Kegetys

I added an update to the first post for DCS 2.7.0.4625. Everything else is the same, except the HMD mask feature is removed since DCS now has a correctly implemented mask. I didn't do much testing with this yet except that both the performance and visual improvements appear to still work. I also changed the topic title as this new forum seems to allow that.

I added an update for the latest DCS beta version to the first post: 2.5.6.50321: - Compatibility with DCS World version 2.5.6.50321 (6.6.2020) - Fixed tree AToC in TGP This DCS update had quite many shader changes, hopefully I didn't miss anything. :)

You can also set the values to 0 to remove the rendering of the specific shadow cascade(s) completely which will reduce CPU overhead. Here is the shadows.lua I use: http://junk.kegetys.fi/shadows.lua With that, all shadow settings use the same resolution (4096x4096 pixels, most GPU's should be fine with that) but the different settings have different amount of cascades instead. 'Low' setting has only one cascade, so you get shadows only in the cockpit, medium has two cascades and high has 3. The DCS default has 4 cascades on every setting and only the shadowmap resolution is different. When you use terrain object shadows with that you still get shadows drawn as far as before, just the overhead is less and at least in VR the visual difference is quite small.

Maintaining multiple versions would be too much work. It would be best if ED would just allow signing of mods. ED's MSAA mask should function identically to mine (given they almost certainly even copied the line that does it from the mod). Though the implementation is also slightly different, but it would be odd for them to not even check it works. :)

Another update added to the first post for the latest DCS version. Full list of changes: 2.5.6.49314: - Renamed the mod to 'DCS World VR shaders mod' - Compatibility with DCS World version 2.5.6.49314 (23.5.2020) - Removed MSAA_MASKSIZE setting as ED "cloned" it to DCS itself - Added multi-sampled terrain shadow sampling (less aliased shadows with MSAA) - Added alpha-to-coverage support for trees and tree flat shadows (less aliased trees with MSAA) - Fixed ship wakes being permanently "burned in" with high water detail - Simple transparent objects rendering setting (off by default - not well tested) - Fixed some issues with NVG especially with NVG_GAIN_ADJUSTS_POSITION enabled I renamed the mod since it does more than just performance improvements nowdays. AToC and terrain shadow multisampled reading are new features. With them and MSAA enabled, shadows and trees should appear much less aliased. Also tree shadows with "flat" shadows enabled should do the same. Comparison screenshot here: http://junk.kegetys.fi/atoc.jpg (its more pronounced in motion). There is also a new optimization setting ENABLE_SIMPLE_TRANS which simplifies shading of transparent things like propeller in most propeller planes and smoke/dust effects. Its off by default though as I haven't had time to test it properly. This version is slightly rushed as I have been busy with real flying, hopefully I didn't screw anything up. :) Also, it seems DCS nowdays correctly picks up changes in the metashaders and deleting/renaming the metashader directiores for terrain is no longer necessary so I removed that part from the install instructions.

I added another update to the first post that contains the changes from latest patch and a few other compatibility fixes. There is also a new setting to not disable bloom, it seems its performance hit has reduced in the last 1½ years (or it performs better on my current 2080ti than it did with the previous 1080) Another new setting is supersampling for the albedo (diffuse) textures for objects. This is a very performance-cheap way to get improved clarity especially for the cockpit labels and stuff. So instead of having to supersample the entire rendered scene to get more sharpness, it will sample the diffuse texture multiple times. With this I was able to reduce the pixel density a lot without getting a blurry cockpit, which in turn allowed me to turn on 4xMSAA and everything looks better overall with improved performance. It can be controlled from _HMD.hlsl setting ENABLE_DIFFUSE_SS, default is 4x. I posted a comparison sceenshot on my site here: http://www.kegetys.fi/dcs-shaders-perf-mod-update/ (it looks even better in the headset)

I added an updated version in the first post that hopefully fixes the crash since last DCS version, and includes a few other shader changes that came in the last patches.

I added an update on the first post for 2.5.6.43503. A bit more than usual has changed in this version, so I made some other changes too: - Compatibility with DCS World version 2.5.6.43503 (16.2.2020) - Restored original sun flare - Added simplified version of histogram calculation (previously it was removed completely) - Above can be turned off with ENABLE_SIMPLE_HG setting (disabling it will do the "full" histogram the game defaults to, which is quite heavy) - Removed the sRGB fix as the game seems to have some other workaround for it now - ENABLE_SIMPLE_SHADOWS now limits the sample count to 10 instead of 16 Some of the new water improvements in 2.5.6 seem to rely on the removed GBuffer so those likely will not be visible with this mod. But since the that buffer has also grown in 2.5.6 to 4 instead of 2 channels you might see even better performance with the mod now, though its partially offset by having to restore the histogram calculation to get the new lighting working right... The lighting changes seems to have done something to the NVG too, but it seems the 2.5.6 lighting is quite wonky anyway and you can see fine without NVG even at moonless nights. With the original sun flare being restored the simplified glass also has the fake "flare" removed which should improve issues with gauges readability. Similarily there has been changes in the shadows in DCS which now by default use only 16 instead of 32 samples. So I changed the ENABLE_SIMPLE_SHADOWS to reduce that even further to 10 which now seem to look fine still. The sRGB fix was also removed as the game has some other workaround for it (oddly still using wrong sRGB conversion method). Because of this you no longer need to use as high gamma as before. With 2.5.6 being a bit of a mess its difficult to test this version well but it seems to work in a few scenarios I tested it with :)

I was told the mod got broken again, I did a quick update for the latest DCS beta (2.5.5.41371, link in the first post). Not tested much but looks like it works with a simple merge of the changes.

Quick update to DCS version 2.5.5.34644 added in the first post. Didn't have time to test it almost at all, hopefully it works ok :)

I updated the mod on the first post for compatibility with latest DCS version (2.5.5.33184). This version also comes with new features: - Included my sRGB gamma fix (blacks are black so increased contrast, you need to increase the gamma from video options a bit since it behaves slightly differently now) - Options to disable some of the optimizations in _HMD.hlsl (simple shadows, grass, canopy) - Fixed the haze and fog issues (restored resolveDepth, could bring some small performance degradation but that seems unavoidable) - Improved the NVG goggles, made the scope smaller so you can look under the goggles at instruments, made the gain do something and changed the noise. There is also an option to make the gain control to instead move the goggles up/down (set NVG_GAIN_ADJUSTS_POSITION to 1 in _HMD.hlsl, also other NVG options there) - Added dithering to the HDR tonemap to smooth out banding visible especially at the sky. Can be disabled from _HMD.hlsl as it can also result in some moire effects. - Made the 3D mouse cursor less bright at night time I haven't done extensive testing with this version so there may be some bugs with the new features, but hopefully it works pretty much the same as before. I am also not sure how the NVG scope size works with more "unusual" headsets like Pimax, you may need to adjust the settings for those to get something that works best.

This comparison should hopefully be done with my sRGB gamma fix, as otherwise the black levels will be elevated: http://www.kegetys.fi/srgb-gamma-fix-for-dcs-world/

I have reported the issue in the bugtracker here: https://leatherneck-sim.mantishub.io/view.php?id=817 It seems to be caused by something in the engine simulation (if you remove the engine device it runs a lot better but you lose afterburner and other stuff), but so far it has not been fixed.

I updated the mod on the first post for DCS version 2.5.4.25729 compatibility.

While looking at something else, I noticed a problem in how the game applies sRGB color space conversion that almost certainly is causing this issue (or at least making it much worse). I made a mod that should fix it, see my site for some more info & download. With that, using the HTC Vive, the nights look much better and properly dark :).