VOGONS


First post, by lambdatorus

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Hello

Recently i bought the ta commander pack and i decided to USE dgvoodoo2 to make it work

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Since the game is a bit old ,I decided to use the last RESHADE
version to enable SMAA and FXAA and other cool effects.

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HERE IS A BETTER INSIGH IN CASE IN CASE YOU're ARE NOT CONVINCED

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The mainb issue is that you can't use the TA :ESCALATION MOD ,the best mod for the game. I think most players include it .

Now,I will explain the technical issue that need to be adressed with this modpack.
In order to work, the TA ESCALATION authors included a specific DDRAW.DLL named EDRAW.DLL for TA .This file is necessary because it include critical fonctionnalities . The removal of this file could lead to an executable crash.

SO it would be great if Dege make contact with them through

http://taesc.tauniverse.com/

In order to provide updated application.
SO could someone could Contact dege in a first place?

Greetings.

EDIT:SINCE THE LAST COMMENT I UPDATED the preview Images .thanks for posting!!IT IS USEFUL INDEED. 😀

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Last edited by lambdatorus on 2018-10-23, 21:47. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 2 of 18, by gerwin

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lambdatorus wrote:

Since the game is a bit old ,I decided to use the last RESHADE
version to enable SMAA and FXAA and other cool effects.

Total Annihilation uses its own internal software renderer, Beats me how some generic DirectX/OpenGL hack could improve the rendering here... The second image just looks more blurry to me.

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Reply 3 of 18, by lambdatorus

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gerwin wrote:
lambdatorus wrote:

Since the game is a bit old ,I decided to use the last RESHADE
version to enable SMAA and FXAA and other cool effects.

Total Annihilation uses its own internal software renderer, Beats me how some generic DirectX/OpenGL hack could improve the rendering here... The second image just looks more blurry to me.

Hi gerwin ,

I can assure you that thanks to dg works , you can do many things to old games like adding new effects .I tried it and it works ,but it needs a little more attention.And i think dg know what i mean.
And we thank him for his outstanding works.

And since i mentionned the edraw.dll in the TA directory that means ddraw.dll that is directx call.

And by the way gerwin 😀 , you need to understand the goal of adding FXAA and SMAA is only to soft edges ,that is why you "don't see the difference".It's called antialiasing ,and it is different from blurring the whole image.Most recent PC games include these fonctionnalities.And if you're a good TA player you'll enjoy these basical graphical enhancements. 😀

Have a nice day. 😀

Reply 4 of 18, by appiah4

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Not sure what you mean by 'works' but what I see in the second screenshot is neither texture filtering or edge anti-aliasing, it's almost just a blur/smear of the framebuffer.. I can't in all honesty say whatever dg did here improves anything.

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Reply 5 of 18, by gerwin

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@lambdatorus.
Well. I get what you say, but my case still stands. The 3D rendering of Total Annihilation is done with its own internal software rendering. Not with Direct3D or OpenGL. Thus Direct3D/OpenGL settings or hacks do not apply to this game. The presence of DirectDraw does not change that, since DirectDraw is just for handling 2D graphics.

Software 3D rendering = Internal code in the game executable. Different for each game. Does not use 3D hardware or drivers functions. Details remain unknown until reverse engineering of the game is done. Can only be improved by changing the game executable (aside from maybe some 2D scaling algorithms which apply to the screen output as a whole, just like a photoshop filter).

Direct3D rendering = External Windows API. Universal and documented. Uses 3D hardware and drivers functions. Uses API interface calls that can be 'Hooked'.

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Reply 6 of 18, by lambdatorus

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appiah4 wrote:

Not sure what you mean by 'works' but what I see in the second screenshot is neither texture filtering or edge anti-aliasing, it's almost just a blur/smear of the framebuffer.. I can't in all honesty say whatever dg did here improves anything.

Hi appiah4 and thanks for replying ,

To improve my total annihilation experience, I use dgvoodoo + reshade.That mean thanks to dg's works ,(and no my "works"-> that is dg's "works" 😀 ) ,I can use a software called reshade.

Then when i start total annihilation, I can access to a menu that let the user activate cool effects. Like FXAA and SMAA .Because you said this , I DOUBLE checked 😀 in game that the effect is relevant.

