automatic/adaptive brightness/bloom effect, inconsistent lighting, view dependent (2D/VR/MultiMonitor/ViewSystem)

[durp]

Hello,

the 'new' adaptive brightness/bloom effect that was introduced in 2.8 is somewhat inconsistent and should have an option in the settings to turn it off.

The bloom-ish overlay that is added to the view is depending on the sun position and your viewing direction which can become very unpleasant when you look around (TrackIR/VR) 

 

Also the effect is not well implemented (in other words: broken) when using multiple displays:

 

The bloom effect is simply cut off, realized that there is something wrong when exporting individual screens, so I tried to do some tiled tests using only one display

On the image with the four views (it's a crop, picked just one corner for example) the bloom stops right at the edge beween front-left and front-top.

This is broken, it is supposed to continue in that direction and soften out, but since the camera responsible for the viewport is not facing the sun, there is no effect applied and is only visible in the view that sees the sun (front view in this case)

The other image is pretty much the same, top square is the top view, the bottom square is the front view. Same issue.

Initially I was hoping the bug shows only when the views are not continuous, but as seen.. even when the views are aligned to be continuous that issue is happening. (continuous means the viewport continues into the other viewport at the same edge)

 

There are also some posts about this: (none of them with any confirmation or official feedback)

 

Issue with mismatching brightness on multiple views:

 

weird behavior of the sun-vs-view 'effect':

 

same weird shading effect, the human-brightness-knob (love the title):

 

Is there a configuration option that can be added to the autoexec file that is not documented to disable this weird bloom/light effect?
or is there a way to tweak the shader for it? IC pass is not a requirement here (for me)

with this issue it is ..weird to fly when looking in the direction of the sun, impossible to get proper viewports/monitor-exports (it's not just a different brightness which could be compensated for) and almost impossible to do photographic panorama style shots when facing anywhere near the sun.

A simple [ ] Bloom toggle would be quiet helpful (this applies to all new features that are added, see the shadow softening issue, also needed separate options since 'something' was changed)

how to reproduce: (short version)

look into the sun and move the head around.

 

how to reproduce: (long version)

same as above, but with multiple viewports. I attached an example monitor setup file for a 2 tiles layout on a single screen. (you need at least 2400 pixels in vertical for that and 1200 in width. (or adjust the numbers to your liking, did not bother to do the variables based on the current screen-resolution to have consistent and reproducible values)

bugreport_1200x2400_2_tiles.lua

 

 

Since the issue applies to several fields:  View System Bug, 2D Video Bugs, VR Bugs, Multi-Display Bugs I posted it in generic, maybe I should post it in each section? Since Generic Bugs has only a little chance of being noticed or even bothered. Neither any of the linked posts have received any official feedback.

(EDIT: either I did post it now in 2D Video Bugs by accident or the thread got already moved, not sure if I had a mental moment just now..)

cheers

 

PS: tried it with the highest and lowest settings I could pick, result is the same. It does not matter if shadows are on, or global illumination is toggled, it was literally setting everything to MAX for one test and set everything to LOW (or off) on the other test) Happens in ST and MT

Edited April 5, 2023 by durp
NULL and typo, title

[Roostyla]

This is one of my top 3 issues right now, I really dislike the auto gamma shifting that came with 2.8 and would love to put it back to how it was in 2.7 . It doesn't feel very realistic and seems very excessive the amount of bloom it creates. Often making the game look worse with my settings. We have the spotting mod now which is helping but with this gamma shift it makes multiplayer spotting that much harder.

Maybe it can be turned into a graphics option or .lua edit to turn it off?

[Bucic]

First of all the hardcoded bloom deserves nothing but a rant status as it's more akin to a sick joke. I've got easter eggs disabled in autoexec BTW.

The luminosity though is what decides how the entire game renders. I could ignore the automatic exposure adjusting all the time but recently I played some missions (Georgia) with clear sky conditions for the first time post DCS 2.5/1.5 and...

Just take a look at it. It's summer, noon, clear sky or light scattered conditions. Compare the luminosity in the cockpit compared to the terrain!
 

The gamma was at its default value     ['outputGamma'] = 2.2;  I can't set it significantly lower because it's going to require using cockpit flood lights for inverted flight at noon.

 

EDIT:
For future reference - Normandy
ww2cas - YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GOMFR6sJVI

Edited August 1, 2023 by Bucic

[MoleUK]

A toggle option for this in the menu would be great, as it's both distracting and unrealistic imo.

