Amazingly Realistic Immersion Mod

[Old Duck]

Okay folks, I'm going to release some of my work in "baby steps" and let Frontier see what I'm posting and give them time to say "Stop it" if they need to. The following are the files you will need for a more realistic skybox that does include the galactic core and nebula as you might see them with the naked eye. At least, this is basically what I see when I look up into the night sky (using Earth in-game as my point-of-reference). It also makes the sun much more realistic IMO.

WARNING - THE SUN IS SO BRIGHT THAT YOU MAY GO BLIND VIEWING THIS MOD IN VR! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

You will need to save all the [number]-ps_replace.txt files into your ShaderFixes folder which should have been created in your ED directory when you installed 3DMigoto. Do NOT rename these to the .ini extension! The d3dx.txt file, however, needs to be renamed to .ini just like always. If you haven't followed the directions in the OP to install 3DMigoto, do that first.

You really need to replace your d3dx.ini file with mine in order to get everything working, and then from there you can customize it to match your preferences. I highly recommend backing up your old file. If there is a change done by a shader that you don't like (sun brightness, for example), you can just delete the shader file and ED will use its own default shader instead. Here is what each file changes:

• 4db942934cad0b29 - Skybox minus stars
• d7d31815a45b4462 - Stars
• 4229b613b7cd09e6 - Sun glow
• f288eee798cdc720 - Sun glow
• bf970f38d9964439 - Sun surface
• c383b072c52fae8a - Solar flares

I discovered that Colonia uses a separate skybox from the Bubble, which is not included in this file. Odds are if you are in Colonia, it's for the view anyway.

I had to make a bunch of changes to my own files (which are in a state of experimentation and development) in order to provide you these custom shaders, and I'm not able to easily test these changes at the moment. You are my beta-testers, so let me know if you get any errors. Good luck and let me know what you think!

I highly recommend setting PrototypeLightingBalancesEnabled to 0 and StarInstanceCount to 10000 in your GraphicsConfiguration.xml file (or add these entries to your override file) to compliment this mod.

 

[MaxQ]

Solved

 

[Old Duck]

BTW, I noticed some of you don't like this insane blinding light in our face from the carriers. I don't have this on my rig, but it's terrible on my PS4. I never used a mod to turn it off, so I wondered why I was exempt, but then it dawned on me - I added the following to my GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml file back when I got VR:

<LensFlares>
  <Low>
      <Enabled>false</Enabled>
  </Low>
  <Medium>
      <Enabled>false</Enabled>
  </Medium>
  <High>
      <Enabled>false</Enabled>
  </High>
</LensFlares>

When you have VR, you don't need artificial lens flare - you get more than enough from the actual VR lenses!

 

[alterNERDtive]

Hey, since this here got me into fiddling with shaders again … any simple way of getting more dust in normal space instead of turning it off?

 

[[VR] zodd]

Thanks OD.

Installed and seems to be working. I have an account in Colonia and one in the bubble - Colonia didn't appear too differently and the bubble has less galactic core. Is this what you're expecting?

Eagerly awaiting more...

zodd

 

[Old Duck]

Hey, since this here got me into fiddling with shaders again … any simple way of getting more dust in normal space instead of turning it off?

MORE dust? Are you talking about the stuff that I tend to call "snow" that you fly through when flying around? I ask because you specifically mention normal space. While you can't add more, the brightness of that snow can theoretically be dialed up. I was going to do this someday to create a blizzard over an ice world. Someday...

 

[A C Ender]

MORE dust? Are you talking about the stuff that I tend to call "snow" that you fly through when flying around? I ask because you specifically mention normal space. While you can't add more, the brightness of that snow can theoretically be dialed up. I was going to do this someday to create a blizzard over an ice world. Someday...

I think he meant the snow. I believe the link in the OP have a reference of someone changing the space dust brightness, size, and colour. It seemed somewhat complicated so I haven't tried it yet. My understanding is that there are more spacesnow than you actually see, so if you increase brightness more will visible.

 

[Harlow Shapley]

THANK YOU SO MUCH MR DUCK!! You should setup a webpage and get pepes to give a voluntary payment via Paypal or something. I would gladly pay for more of this!
Have a happy time with your Carrier!

 

[Old Duck]

THANK YOU SO MUCH MR DUCK!! You should setup a webpage and get pepes to give a voluntary payment via Paypal or something. I would gladly pay for more of this!
Have a happy time with your Carrier!

I'm pretty sure Frontier would shut me down if I started making money modding their product... And once people start paying, I'd have to support it! Right now I'm doing it for myself and sharing it with anyone who has similar ascetic tastes that I do.

But if you ever want to donate Tritium to my carrier, now that's a donation I can accept!

 

[Old Duck]

Wait, there is yet ANOTHER skybox shader? I'm taking my carrier out into the black, and all of the sudden my skybox revered back to old-ugly. Turns out this region of space uses a different shader to render the skybox. Thankfully I just need to copy and paste my code to make it work. Here's that shader if you need it:

 

[[VR] zodd]

I'm pretty sure Frontier would shut me down if I started making money modding their product... And once people start paying, I'd have to support it! Right now I'm doing it for myself and sharing it with anyone who has similar ascetic tastes that I do.

