Graphics engine improvement

[Stargun 10]

Just 3 wishes:

1. Optimize the texture / LOD switching (perhaps make it unnoticable), especially when switching to scoped weapon.

2. Improve the overall fps

3. The biggest one: PLEASE FIX THE ANNOYING z-fighting bug!

[Stargun 10]

For the z-fighting I found this really useful info:

Logarithmic Depth Buffer in Outerra engine

It would be really awesome to have such solution in the ArmA engine as well...

[Flash Thunder 10]

Vastly improve the terrain textures on Chernarus and Utes.

I guess its low quality due to being a Satellite image, but the texture quality isnt good even at 200% 3d res.

Improved destruction models for vehicles, when they're destroyed you can see some parts of the vehicle being thrown around like in that other game, simple pieces like wheels, doors, hunks of metal, canisters. This adds alot of immersion and it adds ambience to the battlefield, giving you a sense of destruction.

on top of this I think the carcus should also look different (not just applying a burnt texture to the vehicle) I know this is extremely time consuming but if the Artist dont have any work left, I think making seperate destroyed models would be awesome.

When raining create some puddles of water on the terrain textures in the game to give it more of a feeling that its raining and also give the uniforms a wet look to them.

Smoke from large missiles and Bombs should be much larger/thicker and should stick around longer before dissipating.

Textures inside vehicles and aircraft should be alot sharper for example in the AH-64D and AH-1z alot of the panels are just blurs I think everything needs to be readable if text, and I shouldn't see such blurry textures when im sitting inches away from them.

Blood should be greatly improved sometime in the future, actually seeing blood under dead bodies and seeing blood on the floor when bleeding out or on the wall you were near. Killing people in Arma 2 isn't rewarding with the combination of no gore, weird death animations (falling over like statues with their limbs perfectly aligned etc).

[diveplane 0]

fix the dusting effects as well , heli lands dust cloud would be bad at first then it would die of after rotor wash blew it all away, maybe a little blowing around still.

[Chumba 10]

Without reading the whole thing but in the context of hopefully a BIS person who does do so picking up on a (hopefully) common complaint:

HDR needs to either be chucked out altogether or given a slider control for the player to set for themselves from none at all (YAY! ) to however much lights yer fire...

[Michael Withstand 10]

Make the game 2D only. So we can have fps in the hundreds :rolleyes:

People are hard to be contended. Be glad the game is still receiving support and aims at the most critical aspect that needed improvement before going to miniscule trivial things.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

@Chumba:

1) For night fighting, get proper illumination. You can't fight well using NVGs anyway. The ones we have in the game are far too good. Try to find any youtube video showing NVGs with the same quality we get ingame.

2) For day fighting, relocate to avoid harsh lighting conditions. Such conditions does exist in real life, although maybe not as brutal (your eyes pupil dilates to adjust for the available light, similar to what HDR does, and a camera lens aperture).

There are times when HDR evaluation kinda fails (but understandable if you consider how it tend to work), but having to deal with a slider or removing it completely? C'mon :) My point is, even if it is annoying, it is often possible to adjust for it. Especially if you're on the attacking side.

When real soldiers face an unexpected problem, do they complain about it or try to think out of the box and do something about it? :D For us, adopting to suit the situation is easy and cost free. Current HDR implementation is far from perfect, but it is possible to find ways to manage if you're not in a hurry.

I've explained it further here, if you're up for the read :p Feel free to vote if you want. Just note that HDR can be tricky, and no HDR is today really not a valid option. And a slider is, well, just clumsy. "Remove it or give us slider" is not very constructive feedback.

In the link, please come with suggestions you think might improve the current HDR situation. Stuff like "how the engine needs to think" when it evaluates a screen for HDR values (camera aperture) to use.

[Pyronick 21]

@Chumba:

1) For night fighting, get proper illumination. You can't fight well using NVGs anyway. The ones we have in the game are far too good. Try to find any youtube video showing NVGs with the same quality we get ingame.

2) For day fighting, relocate to avoid harsh lighting conditions. Such conditions does exist in real life, although maybe not as brutal (your eyes pupil dilates to adjust for the available light, similar to what HDR does, and a camera lens aperture).

There are times when HDR evaluation kinda fails (but understandable if you consider how it tend to work), but having to deal with a slider or removing it completely? C'mon :) My point is, even if it is annoying, it is often possible to adjust for it. Especially if you're on the attacking side.

When real soldiers face an unexpected problem, do they complain about it or try to think out of the box and do something about it? :D For us, adopting to suit the situation is easy and cost free. Current HDR implementation is far from perfect, but it is possible to find ways to manage if you're not in a hurry.

I've explained it further here, if you're up for the read :p Feel free to vote if you want. Just note that HDR can be tricky, and no HDR is today really not a valid option. And a slider is, well, just clumsy. "Remove it or give us slider" is not very constructive feedback.

In the link, please come with suggestions you think might improve the current HDR situation. Stuff like "how the engine needs to think" when it evaluates a screen for HDR values (camera aperture) to use.

HDR is just a way to fake proper full global illumination.

SSAO is a step in the good direction.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Ehm, no :) HDR is simply dealing with ranges of illumination/contrast that cannot be displayed on a monitor. HDR images can be used for global illumination purposes, but it's not the defining term. Arma "works with HDR ranges" in the simplest form, by selecting an appropriate aperture (effective single pass operation).

