Some wip projects

[AndreasFSC]

 

[AndreasFSC]

I have worked a LOT on some issues in the game shadows, because I think they are important for the whole game experience.
One thing was shadows flickering/disappearing in some view angles. It seems I have finally found a solution, this is much better now.

The other thing is that shadow objects casts shadows in 2 directions. Because the shadows are projections over the scene, shadows are also added on a shadow receiver object if it is between the shadow caster and the light, as seen on the hood of the Alfa Romeo in this picture:

The big problem with this are some odd looking shadows when cars are close to each others.
I have finally found a way to (probably) solve this, but it needs more work first, because it adds some shadow flickering on its own...

 

[Kenny Paton]

Raceroom should really get in touch with you

 

[Sven Hielscher]

I have forgotten what this answer was about...

Well, there are links in every quote back to the original post. The question to the answer is just a click away But it was about the hard-coded fuel density...

 

[AndreasFSC]

Fine-tuning the last things on the shaders now. They are needed for the first groupA test version. The core calculations are updated, and the special versions are updated. The DX8 versions (where they can't be excluded) are also updated to match DX9 versions as close as possible for consistency.

The car shadows should work much better now with less flickering.

I think that the car ghost transparency problem should finally be possible to solve also.

 

[AndreasFSC]

The first early beta version of TCL might be released tomorrow together with a slightly modified version of the shaders.
Ai driving needs some tweaking (expect some spins!), and there are probably some other bugs too, but I think it's better to release this way than wait forever. (There are so many things in the game to explore and possibly edit )
It is also easier fore someone else to potentially continue the work on the TCL cars if something is released.

 

[AndreasFSC]

Status update

Released:
TCL: first version released, also updates to Super Touring cars and tracks and to shaders.

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WIP projects:
TTA/STCC
* Possibly add new AO shadows to car textures + minor tweaks

STCC 2003 and ETCC 2002
* Have to balance the performance of the cars and improve the visuals slightly for a more even look. Haven't still decided what to do about car ID's, but will probably reuse ID's, maybe from BTC-T mod.
- maybe release a 'halfway' version instead of trying to fix all?

Touring car legends
* Fixing things, add more seasons including more cars now and then. Probably ETCC seasons next.

Fiesta cup 1998 (Toca 2)
* Nothing new here for the moment.

Super Touring Experience
* Nothing new here for the moment. The plan is to finish the simulator part first before adding more in race simulations.

 

[AndreasFSC]

Today I have found what prevents shadows from being projected also in the wrong direction.
It was included in the original shadow shader, but some other things gives the very uneven shadows as often seen when car is in garage.
So now I try to add this back in the new shadows shaders, and as seen below the SAAB car casts shadows on the Dacia (a little bit on rear wheel) as it should, but there are no shadow from the Dacia car on the SAAB anymore: much better!

But there is still a problem as can be seen on the roof of the Dacia. For track objects that casts low texture shadows on cars this "filter" only works on full-alpha texture pixels, resulting in these funny shapes when close to the garage...

 

[AndreasFSC]

Minor TTA/STCC update in progress.
Baked AO shadows, a few shape and normals tweaks and updated TorqueStab values

 

[holacrosty]

cubes, dlls, feedback for andreas

 

[AndreasFSC]

cubes, dlls, feedback for andreas

Thanks for your feedback, it is appreciated even if I don't always reply or I can add things as suggested. Some things can possibly be added in the future.
I have added some dll's in Race Remaster as well, I will look closer at your suggestions.

I'll try to update the TTA/STCC mod first, then hopefully I can try to help to convert the latest updates to GTR2. There seems to be some small but still crucial differences between how the games use the shaders.

 

[holacrosty]

well if in case, this notes may help

 

[AndreasFSC]

STCC/TTA cars don't look too bad. Most updates are made now.
I'll be away from the modding computer for some days now, so the work has to wait for a while.
By the way there is a strange green square on the picture.

This is the beginning of directX injection and hopefully postprocessing.
I have been studying basic directx 9 and some more c++ coding.

 

[holacrosty]

Actually.. this is the first time they are looking really cool.
But dont leave me without the shadows.
Let me say that double-direction casted shadow and dissapearing when lens-flare, you have solved problems that been there for ever and always dislike.

 

[AndreasFSC]

Just a quick thing (very busy for the moment)
This is in game postprocessing.
Have only been able to render menu cars to a texture and added back using a screen shader so far (increased red color values as a debug thing), but this is the most important thing.
The game can now load and compile a special .fx file. Screenshot is from low-res windowed mode.

With some adjustments it should be able to load the FHDR.fx file of the volvo game, but I plan for something else.

 

[AndreasFSC]

Trying to get rendered depth, doesn't work yet.

 

[AndreasFSC]

Post processing bloom, way too much...

Sorry for not answering pm's, I am far behind in many ways, very busy for the moment

 

[AndreasFSC]

Getting better but more tweaking is needed to get it right. If only I could access the depth-buffer (I have access to it, but can't get any values other than 1 or 0) it would be very useful.

On the wishlist right now:
* Full screen shadowmapping
* A soft depth of field effect
* Ui excluded from postprocessing

The post processing will only be used if the game antialiazing is used.
Will probable make an .ini text file where post processing can be turned on/off
The new d3d9.dll proxy framework version that I use for this and also for other game tweaks seems to be more stable, sometimes the old version stopped when a car in the select menu didn't load fast enough. On the other hand it seems to be more sensible for alt-tabing.

 

[Don_Osmo]

Looking good.

 

[AndreasFSC]

I think this could be the right bloom amount.
The effect is most noticeable on white cars and white details obviously.

 

[abrimaal]

The last scene looks like HDRized