[1.8] EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements [1.8.0-2]

[Galileo]

25 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Far preferable to ugly artifacts IMO.
A more comprehensive search of this (and the SVE) thread reveals that this has been around for quite some time... Any ETA on fixing it properly? Failing that, a "known issues" entry with a link to a "no cloud shadows" config would be nice. I found the dropbox link, but it did take some finding.

There was a link on the SVE thread OP but I removed it because I haven't updated the cfgs for the no shadows yet.

That cfg you found will not work anymore. The directory has changed a lot in SVE in the latest updates. I haven't had time to make a new one in the last few days. Feel free to do it yourself, as it's very easy and I don't have the time right now. 

The only fix would be for Squad and the mod makers to completely remake their models so don't expect a fix besides disabling the cloud shadows.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Galileo

[steve_v]

11 minutes ago, Galileo said:

That cfg you found will not work anymore.

It works with the last version of SVE on CKAN (1.1.6), and this solves my problem. Guess I''l be sticking with 1.1.6 until it's fixed.
Why the latest is not on CKAN is another interesting question...

[Galileo]

6 minutes ago, steve_v said:

It works with the last version of SVE on CKAN (1.1.6), and this solves my problem. Guess I''l be sticking with 1.1.6 until it's fixed.
Why the latest is not on CKAN is another interesting question...

Because I don't deal with CKAN. Go ask the CKAN guys.

[Waz]

53 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Far preferable to ugly artifacts IMO.
A more comprehensive search of this (and the SVE) thread reveals that this has been around for quite some time... Any ETA on fixing it properly? Failing that, a "known issues" entry with a link to a "no cloud shadows" config would be nice. I found the dropbox link, but it did take some finding.

These artifacts can be fixed in the code - it's a matter of excluding these materials from the shadowing effect. If you report it as an Issue in the tracker, I should get to it before the next release.

https://github.com/WazWaz/EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements/issues

I'm basically waiting until there are enough fixes or features in what I've got to warrant a new release. It's only been very minor stuff like this so far.

[Poodmund]

1 hour ago, Waz said:

These artifacts can be fixed in the code - it's a matter of excluding these materials from the shadowing effect. If you report it as an Issue in the tracker, I should get to it before the next release.

Done.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Poodmund

[Galileo]

7 hours ago, Poodmund said:

Done.

I hope you included the water tower light near the launch pad lol 

[Aerospacer]

@Waz, may you help with needs to decreace of shadowing intensity? At least to 50%.

Look on:

Also pay attention to trees transparent layers and flag brightness.

Installed EVE (current) and scatterer.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Aerospacer

[Galileo]

4 minutes ago, Aerospacer said:

@Waz, may you help with needs decreace of shadowing intensity? At least to 50%.

Look on:

Also pay attention to trees transparent layers and flag brightness.

Installed EVE (current) and scatterer.

For that he would need to exclude materials from Kerbal Konstructs/Lacks/KSC++ and probably kerbinside.. you realize how much work that is right? 

If you just want to decrease them, read my comments a few posts up

Edited April 9, 2017 by Galileo

[Aerospacer]

@Galileo, ok, trees leaving behind... But shadowing intensity really unnaturally big.

On Eve under the cloud very dark, almost as at night. Even without scatterer.

[Galileo]

1 minute ago, Aerospacer said:

@Galileo, ok, trees leaving behind... But shadowing intensity really unnaturally big.

On Eve under the cloud very dark, almost as at night. Even without scatterer.

All you have to do is read a page back in the thread.

that will allow you to lessen the cloud shadows

[Waz]

1 hour ago, Galileo said:

For that he would need to exclude materials from Kerbal Konstructs/Lacks/KSC++ and probably kerbinside.. you realize how much work that is right? 

If you just want to decrease them, read my comments a few posts up

I'll try to exclude them algorithmically rather than by name (eg. any transparent shader).

[Aerospacer]

1 hour ago, Galileo said:

that will allow you to lessen the cloud shadows

Thank You, with ShadowFactor=0.4 it look more better.

22 minutes ago, Waz said:

I'll try to exclude them algorithmically rather than by name (eg. any transparent shader).

Yep, I think about transparent pixels excluding, if it possible. Good luck and thank You for your work.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Aerospacer
correcting...

[Galileo]

1 hour ago, Waz said:

I'll try to exclude them algorithmically rather than by name (eg. any transparent shader).

What I'm afraid of with that approach is something being excluded that didn't need to be.  I only say this because some meshes look very bright and out of place without shadows being cast on them like trees and grass.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Galileo

[Waz]

47 minutes ago, Galileo said:

What I'm afraid of with that approach is something being excluded that didn't need to be.  I only say this because some meshes look very bright and out of place without shadows being cast on them. 

The change, which I'm uploading now, is to not cast shadows on objects in the TransparentFX layer, a layer that is explicitly for these effects. I'd like to know why flag decals as pictured above are not shadowed, as they should be on the Parts layer, which receives shadows.

