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

[Drew Kerman]

tried searching the thread but no avail. Thought I saw this covered before - how do I increase the distance at which volumetric clouds are visible?

[Diche Bach]

@Galileo I recently pruned my mod list from 76 to 50. Scatterer, and Stock Visual Enchancements HR were in the set of 76.

The motivation to prune the modlist and shelf my career game up that point (not an easy decision) was that performance was getting progressively worse. Slow transitions between scenes, slow load times, incredible lag in the VAB when building large complex craft, quite a few strange visual glitches in the KSC and sub-screens (e.g,. science screen would not render when you changed to that scene it looked like you were still in Space Center).

I had no specific basis to suspect that either Scatterer or Stock Visual were contributing to the performance issues, beyond the general principle that: graphics mods tend to be heavy on infrastructure in most games. I have been playing with the reduced set of 50, with no graphics mods at all, and with the graphics turned down (low res textures, low quality, low, low, low all around in the settings window): and I have to say the difference is amazing.

The game performs like I would imagine it should: very little noise from the case, minimal fan activity, RAM usage never seems to go above about 75%, CPU hovers in the 45 to 75% use range, load times and transitions are quick, no graphical glitches.  I'm really surprised if this really is "necessary" in order to play modded Kerbal. This rig can run Fallout4 or Skyrim on Very High if not Ultra settings without even panting for Pete's Sake! . . . You can see my rig specs down below.

So, my reason for posting this here is not to suggest that these graphics mods were contributing to the performance issues, but rather to ask: do you think they would contribute, and if so, would using the medium or low res textures make a difference? Are there other config settings I might consider where I can at least get the more beautiful terrains, skies, etc., but without incurring so much of any hypothetical performance impact?

Given most of my performance issues revolved around VAB, with KSC and transitions to other "control screens" I have my doubts that Scatterer or SVE were contributing much (well I guess SVE does change things everywhere doesn't it?), and in flight (whether on Kerbin or in space) performance was almost always "normal."

I miss the prettier graphics and that is my main motivation to ask. I also suspect that some of the other mods that are in the "26 so far not reinstalled" set are perhaps the largest contributors to problematic performance, so any encouragement I can get to reinstall Scatterer and one of the SVE packs is most welcomed.

The other one I'm really missing and thinking of reinstalling is: Filter Extensions, and perhaps you can comment on that one too, though perhaps not.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Diche Bach
clarify

[Galileo]

this mod is decently performance heavy, yes and when packaged with a bunch of other mods, it can be a crippling experience, especially when those mods are part packs. I dont know if you use a lot of them but they will drastic slow your game down. Even if you are not currently using them in game they will slow you down. My suggestion would be to go through each part pack( if you have them and prune through those. Delete every part you dont need or use. i also recommend using Procedural parts and getting rid of all other fuel tanks. This is how im able to run over 100 mods and the high res of SVT and SVT without issue. As for filter extensions i have never used it and dont know what it is tbh.

[Galileo]

4 hours ago, Drew Kerman said:

tried searching the thread but no avail. Thought I saw this covered before - how do I increase the distance at which volumetric clouds are visible?

There is a way to do it but i can't think of it off the top of my head.  I do know know that it does not look very good  it causes a hexagon shape "cloud"  to float underneath you.  If you are wanting more realism,  I wouldnt change it.  Believe me if it had looked good I would have kept it. I know RVE still has it in there cfg.  

Edited September 9, 2016 by Galileo

[Spin]

Sorry for my possible misuse of English,

Soon I will have the new graphics card MSI 1070 and I wonder if this, coupled with an i7 4770, I offer the coveted 60 fps with this mod and 25 other mods. I'll also 8 to 16 gb ram so that I can use your mod textures in its highest resolution.
I await your guidance, greetings and thanks.

[Galileo]

Just now, Spin said:

Sorry for my possible misuse of English,

Soon I will have the new graphics card MSI 1070 and I wonder if this, coupled with an i7 4770, I offer the coveted 60 fps with this mod and 25 other mods. I'll also 8 to 16 gb ram so that I can use your mod textures in its highest resolution.
I await your guidance, greetings and thanks.

I have a MSI 1070 with an i5 4690k and run over 90 mods with 60+ FPS you will be good to go

[Spin]

7 minutes ago, Galileo said:

I have a MSI 1070 with an i5 4690k and run over 90 mods with 60+ FPS you will be good to go

Thanks for your quick response. Now I wish even more that I get the new card at home.

[Galileo]

8 minutes ago, Spin said:

Thanks for your quick response. Now I wish even more that I get the new card at home.

I would say go with 16 gb of ram or more though

[Spin]

26 minutes ago, Galileo said:

I have a MSI 1070 with an i5 4690k and run over 90 mods with 60+ FPS you will be good to go

Thanks for your quick response. Now I wish even more that I get the new card at home.

9 minutes ago, Galileo said:

I would say go with 16 gb of ram or more though

in addition to the graphics card I will add 8GB of RAM. With SVE and SVT and the other mods always I am going to limit my 8 gb of ram.

[Matchlight]

4 minutes ago, Spin said:

Thanks for your quick response. Now I wish even more that I get the new card at home.

in addition to the graphics card I will add 8GB of RAM. With SVE and SVT and the other mods always I am going to limit my 8 gb of ram.

Definately go for 16gb of RAM, i have 8 at the moment and its not good enough; The 1070 should do great even at 1440p After watching it perform at 1440 it was always getting above 60fps stock.

[Spin]

44 minutes ago, Galileo said:

 

Thanks for your quick response. Now I wish even more that I get the new card at home.

