Visual Upgrade – Feedback

[2nd ranger 282]

If there was any improvement to shadows, I think priority should be A: terrain casting shadows, and B: shadows being cast by light sources other than sun and moon. Also that really annoying thing where you turn too far in a certain direction and shadows disappear altogether.

[da12thMonkey 1943]

I've been thinking the same for a while. Some of the shadows seem sharp enough to cut grass, oddly structures' shadows look more diffuse than object and vehicle shadows.

 

http://tof.canardpc.com/view/2d190dd7-0b23-417f-9556-6edc2e70f3a2.jpg

http://tof.canardpc.com/view/fb33421e-4ccf-49fd-a45e-7bd838421e15.jpg

http://tof.canardpc.com/view/97819f11-ebfa-4874-b9cd-07a8fd5d9b87.jpg

http://tof.canardpc.com/view/b49234e8-cc79-4929-a208-af5e81aecf4d.jpg

 

Since HBAO+ was introduced in Arma3, I had hoped we would get some more optional goodies like PCSS or TXAA.

 

That's because vehicles, units etc. use CPU stencil shadows where everything else in the game uses GPU shadowbuffer.

 

 

"Stencil shadows are still present in the game for certain objects (characters and vehicles). The reason is that they look better in some circumstances such as first-person view. We have removed the option to force stencil shadows for all objects as it didn't help performance nor quality (which it did in the past). This removal also allows us to automatically generate shadow LODs (using shadow maps) for objects. This lets us speed up building art production, and might help community terrain creators in a similar way."

https://dev.arma3.com/post/sitrep-00143

 

i.e. the shadowbuffer isn't precise enough to generate shadows for small detailed objects like you would see in the first person view when carrying weapons, or the cockpit of a vehicle.

[andersson 285]

Hi googlova et al,

 

I revisited the topic of the "missing sun" or at least "missing sun warmth" of the visual upgrade and this is the best I came up with (bottom right you can see the watermark on the dev build one); and to say yet, the weather setting was completely "clear" on both shots - in fact I created the first pic on dev build the way i placed the player initially in 3DEN editor and then just reverted to stable build and only loaded the same scenario to take the second screenshot.

 

 

EDIT: Btw., do you see what happens to some of the arid vegetation on the floor in front of the player? Some of the shrubs just disappear and the grass becomes a little juicier.

I prefer the new colder picture.

[FoxFort 341]

Hi googlova et al,

 

I revisited the topic of the "missing sun" or at least "missing sun warmth" of the visual upgrade and this is the best I came up with (bottom right you can see the watermark on the dev build one); and to say yet, the weather setting was completely "clear" on both shots - in fact I created the first pic on dev build the way i placed the player initially in 3DEN editor and then just reverted to stable build and only loaded the same scenario to take the second screenshot.

 

I like both settings and if possible both should been used, if possible during the winter months we should get the new "colder" look, but during other seasons the old one with sun warmth.

[alleycat 28]

The new visual upgrade is destroying the visuals of arma. Colors are too washed out, shadows under trees, which previously had great AO shadows are ruined too. Full moon nights are almost pitch black. I think some lead developer wanted it to have that PBR look without the actual physically based rendering systems and forced a graphics programmer to do it. Now the game looks like a poor man's GTA 5.

 

Before this upgrade the light/dark balance was just perfect. Arma3  was the first arma game without messed up color correction and messed up HDR. For comparison, Arma2 had this catastrophic HDR that made the game look like you are playing with sunglasses. And Takistan had this messed up brown color correction over everything, ruining the color balance. However whatever devil was riding the design lead, was not riding him anymore on the PMC addon map, because there the messed up brown filter was gone.

And this upgrade ruins it. I know it is still being tweaked, but I don't think this is damage that can be repaired.

 

 

 

Altis is already a place where happy colors go to die. The last thing this island needs is even more of color vibrancy being sucked out. But the worst casualty of this are the AO tree shadows.

