So I have P3D v4 and would like to use Tomato Shade as I want to improve the look of the sky especially during the golden hour. The problem I have is that with the shaders installed, if I try to fly on a moonless night it is too dark to see the cockpit even using the night vision included in TacPack. For example, I've been flying the F/18 from VRS a lot lately and usually like to start the aircraft myself. Before, even on a moonless night I could see enough with the help of Night Vision to get everything started but now even with NV I can't see any buttons or displays in the cockpit.

Is there any way to be able to keep the shaders but make it just a little easier to see the buttons at night?

 

Thanks

Hi jt233,

What version of 4 is in use?

I ask because Tomatoshade dev seems to have stopped at 4.5 HF2, leaving 4.5 HF3 in the lurch so to speak.

Myself I run P3D 4.5 HF3 with Tomatoshade v31, however don't use reflections and have not activated the options that I've found generate problems in the shaders.

There is an option to increase the lighting in the VC however I would have to assume there needs to be light for that to work.

Take a look at Lighting /  Aircraft Lighting and Saturation.

Another thing is the unique coloured mornings / evenings at sun up and sun down will also be heavily dependant on the textures you've got installed.

Here I use Rex 4 Texture Direct with Soft Clouds to define just the sort of look I like.

I've inserted my current Tomatoshade config into the spoiler below which you can copy to a .ini file and load into Tomatoshade if you want to trial.

I also wrap an abs around a problem line of shader code in the \Prepar3D v4\ShadersHLSL\GPUTerrain.fx

On mine it is line 282

#pragma warning( disable : 3571 )
float2 atmoHeightDepth(float heightScale, float angle, float2 baseScale)
{
    return exp(-baseScale * heightScale) * (pow(abs(18.8125 * angle + 1.0), -1.28125) * 32.53323 + 0.29103) / baseScale;
}

 

Spoiler

[PTA VERSION]
Preset format=2

[PRESET COMMENTS]
Comment=

[HDR & POST-PROCESSING_HDRADAPTATION]
IsActive=0

[HDR & POST-PROCESSING_HDRTONE]
IsActive=1
Red=1.05
Green=1.00
Blue=1.05

[HDR & POST-PROCESSING_HDRTONEMAP]
IsActive=0
Uncharted2Tonemap=0

[WATER_WATER_SATURATION]
IsActive=1
SaturateRatio=0.65

[ATMOSPHERE & FOG_SKY_SATURATION]
IsActive=1
SaturateRatio=1.10

[ATMOSPHERE & FOG_SKY_FOG_TUNING]
IsActive=1
FogFactor=(saturate(0.15 - cb_Altitude/1438))

[HDR & POST-PROCESSING_HDRCONTRAST]
IsActive=0
Coeff=0.5

[WATER_WAVESPEED]
IsActive=0
SpeedRatio=1.0

[WATER_WAVESIZE]
IsActive=0
SizeRatio=1.0
SmoothRatio=2.0

[WATER_WATERSURFACE]
IsActive=0
ReflectionCoeff=(clamp(0.35 - 0.30 * cb_Altitude/700, 0.05, 0.35))
RefractionCoeff=(clamp(0.90 - 0.20 * cb_Altitude/304, 0.8, 0.9))
GranularityCoeff=3.00
SpecularBlend=1.5
FresnelAngle=4.0

[WATER_FSXREFLECTION]
IsActive=0

[ATMOSPHERE & FOG_RAYLEIGH_SCATTERING]
IsActive=1
DensityCorrection=1
ExcludeClouds=1
Power=2.75
Density=0.0000000200
Green=0.070
Blue=0.125
NoDensityAltitude=12000
VolumetricDensityHeight=12000
VolumetricDensityPower=2.0

[ATMOSPHERE & FOG_ATMO_HAZE]
IsActive=1
Power=1.01
Distance=0.0000000100
DensityCorrection=1
Red=1.05
Green=1.00
Blue=1.15
NoDensityAltitude=12000
VolumetricDensityHeight=12000

[ATMOSPHERE & FOG_CLOUDS_FOG_TUNING]
IsActive=1
FogFactor=0.5

[LIGHTING_BOOST_EMISSIVELANDCLASS]
IsActive=0
BoostRatio=1.0
SaturateRatio=2.0

[LIGHTING_TERRAIN_SATURATION]
IsActive=1
SaturateRatio=1.2

[LIGHTING_TERRAIN_LIGHTING]
IsActive=1
SunDiffuseCoeff=2.5
SunAmbientCoeff=1.5
MoonDiffuseCoeff=0.5
MoonAmbientCoeff=0.3
DiffuseGamma=1.01

