Graphical changes in 1.3

[B33 ENN]

I've noticed a significant change in the scenery in the 'roid rings at Leesti 1 where I've been hunting lately. These are some pictures I took sometime ago, prior to the 1.3 update:

High 1.2 (sun below)

Low 1.2 (sun below)​

I just took some similar angles now, in the same RES:

High 1.3 (sun below)

Low 1.3 (sun below)​

The first obvious thing is the thick dust is gone. But the weird part is the way the distant asteroids look, like bright flecks now without the foggy dust, as if they're icy asteroids. But they aren't, they are dark rocks just like the ones close up.

Some more pics which give another view with the star above the rings:

High 1.3 (sun above)

Low 1.3 (sun below)​

Is this meant to look like this or is this a graphical anomaly that should be corrected by making them darker? Because I don't think it looks as realistic as before for the distant objects.

 

[Flappers]

They added some optimization where your card pre-caches shaders for the game.

What GPU are you running? And what framerate were you getting before the patch and after the patch in those areas?

I know I'm jumping to an assumption here, but maybe your GPU hasn't got enough memory to pre-cache all the shaders? Apologies if I'm wrong, I would like to see what an explanation to this is too.

Personally, I've not seen any graphical changes, though I've not really been paying full attention.

 

[B33 ENN]

They added some optimization where your card pre-caches shaders for the game.

What GPU are you running? And what framerate were you getting before the patch and after the patch in those areas?

Indeed, I read something about changes to the lighting engine in 1.3, but I don't really understand what they've done.

I'm running on an EVGA NVidia GTX 780Ti Classified.

I'm running pretty much maxed on an i7-4770S with 8GB RAM, and I lock the frames to vsync at 60Hz, at 720p (it's an old plasma television ):

Graphics options 1

Graphics options 2​

Those settings are the same and haven't been changed, but before the update, it was never dropping below 60fps. Now, since the update, there is some hitching and the odd stutter as I fly around, expecially during engagements with NPC ships.

I did't think it's the card that's struggling, so I thought maybe it's a server data update issue that's causing it. Don't know...

 

[Flappers]

Indeed, I read something about changes to the lighting engine in 1.3, but I don't really understand what they've done.

I'm running on an EVGA NVidia GTX 780Ti Classified.

I'm running pretty much maxed on an i7-4770S with 8GB RAM, and I lock the frames to vsync at 60Hz, at 720p (it's an old plasma television ):

Graphics options 1

Graphics options 2​

Those settings are the same and haven't been changed, but before the update, it was never dropping below 60fps. Now, since the update, there is some hitching and the odd stutter as I fly around, expecially during engagements with NPC ships.

I did't think it's the card that's struggling, so I thought maybe it's a server data update issue that's causing it. Don't know...

Very strange.

Personally I'm getting a much more stable framerate since the patch on an i7-4790k and a GTX650ti
My card is much lower than yours, so I really wonder where the hitching is coming from. :S
Especially if you're at only 720p (dude, get yourself a 1080p monitor )

If the shaders are being cached, there has to be some files somewhere with some data on that. I wonder if those files can be located and deleted, it would force a complete refresh when you next launch the game. Perhaps this could help?

Though, it may take some digging to find those files.

If not... then if I were in your position, I would look at uninstalling the game (then deleting all associated files with it.... there is "Revo Uninstaller" that can do this for you), re-downloading and re-installing. But I can understand if this isn't an option due to bandwidth and data caps.

 

[B33 ENN]

...My card is much lower than yours, so I really wonder where the hitching is coming from. :S
Especially if you're at only 720p (dude, get yourself a 1080p monitor )

Yeh, my main rig with the monitors is bieing rebuilt so I'm gaming on the other PC. Definitely planning on a new TV for it soon...

...If not... then if I were in your position, I would look at uninstalling the game (then deleting all associated files with it.... there is "Revo Uninstaller" that can do this for you), re-downloading and re-installing. But I can understand if this isn't an option due to bandwidth and data caps.

Well, since it's on Steam I could use that to uninstall or check the integrity of the game files. So you think the dust fog is meant to still be there but it's missing due to some local issue?

 

[Araviel]

yea thats what i think too, either its your cache or your GraphicsConfiguration.xml that got messed up i would guess,
there is a setting for the dust fog in the later, so try and delete both and then do a integrity check whit steam to reapply them.

 

[Deleted member 94277]

Is it just me or the 'low' pics the OP posted are better looking?

 

[B33 ENN]

yea thats what i think too, either its your cache or your GraphicsConfiguration.xml that got messed up i would guess, there is a setting for the dust fog in the later, so try and delete both and then do a integrity check whit steam to reapply them.

