2158 replies to this topic

[Wolfmech]

Lordred, on 16 June 2013 - 06:34 PM, said:

The tiger striped Stalker is mine. Grrrrmeow. (Inside joke)

Spoiler

Edited by Wolfmech, 17 June 2013 - 01:12 PM.

[Tannhauser Gate]

One of my gripes with MWO is too much monochromatic haze and the lack of color and contrast. Your pics look sweet and I hope PGI sees them. It’s a shame that it takes tweaking enhancements to each pic to make them look this great. Not all systems can push that resolution of course but those colors and contrasts should be default in the game.

Very nice job guys. Makes the game look very very inviting. PGI needs to use yours pics on the sight and think about adjusting the default experience to be a little more colorful with deeper contrast.

[Koniving]

LakeDaemon, on 17 June 2013 - 01:28 PM, said:

Very nice job guys. Makes the game look very very inviting. PGI needs to use yours pics on the sight and think about adjusting the default experience to be a little more colorful with deeper contrast.

There's been a bit of praise. Garth had twittered us with the statement that it helped him choose his camo. Vit's mentioned that some of the pics went up on the MWO facebook page.

Spoiler

Viterbi, on 05 June 2013 - 07:18 AM, said:

These screenshots are great! We're going to share a few on our MechWarrior Online Facebook page and now that Print Screen functions by putting screenshots directly into your User folder.

It's a start, but since Lordred uses driver level hex settings to try and remove some of the grain filters that detract from MWO's beauty, well, it's pretty clear they can't really use these at the front page. Although, if they try to make the filters look less grainy and 'omg you're in yet another call of duty', then Lordred's shots might make it there.

Until then, enjoy the pretty colors. It's possible to get your game to look like that, including the color adjustments, but you'd have to start toying with your brightness, contrast, and saturation at the video card driver level. I used to do youtube vids like that, but some maps come out super dark on video for some reason.

[Wintersdark]

Koniving, on 17 June 2013 - 07:50 PM, said:

There's been a bit of praise. Garth had twittered us with the statement that it helped him choose his camo. Vit's mentioned that some of the pics went up on the MWO facebook page.

Spoiler

It's a start, but since Lordred uses driver level hex settings to try and remove some of the grain filters that detract from MWO's beauty, well, it's pretty clear they can't really use these at the front page. Although, if they try to make the filters look less grainy and 'omg you're in yet another call of duty', then Lordred's shots might make it there.

Until then, enjoy the pretty colors. It's possible to get your game to look like that, including the color adjustments, but you'd have to start toying with your brightness, contrast, and saturation at the video card driver level. I used to do youtube vids like that, but some maps come out super dark on video for some reason.

You can achieve the same ends using SweetFX, though it takes some tweaking and understanding of the settings to get a good setup that works well on all the maps. Easier for some than playing with your drivers - and it's the only way to get custom AA with ATI cards (given how any AA settings at the driver level result in transparent textures).

[Koniving]

Wintersdark, on 17 June 2013 - 08:08 PM, said:

You can achieve the same ends using SweetFX.

True, though that's still frowned upon by PGI. Thing is, we shouldn't have to use an external plugin to make the game look good.

[Tannhauser Gate]

I just noticed my spell check changed typo'd site to sight.. bah. I shouldnt post from my phone.

Anyway, I have an ATI GPU so I may try SweetFX. I love the game but even on high its so monochromatic and pea soupy. I know its not just me because when I watch 'tube videos it looks about the same as well.

Again, love the pics, guys. Keep posting. This is the only thread so far I have ever selected to follow.

[Mighty Spike]

Nice matches yesterday koniving. Hope to meet you again today . Maybe next time i will use my phranken AC10 Cata. You nwas to far away on tourmaline to see your camo,only saw"...oh.. a catapult....stand still....just a second...ya...ok i get him.....s...t other guy was faster"...

[Koniving]

I'll tell ya a secret. On the ROLFpult's right missile pod, it says "Missiles everywhere!" Fitting since I was firing 90 missiles per volley.

[Wintersdark]

Koniving, on 17 June 2013 - 08:20 PM, said:

True, though that's still frowned upon by PGI. Thing is, we shouldn't have to use an external plugin to make the game look good.

meh. No different than playing with driver settings

[Koniving]

Wintersdark, on 18 June 2013 - 08:14 AM, said:

meh. No different than playing with driver settings

SweetFX, at least the way it was put in back when I first looked at the possibility, required some changing of game files and additional files put in. This opened up a number of exploits that override the limitations in the user.cfg, allowing people to do things like remove trees, or make buildings and terrain translucent so you can see through them. Basically it's one of the prerequisites to cheating.