[LIGHTING_SPECULAR_LIGHTING]
IsActive=1
SpecularRatio=1.4

[LIGHTING_AUTOGEN_LIGHTING]
IsActive=1
SunDiffuseCoeff=2.5
SunAmbientCoeff=1.0
MoonDiffuseCoeff=0.5
MoonAmbientCoeff=0.3
DiffuseGamma=1.0
Saturation=1.0

[CLOUDS_CLOUD_BRIGHTNESS_TWILIGHT]
IsActive=1

[CLOUDS_CIRRUS_BRIGHTNESS_TWILIGHT]
IsActive=0

[CLOUDS_CLOUD_SHADOWS_SIZE]
IsActive=1

[CLOUDS_CLOUD-SHADOW-DEPTH]
IsActive=1
Value=1.05

[CLOUDS_CLOUD_ALTERNATE_LIGHTING]
IsActive=0

[CLOUDS_CLOUD_SIZE]
IsActive=0
CloudSizeHCoeff=0.5
CloudSizeVCoeff=0.5

[CLOUDS_CLOUD_SATURATION]
IsActive=1
ShadeFactor=1.10

[CLOUDS_CLOUDS_LIGHTING_TUNING]
IsActive=0
CloudLightFactor=0.75
CloudSaturateFactor=0.33
DiffuseGamma=0.8

[CLOUDS_CIRRUS_LIGHTING]
IsActive=0
SaturateRatio=1.00
LightingRatio=1.00

[CLOUDS_CLOUD_VOLUME]
IsActive=1
ScatteringFactor=1.3
LightingFactor=0.5
NoPattern=1

[CLOUDS_POPCORN_MODIFICATOR]
IsActive=1
CloudDistanceFactor=0.00000000060
CloudOpacity=(clamp(0.10 + 0.20 * cb_Altitude/2000, 0.1, 0.3))

[LIGHTING_AIRCRAFT_LIGHTING]
IsActive=1
SunDiffuseCoeff=2.55
SunAmbientCoeff=0.89
MoonDiffuseCoeff=1.00
MoonAmbientCoeff=1.00
DiffuseGamma=1.05
SaturateRatio=1.05
VCOnly=0
VCSunDiffuseCoeff=
VCSunAmbientCoeff=
VCMoonDiffuseCoeff=
VCMoonAmbientCoeff=

[LIGHTING_AUTOGEN_EMISSIVE]
IsActive=1
LightsRatio=1.5
AutogenRatio=1.5
SmoothTransition=1

[TOMATO-MODE_OPTIMIZE REDUCE TRANSLUCENT SHADOW DISTANCE]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO-MODE_OPTIMIZE GPU TERRAIN RENDERING]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO-MODE_AUTOGEN DISTANCE SIZE]
IsActive=0
Factor=0.0025
FactorX=1.7777

[TOMATO-MODE_AUTOGEN POWER SMOOTHING]
IsActive=0
BasePowerFactor=0.7
MaxLightDistance=90000
FullPowerDistance=3000
DistanceCurvePower=4.0
Saturation=1.0
PowerLimit=0.0

[TOMATO-MODE_ADAPTIVE BLOOM]
IsActive=0
Power=3.0

[TOMATO-MODE_ALTERNATE TERRAIN LIGHTING]
IsActive=1
LightPower=0.4

[TOMATO-MODE_INCREASE PARTICLE SIZE WITH DIST]
IsActive=0
Factor=1.1

[TOMATO-MODE_DYNAMIC SPOT LIGHTS LIGHTING]
IsActive=1
AnglePower=1.0

[TOMATO-MODE_IMPROVE DYN LIGHT PERFORMANCE]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO-MODE_ADD MULTIPLE TEXTURE LOOKUPS]
IsActive=0