[Roostyla]

Good example Bucic, and I agree Mole. If the devs are intent on keeping it then a toggle option for adaptive brightness would be welcome or at least turn it down. What we have now really robs the game of the eye candy it can provide and washes it out, I already run a reshade ( luma and curves ) to darken and damper it down and even then its not always enough.

[Bucic]

38 minutes ago, Roostyla said:

Good example Bucic, and I agree Mole. If the devs are intent on keeping it then a toggle option for adaptive brightness would be welcome or at least turn it down. What we have now really robs the game of the eye candy it can provide and washes it out, I already run a reshade ( luma and curves ) to darken and damper it down and even then its not always enough.

I don't think it's going to do. That auto exposure was just what has tipped the scale. Georgia has been too washed out for a long time and lowering gamma can only go so far.

[Lasko]

This is a big problem that needs more attention.  I was doing the A-10C training missions yesterday and the cockpit radios and other instruments are unreadable without moving the view position fully forward or back, and the HUD is completely unreadable in many of the lessons from the "haze" in the sky.

I've also noticed this in some of the Ka-50 training and IA missions, the cockpit instruments are completely opaque so that you can't read the channel number on the R828, for example.

 

[Lasko]

Here's an example from the A10C landing lesson.  "Press the Space bar key to proceed when the radio is tuned to 131.000"    Right....

null

[MAXsenna]

On 9/5/2023 at 10:35 PM, Lasko said:

This is a big problem that needs more attention.  I was doing the A-10C training missions yesterday and the cockpit radios and other instruments are unreadable without moving the view position fully forward or back, and the HUD is completely unreadable in many of the lessons from the "haze" in the sky.

I've also noticed this in some of the Ka-50 training and IA missions, the cockpit instruments are completely opaque so that you can't read the channel number on the R828, for example.

 

Out of curiosity. What are your shadow settings?

Cheers! 

[Flappie]

Above, shadows are on. Below, they are off.

@Lasko Is your PC too old to handle shadows?

[Bucic]

Don't get me wrong, but any cases with a combination of cockpits and LOW or OFF shadows settings are off-topic. Those settings should come with clear disclaimers that they may break cockpit rendering. Those cases have nothing to do with the auto exposure/luminosity this topic is about.

[MAXsenna]

Don't get me wrong, but any cases with a combination of cockpits and LOW or OFF shadows settings are off-topic. Those settings should come with clear disclaimers that they may break cockpit rendering. Those cases have nothing to do with the auto exposure/luminosity this topic is about.

While that is true, shadows do affect instruments clarity. (Flat seems to be the culprit). So does "global illumination" whatever that is!  

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk
 

Edited September 21, 2023 by MAXsenna

[wowbagger]

23 minutes ago, Bucic said:

Don't get me wrong, but any cases with a combination of cockpits and LOW or OFF shadows settings are off-topic. Those settings should come with clear disclaimers that they may break cockpit rendering. Those cases have nothing to do with the auto exposure/luminosity this topic is about.

Agreed, the topic of this thread is the adaptive brightness thing which has never worked as intended, or perhaps as 'wanted' by many players. It really needs to be made optional through some method.

[hannibal]

I have the high contrast / lighting problem when looking at F10 map then going back into cockpit. But after a min the lightning levels out to normal

[Lasko]

5 hours ago, wowbagger said:

Agreed, the topic of this thread is the adaptive brightness thing which has never worked as intended, or perhaps as 'wanted' by many players. It really needs to be made optional through some method.

Agree, the cockpit display issue can be fixed by changing the shadow setting.  I set it to "flat only" a long time ago before changing hardware, but also never had the unreadable issues until recently.  The terrain brightness issues started around the same time, so I tied them together.

[wilbur81]

It would be really nice to get a "Sun bloom" or "HDR" slider added to options.  Not sure if this is real, but since upgrading to Windows 11 from 10 two weeks ago, I find the sun glare when the sun is lower after (3p-4p(ish) and on to sunset) in-game to be almost overwhelming...washing out everything around it. It is affected in the cockpit directly by zoom. Zoom out, it gets much worse...zoom in, it looks a lot more realistic. I will post tracks/screenshots when I get a chance...but it is pretty over the top. I play with gamma settings between 1.8 and 2.0 during daylight simming.

Edited February 13 by wilbur81