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G8Gj8HW.png

 

Description:

HighLightS is a custom lighting and HDR tonemapping for Arma 3.

 

Main Goals:

Softer color around sun during sunset/sunrise

Seamless color schemes' transitions between clear/overcast states

Seamless transitions day/night during all moon phases

Better lighting overall

 

Features:

Custom HDR tone mapping based of UE5

Softer light around sun during sunrise/sunset

Transition between day/night has bluer skies for longer

Clouds are white at night if lit by moon (unless max overcast)
Full light of sun/moon when not covered by clouds (i.e.flying above clouds or cloud openings in the sky)

No predefined color/light scheme for each overcast setting. The cloud coverage sets the colors/light

Clouds go yellow before going pink.

Clouds get darker than vanilla with lower overcast (starts at 0.5)

Stars show up later at night

NVG has more aperture (darker)

NVG transition is slower

Eye adaption is slower

Reduced aperture change when looking to the ground/zooming in

Wind direction is fixed in direction N/S (direction can be changed in editor, duration only through scripting)

Use only HDR or lighting optionally (2 pbos)

Brighter moon bathed nights

Purple skies before sunrise and after sunset

 

Usage:

HDR is only available inside @HighLightS folder. It applies to CAWorld and vanilla maps and should apply to every map loading before A3_Data_F_AoW_Loadorder.

Install other @HighLightS_mapname on a per map basis for lighting/weather.

Both HDR.pbo and Lighting.pbo are client and server side.

 

HDR Notes:

You most likely have to adjust Gamma (and maybe Brightness):

wsL5gZ4.jpg

Nights are not pitch black and a silhouette is often visible, especially in brighter colors. A config to help AI see better at night was applied.

 

Supported Maps:

Altis, Stratis, Malden, Livonia and Tanoa

CUP Terrains - Maps

CUP Terrains - Maps 2.0

Fox Vanam

Global Ops terrains

Copehill Down

Sumava

 

Download:

Google Drive

(Steam link may come later)

 

Credits:

arma3library.gitlab.io

PMC Editing Wiki

Foxhound International gaming group (wiki)

IFA3 discord channel

@Connor. (Color Picker)

schemecolor.com

shorescanada.com (Kelvin temperature table)

andi-siess.de/rgb-to-color-temperature

Unreal Engine (https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/RenderingAndGraphics/PostProcessEffects/ColorGrading/)

academo.org - Colour-Temperature Relationship (https://academo.org/demos/colour-temperature-relationship/)

Filmic Tonemapping with Piecewise Power Curves, by John Hable (http://filmicworlds.com/blog/filmic-tonemapping-with-piecewise-power-curves/)

Forums Bohemia.net

Bohemia Interactive

 

Media:

ohMJdOA.jpgI6SLyV7.jpg

hY30rNA.jpg5jYcpg9.jpg

r9bSECn.jpgTAhFny0.jpg

ArDnvAL.jpgEln9R0M.jpg

RYY4Sr7.jpgg7AfXVO.jpg

 

Old Media:

Spoiler

NlRviW5.jpg

 

Changelog:

v1.0.1

Fixed: Moon object missing from Chernarus Summer/Winter

v1.1.0

Added: Kelvin temperatures to all diffuse lights, sun and moon, according to this table and this RGB conversion table. Thanks to Shores Canada Ltd and Andreas Siess.

Tweaked: Complete review of apertures to get more in sync with vanilla day/night cycle.

Tweaked: Overhaul of night light.

Added: Global Ops Terrains and Fox Vanam.

Added: BI server key. Thanks @dystopian1

v1.1.1

Tweaked: Night light. Increased apertureMin from 3.2 to 4 as in vanilla (darker). Increased diffuse from 1 to 3 (more direct light), vanilla is 4.

v1.2

HDR UE5 V7

Tweaked: New HDR tone mapping based of UE5. Source: https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/RenderingAndGraphics/PostProcessEffects/ColorGrading/

Added: Config to increase AI night seeing capability

Lighting 0.29.5

Tweaked: Diffuse colors redone with another Kelvin tool. Source: https://academo.org/demos/colour-temperature-relationship/

Tweaked: Whiter sky around sun at sunset/sunrise

Tweaked: Longer blue skies at dusk/dawn

Tweaked: Yellow clouds before going pink and darker clouds at overcast states

Tweaked: Reviewed alphas (light intensity) and apertures all around

Added: Reduced haze

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Almost full moon, setting and sunrise. Soon... (encode looks like sh*t, just noticed :P).

