beta patch atmosphere & lighting at altitude

[baronWastelan]

This is at approx. 13,000ft or 4 Km over the Channel. I made this to show how the new atmosphere effects change the external appearance of A/C.

Ignore the poll title, the Left side is pre-beta patch (current retail version), right side is new beta patch.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d63/baronWastelan/13k-hurri.jpg

[ATAG_Snapper]

Nice comparo. The beta patch shows more dynamic range than the pre-patch version. *NOT SO!!!! See EDIT below! You can see more detail in the shadows (weathering on the Hurri's wing and fuselage) and in the highlights (clouds in the background). This is closer to what the human eye can see vs a camera's capability.

Edit: OP got his left and right mixed up. Turns out the latest patch may have REDUCED dynamic lighting. That's disappointing. Best to see more comparison shots to be conclusive.

[Pato Salvaje]

The right is with de patch and the left is without it... right?

[baronWastelan]

The right is with de patch and the left is without it... right?

Correct you are :!:

[arthursmedley]

Correct you are :!:

So let me get this straight. The left is the current retail patch and the right is where they've turned the brightness up and the contrast down and lost performance, a.k.a. the current beta patch?

[baronWastelan]

So let me get this straight. The left is the current retail patch and the right is where they've turned the brightness up and the contrast down and lost performance, a.k.a. the current beta patch?

Yes that's 110% correct.

I got the sides reversed in my poll title, but you have it sorted.

[skouras]

my guess
the final result will be not in this patch but to the next one
where will be the final optimization

[Pato Salvaje]

My guess is that it´s the result of removing some filter that isn´t optimized, and I hope they will bring it us when they done it for non hit FPS...

I hope...

[Cataplasma]

IMHO add some atmospheric fog on the left one will give the best result

[41Sqn_Stormcrow]

Uhm. I don't get it. If left is prepatch and right post patch where is the improvement? In fact it seems to be getting poorer and flatter and worse and is a HUGE step backwards.

Also see the shadows: they are now of far lower quality. The canopy glass is no longer the same and also the light reflections are tuned down to almost IL2 levels. The metall parts on the wings now are dull grey and not shining ...

[Pato Salvaje]

Well... almost the ground now looks good... and FPS are more stable.
Perhaps they need to polish the new filters and improve the algorithm´s... let´s see the next patches. This is a long run...

[baronWastelan]

From inside the 110, things outside are looking much better!

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d63/baronWastelan/Screenshot10002.jpg


And same shot from current retail version:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d63/baronWastelan/Screenshot10002-o.jpg

[Ekar]

Overall the new beta is a marked improvement over the old lighting, which to me looked very 'computer gamey', in the sense that it didn't really look like there was much of an atmosphere. The new lighting does what the other didn't, which is help unify the different elements and set them in space better. I'm sure it can be tweaked further.

[schnorchel]

I must say that in current beta patch. the land has great looking from altitude. but the ocean is awkward. could we get the good thing both?:rolleyes:

[zxwings]

Voted none of them. The new atmosphere has too much grey haze, and therefore looks polluted, like what I see in a couple of modern cities I've lived in.

I reckon it will be nice if approximately only 2/3 of the haze is retained and a little more blue is added to the grey atmosphere.

[adonys]

problem with the current patch haze is that, beside the fact it is too heavy, is applied as an overall screen post processing effect.

if you don't know what that is, I'll spell it for you: the whole screen is rendered, and then a new color filter is applied on the whole image before sending it to display.

an atmospheric haze can NOT be represented like that, as closer objects appear almost clear, while haze thickens the further an object is. this can be still computed well for objects (as when checking if they are in view's frustrum, you also check for their distance from the camera, and could apply different color filter effects on groups of them, and only then add them into the scene), even if still compute heavy, but can't really be done for the ground (as you'll need a gradual color filter for a single mesh object which needs to also be view dependant if you choose to apply it as a whole scene effect - as you can't really check for each triangle's distance, or per mesh patches).

[SPUDLEY1977]

"problem with the current patch haze is that, beside the fact it is too heavy, is applied as an overall screen post processing effect."

Sir, I agree the fog is way over the top / dirty / distracting from play / executed oddly. Looks like they brought back the Screen Door that was in the orig series.

>> For a more realistic visual comparison please refer to this excellent video by ALEXYMDV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD7ZIXhd8P8&feature=player_embedded

Unfortunately overall the BETA does not look like a real improvement in play experience, there are still many bugs OLD ONES plus NEW ONES which can be observed within the first few minutes of multiplayer + fog issue + reduction in FPS smoothness + click loss + poor sound mixing of guns / positioning.

A bit surprising they would go this route, so much ruckus about the color that it appears they focused on color and sounds, and both of these components plus the NEW HAZE on everything does not appear to be any real improvement. FRANKLY the color looked fine - so many other things Begging Attention why on earth did it get so much attention ?