So ,i opened the reshade menu and turn the SMAA and FXAA ON and OFF.And i can honestly testify that it improve ARTISTICALLY 😀 the game appearance.+ I added an ambient light effect and it look OK. 😀

taexample03.png
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taexample04.png
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BUT I understand you don't see the difference with two Images.No problem for me. BUT ARTISTICALLY speaking ,Having played a WHOLE GAME SESSION, the game looks BETTER .
So Honestly , you get used with the effects and it doesn't disturb during GAMEPLAY.And that the 😀 IMPORTANT POINT. 😎

BECAUSE IN TA , there is no texture filter and AA .And that is very important since the robot are sharp-edged.And the green selectionboxes are sharp BUT when you enable SMAA all sharp edges are soft. I repeat ,I checked myself to be sure. SO maybe you right in a programming PERSPECTIVE, BUT not in a visual PERSPECTIVE. SO here It's about checking if looks OK INGAME and it is.It's not about programming here.

SO the important here is what you feel INGAME and the sharp edges are soft.Still the UI is a little affected BUT ,I played a whole game AND it doesn't disturb during GAMEPLAY at all:happy: .

and Thanks again for replying appiah4 .

Reply 7 of 18, by lambdatorus

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gerwin wrote:
@lambdatorus. Well. I get what you say, but my case still stands. The 3D rendering of Total Annihilation is done with its own in […]
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@lambdatorus.
Well. I get what you say, but my case still stands. The 3D rendering of Total Annihilation is done with its own internal software rendering. Not with Direct3D or OpenGL. Thus Direct3D/OpenGL settings or hacks do not apply to this game. The presence of DirectDraw does not change that, since DirectDraw is just for handling 2D graphics.

Software 3D rendering = Internal code in the game executable. Different for each game. Does not use 3D hardware or drivers functions. Details remain unknown until reverse engineering of the game is done. Can only be improved by changing the game executable (aside from maybe some 2D scaling algorithms which apply to the screen output as a whole, just like a photoshop filter).

Direct3D rendering = External Windows API. Universal and documented. Uses 3D hardware and drivers functions. Uses API interface calls that can be 'Hooked'.

Hi gerwin,

SO maybe you're right in a programming PERSPECTIVE, BUT not in a visual PERSPECTIVE.

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SO here It's about checking if looks OK INGAME and it is.It's not about programming here. 😀 BUT thanks anyway for the course doc!! I will remember that 😀

have i nice day gerwin and thanks again for the detail 😀

Reply 8 of 18, by gerwin

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I see a difference, but I don't know what to call it but 'Blurring' of the entire screen. So if you like it that way that is fine, and you did put in a good effort to show what you are seeing, but it is false to call this actual SMAA or FXAA of the game's 3D polygons.
1) because it does not look like that.
2) because it is technically impossible.

http://mavorsrants.blogspot.com/2012/04/total … ics-engine.html
The engine is 256 color. It says that these units are sometimes drawn as pre-rendered 2D sprites to conserve speed.

Last edited by gerwin on 2018-10-23, 23:00. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 9 of 18, by lambdatorus

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HERE ANOTHER PICTURES SHOWING DGVOODOO +RESHADE EFFECT:

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AND HERE ONE MORE:

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AND THAT'S IT.

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Reply 10 of 18, by appiah4

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That is not FXAA or SMAA, that is basically a blur shader across the whole framebuffer from what I can tell. The blur is helping you get around the sharpness issues with the edges, so that is the illusion of antialiasing there, but it's also blurring everything else as well and making you lose detail. If you like it better this way, go for it. I can't say it is an improvement, though.

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Reply 11 of 18, by lambdatorus

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appiah4 wrote:

That is not FXAA or SMAA, that is basically a blur shader across the whole framebuffer from what I can tell. The blur is helping you get around the sharpness issues with the edges, so that is the illusion of antialiasing there, but it's also blurring everything else as well and making you lose detail. If you like it better this way, go for it. I can't say it is an improvement, though.

Hi appiah4 😎 ,

OK I got what you are saying. 😀 OK. YES the SMAA effect algoritm is set on edge color detection .And not edge depth detection.SO 😀 i agree with you 😀 when you talk about the framebuffer. SO this SMAA effect ,is ,and i agree with you ,set to work with the framebuffer.

BUT the algoritm of this SMAA effect 😀 STILL have edge detection 😀 , BUT like you said , 😀 through the framebuffer 😀 . So it analyse the framebuffer , and according to its parameter , detect edges that is in the framebuffer before processing,:happy: .SO technicaly, i agree with you partially.

