Prepar3D Tweak Assistant (PTA) - Screenshots & Presets

[Adamski_NZ 952]

What (FEX) cloud sets are you using? It looks stunning.

 

It's a made up one. With the way the FEX GUI is designed, It's not easy to just read off all the settings. However - I could try and publish it to the FEX server if that helps <?>.

 

I just published it. Try finding the cloud theme "Adam P3dv3 PTA 20-08". I hope I uploaded the right one, LOL!

 

Adam.

[KNOSSOS 122]

I blame Yuri LOL. I think I *almost* got to the stage where I couldn't tweak 2.03 any more ... so then he goes and updates it ... hahaha!

Sorry for that Adam.  

Mom told me to stop tweaking, but I just can't stop LOL: here is a new info about P3D hotfix 3 coming (Russian).

http://simrussia.com/2017/01/17/prepar-3d-hotfix-3/

Not sure about the source of info though...

OMG.

[Adamski_NZ 952]

Tut, tut, Yuri - you should always listen to Mamushka! :Talking Ear Off: ... however - I hear she's going to stop doing your washing unless you fix that oily black P3D water!

 

As far as I could make out (with help from Google translate), it appears to address SLI issues <?>:

 

"The main change is: It is being released to address SLI issues that we have been working with NVIDIA to resolve ..."

 

What will you do if they "fix" all the shaders?

[KenVerburg 23]

Hi Adamski,

 

Thanks for all the work you do, really enjoying your presets!

 

Since version 2.07 I seem to have an issue in VCs at night. Almost all colour is gone from the VC. During the day it's fine. When I restore to 2.06 it's also fine. The same happened with 2.08 and PTA 2.0.4. I'm using P3D 3.4HF2 with AS16+ASCA (loading or not loading does not make difference) and Envtex sky textures.

 

Is there an area you can point me to where I can look at to figure out which setting is causing this? Or should I compare both 2.06 and 2.08 presets and see what the differences are?

 

 

 

 

Below two example shots inside the VC. Outside there also seems to be an issue, but less-pronounced, but for example the green bar that shows when you load a PMDG plane is also a lot less green.

 

PMDG 777: 

 

iFly 747:

 

[Adamski_NZ 952]

I know exactly what that is - it's the "desaturation" algorithm I was messing with to try to emuilate those wonderfully blue moonlit nights. It looks like the tweak isn't working correctly with those aircraft. Other aircraft appear to be fine.

 

Three things to try:

 

1) See if the bleaching changes with the phases of the moon. ie. Try it with no moon.

2) Disable the "Sepia" post-processing filter: it's where I "cheated" and added blue (but only at night).

3) Disable the custom tweak "AutogenNightDesaturation".

 

I just loaded up the PMDG 737 and see what you see. I'll try another test with those tweaks disabled.

 

There must be something that PMDG (and iFly) do differently when it comes to VC lighting - maybe to allow for more complex panel lights dimming etc. I'm not sure whether there's a solution for this that could work for PMDG-type aircraft plus the rest. Maybe Yuri could shed some light on this (pardon the pun!!!).

 

Adam.

 

EDIT: I just re-loaded the NGX with both tweaks disabled. The VC is back to normal, so I think "AutogenNightDesaturation" is the more likely culprit.

[B777ER 2,486]

I know exactly what that is - it's the "desaturation" algorithm I was messing with to try to emuilate those wonderfully blue moonlit nights. It looks like the tweak isn't working correctly with those aircraft. Other aircraft appear to be fine.

 

Three things to try:

 

1) See if the bleaching changes with the phases of the moon. ie. Try it with no moon.

2) Disable the "Sepia" post-processing filter: it's where I "cheated" and added blue (but only at night).

3) Disable the custom tweak "AutogenNightDesaturation".

 

I just loaded up the PMDG 737 and see what you see. I'll try another test with those tweaks disabled.

 

There must be something that PMDG (and iFly) do differently when it comes to VC lighting - maybe to allow for more complex panel lights dimming etc. I'm not sure whether there's a solution for this that could work for PMDG-type aircraft plus the rest. Maybe Yuri could shed some light on this (pardon the pun!!!).

 

Adam.

 

EDIT: I just re-loaded the NGX with both tweaks disabled. The VC is back to normal, so I think "AutogenNightDesaturation" is the more likely culprit.

Are you going to redo your preset to edit these tweaks out?

[Adamski_NZ 952]

Are you going to redo your preset to edit these tweaks out?

 

Probably not ... but I'll maybe update the readme (and comments) and re-upload the archive. I've left a note on my PTA page about it so, hopefully, all downloaders in the interim know what to do if they get that problem.

 

I'll take another look at night lighting in general and work the results into the next preset, I think.

[KNOSSOS 122]

 

 

As far as I could make out (with help from Google translate), it appears to address SLI issues :
"The main change is: It is being released to address SLI issues that we have been working with NVIDIA to resolve ..."

Yes, only SLI issue mentioned there.

 

 

 

What will you do if they "fix" all the shaders?

I will have more free time.  :wink:

I know exactly what that is - it's the "desaturation" algorithm I was messing with to try to emuilate those wonderfully blue moonlit nights. It looks like the tweak isn't working correctly with those aircraft. Other aircraft appear to be fine.

