Graphics mod

[SAR704]

There is a subtle difference at my end. The sky looks a tad different, and the flat panes that are attempts to resemble eucalyptus trees almost look like actual background scenery.

Koowa_251118_01.jpg

And another capture from just north of Tuscan.

Tuscan_261118_01.jpg

[hobo1960]

Could someone please post a few before/after comparisons please? Without being able to compare, the shots tell very little of what changes.

Thank you

KB

[buzz456]

Here's quick look.

Stock shader.jpg

You will notice the leaves are crisper on the left side with the NORMAL mod.

Normal mod.jpg

The SSAO mod makes shadows and other blending more dramatic.

SSAO mod.jpg

As I explained earlier this is pretty easy to play around with. Back up your shader folder somewhere. Plug the mod files into the one in your game and try it. Rename it to say shader.NORMAL after you try it. Copy the original back into your dev folder and add the SSAO files into there and try it. I have all three in my game and by renaming them you can switch back and forth by just changing the names around so the one that's just plain shader is the active one.

Shaders pic.jpg

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Interesting, thanks for the pics, Buzz.

Notice how the SSAO mod creates quasi shadows by the handrail stanchions on the nose of the locomotive.
Or rather is blends/surrounds them with a grey halo of sorts.
Is there a 'radius' setting?

I'll give the mod a try and decide for myself wether I like the effects or not.

[GSkid]

I didn't try the normal mod, but I tried DEFAULT vs SSAO at San Diego on the Pacific Surfliner route using the Santa Fe SD45 at 10:30AM-Spring-Clear weather with dynamic clouds-ON and everything maxed and 1x2 SSAA. While some things look a little better on the locomotive and cars, some things look worse. As some have mentioned.... the windows lose their road grime and are crystal clear. I could live with that but the deal breaker for me is that it strips the shadows completely away on a lot of the surrounding buildings. For example... there are recessed apartment balcony coves on a nearby building that show shadows as they should have on default. When you apply the SSAO mod.... those shadows disappear and they take on the same color and lighting as the rest of the parts of the building that are sunlit. Anyone else notice this?

I'm gonna try it out on other routes, but as of now..... I think I'm likely to stick with default shaders. I'll try the normal mod next.

[buzz456]

For now I seem to be on the normal mod. Liking it so far.

[GSkid]

For now I seem to be on the normal mod. Liking it so far.

Okay.... I tried the Normal mod with the exact same conditions and screen shot angles as before and compared all three shaders. You are right Buzz. Although both Normal and SSAO remove the road grime off windows, the Normal mod leaves the shadows on buildings and other objects intact. Another thing I noticed about SSAO is that while it strips the shadows off a lot of the outside objects....it actually adds shadows to objects in the cab such as the metal conduit that goes up to the mounted speedometer of the SD45. So while SSAO gets the inside of the cab looking better than the Default or the Normal mod, it actually makes the track side objects look worse than either of the other two.

So unless they fix the SSAO's trackside shadowing issues...... Buzz is right.... the Normal mod is the better of the two mods as it currently stands now.

[Griphos]

Yeah, the SSAO version produces some weird effects. The normal version seems to bleed a little color out. The yellow of the loco is washed out. The sky is paler.

Otherwise, can’t say I see much difference.