NoBlur Modification - Test Release

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

well, if nothing else, this effort got me to vote for the issue on the CIT ;)

my compromise on this issue is to set PP on low, but now I have a choice.

and thanks for reminding me about that Poseidon to ArmA2 vid. :inlove:

[thr0tt 12]

Wow, you guys are a riot.

I did run with PP off since ArmA2 came out.

Along with 100's of other people, I could not run with PP on because the blur cause my brain great discomfort.

So I did something about it.

Now I can run with PP on, and it looks nice. I like all the other effects. Honestly the only reason the radialBlur is disabled is because that's what I started working on first. I really don't mind the running blur.

What is your problem?

Can't make everyone happy I guess. I don't even know why you would comment on it if you didn't think the blur was a problem.

---------- Post added at 09:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 AM ----------

Sorry, they must use the same shader. Without someone that can read and understand the code fully in assembly, the shader can only be left alone or disabled completely.

lol, only playing with you, its a matter of choice if folk use it or not. Personally I would like yo see all the effects in the game usable by everyone but if they are not then mods like these can help folk get rid of them.

Some games don't give you the option to remove the effects and that way the playing field is equal, if your sight is blurred due to granade or fatigue on one side and someone modded all the 'negative' affects out then in a competetive game you would lose out. If there is an in game option to turn off grass then most likely people will use it as it gives them an advantage etc. but as all the pp effects are optional and not forced server side then I guess this is purely a graphical nice to have.

I am glad I can run it all on high now with AA to normal, before I too had to disable all PP effects. :) Now, can you make me and me alone a mod that helps me shoot straight ? ;)

[Snake Man 407]

I owe my initiative to kegetys, the pioneer in Poseidon/Real Virtuality engine hacking..

Is this better than Kegetys noblur addon?

[rocket 9]

Better yet, we should try to get this up the ladder to BI to see if they would add an option to disable this type of blur in the advanced video settings (it seems to me that BI were talking about this at one point).

How would that affect multiplayer though? Having it as a mod, means that servers can prevent people using this as an exploit. If its an option in the game menu, then it will mean people have different viewing ability in multiplayer games...

[cole 0]

How would that affect multiplayer though? Having it as a mod, means that servers can prevent people using this as an exploit. If its an option in the game menu, then it will mean people have different viewing ability in multiplayer games...

How about giving it the same limits as view distance or grass render distance have? Mission set parameters would be a priority over Video Options.

[rocket 9]

How about giving it the same limits as view distance or grass render distance have? Mission set parameters would be a priority over Video Options.

That's starting to sound like a BIG feature request...

• Changing the rendering...
  
• UI changes for the option...
  
• Function/Setting creation for use in the mission
  
• Multiplayer/JIP function use/syncronization
  

That's not a walk in the park...

[cole 0]

That's starting to sound like a BIG feature request...

• Changing the rendering...
  
• UI changes for the option...
  
• Function/Setting creation for use in the mission
  
• Multiplayer/JIP function use/syncronization
  

That's not a walk in the park...

Yeah, if BIS would've fill every request like that, they'd keep patching ArmA2 for atleast 10 years..

And I'm afraid it's not completely possible for modders to implement all these features that you listed.

I'm quite okay with the default post process settings though.

Edited November 18, 2009 by Cole

[oktane 0]

Is this better than Kegetys noblur addon?

Um, I would say they are kinda related. He did release one once, but it only worked for older versions. I also don't know any of the technical details of how he did it, I started from complete scratch and documented it for the community. (actually I documented it at first so that people could help because I didn't think I could do it all myself!) Looking back now, I bet I would have saved some time looking at what he did after I understood the shader cache file format. :o

I don't recall what his looked like, and its not easy for me to get an old version of the game to test his with. Does anyone know if his version left in the 'tired' effects? If so I will look at the disassembly of his modified shader.

---------- Post added at 06:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 PM ----------

Better yet, we should try to get this up the ladder to BI to see if they would add an option to disable this type of blur in the advanced video settings (it seems to me that BI were talking about this at one point).

