[KSP 1.6.1] Stock Visual Enhancements [v1.4.1] [20 March 2019]

[Waz]

On 25/10/2016 at 0:11 PM, Galileo said:

Part packs crush FPS even if they arent being utilized in game. Just having the part pack in your GameData folder causes performance drop.

Weird. Has anyone ever worked out why? And is this confirmed, or hearsay? (I'm always on the lookout for optimizations).

Edited October 30, 2016 by Waz

[Galileo]

Just now, Waz said:

Weird. Has anyone ever worked out why? And is this confirmed, or hearsay?

i dont know why but have read this in other threads and experienced this. I always have to delete the parts i don't use just to get my performance to my standard

[Nansuchao]

4 minutes ago, Waz said:

Weird. Has anyone ever worked out why? And is this confirmed, or hearsay? (I'm always on the lookout for optimizations).

Cause KSP loads all the parts and everything else in your RAM during the initial loading. So, when you're flying your ships, your RAM has all the parts and all the mods presents in GameData.

[Waz]

2 minutes ago, Nansuchao said:

Cause KSP loads all the parts and everything else in your RAM during the initial loading. So, when you're flying your ships, your RAM has all the parts and all the mods presents in GameData.

So? Having things stored in RAM doesn't slow down your computer. I see a lot of nonsensical superstitions about how computers work, and this one seems pretty common. If, as Galileo has tested, there is a performance drop, it means that some kind of ongoing processing of these Parts must be happening - i.e. CPU usage. That shouldn't be necessary, so if we can work out what it is, we or Squad can fix it.

[Nansuchao]

Just now, Waz said:

So? Having things stored in RAM doesn't slow down your computer. I see a lot of nonsensical superstitions about how computers work, and this one seems pretty common. If, as Galileo has tested, there is a performance drop, it means that some kind of ongoing processing of these Parts must be happening - i.e. CPU usage. That shouldn't be necessary, so if we can work out what it is, we or Squad can fix it.

Hopefully someone will be able to find a fix. Until now, in every release of KSP, having a lot of parts means a general slowness, many crashes with the old 32bit executable so many of us, learned to delete unused parts for better performances.

[Galileo]

2 minutes ago, Waz said:

So? Having things stored in RAM doesn't slow down your computer. I see a lot of nonsensical superstitions about how computers work, and this one seems pretty common. If, as Galileo has tested, there is a performance drop, it means that some kind of ongoing processing of these Parts must be happening - i.e. CPU usage. That shouldn't be necessary, so if we can work out what it is, we or Squad can fix it.

I'm all for fixing it.  I haven't loaded a ton of part packs since I started modding.  I just haven't had time to play...  

[panzer1b]

So what do you think @Galileo?

Finally figured out how to:

a) get custom particles to work

b) activate EVE's smooth sphere renderer for atmo/glow fx

Now to make some half decent textures, need a low density cloud map for duna, and i need to completely overhaul jool/eve...

[Galileo]

21 minutes ago, panzer1b said:

So what do you think @Galileo?

Finally figured out how to:

a) get custom particles to work

b) activate EVE's smooth sphere renderer for atmo/glow fx

Now to make some half decent textures, need a low density cloud map for duna, and i need to completely overhaul jool/eve...

Looks good! Congrats on the release

[Waz]

7 hours ago, Nansuchao said:

Hopefully someone will be able to find a fix. Until now, in every release of KSP, having a lot of parts means a general slowness, many crashes with the old 32bit executable so many of us, learned to delete unused parts for better performances.

32bit is entirely different - because you easily run out of RAM with KSP with only 3GB of addressable RAM. For now I'll put this in the "urban legend" basket, but if anyone can find a solid reference demonstrating that parts cause a drop in in-flight framerate on 64bit systems with adequate RAM, even when not used, I'd be glad to look into it.

Edited October 31, 2016 by Waz

[Galileo]

54 minutes ago, Waz said:

32bit is entirely different - because you easily run out of RAM with KSP with only 3GB of addressable RAM. For now I'll put this in the "urban legend" basket, but if anyone can find a solid reference demonstrating that parts cause a drop in in-flight framerate on 64bit systems with adequate RAM, even when not used, I'd be glad to look into it.

I don't know of any other way to prove than to throw 4 or 5 part packs in and see what happens. It not urban legend I can promise you that. I'll have to get some proof to back my claim up 

Edited October 31, 2016 by Galileo

[Kowgan]

Hey, @Galileo. I'm trying to tweak the configs to slightly increase the blueness on Kerbin, but I'm faling miserably.
I took the Kerbin pic from the OP and added a bit of blue hue into it. This is the result I'm trying to achieve:

(before/after)

Would you be able to help me pointing some directions? I've tried using the Scatterer Config Tool and followed instructions, but the result in the software varies a lot from the in-game's.

