Hello guys,
I've been away from Combat Ace for several weeks due to RL, but here's one more thing:
The key is the method of AlphaObjects (namely: trees) rendering, set via terrain's _DATA.INI file. Like Mikhayl (welcome aboard! ) noticed, there was optional "blurried trees" setting in my readme, that uses filtering of the alphaobjects, reducing their appearance with distance, but I like the strong solid look of canopies, so it's allways a compromise. Currently I'm rebuilding my system, don't have FE+MODS up and running yet, but will look into the settings as soon as I'll get it working again.
Also remember FE2 will be out in weeks (so I hope, TK!) incorporating all the advanced shaders gallore (and creating few new oddities too...) and new settings for us to try -if you do also fly SF2 Israel, you already know the framerates goes waaay up, so does the image quality. I'm now knee-deep working on "high definition" SF2:E Germany terrain update, so I tell you -we can have dense trees and cities coverage way to the horizont, with minimal fps impact.
edit:
Also try using "supersampling" for antialiasing-transparency in your NVIDIA CP -I have impression it enhances the quality of distant trees slightly
edit 2:
seems I found the settings, quoting self from other buried post:
"2) Trees render settings:
If you don't like the look of the trees, there's way to make them look softer, but may cause slight rendering errors:
the settings adjusting the look of trees can be found in terrainname_data.ini (ie. wwiVerdun_data.ini), under the tab
[AlphaObjectTextureMaterial] :
this mod by default uses these settings:
[AlphaObjectTextureMaterial]
DepthBufferCheck=TRUE
DepthBufferWrite=TRUE
RenderedInOrder=TRUE
AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE
CullMode=TRANSPARENCY
LightEnabled=TRUE
SpecularEnabled=FALSE
EmissiveEnabled=FALSE
FogEnabled=TRUE
AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.00000
DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.00000
ZBufferOffset=2.000000
BlendOp=BLEND_DST_ALPHA
NumTextureStages=1
TextureStage[01].TextureName=
TextureStage[01].MipMap=TRUE
TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE
TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE
TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE_BLEND_TEXTURE_ALPHA
while these settings render the trees correctly, is makes them a bit solid and blocky when viewed from long distance,
so you may wish to use these settings instead:
[AlphaObjectTextureMaterial]
DepthBufferCheck=TRUE
DepthBufferWrite=TRUE
RenderedInOrder=TRUE
AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE
CullMode=NO_CULL
LightEnabled=TRUE
SpecularEnabled=FALSE
EmissiveEnabled=FALSE
FogEnabled=TRUE
AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.00000
DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.00000
ZBufferOffset=2.000000
BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA
NumTextureStages=1
TextureStage[01].TextureName=
TextureStage[01].MipMap=TRUE
TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE
TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE
TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE_BLEND_TEXTURE_ALPHA
makes them look softer, slightly fading in the distance, but slight white outlines around them may appear, engine renderer error
finally, here are default First Eagles settings, causes rendering order errors (further trees look as in front of the closer ones, no scene sorting):
[AlphaObjectTextureMaterial]
DepthBufferCheck=TRUE
DepthBufferWrite=FALSE
RenderedInOrder=TRUE
AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE
CullMode=NO_CULL
LightEnabled=TRUE
SpecularEnabled=FALSE
EmissiveEnabled=FALSE
FogEnabled=TRUE
AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000
DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000
ZBufferOffset=2.000000
BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA
NumTextureStages=1
TextureStage[01].TextureName=
TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE
TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE
TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE
TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE
feel free to experiment with the settings, maybe you'll discover setings that suits you the best"