[Lordred]

Koniving, on 17 June 2013 - 07:50 PM, said:

It's a start, but since Lordred uses driver level hex settings to try and remove some of the grain filters that detract from MWO's beauty, well, it's pretty clear they can't really use these at the front page. Although, if they try to make the filters look less grainy and 'omg you're in yet another call of duty', then Lordred's shots might make it there.

Wintersdark, on 18 June 2013 - 08:14 AM, said:

meh. No different than playing with driver settings

For starters, it is way different, Sweet FX is used to give an actual advantage in the game by removing the grain filter, and the DOF filters which make it harder to see mechs at great distances.

I do not make any attempts to remove the grain, that is cheating in PGI's eyes. All I simply do is the following.

Apply, forced though driver alterarations, a large ammount of FXAA (lowest form of AA, but can be forced into almost any application)
High levels of AF to help keep the textures crisp.
Useing Ambient Oculation settings from other programs to improve ingame lighting.

That is all done on upfront.

After the screen shot it taken I make alterations to the following, on a image, by image basis.

Saturation, Contrast, Brightness, Dynamic Lighting, and Shadow protection.


Other than that, the only commands in my user.cfg are:
cl_fov=75
r_MotionBlur = 0

Edited by Lordred, 18 June 2013 - 11:03 AM.

[Koniving]

Stand corrected, no filters removed. (Though I think the game would look a bit better with some of them removed. >.>)

[Wintersdark]

Koniving, on 18 June 2013 - 08:34 AM, said:

SweetFX, at least the way it was put in back when I first looked at the possibility, required some changing of game files and additional files put in. This opened up a number of exploits that override the limitations in the user.cfg, allowing people to do things like remove trees, or make buildings and terrain translucent so you can see through them. Basically it's one of the prerequisites to cheating.

SweetFX is just a variant of ENBSeries. It does not in any way alter the game files.

It doesn't open any exploits, either: These are the things you can modify with the basic SweetFX (Copied from the Readme, 'cuz I'm lazy that way):

Spoiler

Effects included:

* SMAA Anti-aliasing : Anti-aliases the image using the SMAA technique - see http://www.iryoku.com/smaa/
* LumaSharpen : Sharpens the image, making details easier to see
* Bloom : Makes strong lights bleed their light into their surroundings
* HDR : Mimics an HDR tonemapped look
* Technicolor : Makes the image look like it was processed using a three-strip Technicolor process - see http://en.wikipedia....iki/Technicolor
* Cineon DPX : Makes the image look like it was converted from film to Cineon DPX. Can be used to create a "sunny" look.
* Lift Gamma Gain : Adjust brightness and color of shadows, midtones and highlights (avoids clipping)
* Tonemap : Adjust gamma, exposure, saturation, bleach and defog. (may cause clipping)
* Vibrance : Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation.
* Curves : Contrast adjustments using S-curves.
* Sepia : Sepia tones the image - see http://en.wikipedia....ne#Sepia_toning
* Vignette : Darkens the edges of the image to make it look more like it was shot with a camera lens. - see http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Vignetting )
* Dither : Applies dithering to simulate more colors than your monitor can display. This lessens banding artifacts - see http://en.wikipedia....mage_processing )
* Splitscreen : Enables the before-and-after splitscreen comparison mode.

It doesn't allow you to make things transparent (which you can do via driver settings, incidentally!), or any other cheating/exploiting things. You do (normally) install it to the game's directory, but this isn't because it's modifying the game files but rather because it's overriding DirectX. You could install it to your windows\system folder, but that's an extremely bad practice for a number of reasons. Much safer just in the game's folder.

Still, no modification of game files or assets whatsoever. What SweetFX (or any enbseries mod) does is the same thing as modifying driver settings, just a layer lower. Game talks to DirectX, DirectX talks to Drivers, Drivers put stuff on screen. It's just easier to set things up this way than playing with drivers.

A very cool upside of SweetFX is that you can edit your config file, make changes, and have them be reloaded and applied instantly, while you're in game. Makes tweaking your settings much, much easier.

Splitscreen mode on, two shots of a firebrand (sorry for my hud being on), one with the FB in the SweetFX side of the screen and one in the stock side:

Spoiler

Normally, I have SMAA on as well, with some custom tweaks, but I turned it off when I was experimenting with some other stuff and haven't gotten around to turning it back on. Torn about it, on one hand I hate jaggies, on the other I love how sharp everything is.