Thanks!

Edited October 31, 2016 by Kowgan

[Galileo]

23 minutes ago, Kowgan said:

Hey, @Galileo. I'm trying to tweak the configs to slightly increase the blueness on Kerbin, but I'm faling miserably.
I took the Kerbin pic from the OP and added a bit of blue hue into it. This is the result I'm trying to achieve:

(before/after)

Would you be able to help me pointing some directions? I've tried using the Scatterer Config Tool and followed instructions, but the result in the software varies a lot from the in-game's.

Thanks!

in order to get that look you will have to remove just about all of the post processing which i already have set very low. If you lowered it any more, you may as well not play with scatterer lol

what you could do is edit a kerbin color map to be more vibrantly colored and use kopernicus or texture replacer to put it in game. 

[Waz]

5 hours ago, Kowgan said:

Hey, @Galileo. I'm trying to tweak the configs to slightly increase the blueness on Kerbin, but I'm faling miserably.
I took the Kerbin pic from the OP and added a bit of blue hue into it. This is the result I'm trying to achieve:

(before/after)

Would you be able to help me pointing some directions? I've tried using the Scatterer Config Tool and followed instructions, but the result in the software varies a lot from the in-game's.

Thanks!

Am I color blind, or is that an almost Eve-like purple, not blue?

[Kowgan]

5 hours ago, Galileo said:

in order to get that look you will have to remove just about all of the post processing which i already have set very low.

 

Really? The result I'm looking for would seem to have more filter instead of less. Just to make sure, It's the one on "A." for "After". The B. ("Before") is the one currently active on your mod.

@Waz I do see a reddish tone on A., but that's my bad image editing skills. All I did was add blue hue to the image. This is kinda what we had on Better Atmospheres, before we had Scatterer.

For reference, Here's what we had on the old Better Atmospheres mod.
http://imgur.com/a/udmCk

Edited October 31, 2016 by Kowgan

[Kowgan]

Sorry for the double post.

I've figured that, on Better Atmospheres, all the author did was creating an entirely white texture and set it to show up at alt 20,000 and 45,000 as a tinted blue cloud and with certain alpha, thus embracing Kerbin on that blue tint.

I'm trying to port that to SVE, but I need some help. The code I'm adding to clouds.cfg is breaking and disabling all the clouds.
Here's the code.

Spoiler

	OBJECT
	{
		name = Kerbin-Blue1
		body = Kerbin
		altitude = 45000
		speed = 0,0,0
		settings
		{
			_Color = 25,102,255,64
			_MainTex
			{
				value = StockVisualEnhancements/EVE/Atmosphere/Textures/Blue
			}
			_DetailTex
			{
			}
		}
	}
	OBJECT
	{
		name = Kerbin-Blue2
		body = Kerbin
		altitude = 20000
		speed = 0,0,0
		settings
		{
			_Color = 0,153,255,59
			_MainTex
			{
				value = StockVisualEnhancements/EVE/Atmosphere/Textures/Blue
			}
			_DetailTex
			{
			}
		}
	}

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Edited October 31, 2016 by Kowgan

[Galileo]

1 minute ago, Kowgan said:

Sorry for the double post.

I've figured that, on Better Atmospheres, all the author did was creating an entirely white texture and set it to show up at alt 20,000 and 45,000 as a tinted blue cloud and certain alpha, thus embracing Kerbin on that blue tint.

I'm trying to port that to SVE, but I need some help. The code I'm adding to clouds.cfg is breaking and disabling all the clouds.
Here's the code.

  Hide contents

	OBJECT
	{
		name = Kerbin-Blue1
		body = Kerbin
		altitude = 45000
		speed = 0,0,0
		settings
		{
			_Color = 25,102,255,64
			_MainTex
			{
				value = StockVisualEnhancements/EVE/Atmosphere/Textures/Blue
			}
			_DetailTex
			{
			}
		}
	}
	OBJECT
	{
		name = Kerbin-Blue2
		body = Kerbin
		altitude = 20000
		speed = 0,0,0
		settings
		{
			_Color = 0,153,255,59
			_MainTex
			{
				value = StockVisualEnhancements/EVE/Atmosphere/Textures/Blue
			}
			_DetailTex
			{
			}
		}
	}

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

what i would suggest is using a preexisting node as a template that way you be sure the code works. Also, just so you know, i had atmosphere layers like that a few versions ago and had to remove them in 1.2 because the performance was so bad. Removing those layers resulted in a 20-30 fps gain. I have a gtx1070  and was only seeing 30-40 fps with them included. So keep that in mind when implementing them

[panzer1b]

5 minutes ago, Kowgan said:

Sorry for the double post.

