[1.12.x] Parallax - PBR Terrain and Surface Objects [2.0.8]

[ayden57]

2 hours ago, James Kerman said:

Welcome to the forum @ayden57, it looks like your logs are set to private.

I changed it sorry for that I forgot to change it.

[DangerNoodle]

One small question:
Are there any plans to add scaled-space textures and meshes for all planets/moons?
I've noticed that there is a big visual difference between the close up planetary surfaces from parallax and the farther out lod from stock/svt.
(And yes the difference is there with and wthout svt)

Here are two comparsions of vall and tylo:

[Geektom]

I have 2 questions

1 will it make ssto landing much harder since the ground become less flat, if so can I choose to do not let those surface objects collidable?

2 can old saves use it?

[Surefoot]

1 hour ago, Geektom said:

1 will it make ssto landing much harder since the ground become less flat, if so can I choose to do not let those surface objects collidable?

Looks like you'll have to either add VTOL capability to your SSTO or find a suitable flat surface (small rocks have no colliders). Another option i've considered is to use that mod which allows building runways on other planets.

[Idinyphe]

Ok... tried the thing with the config file... tried to reinstall the game once more from scratch and now I am giving up.

And I really have to stop to come here and look at those beautiful pictures as I get more and more envious

 

I wish you all the best and thank everybody who tried to help me.

[Dafni]

35 minutes ago, Idinyphe said:

Ok... tried the thing with the config file... tried to reinstall the game once more from scratch and now I am giving up.

And I really have to stop to come here and look at those beautiful pictures as I get more and more envious

 

I wish you all the best and thank everybody who tried to help me.

Sorry to hear you couldn't get it to work.

IIRC you mentioned you are using the steam install directly. I always avoid modding the steam install itself. How about copying the game elsewhere and messing with this instead? At least you could exclude any steam interference that way. And it is nice to have multiple KSP installs anyway... mess around with mods etc without endangering the installs you are currently playing, gives some peace of mind.

[staker44]

Hi i been trying to install parallax for a while until i gave up and came here for some help. This is the first mod that i tried to install so im basically a noob.

I followed the instalation instructions and when i open the game it looks that is working but then i start a sandbox and it's the same graphics as always.

I don't speak english very well so sorry if i made a mistake

[Geektom]

5 hours ago, Surefoot said:

Looks like you'll have to either add VTOL capability to your SSTO or find a suitable flat surface (small rocks have no colliders). Another option i've considered is to use that mod which allows building runways on other planets.

Yes, and I am also worrying the added objects will destroy the cars that I have landed on many planets.

[Kerbin Launch Coalition]

8 hours ago, DangerNoodle said:

One small question:
Are there any plans to add scaled-space textures and meshes for all planets/moons?
I've noticed that there is a big visual difference between the close up planetary surfaces from parallax and the farther out lod from stock/svt.
(And yes the difference is there with and wthout svt)

Here are two comparsions of vall and tylo:

The only mod I've ever seen where this absolutely doesn't appear to happen is JNSQ. Minmus looks unbelievable in that mod, and comparatively terrible in stock game.

[DangerNoodle]

1 hour ago, Kerbin Launch Coalition said:

The only mod I've ever seen where this absolutely doesn't appear to happen is JNSQ. Minmus looks unbelievable in that mod, and comparatively terrible in stock game.

Oh my, jnsq looks awesome...
Going by the official screenshots, they dont seem to really match parallax's surface textures either.

[Gameslinx]

19 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said:

When do you expect to get a release out?   No rush, just want to know what to expect

In the new few days, hopefully

18 hours ago, Kekkie said:

Do you have any ideas about if using this to enable OpenGL and therefore Parallax would work on Mac? No pressure, just wondering

If it does work, Parallax will run. Parallax requires OpenGL 4.3 or later - the version linked is 4.6.

18 hours ago, ayden57 said:

• whenever I load the game I get a kopernicus  error message. and I was using ckan.

 

Kopernicus is either not installed, or installed incorrectly: "Cannot resolve assembly: Kopernicus"

17 hours ago, Bubski said:

Hey! Got a bug to report. If you're in the air and you try to swap vessels (the square bracket keys), but there's no vessel nearby, all the surface features teleport up to the same height as your ship.

 

Thank you. I'm aware of this, but still trying to find the best way to implement the fix

22 hours ago, Caerfinon said:

This method does not seem to work. When I deploy a n new Map Decal with options remove scatter option  the scatter briefly disappears on save and then immediately reapplies itself. 