 

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Excellent work. :rthumb:

 

Regarding supported maps, it's worth mentioning this mod also works on some community made maps through inheritance. (CUP Version tested with Moschnyi Island which inherits the relevant properties from Utes)

 

  

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Thanks for the reply and stamp of approval EO! 🤤

Thanks also for the likes, fellas!

About it working on other maps, I have noticed it also working on e.g. Mountain Wilderness which inherits from Stratis. If they inherit from CAWorld they need their own version because I had problems applying this to CAWorld. Thanks for the note.

 

I'm very excited about the night light so I want to showcase that tonight.

I'll probably upload tomorrow, just want to add another map and fine tune the stars brightness.

 

Cheers, mates!

 

Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/F8ihFfJ

ohMJdOA.jpgmPjr1tk.jpg

hY30rNA.jpgQkxTr2V.jpg

r9bSECn.jpgg0DlhBn.jpg

ArDnvAL.jpg117gYkp.jpg

RYY4Sr7.jpgM9D2XJV.jpg

 

 

 

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Amazing work. Ensuring these islands and land locked regions we keep returning to keep somehow getting better and better.

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v1.1.0

Added: Kelvin temperatures to all diffuse lights, sun and moon, according to this table and this RGB conversion table. Thanks to Shores Canada Ltd and Andreas Siess.

Tweaked: Complete review of apertures to get more in sync with vanilla day/night cycle.

Tweaked: Overhaul of night light.

Added: Global Ops Terrains and Fox Vanam.

Added: BI server key. Thanks @dystopian1

 

- -

6 hours ago, redarmy said:

Amazing work. Ensuring these islands and land locked regions we keep returning to keep somehow getting better and better. 

Thanks for the deep thought @redarmy!

 

I took some liberties and:

- switched the below horizon sunlight from yellow to violet

- charged some yellow to skyAroundSun above horizon

- violet sky was delayed to later night and passed that violet to skyAroundSun at that time (replacing yellow and returning vanilla blue sky).

 

If you prefer like on the previous video let me know.

 

I hope you enjoy, guys and gals.

Any objections or advice let me know.

Thanks!

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v1.1.1

Tweaked: Night light. Increased apertureMin from 3.2 to 4 as in vanilla (darker). Increased diffuse from 1 to 3 (more direct light), vanilla is 4.

 

mPjr1tk.jpegZ6LAa07.jpgohMJdOA.jpeg

g0DlhBn.jpegTLHb1HX.jpgr9bSECn.jpeg

 

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Looks fantastic. I had a question. Did you play Arma2? i looked at video gameplay from Arma2 and what stood out to me was the night lighting,it looked better and was clearer than arma3's. In Arma3,to be able to see,you need to increase gama even on a full moon lit night,and that makes the picture/grass contrast etc ugly.

 

Did BIS use two completely different lighting systems and is there any way i can get my nights more brighter like that?   Heres an example of a shacktac mission on Celle2 at night time 

 

https://youtu.be/H4F5V7EjuTE?t=21

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On 4/6/2023 at 10:10 AM, redarmy said:

Looks fantastic.

Thank you.

 

On 4/6/2023 at 10:10 AM, redarmy said:

Did you play Arma2? i looked at video gameplay from Arma2 and what stood out to me was the night lighting,it looked better and was clearer than arma3's.

I sure did! Up until 2019.

 

On 4/6/2023 at 10:10 AM, redarmy said:

Did BIS use two completely different lighting systems

I'm not sure how Arma 3 was released light wise, but I know they upgraded the light with Apex and with (at least) that the light configurations became different. I don't think Arma 2 light is possible in Arma 3 at all.