Okay, I'm going to give that a try and see if it sorts itself out...

Is it just me or the 'low' pics the OP posted are better looking?

Just to be clear, High and Low in those links refers to the ship position above the asteroid rings, not any reference to graphical settings, which are the same in all shots.

 

[yyy]

Whatever changes they've made I like them. Flying around at RESs is much smoother and everything looks a lot clearer.

 

[B33 ENN]

Well, I deleted the "GraphicsConfiguration.xml" file, and replaced it. No change.

Deleted the "Frontier Developments" and "Frontier_Developments" folders under my user's AppData folder. All settings went to default and it chose Ultra graphics settings for me. Still no change.

So, I've uninstalled the game and will try re-installing it to see if that resolves it.

 

[Araviel]

hmm, did it help anything whit your stutter though?

also, im not sure what it is that bothers you the most, but if it is the lack fog then i might have found something.
now its been a few hours since i was last in game and i kind of forgot how my belts looks like, but i found that in my GraphicsConfiguration.xml the Fog input is set to 1 on all my settings, from low to high
<Item>
<Feature>Fog</Feature>
<QualitySetting>1</QualitySetting>
</Item>

could try and set the quality value to 2 and see what happens

 

[B33 ENN]

hmm, did it help anything whit your stutter though?

Nope, was the same, unaffected.

also, im not sure what it is that bothers you the most, but if it is the lack fog then i might have found something...

From what I can tell, yes, the fog has decreased or is missing. That has the effect of making those distant 'roids look like bright flecks. So, yeah, that's the issue.

Now, unless someone else flying around Leesti can pop into the Leesti 1 RES rings and see if they are seeing the dust fog exactly as before, I can't be sure whether the issue was local to my setup or not.

...now its been a few hours since i was last in game and i kind of forgot how my belts looks like, but i found that in my GraphicsConfiguration.xml the Fog input is set to 1 on all my settings, from low to high
<Item>
<Feature>Fog</Feature>
<QualitySetting>1</QualitySetting>
</Item>

could try and set the quality value to 2 and see what happens

Once it finished downloading, if the problem persists I'll try that idea, thanks.

 

[LameoveR]

Hi there!
Cached shaders placed at C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Temp\NVIDIA Corporation\NV_Cache

It can be hidden and\or system folder. So you need to ajust settings in your explorer.

 

[Ruskodisco]

im pretty sure if you put any object against the sun, that close out in space it would shine, including dark asteroids. but then again arent asteroids "icy" since its -450 F in space?

EDIT: im not protecting the graphical change, cause i do kinda think that some dust should be there but restricting it some wasnt a bad idea.

 

[B33 ENN]

Cached shaders placed at C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Temp\NVIDIA Corporation\NV_Cache

Thanks for that! I'll try that too... It's going to be a while until the download finishes, so I'll update on the results when I get back in.

 

[B33 ENN]

Finished download.

Cached shaders placed at C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Temp\NVIDIA Corporation\NV_Cache

Cleared that folder.

...i found that in my GraphicsConfiguration.xml the Fog input is set to 1 on all my settings, from low to high
<Item>
<Feature>Fog</Feature>
<QualitySetting>1</QualitySetting>
</Item>

Checked mine and it's the same in every setting as well.

Restarted the game. Ultra settings... No dice. Still the same, hitching frames as well.

...could try and set the quality value to 2 and see what happens

Not tried this yet as I really just want to get some game time in now. I might give it a go some point, but I think the update is just not liking my machine or this is how they want it to look.

Unless a developer comments, or another user confirms their 'roids look exactly as before, there's no way to know. Might ask a mod to move this to the bugs/feedback sub-forum.

 

[LameoveR]

i'll check it out now in RES.
Here we go:

Spoiler

 

[Greyhawk]

That looks utterly atrocious. I hope its a bug

 

[B33 ENN]

i'll check it out now in RES.
Here we go:

Spoiler

http://i6.5cm.ru/i/wDku.png

Yes, that's like mine!

This is a shot at a similar altitude to yours, with the sun just above, that I took a few days ago prior to me defeating the great Gilgamesh Catbeard in the same RES:

High 1.2 (sun above)

As you see, there's lots of fog.

I just went over to another RES I visit in Heheng (A6), and same thing, there's almost no fog compared to a shot I took sometime back.

That looks utterly atrocious. I hope its a bug

I hope this is a bug with the new changes, because you're right, it doesn't look as good as before.

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

I think this bug report may be related:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=151079