Thanks for the shader fix!

[GreenAsJade]

Shader hotfix (NVidia) works a treat for me.

It actually looks better, now, with the shaders on than with them off

GaJ

[Mingan]

What's the make / model of your video card? What OS are you running?

Asus GTX 460 (driver 296.10), Windows 7 x64.

I put the shader files into Documents\Battlefront\Combat Mission\Fortress Italy\User Data\Mods.

Example screenshot:

http://tuomas.viuhka.fi/kuvat/CMFI_ugly_shadows.png

[Agua]

Odd, the new shaders look far worse on my GTX 560ti, and they look great in RAKE's screenie above. They were supposed to go in the Z folder, right?

[Guest]

On PC, unzip the NVIDIA (or ATI, as the case might be) shader set into the Mods folder under User Data.

If the shadows look lots worse (shadows in weird places, funny looking, etc.) then there could be something with your card or drivers that aren't working like most. Your card does support the extensions necessary to use the improved shadows. I've had very positive reports from people with your card, though, so yeah, it might be an install issue.

[Guest]

Asus GTX 460 (driver 296.10), Windows 7 x64.

I put the shader files into Documents\Battlefront\Combat Mission\Fortress Italy\User Data\Mods.

Example screenshot:

http://tuomas.viuhka.fi/kuvat/CMFI_ugly_shadows.png

Are those shadows ugly, or incorrect? I don't see what's ugly about that screenshot. What's wrong with it, from your perspective?

Did you unzip the shader files into the Mods folder, or just put the zip file in?

[Mingan]

Are those shadows ugly, or incorrect? I don't see what's ugly about that screenshot. What's wrong with it, from your perspective?

Borders of the shadows are jagged, they are not straight lines like in those screenshots where the new shader has worked. Also they flicker a lot when moving the camera, and enlarge themselves when further away. Look at the shadow of the tree trunk, or distant shadows. Some lines are straight, but it changes when moving the camera.

Did you unzip the shader files into the Mods folder, or just put the zip file in?

I unzipped them.

I find it hilarious that someone can't see what's wrong with the picture. I guess it happens to all of us when looking at our own work though.

[Guest]

Borders of the shadows are jagged, they are not straight lines like in those screenshots where the new shader has worked. Also they flicker a lot when moving the camera, and enlarge themselves when further away. Look at the shadow of the tree trunk, or distant shadows. Some lines are straight, but it changes when moving the camera.

Hmm. Well:

a) It looks like the shader isn't working for you, for some reason.

It looks like your shadows are currently very low-quality - what FPS are you getting while viewing that?

First I would try swapping in the ATI shaders and see if that helps. Might be your card doesn't do the standard Nvidia shadow kernel thing. The shaders are not actually card-specific, it's just that Nvidia cards perform some standard filtering on shadows already, and throwing a huge kernel'd filter at that causes some hilarious visual issues. Let me know.

If you don't see any difference with the ATI shaders there's something wrong with your card or install, so that'll be useful info too.

I unzipped them.

I find it hilarious that someone can't see what's wrong with the picture. I guess it happens to all of us when looking at our own work though.

Errr... yeah. I've just been dealing with 3D shadow issues since what feels like the dawn of time, I guess. The stuff you're seeing in that screenshot is not nice, but it's perfectly normal. If you had shaders turned off (you do have shaders turned on, right?) I wouldn't even blink at it.

I would like to eliminate it, and it's definitely "ugly", but it's the way shadow maps work. Nothing to do with the shaders, really, except that my workaround for the issue isn't working for you.

We can hopefully improve it with the ATI shaders, though. Let me know.

Edit: Also, I didn't zoom in to look a the picture close up. I couldn't see anything wrong until I did. As a normal screenshot it looks pretty... normal.

[Guest]

Hey Phil, sorry about that, figured it was such a minor thing that didn't warrant it's own thread so I thought I'd mention it here.

No worries. It definitely does warrant its own thread though.