This is the config file I'm using right now:

Spoiler

 
   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /					  Choose effects						 /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
 
// Set to 1 for ON or 0 for OFF
#define USE_SMAA_ANTIALIASING 0 //[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		   0 //[0 or 1] HDR : Not actual HDR - It just tries to mimic an HDR look (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_TECHNICOLOR   0 //[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 0 //[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		1 //[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		0 //[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 2.00   // [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 1.30  //[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] 0.11 base
#define TechniPower  2.8		 //[0.0 to 8.0] 2.8 base
#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(0.980, 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 0.00	//[-1.00 to 1.00] Adjust exposure
 
#define Saturation 0.00  //[-1.00 to 1.00] Adjust saturation
 
#define Bleach 0.00	  //[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 0.40 //[-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

Edit: Note at the top of the config file, I've only got a few features enabled. There's default settings for all of them present, but if the feature is turned off with a 0 in the first section, it doesn't do anything at all.

Edited by Wintersdark, 18 June 2013 - 06:17 PM.

[Lordred]

While this is technically a repost of two already posted images. They have been combined into one sweet image with the help of a friend who is much better in Photoshop than I.

[Koniving]

Awesome.

Oh and Gold when you get here, the Jager I was talking about is on page 15.

[shellashock]

hey lordred, you should get some screenshots of the new caustic valley. It looks a lot different with the fog and new textures. Lots of people wnat screenshots, so you can give it to them!

[Haruspex Pariah]

Nice thread. Sometimes when you're playing, settings turned down for smoother action, you don't appreciate the aesthetics of it all.

[Lordred]

Haruspex Pariah, on 19 June 2013 - 05:53 AM, said:

Nice thread. Sometimes when you're playing, settings turned down for smoother action, you don't appreciate the aesthetics of it all.

Setting turned down? I would never dream of it!

I can understand why though, I am quite blessed to have had the disposable income to build my mini monster.

[Wolfmech]

Lordred, on 18 June 2013 - 11:43 PM, said:

While this is technically a repost of two already posted images. They have been combined into one sweet image with the help of a friend who is much better in Photoshop than I.

Superb as always. That Raven does not want to look at the carnage!

[Koniving]

To Wintersdark.

Spoiler

Wintersdark, on 18 June 2013 - 05:57 PM, said:

SweetFX is just a variant of ENBSeries. It does not in any way alter the game files.

It doesn't open any exploits, either: These are the things you can modify with the basic SweetFX (Copied from the Readme, 'cuz I'm lazy that way):

I'm aware of how ENBs work, I use them on Skyrim. Did you know that in closed beta, MWO used its own ENB which they had to disable due to the lag it was causing on all systems? It's true. (Youtube "Koniving Directx 11" for MWO's original ENB-enabled Directx 11 closed beta gameplay).

SweetFX has changed, clearly, but my point is it once required the changing of XML files as well as the insertion of other files. The earliest versions of SweetFX were sometimes responsible for the premature termination of the game engine, in which the error report states the reason is the detection of a possible hacking program. Much like it does if you sometimes try to run the Teamspeak Overlay before you start MWO.

However, just because it apparently no longer requires changes won't change the fact that PGI frowns on it and even has a ban hammer handy. For example here, they removed the link to download game files modified for SweetFX.

To quote Viterbi.

Quote

Q: May I use graphical enhancements through third-party applications, such as SweetFX or other CBar modifiers to enhance my graphical performance?

A: We do not encourage the use of these types of modifications and in particular should we detect the use of any modification that does any of the following we reserve the right to suspend/ban the account responsible.

a) Alters visibility significantly from the original product to gain unfair tactical advantages
b ) Changes game assets sounds, models, or maps, to gain tactical advantages
c) Attempts to circumvent the map selection process
d) Exploits bugs or existing game mechanics

Essentially if you go to the link I described earlier, what was provided removes the grain filter and much of the fog, the distance blur of the depth of field, and a number of other things. That falls under A.

So tread carefully. Your settings don't change much from what I see (actually it just defeats the purpose of installing something like that really as turning your monitor can do the exact same thing), but it only takes a zero turned into a one to find yourself suspended.

Now back on topic. I now have me a Firebrand, my 61st mechbay, and my first Quickdraw with the sale patterns. I love the Quickdraw's little 3-D models as they give us a sample of how the new system for missile pods will be.

Edited by Koniving, 19 June 2013 - 06:45 PM.