This Could Be Very Interesting - AnKor's Shaders

Need some help installing these new shaders please.

Installed 2019 shaders using gecko's Oct 29 link, Ankor's Nov 8 d3d8.dll and Major Magee's d3d8.ini into win 7. Everything seems to work ok except the dynamic gunsight. This shader package was installed over the Nov 2017 version using jsgme. I did not remove the previous version which was not added with jsgme. If I remove this version with jsgme the dynamic gunsight works again. I tried to figure out what section 6 in the developer notes said about this but I don't follow what instruction 3 is saying.

I want to get this working so I can add the new spitfires with all their new features.
 
Now have the dynamic gunsights woriking. I had deleted a lot of the effects.dds files in the Shaders30 texturemagic.ini file when I installed the new shaders package. I had installed from the unzipped file at the upper levels so it overwrote the complete folders and files. I had to spend a lot of time combining the old and new, making sure I got everything, without getting duplicate files and tried to keep it in reasonable order. At least I had used jsgme so was easy to put back.
 
I've been trying out the latest 4.4.2.700 version of Reshade this evening with the new shaders, and there doesn't seem to be any inherent compatibility issues. A few of the Reshade Effects cause the game to crash, but most work just fine. They all have varying degrees of negative impact on the FPS, but the Reshade interface makes it really simple to turn them on and off in game. The install is really simple (run the downloaded exe, point it at the cfs3.exe, select the Direct3D9 button, and let it download all the available shader effect files, you can ignore the message about needing the additional wrapper file when using AnKor's dll) and at this point I don't see a need to go back to using SweetFX again.

https://reshade.me/

P.S. If the game crashes you'll have to hand edit the Reshade.ini to prevent it from reloading the offending effect on start-up the next time, and immediately crashing out again.
 
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I just noticed something I don't usually pay any attention to. With these new shaders, independent of the setting selected in cfs3config.exe, the game reports that it's running in 16 bit color. If I try to change it in game to 32 bit I get an error message about having insufficient graphics memory, and it crashes. cfs3config.exe doesn't even offer the 16 bit option (32 bit only), yet that's what shows up in game after you run it. The insufficient memory crash appears to be completely independent of the resolution being selected.

With the previous shaders I can run the game either way (and both are available in cfs3config.exe), though I can't see that it makes any visible difference to the graphics that are being displayed (screen capture bmp files are 24 bit in both cases).

Is this some sort of reporting error, or is the game actually running with reduced colors with these new shaders?

==========
Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3
build 030203.01 run at Mon Nov 25 17:27:35 2019
==========
CFS3: EnableAsserts: true
CFS3: ExitOnAssert: false
CFS3: SingleAssert: false
CFS3 ERROR [<graphics> cdirect3d(430)]: There is not enough free video memory to run. To correct this problem, reduce your desktop resolution or change the bit depth from 32 to 16.
Click to expand...
 
I can't check right now, but there should be an option in d3d8.ini, something like "EnumAllDisplayModes=1" (don't remember exact name) which adds 16-bit modes into the list. Maybe it was lost in the latest release?

However, I think the shaders should always use 32-bit mode regardless of what the game reports.
I'm also not sure if switching display modes in game ever worked with my shaders.
 
Setting it to EnumAllDisplayModes=0 restored the in game indication to 32 bit.

As mentioned previously, it does not appear to make any difference to the shaders in how the graphics are being rendered either way.
 
Thanks for the update. Weird thing. I can't get cfs3 to run on any version (including the latest) after January 2017. That version goes smoothly. Bit of a puzzle :dizzy:

A bit more information: Installing a later version, I get the "configoverrides is out of date. please rerun".... etc screen and cfs3 exits. Trying to run cfs3 after that gets only so far as the first small splash screen, no messages, the splash screen just vanishes. Nothing shown running in the Task Manager - cfs3 just fails to boot up.
 
The newest one included in the December 4th update does.

David try running the config utility several times. I seem to recall something weird like that happening once to me a while ago. I don't have any other ideas unfortunately.
 
@MajorMagee, I think they did have that setting. I always go through the ini and add it if it isn't there.

@ Daniel, thanks for the tip. In the past, sometimes I had to simply ignore the config message and run it again. However I will give it a go, twiddle with the configoverrides file, and go through the process several times. There are a series of entries at the top of the configoverrides file that seem to get stuffed up. For example, about the fifth entry (is it ModeVer?) the entry is normally 60, and after an abortive attempt to run the shaders, it will be changed to -1. If I change those top lines to those in a working version of an install, then it seems like the cfs3 startup goes a bit further, and sometimes goes through to completion. God knows what all those entries mean.

My progress will be slow, as it is summer, and I am in my best shape for 3 years. It has taken a long time to recover from nasty chemo drugs, so I may even go for a swim! :biggrin-new:
 
I always use MajorMagee's cfg setup except for the first section. At least his one from a year or so ago!
 
I previously posted a list of values I was using for the d3d8.ini file based on the initial October release of the 2019 shaders. With the updated December release I noticed that there was a Terrain and Scenery section that changed. These parameters are new with the 2019 versions and their values are mostly undocumented, so I have no idea how to go about adjusting them.

The initial October release had:

; Terrain Lighting and Bump Mapping
TerrainDiffuse=1
TerrainDetailBump=0.2
TerrainDetailColor=0.75
TerrainSpecular=0.5,0.5,0.5
TerrainBumpFactor=0.125,0.125,0.125
; Scenery Lighting
SceneryDiffuse=0.5
; Facility Lighting - FacilityBrightness works as a multiplier for diffuse color of building. So if you have a texture pixel with RGB value = 200 and FacilityBrightness = 0.8 the result will appear as if RGB value was 200 * 0.8 = 160. It can also make objects brighter if you use value >1.0.
FacilityBrightness=0.825

The revised December version has:

TerrainDiffuse=1.5
TerrainDetailBump=0.5
TerrainDetailColor=1.0
TerrainSpecular=-8.4, 8.0, 2.4
TerrainGlossiness=4.0
TerrainBumpFactor=1.0, 1.6, -3.0
; Scenery Lighting
SceneryDiffuse=1.0
; Facility Lighting - FacilityBrightness works as a multiplier for diffuse color of building.
; So if you have a texture pixel with RGB value = 200 and FacilityBrightness = 0.8 the result will appear as if RGB value was 200 * 0.8 = 160. It can also make objects brighter if you use value >1.0.
FacilityBrightness=1.0

The December version is a much closer match to the way the terrain looked with all the previous versions of AnKor's shaders. The October values are much more flat and dark, so I'm going with the December values as the default now.
 
A question re d3d8.controls.txt and d3d8.pointers.txt in the Dec 2019 version. I note the content is blank while the ones in my install(s) have content. I assume I don't need to replace them?
 
They are written when you start cfs3. The Real Systems Module references these for some of its functions.
 
Noted with thanks Dan.
Also, NB, re the TextureMagic.ini, if one had added various other dds files and things in the [ShipWake] and [HighAltSprite] sections for example, in the previous TextureMagic.ini, then one probably will have to add them into the December version. I recommend ExamDiff app or similar to see.
 
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