FSX-MS Have any of you tried this? (SweetFX)

[nikaslan 9]

This is for FS9, not FSX, but same applies - disabling AA in FS allowed SweetFX to work. I will, try your suggestions and post back.

 

So far though, the only difference I can see with SweetFX working is that things are brighter. I don't necessarily want that - and I haven't found out which parameter in the settings file controls the brightness of the image.

 

Also, to be honest, to my eye, after years of tweaking my nVidia settings via the nVidia Control Panel and nVidia Inspector, I have yet to be convinced that I really need SweetFX at all.. I already have nice sharp, deep-coloured, well-contrasted images on my monitor.

 

But the enthusiasm in these threads is infectious. Maybe there are other gains I haven't really found out about yet?

 

SweetFX is great, as ENB was great too.

But both of them give me CTDs. SweetFX crashes less often but crashes anyway, especially when flying the AS Katana.

 

So I tried to emulate some of its effects using NVidia control panel. As I was only using curves and color vibrance, I kind of emulated these settings by using the "Adjust desktop color settings" page and set Contrast to 55%, Gamma to 90% and Digital vibrance to 60%. On my monitor the result is great, extremely similar to my preferred SFX effect.

And ...NO CTDs!

[malibu43 2]

I tried SFX recently and wasn't able to get it to work.  However, I just read in this thread that it will only work in full screen if you disable AA in FSX, so it looks like I'm going to give it another try!

 

I have another question, though - Does the effect default to "on" or "off" once installed?  The reason I'm asking is that my laptop doesn't have a scroll-lock key.  If it's something that needs to be activated each time I fire up FSX, it won't work for me.  If it's like ENB where it is on by default, then I think it should work.

[flyinion 280]

Thanks for the information 'adi518' - I applied your nVidia Inspector settings (I had exactly the same already, but no 'Supersampling' set) and then switched off AA in FS9. Now I have SweetFX working in windowed and full screen modes and nice crisp lines with no jagged edges in the sim. Much appreciated!

 

I still can't see which 'tweak' in SFX is making the screen lighter though. Can someone please tell me? I want to darken things a little, but which setting do I change?

 

Martin

 

Can you post the top section of your config file for it?  Things that might make it lighter that I can think of offhand, bloom, hdr, curves, probably one more but not sure what it's called offhand.  Something-gammagain.

 

 

I tried SFX recently and wasn't able to get it to work.  However, I just read in this thread that it will only work in full screen if you disable AA in FSX, so it looks like I'm going to give it another try!

 

I have another question, though - Does the effect default to "on" or "off" once installed?  The reason I'm asking is that my laptop doesn't have a scroll-lock key.  If it's something that needs to be activated each time I fire up FSX, it won't work for me.  If it's like ENB where it is on by default, then I think it should work.

It's on by default.

[malibu43 2]

 

 

 

It's on by default.

 

Cool.  Thanks.  Hopefully it will work if I disable AA in FSX.  

 

If that doesn't work, is there anything else I should look at?   (sorry, I didn't read the entire 14 pg thread) 

[VeryBumpy 272]

Meh. There is no good setting to this. Set it up for great clouds and ground, then the VC is stupid or dark looking. This program is only worth it for glamor shots, not realistic visuals when flying.

[martinlest2 58]

The Tonemap settings are what I needed to adjust. Mine now look like this (for what it is worth, as my nVidia Control Panel settings will obviously make a huge difference too):

 

/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Tonemap settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Gamma 1.00 //[0.00 to 2.00] Adjust midtones

#define Exposure 0.05 //[-1.00 to 1.00] Adjust exposure

#define Saturation 0.50 //[-1.00 to 1.00] Adjust saturation

#define Bleach 0.00 //[0.00 to 1.00] Brightens the shadows and fades the colors

#define Defog 0.00 //[0.00 to 1.00] How much of the color tint to remove

#define FogColor float3(0.85, 0.85, 1.00) //[0.00 to 1.00, 0.00 to 1.00, 0.00 to 1.00] What color to remove - default is blue

 

 

I post two screenshots. First at EGLC. The tone is richer and, as can be seen from the grass and the vertical lines on the buildings, the image much sharper.

 

 

 

The second is of the clouds, which lose a touch of the colour differentiation, grey and white, but on the whole the effect is better than without SFX. The ground textures are clearly sharper for one thing.

 

 

 

I think that adjusting so many variables to get the best visuals will be an ongoing preoccupation from now on: I could have added even more saturation, but you need to get a balance, as has been mentioned, so that everything in FS looks better than before. With some settings I have tried, ground textures look great, but then airport buildings appear dark and 'heavy'. I am quite happy with what I have set up in the past few days, a definite improvement all in all, but I am sure the tweaking will continue...