Arma 2 had what appears to be a stronger HDR, giving those incandescent suns and maybe a more dynamic aperture in the dark that could bring up brightness.

I tried to replicate that HDR for a while with no success.

 

On 4/6/2023 at 10:10 AM, redarmy said:

is there any way i can get my nights more brighter like that? 

There was CH_Brightnights that was removed from public but that was a script and the transitions to day weren't perfect.

You can use setAperture/setApertureNew.

 

On 4/6/2023 at 10:10 AM, redarmy said:

Heres an example of a shacktac mission on Celle2 at night time 

That seems some sort of twilight combined with a big moon. You can get that already at precise hours of the day (dusk/dawn). Even in vanilla AFAIK.

 

I kinda like the light of Arma 3 at night to be honest, it was where I did the least changes for HighLightS. The sunset/rise was what annoyed me the most.

The light in Arma 3 is still too stale for my taste but I'm not sure I can do any better with configs. I suggest you try ReShade (join their discord too) where you can somewhat replicate Arma 2 light/more modern post process light/effects/colors. The shader you could start with is called eyeAdaption 😉.

 

PS. you can always try and edit HDRNewPars. Stratis (or CAworld if it works) >> HDRNewPars

 

Cheer yo!

 

Edit:

CH Bright Nights is up after all (it came back?):

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=853333870
https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/topic/180175-ch-bright-nights/

Edit2:
Turns out it was CF_Bai which was gone.

 

Edited by RCA3
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8 hours ago, RCA3 said:

Thank you.

 

I sure did! Up until 2019.

 

I'm not sure how Arma 3 was released light wise, but I know they upgraded the light with Apex and with (at least) that the light configurations became different. I don't think Arma 2 light is possible in Arma 3 at all.

Arma 2 had what appears to be a stronger HDR, giving those incandescent suns and maybe a more dynamic aperture in the dark that could bring up brightness.

I tried to replicate that HDR for a while with no success.

 

There was CH_Brightnights that was removed from public but that was a script and the transitions to day weren't perfect.

You can use setAperture/setApertureNew.

 

That seems some sort of twilight combined with a big moon. You can get that already at precise hours of the day (dusk/dawn). Even in vanilla AFAIK.

 

I kinda like the light of Arma 3 at night to be honest, it was where I did the least changes for HighLightS. The sunset/rise was what annoyed me the most.

The light in Arma 3 is still too stale for my taste but I'm not sure I can do any better with configs. I suggest you try ReShade (join their discord too) where you can somewhat replicate Arma 2 light/more modern post process light/effects/colors. The shader you could start with is called eyeAdaption 😉.

 

PS. you can always try and edit HDRNewPars. Stratis (or CAworld if it works) >> HDRNewPars

 

Cheer yo!

Thanks for the thorough reply. I actually went looking or CH brightness mod again few days ago,i had used it years ago and wasnt sure why i couldnt locate it,mystery solved.

 

I use reshade for everything and am not sure why i hadnt tried it in Arma3 yet but i will  look for some eye adaption fx,good call.  The sunrises are looking fantastic nw i really love making missions at that time,thanks again for the great mod.

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v1.2

HDR UE5 V7

Tweaked: New HDR tone mapping based of UE5. Source: https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/RenderingAndGraphics/PostProcessEffects/ColorGrading/

Added: Config to increase AI night seeing capability

Lighting 0.29.5

Tweaked: Diffuse colors redone with another Kelvin tool. Source: https://academo.org/demos/colour-temperature-relationship/

Tweaked: Whiter sky around sun at sunset/sunrise

Tweaked: Longer blue skies at dusk/dawn

Tweaked: Yellow clouds before going pink and darker clouds at overcast states

Tweaked: Reviewed alphas (light intensity) and apertures all around

Added: Reduced haze

 

Very excited about the new HDR. Use that pbo only if you don't want my lighting tweaks 😛

Updated first post with the pictures comparison.

Have a good summer, everyone! ☀️ 🏖️🌴

 

PS.

A great paper on tone mapping if you're interested:
http://filmicworlds.com/blog/filmic-tonemapping-with-piecewise-power-curves/

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