[MOD] High quality clouds in Low preset

[ironk79]

what a great mod this is! didnt have much problems with the clouds before (with high preset),  so  i changed the cfg files balanced preset for my liking.

only real reason i used high was tree rendering distance, balanced and low just was to much pop in for my taste.

but now i changed the balanced preset to cloud_samples=64, forest_distance=4, forest_quality=0.75 - still looks great, and quite a bit smoother, fantastic!

[Milopapa]

This mod is a godsend! Both as the fix for clouds as well as a way to edit the presets.

 

I don't understand why they don't expose these settings on the UI directly instead of using the presets.

 

 

[alpenspion]

Where can i dowload it?

[DD_Reggie]

16 hours ago, alpenspion said:

Where can i dowload it?

You are joking surely? It is in the first post in this very thread. . . . .

[T_O_A_D]

Thanks for this, the clouds in comparison to what we have had in other versions are seriously lacking IMHO clouds in all three examples are set to 1000 meters.

 

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by T_O_A_D

[PicksKing]

I always had all settings on maximum and I still get benefit from this mod. Awesome. I also tried cloud samples of 256 up to 1024 but I am not sure, if there is any difference. Maybe somebody else can say more about that.

Anyway, unfortunatly I have to enable mods in options menu. So I have to decide between good clouds OR multiplayer. Too bad but still a good mod. Thank you.

Edited April 19, 2018 by PicksKing

[-332FG-Gordon200]

PicksKing. That's the argument I'm having with myself at the moment.

I want this mod but it won't help in the most competitive arena of MP where needed the most.

[TheWarsimmer]

Great mod, Coconut! Gubernub recommended this, and the effect it has on clouds is outstanding. I also noticed there was a value for  "forest_distance" and was hoping that finally the dreaded bubble that surrounds the line between trees being drawn in 3d and 2d could be extended, but altering that value didn't change anything. Do you know if it's possible? 

 

Btw, more people should know about this mod.

Edited May 8, 2018 by baylor703

[=ARTOA=Rauchenderkolben]

um... well this mod helped me too, its not perfect, but its a lot less severe, planes do not completly disappear infront of you while you are in a dogfight, wich is very nice. (I'm using htc vive VR, gtx 1080ti, i7 4790k@4.6ghz, no AA, low graphic settings) But the problem is , that mods need to be enabled, and no server get displayed to me, that allow using this mod. Is there any way to play with this mod on servers ? otherwise its more or less useless and I'll have to continue to deal with cloaking/ghost planes. I also tried high settings, this mod seems to be better than high settings. I played on high settings over the day, problem on high setting without this mod was pretty much unchanged compared to low graphic settings (in VR). Aside high settings, it reduced the framerate a lot, witch introduced reprojecting and any slight head movement introduces a ghosting picture, so you'd see 2 planes when there is only one. basically everything doubles druing quick movement, wich makes IDing planes even harder than with high fps on low settings. On low settings its really funny, you can watch planes warp into your drawdistance. This cloud thing needs to be taken serious, because when spotting distance is that low, and IDing is so hard, having planes to be invisible if they just happen to cross a cloud from your point of view, gets you killed quite a lot, since you dont stand a change against an invisible player approaching you. In VR you can litterialy be 20 meters away from the target, if he's infront of a cloud that is somewhere even far far away on the map, he is invisible. Use the zoom feature and you bearly can make out some jagged lines where he's supposed to be, looks like a grey haze around the actual plane.

Edited May 11, 2018 by =ARTOA=Rauchenderkolben

[LukeFF]

Paragraph breaks, man...

[underscore]

is it just the two cloud lines you have edited??

[Wolf8312]

On 3/24/2018 at 4:31 PM, coconut said:

This mod enables high quality clouds in the low graphics settings. This is primarily useful for people playing in VR with a strong GPU (I have a 980ti) and weak CPU (like my 4690K at overclocked 4.5Ghz )

Note: In the graphics settings in the game you also need to pick high quality clouds.

 

The important lines in gpresets.cfg are in preset=0:

clouds_quality=2

clouds_samples=128

 

For clouds_samples I went over the top on purpose, to see the performance impact. So far it seems OK. This setting has value 96 in the Ultra preset, and was at 56 originally. Maybe try other values in between if you experience stutters or low FPS.

