I will be posting some comparison screenshots.

Can you spot the differences? the images on the RIGHT are Shader Model 3.0Original Shaders vs. Shader Mod 3TERRAIN WATER

Secondly : the color of the suns reflection in the water. At sunset the reflections are more yellow/red instead of white.

This one rang a bell with me, I definately think the reflections are too strong/wrong colour at sunset. The first screenshot is without the mod, the second is with. If this can be fixed via WaterConstants.Xml, what do I need to change? I did a diff on the two files and I couldn't really see anything obvious.Kind regardsDave

This one rang a bell with me, I definately think the reflections are too strong/wrong colour at sunset. The first screenshot is without the mod, the second is with. If this can be fixed via WaterConstants.Xml, what do I need to change? I did a diff on the two files and I couldn't really see anything obvious.Kind regardsDave

Hi Dave,Let me give you a brief description of what the Waterconstants.XML structure is, and some of the options you'll find inside.Think of Waterconstants.XML as the fsx.cfg file for water but with fewer options and a complex format :) it is an XML file with a basic structure that goes like this:--- Shader20 Shader30 Shader40MID Shader20 Shader30 Shader40HIGH Shader20 Shader30 Shader40The above, is an OVERsimplified view of the XML file, but it basically shows you that it has 3 main sections --- (which is blank but corresponds to LOW) MID and HIGH. This LOW, MID and HIGH refer to 'boundaries' Gerard kindly posted this info earlier, Note that Shader40 only applies to DX10 Preview mode and the Shader Mod does NOTHING to DX10 preview. Also, the Shader30 sections of the XML file are IGNORED, The water shader will READ what is enclosed in the Shader20 sections.LOW => Sea Level up to 1500FtMID => 1500Ft up to 10000FtHIGH => Above 10000Ft.The boundaries allow specific Water configs based on your ALTITUDE, and the most important values (and ranges) to use are as follows: <fWaveFresnelFactorMin>0.475</fWaveFresnelFactorMin> <fWaveFresnelFactorMax>0.588</fWaveFresnelFactorMax> <fSpecularPower>53.384</fSpecularPower> <fSpecularBoost>1.005</fSpecularBoost> <fWaveBumpUVScale>9.500</fWaveBumpUVScale>fSpecularBoost (MIN value 1.000 MAX value 1.500)This value changes the 'intensity' of the reflection, using a value like 1.300 or 1.350 or even 1.400 can make the reflections look better\ fWaveBumpUVScale (MIN VALUE 3.5 MAX VALUE 9.5)This controls wave width, HIGH Values REDUCE this wave width and white caps, LOW values Increase the width and exagerate the white cap effect.the othe values don't need to be changed... because I don't see any clear difference playing with them.Now, using the above info, tweak LOW, MID and HIGH water setting and report back.Cheers,

The past days I have tested the Shader Mod by *******,My system is fairly old (see my signature for details) and I have to make choices on what to implement while considering the load on the system. It's all a matter of balance and a fine one at that.The performance benefit for ATI, as reported by several users in this thread, is significant. On my system I have particularly noticed it in very smooth texture loading and a performance gain in rendering the clouds.The most significant entries of my fsx.cfg:

[BufferPools]UsePools=0[GRAPHICS]HIGHMEMFIX=1ALLOW_SHADER_30=1SHADER_CACHE_VERSION=36 (for rebuilding the shader chache by incrementing the number after a change)ForceFullScreenVSync=1TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024[Display]TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=0 (I use fps limiter locked to 25 frames)WideViewAspect=True[TERRAIN]MIN_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21MAX_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS_PER_CELL=200LOD_RADIUS=4.500000

