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More Eye-Candy for Lock On: Lighting Effects


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Not to start a war going on here for anything, so I'm going to tell you right now that I do not even remotely regard Ace Combat 5 as a sim. In fact, I'm a Gamecube type of guy myself, not really into PS2 ;)

 

Anyway, some of my friends were talking about how spectacular AC5 looked, so I decided to take a peek. What I discovered that while AC5's terrain and 3d models and textures are vastly inferior to Lock On's, the lighting effects in the game is stunningly real. In the past, there have been some complaints, notably by some F4 guys, that Lock On looks 'like a cartoon,' the colours being too bright and all. So I was wondering if it was possible to rework some of the lighting effects in the game to give terrain a more far away (and less bright) look, as well as jets with paint schemes that are 'flatter' in appearance, as right now IMO they're much too bright and stand out too much.

 

Here are examples of what I mean. Despite textures that are OBVIOUSLY lower res than Lock On's, not to mention models no where near as detailed, AC5 manages to come out with a more photorealistic look, because and ONLY because of the way light and brightness is rendered - not to detract from the beauty of Lock On and all.

 

562459_20041015_screen004.jpg

 

562459_20040929_screen002.jpg

 

562459_20040929_screen001.jpg

 

562459_20040831_screen015.jpg

 

acecombat5_screen005.jpg

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I AGREE!!!

 

lomac needs a better lighting engine!

 

in short HDR :twisted:

 

naah! if its too taxing we need either ac5's kinda lighting with GLARE added...so that at some angles some parts on the plane glare etc...

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Do you guys by any chance have any idea how computationally intensive lighting can be?

 

Lock On's lighting engine is pretty extensive already, and nobody's asking for an ultra, photo-realistic system that would bring a AMD 1 billion to its knees ;)

 

What I was simply suggesting was that the current system be tweaked a little to reduce brightness and produce an overall flatter look, as well as minor tweaks to Haze, which can be set on or off. The difference could be immense.

 

Besides, there's no reason to warrant just completely IGNORING the issue altogether. I mean, PS2 did it pretty well, and it's what, like ancient now? At least a little look into the matter - couldn't hurt ;)

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I assume (based on no info whatsoever) that the next sim from ED will be DX9.0+ and naturally support higher level lighting routines.

 

I agree that Lock Ons terrain lighting in particular leaves some to be desired, not considering the fact that it is the best looking sim of all times.

 

 

By the way, what is that big ramp in the screens? Some rail-launcher for a space vehicle? I'm looking into upgrading my secret island (where I hatch evil plots to destroy the world), this looks like an excellent choice! :D

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By the way, what is that big ramp in the screens? Some rail-launcher for a space vehicle? I'm looking into upgrading my secret island (where I hatch evil plots to destroy the world), this looks like an excellent choice! :D

 

Not when I come swooping down in my F/A-22 with my 50 omni-potent missiles in my weapon bays :lol:

 

As I said before, I do not look at AC5 in any way like I look at Lock On.

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Guest DeathAngelBR
By the way, what is that big ramp in the screens? Some rail-launcher for a space vehicle? I'm looking into upgrading my secret island (where I hatch evil plots to destroy the world), this looks like an excellent choice! :D

 

Althought I don't play AC5, that ramp is for some sort of hypersonic orbital plane IIRC.

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As far as I can tell, the statements you have made are nonsense. Missions in Ace Combat 5, like the rest of the series, take place at one particular time of day. Textures are manipulated around that to achive their photo realistic effect. Lock-On's terrain lighting is just as, if not more advanced than AC5. I do hate the trees though, sometimes they look pitch black when it's barely twilight.

 

 

There is an excellent, excellent light modification addon out there, made by Oxyd, unsure where to get it though, use Loman's addon finder.

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As far as I can tell, the statements you have made are nonsense. Missions in Ace Combat 5, like the rest of the series, take place at one particular time of day. Textures are manipulated around that to achive their photo realistic effect. Lock-On's terrain lighting is just as, if not more advanced than AC5. I do hate the trees though, sometimes they look pitch black when it's barely twilight.

 

Wow, talk about unfriendly. But the only "nonsense" around here is the way you got my message :roll: I NEVER compared AC5 with Lock On in any shape, way or form. I just used their screenshots as an example to get ED thinking (in case they read this) on how they could bring about some lighting improvements in Lock On their own way. Even you cannot dispute the fact that there is room for improvement - there's always room for improvement ;)

 

There is an excellent, excellent light modification addon out there, made by Oxyd, unsure where to get it though, use Loman's addon finder.