[twistking 204]

I like both settings and if possible both should been used, if possible during the winter months we should get the new "colder" look, but during other seasons the old one with sun warmth.

 

I disagree. Warm colour temperature for summer and cold colour temperature for winter is a artistic effect or dramatization that is in no way rooted in reality and therefore should only be used as a special effect on per mission basis and not for general lighting.

[alleycat 28]

I disagree. Warm colour temperature for summer and cold colour temperature for winter is a artistic effect or dramatization that is in no way rooted in reality and therefore should only be used as a special effect on per mission basis and not for general lighting.

I strongly agree with twistking. color correction to "enhance mood" has ruined a lot of games' color balance for the last decade. An example is Takistan on Arma2. They tinted everything brown. The sun does not care whether it's a summer or winter day or whether it is world war 2, it will still shine in the same colors. Namely almost pure white, only changed by dusk or dawn times, where the light travels farther through the atmosphere.

[FoxFort 341]

Well there is that situation that during the winter season that Earth is on different angle and more further from the Sun, there for the Sun doesn't shine with same strenght or warmth, at least when comes to Altis which is in Agean sea. If we see those images from user "fireball", you can't have the same warmth feeling with new settings, when comes to clear sky.

I like new settings but I also like that sun warmth effect of old settings, since it's island in Agean sea, it should lean more towards old sun warmth effect but still use new settings.

[dunedain 48]

Actually Earth is closest from the Sun in January. It's Earth's axis that causes seasons not its distance to the sun.

[FoxFort 341]

Actually Earth is closest from the Sun in January. It's Earth's axis that causes seasons not its distance to the sun.

Yes you're right it's the Earth axis not really about earth distance

[gibonez 18]

WTF is pbr ?

[en3x 209]

Physically based rendering.Ryze was on the first game sporting this feature.It's basing textures off of real world values.

 

http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/beginners-guide-physically-based-rendering-unity

[PuFu 4600]

The new visual upgrade is destroying the visuals of arma. Colors are too washed out, shadows under trees, which previously had great AO shadows are ruined too. Full moon nights are almost pitch black. I think some lead developer wanted it to have that PBR look without the actual physically based rendering systems and forced a graphics programmer to do it. Now the game looks like a poor man's GTA 5.

 

Before this upgrade the light/dark balance was just perfect. Arma3  was the first arma game without messed up color correction and messed up HDR. For comparison, Arma2 had this catastrophic HDR that made the game look like you are playing with sunglasses. And Takistan had this messed up brown color correction over everything, ruining the color balance. However whatever devil was riding the design lead, was not riding him anymore on the PMC addon map, because there the messed up brown filter was gone.

And this upgrade ruins it. I know it is still being tweaked, but I don't think this is damage that can be repaired.

 

 

 

 

Altis is already a place where happy colors go to die. The last thing this island needs is even more of color vibrancy being sucked out. But the worst casualty of this are the AO tree shadows.

1. it has nothing to do with PBR. You obviously are have little to no idea what PBR is if you compare it. Physically Based Rendering doesn't mean every other game engine would look the same. Please do some reading

2. you have more controls where you can adjust everything from brightness to contrast to color saturation. Also, HDRI settings does make a difference now. 

3. understand that this is still a work in progress. while each can have his own opinion on the subject, i always love MORE options to adjust it to my own liking, and also, overall the new lighting seems to be really well received.

 

WTF is pbr ?

do you know what google is? or what it is used for?

[PTV-Jobo 820]

I'm not sure if I was seeing things or not, maybe anyone else on Dev build that uses a little DOF can tell me, but when the visual update first came out I noticed I could easily boost my DOF setting past 45 to around 115 before reticles start visually going weird (looking like I'm crossing my eyes or something). However with the recent patch update to the Dev build, it looks like it reverted back and I had to set it back to my old setting. Has any other DOF users noticed this at all with the introduction to the visual upgrade, or have I finally snapped and gone completely cuckoo? lol  :wacko:  :huh:  :lol:

[Vasily.B 529]

People, can you read? You know what for Developers giving you option named SATURATION? Just increase it..... jeez.

