SweetFX and ReShade

[MsSheare]

That is really quite a difference, i am impressed with how well everything stands out and is so much sharper.

You did a really good job on the profile you made Scott. I tried the rattle snake route and it just made the whole route stand out. I really like how the sidewalks and roads come together and it actually looks like there are curbs now.

[scottb613]

Hi...

I posted it earlier in this thread - you should be able to get it from there - I can't get to my DropBox account at the moment to grab the link again...

Once you have it - place it in the folder you created for "ORTSmono" - whatever you called it...

Launch ORTS Mono and start whatever scenario you want - once in game press [Shift][F2] to bring up the ReShade menu - on the top there's window dropdown dialog that allows you to pick a "preset" my file should then appear in the list... Select the file... Then change the mode from "Configuration" to "Performance" - which will compile the shaders as per the preset... Close the interface and enjoy - or go back to "Configuration" mode and tweak to your hearts content... Always go back to "Performance" when done making changes...

If you assign a "Toggle Key" in the ReShade interface - this will turn ReShade on and off in the sim - so you can easily see how dramatic the changes are...

Regards,
Scott

[hminky]

Well, the honest truth is that I really, really, really love Open Rails, and feel that, when it gets modern rendering capabilities, it could very well be the sim to beat (in terms of physics - especially with the ability to do all of the things we can do with include files - I feel that is is already superior). But sometimes the conservatism grates on my nerves, and it does often feel like dealing with a preservation society and its "club" atmosphere.

To me OpenRails is just something to run MSTS on newer hardware.

The game will never look good because like Trainz it is tied to the corpse of 2004ish assets and legacy equipment of the users.

Railworks never had that problem, running Railworks initially required an upgrade in equipment and believe most users did.

OpenRails isn't a major player in TrainSims, the assets require finding an old copy of an abandoned game.

Love the Monogame/Reshade version of OpenRails.

Thanks to all the guys who have got all the MSTS stuff to this level. Making a fringe game playable on modern equipment.

Harold

[MsSheare]

Scott where is the shade profile located? I want to try yours out.

[scottb613]

Hi,

"F:\ORTSmono" - something like that - the folder name is irrelevant though...

Regards,
Scott

[MsSheare]

Scott what did you name the mono OR folder?

[scottb613]

Hi...

Mono ORTS is a completely separate and stand alone version of ORTS - it should not go in your existing ORTS folder... Just copy the contents of Mono to it's own unique folder and point the "ReShade" installer at the Mono ORTS executable... If done that way - there's no way I know of that any of this can affect your normal ORTS install... Hope this helps...

Regards,
Scott

[MsSheare]

Tried to get both Mono and ReShade to work the 2 folders for shade are in OR but nothing happens.

Down loaded Mono and the whole OR stopped working.

[Erick_Cantu]

Hi Folks,

Graphically - not physics and operation - at least from what I gathered... Part of the issue is - as group in general - we seem far more reluctant to change than any other groups I participate with - what - you mean in order to use OpenRails I need to upgrade to a currently in production and supported operating system - NEVER... Insuring outdated legacy compatibility effectively handcuffs what the developers can do... In Flight Simulator we're constantly pushing the envelop - trying to get just a little bit more - from everything... I have one of the oldest machines I know of in that group...



Regards,
Scott

Well, the honest truth is that I really, really, really love Open Rails, and feel that, when it gets modern rendering capabilities, it could very well be the sim to beat (in terms of physics - especially with the ability to do all of the things we can do with include files - I feel that is is already superior). But sometimes the conservatism grates on my nerves, and it does often feel like dealing with a preservation society and its "club" atmosphere.

Diesel exhaust broke about six months ago and ain't been fixed yet, but I'm sure the next incremental build will fix some minutiae of steam locomotive operation that nobody will ever notice. That statement might make the frustration more tangible.

I accept that part of this is the difficulty of finding programmers to come on board.

[Erick_Cantu]

ORTS is way behind when just compared with Railworks, let alone TS2018. Where is distant blue haze, depth of field, dark tunnels, appealing smoke, automatic swaying grass, reflective water, proper shadows under each loco and coach among other things? I love sweetfx/reshade effects with ORTS but it blows my mind to see the statement ORTS doesn't need help to it's lighting effects.

I also think, Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a very good example of what can be done with ancient technology. It looks like a DirectX 11 game while only using DirectX 9.0c.

Let me clarify. When I say "lighting," I mean the ambient light, amount of contrast, and so on. OR does all that just fine. It's relevant because 90% of the "differences" that people are hyping up when using reshade amount to adding a touch of brightness and way too much contrast. That hasn't made anything look better.

Does TS2018 have much more advanced shaders and materials? Absolutely! But that's only about 10% of a good image (you've seen some of the mediocre texture work from developers who think an AO render and some colour layers makes perfect, I'm sure). The first 90% of a good result is all in the basics - smart model building and good textures. The extra shaders just push the result over the edge and out of the uncanny valley.

I was exploring the nooks and crannies of one of the default routes last night, and it struck me that most of the scenery models are very simple, but textured well, and smartly built. The swaying grass is very simple, just animated cruciform polygons with gradient alpha textures that smooth out the edges and make it all look seamless. The trees are magnificent in their efficient simplicity, and look orders of magnitude better than the cruciform ones that end up in OR, without actually being terribly complex (the key is that certain faces always face the camera). The amount of stuff actually rendered is quite minimal despite the visual complexity. That's what building a good game is all about.

If we could somehow port all of the legacy MSTS/OR content over to TS2018, even with the water and all of that other stuff, it wouldn't magically look any better. Some of it would look great. I've yet to purchase 3DTrains' Feather River Canyon, but I've seen shots and it would no doubt look spectacular. So would the latest Blackfoot (if I could figure out how to get USTracks working with it, it'd probably look better in OR than it already does). But, on average, most MSTS/OR content would look like inefficient models plastered with crude textures made from overexposed or washed out photographs, but rendered by a better graphics engine.

[qballbandit]

Hi advut,
I believe I have the latest (remember, this card type is close to 10 years old) drivers available. Radeon Pro is the tool I use for "tweaking" the cards settings.

[tbundy1982]

Outstanding. Ossie gave me the heads up on Monogame, and it works very well for what I needed. I had a route mod that was causing ORTS to drop to unplayable fps. For example, the middle of the big yard was bringing ORTS to ZERO fps! Yes, just like if I had pushed the pause button, though I still had perfect control of the viewing angle and could restart the game moving again by shifting the view to the side. That was at a 2000m draw distance. With ORTS Monogame 40xx installed, the fps at a 5000m draw distance was 18 fps at that location, and ran completely smooth at 3500m. While I was originally concerned that the route may be too detailed, Monogame saved the day for my aging computer.

Tyler

[scottb613]

Hi Folks,

I tried to make a quick and dirty video demonstrating the effects - but the quality is substantially reduced by YouTube - so much is lost anyway...

https://youtu.be/-CoUWdsfPuw

Regards,
Scott

[advut]

Yes, I can say that. I have NVIDIA GTX 660 and I can get a pretty nice anti-aliased image in ORTS monogame. Of course, you can't get complete AA on some things like fences but overall it works.

To Neil, you said you use radeonpro 3rd party drivers instead of the official drivers, why?

[scottb613]

Hi Neil,

I didn't specifically look for but I also didn't notice any "jaggies" during my test - using ORTS AA setting only...

I'm using Nvidia - can anyone confirm positively that AA works on Nvidia ? Possibly an ATI issue ?

Regards,
Scott