I'm currently running on an ancient GeForce 8800 GT and I'm seeing a roughly 5-10% drop in FPS with the hotfix shaders even if I have both shadows and shaders toggled off. I never play with shadows anyway, the edges are jagged and they kill my FPS.

I've pretty much never had CMx2 crash on me, but 2.0 does it pretty often now, even if I play with shaders off. It's time to upgrade my rig soon. I don't think many people play with graphics hardware this old, so it's probably best not to spend time figuring out why.

Interesting. The GT should be able to handle what we're throwing at it. Could be a driver issue.

And you remove the hotfix shaders and immediately see a 5-10% increase in FPS? Hmm.

[Mingan]

Hmm. Well:

a) It looks like the shader isn't working for you, for some reason.

It looks like your shadows are currently very low-quality - what FPS are you getting while viewing that?

First I would try swapping in the ATI shaders and see if that helps. Might be your card doesn't do the standard Nvidia shadow kernel thing. The shaders are not actually card-specific, it's just that Nvidia cards perform some standard filtering on shadows already, and throwing a huge kernel'd filter at that causes some hilarious visual issues. Let me know.

If you don't see any difference with the ATI shaders there's something wrong with your card or install, so that'll be useful info too.

I tried the ATI shaders, no difference, shadows are the same as with NVidia hot fix. I'm going to install new NVidia display drivers, I'll report if they fix the problem.

Errr... yeah. I've been dealing with 3D shadow issues since what feels like the dawn of time. The stuff you're seeing in that screenshot is not nice, but it's perfectly normal. If you had shaders turned off (you do have shaders turned on, right?) I wouldn't even blink at it.

I would like to eliminate it, and it's definitely "ugly", but it's the way shadow maps work. Nothing to do with the shaders, really, except that my workaround for the issue isn't working for you.

We can hopefully improve it with the ATI shaders, though. Let me know.

I apologize if I have been unclear. I know the ugly shadows are a standard feature. I got upset because others seem to report great success with the new hot fix, but my shadows got worse. Of course you have not promised that the hot fix would work for everyone, so no problem there. I'm just jealous.

Yes I have shaders on.

[Mingan]

No better shadows for me. I've tried new drivers, both shaders, with and without overclocked gpu. Doesn't work. I hope this information is of some value to you.

[Guest]

Well, it's a start! Can you maybe send me some comparison shots? If the new shaders look worse than the stock shaders, maybe there's something in there that I can pick out, something your card doesn't like. You should at least be seeing much softer shadows.

[Agua]

Borders of the shadows are jagged, they are not straight lines like in those screenshots where the new shader has worked. Also they flicker a lot when moving the camera,

This is what I'm experiencing as well. I went into the nVidia control panel and tried to make adjustments specific to CMFI for AA/AF, then ingame turned on the filtering and selected best quality everything and it looks the same. I'm using the latest nVidia beta 3.08(I think) drivers.

[Mingan]

Can you maybe send me some comparison shots?

I would, but now I have more problems. I have deleted the shader files from my mods folder, but my shadows have gone crazy, they didn't look this bad before I tried out the hotfix.

http://tuomas.viuhka.fi/kuvat/CMFI_what_is_this.png

Might be something I'm doing wrong...

[Guest]

This is what I'm experiencing as well. I went into the nVidia control panel and tried to make adjustments specific to CMFI for AA/AF, then ingame turned on the filtering and selected best quality everything and it looks the same. I'm using the latest nVidia beta 3.08(I think) drivers.

The control panel does stuff that we (CM) don't have any control over. The settings may even work against us. Please let CM have control over settings - at least give it a shot.

[Guest]

I would, but now I have more problems. I have deleted the shader files from my mods folder, but my shadows have gone crazy, they didn't look this bad before I tried out the hotfix.

http://tuomas.viuhka.fi/kuvat/CMFI_what_is_this.png

Might be something I'm doing wrong...

Are you also setting options in the Nvidia control panel?

If you've removed the shader files, then you're using the stock shaders. So shadows DID look like that before the fix, but perhaps you just didn't run into the right combination of angle and lighting.

[Mingan]

Are you also setting options in the Nvidia control panel?