How would that affect multiplayer though? Having it as a mod, means that servers can prevent people using this as an exploit. If its an option in the game menu, then it will mean people have different viewing ability in multiplayer games...

How about giving it the same limits as view distance or grass render distance have? Mission set parameters would be a priority over Video Options.

KaBoNG is right, it should be an option.

BI currently does not enforce video settings except grass density and viewdistance in MP. I don't see why they couldn't enforce it, but that is a feature request and doesn't have anything to do with this thread.

As it is now, we can agree that post processing forced by server admins is impossible, because its a fact. It doesn't matter if you ban my modification, people can just turn off post processing! Forced synchronization of post processing settings cannot be modded into the game unless someone hacks the main ArmA2 exe, a discussion of which would be silly and also frowned upon by the mods.

Yes it's possible to make any game do anything you want if you have enough time and resources. And I mean a lot of time. And skill. All exe's are just bytecode that can be changed around. But who cares enough to add a feature like that via those means? BIS could add it in robustly with ~2 man hours, since they have the source code.. and it would be official.

If you accept that people can currently change their post processing options at will, including turning them off, I don't see why there is a need to ban the noblur anyways. I don't think BIS thought it was worth enforcing PP level over the network, since it is at a low level, a performance setting. That is, if they even thought about it it at all. (doubt it)

This modification is a stopgap measure until we get control over the blur shader in the options, or BIS fixes the shaders code so that it doesn't make the game unplayable at low FPS. It isn't a multiplayer exploit by any means, it really has absolutely nothing to do with multiplayer. ;)

Please don't consider this an exploit to a feature (PP sync over MP) that doesn't even exist. That is a source of future FUD.

---------- Post added at 07:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:40 PM ----------

Concerning performance with the modification:

I had an amusing conversation today with a tech artist who owed me lunch. Here for embarrassments sake.

oktane says:

Did you see my message about the ArmA 2 shaders hack we spoke about long ago

Also wheres my tacos?

ChevysTacoLover says:

No and Taco Bell

oktane says:

But more important than tacos

ChevysTacoLover says:

Those posts make my un-coffee'd head hurt

oktane says:

You're supposed to know more about it than me, Mr. winnar-of-3dsmax-master-limited-edition-jacket..

ChevysTacoLover says:

If knowing decompiled shader assembly were a requirement for Max Master Jackets I'd be f'ing freezing.

oktane says:

So are shader processors separate? Does shader complexity have an effect on fps?

ChevysTacoLover says:

Shaders have a direct impact on the time it takes to render a frame.

While different GPUs have different #s of shader pipelines they must all write out to the final framebuffer. That frame buffer can not be displayed until it is full and finished.

oktane says:

Ahh thanks.

So reducing the num of instr. should reduce the ms taken for final framebuffer output

ChevysTacoLover says:

Shader speed is a function of shader code instruction count and the number of pixels on screen it affects in any given frame.

For instance, on 'Taco Simulator 2: Taco Supreme' the eyeball shader was the most expensive. It had something like 93-95 instructions. But, the number of pixels on screen it affected at any given time was very very low so the impact was not that great.

For something like a motion blur shader, which affects the entire frame buffer, lower instruction counts will positively affect frame rate, for sure.

oktane says:

Ok, I'll quote you under the pseudonym ChevysTacoLover

ChevysTacoLover says:

outstanding.

I'll put the relevant part in the FAQ on the first post. :D

[larsiano 12]

Thanks for this !! Things look much better and FPS are up more then 20% making the game almost as fluent as i would like it to be :)

[kabong 1]

f'ing outstanding news on the performance boost. maybe we owe ChevysTacoLover a taco or two. ;)

[tpw 2315]

I agree. My Armamark went from 2100 to 2350 after applying the oktane v2 patch. And, the depth of field effect is back. Well done!

[thales100 10]

Thanks m8, i was really looking for this.

[Snake Man 407]

Um, I would say they are kinda related. He did release one once, but it only worked for older versions.

Oh there is some version thing... I had no idea. Then I'll definitely try yours if this works for current versions.