On 9/18/2022 at 2:58 PM, Gameslinx said:

This is interesting. My code sets the value in the noise map to 0 if the vertex being built on the planet has 'allowScatter' set to false. Make sure the MapDecal's order is below int.MaxValue - 1. If the order is higher, it's applied after the scatters. There is a chance that removeScatter on KK's side does not work, but I doubt this is the case

15 hours ago, Caerfinon said:

So the white areas need to be positioned over where the locations on the planet are and no scatter.  Got it.  Thanks.   

White will entirely block all persistent scatters from being generated in an area. You can also use various shades to effectively make scatters appear more sparsely, since the value in the blockmap multiplies with the noise value. BTW, if you want to see what is being blocked out by both the block map or the MapDecals, you can use the scatter GUI (Ctrl + P) to display the distribution noise on top of the terrain so you can visualize what is happening.

11 hours ago, DangerNoodle said:

One small question:
Are there any plans to add scaled-space textures and meshes for all planets/moons?

Yes, a sub project of mine named 'Parallax Scaled' which I put on hold to develop the scatter system for Parallax 2.0 is supposed to achieve this. It's goal is to change the orbit (scaled space) textures of the planets to match their surfaces better.

9 hours ago, Geektom said:

will it make ssto landing much harder since the ground become less flat, if so can I choose to do not let those surface objects collidable

Yes and yes

9 hours ago, Geektom said:

can old saves use it?

Yes

4 hours ago, staker44 said:

I followed the instalation instructions and when i open the game it looks that is working but then i start a sandbox and it's the same graphics as always

I will need your KSP.log file to help you out. It's located in the Kerbal Space Program folder. Do not paste it directly into the forum - upload it to a site such as Dropbox or Mega then send a link to the download page here.

2 hours ago, Geektom said:

Yes, and I am also worrying the added objects will destroy the cars that I have landed on many planets.

In most cases your vehicles or crafts will reposition themselves on top of the scatters. Although, this isn't guaranteed. You can move them out of the way with colliders disabled, then enable the colliders once they are in a safe place.

[linuxgurugamer]

4 hours ago, staker44 said:

Hi i been trying to install parallax for a while until i gave up and came here for some help. This is the first mod that i tried to install so im basically a noob.

I followed the instalation instructions and when i open the game it looks that is working but then i start a sandbox and it's the same graphics as always.

I don't speak english very well so sorry if i made a mistake

Would be best if you use CKAN to install it, that will install the necessary dependencies in the correct locations

[Caerfinon]

1 hour ago, Gameslinx said:

This is interesting. My code sets the value in the noise map to 0 if the vertex being built on the planet has 'allowScatter' set to false. Make sure the MapDecal's order is below int.MaxValue - 1. If the order is higher, it's applied after the scatters. There is a chance that removeScatter on KK's side does not work, but I doubt this is the case

 The default KK order for MapDecals is "100000" this it the lowest number that it can be set to in the UI 

Also the MapDecalEditor in KK throws Exceptions when it saves

Spoiler

[EXC 15:57:12.066] NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
	KerbalKonstructs.UI.MapDecalEditor.MapDecalEditorWindow (System.Int32 windowID) (at <b6d640f166964c1eafc404243689185f>:0)
	UnityEngine.GUI.CallWindowDelegate (UnityEngine.GUI+WindowFunction func, System.Int32 id, System.Int32 instanceID, UnityEngine.GUISkin _skin, System.Int32 forceRect, System.Single width, System.Single height, UnityEngine.GUIStyle style) (at <58f888e0d56a4620958c8e58a768c70d>:0)
	UnityEngine.DebugLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
	ModuleManager.UnityLogHandle.InterceptLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
	UnityEngine.Debug:CallOverridenDebugHandler(Exception, Object)

 

I've managed to solve the issue with Method 2 using the blockmap, but to clear the grass and other foliage off the runways I find that the typical KK site needs to be raised 2 - 3 meters from it's current altitude. So there is a way forward, but it requires the modification of a lot of base sites. But that's not your issue    

 

 

 

[Coldrifting]

Hey @Gameslinx, I've been working on adapting the stock scatters for JNSQ and I was curious what exactly the minimumSubdivision parameter does? Should it be lowered or raised for 2.7 scale? I've noticed that it is both at the top of the config file for each body, and also contained in each individual scatter.

Edited September 21, 2022 by Coldrifting

[idkgeek]

On 9/20/2020 at 6:22 PM, Gameslinx said:

 

Parallax

Parallax completely recreates the surfaces of the planets, from the environment all the way down to the terrain detail. It combines a tessellation and displacement terrain shader as well as a completely new scatter system to vastly improve the planet surfaces. Parallax uses GPU instancing for surface objects in order to render massive amounts of geometry at amazing performance.

