The Devs have "reopened" most of the adjustments in the config files, but I do not know if what I will show below is too much for them to accept. This method is used extensively in other online games when users have been unsatisfied with the art direction of a game.
If you dont like the dull brownish look of the game, it is possible to change this to some extend with Sweetfx.
This is just a very fast adjustment, I am sure somebody can come up with a much better looking result. Please click the image and enlarge to fullscreen:
I have tried to remove the brown filter (look around in the cockpit and on the rock in the left side) but also boosted the colours a bit. It looks a lot better when playing, but its a fine balance to make these adjustments without turning it into something that looks like a cartoon movie.
If you have heard about FXAA/SMAA injection this is the same but with more adjustments.
To make Sweetfx run, copy the dll files and injector.ini into the Bin32 folder of MechWarrior Online. The rest needs to be placed in the MechWarroir Online folder. It will auto run when the game starts and you can turn it on/off during gameplay by pressing Scroll Lock. You can also alter the settings txt file during gameplay and instantly see the changes it makes (Just save the settings file, changes will show when you alt-tab into the game again).
In this spoiler my settings for Sweetfx is shown. You can copy paste this text into your "SweetFX_settings.txt" file if you would like to try my current setting (Replace all text in the file).
Spoiler
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Choose effects /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
// Set to 1 for ON or 0 for OFF
#define USE_SMAA_ANTIALIASING 1
#define USE_LUMASHARPEN 0 //Also sharpens the antialiased edges which makes them less smooth - I'm working on fixing that.
#define USE_BLOOM 0 // Bloom makes bright lights bleed their light into their surroundings (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_HDR 0 // Not actual HDR - It just tries to mimic an HDR look (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_TECHNICOLOR 0 // Attempts to mimic the look of an old movie using the Technicolor three-strip color process (Techicolor Process 4)
#define USE_TONEMAP 1
#define USE_VIBRANCE 1 //Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation.
#define USE_SEPIA 0
#define USE_VIGNETTE 0 //Darkens the edges of the image to make it more look like it was shot with a camera lens. May cause banding artifacts.
#define USE_DITHER 0 //Applies dithering to simulate more colors than your monitor can display. This lessens banding artifacts (mostly caused by vignette)
#define USE_DPX 0 //Unfinished - Should make the image look like it's been converted to DXP Cineon - basically it's another movie-like look similar to technicolor
//I think the shader itself works, but the default settings need a lot of work. Maybe you can find some good settings?
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ SMAA Anti-aliasing settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define SMAA_THRESHOLD 0.08 // (0.08-0.20) Edge detection threshold
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS 16 // [0-98] Determines the radius SMAA will search for aliased edges
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS_DIAG 6 // [0-16] Determines the radius SMAA will search for diagonal aliased edges
#define SMAA_CORNER_ROUNDING 0 // [0-100] Determines the percent of antialiasing to apply to corners.
// -- Advanced SMAA settings --
#define COLOR_EDGE_DETECTION 1 // 1 Enables color edge detection (slower but more acurate) - 0 uses luma edge detection (faster)
#define SMAA_DIRECTX9_LINEAR_BLEND 0 // 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 0.6 // (0.2-2.0)Strength of the sharpening
#define sharp_clamp 0.035 // [0.0-1.0]Limits maximum amount of sharpening a pixel recieves - Default is 0.035
// -- Advanced sharpening settings --
#define pattern 2 // Choose a sample pattern [ 1, 2, 3 or 4 ] - 1 = Fast, 2 = Normal, 3 = Wider, 4 = Pyramid shaped.
#define offset_bias 1.0 // [0.0-6.0](1.0) Offset bias adjusts the radius of the sampling pattern.
// I designed the pattern for offset_bias 1.0, but feel free to experiment.
// -- Debug settings --
#define splitscreen 0 // Enables the before-and-after splitscreen comparison mode. Left side is before.
#define show_sharpen 0 // Visualize the strength of the sharpen (multiplied by 4 to see it better)
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Bloom settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define BloomThreshold 20.25
#define BloomPower 1.0
#define BloomWidth 0.0142
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ HDR settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define HDRPower 1.20 //Strangely lowering this makes the image brighter
#define radius2 0.85 //Raising this seems to make the effect stronger and also brighter
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Tonemap settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Gamma 0.9
#define Exposure 0.1
#define Saturation 0.3
#define Bleach 0.0
#define Defog 0.10 //How much of the color tint to remove
#define FogColor float3(0.32, 0.32, 0.0) //what color to remove - default is blue
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Vibrance settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Vibrance 0.2 //Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation.
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Sepia settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define ColorTone float3(1.40, 1.10, 0.90)
#define SepiaPower 0.58
#define GreyPower 0.11
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Vignette settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define VignetteRadius 1.00 // lower values = stronger radial effect from center
#define VignetteAmount -1.00 // Strength of black. -2.00 = Max Black, 1.00 = Max White.
#define VignetteSlope 8 // 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) // Center of effect.
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Dither settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
//No settings yet, beyond switching it on or off in the top section.
//Note that checkerboard pattern used by Dither, makes an image harder to compress.
//This can make your screenshots and videos take up more space.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
///////////////////////// Work in Progress //////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Cineon DPX settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
//I have yet to find good default settings for this .. maybe you can?
float Red = 8.0; //[1.0 - 15.0]
float Green = 8.0; //[1.0 - 15.0]
float Blue = 8.0; //[1.0 - 15.0]
float ColorGamma = 2.5f; //[0.1 - 2.5]
float DPXSaturation = 2.0f; //[0.0 - 8.0]
float RedC = 0.4f; //[0.6 - 0.2]
float GreenC = 0.36f; //[0.6 - 0.2]
float BlueC = 0.35f; //[0.6 - 0.2]
float Blend = 0.7f; //[1.0 - 0.0] How strong the effect should be
I use this in combination with a custom config file which removes other stuff, to make it look even better. My current settings for this user.cfg is located here:
I hope those who are unhappy with the current look of the game, with the above information, will be able to adjust the colours etc. to their liking. Please feel free to post your settings.
1
