Very high water setting

[RedTiger]

I've noticed recently that the difference between High water and Very High water on my system PC is a whopping 10-20 FPS on average. Interestingly enough, the difference between Medium water and High water is negligible. The framerate on High is high enough that setting it to Medium is not necessary.

 

I'm not using any water mods. I never really liked how those looked, and more importantly, I don't notice any real FPS gain when using them on my current system.

 

So why is there such a huge difference between High and Very High? What about showing reflections in the water is such a big performance hit? I could imagine it being a problem with a large amount of reflections being rendered on screen...but 100 nm inland? YES, yes, I know that water is rendered under the terrain, but what the heck is it reflecting, all the land above it!? I don't get why there would be ANY difference between Medium and Very High when you aren't over the water where it actually renders a reflection on your screen.

[Pilotasso]

Certain features in LOMAc are for the distant future. Reminds me of Strike commander, wich i only fully explored without slowdowns in my current machine using a DOS emulator. Just to get you an idea :D

[RedTiger]

Certain features in LOMAc are for the distant future. Reminds me of Strike commander, wich i only fully explored without slowdowns in my current machine using a DOS emulator. Just to get you an idea :D

 

Heh..yeah I know what you mean. I'm really not a big fan of developers trying to "future proof" their games. I have yet to see that attempt not fail in some way. If you future proof based on the current technology, you end up doing things the hard way relying on sheer muscle rather than all the neat little tricks and hardware improvements/optimizations that the future holds.

 

Anyways, if anyone knows why there's such a huge difference between sky+clouds and sky+clouds+surface objects, I'd like to hear it. I doubt there's anyway around it other than just pure hardware muscle.

[LawnDart]

Don't quote me, but I think the difference from medium and up is it adds reflective clouds and shadows etc. Other than that it looks the same, but adding those features obviously tax the system a lot!

[RedTiger]

Don't quote me, but I think the difference from medium and up is it adds reflective clouds and shadows etc. Other than that it looks the same, but adding those features obviously tax the system a lot!

 

Low = solid texture

 

Medium = first "real" looking water with waves

 

High = same as medium but with cloud reflections

 

Very High = same as High but now surface objects are reflected in the water (land, buildings, ships, etc.)

 

Here's the thing, we know that water is rendered under all the terrain, right? I also know that if I have no clouds and I'm using High water, I get no cloud reflections, just the sky. I also get very similar frame rates with Medium and High under the same conditions, even flying over water where the clouds would be reflected. Switch to Very High and the frame rate goes down drastically. If I was flying low, on the coast, next to a large amount of ships and dynamic objects being reflected in the water, that would make good sense. However, I see the drop when I'm very far inland. If Very High reflects surface objects, the only surface objects that are above the water that far inland is the terrain itself and all the objects on land!

 

I have a theory that the sim is processing real time reflections for all the terrain and possibly the land-based objects all the time when you have water set to Very High. Why else would it reduce the frame rate when nothing is being reflected? High water doesn't do this...again, my FPS numbers are very similar to when it is set to medium!

 

LOMAC is a done deal, but this is worth mentioning in light of Black Shark which basically renders water the same way.

Edited September 9, 2008 by RedTiger

[Ironhand]

...Very High = same as High but now surface objects are reflected in the water (land, buildings, ships, etc.)...

I believe that you also get water movement (waves action) on the shoreline with this setting. Never noticed it on the other settings. Then again, I seldom fly low level down the coastline looking for it...

 

Rich

[RedTiger]

I'll have to check that out. If so, that would be strange since the official word on why the water is rendered under all the terrain is because that was (and still is in DCS: BS) easier than calculating where the water should end. If there are moving waves breaking on the shore, isn't the engine doing exactly that; calculating where the water should end?

[littlejohn1959]

greetings .

medium water settings here . i fly the a-10 mostly .low like . water does move on the shoreline even at medium settings . look kind of neat to be honest .

cheers .

[RedTiger]

Helpful words from a kind Hog driver. Thanks!

 

EDIT: Maybe having waves on the shore and making the water stop at the shore aren't the same type of thing.

Edited September 11, 2008 by RedTiger