 

As far as I understand, clouds_quality controls the outline of planes that are in front of clouds, clouds_sample controls the size/number of "cloud particles". The higher the value, the smaller the particles. The "simmering" effect is less visible the smaller the particles are.

 

Unpack the zip file in your MODS directory to use with jsgme, assuming you installed jsgme in the root of you game installation. If not, just make sure that gpresets.cfg is located in data/luascripts. Don't forget to turn mods on in the game settings. 

 

EDIT: new vr_settings.zip, Added high quality clouds with 128 samples to all presets vr_settings.zip

 

 

Hey coconut I am finding since the new update if I turn your cloud mod on I get alot of psychedelic graphical corruption. Any idea if this is fixable?

[Wolf8312]

Never mind coconut, a reinstallation of the mod seemed to do the trick. All I can say is thank baby jesus for you and this mod!

[katdog5]

Can’t disable mods button to join your server now ?

Can’t disable mods button to join your server now ?

[LizLemon]

Quite a bit can be done by messing around with the clouds

[IckyATLAS]

These .cfg configuration files you can set a certain number of parameters, be it for clouds or other stuff. Where do you find the complete list of the parameters that are used in IL2. Is there a kind of dictionary or default list somewhere. 

[LizLemon]

data\graphics\sky\summer\ has a bunch of folders with the different presets for weather types. In each folder is a sky.ini file that is pretty much fully annotated. Takes some playing around to find good ranges for the different values though, but you can "hot edit" it; make a mission with a preset like medium 02 then load up the mission in game and see what your changes do, then quit the mission, edit and save the medium02 file, and load up the mission again and it will load the updated file.

[PicksKing]

On 8/10/2018 at 5:12 PM, LizLemon said:

Quite a bit can be done by messing around with the clouds

 

 

Looks good. Would you share your lua-files with us?

 

Its strange. Few months ago, I didnt see any difference between  cloud samples 256 or 1024. But now the known cloud flickering totally disappeared when using 1024. I still have at least 60fps but my graphic card runs a bit hotter than before. Tolerable.
I wish the developer would give us the possibility to set up that cloud sample quality via the regular settings menu so we can use it in multiplayer.

Edited August 11, 2018 by PicksKing

[IckyATLAS]

On 8/10/2018 at 6:21 PM, LizLemon said:

data\graphics\sky\summer\ has a bunch of folders with the different presets for weather types. In each folder is a sky.ini file that is pretty much fully annotated. Takes some playing around to find good ranges for the different values though, but you can "hot edit" it; make a mission with a preset like medium 02 then load up the mission in game and see what your changes do, then quit the mission, edit and save the medium02 file, and load up the mission again and it will load the updated file.

Thanks

[Algy-Lacey]

Hi

 

I don't know if this is a suitable place to ask,

but why when on 'High' preset overall with Clouds details on 'High'... Why do the edges of the clouds morph and change shape, quite rapidly? It looks terrible.

 

thanks

Algy

[coconut]

1 hour ago, Algy-Lacey said:

Why do the edges of the clouds morph and change shape, quite rapidly? It looks terrible

Too few cloud samples. This can be adjusted using the mod.

[JonRedcorn]

So we can't use this online? Guess it would make sense since you can just edit any files and use them to your advantage.

Edited August 12, 2018 by 15th_JonRedcorn

[Algy-Lacey]

6 hours ago, coconut said:

Too few cloud samples. This can be adjusted using the mod.

 

I'm SO glad I found this thread. With 'mods enabled' in game and running on Balanced overall graphics settings THE CLOUDS LOOK PERFECT!

[PicksKing]

Here is a demonstration video, that shows the advantage over the vanilla settings and how much smoother the modded clouds are. Cloud samples 1024.

I posted it in the suggestion section too. Lets hope the developer will integrate it into the sim.

 

 

 

[Mysticpuma]

Interesting video.....just wondering if it is possible to make the clouds less white? They are very bright, almost luminous? Cheers, MP

[PicksKing]

On 8/14/2018 at 8:38 PM, Mysticpuma said:

Interesting video.....just wondering if it is possible to make the clouds less white? They are very bright, almost luminous? Cheers, MP

 

Its maybe my gamma. I put it up, because I like a slightly hazy and misty look. Colors and contrasts are reduced already after a few kilometres.
But that bright clouds arent even unrealistic. Clouds, lightened by the sun are indeed very bright and dazzling.

