[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

[WallHaxx]

OK, so the near/far transition is very bad now. The black terrain I mentioned above is just the first sign of it. You start seeing it coming toward you just above the cloud layer, and it shrinks in a circle directly under you until it complete disappears at about 120k. The far clouds pop up at 160k.  

Pics: https://imgur.com/a/JYYM5he

My station at around 120k only has atmo visible at the edge of the screen. Above a certain height the center of the radius also disappears, presumably because the land is closest to you there. This was happening before but it was a lot milder and it seemed to contour around the landmasses. It might be an EVE issue because I remember Waz posting about it.

And here's my customized flare for something nice to look at

oh yeah, win10, if it matters

Edited March 26, 2020 by WallHaxx

[alberro+]

Oh, how I miss playing with Scatterer. Hopefully the 1.9.1 release comes out soon!

[alberro+]

39 minutes ago, WallHaxx said:

OK, so the near/far transition is very bad now. The black terrain I mentioned above is just the first sign of it. You start seeing it coming toward you just above the cloud layer, and it shrinks in a circle directly under you until it complete disappears at about 120k. The far clouds pop up at 160k.  

Pics: https://imgur.com/a/JYYM5he

My station at around 120k only has atmo visible at the edge of the screen. Above a certain height the center of the radius also disappears, presumably because the land is closest to you there. This was happening before but it was a lot milder and it seemed to contour around the landmasses. It might be an EVE issue because I remember Waz posting about it.

And here's my customized flare for something nice to look at

oh yeah, win10, if it matters

Perhaps it could be an issue with EVE? That same bug is happening with clouds.

[blackrack]

2 hours ago, WallHaxx said:

OK, so the near/far transition is very bad now. The black terrain I mentioned above is just the first sign of it. You start seeing it coming toward you just above the cloud layer, and it shrinks in a circle directly under you until it complete disappears at about 120k. The far clouds pop up at 160k.  

Pics: https://imgur.com/a/JYYM5he

My station at around 120k only has atmo visible at the edge of the screen. Above a certain height the center of the radius also disappears, presumably because the land is closest to you there. This was happening before but it was a lot milder and it seemed to contour around the landmasses. It might be an EVE issue because I remember Waz posting about it.

And here's my customized flare for something nice to look at

oh yeah, win10, if it matters

This is due to lowered farClipPlane, better revert that @R-T-B  :p

[R-T-B]

2 hours ago, blackrack said:

This is due to lowered farClipPlane, better revert that @R-T-B  :p

Yeah I'm missing a zero actually.  I'm going to blame lack of sleep, lol.  New release incoming.  I'm also going to toy with restoring the nearclip to 1f at most, since it's been messed with a bit too much.

Edited March 26, 2020 by R-T-B

[lectiuss]

Hi,

I recently started playing KSP again (1.8.1) and encountered a bug (https://imgur.com/a/gWXTxNh) where scatterer's sunflare just stops working, restarting game doesn't help, it just starts working again after some time (not sure how long though, it happened before..) Different saves are working fine.. Other visual mods I am using are Astronomer's Visual Pack (8K textures), EVE and Distant Object Enhancements (list of all mods: http://txt.do/1jmdg ).

[R-T-B]

Ok everyone a new release candidate fixing the new near/far transitional bug is about to drop (easy bug fix, it's literally due to a missing zero).  I just had work and it took up a lot of my time today.  Expect it soon, I will edit this post when out.

 

Unfortunately, it appears the "excellent performance boost" I noted last night was due to that insanely close clipping plane, so we will lose that.  Oh well, still will perform as good as before.

 

EDIT:  Latest builds are out!  Here is the change log:

RC9 is out with the following changes:

1.) Added a missing zero to fix near-far transitional issues. Reduced the impact on the nearclip plane too.
2.) Scatterer-shadows have been disabled by default because they are still buggy at extreme ranges, though they work upclose pretty well, (KSP will take over, don't worry).

Please specify your OS when posting bug reports, as always.

Download Locations for RC9:

Github:

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

My Server:

http://glacialsoftware.net/ScattererBuilds

Edited March 27, 2020 by R-T-B

[R-T-B]

Release just dropped.  The sctterer-based shadows are pretty much bugged beyond repair as one end (be it near, or far) will always glitch out until @blackrack has a look at the shader, which he is doing now.  We hope to have them properly fixed in final release.  For now, they are off by default and I recommend using Kerbal's built in ones instead.  If you turn them on, it will opt for the best case scenario, which is to have them only glitch at exteremely far away zooms and altitudes (still not ideal, but hey, we're working on it).

