General Discussion (dev branch)

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Bring back the ability to place street lights, lamps, and base lights in the Editor.

[NeuroFunker 11]

Protoype implementation of HDAO method for ambient occlusion computation. It's available only for DX11 GPUs (uses compute shaders). Can be found in video options in AO settings.

yess, about time! :)

[maddogx 13]

• Protoype implementation of HDAO method for ambient occlusion computation. It's available only for DX11 GPUs (uses compute shaders). Can be found in video options in AO settings.
  

Interesting.

I had never heard of "HDAO" before today and assumed it was a typo of HBAO, but apparently I was wrong; it does exist. I haven't been able to test it yet, but judging by screenshots from other games it should look pretty good. Must check it out later. :)

[roberthammer 582]

Hmm HDAO - thats a performance killer as hell (atleast what i heard) , cant test it ingame since i got my old gpu still ...

Edited January 9, 2014 by RobertHammer

[Minoza 11]

Nice! Can't wait to test it out! I'd love to see HBAO+ though. Splinter Cell implementation looks amazing and performs great.

[Alwarren 2765]

Hmm HDAO - thats a performance killer as hell (atleast what i heard) , cant test it ingame since i got my old gpu still ...

Just tried it, it's not that bad. In one scene my framerate drops from 43 to 39. It introduces the ugly black halo around character though that I always hated with real time AO.

[NeuroFunker 11]

Just tried it, it's not that bad. In one scene my framerate drops from 43 to 39. It introduces the ugly black halo around character though that I always hated with real time AO.

it's effects is still more quality and not so washed out unlike SSAO, looks more like a soft shadow then black aura.

[Minoza 11]

Just tried it, it's not that bad. In one scene my framerate drops from 43 to 39. It introduces the ugly black halo around character though that I always hated with real time AO.

Not all ssao implementations suffer from this though. I'm a bit disappointed to hear that this one does.

Edited January 9, 2014 by Minoza

[NeuroFunker 11]

Now we need shadow draw distance slider, let say max to 2km. Also i'm curious, what about grass draw disatnce slider? Totally different game, called Gothic 3, has very far grass draw distance, can be cranked up same as object draw distance. It looks outstanding, seeing grass at such far distances and not boring textures. And it has nearly no performance inpact.

[Dwarden 1124]

Just tried it, it's not that bad. In one scene my framerate drops from 43 to 39. It introduces the ugly black halo around character though that I always hated with real time AO.

pleas provide screenshot+ FeedbackTraker ticket URL thanks

[roberthammer 582]

Now we need shadow draw distance slider, let say max to 2km. Also i'm curious, what about grass draw disatnce slider? Totally different game, called Gothic 3, has very far grass draw distance, can be cranked up same as object draw distance. It looks outstanding, seeing grass at such far distances and not boring textures. And it has nearly no performance inpact.

+1 i agree , not sure on that grass tho that might be too much fps hit on rv engine ofc

[Brisse 78]

Testing HDAO as we speak on my Radeon HD6950. Performance impact lower than I expected so I'm going to keep using it :)

Can't decide which one looks best out of low, medium, high so I'm going to keep it at low. Only difference I noticed except performance hit was that the effect is more pronounced on low and less pronounced on high.

FPS varies between 40 and 60 while running around Kamino with plenty of empty vehicles placed all over Kamino. Very few AI is present. We all know FPS would drop if there was more AI activity ;)

My settings can be seen in theese screenshots:

http://oi43.tinypic.com/2s9zwhf.jpg

http://oi42.tinypic.com/24whxue.jpg

http://oi41.tinypic.com/2n1b444.jpg

Tested on this computer:

M5A99x EVO | 1100T@4013MHz | H70 | 16GB Vengeance 1600MHz | 2*Force 3 240GB | 6950 DirectCU II Unlocked shaders and slight overclock | XonarEssenceSTX | TX650 | Antec900 |

Edited January 9, 2014 by Brisse

[Alwarren 2765]

pleas provide screenshot+ FeedbackTraker ticket URL thanks

Feedback tracker: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=16800

Screenshots:

http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/685971522324606410/F64836BE109EFA45850354486ECCC45145DD5BF1/

http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/685971522324608932/51FBF052BCFDA616FA8782D3E982C022C4BA23EF/

The problem is that the halo is view dependent. A shadow would not move around. I find this very distracting, and it is the reason I never liked real-time ambient occlusion.

