Video Settings - 'Postprocess effects'

[Chill xl 10]

I cannot seem to find/see the difference between PP High and PP Very High. Maybe someone can explain me a little more about this difference?

Btw, i do rather like the PP effect when using irons or aimpoint for example, the area around the redot for example is clear like you see when PP is disabled, the area around the optics device is blurred, very nicely done!

[jasonnoguchi 11]

Well, it seems like in ArmA2, the PP doesn't blur out the iron sights! great! :) I just bought and installed and enjoying it. The PP makes the game look more like a RL simulation and much much less gamey. without PP, its gamey as hell.

[jw custom 56]

I don't get all these people that hate the PP effects! I refuse to turn them off (and also grass) even if it will give me a competitive advantage. I prefer my realism/immersion thanks ;P

I don't hate pp i just don't like many of it's "side effects" due to it being over done.

About realism:

I don't see any realism in everything from cows to houses glowing like a sun. Also the blur when stading still is really annoying and when i look outside my window(in rl) everything is NOT blurred!

Sometimes on night missions i set pp on low but in daylight my eyes start bleeding!

[Zipper5 74]

BIS have to conform to the mainstream market in some ways if they want to boost their sales. Thankfully, BIS tend to really only do this in the graphical department. Hence the unrealistic post-processing effects that they've implemented, which are very similar to other mainstream games. They might be unrealistic for normal play, but I find them quite useful for video making in ArmA II.

[killakaze 10]

I used to have it on low becuase i didnt like to much blur but recently preffer it off.

if there was a way to use post process without that field of depth blur id use it becuase i dont like lowerd detail or definition in the distance.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Post effects that I've seen:

* Rotational blur - it's okay when frames are already decent, horrible at very low framerates.

* Hit & Suppression blur - full screen blur that appears when you are hit by a bullet or being suppressed (bullets hitting very near you)

* Run Radial/Motion blur - blurs the egdes more when you run, no real impact. Could be motion blur at work?

* Radial blur - blurs the egdes more when stationary, no real impact.

* DOF - Depth of field makes what you aim at sharper than the surroundings.

* Glow - one that many think is overdone, incl. me. The problem is that white surfaces needs no light to make them super bright, causing glow. A Helipad object will "always" glow because it is white.

* Low Stamina Wave Effect - Run til ya drop, almost, and see how the world become wavy.

* Chromatic Abberation - Most scopes with zoom with have visible color shifts along the egdes of the scope.

* Scope Darkening - Any scope that deals with high magnification (not small arms though for some reason) will experience a loss of light transmission. Tank gunnery scopes are perfect examples. If there is an arbitrary light magnification in real life (I don't know, never used a tank scope before :)), it would have to be replaced with noise instead to simulate that "gain".

* "TV Noise" - Commanders stations in tanks have this. I think it should have been TV lines though?

* NVG Noise - One of my favourites, if I combine it with setting 3D resolution to about 50%. These devices have limited resolution, not near what we have on computer screens.

Turning off post processing makes you miss all these immersion providers, although some can be "annoying". I used to turn off pp before, when frames was usually too low to appreciate the motion blur. But performance has increased throughout the betas and I can play with it again. And I really want to, because of all the other effects I would be missing.

There are methods to turn off separate effects, by rewriting the shaders. Not for the common scripter to do, but the howto's are shown in the addon forum. Since it was (last time I checked) not really an "addon", but more of a deep "hack", it have the potential to break the shader upgrades where new betas or full patches provide that. Use this one with care, but for demonstration, I've successfully turned off motion blur while keeping the rest.

Edit: Found it: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=90414

Edited November 26, 2009 by CarlGustaffa

[jasonnoguchi 11]

^... Geez, that's a detailed autopsy of PP! :) Thanks for sharing!

Anyone notice any diff between High and Very High? Looks the same to me but my benchmark went from 39FPS to 48fps! Thats a huge gain! What did I lose? Everything looked the same with PP at High and Very High to me.

Edited November 26, 2009 by jasonnoguchi

[NoRailgunner 0]

No way - with pp effects activated Arma2 looks like one of those fantasy games with shiny bloom and blurred vision. Guess it could be a used as alcohol/drug simulator. :D

Its good to have a choice to use such effects or not. Perhaps BIS will include more options for different pp effects?

[jasonnoguchi 11]

Ok, I tried this today. Went jogging in the morning and then noticed that when I was running fast, the whole world was bobbing along just like in the game and when I turn my head left and right quickly, the whole world blurred out just like in the game. So I can conclude that the PP in ArmA2 is indeed realistic and is why it feels so real to me. Some people don't like it, maybe because they don't go running at all and didn't know thats how it feels, but it is. :)

[Mudkip 0]

What's the difference between 'High' and 'Very High'?