Edited August 16, 2018 by PicksKing

[LizLemon]

4 hours ago, Mysticpuma said:

Interesting video.....just wondering if it is possible to make the clouds less white? They are very bright, almost luminous? Cheers, MP

 

Yes, the ski.ini file has a line for sun and ambient brightness. This value only affects the clouds.

[SCG_Space_Ghost]

Hey Liz,

 

Hate to be a nag but will we see any of these changes being released as mod packages in the near future?

 

Your work is just too good and I'm itching to try it out.

[smink1701]

Really like this mod.  Got rid of my cloud jaggies.  Thanks

[JohnHolmes]

On 8/15/2018 at 11:32 AM, LizLemon said:

 

Yes, the ski.ini file has a line for sun and ambient brightness. This value only affects the clouds.

Hi LizLemon

Can you please explain how to do this? No matter what I do with the gamma or screen settings, my clouds are bleached white when the weather is sunny in game. 

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

On 8/14/2018 at 8:28 PM, PicksKing said:

Here is a demonstration video, that shows the advantage over the vanilla settings and how much smoother the modded clouds are. Cloud samples 1024.

I posted it in the suggestion section too. Lets hope the developer will integrate it into the sim.

 

 

 

Those settings are working in mods off mode ?

[Semor76]

49 minutes ago, 307_Tomcat said:

Those settings are working in mods off mode ?

Off mode only...I think

[PicksKing]

19 hours ago, 307_Tomcat said:

Those settings are working in mods off mode ?

No. The mods must be activated for getting those clouds. That the pity with this mod because you cant use them online.

 

20 hours ago, JohnHolmes said:

Hi LizLemon

Can you please explain how to do this? No matter what I do with the gamma or screen settings, my clouds are bleached white when the weather is sunny in game. 

Its not about the gamma. This setting wont help you there. I guess LizLemon got deep into some archives to get these settings. Unfortunately he is not very chatty.
Btw, am I the only one who finds these clouds too dark? Just watch clouds which are illuminated by the sun. Its so darn bright that it really hurts and I barely can watch them.

Edited August 27, 2018 by PicksKing

[ironk79]

@Coconut - i have been messing around with your mod, changing parameters to my liking,  creating a low / high preset mix that looks good and gives 90fps prformance in VR. But i cant find a setting, where i can increase shadow rendering distance only, rendering low res hadows but at larger distance.

Ingame only shadow settings themself controll quality and distance of shadows. is there such a parameter?

[coconut]

Not that I know

[Gora_]

Thank you for this mod! It repairs what DEVS don't till now. 

 

I edited some lines like this:

 

clouds_quality=3

clouds_samples=256

effects_samples=1

 

Now stutters are gone form me. In VR I've got mostly 90FPS.  Clouds are more steady, but I rather it that way than with this 1FPS animation in front of our nose

 

Is it some way to change these parameters but not use the mod, to be able to start MP game with such a settings?

[F-Dog]

I wish this mod worked for me no matter what I try Low, Balanced, High, Ultra the clouds looks awful. In the distance they are jumping like the animation has a stutter, and when planes fly in front of them they pixelate.

 

I play in VR on HTC VIVE PRO

 

My Rig is: 

 

i7-9700k, GTX 1080 11GB, 32 GB RAM

 

The game actually runs at a steady 45FPS it's just the clouds that are bothering me  

 

Any ideas? 

 

 

 

 

[Dutch2]

I have the square shapes on the cloud edges and its eating -20fps what to adjust inhere. 

[Gora_]

22 hours ago, HELSTEEDSF-Dog said:

I wish this mod worked for me no matter what I try Low, Balanced, High, Ultra the clouds looks awful. In the distance they are jumping like the animation has a stutter, and when planes fly in front of them they pixelate.

 

I play in VR on HTC VIVE PRO

 

My Rig is: 

 

i7-9700k, GTX 1080 11GB, 32 GB RAM

 

The game actually runs at a steady 45FPS it's just the clouds that are bothering me  

 

Any ideas? 

 

Turn on mods in the menu after you copy the file. 

 

 

urn on mods in the menu after you copy the file. 

Edited February 10, 2019 by P_Gora

[F-Dog]

Yeah it's switched on I use a couple of other MODS, I just can't get them  pesky clouds to not look like a stuttering mess