[jumpinghubert 49]

 

 

 

Altis is already a place where happy colors go to die. The last thing this island needs is even more of color vibrancy being sucked out. But the worst casualty of this are the AO tree shadows.

Are these screens made with steam overlay? If yes, this method isn´t able to copy the ingame brightness and gamma settings. Before I used reshade I reduced gamma to 0.7 and maxed brightness out to get good results. I use afterburner for screenshots, it takes over both settings. I think default new visuals are better than default stable, but modified stable are better than all kinds of modified dev version (at the current state (yesterday)). We have now 5! sliders, 2x gamma, 2x brightness and 1x saturation....not easy to find the sweet spot :p

[Defunkt 431]

<Pic>

 

Altis is already a place where happy colors go to die. The last thing this island needs is even more of color vibrancy being sucked out. But the worst casualty of this are the AO tree shadows.

The image on the right (Visual Update) looks more authentic to me (though I don't much care for the way the trees in Dev switch down sooner LOD-wise).

 

 

We have now 5! sliders, 2x gamma, 2x brightness and 1x saturation....not easy to find the sweet spot  :P

Spare a thought for googlava!

[Guest]

On my side, the left one looks more authentic...

When I look at the sky (IRL), I see it blue, not grey.

Same for the shadow on the weapon, on the left  it's closer from reality than on the right.

[jumpinghubert 49]

Pro:

I like the bigger variety (not intensity) of colors in the new visuals (reshade goes in the same direction).

Con:

But depending on day of time and weather conditions the ground is too much washed out. I was not able to compensate it with the new sliders, for example with contrast or saturation. Grass and ground (near and mainly in distance) are too bright in my opinion.

 

Generally not easy to discuss these things, too much variables.

[twistking 204]

@mitrail

what? NOOOOOOOOO way.

could it be, that your monitor is a bit off?

The right one is so much better, i can't believe one could disagree on that. In fact i showed this picture to my friend to hype them about the update (it worked). I didn't know, arma could come so close to photo-realism with current tech.

[LykosMactire 298]

Honestly I love the new lighting, i just wish it would have better shadows, And for all of those who say the new lighting looks "washed out" and such, either 1. Never looked at stratis with the new lighting, 2. Didnt look at the pic from BI comparing it to RL Limnos. So i will just post this here

Photo @Bohemia Interactive

[Guest]

It's obviously more realistic on this comparison, and the new lighting is more beautiful in certain situations, but I miss the sparkle of the older lightning (ghtni is a weird string of characters), mainly during the day. The older one had light blue, orange, red, that is less visible in the new one. The sun use to be way more shiny at noon than the new one.

The older one was maybe closer from what the world look like where I live, which would explain why I prefer it. But sincerely I'm taking the habit.It will just take some time to find good time/weather combinations.

 

Still, I prefer this on this. Mainly due to shadows and the red colour.

[old_painless 182]

Honestly I love the new lighting, i just wish it would have better shadows, And for all of those who say the new lighting looks "washed out" and such, either 1. Never looked at stratis with the new lighting, 2. Didnt look at the pic from BI comparing it to RL Limnos. So i will just post this here

Photo @Bohemia Interactive

 

Who would have known - the midrange textures in real life are crap as well :)

[thr0tt 12]

Water is nice in the dev, don't really appreciate the rest until I get to play in full. Made game stutter a bit, hope that gets sorted, back to main for me.

[Defunkt 431]

I thought people might be interested in the progression of the visual upgrade.

 

This is the capture I took on the first drop; 2016-04-09

 

And this is the same scene today; 2016-04-16

 

So some definite improvement in terms of  sunlit warmth.

 

EDIT -----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is still where I'd like to see things at; Stable-RealLight

 

And for reference this is/was Stable with the same settings but no graphics mods; Stable-Default