@PROPER_VegetationReplacement - beta release

[.kju 3245]

========

= README =

========

VERSION: BETA 3 (see changelog at the very end)

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= information =

==========

This addon replaces all ArmA vegetation (trees and bushes) with the one from

CWC and Resistance.

Some people prefere more FPS or do have problems with ArmA vegetation

in general. If you don't like it, your bad.

[New] Check out the PROPER_Sara project in addition to be able to customize

grass and clutter to your personal needs as well.

NOT RECOMMENDED TO BE USED IN MULTIPLAYER! THIS WILL BE CONSIDER CHEATING!

NOT TESTED IN MULTIPLAYER - THERE IS ALWAYS THE CHANCE TO CRASH THE SERVER

WITH MODIFIED DATA - DON'T USE IT IN MP. PERIOD.

If the server and all clients would use it, it is a different matter of course.

It is recommended to use the "@PROPER" modfolder. However it is possible to

rename it or move the files to a different location.

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= notes =

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This is a beta release for several reasons.

1. ArmA.RPT is _still_ poluted with these error-messages:

Warnings in ca\plants\palm_02.p3d:4.5

Warning: ca\plants\bolsevnik_group.p3d:0 Face 13, point 42, face points 40,

42,13 - very small normal 0,0,0

Any suggestion / help to remove these are very much appreciated.

(2.) It seems ArmA only uses the highest LOD. Might be a wrong impression though.

However this has the benefit of no LOD switching while moving / zooming for

the vegetation - looks WAY BETTER !

Feedback on the FPS changes would be quite helpful!

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= howTo =

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~ execute "PROPER_VegetationReplacement_generate_plants.pbo.bat" located

in "@PROPER\tools"

~ wait some seconds for the build process to finish

~ load the "@PROPER" modfolder

enjoy

/*

- made by -

The-F and Q

*/

==========

= changelog =

==========

~ BETA 2:

+ (ADDED) Fully automated build process.

~ BETA 3:

+ (FIXED) Rescalled the tree models to avoid the floating tree problem.

Side effect: Some trees are somewhat large now due to the build-in size

variation of trees (on Sara) in general.

On very cliffy slopes you sometimes can still see trees floating a bit.

You will have to live with that for now.

+ (NOTE) There is quite some effort required to rescale the trees to the

correct level. So unfortunately we won't change the mapping of trees

any longer. We won't do other replacements with custom made OFP trees

either. We offer you guidance how to do it yourself. Just ask!

~ BETA 4:

+ (FIXED) Rescaled the last bush model to avoid the floating bush problem.

[.kju 3245]

Please provide feedback in this thread whether this has

helped you or not - sincere thanks!

Download link:

PROPER_VegetationReplacement.rar

Please do _NOT_ mirror this file for now!

As it is still in the beta phase and very likely to change very often.

We don't want to have people download outdated versions.

Please just link to this thread from your download site or to the

download link provided by us.

Thank you!

Screens:

highest shader details:

low shader details:

low and viewdistance 3000

[Balschoiw 0]

While I do appreciate the effort the result is not really satisfying imo.

I wished BIS would come forward with the needed tools to get custom vegetation into Arma that wouldn´t be as demanding as the current one and would on the other hand allow a better quality than the Res-OFP ones. I also am a bit dissapointed that BIS is not working on fixing the issue for Arma as it is a major performance gripe for all Arma users, no matter what gfx card or settings they use.

Still, thx for the effort Q, but going back in time shouldn´t be the solution.

[.kju 3245]

For some its the only solution right now (apart from not playing at all).

[Rocco 0]

i think the shadows causes the problem and needs to get a fix not the trees and bushes right?

[Average Joe 0]

Not a bad idea however Im curious what the fps difference is between arma tree's and ofps'?

[bravo 6 0]

ill try this right awway.. ill report later.

ill also test in MP

EDIT: i tryed this and i still need to use all settings very low or disabled. It runs alittle smoother indeed but if i set up higher details and options i still have some lag while looking to vegetation.

I was in MP for 10 mins and it didnt crash the server. ( ill test it more time later )

So, like some said before, its still not satisfying.. but its a start

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]i think the shadows causes the problem and needs to get a fix not the trees and bushes right?

No.

BIS ohara:

Quote[/b] ]Drop of FPS in vegetation is caused by overdaw, it means that grafic card is not able to draw so many pixels that scene needs. When GC draw scene, it automatically cut hiden pixels, BUT only if this pixels are not alphatransparent. Vegetation is builded from polygons with some opacity textures, so this cuting (early Z test on HW) not work here. There is no simple solution, better performance will be with low shading detail settings (simplified pixel shader), but overdraw is still there. Also using of worst LODs will not help so match, because less polygons means worst tree shape aproximation and final surface (what is most important for overdraw reduction) will be similar. We are still woring on some research in this area.

[funnyguy1 0]

Good idea! I'll certainly try it and report feedback, as soon as I'l reinstall my os (and ArmA). If it means 5+ fps it's a must for me.

It probably doesn't fit to the climate of Sahrani, but well, nothing more can be done right now I suppose. Thanks!

[.kju 3245]

Based on ohara's explanation:

So the basic reason is that ArmA (Saharni?) has way to much

objects and textures from which the engine cannot cut the hidden pixels.