The near-far issue should be completely fixed as it was only caused by a missing zero and rather easy to address.

Thank you everyone for helping with testing and having patience.

Edited March 27, 2020 by R-T-B

[RagingNerd]

Ok, the pale blue atmosphere bug is still present. IDK if it's even a bug, I have to be doing something wrong, right?

pic: https://imgur.com/gallery/RdkXa8m

I just downloaded RC9

[Delay]

3 hours ago, RagingNerd said:

IDK if it's even a bug, I have to be doing something wrong, right?

Looks absolutely right to me. Maybe a little too blue, but that can be tweaked in the configs.
What you are seeing here is not a bug, it's the main feature of Scatterer in full effect.

[RagingNerd]

4 minutes ago, Delay said:

Looks absolutely right to me. Maybe a little too blue, but that can be tweaked in the configs.
What you are seeing here is not a bug, it's the main feature of Scatterer in full effect.

Mind helping me through the process of making it look like a real atmosphere?

I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. The pale blue is just what appears when I launch the game.

[Delay]

3 minutes ago, RagingNerd said:

Mind helping me through the process of making it look like a real atmosphere?

Sorry, I might not be the best person to talk to. I will admit that I have not taken a close look at the variables either and only skimmed over them a while ago.

Perhaps @blackrack could help you out here, given that he made the syntax?

[blackrack]

6 hours ago, RagingNerd said:

Ok, the pale blue atmosphere bug is still present. IDK if it's even a bug, I have to be doing something wrong, right?

pic: https://imgur.com/gallery/RdkXa8m

I just downloaded RC9

Where is the bug? That's how it's supposed to look.

[cpthornman]

Anyone else getting this bug with RTB's latest build? Every celestial body but Kerbin and Jool do this. This is Laythe. Once I remove scatterer from the game it no longer does it. Running on Windows 10. Have EVE and Planetshine still installed. 

 

Edited March 27, 2020 by cpthornman

[Aniruddh]

I downloaded RC9 and playing KSP on windows 10, and the main menu looks different (the colour of the land is more saturated):

A comparison screenshot of the main menu from 1.8.1:

It only happens in the main menu (in the tracking station and flight it looks like what it did in 1.8.1). I am not bothered about the clouds being different colour as that is an issue with me using an EVE version for 1.8

[pingopete]

21 hours ago, R-T-B said:

Ok everyone a new release candidate fixing the new near/far transitional bug is about to drop (easy bug fix, it's literally due to a missing zero).  I just had work and it took up a lot of my time today.  Expect it soon, I will edit this post when out.

 

Unfortunately, it appears the "excellent performance boost" I noted last night was due to that insanely close clipping plane, so we will lose that.  Oh well, still will perform as good as before.

 

EDIT:  Latest builds are out!  Here is the change log:

RC9 is out with the following changes:

1.) Added a missing zero to fix near-far transitional issues. Reduced the impact on the nearclip plane too.
2.) Scatterer-shadows have been disabled by default because they are still buggy at extreme ranges, though they work upclose pretty well, (KSP will take over, don't worry).

Please specify your OS when posting bug reports, as always.

Download Locations for RC9:

Github:

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

My Server:

http://glacialsoftware.net/ScattererBuilds

This just fixed scatterer in RSS for me thanks so much! A minor issue is the effect not quite making it to the horizon line in center screen (last image), however this is good enough for now!

ALBUM first 6 images are without scatterer and tufx, the rest are.

Edited March 27, 2020 by pingopete

[Poodmund]

@R-T-B is the unified/split camera intelligent? Does it detect what graphics platform is being utilised and use the appropriate camera system based on that? It would be a shame to lose the performance improvements the unified camera brings with DX11 and then have that nullified.

[Delay]

29 minutes ago, Aniruddh said:

I downloaded RC9 and playing KSP on windows 10, and the main menu looks different (the colour of the land is more saturated):

I think that's not Scatterer's fault. I haven't taken a close look myself, but the new textures for Kerbin in 1.9 are more saturated by themselves.

[Aniruddh]

3 minutes ago, Delay said:

I think that's not Scatterer's fault. I haven't taken a close look myself, but the new textures for Kerbin in 1.9 are more saturated by themselves.

