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[WIP][1.9.x-1.12.x] Scatterer-atmospheric scattering (0.0838 - 14/08/2022) Scattering improvements, in-game atmo generation and multi-sun support


blackrack

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4 minutes ago, Eras said:

Good! But for the installation is enough copy the avp folder and then scatterer on gamedata dir?

Yes, that should work.  I think AVP also needs EVE (Environmental Visual Enhancements) + TextureReplacer though.  Both work more or less fine in 1.9.

 

For your convienience, I will mark in bold the optional dependencies I have verified to work with AVP, in crossout the ones that don't, plaintext the ones I have no idea.  Keep in mind none of these are needed for a good visual experience, they are just icing on the cake.

I particularly enjoy Chatterer, even if it really is just a bunch of Apollo style tapes played backwards, lol. (Hey, the Astronaut Complex speaks backwards Spanish apparently, so...)

Chatterer (immersive audio enhancements)
Visual
DistantObjectEnhancement (distant planets and ships will be visible from afar)
PlanetShine (planet shine effect on your ships)
Sunflares of Maar (a sunflare pack)
KopernicusExpansion EVAFootprints (footprints on the surface of bodies)
RealPlume (realistic engine plume spread)
TexturesUnlimited (reflection and texture effects for parts)
EngineLighting (lighting effects for engines and decouplers)

Edited by R-T-B
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5 minutes ago, R-T-B said:

Yes, that should work.  I think AVP also needs EVE (Environmental Visual Enhancements) + TextureReplacer though.  Both work more or less fine in 1.9.

 

For your convienience, I will mark in bold the optional dependencies I have verified to work with AVP, in crossout the ones that don't, plaintext the ones I have no idea.  Keep in mind none of these are needed for a good visual experience, they are just icing on the cake.

I particularly enjoy Chatterer, even if it really is just a bunch of Apollo style tapes played backwards, lol. (Hey, the Astronaut Complex speaks backwards Spanish apparently, so...)

Chatterer (immersive audio enhancements)
Visual
DistantObjectEnhancement (distant planets and ships will be visible from afar)
PlanetShine (planet shine effect on your ships)
Sunflares of Maar (a sunflare pack)
KopernicusExpansion EVAFootprints (footprints on the surface of bodies)
RealPlume (realistic engine plume spread)
TexturesUnlimited (reflection and texture effects for parts)
EngineLighting (lighting effects for engines and decouplers)

Great! Thx for the info! :D Keep up the good work!

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54 minutes ago, R-T-B said:

I test it with AVP, so yes.  It's been literally designed/updated with it in mind.

For other mods:  I will likely start making modders aware of my releases as soon as we get out of the Release Candidate stage, so they can test and verify their mods work correctly with the upcoming scatterer final as well as these interim "unofficial" builds.

And we are just about there.

 

You know, if we drop scatterer shadows, this could potentially be fixed entirely.  Even that last horizon shot.  But I think the proper way to handle that would be for users to have a "RSS" or "extreme horizon distance" option which would enable a different mode, rather than forcing it on everyone.  Thoughts?

Sure, whatever works :D So what's the deal with 1.9.1 does it cause Scatterer to force the clipping plane down? I'll try removing the shadows option

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16 minutes ago, pingopete said:

Sure, whatever works :D So what's the deal with 1.9.1 does it cause Scatterer to force the clipping plane down? I'll try removing the shadows option

It unified the near and far camera, which is technically a good thing.  See, they used to be seperate, which while slow and ugly (it pretty much tried to draw the screen in two passes, one for "near" and one for "far" things), allowed for additional "distance" before shadowing would glitch.  Now we have effectively half the shadowing precision to play with, but everything else works fine and we have a good performance boost as well.

Was it worth it?  I'd say so but that's down to personal opinion.

Anyways,

Basically, KSP shadows now exist, and deal with this pretty nicely other than not being visible from orbit.  I'd advise using them and avoiding scatterer shadows for now.

PS:  A new release is incoming with a special "RSS mode" option fior real solar system users.  That option disables scatterer shadows but grants support for extremely huge horizons (Think Jupiter).  It might just be the "unofficial release" I was talking about.  Everything is working well enough I might feel like promoting it.