Global illumination is dealing with indirect lighting. Arma2 doesn't touch global illumination (afaik, I've never seen evidence of it personally anyway), but OA is rumored to have SSAO, a global illumination algorithm or technique to speed it up, or "fake the apperance of global illumination".

Edited May 22, 2010 by CarlGustaffa

[Chumba 10]

I know what HDR is "supposed" to be all about and I have no real problem with it when it's done properly which IMO it simply isn't in ARMA2 (tho I think it is somewhat better than ARMA1). NVG's indeed are not as well done YET in ARMA games as they were in OFP - and BTW I have actually used the real thing.

There is actually a solution in the form of gdtmod_hdr which is what prompted me to post - ie. it's frustrating that modders can so easily and effectively accomplish what the devs should have already nailed.

I don't understand what the problem is with having a HDR slider: those who like lots can have lots and those who don't can turn it down - and as I've said, gdtmod_hdr PROVES it's relatively easily doable so why not do it?

[CarlGustaffa 4]

So, if you have used in real life, does the device allow you to adjust the brightness gain and/or turn off autogain (sensory)? I'm sorry but I think the "NVG HDR fixes" out there are just ridiculous, since it turns off the one bad thing about them, something that can be countered in other ways. So without any other bad sides to it, I don't think the devs should just fix it this way. they are far too convenient already and doesn't even begin to reflect the cumbersomeness of real thing.

Notice what goes on as he turns the illuminator on and off, at around 4:25. I'd say that's pretty much what goes on in Arma2.

From what I've seen in OA videos, stars appears now to be fixed size, influencing HDR calculations a lot less and appearing to just work a whole lot better than Arma2. Your "suggested fix" makes it impossible to wash out night vision devices. Given the apparent asymmetry of the OA forces, this has to remain a workable tactic for the "weaker in apparel" forces.

So, yes, you will in Arma2 get washout from the wrong sources. But no, getting rid of the washout possibility completely is just not a good way to solve the problem.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Improvement on the rain particles, so that they are influenced by wind. It just feels odd to have a strong hauling wind around your ears, trees dancing in the wind, and rain just falling straight down.

[welcome to hell 23]

Multiple target rendering. Render to Texture. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

[Pyronick 21]

Multiple target rendering. Render to Texture. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

YES YES YES YES!

Enable mirrors for vehicles and FLIR screens in cockpits!

[Flash Thunder 10]

Particle effects need some massive optimization in a patch or in the next engine build.

I usually will get a 20fps drop from being near a smoke grenade.

[Pyronick 21]

And please add Direct2D and DirectWrite acceleration for rendering the topographical map, the vector graphics lag the hell out of it.

[coopdeo 10]

I guess DX11 is too much to ask for? Tessellation would be great for performance.

[D00mbuggy 10]

I guess DX11 is too much to ask for? Tessellation would be great for performance.

DirectX11 is going to be the same as DirectX10, shit.

[Pyronick 21]

DirectX11 is going to be the same as DirectX10, shit.

I think a more modern multi-core Direct3D 11 renderer would be more fitting for a game like this.

Direct3D 9 is emulated through a virtual machine these days, which gives performance loss and bugs.

[IronTrooper 0]

Just 3 wishes:

1. Optimize the texture / LOD switching (perhaps make it unnoticable), especially when switching to scoped weapon.

2. Improve the overall fps

3. The biggest one: PLEASE FIX THE ANNOYING z-fighting bug!

That "z-fighting" is a immersion killer. You try to make a nice life like flir video but within the first 2 seconds it's obvious it's a game because of blinking textures.

[Flash Thunder 10]

LOD handling and Streaming should have BIS's full attention right now, its horrid in Operation Arrowhead.

I can deal with Z fighting but the constant LOD thrashing even at playable FPS is total killer for the game.

[sethos 2]

DirectX11 is going to be the same as DirectX10, shit.

You aren't very bright, are you?

[LJF 0]

DX11 is good but worth it? I'd personally love DX11 support but I'd also love other things, more easily doable things a whole lot more.

Give me shadows for light sources, and more light sources, and I'd be happy. Oh and bump/parallax mapping for those light sources. Possibly heat distortion.

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

Tracers (and I'm guessing hot lead bullets) and flares need to be white hot in FLIR.

So do birds. Are the other animals?

The edges of the rotors of helicopters, as in this video... (if they glow like this in Night Vision I'm certain they do in FLIR, too)

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Do barrels of weapons start to glow in FLIR when they are fired?

[dm 9]

Tracers (and I'm guessing hot lead bullets) and flares need to be white hot in FLIR.

But what if you're in black hot mode? :rolleyes: :p

Yes, they should be hot, and its easy to achieve with the right rvmat properties.

The edges of the rotors of helicopters, as in this video... (if they glow like this in Night Vision I'm certain they do in FLIR, too)

What you're seeing in that video is the dust/dirt in the air being smashed by the rotors, generating that light. Its different to what you'd see through a TI system.

Its certainly possible to have the rotors glow hot in TI, but unless BI has made some changes to the way the system works, the rotor-blur proxy will never light up.

Do barrels of weapons start to glow in FLIR when they are fired?

The system certainly supports it, whether the artists made the relevant changes to the artwork, I havent checked. Last I heard: should do.

All of these are not graphics engine changes tho, they are simply artwork changes.