[NeuroFunker 11]

Feedback tracker: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=16800

Screenshots:

http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/685971522324606410/F64836BE109EFA45850354486ECCC45145DD5BF1/

http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/685971522324608932/51FBF052BCFDA616FA8782D3E982C022C4BA23EF/

The problem is that the halo is view dependent. A shadow would not move around. I find this very distracting, and it is the reason I never liked real-time ambient occlusion.

well, looks like body cast shadow on the wall behind to me.

[roberthammer 582]

also It does look that way when you are not near the wall?

like this http://i.imgur.com/poOTp.jpg ? if not then its good

Edited January 9, 2014 by RobertHammer

[NeuroFunker 11]

also It does look that way when you are not near the wall?

like this http://i.imgur.com/poOTp.jpg ? if not then its good

lol no way, far cry 3 is a good example how NOT to use HDAO ;)

[nikiforos 450]

Ofcourse all changes are good but I miss essential changes that will make the game run better. Everything else is eye candy and not a priority IMO.

[Brisse 78]

Ofcourse all changes are good but I miss essential changes that will make the game run better. Everything else is eye candy and not a priority IMO.

You have not heard of the "performance binary" for dedicated servers, have you?

[Alwarren 2765]

well, looks like body cast shadow on the wall behind to me.

A shadow wouldn't move with the camera. This isn't a shadow, it's a halo.

---------- Post added at 14:51 ---------- Previous post was at 14:50 ----------

also It does look that way when you are not near the wall?

like this http://i.imgur.com/poOTp.jpg ? if not then its good

Luckily, no. Far Cry 3 had a really crappy AO.

[nikiforos 450]

You have not heard of the "performance binary" for dedicated servers, have you?

Of course, but I have seen many notifications of performance improvements during my years with Arma and most of them result in zero performance improvements.

I'm sure that the BIS guys are trying but I'm not sure what kind of priorities they have. I already have friends that are talking of abandoning the game and I certainly hope that BIS can prove them wrong.

Edited January 9, 2014 by Nikiforos

[Minoza 11]

Testing HDAO as we speak on my Radeon HD6950. Performance impact lower than I expected so I'm going to keep using it :)

Can't decide which one looks best out of low, medium, high so I'm going to keep it at low. Only difference I noticed except performance hit was that the effect is more pronounced on low and less pronounced on high.

FPS varies between 40 and 60 while running around Kamino with plenty of empty vehicles placed all over Kamino. Very few AI is present. We all know FPS would drop if there was more AI activity ;)

Most likely due to sampling increase. It seems less pronounced but it's actually being more precise.

[Brisse 78]

Most likely due to sampling increase. It seems less pronounced but it's actually being more precise.

Yes of course. But there is no reason to have more precision (and big hit on FPS) when there is no improvement on visuals. At least to me, there is no improvement. HDAO low seems to be the way to go, at least in my case.

[Bouben 3]

also It does look that way when you are not near the wall?

like this http://i.imgur.com/poOTp.jpg ? if not then its good

Yes it does. At least on my PC.

[vbawol 47]

First time posting I hope this is in the right place.

Dev build 1.09.114092 and Persistence = 1 with gametype Sandbox or Unknown. Put items into any vehicle, logout and back in then check the cargo and it will now only have the the default items ie 2 FirstAidKits.

A few dev builds ago RPG gametype seemed to have this behavior so I switched to Sandbox and that solved it. Now with the latest dev patch it is happening again with Sandbox and Unknown gametypes.

Also, it would be nice to know what intended features each gametype is supposed to provide if any: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Multiplayer_Game_Types

[Dwarden 1124]

Of course, but I have seen many notifications of performance improvements during my years with Arma and most of them result in zero performance improvements.

I'm sure that the BIS guys are trying but I'm not sure what kind of priorities they have. I already have friends that are talking of abandoning the game and I certainly hope that BIS can prove them wrong.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?169944-Arma-3-STABLE-server-1-08-quot-performance-binary-quot-feedback&p=2576005&viewfull=1#post2576005

more reading, server joining and testing less complaining ;) ;)