Aliens: Colonial Marines – floating illumination in geometry

[AndyW]

When trying to run Aliens: Colonial Marines with geometry rendering, the various illumination effect seem to be detached from the actual objects they’re associated with. I’m guessing they lack proper depth information? All seems correct in Z3d mode but that all looks rather… flat. Does anyone know a way of fixing the illumination in geometry mode?

I’m using the TemplarGFX overhaul, which may be complicating things, so just wondered if anyone else is seeing this.

[AndyW]

Same problem without TemplarGFX overhaul, so that wasn’t it.

It’s tricky to tell, but I suspect the glow effects are rendered at infinity, but of course are not obscured by objects they’re supposed to be ‘in front’ of.

Has anyone else noticed this? I’ve seen enough mentions of the game as being one that works well with VorpX, so it’s hard to believe I’m the only one who’s seeing this.

If there’s no fix then there’s no fix, that’s fine. But it’d be nice to know if I’m overlooking something obscure but simple.

[AndyW]

I notice that there’s a Helix Mod that fixes lights for Aliens: Colonial Marines for NVidia 3D. Does anyone know if this is compatible with VorpX? I’m guessing not, but would be good to know if anyone’s tried using his fixes alongside VorpX.

[AndyW]

Helix mod appears to work. Certainly nothing crashes, and I think that at least some floating lights are fixed. I could just be fooling myself. I need some way of measuring the depth of different scene elements. Can screenshots be taken while using VorpX?

[Marco]

Don’t use that Overhaul mod for VR. Made the game very unstable to me. I think ACM it’s a very good VR game as it is. Always go for vanilla version with Vorpx, unless u r sure a mod doesn’t cause conflicts.

[AndyW]

Ah, well as I said the overhaul mod was nothing to do with the lights not rendering properly in geometry mode anyway. But thanks for the feedback :)

I might risk the overhaul mod anyway, as a lot of people have no difficulty with it, but if I do run into any stability problems I’ll know it’s suspect.

I don’t suppose you’ve tried the Helix mod as well? I really do find the odd rendering of the lights in geometry mode to be immersion breaking. It makes everything look insubstantial, floaty and fake. Not the VR vibe I want from that game. But the geometry mode has so much more depth to it than Z3D mode.

[AndyW]

Um, actually, I wasn’t thinking clearly, was I? Just because people haven’t had problems with the overhaul mod doesn’t mean it’s stable with VorpX. Thanks for the heads-up :)

[grumdark]

Hello AndyW
I think I have a solution to your problem lighting with 3D geometry.

Please look in the game configuration files and follow these steps:
Open pecanengine.ini
Change from True to False exactly like the following parameters:
DynamicShadows = False
Lensflares = False
FogVolumes = False

This will turn off the colored lights in motion, and some other annoying effect and incompatible with the geometry.

I invite optionally change the following additional parameters:
MotionBlur = False
MotionBlurPause = False
MotionBlurSkinning = 0
DepthOfField = False

I also recommend headbob off, turn off this involuntary nod while walking, helps reduce nausea in vr.

Note that in this game, FOV value is measured differently, I personally used a value in the game file + small modification in Vorpx ingame menu.
I personally reach an overall agreement in arechivod and fov game, and 3d fov enhancement in vorpx ingame menu to get extra animations fov minimum reload weapon, pressing elevator button e.t.c.
Also I gained a little separation value (3d strenght),for a small modificacion world scale.
However, this last paragraph is very personal and unrelated to your question about the lighting.
Best regards.

[AndyW]

Many thanks! :D

Sadly, my Rift and Oculus Support have decided to embark on the exciting game of “Can we kill AndyW through sheer frustration and exasperation”, but if I survive their little game with sanity and Rift intact I shall be sure to give this a try :)

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