 

Martin

[lostinthe619 23]

Here I was the only one going nuts that it wasn't doin a thing for me in DX9...  Time to go home and disable AA.   :huh:

[flyinion 280]

Here I was the only one going nuts that it wasn't doin a thing for me in DX9...  Time to go home and disable AA.   :huh:

 

It may not work with the built in AA, but it works fine with it set in Inspector.

[martinlest2 58]

Yes, a combination of SweetFX, nVidia Inspector and nVidia Control Panel may take a bit of juggling, but the results are worth the effort!

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

Martin mind posting your entire sweet settings the bit up top can get confusing thanks so much, I like what you have done a nice balance between all the other crazy settings out there

[VeryBumpy 272]

a definite improvement all in all, but I am sure the tweaking will continue...

 

Martin

 

 

You have done pretty much exactly what I ended up with also. Very minor enhancements, mostly in sharpness and clarity.

[martinlest2 58]

OK, here you are:

 

 

/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Choose effects /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/

// Set to 1 for ON or 0 for OFF
#define USE_SMAA_ANTIALIASING 1 //[0 or 1] SMAA Anti-aliasing : Smoothens jagged lines.
#define USE_LUMASHARPEN 1 //[0 or 1] LumaSharpen : Also sharpens the antialiased edges which makes them less smooth - I'm working on fixing that.
#define USE_BLOOM 1 //[0 or 1] Bloom : Makes bright lights bleed their light into their surroundings (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_HDR 0 //[0 or 1] HDR : Not actual HDR - It just tries to mimic an HDR look (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_TECHNICOLOR 0 //[0 or 1] TECHNICOLOR : Attempts to mimic the look of an old movie using the Technicolor three-strip color process (Techicolor Process 4)
#define USE_DPX 1 //[0 or 1] Cineon DPX : Should make the image look like it's been converted to DXP Cineon - basically it's another movie-like look similar to technicolor.
#define USE_LIFTGAMMAGAIN 1 //[0 or 1] Lift Gamma Gain : Adjust brightness and color of shadows, midtones and highlights (avoids clipping)
#define USE_TONEMAP 1 //[0 or 1] Tonemap : Adjust gamma, exposure, saturation, bleach and defog. (may cause clipping)
#define USE_VIBRANCE 1 //[0 or 1] Vibrance : Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation.
#define USE_CURVES 1 //[0 or 1] Curves : Contrast adjustments using S-curves.
#define USE_SEPIA 0 //[0 or 1] Sepia : Sepia tones the image.
#define USE_VIGNETTE 0 //[0 or 1] Vignette : Darkens the edges of the image to make it look more like it was shot with a camera lens. May cause banding artifacts.
#define USE_DITHER 1 //[0 or 1] Dither : Applies dithering to simulate more colors than your monitor can display. This lessens banding artifacts (mostly caused by Vignette)
#define USE_SPLITSCREEN 0 //[0 or 1] Splitscreen : Enables the before-and-after splitscreen comparison mode.
/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ SMAA Anti-aliasing settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/

#define SMAA_THRESHOLD 0.05 // [0.05 to 0.20] Edge detection threshold
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS 32 // [0 to 98] Determines the radius SMAA will search for aliased edges
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS_DIAG 16 // [0 to 16] Determines the radius SMAA will search for diagonal aliased edges
#define SMAA_CORNER_ROUNDING 25 // [0 to 100] Determines the percent of antialiasing to apply to corners.

// -- Advanced SMAA settings --
#define COLOR_EDGE_DETECTION 1 // [0 or 1] 1 Enables color edge detection (slower but slightly more acurate) - 0 uses luma edge detection (faster)
#define SMAA_DIRECTX9_LINEAR_BLEND 1 // [0 or 1] Using DX9 HARDWARE? (software version doesn't matter) if so this needs to be 1 - If not, leave it at 0.



/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ LumaSharpen settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
// -- Sharpening --
#define sharp_strength 0.600 // [0.10 to 3.00] Strength of the sharpening
#define sharp_clamp 0.250 // [0.000 to 1.000] Limits maximum amount of sharpening a pixel recieves - Default is 0.035

// -- Advanced sharpening settings --
#define pattern 4 // [1|2|3|4] Choose a sample pattern. 1 = Fast, 2 = Normal, 3 = Wider, 4 = Pyramid shaped.
#define offset_bias 1.0 // [0.0 to 6.0] Offset bias adjusts the radius of the sampling pattern.
// I designed the pattern for offset_bias 1.0, but feel free to experiment.

