Graphics mod

[buzz456]

https://ufile.io/fmw2l

- Added SSAO effect support into the graphic engine (working on NVidia and AMD GPU's).
- Added smart image desaturation effect.
- Added image sharpening effect to make the surfaces less blurry.
- Improved Adaptative Bloom effect. Now the night lights and buildings lit windows will look better.
- Improved game lighting and color contrast.
- Improved sun shadows "cascades" blending quality.
- Slighly improved FXAA (anti-aliasing) edge detection quality.
- Fixed issue with FXAA that were not behaving correctly if screen resolution was not set to 1024x768.
- Improved procedural flora (only visible if "Procedural Flora" setting is on in the game) visiblility and draw distance.
- Slighly optimized shadows rendering performance.
- Reduced framerate drop when passing other AI trains.
- Reduced framerate drop when cab lights turned on.
- Reduced framerate drop when train lights turned on.
- Reduced framerate drop when passing through large train stations at night.
- Reduced fog blue tint (when Dynamic Cloud setting is disabled).
- Improved light sources performances.
- Improved train glass and windshield rendering performance.
- Fixed trains windshields that are tinted too much. This fix is working for every trains.
- Fixed decals rendering issues.
- Disabled train lights shadows. Help to save some performance and it's not very noticable.

[BNSFdude]

All look like substantially good changes, although the light shadows being disabled is a bit frustrating for certain things like our SD40-2, and enhancements, where shadow casting is toggleable and managed properly to begin with. I'll have to look at removing just that portion and running the rest.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

What are the differences between this mod and the FXAA mod that is available on UKTS?

IIRC, the default FXAA shaders were borked, and UKTS put them right.
Is this still the case with TS19?

[SAR704]

For those who are unaware, does this actually enhance the visuals within the game, or just improve performance?

[buzz456]

For those who are unaware, does this actually enhance the visuals within the game, or just improve performance?

It is supposed to enhance the visuals.

[thegevo5k]

Screenshot_Clear Creek Narrow Gauge_39.73630--105.32381_10-00-49.jpg

I might not revert back to the original shaders. This is what the Baldwin B4D looks like.

[ex-railwayman]

Well, it says in the blurb - "Dynamic Clouds" setting is quite performance intensive. I recommend to turn it off if you want to save from 5 to 10 FPS.

I have Alpenfreight's mod installed which you need to have Dynamic Clouds turned on, so, you obviously can't have both of these installed at the same time.
And I haven't a clue as to what SSAO effect is, so, this new package is not really very end-user friendly, we aren't all technical nerds, we just need everything to be nice and simple, why make things complicated??

Cheerz. Steve.

[buzz456]

Well, it says in the blurb - "Dynamic Clouds" setting is quite performance intensive. I recommend to turn it off if you want to save from 5 to 10 FPS.

I have Alpenfreight's mod installed which you need to have Dynamic Clouds turned on, so, you obviously can't have both of these installed at the same time.
And I haven't a clue as to what SSAO effect is, so, this new package is not really very end-user friendly, we aren't all technical nerds, we just need everything to be nice and simple, why make things complicated??

Cheerz. Steve.

The internet is your friend. Just Google it if you want to know what it is. In any event you don't have to do anything after you install it. Just simply back up your shader then give these guys a try. You can always go back by just putting your original shader folder back in. As far as it reducing fps if you have plenty to spare like I do normally then so what? fps isn't a badge of honor as long as the view is smooth.

[thegevo5k]

SSAO is basically shadow wherever the light isn't hitting. Pay close attention to the railings. You can see that there's this artificial black "glow" coming from them.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_sp ... _occlusion

excerpt:
"
Compared to other ambient occlusion solutions, SSAO has the following advantages:

Independent from scene complexity.
No data pre-processing needed, no loading time and no memory allocations in system memory.
Works with dynamic scenes.
Works in the same consistent way for every pixel on the screen.
No CPU usage – it can be executed completely on the GPU.
May be easily integrated into any modern graphics pipeline.

SSAO also has the following disadvantages:

Rather local and in many cases view-dependent, as it is dependent on adjacent texel depths which may be generated by any geometry whatsoever.
Hard to correctly smooth/blur out the noise without interfering with depth discontinuities, such as object edges (the occlusion should not "bleed" onto objects).
"

nVidia has implemented SSAO in its drivers, does this mean AMD hasn't and players using Ryzen GPU's are lost out?

[glenn68]

for me, the MOD does enhance the visuals. Good work buzz.

[buzz456]

for me, the MOD does enhance the visuals. Good work buzz.

Are you using the regular one or the fancy one? I'm using the regular one so far and really like it.

[DanSSG]

I just gave it a short try and the contrasts and shadows are a bit better than before but I also found some disadvantages of this mod, like the glass which looks way to transparent and just leaving some dirt effects... But maybe on other locos this looks better.

Screenshot_1 Cheyenne 1869 Extension Laramie Plains_41.84150--105.86385_11-19-05.jpg

55 fps with SSAO against 65 without this mod is still OK.

[glenn68]

for me, the MOD does enhance the visuals. Good work buzz.

Are you using the regular one or the fancy one? I'm using the regular one so far and really like it.

SSAO

[glenn68]

Here are my screen shots after the mod took place.