Annoying 'light meter' effect

[pooroldspike 128]

Hi, I recently bought ArmA and patched to v.1.14 , it installed and plays beautifully but the graphics keep annoyingly darkening and lightening as the viewpoint is moved around.

For example everything looks great (nicely-rendered green grass and buildings etc) until a bit of sky creeps into the frame, then the whole picture darkens and the grass and buildings etc become dull and grey, just like when the aperture of a camera automatically closes down if bright sky hits the light meter.

Is that normal for ArmA or do I need to adjust some settings etc?

I'm WinXP Home v2002 SP3

Intel Core 2, 3.33 Ghz

3 GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+

Thanks

[hamis 0]

Well,maybe it's hdr lighting.Try GdtModHdr,search "addons complete".

[pooroldspike 128]

What's GdtModHdr?

I'm new here

[hamis 0]

Well,i told you to search "addons & mods complete".You'll find it,it disables hdr lighting.

[pooroldspike 128]

Sorry mate I don't know what you're talking about, I'm just a grunt wargamer not a PC nerd.

I was hoping to review the game for the Few Good Men club

http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/FGMForum/index.php

[hamis 0]

Okey,click this and read the readme:http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=69194&highlight=gdtmodhdr

[max power 21]

You're correct when you compare the effect to a camera. The virtual camera in this game is too sensitive on some harware setups. You can try updating your graphics card drivers. That GDT mod seems like it's a fairly severe solution to the problem. If you are unsatisfied with it, we can try to set your hdr precision to be less loose. It only requires editing a value in a text file if you're game.

[pooroldspike 128]

Thanks, at the moment I'm juggling the in-game and Nvidia brightness/contrast/gamma settings and have got partial success but if i can't get it any better we'll try following up the other suggestions in this thread tomorrow.

PS- I got this below from the support team but again its too techy for me to understand what they're talking about-

Dear customer, try to run game with -nosplash / -nomap / -maxmem parameters

[Zipper5 74]

What's happening to you, PoorOldSpike, is part of the game. Only mods will disable it or change it. If you're reviewing the game I doubt you want to play it with anything other than stock. So don't change anything. There's nothing you can do about it unless you modify ArmA.

[max power 21]

Find the shortcut you use to open arma. Right click on it, and choose 'properties'.

On the first page of properties you will find several fields (places where you can input text). One of the first things int here should be Target: followed by field with a path that leads to your arma.exe file. For instance:

Target: "c:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA\ArmA.exe"

add those 'switches' as they call them on to the end, outside of the quotes.

And of course, 'target' here implies the 'target' heading in the properties page. It's not necessary to put 'target' in the actual target field.

Target: "c:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA\ArmA.exe" -nosplash -nomap -maxmem

You need to assign a number to the maxmem switch. The number people frequently use is -maxmem=512. So...

Target: "c:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA\ArmA.exe" -nosplash -nomap -maxmem=512

I'm not sure why the techies think this will help your problem, but I hope it does. I have never used the maxmem command, so maybe someone with more knowledge of that switch could chime in.

It is also unclear if they want you to use all of those or one of them or what. The slashes between them aren't very clear. I would try using all of them. If it doesn't work with all of them, it's not going to work with just one of them. If this stuff doesn't work, then we can do a little minor surgery and increase your HDR precision by changing a single number in your profile configuration file.

Edited May 9, 2009 by Max Power

[Zipper5 74]

If I recall correctly, the -nomap command does not work with ArmA.

[celery 8]

-maxmem has to be used with the desired maximum memory in MB that the game can use.

Example: -maxmem=512

[xmongx 0]

For me, maxmem seems to be a trade off. ArmA will behave in one of two ways with/without it.

Without maxmem limiting my memory usage performance will degrade over time untill (in rare occurances) ArmA throws an out of memory message.

With maxmem overall performance over time will remain constant but i will begin to see other problems in game the longer i play it (Lod Switching, long periods of 'recieving' between map and game etc), both of which are a result of me stretching the engine with my current hardware i may add.

