Search Results for 'XEL'

[mr_spongeworthy]

Just a quick update. Over various PiTool and vorpX releases I’ve had issue both with vorpX motion-smoothing not working, and with PiTool motion-smoothing not working. Luckily they were never both broken at the same time…

As of version v272b of PiTool and 21.3 of vorpX things are looking to be working reasonably well again. I still have ‘issues’ but they are often surmountable (for example I might have to launch a game twice before PiTool smoothing turns on. Or in the case of testing FO3 using a G3D profile the PiTool smoothing causes the game to shimmer continuously in a horrible way between two scenes that are a few pixels apart – I haven’t been able to resolve that one.)

Overall the vorpX motion smoothing works with greater clarity, and with zero in-scene distortion, but has more whole-scene ghosting. The PiTool smoothing feels smoother overall, but causes partial scene-distortion (i.e. your gun or UI elements get all wobbly when you move or turn). I try both types with a title and then decide which I prefer to use on a case-by-case basis.

[Ralf]

Glad you like it. Setting the option to full enables a hack that AMD recommends game developers to implement in addition to the upscale/sharpen shaders. Didn’t cause a problem for me in Bioshock Infinite, but whether the hack is an actual improvement or not in general depends a bit on the game and the resolution it runs with.

The hack basically tells the GPU to load a more detailed version of a texture from memory than it normally would for the current pixel. When game devs implement FidelityFX they are supposed to do that in addition to the upscale/sharpening. vorpX can enforce the hack for every texture read (if available for a game). In some cases it doesn’t make much of difference at all or even introduces some shimmering instead of improving anything, but in other cases it does actual improve things. Easily spottable examples that probably everyone has available to try are trees/shrubs/gras in Fallout 4 or Skyrim.

[RJK_]

Very well done Ralf !

To me the new filter makes distant objects more detailed and a little less sharp on close objects compared to the old one, but the overall view is definately better to many degrees. Way less artifacts compared to the old filter. Hair also looks more detailed now. (Fallout 4)

Then i freaked out on Fallout 3. Using a good texture pack and the new sharpening feature insanely boosts the image quality to an never before known state. Perhaps the new filter has even more impact on older games then expected.

Interesting detail about my Vive Pro. VorpX now seems to almost wipe out the screendoor effect. At least i had that impression on Fallout 3, i was trying so hard to find my pixels , but i just couldn find any. The image was “too clear” for it :-)

[mr_spongeworthy]

Ralf wrote:

Personally I think for CP2077 in FullVR mode 2400×1800 (DLSS at ‘Auto’, i.e. the game originally renders a res below that) is the sweet spot on a high end machine if you aren’t willing to dial down graphics detail and still want a crisp image. An RTX3080 is able to maintain almost stable 60fps that way incl. raytracing, so there even is a bit of headroom. With the clarity setting cranked up that looks quite good even on a headset with high pixel density (e.g. Reverb G2), on headsets with lower pixel density (e.g. Index/Rift S) it’s already borderline overkill.

I could probably do that if I didn’t need to turn Parallel Projections on with my Pimax for use with vorpX. Parallel Projection causes a huge overhead. Unfortunately I’m also super-sensitive to blurriness; just massively prefer an extremely crisp gaming environment. Im running a 3080 Ti (factory overclocked, so it runs right over 2GHz out of the box), but because I can see a huge difference, even in Virtual Cinema mode, between 2880×1620 and 3840×2160 in every title I send to my HMD through vorpX, it leaves me really struggling when it comes to performance in some titles. It’s just my unfortunate preference for sharpness getting in the way (well, plus the need for PP). I tell you what, CP2077 at 4K with DLSS at Balanced 64hz/32fps looks, well, it looks incredible (I moved back to CP2007 v1.23). It’s essentially unplayable at that low frame rate, but WOW, just WOW.

I’m very excited to try the FidelityFX enabled version when you release it. Even if it doesn’t help this particular usage scenario, I think it’s going to be great overall.

[Ralf]

Personally I think for CP2077 in FullVR mode 2400×1800 (DLSS at ‘Auto’, i.e. the game originally renders a res below that) is the sweet spot on a high end machine if you aren’t willing to dial down graphics detail and still want a crisp image. An RTX3080 is able to maintain almost stable 60fps that way incl. raytracing, so there even is a bit of headroom. With the clarity setting cranked up that looks quite good even on a headset with high pixel density (e.g. Reverb G2), on headsets with lower pixel density (e.g. Index/Rift S) it’s already borderline overkill.