If you've removed the shader files, then you're using the stock shaders. So shadows DID look like that before the fix, but perhaps you just didn't run into the right combination of angle and lighting.

I have tried with control panel profile and without - no difference. Also I'm pretty sure they didn't look like that before, they are totally out of control now, popping visible and invisible suddenly at close range, with huge jagged or just messy edges which have nothing to do with the model they are trying to represent. Shadows were before okay, just the normal small jagged edges. Maybe it's the new drivers?

[theblitz]

The buildings seem to be darker than it should be,when viewed from distance,with shaders turned on? I noticed the same issue with the old shaders,too,although the new ones seem to have improved things a little. Here's how it looks with my ATI 7850 card with shaders turned on/off

[GreenAsJade]

Um, isn't it the case that with shaders off you're not not seeing shadows that you should be. If that's right, then clearly with them on, they building wall looks darker because it's in shadow...

[Guest]

This is true, buildings don't have shadows cast on them (by other entities or themselves) when shaders are off. Buildings will generally be darker with shaders on, because they will be shadowed.

In this case, though, the "cascading large bits of shadow" thing you're seeing, theblitz, is something we're working on. It's a common shadow mapping problem that we'll try and smarten up a bit.

[MG TOW]

I have a Gt2300, and the shaders on looking pretty good now. What I did was install the hotfix. But I noticed the shadows were moving from right to left, slowly. Then I went onto the Nvidia website and chose the option to scan my computer and automatically choose the best driver. Upgraded to the latest drivers. And now with shaders on, things are looking good. Probably the way it was intended to.

The GT2300 are old cards making a low cost come back, bumped up to 2gb ram they are usually included with Hp Computers.

[Agua]

On PC, unzip the NVIDIA (or ATI, as the case might be) shader set into the Mods folder under User Data.

If the shadows look lots worse (shadows in weird places, funny looking, etc.) then there could be something with your card or drivers that aren't working like most. Your card does support the extensions necessary to use the improved shadows. I've had very positive reports from people with your card, though, so yeah, it might be an install issue.

That was it. I put it in a Z folder in the program(86)/Battlefront/blah blah rather than in the User data/Mod folder.

[Guest]

I have tried with control panel profile and without - no difference. Also I'm pretty sure they didn't look like that before, they are totally out of control now, popping visible and invisible suddenly at close range, with huge jagged or just messy edges which have nothing to do with the model they are trying to represent. Shadows were before okay, just the normal small jagged edges. Maybe it's the new drivers?

Yes, unfortunately, that's possible. There could be a bug in the card functionality I use to project the shadows.

It *sounds* like new drivers are helping most folks who try them, but there's pretty invariably something broken for some card with each new driver release.

That was it. I put it in a Z folder in the program(86)/Battlefront/blah blah rather than in the User data/Mod folder.

Ahhh, good... does it look better now?

[z1812]

Nvidia GT 620 1 GB here. The new shaders are a great improvement. Tree shadows were looking a bit blobby before the fix. Now they look like............tree shadows.

[Fizou]

Thanks BFC.. the shader fix for my ATI HD5870 is working magic!

[Offshoot]

The shader fix certainly makes the visuals better for me. I do, however, have something strange going on with the shaders in general. Without shaders on, everything is normal, but as soon as I turn them on (Alt-R), what I presume is my graphics card starts emitting a warbling sound. Also, if I have vertical synchronization off, my card emits a high-pitched constant squeal at the opening screen; with v-sync on it doesn't do this. I'm prepared to accept it is one of those things, but it doesn't make me feel too comfortable. Card is an MSI Geforce 560 Ti (301.42 driver).

EDIT: after looking it up, it seems the squeal with v-sync off is caused by coil whine resulting from too many FPS causing load - with it on it pegs the frame rate to the refresh rate and reduces the load. Not sure if it's also the cause of the sound I get when I turn shaders on, but I'll have a fiddle with all the settings to see if they change anything (I had best quality, high-quality textures and AA on, though it still ran smoothly on a medium map).