Thanks for making noblur addon :)

[Dr.Pulp 0]

I really like Version 1 of your mod...but it frequently crashes my Arma. Version 2 runs fine...no crashes...but i can't stand the blur while running...it hurt my eyes.

is there a big difference between version 1 and 2, that maybe cause the crashes?

[PogMoThoin 10]

There's a new beta patch out today, is the latest version compatible with this new beta?

[kabong 1]

There's a new beta patch out today, is the latest version compatible with this new beta?

I'm guessing yes it is still compatible because the size of Shaders_DefPP.shdc in build 60141 and 60295 is the same (33,043 bytes). However, I could be wrong because the file date has changed. Hopefully oktane, or someone else, will do a byte-to-byte comparison to confirm.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Wow. Just spotted this "addon". Priceless little gem! Tried the 60141 version with build 60295, and it appears to work ok. At least at first look.

[oktane 0]

I really like Version 1 of your mod...but it frequently crashes my Arma. Version 2 runs fine...no crashes...but i can't stand the blur while running...it hurt my eyes.

is there a big difference between version 1 and 2, that maybe cause the crashes?

Are you using the latest beta? I think the crashes are from that mate. :D

No crashes with the version noted in the post.

I tried to play a simple coop today with the latest beta.. crashed 4 times in 15 minutes! When in doubt, remove my bin dir... (I didn't, I'm just saying.. Actually I put the 1.04 shader file and ran the final patch version to finish the damn mission. :D)

If the noblur is causing it, that would be strange.

Edited November 21, 2009 by oktane

[Dr.Pulp 0]

@oktane: i don't use the beta patch, cause our dedicated linux don't have the beta.

have you updated your Version 1 Mod sometime? Maybe i got an older version.

the crashes seem to link directly to the mod. without mod or with mod version 2...no problems. with version 1...frequent crashes.

[oktane 0]

@oktane: i don't use the beta patch, cause our dedicated linux don't have the beta.

have you updated your Version 1 Mod sometime? Maybe i got an older version.

the crashes seem to link directly to the mod. without mod or with mod version 2...no problems. with version 1...frequent crashes.

Hi

Can you tell me the region of your game, if it is download or steam or dvd. Also I'll send you a pm and you can send me your normal bin.pbo so i can compare it to what I based the mod off of..

Anyone else have crashes? It may be that I am missing something with the radialBlur shader.. but its hard to understand.

Also note, you can run the beta patch.. it is not required on the dedicated server. All beta patches are compatible with 1.14 so far.

[das attorney 858]

Hi Oktane - am I right in thinking that if I have post-processing disabled, there is no call to use your mod? My rig isn't very powerful so I normally avoid using post-processing to avoid a slideshow. Many thanks, DA

[oktane 0]

Hi, yes PP should be on.. I use the 'low'. People say the performance is very much improved with the noblur. So you may be able to use PP with this.

[das attorney 858]

Thanks - will give it a go :)

[oktane 0]

@oktane: i don't use the beta patch, cause our dedicated linux don't have the beta.

have you updated your Version 1 Mod sometime? Maybe i got an older version.

the crashes seem to link directly to the mod. without mod or with mod version 2...no problems. with version 1...frequent crashes.

Can you try this: http://www.506th-pir.org/scripts/oktane/addons/oktShaderModTestv3.zip

It is the same as v2, except it has an extra folder of v2 shaders with the running blur disabled (disabled in a different method compared to v1)

---------- Post added at 05:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:16 PM ----------

I'm guessing yes it is still compatible because the size of Shaders_DefPP.shdc in build 60141 and 60295 is the same (33,043 bytes). However, I could be wrong because the file date has changed. Hopefully oktane, or someone else, will do a byte-to-byte comparison to confirm.

Yep, they are the same. Thanks.

[das attorney 858]

Oktane - wanted to say thanks for your mod - I can now use a low setting of PP without losing significant FPS. Ironically, I do like the rotatioal blur, and when I get a more powerful computer, I'll probably reinstate it. But, this mod is really helpful for the time being on my current computer. Much obliged, DA :)