AMD-vid. card friendly terrain data inis

[+VonS]

Have been tinkering over the last several days with settings inside the terrain data ini files for various theaters - and I think I've managed to get rid of remaining town/building flickering that I've been experiencing in FE2 occasionally. While the towns never looked psychedelic on my rig., the flickering at times ruined immersion. The trick, on AMD vid. cards apparently, is to toggle several settings in the "AlphaObjectTexture" section. Have also gone through various object types and will upload the files under my thread for the FE2 FM package once I'm done with some more tweaks.

Those who are running AMD vid. cards will notice that the towns/buildings look a bit more see-through (holographic) with the tweaks, but tree intersection with buildings looks more natural now from a distance - and the important thing is that the flickering is gone. Some representative pics. below - also take note that with "AlphaTestEnabled" set to FALSE, under the "AlphaObjectTexture" entry - there is even further overlap/intersection of different tree types that way - makes for more depth and also camouflage as seen in one of the pics. with the lower wings of the Alby hidden with foliage (also second-last pic.).

Will also look at some of the MassFraction entries in the data inis for the Alb. D.I, D.II, also the D.III and D.V variants since they are rather difficult to shoot down although there is no armor on them and structural strength numbers look normal. Perhaps a leftover oddity from the days of the stock Albies - but will look into it and will upload any modifications under the post where I've included the tweaked FM for Stephen's Tripe - and what a beautiful model that is - have been flying it for a few days already.

Von S 

 

Edited December 15, 2020 by VonS
Added pics.

[+VonS]

Have never had better trees or treelines in FE2 before tinkering with the alpha settings in the terrain data inis. A few more representative pics. below - will upload the relevant files in a day or two under my FM thread. Also, some observations regarding the "AlphaObjectTextureMaterial" entry of the terrain data inis (relevant for those of us on AMD vid. cards):

// depthbuffercheck must be TRUE, otherwise trees visible through aircraft even when flying

// depthbufferwrite must be FALSE, otherwise chopped and blocky trees and foliage artifacts

// alphatestenabled may be set to FALSE for even more tree intersection and overlap, although I think it works adequately at TRUE

// mipmap must be set to TRUE, otherwise small sparkling lights/flickering of trees and forests if set to FALSE

Von S 

 

More varied spring/summer trees

 

More types of conifers, firs, etc.

 

Winter landscapes looking more robust, different trees outlining roadways, rivers, etc.

 

Unrelated photo  - to get a lighter-colored skin for the early Tripe by Stephen, open "Photos" in Win10, apply the "Sahara" filter, and re-save.

Edited December 19, 2020 by VonS
Embedded pics.