Edited by R-T-B
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3 minutes ago, Aniruddh said:

Just a quick question: is it possible to reduce the ocean shader fourierGridSize down to 32 to increase performance further? If you can, is it worth it?

I believe the shader code (which I have not messed with) does not allow that, but you can certainly try.  It won't hurt anything, just may cap at 64 and not improve anything either.

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16 minutes ago, Aniruddh said:

Yeah, looks like it just reverts to 64 automatically.

If you are having performance issues you might look at something like Spectras EVE-based atmopsheres.  They are a lot lighter than Scatterers.

Oh, and:

It's here! We are at version 1.0 of my update to scatterer, the "unofficial release" No more betas, no more release candidates!

What does this mean?

It means that though the mod in it's stock configuration is functional and stable, blackrack still had features planned that did not make it into this release. Those will come in his final release. Hence "unofficial."

What was changed / added since RC10?

If you are not using Real Solar System / RSS, this release is identical for you to RC10, which was essentially stable. You don't even really need to download this, honestly (though I do believe I tuned the nearclip plane a tiny bit, but it's nothing huge).

If you are a RSS user, there is a new config option called "RSS Mode" that disables scatterer-based shadowing (which I advise no one use right now anyways) for extreme horizon distance support. Give it a shot on some truly massive bodies and see how far it will go, please! It is off by default, you can find it in the scatterer menu at the KSC.

Thank you all and enjoy!

Download links:

Github:

https://github.com/R-T-B/Scatterer/releases

My Server:

http://glacialsoftware.net/ScattererBuilds/

-RTB

Edited by R-T-B
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36 minutes ago, R-T-B said:

If you are having performance issues you might look at something like Spectras EVE-based atmopsheres.  They are a lot lighter than Scatterers.

Oh, and:

It's here! We are at version 1.0 of my update to scatterer, the "unofficial release" No more betas, no more release candidates!

What does this mean?

It means that though the mod in it's stock configuration is functional and stable, blackrack still had features planned that did not make it into this release. Those will come in his final release. Hence "unofficial."

What was changed / added since RC10?

If you are not using Real Solar System / RSS, this release is identical for you to RC10, which was essentially stable. You don't even really need to download this, honestly (though I do believe I tuned the nearclip plane a tiny bit, but it's nothing huge).

If you are a RSS user, there is a new config option called "RSS Mode" that disables scatterer-based shadowing (which I advise no one use right now anyways) for extreme horizon distance support. Give it a shot on some truly massive bodies and see how far it will go, please! It is off by default, you can find it in the scatterer menu at the KSC.

Thank you all and enjoy!

Download links:

Github:

https://github.com/R-T-B/Scatterer/releases

My Server:

http://glacialsoftware.net/ScattererBuilds/

-RTB

Amazing, thanks mate greatly appreciate it

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I really appreciate all the comments and praise, but keep in mind where the praise really belongs: This is only going to get far better once @blackrack takes a proper look at the shadowing shader code (which may as well be greek to me).  I hope for wondrous things from his work, but we shall see what is technically feasible, as always.  Best of luck man!

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@R-T-B, i will say you did a very good job...

 

Performance is still a hair laggy (not that scatterer+EVE+cloud pack+restock was never unlaggy), but overall it makes the game great again...  Performance is flawless when used on a light on parts asteroid catching ship/fuel barge.  Not that great with a 550 part cruiser that engages a 400 part frigate (albeit it wont have to anymore as i sorta made a new frigate to replace that one which is like half the parts)...

hcQsKlG.png

Only question, what the heck is the caustics feature do?  Ive turned it on and off and cant see anything really there changing?

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54 minutes ago, panzer1b said:

Only question, what the heck is the caustics feature do?  Ive turned it on and off and cant see anything really there changing?

Water caustics has to do with underwater imagery I think, like wave shadows on the bottom.  I have to confess though I have it enabled now I haven't tested it personally.  I just took the lack of bugreports to be a good thing, I guess?

And yeah, I love it when I come up with a clever way to make the same craft with half the parts.  The joy from that is unreal, even if it shouldn't be a gameplay mechanic, technically, lol.