[TOMATO-MODE_SOFTEN SOLID SHADOWS]
IsActive=0

[TOMATO-MODE_ADVANCED ATMOSPHERE SCATTERING]
IsActive=1
PlanetRadius=6371e3
AtmosphereHeight=100000.0
AtmoBaseHeightOutScattering=0.00017
AtmoBaseHeightInScattering=0.00013
AbsorptionFactorRed=0.596e-5
AbsorptionFactorGreen=1.324e-5
AbsorptionFactorBlue=3.310e-5
AbsorptionScaleInRed=0.9
AbsorptionScaleInGreen=1.1
AbsorptionScaleInBlue=1.3
AbsorptionScaleGamma=2.5
InScatteringFactorAmbient=0.2
InScatteringFactorDiffuse=0.7
InScatteringDiffuseGamma=0.2
InScatteringStartFullDist=20000.0
TerrainOutputContrast=1.07875
ShadowsInflunceScattering=0

[TOMATO-MODE_ADVANCED FOG SCATTERING]
IsActive=1
ScatteringHeightPower=2.5
ScatteringHeightLimit=119716000000.0f
ScatteringDistanceBlue=82000
ScatteringDistanceGreen=145000
ScatteringDistanceRed=301000
ScatteringPowerBlue=0.85
ScatteringPowerGreen=0.65
ScatteringPowerRed=0.6
InScatteringSky=0.05
InScatteringSun=0.05

[TOMATO-MODE_FAST APPROXIMATION IMAGE BASED AIRCRAFT LIGHTING]
IsActive=0
DaylightAmbientIntensity=0.2
DaylightDiffuseIntensity=0.15
NightIntensity=0.2

[TOMATO-MODE_OPTIMIZE CLOUD MATRIX CALCULATION]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO_MODE_ALTERNATE SPECULAR LIGHTING]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO_MODE_PRECIPITATION OPACITY]
IsActive=0
OpacityRain=1.0
OpacitySnow=1.0

[TOMATO-MODE_IMPROVE GENERAL SHADOW RECEIVE]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO-MODE_IMPROVE TERRAIN SHADOW RECEIVE]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO_MODE_CHANGE CLOUD SHADOW RECEIVE CALCULATION]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO_MODE_CHANGE CLOUD SHADOW BUILD CALCULATION]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO_MODE_ADD CONDITIONAL DYNAMIC LIGHTING]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO_MODE_PER PIXEL CLOUD FOG]
IsActive=0

[TOMATO_MODE_BUMP MAP STRENGTH]
IsActive=1
IntensityScale=0.8

[TOMATO-MODE_OPTIMIZE PARTICLE DRAW]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO-MODE_OPTIMIZE PRECIPITATION DRAW]
IsActive=1

[TOMATO-REFLECTIONS_ADJUST STARS IN REFLECTION MAP]
IsActive=0
Intensity=0.0

[TOMATO-REFLECTIONS_ADJUST REFLECTION PARTICLE EMISSION]
IsActive=0
Size=64

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IsActive=0
AddDetailTexture=1
MaxTextureLOD=14

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IsActive=0

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IsActive=0

[TOMATO-REFLECTIONS_FIX GENERAL PROJECTION]
IsActive=0

[TOMATO-REFLECTIONS_FIX CLOUD PROJECTION]
IsActive=0

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[TOMATO-REFLECTIONS_FIX PARTICLE PROJECTION]
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IsActive=0
Index=-10000
Params=4461794E696768745573653D300D0A5265643D382E300D0A477265656E3D382E300D0A426C75653D382E300D0A526564433D302E33360D0A477265656E433D302E33360D0A426C7565433D302E33340D0A44505853617475726174696F6E3D332E300D0A436F6C6F7247616D6D613D322E350D0A426C656E643D302E320D0A

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IsActive=0
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[POSTPROCESS_SHADER Technicolor]
IsActive=0
Index=-10000
Params=4461794E696768745573653D300D0A546563686E69416D6F756E743D302E340D0A546563686E69506F7765723D342E300D0A7265644E65676174697665416D6F756E743D302E38380D0A677265656E4E65676174697665416D6F756E743D302E38380D0A626C75654E65676174697665416D6F756E743D302E38380D0A

 

Results are like this pic.

FlightSimLabs Spotlights. It's donationware now and might give you the results you're looking for. Here's their promo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnLr7v1lwu8

 

7 hours ago, Twenty6 said:

FlightSimLabs Spotlights. It's donationware now and might give you the results you're looking for. Here's their promo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnLr7v1lwu8

Hey Thanks !

I'd never even heard of Spotlights before but I can already think of a few planes I have where they'll be useful 🙂

Found out Spotlights have been around for a long time and supports P3D v4 and 5 (might be helpful for those V5 users complaining of a too dark cockpit).

https://steamcommunity.com/app/314160/discussions/1/541907867754578887/

And the FSL forum has a thread where people can upload their config ini's for various aircraft.