See Installation Instructions below. Also see the Troubleshooting section below, and direct users here if things are not working!

Watch the new trailer here:

Features Overview

Parallax completely replaces the terrain shader used in the normal game as well as its scatter system for placing thousands of objects over great distances. Here are some of the key features of this mod:

• High quality terrain tessellation shader, like in No Man's Sky
• Trees, grass and many other types of foliage
• Procedural rocks and objects
• Collisions with surface objects
• Self shadowing
• Completely new planetary surface textures

Improvements

The shader that Squad uses for Kerbal Space Program's terrain is extremely limited. Parallax's original feature was a brand new terrain shader, but the scope has expanded to surface objects as well.

Parallax improves upon the stock shader in a number of ways, for example:

• Normal mapped lighting is accurate and faces the right way on a surface at any angle
• Tessellation allows surfaces to have much more complexity, allowing for the creation of lifelike planet surfaces
• No lines/artifacts, unlike the stock shader

The scatter system is also a massive improvement over Squad's implementation:

• Millions of objects can be generated almost instantly using compute shaders
• Each object is drawn using GPU instancing, meaning there are significantly less draw calls. This improves rendering performance massively
• Frustum culling for each object
• Objects are collideable
• On-demand loading

Availability

System Requirements:

Minimum - Scatters disabled:

• CPU: Parallax does not have much of a CPU impact, so this isn't really a concern
• GPU: Must support shader model 3.0,
• RAM: 4GB (With scatter objects disabled)

Minimum - Scatters enabled

• GPU: Must support shader model 5.0
• Renderer: Must be using DirectX 11 - This mod will not run on OpenGL with scatters enabled
  • Must support Async GPU Readback (if you do not know what this is, do not worry)
• RAM: 6GB

Recommended:

• GPU: DirectX 11, Shader Model 5.0
• RAM: 8GB

You can follow Parallax's development here: https://github.com/Gameslinx/Tessellation/

Installation

Instructions for installing Parallax and its scatters:

1. Download Parallax, Parallax_StockTextures and Parallax_ScatterTextures from the GitHub release page.
2. Download and install Kopernicus. Minimum version release 139 or later.
3. Open the Parallax zip and move the Parallax Folder to GameData.
4. Open the Parallax_StockTextures zip and move the Parallax_StockTextures folder to GameData.
5. Open the Parallax_ScatterTextures.zip and move the Parallax_StockTextures folder to GameData, merging it with the existing folder. Yes, they are named the same. This is intentional. Do not miss this step.
6. Launch the game, and set your terrain quality to High. Set your terrain shader quality to High or Ultra. Ultra will enable tessellation.

Optional: This patch will disable the bubbles / life on Eve: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16-nTUbRgQescq4ajQtka1cJnaOzPcgPy/view

Need a video? Check below

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Troubleshooting

Did installation not go as planned? Expand this spoiler to see common errors when installing and how to resolve them.

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm getting a Kopernicus error on the main menu!

  Reveal hidden contents

You have likely failed to install the two textures folders correctly. You must merge the two Parallax_StockTextures folders from both zip files into GameData. Once you've done this, the Parallax_StockTextures folder in GameData should look like this:

I'm getting an infinite loading screen - the planets in the bottom right corner are moving freely and nothing is happening!

  Reveal hidden contents

This is usually due to a bad Kopernicus install, but in some cases can be due to a bad KSP install.

• First, try reinstalling Kopernicus. You need version 139 or later, and must also have the Harmony folder in GameData.
• If that doesn't work, reinstall KSP 1.12.3. Some files may have become corrupted or changed over time after previous mods. This is the best way to ensure the mod runs.

There are no trees or grass in the Space Center view!

  Reveal hidden contents

This is intentional. Right now, scatters don't work in the space center view, and I've not yet figured out how to get them to show.

You will see trees and grass in Flight.

Performance is really bad, my FPS has tanked!

  Reveal hidden contents

This has been reported to help massively boost framerates, and I advise you share these steps with anyone suffering from the same problem. These are the settings I use to ensure the game runs smoothly:

Step 1 - Update your NVIDIA graphics drivers

Step 2 - Replace the settings.cfg in your Kerbal Space Program folder with this: https://mega.nz/file/JEEgTZ5a#BDhp8Vm8WvcbYd3lO2VCIg_3_8xr1I4ns8-He8pQ_PY

Step 3 - Use these NVIDIA settings:

• Right click on your desktop
• If on Windows 11, choose "show more options", otherwise see next step
• Click "NVIDIA Control Panel",
• Click "Manage 3D Settings".
• Click on the "Program Settings" tab
• Find, or add, the KSP_x64.exe in your Kerbal Space Program folder
• Use the following settings. Not all of these settings will appear for you, but that is fine

 

I'm seeing weird flashing artifacts that look like Z-fighting on the ground, how do I fix that?