One thing is for sure. It will not have any affect on HDR flickering.

Ingame gamma and brightness settings could possibly help but AFAIK its a known bug with certain setups*.

(*read setup as GPU+driver+resolution+hdrprecision setting)

Edited May 9, 2009 by xmongx

[pooroldspike 128]

..we can try to set your hdr precision to be less loose. It only requires editing a value in a text file if you're game.

Okay, it seems simpler than the other suggestions so tell me what to do..:)

And just to make it crystal clear to everybody what i'm moaning about, the first screenshot below is perfection, but when I raise my eyes in the second pic and the bright sky creeps in, the ground features become dull and boring. This is the first game I've encountered that features such a "light meter" effect and I don't like it at all..

> 100kb

> 100kb

Edited May 10, 2009 by W0lle
Images > 100kb removed

[hamis 0]

Yep,it is hdr lighting.Go to arma directory,open arma.cfg (notepad) and change "hdrprecision" to 8.You can also try 16 or 32 if one of them feels better.

[pooroldspike 128]

No joy (sniffle) the default was 8 (as in the screenshots), and I then tried 16 and 32, neither of which made a blind bit of difference.

Incidentally the arma.cfg file isn't in the ArmA directory at all, but is in my separate Documents folder, it must have installed there on its own initiative, crazy!

PS- I also tried 0 and 128 but again it made not a blind bit of difference, the screens looked exactly like the two screenshots!

Edited May 10, 2009 by PoorOldSpike

[[frl]myke 14]

As ArmA is a MilSim, where "...Sim" stands for simulation, this feature simulates the behaviour of real eyes. You'll encounter exactly the same effect when you change from a dark place to a fully enlighted place. Your eyes will take a moment to adjust to the new lightning condition. Also, if something very bright is within your view, anything in the dark (like in shadows) seems to be even darker as the eyes are set to deal with the bright thing. Did you never put your hands above your eyes on a sunny day just to see something better in the distance?

So deal with it, it is called realism.

[W0lle 1047]

PoorOldSpike

Please do not hotlink images over 100kb in size. :)

[Daniel 0]

Ha, no it isn't, not by a long shot. The ArmA system is flawed, and by the look of it it's more extreme on certain set-ups. Yes bright light blinds you a little in real life. Perhaps if you've been sat indoors for 12 hours beforehand. But not when you spend most of your time outdoors (as ArmA simulates).

This aspect isn't realism, and if possible should be fixed as a bug.

[pooroldspike 128]

PoorOldSpike

Please do not hotlink images over 100kb in size. :)

Sorry, can't this forum layout take it?

I'm a bigshot Colonel, screenshot king and wargame champion over at the Few Good Men club where they have no trouble at all displaying my sensational wargaming pics..;)

http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/FGMForum/index.php

As regards the light meter effect, I've decided I can live with it because that's how the human eye works so I suppose its realistic.

I'll stick with ArmA for a while to see if I like it and then maybe issue some challenges..

PS-I hear there's a WW2 mod for ArmA which I like the sound of..

Edited May 11, 2009 by PoorOldSpike

[hamis 0]

PS-I hear there's a WW2 mod for ArmA which I like the sound of..

Just one,eh?There is 1 released and at least 4 under development!Go check both addons sections and read about them.:D

[pooroldspike 128]

I'm uninstalling ArmA guys, good game but not quite my cup of tea..;)

Edited May 11, 2009 by PoorOldSpike

[pooroldspike 128]

On second thoughts i've re-installed it and am having fun with the editor..:)

[Spetz 0]

the beauty of arma is that you can create any scenario you want with the editor, If your PC is up to it, watch a massive battle of like 200 units as a civilian, or join in if u like

[Daniel 0]

That was your one and only out of jail free card PoorOldSpike, you're gonna be hooked for years now. ;)

On a serious note, judge the game on the editor and its incredible MP potential.