[Galileo]

Looking forward to testing out the new stuff

[Waz]

18 minutes ago, Galileo said:

Looking forward to testing out the new stuff

EVE-1.2.2-1 is uploaded.

https://github.com/WazWaz/EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements/releases

Let me know if it works or not; I'll bug the CKAN guys when we're all happy.

[Galileo]

3 hours ago, Waz said:

EVE-1.2.2-1 is uploaded.

https://github.com/WazWaz/EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements/releases

Let me know if it works or not; I'll bug the CKAN guys when we're all happy.

New update works fine. The shadows now seem darker, but thats easily edited in the cfgs. Also the fix you implemented, It doesn't touch trees from Kerbal Konstructs, which is fine. These are low poly tree meshes and i don't think there is anything you can do regarding them. The transparent areas are just part of the quad mesh. This is an example of what i was talking about earlier. Although this is ugly as sin, not having shadows on these trees make them stand out like a sore thumb. the color just isn't right without the shadows

[Waz]

Yeah, there's simply no way for a Projector (which is how the shadows are implemented) to paint on just the opaque parts of this geometry. But surely these would look better with *no* shadows? This would be best achieved by them being on the TransparentFX layer, but if that's not possible, some other layer could be excluded too.

 

Note that with modern GPUs, using transparency like this is not necessarily faster than having proper geometry - vertex shader is cheaper than fragment shader.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Waz

[steve_v]

1 hour ago, Galileo said:

Although this is ugly as sin, not having shadows on these trees make them stand out like a sore thumb. the color just isn't right without the shadows

Wow, that looks horrible. Surely having no shadows on the trees can't be any worse.

41 minutes ago, Waz said:

surely these would look better with *no* shadows?

I for one would rather have no shadows at all than that ugly mess.

[Drew Kerman]

I don't really know what this is, but I still see it with the latest EVE release. Let me know what info you need Waz. Only appears from this angle - those are stock girders w/stock struts and USI launch sticks

[steve_v]

2 hours ago, Drew Kerman said:

I don't really know what this is, but I still see it with the latest EVE release.

Looks a lot like the same shadow glitches we've just been discussing.
Another material that's getting shadows where it shouldn't?
KSP seems to have a whole lot of invisible stuff that EVE is showing up...

The cloud shadows are cool and all, but these ugly blocks of mis-shadowing are... ugly.

Edited April 11, 2017 by steve_v

[Galileo]

@Waz what setting do I need to adjust to extend the diameter of visible volumetric clouds? I have a volumetric cloud layer and i need the clouds to render a little further out. 

5 hours ago, steve_v said:

Looks a lot like the same shadow glitches we've just been discussing.
Another material that's getting shadows where it shouldn't?
KSP seems to have a whole lot of invisible stuff that EVE is showing up...

The cloud shadows are cool and all, but these ugly blocks of mis-shadowing are... ugly.

Well to be fair, KSP is an ugly game. 

However, those trees are not a part of stock ksp. They are from a mod. The latest EVE fixes the stock shadow issues. So don't install a mod with trees and you won't have to subject yourself to the ugliness.

Those trees are low poly models. It uses 3 quads or billboards to make the model, which is 3 rectangle images with transparency. There is nothing EVE can do to fix that. It's just how the models were made. 

While ugly, I use these models in a few of my mods, and nobody seems to complain. My guess is people are just grateful for anything new and would rather have new stuff like this than play with the stock aesthetics. 

[Galileo]

8 hours ago, Drew Kerman said:

I don't really know what this is, but I still see it with the latest EVE release. Let me know what info you need Waz. Only appears from this angle - those are stock girders w/stock struts and USI launch sticks

If you reload the scene it should go away. It happens when I load a saved game from time to time. It happens in a bare stock game as well. It's more noticeable with cloud shadows though. It happens with nearly every part (mostly command capsules), not just stock struts or USI launch sticks.

Having @Waz disable all of the shadows on parts will likely lead to some unnatural looking lighting. Having a shadow on the runway with a vessel that doesn't have a single shadow casted on it would look weird I suspect (out of place and too bright)

if cloud shadows are really that big of a problem, just disable them in the GUI. Then at least you have consistent lighting on all parts and terrain.

 

Edited April 11, 2017 by Galileo

[jsimmons]

Just tested your latest drop. So much better. I have only one request. The city light textures are really pixelated. Do you think it would be possible to add noise similar to what you did for the cloud textures.

[HafCoJoe]

12 minutes ago, jsimmons said:

Just tested your latest drop. So much better. I have only one request. The city light textures are really pixelated. Do you think it would be possible to add noise similar to what you did for the cloud textures.

Hm :L from a texturing perspective, adding noise only really works for things that don't have patterns. You might be able to add a bit of it to city textures but it wouldn't be much improvement unless you double or quadruple the quality - something which quickly leads to 8k+ textures which doesn't work well with Unity (or your PC...). Don't know how much more could be done. Just my own opinions though - Galileo may have different