</ConfigOverrides>
</Config>
 
Back to my starter. The effects are best seen through enlarging the thumbnails which show everything a bit brightyer; except for the searchlights of course!
 
searchlights

Just thinking....since we now have luminous cockpit lights, could we use the same texture naming convention for the textures on the search lights to have them illuminate?:dizzy:
 
I remember talking with Mathias when he first did some research on search lights, at that time we couldn't figure out how to turn them off during daylight hours. Don't know if they have overcome that yet or not. I suppose you could do that creating a mission during the day, but how about when flying free flight, would they be off?
 
I must have been sleeping; where are the luminous pit lights?
Does WOFF UE have serchlights with Ankors shaders?
RE daytime; my only idea so far is a batch file that swaps out lit with unlit lights during the daytime!
 
Gecko knows how to do this better than anyone. Hopefully he'll chime in with some advice.

Here's part of a conversation we had with AnKor back in April 2016.


I am looking into the searchlight more, and set it up to work with one of the sets of searchlights we have in CFS3. It works, but the model of the beam could be done better to work with the shaders. If we were to get someone to build a new model, what would be the ideal shape of the beam? Also, I was trying to adjust the appearance of the lighting effect on aircraft, but wasn't successful.



I’m not sure what to advice for searchlight model. I never seen how it looks in GMax.
As I understand the beam goes along X axis, in negative direction.
It is a truncated cone – narrow near origin, and wide at the end.
The number of sides is not very important because my shaders make the beam look smooth. They also double the length of them beam (see vs_Searchlight in Models.fx).

What changes to searchlight appearance on aircrafts did you want? Maybe I can help. It can be tweaked to certain extent, but not much.



Thanks for explaining the searchlights, I'll just open it in m3d viewer to see what the shape of the WOFF ones is and base a new CFS3 one off of that shape. As to the lighting appearance, the specular seemed a bit intense and looked like it was done per vertex as opposed to per pixel.



You are correct – searchlight illumination is calculated per vertex for performance. Apart from usual drawbacks this also means that bump-mapping and specular textures are ignored.
It is also always white, even though the beam has slight blue tint.
You can adjust it in Models.fx, line 211:
if(bSearchLights)
{
float2 tmp = calcSearchLights(worldPos.xyz, Out.Normal.xyz, true, Out.Material[1].y);
Out.VertLight.y = tmp.y; // specular
Out.Diffuse.rgb += tmp.xxx;
}

Just add a multiplier to tmp.y, for example this will reduce searchlight specular in half:
Out.VertLight.y = tmp.y * 0.5;

 
Interesting. Was that a thread here?
See also my thread re WOFF UE and m3d viewer. Also re the only WOFF searchlight I saw in the WOFF UE folders.
 
The lightness and darkness of the night is covered in the suneffect.xml. Adjusting the rgb values called out for the lowest sun angles will make the change.

Luminous gauge dials (can be used for any part of a texture that you want to remain lit when ambient light is low) are made by creating a light map which is black for everything that shouldn't be self lit, and colored as you want it to appear at night for parts you want self lit. They can be made for any texture following this convention: for xxx.dds, the light map will be named xxx.+lrgb.dds. There are examples of this in the recently released P-61 package.

Searchlights: anyone want to build one? Andy just reposted all the details of what is required. I'll add that the light beam needs a texture, which is then called out in the texture_magic.ini

The searchlights now automatically turn themselves off during daylight, and will even turn themselves on or off mid-mission if you are flying through dusk or dawn. So a single gsl is now possible for all hours, and flights through dawn and dusk no longer have to choose between day effects and night effects.
 
This is the default AnKor provided us back when this all started.

[Searchlight]
search_light.dds

I probably should have added some of the available searchlight texture names to the searchlight section of the TextureMagic.ini file, but I wasn't even thinking about them. Do you have a list of the ones that you've added?
 
Searchlights: anyone want to build one? Andy just reposted all the details of what is required. I'll add that the light beam needs a texture, which is then called out in the texture_magic.ini

I have several searchlights made for various applications. These are in gmax/max made them many years ago. Just PM me and we can collaborate on this ASAP.

Ted
 
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how did this ,,,, i dont know but when i fly at night ,,,,i hit the button 0 and it turns on a good night ride illu miated ,,,,,,,and all im fine i use ancors recent update
 
The 0 button toggles off the shaders and reverts to stock shaders.

Ted, a PM will be on its way shortly.
 
gecko said:
T

Luminous gauge dials (can be used for any part of a texture that you want to remain lit when ambient light is low) are made by creating a light map which is black for everything that shouldn't be self lit, and colored as you want it to appear at night for parts you want self lit. They can be made for any texture following this convention: for xxx.dds, the light map will be named xxx.+lrgb.dds. There are examples of this in the recently released P-61 package.

.
Click to expand...

I checked those P61 files just using paint.net but saw only 1 layer. Could you explain here or PM/email how you create the light map. I assume it is a layer which is black excluding the bits one wants illuminated (how is that done) which is then merged? . However I note that with some dials the whole xxx.+lrgb.dds is dark although I assume one would want to most if not all dials??
 
MajorMagee said:
This is the default AnKor provided us back when this all started.

[Searchlight]
search_light.dds

I probably should have added some of the available searchlight texture names to the searchlight section of the TextureMagic.ini file, but I wasn't even thinking about them. Do you have a list of the ones that you've added?
Click to expand...

Where is that dds?
 
Thanks. have that UE dds. assume this is the "light"part. have you worked out how to use m3dviewer on WOFF UE?
 
M3d viewer doesn't work of d3d8.dll is present in the main directory. Temporarily remove it when you want to use m3d view.
 
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