So the problem should be less grave on rahmadi (less populated)

and the converted ofp islands (even more with ofp vegetation).

General question to modders/texture artists:

is there a way to create vegetation without alphatransparent

pixels / textures?

[Skaven 0]

Sure that is,but your trees and vegetation will all look squared.

Alpha channels in this case are used to give invisivility/transperency to certan parts of the vegetation so you can actually see for example a leaf instead of a square (entire texture).

If you take the alpha channels out you won't be able to ""draw "" details, everything wil look squared.

I think this is what you asked, not sure  

[MehMan 0]

Indeed. Or you can make a fully 3d tree, but that'll take a lot of time and polygons which will cut down preformance unless you include 100 LODs.

Also, tried importing some of Berghoffs work? I'm interested in seeing how his stuff works out.

[Skaven 0]

One thing that could help, would be to use the less ammount of textures possible, sometimes compromising the diversity of the vegetation, less textures less loading and less memory used... It could work but ARMA won't look as nice as it does today  

In theory it's better to use 1 2048x2048 texture than 3 64x64 so... . If you can merge some textures and than make some good normal maps for it... it might work for people will worse graphic cards, but this needs testing since I'm guessing here.

In my addons I can say for sure that it works, loading times are faster and fps is better.

[NeMeSiS 11]

One thing that could help, would be to use the less ammount of textures possible, sometimes compromising the diversity of the vegetation, less textures less loading and less memory used... It could work but ARMA won't look as nice as it does today  

In theory it's better to use 1 2048x2048 texture than 3 64x64 so... . If you can merge some textures and than make some good normal maps for it... it might work for people will worse graphic cards, but this needs testing since I'm guessing here.

In my addons I can say for sure that it works, loading times are faster and fps is better.

I guess it would be nice if just 50% (more on some bushes, less on others) of the twigs removed and replaced by just green blobs without any transparecy. Ive been watching the bushes and alot of them have many unneccesary twigs and leaves. (The only thing they partly cover is the inside of the bush, but its green there anyway and seeing some leaves partly covering another adds 0 to the game), the only place where individual twigs and leaves are needed are along the outer lines of a bush.

But, reworking all the bushes like that is alot of work and i dont think we will get something like this this year.

[mr burns 133]

I love you kju!

Finally i can go explore the northern sahrani, woot!

PS: Mirrors to follow

edit:

Ive been watching the bushes and alot of them have many unneccesary twigs and leaves. (The only thing they partly cover is the inside of the bush, but its green there anyway and seeing some leaves partly covering another adds 0 to the game), the only place where individual twigs and leaves are needed are along the outer lines of a bush.

This pic - clickety clack - shows alot of the unnecessary model parts which you´d never see as long as you don´t encounter this gfx bug.

edit3: outdated mirror removed

[FlyinBullets 0]

Yes, I will definately try this out

[Panda-PL- 0]

Honestly BIS explenation makes little sense to me. Because the number of trees is not drastically higher than in old OFP and because the FPS dropp can occur even with just 5 or 6 trees when you zoom in with scope.

If alpha was the problem why don't the forests in new islands cause any FPS dropp even if we set very high view distance?

And why this addon fixes the problem, while still using textures with alpha channel?

As far as I can tell: it appears to be a problem with bugged shader (trees use a separate shader).

The BIS did mention it, however instead of fixing they gave the possibility to disable the use of shader for grass (by setting shaders to very low).

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Shadows in ArmA are also bugged: many people noticed setting them to low causes FPS dropp while normal doesn't. That is also the case for me.

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Another solution would be to turn down your GFX settings to get rid of low FPS etc.

[Guest]

Very nice start of getting one of the main troubles for so many people fixed

This sure gives a good start for further development

[Panda-PL- 0]

Another solution would be to turn down your GFX settings to get rid of low FPS etc.

Doesn't remove the bug, does it?

I know most programmers would rather wait for people to buy a 5x better PC than rethink their design and fix it, but...

Besides that: ArmA doesn't give enougth flexibility, you can bring precision lower, but not disable a flawed effect.

[ck-claw 1]

Another solution would be to turn down your GFX settings to get rid of low FPS etc.

My fps actually increased by turning settings up

[FlyinBullets 0]

I just finished testing this, is does work to eliminate the FPS drop, however is there no way to fix the flying trees, if that could be fixed I would use it, but until then, I can't deal with floating trees But besides that, its great

[DBO_ 0]

Thanks for your hard work on this.It is no wonder this community survives when joe public creates little things like this to help others.

Keep up the good work.

[Panda-PL- 0]

floating trees  

I might have a fix for this.

I think setting the correct vertex properties will bring the threes back to the correct level.

I would use the "constant height", esspecially for forrests. I was surprised to see floating trees in ArmA Everon.

Hope this is the sollution.

Quote[/b] ]1. ArmA.RPT is poluted with these error-messages:

I think it's because we're using the old format and ArmA has it's own ODOL. ArmA RPT is ment for ArmA.

Anyways: how many addon models are there that menage to pass ArmA.rpt? Can you point me to any at all?

I think it doesn't matter at all.

[berghoff 11]

How about lowering textures res? Turning it down from normal to low gives 15 fps boost here but makes rest also blurry, maybe same stuff can be done with "addons" like this by changing first lod texture to 512x512? Because to be honest this current way looks kinda messy.