Speaking of shader effects

[Fubar512 1,350]

Water & Terrain ShaderFX in acton, WoI. Take note of the transition between the water and the "sand". You'll notice a tiling effect on the terrain that I'm trying to eliminate. Make sure you run the linked video in full screen mode.

 

http://forum.combatace.com/uploads/1212063...43_10424666.wmv

[Fubar512 1,350]

Before anyone passes judgement on ThirdWire's water shader FX, compare what TK has done on a limited budget, by himself, to what Microsoft did with a much greater budget and a large staff, in MSFS X:

 

 

Talk about obvious transition effects!

[+Brain32 265]

LOL somebody got paid to do that?

[Fubar512 1,350]

LOL somebody got paid to do that?

 

Yes, undoubtedly a fair amount of coin, knowing M$....

[Fubar512 1,350]

Update:

 

I decided to go for a "calmer" surface effect this time, and tried playing with reflection maps. The video is a bit cheesy, as the reflection map appears as dark blue "noise". It's somewhat more convincing when viewed in-game

 

And yes, the effect renders to the visible horizon.

 

http://forum.combatace.com/uploads/1215539..._43_6239009.wmv

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,545]

Looks damn good!!!

[Fubar512 1,350]

Water Shader and related files are just about finished, and out for beta testing....

 

 

[sun111 0]

It looks beautiful... "really really realistic"!!

[The_Editor 2]

Another great mod!

[Alexander51 3]

BEAUTIFUL!!

 

[Fubar512 1,350]

Here's a video of what is probably the "final release candidate" of the effects shader, under different light conditions, distances, and altitudes, just to give you an idea as to what it looks like in-game.

 

I'll release as soon as my (uhhummmm) professional beta test team finishes testing it with different video cards, under various terrains, etc.

 

http://forum.combatace.com/uploads/1216278..._43_4972238.wmv

[Fubar512 1,350]

OK, it's down to this one...it'll be out soon...in less than two weeks

 

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,545]

Damn f***in water effects!! that`s awsome!!! Can`t wait to have a "new" sim!!! thanks!

[kukulino 1]

Ouha!!! Very nice Frikulin (shortcut we use together with my friends for free/cool/in ... Frecolin... or Frecoolin... Hehe ) Can not wait show it to my Mig family in WOE

Edited July 20, 2008 by kukulino

[eraser_tr 29]

Man, if someone gave TK MS's budget!

 

You might want to check and see how this map looks for the sand ripple. I've got a lovely program that does textures that automatically tile perfectly and creates effects maps for them automatically as well.

sand_normal_map.bmp

[Fubar512 1,350]

Well, I've come to a few interesting conclusions regarding shaders, after killing myself trying to learn HLSL code.

 

Shaders, in this series, must be specifically tailored to the terrain and the environment file. A change to the (water surface) color or ambient lighting may force one to use either a different bumpmap texture, or force one change the values and parameters in the .fx file.

 

Water shaders seem to be at their best when they have a dark, solid, background to standout against. The default water tiles in the VietnamSEA terrain are not good in this regard, whereas the much darker and solid ones tiles in WoE and WoI are. A 32-bit .tga water-shader bumpmap works a ton better than one that's in bitmap (.bmp) format, and is waaay better if one intends to use reflection (or environment) mapping.

 

Terrain shaders do not need to rendered out much further than 500 meters or so, so one can get away with using a larger, finely detailed bumpmap on the order of 2048x2048.

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,545]

will you release a shader version for those who wants to have those waves more than 500m?!

[Fubar512 1,350]

will you release a shader version for those who wants to have those waves more than 500m?!

 

Yes, but why would anyone want grass or sand texture rendered beyond 500 meters, when one could not see any detail at that distance?

 

Re-read my previous post, and you'll understand

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,545]

Mh fast reading is not good for details ... haha.. Mh if you don`t see it it`S ok cause I have installed a nice water shader.. don`t know from who but it`S rendered only in a small area.. and beyond it looks .. like a normal BMP

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,545]

That`s a nice distance!!! That`s sure like this effect!

 

 

 

[Fubar512 1,350]

That`s a nice distance!!! That`s sure like this effect!

 

Do you have a GeForce, or do you have a Radeon? If I were to take a guess, I'd say the latter

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,545]

nope GF 8800GT why?!

[Fubar512 1,350]

nope GF 8800GT why?!

 

Ahhhh....how high is your Anisotropic Filtering (AAF) set at? You see, I invoked AAF when I compiled the shader, and it may cause anomalies in 9500-x1K Radeons.

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,545]

AAF= anisotrophic filter oder Antialiasing?! I think you mean the first one?!

 

was on global now on 4x should I deaktivate it or turn it on?!

[Fubar512 1,350]

No worries. 4-8X AF should be fine. I was simply concerned that you were trying it at 16X AAF, which might be a bit much under the circumstanses

 

sampler BumpSampler = sampler_state

{

Texture = <BumpTexture>;

AddressU = WRAP;

AddressV = WRAP;

MipFilter = LINEAR;

MinFilter = ANISOTROPIC;

MagFilter = LINEAR;