Forums » Windows
There's a neat new 'glow' effect that can be seen in windows if you have a Radeon 8500 or higher or a geforce3 or higher or a matrox parhelia card and are running in DirectX8.1 mode.
This is a test feature so it may not work properly on some cards.
To enable this effect, type /set rglow 1 in the console.
To turn it off, /set rglow 0
The prometheus and itani fighter don't look right in this mode though so beware.
The sun looks cool when it's partially occluded by something.
This is a test feature so it may not work properly on some cards.
To enable this effect, type /set rglow 1 in the console.
To turn it off, /set rglow 0
The prometheus and itani fighter don't look right in this mode though so beware.
The sun looks cool when it's partially occluded by something.
Stupid f*cking TNT2... /me wants to try it...
So far as I could tell, the Valkyrie looks alright with the glow effect on, although it was probably overshiny; it was a bit blurry with a direct sunlight reflection.
The stations are seriously overlit as well, with rglow on; I couldn't read my radar from it. The glow would "spill" out, and appears to flicker with movement from the background, as well. Perhaps if the glow factor were turned down, it might work a bit better.
I do like how it really illuminates the tail ends of ships, though. I didn't get to see any blurring on "photonic" weapon effects, but I suspect they'd be there.
Is there anything else I should be looking for, specifically?
The stations are seriously overlit as well, with rglow on; I couldn't read my radar from it. The glow would "spill" out, and appears to flicker with movement from the background, as well. Perhaps if the glow factor were turned down, it might work a bit better.
I do like how it really illuminates the tail ends of ships, though. I didn't get to see any blurring on "photonic" weapon effects, but I suspect they'd be there.
Is there anything else I should be looking for, specifically?
Addition: THe advertisements are totally illegible, but the warps and warp-particles look coooool.
I think anything that was already lit gets overkill with glow, though.
I think anything that was already lit gets overkill with glow, though.
Heh, yeah, there are a few things that overglow.
Basically anything that has is self-illuminated already will glow.
It's just something to wow the publishers and make the video card people happy that we are using shaders.
The effect does flicker a bit too.
I think the frigate explosion looks much cooler with glow on though.
And you too can play with glow:
There are some cvars that allow you to change the glow values.
g0amp, g0radius, g1amp, g1radius, gatten, gsize.
Think of the glow as 2 gaussian blurs.
gXamp is the amplitude of the curve
gXradius is the width of the curve
gatten is the intensity of the glow (higher number is brighter)
gsize is the max size in pixels of the glow filter
Play around with those if you want, but don't complain if you type in numbers that crash Vendetta because they are too big/small.
Basically anything that has is self-illuminated already will glow.
It's just something to wow the publishers and make the video card people happy that we are using shaders.
The effect does flicker a bit too.
I think the frigate explosion looks much cooler with glow on though.
And you too can play with glow:
There are some cvars that allow you to change the glow values.
g0amp, g0radius, g1amp, g1radius, gatten, gsize.
Think of the glow as 2 gaussian blurs.
gXamp is the amplitude of the curve
gXradius is the width of the curve
gatten is the intensity of the glow (higher number is brighter)
gsize is the max size in pixels of the glow filter
Play around with those if you want, but don't complain if you type in numbers that crash Vendetta because they are too big/small.
Wow, I double-posted. I'm gonna twiddle with settings. The missiles were funny; they were this giant blur of DOOM! I sort of overreacted when this giant white nova of death came at me.
What are the ranges for the values of the new attributes? From 0 to 255? What are the default values? What's the difference between glow 0 and glow 1? I was going to go park somewhere (comparatively) safe and see what results I could produce.
What are the ranges for the values of the new attributes? From 0 to 255? What are the default values? What's the difference between glow 0 and glow 1? I was going to go park somewhere (comparatively) safe and see what results I could produce.
rglow = 0 means glow is off, rglow=1 means glow is on.
gatten range 0-1
gXamp has no limits
gXradius doesn't really have a limit either. But too large (along with very large amplitude) will result in clipping to the max gsize. (ie. 44 pixel white boxes everywhere)
gsize can probably go up to 255.
But beware! increasing gXradius and/or gsize will make it very slow.
The algo is pretty much:
y = gXamp * e^-(x^2)
where x is in the range from -gXradius to +gXradius
So gsize defines over how many pixels to apply this blur function from -(gsize/2) to +(gsize/2) centered on a given pixel.
gatten range 0-1
gXamp has no limits
gXradius doesn't really have a limit either. But too large (along with very large amplitude) will result in clipping to the max gsize. (ie. 44 pixel white boxes everywhere)
gsize can probably go up to 255.
But beware! increasing gXradius and/or gsize will make it very slow.
