sitting_duck 3 Posted August 14, 2009 (edited) "ATI never has shown _S.dds specular since a very very very old driver, and never shows the shine on dials, or mirror in CFS3/OFF. It's obviously a particular feature in DirectX it no longer supports." Have been doing some digging into this since pol posted that piece of info (thank you,,btw) Most of what iv read is way over my head, but have managed to grasp a few concepts that i think are accurate. _s.dds specualr adds "shine" or "reflectiveness" to an object. here is an example of a pic with ,,and without it url for pic, and some other info is here http://www.ttlg.com/FORUMS/showthread.php?t=101529 goint to assume that as the figure moves,,the reflections change. there is a post in that thread about 5 posts down from the pic that says this: "Specular and reflection are two different things. Specular gives you the "glistening" effect of metal, that moves with the light, but does not actually reflect back any part of the scene. Unfortunately a simple specular map, while it allows you to control the amount of light that is reflected, does not allow you to control the "shinyness" of the surface (i.e. how big or small the highlight is) - for this you would need a gloss map" Im just guessing here, but i would think that if ati didnt support s_dds specular, that sooo much effects in newer games would be lost that no one would be buying ati cards. So, im not so sure thats the reason why ati, (and other users) dont see anything. I also noticed that there seem to be some different compressions available for _s.dss files. Have no idea if this has a bearing on ppl not seeing the reflections. If at some point, no rush, you could identify the "file" ( im assuming its a file" that gets reflected in the mirror,) i would appreciate it. As i have said before, it does come from your last campaign mission. Fly a campaign in cloudy weather,,,then get into qc with clear skys, and you see cloudy weather in the mirror. Fly a campaing in clear skies, then get into qc in snow, and you see clear skies in the mirror. Or maybe i have it all wrong,,and its some kind of routine that gets run,,,that gives you the reflection.... also came across an item called a "cube map" not sure if this is what is used to show what is seen in the mirror... Edited August 14, 2009 by sitting_duck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted August 14, 2009 even thou i dont get scenery now,,i do get something. am wondering if its just not picking up the right file,,, would be interested to know if ppl that dont get scenery get prtty much the same thing i am seeing., Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vasco 3 Posted August 14, 2009 That's the view I've always had and I'm running twin Nvidia GTX280s. For the love of me I can't work out what's wrong. Vasco Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted August 14, 2009 (edited) well..as far as i can tell,,its picking up the sky,,and the sun,,but nothing else, if i fly at sunrise,,and head west,,i get a orang/yellow tinge in the mirror,,,very similar to what i see on the horizon behind me,,, if i fly in midmorning,,,and fly west,,,the mirror gets brighter and brighter as i put the sun directly behind me... would be nice if we could get more info from ppl who do get the reflection, and what card they have. is this an opengl game,,or a glide game? Edited August 14, 2009 by sitting_duck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted August 14, 2009 ive taken some really wild guess in my life,,but this one takes the cake,,, richCM? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted August 14, 2009 figured out this much,, for ppl with mirror working its not so much the last campaign you have run that determines what is in the mirror, its your active pilots date that determines what shows. as we have been overiding the date of our active pilot to play mp campaign games, it keeps that date in regards to what the mirror displays. So when i overwrote my date in the last campaing and got snow covered ground, thats what i kept seeing in my mirror in quick combat, and anything else i flew.... not sure how this all applies to non mirror working problems, but would still love to know what that file is that it uses to determine what is in the mirror.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
