Water reflection

[Mace 1,964]

I would like to see what your FSX demo water looks like then.Rhett

[Mace 1,964]

Bernard, please post your hardware so we can see what you're running.I am still not sure if the reflections are 'right' in the middle screenshot, just below the right wing of the hang glider. On my machine (7800GT, 84.21 driver) I'm seeing those types of situations with a shimmering, almost like the AA or gamma is messed up. Is that 'normal' water display?Rhett

[albx 17]

>>Compared to the water in Silent Hunter III, FSX water looks>>like... uummm... oil?. Hope we can modify reflection just>>changing the bitmap..>>>If FSX had the same water as SHIII then FSX would run at 1>FPS.>>SHIII water looks nice up close, but pan up to about 500ft and>it becomes tiled and rather ugly looking.What i mean is: the water is too reflective in my opinion. I live on the sea and i've never seen water like this.. too many particulars in the reflection.. that's all. I don't thing you'll get 1 FPS with less mirror-like water, i'm not talking about waves or other.Alberto

[boshar 6]

I think you're right. The oceans look like they are filled with Mercury instead off water. There are a lot of games that use this kind of water though. Almost as if shader model 2 made it possible so it now has to be used to show of the little videocard trick.I have set my water to 1.x high not because of the performance gain its just to stop the oceans of mirror glass. I would recommend the developers to look at nintendo's WaveRace http://www.gamespot.com/n64/driving/wavera...creenindex.html to get a good impression of good watereffects.

[W2DR 1,864]

I agree. I've lived near the ocean all my life and have never seen water that looks like that. Much too reflective.Doug

[slashed2 53]

Just wondering though, all these games mentioned are not games where you are above the water. FS has to render water from 0 feet to 41,000 and beyond, are there any other games that do this for comparison?Virtual Sailor is a program I use that models waves really well, but once you leave the water and gain altitude, it's get's a bit ugly. Plus it models the ocean within a certain area of the boat. FS has to render it from a multitude of distances and altitudes just like terrain so there must be a compromise somewhere I guess.I agree that it's too shiny, maybe a bit of turbelence in the water would help, a bit of chop, within a certain distance of the water, but, of course, most likely at the cost of performance. Though, as with FS9, I'm sure someone is already working on new water textures. Ian.

[boshar 6]

I didn't mean that MS should model the individual waves but the reflection changes with the different surface changes could be implemented. And don't forget that my example is an old Nintendo64 game so maybe the horsepower is nearly ther to give us 'real' waves.

[viz 139]

It all depends on lighting, angle and weather amongst others. Here are some real photos, MS has done a great job with the water and with dx10 it will improve further.http://members.dslextreme.com/users/opyach.../reflection.jpghttp://www.skydogsports.com/trike/images/SA-1.jpghttp://www.orkneypics.com/webpage/image/150/a150730.jpghttp://www.orkneypics.com/webpage/image/162/a162017.jpghttp://www.cannon-beach.net/photos_cb/gvpr...875z_2_1024.jpghttp://www.shutterpoint.com/Photos-ViewPhoto.cfm?id=356249http://www.shutterpoint.com/Photos-ViewPhoto.cfm?id=143909And yes the second one from top is an ultralight (http://www.skydogsports.com/trike/):)

[viz 139]

My spec is:Athlon 64 FX-55, 1Gb OCZ Dual Channel DDR (2-2-2-5), Geforce 6800 Ultra OC (driver is 91.31), 2x Maxtor DiamondMax10 300Gb SATA300 etc.In those shots all settings are at maximum.

[Mace 1,964]

That's just it--reflection level is highly dependent on sky conditions.I am not seeing this moddelled in to the demo. It seems to be uber-reflective no matter the wx conditions.In the FSX demo, even when it's overcast, the water is too reflective. I too live on the water and from the air, it doesn't ever look nearly as reflective as those pictures show. Our water is not so calm :)When it is cloudy out, our water is not very reflective, it's grayish and muted.I'm sure we'll see plenty of water texture add-ons in FSX. I am of the opinion that "Perfect Water" for FS2004 looks the most realistic of any I've seen.Rhett

[Truthan 75]

Relating to the water...Check out this post:The Moon appears to trigger what should be the sun's diffuse/specular reflection!!!http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...id=15401&page=2

[boshar 6]

You must live in a very nice place if your water always looks like that. So maybe I have to be more specific. Why doesn't the water look more like Western European water does :-P

[Guest alphaone]

What about the water in this shot of mine?http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v429/alp...21-23-44-75.jpgI think that looks pretty much the way it should. It's dulled out a little bit and less reflective.

[sightseer 895]

Hi Truthan - I've been looking at screenshots from http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/microsoftfl...creenindex.html and several of them show what looks to be correct sunlight reflection.I remember this being an issue some time ago and they did somethingabout it before and so I'm pretty sure that this is just a demo specificproblem. I could be wrong but I hope not.

[Mace 1,964]

Boshar, you replied to the wrong post. I'm with you, when it's cloudy out, the water needs to look more like W. European water. Grayer and dulled out. Maybe the final product will do that.Rhett