14 minutes ago, Matchlight said:

Definately go for 16gb of RAM, i have 8 at the moment and its not good enough; The 1070 should do great even at 1440p After watching it perform at 1440 it was always getting above 60fps stock.

I have a 1080p and 60fps monitor and my idea is to change it by 2k and 144fps. For now I am content to be able to play KSP with many mods to the maximum offered my monitor.

[COL.R.Neville]

you can use the -d3d11 switch you just HAVE to include the  -no-singlethreaded along with it. otherwise it crashes on trying to load the atmosphere shaders.  

-force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded <=this works

 -force-d3d11 <= this doesnt.  

[Nhawks17]

1 hour ago, COL.R.Neville said:

you can use the -d3d11 switch you just HAVE to include the  -no-singlethreaded along with it. otherwise it crashes on trying to load the atmosphere shaders.  

-force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded <=this works

 -force-d3d11 <= this doesnt.  

Isn't the -no-singlethreaded command known to cause issues with save files?

[COL.R.Neville]

dunno i havent had any so far.

[Fwiffo]

I noticed this mod excludes CelestialShadows.dll from EVE.  Just curious why?

[Galileo]

9 minutes ago, Fwiffo said:

I noticed this mod excludes CelestialShadows.dll from EVE.  Just curious why?

Because scatterer looks better

If i included both they don't look right and then I have to continually answer how to get rid of one of them. 

So I don't include eves

Edited September 13, 2016 by Galileo

[Fwiffo]

25 minutes ago, Galileo said:

Because scatterer looks better

If i included both they don't look right and then I have to continually answer how to get rid of one of them. 

Ah, thanks!  Makes sense.  I removed Scatterer from my own install some time back (one reason being it did weird particle soup effects to the Sun, which I didn't like and never tracked down the cause of).

Also, I noticed there is a new 1.7.2 DistantObject.dll released which is newer than the 1.7.1 version included in your 1.0.82 mod.  It has better startup performance under some conditions:

How aggressively do you track updates of upstream mods you bundle?

I've been moving to CKAN as the source for all my mods (I just have too many to manage by hand anymore).  I'm not sure if you're friendly with those folks or not, but it'd be nice if the CKAN file for your mod had CONFLICTS tags for the mods you bundle (DistantObject, EVE, etc).  (Or make a CKAN-specific zip for your mod that excludes them and use DEPENDS to automatically bring in the latest version).

Thanks again for your quick response!

 

Edited September 13, 2016 by Fwiffo

[Core]

I had to go change my pants after seeing the images for this mod.

[Galileo]

9 minutes ago, Core said:

I had to go change my pants after seeing the images for this mod.

I don't wear pants so I don't have that issue

21 minutes ago, Fwiffo said:

Ah, thanks!  Makes sense.  I removed Scatterer from my own install some time back (one reason being it did weird particle soup effects to the Sun, which I didn't like and never tracked down the cause of).

Also, I noticed there is a new 1.7.2 DistantObject.dll released which is newer than the 1.7.1 version included in your 1.0.82 mod.  It has better startup performance under some conditions:

How aggressively do you track updates of upstream mods you bundle?

I've been moving to CKAN as the source for all my mods (I just have too many to manage by hand anymore).  I'm not sure if you're friendly with those folks or not, but it'd be nice if the CKAN file for your mod had CONFLICTS tags for the mods you bundle (DistantObject, EVE, etc).  (Or make a CKAN-specific zip for your mod that excludes them and use DEPENDS to automatically bring in the latest version).

Thanks again for your quick response!

 

TBH i dont aggressively follow anything, especially if the mods i have bundled still work. Also, i dont support ckan due to issues with this mod and others. I didnt put the mod on ckan and dont use ckan so any issues that pop up with ckan installs arent my issue to deal with. My only answer will be to install it manually. Thats how i look at it anyway. 

Edited September 13, 2016 by Galileo

[Fwiffo]

11 minutes ago, Galileo said:

especially if the mods i have bundled still work

Some time ago I had a reason to upgrade to that latest DistantObject mod.  Don't recall the details, but I think it might have fixed some rare exception I was getting.  I'll give you a cookie if you publish an update with it included ;-)

Edited September 13, 2016 by Fwiffo

[Galileo]

7 minutes ago, Fwiffo said:

Some time ago I had a reason to upgrade to that latest DistantObject mod.  Don't recall the details, but I think it fixed some rare exception I was getting.  I'll give you a cookie if you publish an update with it included ;-)

I will after 1.2 drops  until then its very easy to replace as i didnt change anything in the bundled mod

Edited September 13, 2016 by Galileo

[Fwiffo]

Not sure if others reported it, but that dropbox link on the first page to Alternate Cloud Config is dead.  Is there an alternative place I can get that?  Or did fixes get worked into the main mod so it's no longer necessary?

[Galileo]

6 minutes ago, Fwiffo said:

Not sure if others reported it, but that dropbox link on the first page to Alternate Cloud Config is dead.  Is there an alternative place I can get that?  Or did fixes get worked into the main mod so it's no longer necessary?

It's working now

[Fwiffo]

5 minutes ago, Galileo said:

It's working now

That was fast :-).  Hey I don't suppose there are any screenshots floating around to show what's meant by that artifacting?  I *think* I might know what it's talking about but am not sure.

[Galileo]

10 minutes ago, Fwiffo said:

That was fast :-).  Hey I don't suppose there are any screenshots floating around to show what's meant by that artifacting?  I *think* I might know what it's talking about but am not sure.

You will see things like this when you have a cloud above you casting a shadow

With the current version it's much less noticeable as I made the clouds very transparent so you will probably not need the alternate cfg.  But if you are picky then it's for you.  You just don't get cloud shadows.  So pick your poison

Edited September 14, 2016 by Galileo