3D Water Adjustments for P3D V3.1

[Guest]

For graphics settings with: Water = Ultra

 

I've spent some time trying out different settings to "Try" to improve water rendering ... objective was to remove tiling and shimmers, I didn't fully succeed unfortunately.  But thought I'd share my settings in case anyone wants to try them out (these are based on default P3D water textures):

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw0Q-fAfEZwySUV5eVBaby1CdVE/view?usp=sharing

 

The tiling is gonna take some work and most likely needs a different map size (I tried different sizes but they didn't produce the results I hoped).  Note sky texture used and type of AA will impact results including shimmering, so be aware.  In the Triton.config I also set fft-enable-multi-gpu = yes ... this seems to work well for SLI (multi-GPU) users -- if you don't have multiple GPUs the value appears to be ignored, so it "should" be safe to use.

 

Here is my video with various surface wind speeds at various altitudes:

 

 

Before everyone starts in on "cresting waves" here are some samples from real aircraft of how the ocean looks, it's pretty rare to see cresting waves and only at low altitudes.  With that said, sure I'd like to see the waves cresting a little better in P3D V3.x ... going thru the Triton.config file there does appear to be the ability to develop/enable cresting waves and splashing waves but I'd image adding such functionality could have very significant impacts on performance (FPS), especially on a global scale ... but who knows, maybe we'll see it implemented at a later date when hardware improves.

 

Real world no crest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ18QUDONvg

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsVZ_D6W7Ss

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbLKZiK2Xyk

 

No cresting and popcorn clouds  - double whammy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IHonBjmM_c

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTR8bWRAbSU

 

Finally one cresting (at low altitude)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fidDI70rS20

 

As always, use these adjustments AT YOUR OWN RISK. 

 

Cheers, Rob.

[irrics 1,517]

Ignoring cresting stuff, I just think the waves flat out look too big at altitude...

 

 

They appear to be some seriously "high seas" with a huge period

 

 

This video isn't amazing, but acceptable (and in 4k if wanted), and it's always really wavy around Hawaii and you get almost no wave definition....some of this from the window, but the point remains..

 

 

 

And this one at the 00:49 mark...

 

There's essentially no "wave" seen from up high (and again, it's basically never flat glass calm around HI)

 

 

 

...I don't know - Lots of examples, it just seems that when looking at Rob's cover image for the Video (thumbnail, screenshot, etc)...

 

It's really rare to have waves look so dramatically large as seen below:

 

[Guest]

I tend to agree ... I might be able to mellow it out some ... but in doing so I'll probably impact how the waves look when at lower altitudes.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[irrics 1,517]

I tend to agree ... I might be able to mellow it out some ... but in doing so I'll probably impact how the waves look when at lower altitudes.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

Yeah - I've sort of assumed that's the issue...Fix the "up high" look and now they don't look right "down low" possibly...haha

[hesynergy 67]

... but who knows, maybe we'll see it implemented at a later date when hardware improves.

 

Real world no crest...

Finally one cresting (at low altitude)

https://www.youtube....h?v=fidDI70rS20

 

As always, use these adjustments AT YOUR OWN RISK.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

Dear Rob....figuring this is one of your Shadowplay vids, , I went there and commented thusly...then had to retract when I realized it wasn't even your video! Thanks a lot!

 

enjoy!,,5; $>€£#||{€£!!!

 

 hesynergy 1 hour ago

okaaaaaaayyyyy...didn't read the description...it was late on the eve of my 70th birthday....combined with wishful thinking that this was P3dv3.trickedOutByRob...so blame a guy for an old fart senior moment and open circuit betwixt brain and fingertip...still....SIERRA HOTEL footage!

 

Thanks...I think Rob!...grrrrrrrrrrr

Chas

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hesynergy 20 hours ago

Holllllllllyyyyyyyyyyy$&@/!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am freaking astounded I'm speechless and that ... is all I can say other than thanks Rob... Now we can see to what we, Who are not on fixed incomes… can aspire.

 

Still shaking my head in disbelief...

 

Chas

[Guest]

 

 

.it was late on the eve of my 70th birthday...

 

I guess that's good ... you thought a real world video was simulated ... I guess we're getting closer and closer.  

 

Cheers, Rob.

[SolRayz 392]

I have to be honest, but many things are wrong with water set to Ultra. Repeating texture patterns are far more obvious and ugly. Also, something about the wave textures and reflections are way off, almost bland and unrealistic, compared to one notch back, particularly the lower in altitude you fly. High altitude is much more tolerable. And on another note, the exaggerated wave movements make any water bird almost impossible to maneuver, bobbing back and forth like an erratic seesaw gone wild. Not sure about Ultra at this point. My guess this is still beta...

[Guest]

Ignoring cresting stuff, I just think the waves flat out look too big at altitude...

 

 

Aaaaah, at last someone who thinks the same as me. Imho the big waves make the world look like a miniature train modeller world. As if everything is situated in a bath tub. And in small rivers those big waves look even more wrong. Because of this I have flown with water effects completely off for a long, long time but even though that looks a lot more real at high altitudes (imho) then you have the problem of reflections looking too sharp etc. and so when 3.1 improved the water I decided to give it another try. And although I like the effect at low altitudes it looks unrealistic at higher altitudes. Whatever you choose, it is never right.

 

Maybe the most realistic setting is to turn of water effects AND all reflections... then things seriously look a lot more like your real life pictures! And that also solves the problem I have with resetting wave animations and (odd) reflections (which I posted about elsewhere). Might save a few fps too.

[Cargostorm 151]

 

 

Maybe the most realistic setting is to turn of water effects AND all reflections... then things seriously look a lot more like your real life pictures! And that also solves the problem I have with resetting wave animations and (odd) reflections (which I posted about elsewhere). Might save a few fps too.

 

That would be the most rigorous approach. But honestly: I have re-started my rusty FSX and looked at the water there at high settings. I doubt it is sooo much better than people used to say.

[hesynergy 67]

I guess that's good ... you thought a real world video was simulated ... I guess we're getting closer and closer.

 

Cheers, Rob.

Lighten up young sir! I was just making fun of myself using you and your expertise as a foil.

 

Chas

[klamal 282]

They need to look into what X-Plane does.  I know that's not perfect either.  But, IMO, it's way better than FSX/P3D.

[Guest]

They need to look into what X-Plane does.  I know that's not perfect either.  But, IMO, it's way better than FSX/P3D.

 

Hi Kevin, they both (Xplane/P3D) use the same sundog SDK ... read more about Sundog (Triton) here: http://sundog-soft.com/sds/  ... only difference is Xplane use Sundog's clouds SDK which P3D does not.  In fact, if you look at Sundog's own demo video you'll notice tiling of waves.  To reduce the tiling (repetition) one needs much larger maps which will be a huge performance hit be it OpenGL or DX11.1.

 

I'll continue adjusting the settings to see if I can come up with a more flat ocean where the tiling is less obvious.  Also trying to reduce the shimmering ... but that may need to come from LM.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[ryanbatc 12,820]

So does this address the fact that you can't depart in a seaplane if water is set to Ultra? It's like ultra is bugged or something.

[David Roch 1,980]

Yep. Interested to know that as well ;-)

[Cargostorm 151]

Since ultra is still buggy, a compromise would be to leave water at high or medium at least if one want's to fly an affected seaplane.