2158 replies to this topic

[Lordred]

Stock Orions, man taking Single Heatsinks out into the fray is like going in with blindfolds on.

[Koniving]

Somehow that looks like a lot more fun game to play Lordred. I miss those days.

[Koniving]

Lordred, on 22 June 2014 - 09:37 PM, said:

Requesting opinions.

Spoiler

Lordred doesn't come out and say it, but when he's requesting opinions it's not as much on the images themselves (though a critique on image composition does mean a lot) but the visual quality compared to previously. He installed Windows 8.1 and since it doesn't allow driver level tweaks which he used to do (those tweaks thus pumping in more color by filtering out the wash-outs that PGI's graphics push in, sometimes better anti-aliasing than PGI's settings can do, various other things)...

Here in these images, this is purely user.cfg settings and nothing else. Anyone with a powerful enough computer can get the game to look like this without editing registry files or drivers. This is essentially PGI's vision with the best of what Crytek's engine can do with what PGI's given settings and effort will allow.

It definitely looks better than what I've got, given that Crytek's engine user.cfg settings are amplifying it beyond what PGI's poor optimization has done.

Compared to past images, the bleached desaturated look is atrocious. And that's the look PGI envisions, as that's entirely done on PGI's end to get that "gritty" atmosphere. I loved the depth of color presented in Lordred's past images with the driver tweaks. Makes all the color tints and such stand out so much better, making me feel like the money spent on paint was worth it...even though PGI's game is so washed out in color in its native settings that on most maps you can't tell the difference between Basic Green and Feldgrau and various others (you can in the mechbay, but in the field they look identical).

Anyway, things like jagged edges in anti-aliasing, better or worse? Crisp or blurry?

Color? Look of the maps? Etc.

[crossflip]

Uhh... *Diverts attention from walking lovely hunks of metal* I see a whole lot of ugly rocks.

[Wintersdark]

Sadly, I can't be a help with this. My wife's the photographer in my family, I have no artistic ability beyond "Ooooh, pretty!" So I really can't make a valuable critique of images here.

[Pezzer]

Lordred, on 22 June 2014 - 09:37 PM, said:

Requesting opinions.

Spoiler

My brutally honest opinion?
Cropping does wonders. Also, would suggest throwing any screenshots away that have floating feet/bad animations in them. I know thats 90% of your screenshots, probably 98%, but it's for the better in the end. Quality is what matters in photography, not quantity. That being said, always spam shots at the same specimen for maximum chances of a good shot coming out.
I'm sure you know those last two sentences by heart, but better to share than not.

[Koniving]

Oh if only you knew how many tens of thousands of screenshots Lordred throws out. Even some of what I think are the really good moments.

And thank you.

[Pezzer]

Koniving, on 24 June 2014 - 02:46 PM, said:

Oh if only you knew how many tens of thousands of screenshots Lordred throws out. Even some of what I think are the really good moments.

And thank you.

Np, and I had a feeling that this guy was serious. haha

[Koniving]

Indeed.

Think it's more along the lines of aliasing and other very tiny details before and after. Problem is Lordred only put afters in the spoiler and no befores (so you'd have to compare to others in the past).

[Alaskan Nobody]

Wintersdark, on 24 June 2014 - 01:51 PM, said:

Sadly, I can't be a help with this. My wife's the photographer in my family, I have no artistic ability beyond "Ooooh, pretty!" So I really can't make a valuable critique of images here.

So have her type out a comment?

[Itsalrightwithme]

Lordred, on 22 June 2014 - 09:37 PM, said:

Requesting opinions.

Spoiler

I like these two in particular, and I wonder if pushing them more toward the sepia tones will turn them into good "war documentary" images. Reminiscent of those WW1 images ;-).

Nice work, Lordy! We should arrange a photo session sometime, it was nice to see you last week!

[Itsalrightwithme]

Koniving, on 24 June 2014 - 11:49 AM, said:

Anyway, things like jagged edges in anti-aliasing, better or worse? Crisp or blurry?

Color? Look of the maps? Etc.

For still images, crisp is almost always better, esp with the terrible AA options we are limited to.

Yes, I am aware action shots in real life can be good at 1/60 or even 1/150, but in real life photos the blur distinguishes motion from background. In the case of MWO .... the blur's just annoying,

[Lordred]

when I get home tonight I will post a few examples of before, after, and of the various AA. MSAA makes for the highest image quality, while TXAA produces a 'softer' image.