I have identified one small bug with the current release.  The nearclip clips into the "Cupola" cockpit/viewing station modules mounting surface.  This is a edge-case and a rare one (it would be odd to use the Cupola just to cover the windows), but I'll fix it soon enough anyways.

Edited by R-T-B
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5 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Go play in the ocean, you'll see. :D

Assuming it's working of course...

Yep, I need to design me a proper test submarine, don't I?

 

Oh, and btw:

1.9 "Unofficial Release" 1.1

This is a minor update to the 1.0 release of Scatterer. To install simply extract to your KSP install.

What was changed / added since Unofficial Release 1.0?

1.) Some minor performance optimizations. It is unclear whether these will make a visible difference in FPS, but they needed to be done for code cleanup reasons, anyways.

2.) An edge-case bug where covering the front of the Cupola viewing module would result in it still being transparent (a nearclip issue, essentially) has been fixed.  (btw, that's some insanely thorough bugtesting, my dudes.  Who does that?)

If you aren't experiencing any of the above bugs or performance issues, this is a fairly minor release and you can most likely skip it.

Thank you all and enjoy!

-RTB

Links:

Github:

https://github.com/R-T-B/Scatterer/releases

My Server:

http://glacialsoftware.net/ScattererBuilds/

Edited by R-T-B
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1 hour ago, RagingNerd said:

Ok if that's the case I don't know what I'm doing.

idk how to get clouds to show up

You'll need something that adds them, something like Environmental Visual Extensions, Spectra, Astronomers Visual Pack, go and look through the forums for visual mods and pick one you like the look of.  This mod is more a of a dependency that makes those work than the actual incredible visual mod itself (I mean, you can use it on it's own, but I don't think many do).

If you want really nice clouds, Astronomers Visual Pack is one I can recomend, and yes it depends on this.

Edited by R-T-B
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Hello all,

 

This is just a notice of a bug I discovered, not in Scatterer per se, but in other mods and how they interact with it.

Mods like "SmokeScreen" and "EngineLightRelit" presently seem to draw in the same layer (read more on layers here https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/API:Layers) as Scatterer's layer 9 atmopshere and 15 scaled space drawing range.  This was fine once upon a time with dual cameras, aparently, but now results in strange effects as the two drawing ranges collide (ever seen cloud outlines in your smoke plume for example?  It's not exactly realistic).  In EngineLightRelits case, the engines light up the atmospheres of planets literally up in the hundreds of km range away due to a drawing layer conflict.

I'm working on pull requests for the affected mods but for right now this just serves as a heads up that those aren't working perfectly with the new scatterer.

EDIT:  Maybe we don't even need pull requests on the affected mods, maybe I work around this.  We'll see.

Oh, and also there are also mixed reports that an optimization in 1.1 may have broken RSS mode (for real solar system users).  Could anyone using that advise?  The setting does require a game reboot to take effect, keep in mind.

Edited by R-T-B
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14 hours ago, R-T-B said:

And yeah, I love it when I come up with a clever way to make the same craft with half the parts.  The joy from that is unreal, even if it shouldn't be a gameplay mechanic, technically, lol.

Well im not too sure id say same craft with half the parts, more like replacement craft with half the parts that serves the same general role...

0J0fYDu.png

bKIt2uG.png

Broadsword class frigate mark4 was the older model, ~350 parts total, pathetic dV, no firepower (2 anti-ship rated weapons which arent really reliable enough to guarantee solid damage with just 2 shots), and horrific engine layout which means i have to constantly transfer fuel around, and adjust the thrust percentage to stop it from flipping around not to mention like 800 dV which limits it to purely reacting to attacks on it instead of seeking out the enemy.  That and its armor really isnt that great anymore since i just 1 shotted one of these in a skirmish between it and a Dimension class cruiser (which fired a single G series torpedo and instakilled it with a direct hit to center of mass).