Also to download you need to be a member of the FSL forum *and* be approved by the FSL crew.

So a few hoops to jump through to download Spotlights.

Cheers R

Edited January 7, 20215 yr by Rogen
link

On 1/7/2021 at 1:19 AM, Rogen said:

#pragma warning( disable : 3571 )
float2 atmoHeightDepth(float heightScale, float angle, float2 baseScale)
{
    return exp(-baseScale * heightScale) * (pow(abs(18.8125 * angle + 1.0), -1.28125) * 32.53323 + 0.29103) / baseScale;
}

Hi, Rogen, I would like to ask - when I add this line to the file you specified I just lose all my ground without the autogen on it. Can you give me a repair? I really want to use my Tomato Shade, I am used to it, but I can no longer use HF2 and this is a little twist for me. 
Also, I can't use your TomatoShade preset, because I have some night improvements and they become invisible without the RDPresets Tomato Shade preset. I mean, I wish I could use it, but the RDPresets is the only one showing the night sky improvements I added to my sim. They are from Flight Sim Jewels. 

Edited May 2, 20233 yr by PavlinS

On 5/3/2023 at 8:11 AM, PavlinS said:

Hi, Rogen, I would like to ask - when I add this line to the file you specified I just lose all my ground without the autogen on it. Can you give me a repair? I really want to use my Tomato Shade, I am used to it, but I can no longer use HF2 and this is a little twist for me. 
Also, I can't use your TomatoShade preset, because I have some night improvements and they become invisible without the RDPresets Tomato Shade preset. I mean, I wish I could use it, but the RDPresets is the only one showing the night sky improvements I added to my sim. They are from Flight Sim Jewels. 

Hi @PavlinS,

The only part of that line I've added is the bold abs wrapper abs().

If you don't have the line, don't add the line statement, as the statement's existance is a variable based on settings chosen in the TS UI.

I added just the abs wrapper to ensure the value wasn't doing to exceed parameters as the line was generating warnings in the p3d logging e.g. "GPUTerrain.fx   warning X3571: pow(f, e) will not work for negative f", where the abs() wrapper ensures an absolute value would be returned thus killing the warning, this makes the code read as pow(abs(f), e).

As to the issue with your night improvements.

The config is just an ini file, if you load it into Notepad++ along with the RDPresets ini, you can use the Notepad++ compare function to review the lines and differences in graphical way to quickly identify points of difference.

Then apply a process of elimination to track down the setting that might be resulting in your invisibility prob.

I'd start with the sky related settings and work though via top to bottom.

Hey if you do, find the diff and resolve the invisibility prob let me know.

Cheers

I am not sure I understand what you are talking about, Rogen. My sim has problem with Tomato Shade, for example incorrect waves are appearing [ waves are standing up instead of following the water polygon shape]. I mean, let me show a screenshot:

 

Any help fixing this problem will be appreciated. My viewers are used to the HF2 and the Tomato Shade I used there and now, when I no longer have access to HF2 I am glad on any help fixing my shading as long it does not affect my night views and effects:

 

 

 

The first one is milky way from Flight Sim Jewels, second one Aurora Borealis  combined Envtex and Flight Sim Jewels Aurora texture. 

On 5/3/2023 at 8:11 AM, PavlinS said:

On 1/7/2021 at 10:19 AM, Rogen said:

#pragma warning( disable : 3571 )
float2 atmoHeightDepth(float heightScale, float angle, float2 baseScale)
{
    return exp(-baseScale * heightScale) * (pow(abs(18.8125 * angle + 1.0), -1.28125) * 32.53323 + 0.29103) / baseScale;
}

Hi, Rogen, I would like to ask - when I add this line to the file you specified I just lose all my ground without the autogen on it. Can you give me a repair? I really want to use my Tomato Shade, I am used to it, but I can no longer use HF2 and this is a little twist for me. 

Hi @PavlinS,

My response was to the post above from yourself.

Essentially you don't add the line if it doesn't exist, as the line is a variable created by TomatoShade depending on the choice of TS options.

 

As to the vertical waves, they are not anything to do with shaders, the thread link below covers what needs to be performed to resolve the issue of vertical waves.

https://forum.orbxdirect.com/topic/178208-vertical-waves/

 

And yes, I too use some of those "Flight Sim Jewels" texures and they are nice.

Cheers