[Itsalrightwithme]

Lordred, on 26 June 2014 - 08:12 AM, said:

when I get home tonight I will post a few examples of before, after, and of the various AA. MSAA makes for the highest image quality, while TXAA produces a 'softer' image.

Great, I look forward to this! I do have a GTX780, if only heat vision under DX11/MSAA wasn't borked I'd use DX11/MSAA. For now I am sticking with DX9.

If only someone would teach me what to hack so that River City doesn't look like a dust storm ... !

[DEMAX51]

I love this thread so much, but...

I've noticed a disturbing lack of Jenner (specifically action shots).

I'd be more than willing to drop with you if it means some high-quality Jenner goodness

[IraqiWalker]

Lordred, on 26 June 2014 - 08:12 AM, said:

when I get home tonight I will post a few examples of before, after, and of the various AA. MSAA makes for the highest image quality, while TXAA produces a 'softer' image.

That sounds awesome. I would love to see that.

[Lordred]

Allright, for starters, anyone who wants to try to emulate what I am doing First and foremost start off with adding these to your User.cfg.

cl_fov=74
gp_option_ShowCockpitGlass=0
r_HDRGrainAmount=0.0
r_DepthOfField=0
r_TexMinAnisotropy=16 (Texture Filtering)
r_TexMaxAnisotropy=16 (Texture Filtering)
e_ShadowsMaxTexRes=2048 (Very High is 1024)
e_DecalsLifeTimeScale=4
e_ViewDistRatio=200 (Very High is 100)
e_ViewDistRatioVegetation=200 (Very High is 90)
e_Lods=0 (This turns level of detail for mechs off = needs more beans)

Lately I make alot of use of oversampling (Use very high resolutions and scale the image down) This is one of the oldest and most primitive forms of AA.

You need to setup a custom resolution which is higher then your desired final image size. Lately I have been uploading photos using Desired Resolution * 1.275

2560(1.275)x1600(1.275)=3264x2040 This is a lot of pixels to crunch, so if you wish to have nice looking 1920x1080 screenshots I recommend trying a custom resolution of 2448x1377, or perhaps even 2560x1440


So, here we have the mechbay (sorry its boring, but consistent) with the Mech of choice being my Battlemaster with Hotrod (2k res rgb/spc textures)

The first thing you will notice is that with noAA selected the image is a little washed out, and if you look closely, you will find lots of jagged edges. However this has no impact and is easiest to render.

(to see the differences easily I recommend opening two or more of the images in separate tabs and switching back and forth to see the detail difference)

http://pumpgasracing...w/1200noaac.png

Spoiler

Now we have TXAA (Nvidia only)
TXAA is a hyper evolved SMAA/Temporal AA, it take the same frame, and slightly offsets it over the orginial frame while making error corrections, as well as applying a decent edgeAA effect, the results are nice, but this comes as the cost of texture quality, the textures will be slightly blurry, and while some may not notice, others may.

http://pumpgasracing...w/1200txaac.png

Spoiler

Last, we move onto MSAA, the king of AA, MSAA has the highest visual quality, but at the great cost of being a resource hog, this form of AA is what you bust out for unrivaled image quality, but be sure you pack a big GPU (or GPUs).

http://pumpgasracing...w/1200msaac.png

Spoiler

Now we move onto the Very high resolution section I was talking about. When you use a resolution higher then your intended presentation, you can cheat in higher fidelity, when the image is resized in any good image editing software it will make a pass over to see what colors should be were and in the reduction can even remove imperfections while overall increasing sharpness. Go ahead and compare the orginial images to these three, they are the same final size, but the difference in detail is stunning.

NoAA Re-sample.
http://pumpgasracing...samplenoaac.png

Spoiler

TXAA Re-sample.
http://pumpgasracing...sampletxaac.png

Spoiler

MSAA Re-sample.
http://pumpgasracing...samplemsaac.png

Spoiler

I hope this is informative.

[Lordred]

Dishonerable display, Timberwolf running from an Orion useing Single Heatskins.

[Ryoken]

Lordred, on 26 June 2014 - 09:54 PM, said:

Dishonerable display, Timberwolf running from an Orion useing Single Heatskins.

First off, respect for running a nearly stock build with SHS. o7
But to me it does not look like the TW is running away but engaging a target in the side road which can be seen on radar and by the fact that he is firing his lasers in that direction.
So maybe the TW pilot was only wise not to further proceed into a position where he was allready flanked, and even did make the right choice by ignoring the less heat efficient and therefore less dangerous target - your Orion.

[Buckminster]

And the guys name is Fightgar. Clearly he is here to fight.