The algo is pretty much:
y = gXamp * e^-(x^2)
where x is in the range from -gXradius to +gXradius
So gsize defines over how many pixels to apply this blur function from -(gsize/2) to +(gsize/2) centered on a given pixel.
I had performed some fairly crude experiments at best; I'm not familiar with Gaussian anything (much to my shame). I was curious what the difference between g0* and g1* was, and hadn't asked that question well enough previously. My bad.
If that's just something I should know as a function of gaussian math, then I apologize. I'll look it up tomorrow.
If that's just something I should know as a function of gaussian math, then I apologize. I'll look it up tomorrow.
ooops, There are 2 gaussian curves that are used.
g1 and g2.
they are added together. That's about it.
g1 and g2.
they are added together. That's about it.
I tried rglow. Somethings were enhanced by it. Some things weren't. Most things were overlit so you might want to play with the default settings.
The biggest problem is my frame rate literally cut in half from ~115 fps, to about ~57 fps. And its not like I have a weak system.
The biggest problem is my frame rate literally cut in half from ~115 fps, to about ~57 fps. And its not like I have a weak system.
What video card do you have?
glow basically does 22 passes rendering to a 256x256 texture to do the blur effect.
It's not fast by all means.
This is using pixel shaders 1.1 though. Using ps 1.4 or 2.0 would enable the effect to take a few less passes to happen.
To restore the default settings for the glow effect, delete your wgaf.cfg or edit the wgaf.cfg by deleting the lines that the glow cvars are set in.
glow basically does 22 passes rendering to a 256x256 texture to do the blur effect.
It's not fast by all means.
This is using pixel shaders 1.1 though. Using ps 1.4 or 2.0 would enable the effect to take a few less passes to happen.
To restore the default settings for the glow effect, delete your wgaf.cfg or edit the wgaf.cfg by deleting the lines that the glow cvars are set in.
Having read that, I discovered I lost about 25% of my framerate as well--it's normally around 32, and it dropped to 25 (rough averages). Mind you, I had also twiddled with my settings to reduce the glare from the station docking bays.
Though this part belongs in suggestions, may I propose the glow effect be placed on missiles actively seeking you, and possibly also on people shooting at you? A nice, coloured glow, of course. (I like the concept of aureoles and swift visual recognition.)
I remarked, with my present settings, that diving from the sun now becomes a potentially good tactic. The sun's glowing glare suppresses the glare from rockets and cannon fire.
Though this part belongs in suggestions, may I propose the glow effect be placed on missiles actively seeking you, and possibly also on people shooting at you? A nice, coloured glow, of course. (I like the concept of aureoles and swift visual recognition.)
I remarked, with my present settings, that diving from the sun now becomes a potentially good tactic. The sun's glowing glare suppresses the glare from rockets and cannon fire.
The glow effect isn't meant to be used selectively like that. It's more meant to simulate a glare that you get when looking at objects that have extremely differing contrasts (or gammas) like looking outside into a bright day from inside a dark room.
It acts more of a lens effect and it's not easy to control what creates glare and what doesn't.
It's a whole-scene effect and no matter what you are looking at with glow on, it will be the same speed penalty.
It acts more of a lens effect and it's not easy to control what creates glare and what doesn't.
It's a whole-scene effect and no matter what you are looking at with glow on, it will be the same speed penalty.
It doesn't seem to work in 3.2.5. Was it pulled?
I got it to work in 3.2.4 on my GeForce 4, but nothing happens in 3.2.5
I got it to work in 3.2.4 on my GeForce 4, but nothing happens in 3.2.5
Hm, it wasn't removed. Maybe it got turned off? rglow should be = 1.
Hey! when do we Mac folks get this feature?
Heh, as soon as the mac gets ARB_fragment_program support. ;)
Actually, I am working on using the ATI_text_fragment_shader extension, but that will only work on Radeon 8500 and up.
Actually, I am working on using the ATI_text_fragment_shader extension, but that will only work on Radeon 8500 and up.
im running directx 8.1 with a gf4 4800 (or whatever its the128 meg gf4 that was super expensive several months ago)
i was in the red sector and tried turning it on /set rglow 1 .. nothing happend?
running 3.2.5
it *should* work but it doesnt why?
i was in the red sector and tried turning it on /set rglow 1 .. nothing happend?
running 3.2.5
it *should* work but it doesnt why?
For some reason it stopped working. I don't know why. A couple guys here had the same problem, also with gf4 cards.
The next update is working for us though so it should for you when it is released.
The next update is working for us though so it should for you when it is released.
ummm this might sound strange,but that thing has been on since i installed this game and i never turned it on.....just turned it off...dang im keeping it on:)