[Ralf]

Probably of no interest for most of you, but just in case anyone occasionally wonders how incredibly exciting a programmer’s life can be. ;)

I had already more or less concluded the matter yesterday, but then had a thought that did cost another one in the end. Since the sharpening part of the algorithm is done as the very last step in the vorpX rendering pipeline at headset resolution (to avoid losing some of its effect by resampling the image again afterwards), it seemed like a good idea to use slightly different sharpening parameters depending on how large a game pixel ends up in the headset compared to an actual headset pixel.

A day later vorpX now is always precisely aware of that no matter what, and whenever you do something that affects how large a game pixel is drawn in the end, e.g. change the game resolution, the ImageZoom setting in FullVR mode, the screen distance in immersive mode, or just move a bit forward in cinema mode, etc., the final sharpening pass is fed with accordingly optimized parameters. I.e. you always get the best possible sharpening and I can sleep well again. :)

[Ralf]

Unfortunately there is no margin for what the right FOV is in FullVR mode, there only is one. The game FOV has to precisely match the headset FOV, any deviation from that causes distortion, either in the form of a zoomed in image or the opposite.

First please make sure to run games at 4:3 resolutions (e.g. 1600×1200, 1920×1440, 2400×1800) in FullVR mode whenever possible. Or even one the ‘Narrow’ resolutions from the recommended custom resolutions list if a game works with them. Weapons being entirely out of sight usually is a sign of using a widescreen res, which in FullVR mode unnecessarily renders pixels that never show up in the headset.

If that doesn’t help and you are willing to live with the distortion mentioned above, you can apply an up to 20° FOV offset on the DirectVR page of the vorpX menu.

Alternatively use the ImageZoom option. That preserves the right FOV, but introduces black top/bottom bars.

Caveat: Depending on how vorpX handles FOV for a game, changing FOV related options may require a game restart, so make sure to read any notifications that might get shown in that respect.

[Cless_Aurion]

@Ralf Quick question here. I’ve been using the Authoring tool to get a proper profile for Tales of Arise up and running, but I’ve hit some weird blocks… One specifically that I don’t know it has an easy fix, or if its so complex and random it doesn’t have an easy solution. But I will ask just in case!

There are some pixel shaders that are clearly only UI elements related. When I mark them as UI, the whole game will become flat and non-G3D. The UI will be fine an the only thing poping out in 3D from now on though.

Am I doing something wrong? Or this is just how things are sometimes with the authoring tool used at such a low level of knowhow?

[Ralf]

IDK, maybe I’m unusually sensitive to upscaled vs. native, but even DLSS at its highest settings clearly doesn’t look like the same res rendered natively.

Incidentally I just ran around Night City to check how the new vorpX scaling works together with DLSS. DLSS without a doubt works well for faking 4K on a monitor or TV, but with vorpX it all depends on how large the final pixels are in the end. In FullVR mode at ‘reasonable’ vorpX game resolutions like, let’s say 1440p or 1600p, artifacts and imperfections are fairly obvious, even with the highest preset the difference to native is easy to spot.

At higher resolutions or in cinema mode, i.e. with smaller pixel sizes, DLSS becomes more useful since the benefits begin to outweigh the inherent imperfections.

AMDs ‘Super Resolution’ really just is a Lanczos-like upscaler combined with a fairly good sharpening algorithm and a dirty little mipmapping trick. Some PC video players/renderers, e.g. MadVR (VR means video renderer in this case!) do that – minus the mipmapping trick – since ages, just not for games. That’s really nice upscaling and it was a good idea to add it to any game developer’s toolbox, but they would have done everyone a favor by choosing a more modest marketing name.

[Ralf]

Consider these things a nice way to gain an extra bit of clarity (or performance when used the other way around), but don’t expect them to do miracles.

Sorry for being such a party pooper here all the time, but none of these upscale methods (nVidia’s DLSS included, and that does a lot more) can truly recreate a natively rendered 4K image from a lower resolution. If you want true 4K, run a game at 4K. If you want a really nice upscale/sharpening filter applied to a lower res image then use what AMD very unfortunately chose to call ‘Super Resolution’, raising expectations the method cannot fulfill. It can upscale a 1440p or 1600p image to come partially close to how an uprocessed 4K image would look, but overall the result is not a true 4K image rendered natively at 4K. This is a traditional upscale/sharpening algorithm. A good one with a twist, but still just an upscaler.

Why do I insist on this so obstinately instead of trying to sell you some magical 4K creation method? Because in a headset pixels are larger and thus more visible than on a monitor or TV two meters away, making it way more obvious that what you get is an upscaled image. I don’t want to see you disappointed when you realize that.

How good it works also varies quite heavily from game to game BTW.

TLDR: This is a really nice upscale/sharpening method, but not more than that. It does not magically create true 4K images out of considerably lower resolutions.