// -- Debug sharpening settings --
#define show_sharpen 0 // [0 or 1] Visualize the strength of the sharpen (multiplied by 4 to see it better)



/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Bloom settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define BloomThreshold 21.00 //[0.00 to 50.00] Threshold for what is a bright light (that causes bloom) and what isn't.
#define BloomPower 1.000 //[0.0000 to 8.0000] Strength of the bloom
#define BloomWidth 0.0002 //[0.0000 to 1.0000] Width of the bloom

/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ HDR settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define HDRPower 1.30 //[0.0 to 8.0] Strangely lowering this makes the image brighter
#define radius2 0.87 //[0.0 to 8.0] Raising this seems to make the effect stronger and also brighter


/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ TECHNICOLOR settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define TechniAmount 0.01 //[0.0 to 1.0]
#define TechniPower 4.0 //[0.0 to 8.0]
#define redNegativeAmount 0.48 //[0.0 to 1.0]
#define greenNegativeAmount 0.48 //[0.0 to 1.0]
#define blueNegativeAmount 0.48 //[0.0 to 1.0]


/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Cineon DPX settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Red 9.0 //[1.0 to 15.0]
#define Green 9.0 //[1.0 to 15.0]
#define Blue 9.0 //[1.0 to 15.0]

#define ColorGamma 1.5 //[0.1 to 2.5] Adjusts the colorfulness of the effect in a manner similar to Vibrance. 1.0 is neutral.
#define DPXSaturation 2.5 //[0.0 to 8.0] Adjust saturation of the effect. 1.0 is neutral.

#define RedC 0.55 //[0.6 to 0.2]
#define GreenC 0.55 //[0.6 to 0.2]
#define BlueC 0.55 //[0.6 to 0.2]

#define Blend 0.20 //[0.0 to 0.1] How strong the effect should be.


/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Lift Gamma Gain settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define RGB_Lift float3(1.090, 1.090, 1.090) //[0.000 to 2.000] Adjust shadows for Red, Green and Blue
#define RGB_Gamma float3(1.055, 1.055, 1.055) //[0.000 to 2.000] Adjust midtones for Red, Green and Blue
#define RGB_Gain float3(0.950, 0.950, 0.950) //[0.000 to 2.000] Adjust highlights for Red, Green and Blue


/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Tonemap settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Gamma 1.00 //[0.00 to 2.00] Adjust midtones

#define Exposure 0.05 //[-1.00 to 1.00] Adjust exposure

#define Saturation 0.50 //[-1.00 to 1.00] Adjust saturation

#define Bleach 0.00 //[0.00 to 1.00] Brightens the shadows and fades the colors

#define Defog 0.00 //[0.00 to 1.00] How much of the color tint to remove

#define FogColor float3(0.85, 0.85, 1.00) //[0.00 to 1.00, 0.00 to 1.00, 0.00 to 1.00] What color to remove - default is blue


/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Vibrance settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Vibrance -0.20 //[-1.0 to 1.0] Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation.


/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Curves settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Curves_contrast 0.50 //[-1.0 to 1.0] The amount of contrast you want

// -- Advanced curve settings --
#define Curves_formula 4 //[1|2|3|4|5|6|7] The constrast s-curve you want to use.


/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Sepia settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define ColorTone float3(1.40, 1.10, 0.90) //[0.00 to 1.00, 0.00 to 1.00, 0.00 to 1.00] What color to tint the image
#define GreyPower 0.11 //[0.0 to 1.0] How much desaturate the image before tinting it
#define SepiaPower 0.58 //[0.0 to 1.0] How much to tint the image



/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Vignette settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define VignetteRadius 1.00 //[-1.00 to 3.00] lower values = stronger radial effect from center
#define VignetteAmount -1.00 //[-2.00 to 1.00] Strength of black. -2.00 = Max Black, 1.00 = Max White.
#define VignetteSlope 8 //[1 to 16] How far away from the center the change should start to really grow strong (odd numbers cause a larger fps drop than even numbers)
#define VignetteCenter float2(0.500, 0.500) //[0.00 to 1.00] Center of effect.


/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Dither settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
//No settings yet, beyond switching it on or off in the top section.

//Note that the checkerboard pattern used by Dither, makes an image harder to compress.
//This can make your screenshots and video recordings take up more space.


/*-----------------------------------------------------------.
/ Splitscreen settings /
'-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define splitscreen_mode 3 //[1|2|3|4|5] 1 = Vertical 50/50 split, 2 = Vertical 25/50/25 split, 3 = Vertical 50/50 angled split, 4 = Horizontal 50/50 split, 5 = Horizontal 25/50/25 split

 

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

Nice Martin that was quick now I just have to get threw a day of work and get home and try it thanks buddy sure it will be nice.

[martinlest2 58]

Let me know how it looks on your setup. Hope you are not disappointed....

[VeryBumpy 272]

Interesting to note SFX on bumps up my GPU usage by about 25%.