Yeah could be, I don't really mind if it looks like that, was just curious if scatterer affected colours, since a few pages back in this thread, some people were saying how kerbin has a frozen world look because of it.

[alberro+]

If I recall a few pages before, there was a discussion on how milky Scaterrer made atmospheres look. I dunno if it was referring to the textures of the terrain or the atmosphere as a whole.

[R-T-B]

3 hours ago, Poodmund said:

@R-T-B is the unified/split camera intelligent? Does it detect what graphics platform is being utilised and use the appropriate camera system based on that? It would be a shame to lose the performance improvements the unified camera brings with DX11 and then have that nullified.

It is intelligent.  No performance loss.

3 hours ago, Aniruddh said:

I downloaded RC9 and playing KSP on windows 10, and the main menu looks different (the colour of the land is more saturated):

A comparison screenshot of the main menu from 1.8.1:

It only happens in the main menu (in the tracking station and flight it looks like what it did in 1.8.1). I am not bothered about the clouds being different colour as that is an issue with me using an EVE version for 1.8

I noticed this too.  It's my config fix in action in code, we still don't know entirely why it is needed and that's as close as I can get it atm.  My personal explanation is it has something to do with the lighting effecting the sphere more.

4 hours ago, cpthornman said:

Anyone else getting this bug with RTB's latest build? Every celestial body but Kerbin and Jool do this. This is Laythe. Once I remove scatterer from the game it no longer does it. Running on Windows 10. Have EVE and Planetshine still installed. 

 

Could anyone else report if they are getting this?  That is certainly not right and I'm curious what's causing it.

Can I get a KSP log file from you, kindly?  EDIT:  nvm, I fixed it, heh.  See below.

2 hours ago, Aniruddh said:

Yeah could be, I don't really mind if it looks like that, was just curious if scatterer affected colours, since a few pages back in this thread, some people were saying how kerbin has a frozen world look because of it.

I think I now understand why Laythe is looking weird then...  it doesn't have a new "ultra" shader!  It's only the "Ultra" shader worlds that are working then, and everything else is borked?

That sounds reasonable, and would be easy to fix.  Is that correct?  Can someone test?  I'm presently working but will have time to make a build in a little less than an hour.

Edited March 27, 2020 by R-T-B

[R-T-B]

Ok everyone,

RC10 is out with the following changes:

1.) The scatter-config fix that is needed for Kerbin (and only Kerbin) was errenously being applied by code to all worlds, over-saturating several (Laythe could get real bad). The config fix has been moved to Kerbins atmo config file so it only applies to Kerbin. Please make sure you replace your entire Scatterer folder with this release.

Please specify your OS when posting bug reports, as always.

I feel this may be the last release candidate, and may even be promoted to release if there are no major bug reports.  It will be an "unofficial release" meaning it "works good" but it is lacking blackracks final features and polish.  Still, good progress everyone!  This will allow modders to get started pretty dang soon!

Download at the usual spots:

Github:

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

My Server (you want RC10)r:

http://glacialsoftware.net/ScattererBuilds/

Edited March 27, 2020 by R-T-B

[Eras]

1 hour ago, R-T-B said:

Ok everyone,

RC10 is out with the following changes:

1.) The scatter-config fix that is needed for Kerbin (and only Kerbin) was errenously being applied by code to all worlds, over-saturating several (Laythe could get real bad). The config fix has been moved to Kerbins atmo config file so it only applies to Kerbin. Please make sure you replace your entire Scatterer folder with this release.

Please specify your OS when posting bug reports, as always.

I feel this may be the last release candidate, and may even be promoted to release if there are no major bug reports.  It will be an "unofficial release" meaning it "works good" but it is lacking blackracks final features and polish.  Still, good progress everyone!  This will allow modders to get started pretty dang soon!

Download at the usual spots:

Github:

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

My Server (you want RC10)r:

http://glacialsoftware.net/ScattererBuilds/

It is compatible with AVP?

[R-T-B]

12 minutes ago, Eras said:

It is compatible with AVP?

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.

4 hours ago, pingopete said:

This just fixed scatterer in RSS for me thanks so much! A minor issue is the effect not quite making it to the horizon line in center screen (last image), however this is good enough for now!

ALBUM first 6 images are without scatterer and tufx, the rest are.

 

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?

Edited March 27, 2020 by R-T-B

[Eras]

4 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.

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