I do hope this is just more Reskinning of the original GAME ENGINE and that the secret will be a proper ENGINE REWRITE/RELEASE with the above cleaned up. So much potential, I hope the Execution is a work in progress only.

>> NOW IF WE COULD ONLY HAVE THE BAD COMPANY 2 FROSTBITE ENGINE driving this game that would be something SPECTACULAR !

PEACE

[CharveL]

You guys have finally lost the plot haven't you.

Are you seriously taking one frame cap and comparing the apparent brightness/contrast to another in order to make a definitive judgement on the new, vastly improved colour rendering algorithms? Seriously?

You remind me of the sheep that go into BestBuy and purchase the loudest, most garish looking TV on the shelf because it looked so vibrant playing Toy Story 3.

I'm sure there's room for tweaking improvement but finally the landscape doesn't look like a cartoon and already the conclusion here is that they simply messed with the brightness. Lol!

Carry on though, im always entertained by how fine a hair can be split in this forum! :cool:

[Stefem]

"problem with the current patch haze is that, beside the fact it is too heavy, is applied as an overall screen post processing effect."

Sir, I agree the fog is way over the top / dirty / distracting from play / executed oddly. Looks like they brought back the Screen Door that was in the orig series.

>> For a more realistic visual comparison please refer to this excellent video by ALEXYMDV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD7ZIXhd8P8&feature=player_embedded

Unfortunately overall the BETA does not look like a real improvement in play experience, there are still many bugs OLD ONES plus NEW ONES which can be observed within the first few minutes of multiplayer + fog issue + reduction in FPS smoothness + click loss + poor sound mixing of guns / positioning.

A bit surprising they would go this route, so much ruckus about the color that it appears they focused on color and sounds, and both of these components plus the NEW HAZE on everything does not appear to be any real improvement. FRANKLY the color looked fine - so many other things Begging Attention why on earth did it get so much attention ?

I do hope this is just more Reskinning of the original GAME ENGINE and that the secret will be a proper ENGINE REWRITE/RELEASE with the above cleaned up. So much potential, I hope the Execution is a work in progress only.

>> NOW IF WE COULD ONLY HAVE THE BAD COMPANY 2 FROSTBITE ENGINE driving this game that would be something SPECTACULAR !

PEACE

Old colors was quite good at low altitude but fails at high altitude, the new are worst at low and better at high and seems to have an "horrible" gray filter to mask some color/light applied to the whole frame

[David198502]

in my opinion the colours are way better than before the beta.
only the haze is a bit too pronounced i think.
its not perfect yet, but i see the patch goes in the right direction regarding colours and lightening.

[SQB]

If it looks greyed out... adjust your contrast and gamma. Easy.

THEN make a vid comparing the two, with the settings the way you like them not the way they come.

I have basically gotten rid of that greyed out feeling, and the new patch makes the game look better by far. Especially the beaches, holy crap the beaches are now amazing.

[zxwings]

in my opinion the colours are way better than before the beta.
only the haze is a bit too pronounced i think.
its not perfect yet, but i see the patch goes in the right direction regarding colours and lightening.
The new ground colours are really much better. :grin:

[Sammi79]

Hmmm are there really people here who think the game looked better before this beta patch? Might be time for an eye test guys... before the patch only the planes looked okay. Now the landscape and the planes fit together - it doesn't look like I'm flying over some patchwork middle earth anymore - the shoreline render is so much better it used to increase the size of rivers etc the further away from the viewpoint they were creating this odd archipelago effect at altitude - fixed. IMHO the game looks about 200 x better now and is easier to spend time on as a result. The haze effect is pretty realistic in my experience of looking out of plane windows - some days it is much much worse - what gives? Hope some more good work gets into the official patch before its released. The only difference in the OP pictures that makes people choose the old one is the exaggerated specular highlight on the weathering texture other than that the new pic is a clear winner.

[Baron]

Hmmm are there really people here who think the game looked better before this beta patch? Might be time for an eye test guys... before the patch only the planes looked okay. Now the landscape and the planes fit together - it doesn't look like I'm flying over some patchwork middle earth anymore - the shoreline render is so much better it used to increase the size of rivers etc the further away from the viewpoint they were creating this odd archipelago effect at altitude - fixed. IMHO the game looks about 200 x better now and is easier to spend time on as a result. The haze effect is pretty realistic in my experience of looking out of plane windows - some days it is much much worse - what gives? Hope some more good work gets into the official patch before its released. The only difference in the OP pictures that makes people choose the old one is the exaggerated specular highlight on the weathering texture other than that the new pic is a clear winner.


Problem is that haze isn't suppose to affect everything. It isn't suppose to affect the ac it selfe or the landscape close to it/you. Haze is only suppose to be visible at distance. Unless we are talking about fog witch is another thing entirely.