I've figured that, on Better Atmospheres, all the author did was creating an entirely white texture and set it to show up at alt 20,000 and 45,000 as a tinted blue cloud and certain alpha, thus embracing Kerbin on that blue tint.

I'm trying to port that to SVE, but I need some help. The code I'm adding to clouds.cfg is breaking and disabling all the clouds.
Here's the code.

  Reveal hidden contents

	OBJECT
	{
		name = Kerbin-Blue1
		body = Kerbin
		altitude = 45000
		speed = 0,0,0
		settings
		{
			_Color = 25,102,255,64
			_MainTex
			{
				value = StockVisualEnhancements/EVE/Atmosphere/Textures/Blue
			}
			_DetailTex
			{
			}
		}
	}
	OBJECT
	{
		name = Kerbin-Blue2
		body = Kerbin
		altitude = 20000
		speed = 0,0,0
		settings
		{
			_Color = 0,153,255,59
			_MainTex
			{
				value = StockVisualEnhancements/EVE/Atmosphere/Textures/Blue
			}
			_DetailTex
			{
			}
		}
	}

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

I did a very similar thing with my mod (but i didnt go that in depth to save on performance).

Those effects are EVE based atmosphere rendering and are not reliant upon scatterer (never was a fan of scatterer's atmo renders myself).  If you want an example of how to do this just take a look at my mod here and mess with the "atmo" layer of kerbin.  I didnt go all out on the blue coloring as those pics but this is done in teh exact same way, just edit the color for the atmo layer to be something like 0, 0, 255 for maximum blueness...

Its not perfect (and im pretty sure we can agree your pics are better looking then what i have), but its the best i can do with virtually 0 performance issues (mid range rig, i can run my mod with 2 1000 part warships in low orbit, laggy but playeable)...

Edited October 31, 2016 by panzer1b

[Kowgan]

1 minute ago, Galileo said:

what i would suggest is using a preexisting node as a template that way you be sure the code works. Also, just so you know, i had atmosphere layers like that a few versions ago and had to remove them in 1.2 because the performance was so bad. Removing those layers resulted in a 20-30 fps gain. I have a gtx1070  and was only seeing 30-40 fps with them included. So keep that in mind when implementing them

Thanks for the heads up. I did use the Kerbin-Auroras template, and just started removing lines that I assumed weren't essential, due to other objects not having them either.

Thanks, @panzer1b! I'll take a look.

[Majorjim!]

Hi @Galileo.

 I have to say this looks beautiful but I am seeing some performance issues even with the LR version. On Duna I see a flashing green timer even with a very low part craft.. I have a fast CPU and a good GPU. How can I remove the dust storms for testing?

[Galileo]

7 minutes ago, Majorjim! said:

Hi @Galileo.

 I have to say this looks beautiful but I am seeing some performance issues even with the LR version. On Duna I see a flashing green timer even with a very low part craft.. I have a fast CPU and a good GPU. How can I remove the dust storms for testing?

just delete the duststorm node in the cloud cfg. So you get lower performance on Duna but not Kerbin? Kerbin has more volume layers and more layers in general. Duna should not be cause performance issues.

[Majorjim!]

Just now, Galileo said:

just delete the duststorm node in the cloud cfg. So you get lower performance on Duna but not Kerbin? Kerbin has more volume layers and more layers in general. Duna should not be cause performance issues.

Yeah it's odd.. I will do some more tests and report back.

[Majorjim!]

Just now, Galileo said:

just delete the duststorm node in the cloud cfg. So you get lower performance on Duna but not Kerbin? Kerbin has more volume layers and more layers in general. Duna should not be cause performance issues.

What is the difference between stock scatterer and your version?

[Galileo]

12 minutes ago, Majorjim! said:

What is the difference between stock scatterer and your version?

Nothing except my custom tweaks to the cfgs to look better with the clouds. Nothing that could affect your performance 

[Majorjim!]

Just now, Galileo said:

Nothing except my custom tweaks to the cfgs to look better with the clouds. Nothing that could affect your performance 

Do you think the higher resolution affects performance or just GPU ram usage?

[Majorjim!]

14 hours ago, Galileo said:

Nothing except my custom tweaks to the cfgs to look better with the clouds. Nothing that could affect your performance 

Hi @Galileo I did some FPS tests and using my high part count Atlas V on the pad with scatterer and SVE I get 28FPS. On Duna I get 50-54 FPS. Using the Low resolution version nets no more FPS on the pad but 4-5 more FPS on Duna.

 Using scatterer only and using the same craft on the pad I get 38-40 FPS. And 60 FPS on Duna.

 Does this sound normal? Loosing 10 FPS just for the clouds?