Mmmmmm ambient occluuuusion....

[NeoHazard 10]

For those who have the newer graphics cards that support ambient occlusion from setups such as the Nvidia control panel. I suggest trying it out by turning it on for your Arma 2 profile. It's pretty neat looking as it adds depth to things like grass, making them appear full and less 2-dimensional. I didn't notice a framerate hit for myself.

The problem is that ambient occlusion of course isn't fully supported for Arma. So, things like power lines will have an unnecessary dark halo around them. Also, the thermal optics are totally messed up by ambient occlusion's effect. So for serious gameplay I would leave it off. It's just something cool to look at in the meantime.

[T.S.C.Plage 0]

How can AO work if you don't have any AO maps?

[xXxatrush1987 10]

arrowhead has build in ambient occlusion:

from post fx medium to very high the strenght of the ambient occlusion effekt changes.

[NeoHazard 10]

How can AO work if you don't have any AO maps?

The Geforce 480GTX figures it out. Trust me, there is a lot of extra shading when I set AO to 'quality' in the control panel.

AO Off in Nvidia CP:

AO On in Nvidia CP:

[T.S.C.Plage 0]

I'm not so into the materia but as far as I understand it you need to have baked AO maps to get it work. The only thing I found are some ambient shadow ("_as") textures but I don't think these are occlusion maps or am I wrong?

/edit: The screens make it quite clear but I still wonder how it works?

Edited August 9, 2010 by T.S.C.Plage

[CameronMcDonald 146]

I've been enjoying AO in ArmA 2 for quite some time now - it's excellent, and no discernible effect on performance.

[TimRiceSE 10]

I'm not so into the materia but as far as I understand it you need to have baked AO maps to get it work. The only thing I found are some ambient shadow ("_as") textures but I don't think these are occlusion maps or am I wrong?

/edit: The screens make it quite clear but I still wonder how it works?

mmmmmagic

[soul_assassin 1750]

thnx for the suggestion! looks cool

[bensdale 0]

@NeoHazard

Which post fx settings have you set in the arma oa options?

I set very low and after enable AO in the Nvidia CP (GTX 470) i lost 40% FPS.

[NeoHazard 10]

@NeoHazard

Which post fx settings have you set in the arma oa options?

I set very low and after enable AO in the Nvidia CP (GTX 470) i lost 40% FPS.

I have post FX set to 'Very High.' I haven't tested it on the other settings to confirm any performance anomolies. So it goes, this sim is finicky about its consistency across hardware combinations.

[rstratton 0]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Space_Ambient_Occlusion

[megagoth1702 252]

SSAO is in Arrowhead by default, getting activated by Post Process Effects - Normal -> Very high.

So if you dont want it, set PPE to LOW, everythiing above and on normal will activate it.

Performance drops in areas with a lot of objects (trees, grass, buildings, chairs etc), on desert maps it is perfect though.

[NeoHazard 10]

SSAO is in Arrowhead by default, getting activated by Post Process Effects - Normal -> Very high.

So if you dont want it, set PPE to LOW, everythiing above and on normal will activate it.

Performance drops in areas with a lot of objects (trees, grass, buildings, chairs etc), on desert maps it is perfect though.

I've never really noticed much of a native ssao in the sim. Most of what I see is dynamic shadowing, but not much along the lines of soft shadowing from occluding surfaces.

EDIT: I just fiddled with the POSTFX settings and switched them a little and I noticed the changes in the ambient occlusion. It's very subtle. Thats good tho. I'll leave Nvidia MegaAO off since it messes with the thermals.

Edited August 10, 2010 by NeoHazard

[CarlGustaffa 4]

on desert maps it is perfect though.

Use town module on desert map, and add #lightpoint. Major performance hit. I forgot to try without PP though, so I'm not sure if it is due to "editor placed" objects or SSAO being activated.