My FSX settings are as follows:I have tested Shader Mod v1.2, v1,3 as well as the latest version which I call v1.4.What was I testing in particular?The performance impact of adding the following to my fsx.cfg:[TERRAIN]MIN_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21MAX_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21Why did I have to add them?In Shader Mod version 1.3 ******* added a negative lod bias of -8 to the terrain shaders which sharpens the textures. The drawback I experienced was shimmering terrain textures which I tried to eliminate by running Anisotropic filtering at 16x, but the shimmering remained. The solution was to add MIN_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21 MAX_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21 to the terrain section of my fsx.cfg.What's the significance of running with a negative lod of -8?Well, here's the surprise. Through my testing I suspect that it is not the negative lod that gives me sharp textures to the horizon, but rather the addition of MIN_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21 MAX_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21 to the terrain section of my fsx.cfg.*******, is that the reason why you have not used a negative lod of -8 in the latest version?The performance impact of adding MIN_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21 MAX_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21:From what I can see the performance impact is negligible. Yes the gpu memory usage is increased a bit but, I could not see detrimental effects on my 512Mb card.Suggestions for next versions:Please keep the naming convention with version numbers intact so that users know which version we work with.If possible keep a change log so that users can see what was changed. Is the Shader Mod worth it?Hell yeah! The performance gain, especially for ATI users, is well worth it. Last of all I want to thank ******* for he keeps pushing the boundaries and spurs us on to keep testing. Yes, I sigh when I start FSX for the umpteenth time but, in the end, hitting that sweet spot is ultimately gratifying and well worth it.

First, congratulations for this mod. FSX look better and better I don't know if somebody has seen this problem : Since I installed the mod, the night is ..... black. but totally dark. I like the realistic nights but now, I can't see anything outside the cockpit or in the cockpit (except the lights of course). It's a little too dark :( I think that is due to the new shaders. In this case, is it possible to correct the brightness of the night ? Thank for your help :)

the enbseries.ini file, change the darkening amount night to 30 instead of 35

I'm getting random dll error crashes, at various times. Sitting at the ramp, about to takeoff, in flight, etc. But only with this shader tweak and using bufferpools=0Strange

I'm getting random dll error crashes, at various times. Sitting at the ramp, about to takeoff, in flight, etc. But only with this shader tweak and using bufferpools=0Strange

Have you tried this shader tweak and using bufferpools=0 without enbseries?Please post your fsx.cfg maybe we can help..

Have you tried this shader tweak and using bufferpools=0 without enbseries?Please post your fsx.cfg maybe we can help..

One of the things I've been seen lately is the ENBseries mod having some kind of problems when used with the Shader MOD, which is unfortunate of course. All users that have REMOVED ENBSeries have completely solved their problems.There is also a possiblity that ENBSeries is actually having problems with HIGHMEMFIX.. but I'm not sure.Remeber, ENBseries is/was NOT designed for FSX! it's a hack meant for ANOTHER game, which WORKS under FSX.

I can report that I'm running without crashes while using enbseries with *******' mods.As stated before I'm careful in not asking too much of my system.One thing I've found with my ATI is to disable Catalyst AI as well as Adaptive Anti-Aliasing. I do this for all games I play as this gives me the best stability. You might want to try it, it might help.

the enbseries.ini file, change the darkening amount night to 30 instead of 35

Perfect ! Thank you very much :( .

I believe I found what was crashing my game. I removed nhancer, and unchecked aircraft shadows on ground and self. Now no bluescreens or crashes with dll errors

Now, using the above info, tweak LOW, MID and HIGH water setting and report back.

I'll see what I can do - thanks!CheersDave

Hello :( I would like to solve a little problem. I set a color for the sea, with REX2. This color is correct but only on the morning. it become too clear, too pale at the middle of the day.Here, there are two screens : the fist et 08:00 AM and the second at 11:00 PM.For me, the color in the second (11:00 pm) is too much clear and not very realistic :( . I tried to change the color, but always the same problem.I don't know if there is a way to correct it, to make it less different to the first, by changing some values in some new shaders files.

[TERRAIN]MIN_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21MAX_DETAIL_TEXTURE_LEVEL=21the above will force the highest ground texture levels under all conditions.

Does this tweak only work with this shader mod...? And will this tweak load highest ground textures ALWAYS or does 'under all conditions' mean something else...? I tried it with my unmodded setup but I still see higher textures being loaded near the aricraft... Or do I need to reset the shaders (even when I don't use the mod)?If the mod is mandatory I will give it a try tonight. But I am quite happy with what I got right now, apart from the late texture loading...