[Ralf]

There is a weird issue with the game where sometimes the framerate can drop to single digits after changing some game or vorpX settings. Typically flipping through the ‘Play Style’ option will help. If not a restart should do.

For vehicles I’d recommend to switch to 3rd person mode. FullVR is too impressive in Cyberpunk for switching to immersive screen mode just because of first person driving.

Probably a fight against windmills, but: instead of cranking up all gfx options to the max and having to live with DLSS, disable Raytracing and enjoy a higher, natively rendered resolution instead. Looks better than Raytracing with a lower, DLSS-butchered resolution. Especially in FullVR mode, where individual pixels are relatively large.

[Ralf]

@ Lawrence1962:

Yes and yes. DLSS at ‘Quality’ will work perfectly fine together with this. However, upscaling of any kind (DLSS included) always comes with imperfections, so be careful. The lower ‘Performance’ presets usually don’t work that well. Doubly so in a headset where pixels appear way larger than on a TV or monitor. Garbage in, garbage out.

Consider these things a nice way to gain an extra bit of clarity (or performance when used the other way around), but don’t expect them to do miracles.

@ senoctar:

No. Upscaling/sharpening is done at the final stage before the images are sent to the headset, which is the best point in time to do this. Adding it as an extra step in between at an earlier stage would partially negate the gain in clarity later when the image has to be resampled again.

[Ralf]

@ kurry: there is no video unfortunately, but it’s fairly straight forward to use. You basically flip through currently used vertex or pixel shaders with the ‘All Shaders’ option. When you found one that you want disable or handle otherwise you can add it with the ‘Add To Active’ button and then define what excacly should be done with it.

Some of the options will sound like gibberish without knowledge about 3D-programming, but typical stuff like defining HUD shaders or disabling offending effects doesn’t require any of that. Not complicated at all.

Also, like steph12 said, you can’t break anything, everything is reversible. If you have further questions, ask away.

[mr_spongeworthy]

Thanks Ralph, I appreciate you taking time to respond. That makes perfect sense.

Possibly I will be able to play the game in full VR with my Index motion controllers when they arrive, or just be happy with Cinema mode. TBH the one thing really going for CP77 is the graphics engine with RT; it makes little sense to sacrifice that in the name of forcing it into a VR experience.

Now, when the NEXT gen cards come along, I think I’ll actually be able to push enough pixels, even through vorpX, to play a game like this at the clarity I want in full VR mode.

For now, older games that I can push at 4K using a G3D profile (F03, etc.) look absolutely amazing in full VR, but modern games, ironically, with their newer-but-much-softer AA in the first place, and needing to use Z3D to push the frame rate I need: Even at 4K they often end up too soft.

Not a complaint, just an observation of the limits of technology. TriDef was always much softer in Z3D than G3D mode as well.

One thing that might help: Is there any way you could try to make ReShade work more consistently with vorpX? Right now it’s hit-and-miss. The error pops up, but with some titles it works just fine (Greedfall). With others it will cause an instant CTD (CP77 is one of these). I have LONG used AA, sharpening, and very importantly the Film Grain ReShade filters to manage games that otherwise look poor with various 3D techniques. A small amount of Film Grain, for example, can help to mask Z3D halos and will trick the eye & brain into perceiving a scene as being more detailed than it actually is (the brain interprets a certain amount of grain as added sharpness/detail for some reason, a trick photographers have used for ages to ‘fix’ photos that are too soft.)

If you can’t work to allow ReShade to work the normal way, is there any way you could set it up so that vorpX can handle ReShade itself and apply it to games that way?

[mr_spongeworthy]

I have updated to a 3080 Ti (thanks to Micro Center actually selling GPUs occasionally at MSRP on a walk-in only basis, 1 per household. No way was I going to give a scalper even a cent, so I waited.)

I am 95% of the way to having Cyberpunk working at 4K, “Performance Mode” DLSS, Ultra Ray Tracing!, 72Hz 36fps. It all works and looks amazing. However, like many modern Z3D games, I may end up playing it in cinema mode due to the increased clarity; spreading even 3840×2160 pixels across my HMD in full VR mode just isn’t quite enough for excellent sharpness. It’s close, but not quite there.

Anyway, I have issues with the GUI. I did a full reset of the profile before I tried getting it setup correctly, so I started with a clean vorpX slate, but even at that, in VR mode any Xbox controller shortcut shown on the screen flickers several times a second between the Xbox and Keyboard shortcut for that action. This makes it very hard to see what controller input is expected for an action. Also, dialog subtitles and a variety of other text does not match up with the field which is supposed to be behind it, making it hard to read. I’ve played with a number of settings but haven’t found a solution to either of these issues.