But if you ever want to donate Tritium to my carrier, now that's a donation I can accept!

Carrier name?

 

[A C Ender]

Wait, there is yet ANOTHER skybox shader? I'm taking my carrier out into the black, and all of the sudden my skybox revered back to old-ugly. Turns out this region of space uses a different shader to render the skybox. Thankfully I just need to copy and paste my code to make it work. Here's that shader if you need it:

I'll try and set up the new changes tonight and try it. I don't use the same settings as you (bound to the HUD toggling) so need to rewrite some of the logic for what happens when. I intend to be able to use your new shaders but see if I can make it so I can toggle them of for a fully black sky as before.

How does the shaders you provided work if you have changed other settings such as the galactic dust intensity etc? Right now I have the brown dust missing even with the ugly sky as per a previous setting we discussed many pages back.

 

[Old Duck]

Carrier name?

I'll let you know when I get back. Right now I'm heading out into deep space for a season.

I'll try and set up the new changes tonight and try it. I don't use the same settings as you (bound to the HUD toggling) so need to rewrite some of the logic for what happens when. I intend to be able to use your new shaders but see if I can make it so I can toggle them of for a fully black sky as before.

How does the shaders you provided work if you have changed other settings such as the galactic dust intensity etc? Right now I have the brown dust missing even with the ugly sky as per a previous setting we discussed many pages back.

Any "Handling=skip" will bypass the shader, whether it's my custom shader or ED's default shader, so it's easy to toggle the black sky like you normally would. As for how my shaders respond to any other settings or Reshade or anything like that, you'll just have to try it and see.

 

[Harlow Shapley]

But if you ever want to donate Tritium to my carrier, now that's a donation I can accept!

I can do that! You'll have to tell me where you are...
Your Carrier I mean. Not you personally.

 

[MaxQ]

In vanilla ED when in supercruise travelling to a spacestation (target) I see the Ring around the station AND a (visual) 'star' which is the station.
Now when I do ALT-CTRL-G, which removes all hud, the visual 'star' of the station is still visible, the ring around of course is gone (no hud)

But ... when I use the OP mod, I loose the hud AND the visual 'star' ... So where is the 'star' representation of the station gone? Probably in one of the handling=skip steps but which one? I'm still looking at that because I want my 'star' station back but all HUD gone

To answer my own question. I have disabled this override for the orange reason, because I like the visual clue (maybe I will put it on a separate toggle)

; Remove ship comet tails and glow from Supercruise. You'll still see these when on top
; of another ship, but not from across the solar system as is the default
; Also removes Space Station 'star' in supercruise. No visual clues anymore so fly by instruments only
;[ShaderOverrideSupercruiseComets]
;Hash=e29d91120fc28c8e
;Handling=skip

 

[MishaTX]

This is just BEYOND awesome, @Old Duck !! Once again, I can't thank you enough. All of the inky goodness without the Milky Way disappearing, and no dreadful tint anymore either!

Oh, and it also, reading through the .ini, answered another question that had me resigned to a lot of turning on and off, namely what happened to the graphic representation of the hot spots. Not that I use it much since I pretty much don't mine, ever, unless I absolutely have to, but it's still nice to have it. Now I can, and I can insta turn it on and off with a quick and dirty edit.

 

[Old Duck]

Oh, and it also, reading through the .ini, answered another question that had me resigned to a lot of turning on and off, namely what happened to the graphic representation of the hot spots. Not that I use it much since I pretty much don't mine, ever, unless I absolutely have to, but it's still nice to have it. Now I can, and I can insta turn it on and off with a quick and dirty edit.

Just to let everyone know, the current configuration allows you to toggle the HUD between three "levels" in-game by pressing the F1 key while flying your ship. The default level is "outside the cockpit" elements turned off. This includes all sorts of "crap", like Tron planets, glowing hotspots, landing pad holo-grids, etc. But you can quickly turn all this stuff back on by pressing F1. This key also turns off ALL HUD elements and cockpit lights, and with the lights off, it adjusts the skybox so you can see things like nebula a little better (the idea is that your eyes adjust to the darkness).

I tried to get a quick screenshot demonstrating this, but after visiting 5 systems in my area of space, NONE of them had ringed planets so I gave up. You'll just have to try it yourself.

 

[Ser Xav]

Thanks Old Duck, great stuff, Sir. Have been ‘beta testing’ it and it’s all very good.

I was meaning to ask you about the HUD elements. When I try this my radar turns off, but the shields stay on. Is this normal?

The stars are now awesome with the additional mods btw.

 

[Old Duck]

I was meaning to ask you about the HUD elements. When I try this my radar turns off, but the shields stay on. Is this normal?

Nope, that sounds wrong... Here's what you should see (full HUD, partial HUD, no HUD):

Note that I'm close to the sun in these screenshots, and with prototype lighting turned off that means space is pretty black (no stars).

Also I have lots of other custom shaders not currently available in this thread - the obvious ones being my HUD colors, but also ship lighting adjustments, etc.

 

[Ser Xav]

Ok thanks, that's strange. This is what I see:

This is "stock" setting from your files as far as I can tell.

Also, this file: 4db942934cad0b29-ps_replace (1).txt .... is it supposed to have the (1) suffix? This is how it downloads?

Not sure what I am doing wrong! Cheers.