[fantsu 10]

Difference between "High" and "Very High" is that "Very High" drops your frames even more.

I can't understand this postprocessing.

If it is ON, even on LOW, the game lags and looks horrible.

It is impossible to use sniper anymore, 'cause all in the game looks blurry after 10 feet.

That guy really need glasses, just think him standing on a bus stop with that vision.

He would never see the bus number in time.

[maddogx 13]

Back in ArmA1 I believe the distinction between high and very high PP was that clutter like grass wasn't affected by blur on high, only on very high. In fact, I think that distinction was introduced in a patch.

Personally, I prefer to leave it off, though it does look a lot better in the latest beta patches.

[Chill xl 10]

Well i'm sure BIS didnt add PP Very High, just to scrape of some extra fps for no reason... Anyway for me there's no difference fpswise between PP High and PP Very High. I do wonder what addtional visual effects are enabled or modified when it's on very high as i cannot seem to notice these.

Btw, as a sniper you would often have weapon with a scope that allows you to see details over distant, he's not supposed to do that with just his eyes, so what's the problem? The scope is not just an aiming device...

[jw custom 56]

Btw, as a sniper you would often have weapon with a scope that allows you to see details over distant, he's not supposed to do that with just his eyes, so what's the problem? The scope is not just an aiming device...

Well that "static" blur hell does make you feel like you got gel in your eyes :butbut:

[jasonnoguchi 11]

^... I have to agree that PP should not blur out those things directly in front of us... its weird when sometimes nothing is in focus.

[fantsu 10]

also I don't understnad the scopes in this game, how come you see the surroundings around the scope when you are looking through it?

does the character keep both eyes open? no wonder that everything is so blurry...

:D

[jasonnoguchi 11]

if you mean the red dot sights, yes, they are used with both eyes open. Read more about red dot sights at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflex_sight

[Flash Thunder 10]

Like pervious people said, I only like the effects more with PP on, like smoke tracers and the lighting especially at sunset looks alot better, I don't care for bloom and blur on distance objects but I do like motion blur. :)

[Colt45_GTO 10]

i turned this feature off i got miles better performance, but because i only have 2 gig of ram it all gets cloggy a few hours in.

[johncage 30]

they should separate post process into categories. motion blur, depth effect, lighting, etc.

the motion blur really really lags.

[jasonnoguchi 11]

Well, somehow, I actually LIKE the motion blur! hahahah... it makes the running around chaotic and realistic! :) That's just me, it dramatically reduces my in-game combat effectiveness but it makes me feel back on the field back in my infantry days again and that is my biggest take away from ArmA2. :) It achieved a level of immersion I was looking for which was absent in ArmA1 through all that "negative" PP. Of course this won't be a good thing for players only out for the "play" but for people like me who is looking for a realistic experience of the kind we actually had before in our military life, its really not that bad. :)

Well, one thing about PP I would really love see corrected is the fact that sometimes, EVERYTHING is blur even when stationary. Nothing is in focus and that should not be the case. (happens sometimes in the worst of times when you absolutely must stay still) I found that lowering PP from Very High to High corrects this but also reduces the bloom and haziness where it is needed to create a more realistic, movie effect.

Edited November 28, 2009 by jasonnoguchi

[Alex72 1]

PP Effects=LOW (-1, -2 FPS)

PP Effects=HIGH (-10FPS)

On my pc anyway. So i run with LOW. I really like the scope effect in the edges (scopes are not picture perfect in real life - they are distorted and dirty around the egdes). And i very much like the quick blur effect you get when you get hit, close to blasts and being suppressed. Cant live without those or its back to ArmA1. :)

1-2 FPS lower isnt noticable.

[RGN07 10]

Enable it if your comp can handle it. It's cool.

[MavericK96 0]

^^ That seemed like an unnecessary necro.

On-topic, I typically have it either Low or Off, as a personal preference thing. Framerate-wise, I never noticed a lot of difference having it cranked versus off.

[Nielsneo 10]

Motion blur and DOF in games is as unrealistic as a game made by Codemasters. When you move your head that fast it does not blur like in Arma2 because your eyes anticipate the movement and adjust accordingly. DOF in games are compareble with camera's. The human eye is much more sophisticated than a camera lens. This is especially apparant with aiming down the sights. Your view is crisp and clear while your weapon is somewhat blurred. The only game that has ever got this right is OFP:CWC and they used a texture to do it. I turn PP off in every game that has it because for me it ruins the experiance. Even setting PP on low in Arma2 enables the migraine inducing motion blur. I feel so strongly about this that every game that has it and not have a way to disable it, goes back to the store.:mad:

If u like those features that's fine, but please don't say it's like in real life because if that were true i'd be walking outside with a constant headache and would need a bucket to wherever i go.