Adam, I've made some tests with custom tweak and it seems that PMDG737 cockpit issue may be solved by changes in code:
 

#if !defined(SHD_ADDITIVE_EMISSIVEMAP) && !defined(SHD_BLENDED_EMISSIVEMAP) && !defined(SHD_MULTIPLY_EMISSIVEMAP)
   if ((cb_mObjectType != (uint)1) && (cb_mObjectType != (uint)19) && (cb_mObjectType != (uint)0))
          cColor.rgb = saturate(lerp(dot(cColor.rgb, float3(0.299f, 0.387f, 0.154f)), cColor.rgb, (1 - cb_mDayNightInterpolant)));
#endif

instead of
 

#if !defined(SHD_ADDITIVE_EMISSIVEMAP) && !defined(SHD_BLENDED_EMISSIVEMAP) && !defined(SHD_MULTIPLY_EMISSIVEMAP)
   if ((cb_mObjectType != (uint)1) && (cb_mObjectType != (uint)19))
          cColor.rgb = saturate(lerp(dot(cColor.rgb, float3(0.299f, 0.387f, 0.154f)), cColor.rgb, (1 - cb_mDayNightInterpolant)));
#endif

[KenVerburg 23]

Hi Adamski,

 

Thank you so much, indeed the last two options affect the VC the most. AutogenNightDesaturation was the main issue, I later also disabled the Sepia one as it still was a bit too blue to my liking (but already much-improved). Might set it based on day or night flight.

[B777ER 2,486]

Probably not ... but I'll maybe update the readme (and comments) and re-upload the archive. I've left a note on my PTA page about it so, hopefully, all downloaders in the interim know what to do if they get that problem.

 

I'll take another look at night lighting in general and work the results into the next preset, I think.

Looks like a fix is available in post 159. Any chance Adam you could incorporate it into your preset?

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Adam,

 

Here are a few more screenshots using 20_08:

 

http://www.avsim.com/topic/502044-some-images-from-bolivia/?p=3551654

 

Regards,

Mike

[Adamski_NZ 952]

Adam, I've made some tests with custom tweak and it seems that PMDG737 cockpit issue may be solved by changes in code:

 

Yuri ... once again, I'm in awe of your talent! The fix works beautifully! Many thanks!!!!

 

It takes a while to set up all the rheostats on the NGX panels, but *wow* - what  a treat!

 

 

These are all with a full moon:

 

 

I may still tweak the objects moonlight value. Autogen seems fine, but my vegetation is a fraction too dark:

 

Thank you so much, indeed the last two options affect the VC the most. AutogenNightDesaturation was the main issue, I later also disabled the Sepia one as it still was a bit too blue to my liking (but already much-improved). Might set it based on day or night flight.

 

You could also try just turning down the blue a little on that custom tweak - it's the "z" value".

 

Looks like a fix is available in post 159. Any chance Adam you could incorporate it into your preset?

 

I'm working on 20_09 now ... watch this space!!!

 

Here are a few more screenshots using 20_08:

 

http://www.avsim.com/topic/502044-some-images-from-bolivia/?p=3551654

 

Gulp!!!! Amazing shots!!!!

 

Adam.

[ankh21 17]

Hi Adam!

 

Thank you very much for the last preset! I really like the natural look. After i had to adjust a little bit the sepia post process (all my highway traffic must have been S-Class Mercedes or BMW 7, Xenon lights all over ), there are two questions left. Perhaps you or Yuri may assist:

 

1) During night, the desaturation of the colors is great. At night, all cats are grey, as we say in Germany. But also the taxiway or runway markings are grey, even when switching on taxi or landing lights. Is there a way to change that?

 

2) At the moment, there is very cold weather with lots of snow here in Germany. But altough there is no moon in the evening, the snow covered Alps seem to be a little bit too bright. I don't know, if that's a problem with too much light from the stars and the milkyway (i use a high res. version of the milkyway)? In the past, i just cut the diffuse and ambient moonlight section for terrain and objects to 0.6 and 0.3 i think, but i don't want to interfere with the new brilliant night time adjustments in your latest preset. I just lowered the overall brightness in P3D to 0.55 (some cockpits have been too bright with your suggested 0.65), but snow covered areas are still very bright at night. Ah, just for information, i use ASCA sky textures. And although many users are unsatisfied with them, they give me really dark skies with HDR on, so i don't want to use other texture sets if possible.

 

Thanks again to you (and Yuri) for the excellent work!

 

Matthias

[Adamski_NZ 952]

1) During night, the desaturation of the colors is great. At night, all cats are grey, as we say in Germany. But also the taxiway or runway markings are grey, even when switching on taxi or landing lights. Is there a way to change that?

 

2) At the moment, there is very cold weather with lots of snow here in Germany. But altough there is no moon in the evening, the snow covered Alps seem to be a little bit too bright. I don't know, if that's a problem with too much light from the stars and the milkyway (i use a high res. version of the milkyway)? In the past, i just cut the diffuse and ambient moonlight section for terrain and objects to 0.6 and 0.3 i think, but i don't want to interfere with the new brilliant night time adjustments in your latest preset. I just lowered the overall brightness in P3D to 0.55 (some cockpits have been too bright with your suggested 0.65), but snow covered areas are still very bright at night. Ah, just for information, i use ASCA sky textures. And although many users are unsatisfied with them, they give me really dark skies with HDR on, so i don't want to use other texture sets if possible.

 

Do you have a specific airport and/or location that we could use for tests/screenshots? I have ORBX NGEN, if that's any help. I'll see if I can find a ginger tomcat to experiment with

 

Adam.

[ankh21 17]

Mh, perhaps the standard scenery of LOWI? The airport is surrounded by snow covered mountains. We have roads and urban areas, vegetation and depending on weather scenario clouds in the valley. Winter season, 10:00 p.m.

 

Matthias