Just installed Custom Shaders Patch

Elaphe · Feb 28, 2020

Today I've installed the Custom Shaders Patch from Content Manager. I had heard good things about it but I was scared about the performance penalty and that my computer wasn't able to manage it (I'm using VR with high quality settings). However, to my surprise, the performance is the same. The game now looks better, with better lights and shadows. I also love the realistic mirrows. I have not noticed much else? Am I missing something?

What settings should I take a look as regards the Shaders Patch configuration page? I have those settings as default.

I disabled the Natural weather mod and the Oculus Natural Filter mod, which I had previously installed. Do I need them now that I have the Custom Shaders Patch?

What is SOL for? Everybody raves about it. Should I consider installing it? What does it add or improves over the Custom Shaders Patch? Will I get a performance hit? Is it just for night driving? I must say I'm not interesting in night driving nor driving with rain.

I've also noticed that Nords track surface and colors are different. Was this modified with the latest version of AC? or does it have to do with this patch? I must say I had to update my Assetto Corsa version because Content Manager told me do do so if I wanted to use Custom Shaders Patch.

Stereo · Feb 28, 2020

Sol is a big step up on weather appearances, I'm not sure whether you get stock AC or the simplified weather without it. If you want improved daytime appearance in clear weather it's still worth it but it mainly looks nice on cloudy days. Even if you don't want to drive at night it also expands it out to sunrise/sunset which AC doesn't really have otherwise, and corrects the sun position for day of the year etc..

Nords track surface things will be a CSP feature either "seasonal adjustments" in WeatherFX or just a random dude's track config preferences, personally I have it turned off cause I don't like it.

Elaphe · Feb 28, 2020

I have taken a look at car configs, car textures, track configs, track vao and backgrounds and see longs lists, with some "yes" and a lot of "no". The ticked option is "install automatically". Does this mean that the game will download the neccesary stuff when I select a car or track? Should I click the option to install all entries manually or is it not recommended?

I have not found anything related to the Nords new track texture. Disabling Seasonal adjustments from the Weather FX tab makes no difference.

racinjoe013 · Feb 28, 2020

Elaphe said:
I have taken a look at car configs, car textures, track configs, track vao and backgrounds and see longs lists, with some "yes" and a lot of "no". The ticked option is "install automatically". Does this mean that the game will download the neccesary stuff when I select a car or track? Should I click the option to install all entries manually or is it not recommended?

I have not found anything related to the Nords new track texture. Disabling Seasonal adjustments from the Weather FX tab makes no difference.

Can't remember exactly what it says because I have no updates available at this time, but under install automatically it will list the number of files that have not been updated yet or needs new updates. That's why you see all the no's. Just go ahead and click on it and let it update anything that hasn't been updated yet. I personally check once every other day to see if anything new needs updated. You could also leave the automatic on and I think (not an expert on CM so don't take this as the truth) when you choose to drive a track, it will check to see there is an update for that track, but only that track. That's why I always check and update manually so that everything gets updated, not just the track i'm using.

Stereo · Feb 28, 2020

I have it on manual car/track configs and I only install them if the track is broken without them, as I said I don't like the modifications some make, and like you, I'm not that interested in driving at night.

Most common visual artifact you'll have is a black area between the distant scenery and the sky, if you see this you need a config. This is due to an optimization in CSP that improves framerates but requires tracks to have the correct material flags set, which even some Kunos tracks don't since in base AC it coincidentally turns out fine. Tracks also in general will have no lights at night without a config, sounds like that's not important to you.