  Reveal hidden contents

There are two things that cause this.

1. City lights are not compatible with Parallax at the moment. Delete the city lights config from the visual pack that provides them.
2. If city lights are not causing this, Scatterer might. In the scatterer config, make sure "merge depth pre pass" is set to false. If this does not fix it, a reinstall of Scatterer will.

I have a planet mod installed, but Parallax isn't working and/or I'm getting a Kopernicus error on the main menu!

  Reveal hidden contents

If this planet mod supports Parallax 1.3.1, it will not support Parallax 2.0.0.

You will need to remove the Parallax configs for those planet mods until they are updated.

 

FAQ

Right now, there are a few frequently asked questions. I hope I can answer some of them here:

1. What is the performance impact?
   • You can expect to run Parallax fairly well on a GT 960M or better.
2. Is this for stock?
   • Yes! This also works on planet mods that support it.
3. Why are lots of lights laggy?
   • For some reason, KSP uses Unity's "Forward Rendering" path instead of the "Deferred Rendering" path. This means that for every pixel light in the scene, the tessellation is re-calculated. With lots of lights, this can add up very quickly. Until KSP moves to the Deferred rendering path, there is nothing I can do about this.
4. Do I need a NASA Supercomputer?
   • No
5. Does this work with EVE and Scatterer?
   • Yes. Parallax was developed alongside Scatterer, so I recommend for the best results you use them both together.
6. Can I change the settings?
   • There is a config within the GameData/Parallax folder. This controls the quality of the terrain shader as well as options for the scatter system
7. Will you release documentation for modders?
   • Yes, documentation is in the works and will be updated frequently on the github wiki.
8. Does this work with Rescale / Sigma Dimensions?
   • Yes, but check for configs as some values must be adjusted for things to look correct.
9. Can I use textures from Parallax_StockTextures in my own configs?
   • While the license does allow you to use them, I would much prefer if you don't. The stock textures are to improve the stock game. I don't want to see loads of config packs using those textures because it takes away the uniqueness of the ones I created for the stock planets. Please - Don't be lazy, make your own.

Download

You can download Parallax for KSP 1.12.x here:

• Parallax: https://github.com/Gameslinx/Tessellation/releases
• Please read the install instructions.

If you are reporting a bug, if applicable, please let me know the steps to reproduce the error. This is extremely useful.

Donations

If you would like to donate to show thanks for the mod or to support its development, there is a link to my Patreon below. You unlock some cool perks by donating too!

Donations are by no means asked for, but are greatly appreciated. Thank you for downloading the mod or if you're a long time supporter, thank you for sticking with it throughout its development 

 

Licensing

Parallax is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

This means that you are free to share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following conditions:

1. Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
2. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
3. NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

From: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0

how do you change the quality setting it bugs me saying it is low but doesn't give my the option, please can someone advise me as to what to do.

[Coldrifting]

4 hours ago, idkgeek said:

how do you change the quality setting it bugs me saying it is low but doesn't give my the option, please can someone advise me as to what to do.

I think you just change the Terrain quality to high or ultra in the settings page from the main menu.

 

EDIT:

On another note, I can also confirm that using Kerbal Konstruct MapDecals to remove scatters doesn't seem to work for me either. It works for the stock scatters, but seems to have no effect on noise distribution of parallax scatters. I've tried order values around 0, 100,000, and 1,000,000.

Edited September 22, 2022 by Coldrifting

[Kerbin Launch Coalition]

On 9/20/2022 at 6:07 PM, DangerNoodle said:

Oh my, jnsq looks awesome...
Going by the official screenshots, they dont seem to really match parallax's surface textures either.

Yeah JNSQ has its own set of rather beautiful surface textures for each body in the JNSQ stock system. However, due to them sharing the same name as all the stock system bodies (with the exception of the bodies out beyond Jool), the Parallax 2.0 scatters are still implimented on the surface. So, it kinda works out alright.

 

The only real issue I've came across is with regards to icebergs, but that could be fixed I think with some slight editing of the JNSQ Kerbin config file. Though I could be wrong.

[Coldrifting]

25 minutes ago, Kerbin Launch Coalition said:

Yeah JNSQ has its own set of rather beautiful surface textures for each body in the JNSQ stock system. However, due to them sharing the same name as all the stock system bodies (with the exception of the bodies out beyond Jool), the Parallax 2.0 scatters are still implimented on the surface. So, it kinda works out alright.