 

Tried it, didn't like it. Turned everything in the cockpit blue during dusk or dawn.

 

Skarp...I made my own set of winter terrain textures, haha. And really, I cannot see how using winter terrain, which is WHITE, would make things darker. Just gotta love it when people contradict themselves :lol:

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Fine, here's two comparison pics of what I mean...photos of a REAL F-15 compared to Lock On's.

 

F-15C%20Eagle.jpg

 

Notice that the paint-scheme is flat - very flat, even though the sun is shining directly on the aircraft at some angle from above the Eagle - you can tell because of how the unpainted, metallic parts around the engine is shining brilliantly, as well as the cocpit reflections and the way the shadows paint themselves over the aircraft.

 

So despite the light from the sun, the F-15 is still FLAT. Minimal shine.

 

ghost7.jpg

 

Notice that Lock On's F-15 is more shiny, and very bright, compared to the real photo. Notice the excessive shine along the nose, right wing root, right wing leading edge and the engine protrusions, as well as the overall brightness of the aircraft compared to the real thing.

 

Sure, the angle of the sun may be different, but you get my drift ;)

 

Again, I'm not asking for a super-realistic light effects here, but I do believe that the issue does at least deserve a look by ED for any future projects.

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I see what you mean D-Scyth.

 

I've always felt that something's not right, but can never figure out what it actually is. Now you show me what it is.

 

Do you think we can work on the skins to make it better? I don't know about computer graphics, but an example that I can think of is the F-18 in the game. It always looks too....shiny...milky? (don't know how to express it) And I know it's because of the alpha channel in the skin template. Maybe there exist something in the oppsite of the alpha channel? (I'm a real noob in computer, so laugh at me if you think this is nonsense)

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2 D-Scythe

 

Paint your own textures and wait for mass HDR(I) support.

 

That F-15C is MY texture ;)

 

I'm sorry if that is the way you interpreted my post D-Scythe, but I can assure it was unfriendly in the least.

 

Okay, well, I sorta over-reacted too.

 

Do you think we can work on the skins to make it better? I don't know about computer graphics, but an example that I can think of is the F-18 in the game. It always looks too....shiny...milky? (don't know how to express it) And I know it's because of the alpha channel in the skin template. Maybe there exist something in the oppsite of the alpha channel? (I'm a real noob in computer, so laugh at me if you think this is nonsense)

 

Besides add more weathering texture affects? I really don't think so. I suppose that you could reduce the brightness of the skin to reduce the brightness of the plane in the game, but this won't be dynamic, like the lighting in Lock On currently is. So, IMO, I really don't think so, although admittedly it is something I've never tried.

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What I dream of is a lighting system that can reduce the shine in normal flight, but still allow the "flash" when the sun reflects off a banking aircraft . . . . . droool . . . .

 

 

Guess we'll have to realise someday that we'll never get truly photo-realistic graphics throughout the envelope in computer games . . . . it'll just take too long to develop.

 

I do, however, find it staggering that we've come this far in this short a time.

 

Anyone remember early computer game graphics? And we're close to photo-realism in a few short years . . . .

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I just wish that the grass would be a lil' more greener in lomac. The terrain in lomac looks sooo pale or something. And that water is nasty looking. All those bumbs.

 

I'm hoping the new textures in v1.1 will make the ground look cooler . . .

 

 

And as for water - ever seen Pacific Fighters' water maxed out on one of the new PS3.0 cards?

 

Lomac hasn't got there yet, but PF . . . . wow.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, it's not dynamic, but I reduced the brightness of the terrain a bit (among other things)...take a look:

 

screenshot0035kx.jpg

screenshot0058tx.jpg

screenshot0040qk.jpg

 

So at least there are some measures that CAN be done to address this, but I'd like to see ED coming up with something more...steady? permanent?...sometime in the near future.

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Well, it's not dynamic, but I reduced the brightness of the terrain a bit (among other things)...take a look:

 

screenshot0035kx.jpg

screenshot0058tx.jpg

screenshot0040qk.jpg

 

So at least there are some measures that CAN be done to address this, but I'd like to see ED coming up with something more...steady? permanent?...sometime in the near future.

 

Ooh, where can I get that F-15 skin with ur lower brightness terrain?

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