As it is now they v hazed up pretty much everything, and toned down/ messed up dynamic lighting in the processes witch is incorrect. I mean, dynamic lighting was/is one of the BIG selling points of this game...no?

Seems to me some of you made the colour of the ground/landscape such a big deal you are willing to mess up everything else in order to get that part right.


Edit: The more i look at the 2 pictures and compare the more id say they v COMPLETLY ruined the dynamic lighting effect, and not by their own choice as i understand it, details in clouds, its just a grey blob in the middle now, are gone and so is the effect of bare metal. Hopefully there is a better way of doing it or that it will be improve. If not, id choose the pre beta version any day of the week.

[Sammi79]

@ Baron - I don't follow... the haze is an effect of distance, close objects are almost unaffected. In fact the OP pics the foreground objects are more defined in the post patch shot, the shadows are deeper, (dynamic lighting like) and the specular highlight is unchanged apart from on the weathering texture where it has been toned down (a little too much maybe). The extra haze (i.e you can no longer see unbroken waves on the surface of the ocean from 4km above is more realistic. The clouds are a bit brighter post patch but their detail level is unchanged. Anyway my opinions on the matter are not based purely on those pics but from flying the sim, I don't see any haze in the cockpit, the sun glare looks very realistic now, as do the shadows, all in all a much more satisfying experience. Still loads of bugs etc... but progress is being made.

Look, the landscape looked pretty terrible before especially the shoreline render and now it looks pretty good - wherein is the problem? The new sounds and revised graphics have bought me back to playing now and then instead of vaguely considering uninstalling for good. I would hope now that most people were happy enough with the cosmetic side of CLOD now to start worrying about the serious bugs, FM/DMs and additional content,as for me another graphical revision is unnecessary at this stage.

[Baron]

Just to avoid any confusion. The left pic is the "old" patch and the right is the "new" patch.


Judging by that i stand by my opinion.


Its pretty clear they have used some kind of filter that affects everything otherwise the ac would look identical on both pics. The shadows for example may be "deeper" (?) in the new patch but they are much more undefined, just look at the shadows cast by the canopy framing, its a complete blur.

But like i said if it can improve and bring back the foreground detail, the ac and dynamic lighting effects in particular, im all for it, however, something tells me that that might be impossible, its either or. (im no expert so im just guessing)

I dont know why they cant just tone down the ground colours but it really doesn't matter THAT much to me. Detail and lighting on objects closest to me etc does.

[SPUDLEY1977]

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BEFORE YOU CONCLUDE/VOTE PLEASE SEE THE VIDEO BY ALEX AS POSTED HERE. THE TWO SHAPSHOTS STARTING THIS THREAD DO NOT OBJECTIVELY REFLECT THE BEFORE AND AFTER - NO OFFENSE TO OP INTENDED.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpost.php?p=334459&postcount=17

[Ekar]

Even if the blueish haze is somewhat of an allover effect, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Normal light during daytime is tinted blue in reality, so this is more realistic than what we had before. If CloD were a sim about sitting on the couch at night with only a desktop lamp to light the scene, the light would realistically be tinted a warmer colour.

I think the lighting we have now is miles ahead of what it was before. It may be hard to appreciate that through the image comparison in the original post, but running through the replies in the beta thread, it seems that most people really like the new lighting. This isn't a step backwards, not at all.

[philip.ed]

You'd never see a Hurricane like you see in that first picture. Look at those rivet and panel lines; you'd barely see them at that distance, let alone when standing right up next to the plane, so in this sense the new patch is a considerable improvement. The colours of the Hurri look a lot better too (IMHO the colours in general are far improved)
Yes, the bare metal doesn't seem to have the same level of lighting detail, but IMHO this is a small insignificance compared to the tangible improvement of the patch itself.

[baronWastelan]

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BEFORE YOU CONCLUDE/VOTE PLEASE SEE THE VIDEO BY ALEX AS POSTED HERE. THE TWO SHAPSHOTS STARTING THIS THREAD DO NOT OBJECTIVELY REFLECT THE BEFORE AND AFTER - NO OFFENSE TO OP INTENDED.


Dear Mr. CAPSLOCK: No offense taken, your opinion is welcome. allow me to clarify the purpose of this poll, since the meaning of the words "at altitude" seems to elude many supposed aviation enthusiasts on this forum. I haven't seen any video do a comparison of old and new patches at high altitude, which in Clodistan is anything above 10K ft (approximately). I will say the changes in lighting and haze, to my eyes, look 100% better at low altitudes as shown in the Black Death track.

[Arklight]

I actually prefer the beta patch lighting. The glass effects are better as well, IMO. Before, the glass seemed like it was completely see-through until the sun/ambient light hit it. Glass has texture whether or not light is hitting it.