 

The only real issue I've came across is with regards to icebergs, but that could be fixed I think with some slight editing of the JNSQ Kerbin config file. Though I could be wrong.

I believe that parallax will override JNSQs biome map, so it may just be a coincidence that things appear to work.

[Gameslinx]

Parallax 2.0.3

This is a live release. Please submit issues via GitHub's issues page https://github.com/Gameslinx/Tessellation/issues

Changelog:

Features

• Added Module Manager support for patching ParallaxScatter configs. ParallaxGlobal can also be patched, but only the settings that relate to the scatter system. Below is an example of a working Module Manager patch which makes the grass on Kerbin huge:

@ParallaxScatters:HAS[#body[Kerbin]]:FOR[MyPatch]
{
    @Scatter:HAS[#name[KerbinGrass]]
    {
        %Distribution
        {
            %_MinScale = 1,1,1
	    %_MaxScale = 1,1,1
        }
    }
}

Fixes:

• Fixed NRE spam around bodies which have no terrain. Thanks @linuxgurugamer

On 9/21/2022 at 6:49 PM, Coldrifting said:

Hey @Gameslinx, I've been working on adapting the stock scatters for JNSQ and I was curious what exactly the minimumSubdivision parameter does? Should it be lowered or raised for 2.7 scale? I've noticed that it is both at the top of the config file for each body, and also contained in each individual scatter.

minimumSubdivision refers to the level of detail in which planet quads are subdivided to. Around the craft, the value is the same as the PQS maxLevel of the planet. For Kerbin, this is 10. As distance increases from the craft, quads are not subdivided quite as high and it steps down from the maxLevel until it reaches the minLevel at the back of the planet.

So, minimumSubdivision imposes a hard limit on what quads the scatters are added to. For example, if you have a scatter with a range of 100m you will want a minimumSubdivision of whatever the planet's maxLevel is, because there is no use trying to add scatters to a quad with a lower subdivision level. It will never be reached, and it wastes memory.

If you have a scatter with a range of 100,000, you will want a much lower minimumSubdivision so that they show up.

It's worth noting that even if you have minimumSubdivision set to 1, the range limit will still stop scatters from being added past that range. This just guarantees that scatters will not be added to any quads under this limit.

[WaywardScythe]

@Gameslinx Thanks for the update! somehow it fixed the issue I was having with the game not running at all! it looks gorgeous btw

[mister_goo]

I had a weird glitch. The color of the grass is white or black from a certain angle.

Deleting the `ScattererAtmosphereCache` directory fixed the glitch.

 

The white grass glitch sometimes looks like snow, which is nice.
 

Spoiler

 

[RW-1]

On 9/20/2022 at 4:44 AM, Geektom said:

I have 2 questions

1 will it make ssto landing much harder since the ground become less flat, if so can I choose to do not let those surface objects collidable?

2 can old saves use it?

Sounds like one will have to send landers with paving capabilities for a runway   

[nubrozaref]

Have not seen this discussed, and I was inclined to believe it was just a problem with another mod I have not working, but after seeing Matt Lowne's recent video I'm convinced the problem is related to Parallax. It appears that specifically on or around Minmus waterfall plumes are not rendering properly. It also appears this problem occurs after an install of parallax. Is this a problem of waterfall not being properly configured yet or Parallax writing over the waterfall effects?

 

[Kekkie]

On 9/20/2022 at 2:14 PM, Gameslinx said:

If it does work, Parallax will run. Parallax requires OpenGL 4.3 or later - the version linked is 4.6.

Well, I have an update: this solution does not appear to work properly. The "build_external.sh" file does not open even after I follow the install instructions. Sorry Mac users, but just thought you guys might want the PSA. On the other hand, this might be me being technically inept, so don't take this as word of god.

[Gameslinx]

15 hours ago, mister_goo said:

Deleting the `ScattererAtmosphereCache` directory fixed the glitch.

 

Is this all fixed now? Not happening still?

I've never seen this happening so just want to double check

9 hours ago, nubrozaref said:

Have not seen this discussed, and I was inclined to believe it was just a problem with another mod I have not working, but after seeing Matt Lowne's recent video I'm convinced the problem is related to Parallax. It appears that specifically on or around Minmus waterfall plumes are not rendering properly. It also appears this problem occurs after an install of parallax. Is this a problem of waterfall not being properly configured yet or Parallax writing over the waterfall effects?

If it works on other planets and just fails on Minmus it's probably not Parallax related. I've heard it might be related to temporal anti aliasing (TAA) by either Scatterer or TUFX?