a2XRMPK.png

PtLeRL5.png

And the Broadsword mark5, completely new ship despite sharing the same name (it does technically serve the same role).  Better range, and like way better with 3500dV on the special ER model which can go to laythe on internal fuel alone without any aerobraking required even if id still do it to save fuel (base model gets ~2000 or so dV).  Better armor layout, less suceptible to 1 shots (albeit it is still possible if i hit it with the G7f or G9 series from a very specific angle, but even then not guaranteed), comparable protection from SRMs which are like the most common weapon used in my universe by any faction/tech level (ibeam+sepatron missiles) as well as complete immunity to weak crap like macey dean style torps (ant+oscar+2 docking port torpedoes).  Honestly, the only genuine problems with it is its excessive weight (over 120t on ER model, ~80 for the normal 1), and its lack of ammo capacity (6 anti-ship grade weapons, 4 anti-fighter defensive weapons) not to mention the fact that all its weapons are mounted in the nose of the ship making it possible to disable all its weapons with 1 shot (ive never actually pulled this off in testing but it could be done with good aim and the right ordinance).

 

But yeah, part count went from 350 to like 220 (not quite half, but its noticeably less laggy when nearby other vessels).  That and the new one looks a bit prettier (old one was more or less a shell with guns strapped ontop of it, new one looks and feels more like a genuine warship and not some half baked structiral brick with guns starpped onto it).

And ofc with scatterer, eve (currently using spectra's pack as my own needs a major overhaul and i just dont have the freetime to spend modding these last few months), and ofc sunflare from another mod (i just really hate the default scatterer sunflare, its not that its that bad, but just doesnt scream sci-fi universe and tries to be way to close to something you might see irl not to mention pure white is meh looking for a sun).

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Unofficial Release 1.2 just dropped:

This is a minor bugfix update to the 1.0 unofficial 1.9 release series of Scatterer. To install simply extract to your KSP install.

What was changed / added since Unofficial Release 1.1?

1.) Fixed RSS Mode, which was broken by a regression caused by a over-optimistic optimization. Now it works again, and we still have pretty much the same level of optimization for those who don't use it.

If you aren't experiencing any of the above bugs, this is a fairly minor release and I'd not worry about it.

Usual places:

Github:

https://github.com/R-T-B/Scatterer/releases

My Server:

http://glacialsoftware.net/ScattererBuilds/

Thank you all and enjoy!

-RTB

Edited by R-T-B
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3 hours ago, R-T-B said:

Unoffical Release 1.2 just dropped:

You are ROCKING this update stuff!  I check in almost every day and I'm 3 behind already! lol.  Will capture a screen or two, because every time you drop one, my visuals go up just a tick.  Now if only I knew how to code and such to help...... lol

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The latest set of updates are really just minor bugfixes, so don't expect visual miracles over what we had before, but yeah, it's nice to be killing them bugs one by one.

 

Is anyone else at present seeing a bug where rocket plumes (even stock ones) are showing traces of the atmopsheric background?  I believe this is an old bug that has somehow either resurfaced or never quite got fixed.  It is most apparent with solid rocket boosters at night.

Here, this is with realplume, but it happens with Stock plumes too:

screenshot538.png

I'm curious if it's a AMD driver bug (possible) or if it's a scatterer bug.

EDIT:  This seems to be a stock bug?  I got it with nearly no mods loaded at all, and it's certainly not a scatterer bug.  nvm, then.

Edited by R-T-B
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2 hours ago, R-T-B said:

Is anyone else at present seeing a bug where rocket plumes (even stock ones) are showing traces of the atmopsheric background?

That's was what I was trying to explain to you in my third post in that PM chain.

Yes I believe it is new, and I am still experiencing it.

qnfU3rt.png

Edited by TheKurgan
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21 minutes ago, TheKurgan said:

That's was what I was trying to explain to you in my third post in that PM chain.

Yes I believe it is new, and I am still experiencing it.

qnfU3rt.png

Sorry, I knew someone reported it but it got lost in the chain of bug reports somewhere.  Thanks.

Anyways, it looks like sadly this may be a stock bug.  It even happens with the stock plumes without scatterer, albeit it is much less noticeable because the clouds suck.

Seems like even Squad is having issues with this update, unless maybe, just mabye, it's an EVE bug.

Edited by R-T-B
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