Elaphe · Feb 29, 2020

And how can I revert a track to its stock state? I run Nords 90% of the time and I don't like the new blueish tarmac. Can that be edited? Can anyone post a snapshot of this track to compare it with mine?

racinjoe013 · Feb 29, 2020

Hopefully you made a backup of your AC folder before you started installing the CSP\Sol stuff. If so, you can revert back by restoring your backup. You could also try a different post processing filter to give everything a warmer tone. Sol tends to lean towards the blue side. I made ones with warmer tones because of that blue look you are talking about. You could also use the Sol Config app from within the game to adjust the white balance setting yourself. Increase it to make things less blue. Or, and i'm not sure about this one, I think if you right click on a track in the update screens there are some options there. Maybe one of them is to delete the update. You might have to go track by track.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will know a better way to delete the changes that the track updates made so hopefully they will chime in.

manc0ntr0 · Feb 29, 2020

Elaphe said:
And how can I revert a track to its stock state? I run Nords 90% of the time and I don't like the new blueish tarmac. Can that be edited? Can anyone post a snapshot of this track to compare it with mine?

Go to the extension folder, inside there is another called config or so which contains the.ini files downloaded for the tracks and cars. Search for the Nords one and delete it.

Elaphe · Feb 29, 2020

I've installed SOL and it requested me to update Custom Shaders Patch to a specific version. I don't understand: if it's a fresh install, why is it not already updated? Anyway, now Nords tarmac look better. Actually, comparing the screenshots, it's different. In general the colors look better now, although less contrasted and shiny. Performance is good, only with problems at night or with rain, but those are circumstances that I don't like for driving, so no worries. By the way, is there any difference between selecting the SOL filter adn the SOL_VR (which I suppose it-s for virtual reality)? What are the other SOL filters listed? Also, is there a way to define random weather situations but with custom configurations (for instance, from 9:00 to 18:00 and only clear, few clous, scattered clouds, and overcast?

manc0ntr0 · Feb 29, 2020

Sol and CSP are different mods, but work together. That's the reason why Sol needs at least X version of CSP, because it has some functionality that Sol needs to work as expected

Ian Cameron · Feb 29, 2020

Does anyone know what this is? it appears under all cars at several points in the track. Have noticed it on Silverstone and Red Bull. This was noticed after the current version of Sol and latest CSP

Elaphe · Mar 1, 2020

I have found a way to disable weather types: go to content / miscellaneous, weather, and there you can see the list with all conditions, both stock and Sol. At the bottom left of your screen you can select "Disable". So, now when you select drive / weather, only the enabled types are displayed. This also applies if you select random weather.

Now, let's find out if this can also be achieved for a custom time interval.

Cobalt765 · May 2, 2020

Sorry to hijack but wasn't able to start a new thread.
All of a sudden my screen is black on the drive screen. Loading screen looks odd too. Not changed anything since it last worked except cloned by Hard drive to a new one however AC is on SSD.

Any idea what might cause this? This is another case I've found the same however no resolution.

Edit - I forgot that I did uninstall my GPU using DDU then reinstalled to get my Nvidia shield working.

Ben Lee · May 6, 2020

I dont wish to hijack either, but ive installed CSP for the first time just into my vanilla AC install (no content manager). The image of the tracks now looks very overexposed, grass and tarmac look too bright and there is flickering on the trees. Any way to improve these things?

Thanks.

GeekyDeaks · May 6, 2020

I had the same problem until I also installed the Sol PP shader. I didn't play a huge amount, but the tree flickering appeared to be related to the shadows as increasing the resolution or disabling them seemed to resolve it and the washed out track seemed to be related to the time/date the event was set for.

LTNINGFan · May 6, 2020

GeekyDeaks said:
I had the same problem until I also installed the Sol PP shader. I didn't play a huge amount, but the tree flickering appeared to be related to the shadows as increasing the resolution or disabling them seemed to resolve it and the washed out track seemed to be related to the time/date the event was set for.

Yup, I had been reading up on all that before I downloaded CSP, and it was strongly suggested to get SOL. Luckily I have had no issues, yet.

LTNINGFan · May 6, 2020

Ben Lee said:
I dont wish to hijack either, but ive installed CSP for the first time just into my vanilla AC install (no content manager). The image of the tracks now looks very overexposed, grass and tarmac look too bright and there is flickering on the trees. Any way to improve these things?

Thanks.

I recommend you get Content Manager (full version), as it makes the game so much better. A literal game-changer.