BUT VISUALY SPEAKING,this effect is good looking. 😀 .And it's NOT ,and i don't agree with that, a simple BLURRING.Because a simple BLUR just PROCESS every pixel of the framebuffer.THIS SMAA effect is set to blur the edge inside the framebuffer.And I got good results with this.And it almost do not affect the 2D assets.

FINALLY,you are not considering total annihiliation asset which are very noisy.So i tested the FXAA effect and set it for removing the noise that is omnipresent in this game. And I got a good result. The game look more polished in the battle,with on one side soften edges(through framebuffer) , and on the other side with much less noise.+cool light effect. 😎
That is the main issue with this game.Just check the fullscreens i provided here (open the images on a new tab to see at full size):

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greetings.

Reply 12 of 18, by David_OSU

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lambdatorus wrote:
appiah4 wrote:

That is not FXAA or SMAA, that is basically a blur shader across the whole framebuffer from what I can tell. The blur is helping you get around the sharpness issues with the edges, so that is the illusion of antialiasing there, but it's also blurring everything else as well and making you lose detail. If you like it better this way, go for it. I can't say it is an improvement, though.

BUT VISUALY SPEAKING,this effect is good looking. 😀 .And it's NOT ,and i don't agree with that, a simple BLURRING.Because a simple BLUR just PROCESS every pixel of the framebuffer.THIS SMAA effect is set to blur the edge inside the framebuffer.And I got good results with this.And it almost do not affect the 2D assets.

I agree with you, lambdatorus, the SMAA/FXAA processed images look better to me also. There's a bit of personal taste here, some like their pixels all sharp and pixelly, and some prefer a softer more natural image. You are correct in that SMAA and FXAA are both screen space anti-aliasing filters and work with any aliased image, whether it was rendered by a software renderer or D3D or OpenGL. The technique used by FXAA, in particular, is to detect and remove aliasing from ANY image.

Given the source material shown in your screenshots, I would suggest trying out an xBRz filter with Reshade. If this was a DOS game running under DOSbox, I would probably do 2xSAI scaling in DOSbox followed by an xBRz pixel shader. The 2xSAI will aggressively remove all the single pixel texture noise and aliasing and the xBRz scaler will then expand the image resolution without additional blur.

Reply 13 of 18, by gerwin

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David_OSU wrote:

You are correct in that SMAA and FXAA are both screen space anti-aliasing filters and work with any aliased image, whether it was rendered by a software renderer or D3D or OpenGL. The technique used by FXAA, in particular, is to detect and remove aliasing from ANY image.

I must admit I was not aware that FXAA is actually a 2D filter. But you pointed it out right there. I was thinking it was just another way of abbrevating Full Scene Anti-Aliasing, the classic one.

Wiki Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA) .... by smoothing jagged edges ("jaggies")[2] according to how they appear on screen as pixels, rather than analyzing the 3D model itself as in conventional anti-aliasing

Source FXAA, or Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing is an Anti-Aliasing technique that is performed entirely in post processing. FXAA operates on the rasterized image rather than the scene geometry.

Haven't found a similar simple statement on SMAA yet...

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Reply 14 of 18, by appiah4

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The issue here is that FXAA and SMAA algorithms detect aliasing based on geometry and color changes compared with neighbors. TA's noisy assets seem to be throwing the algorithm off here. Just look at the ground texture, the AA filter is turning it into a blurry mess. Yes, it obviously helps with edges but it also completely destroys texture quality. That is my stance on this..

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Reply 15 of 18, by David_OSU

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gerwin wrote:

Haven't found a similar simple statement on SMAA yet...

There's more than one type of SMAA filter implementation (here's a good reference: http://www.iryoku.com/smaa/downloads/SMAA-Enh … ntialiasing.pdf). When SMAA is implemented as a post-processing filter that can be used by Reshade, it only has access to the final rendered image, and is strictly a screen-space antialiasing filter (comparible to FXAA). Other implementations can be applied earlier in the rendering pipeline, but these, of course, can't be applied to a software renderer without modifying the original source code (and would be implemented by the CPU rather than a GPU shader).

It doesn't make sense to me to apply BOTH SMAA and FXAA post-processing filters, because the filtering applied by the first filter will prevent the second filter from detecting any jaggies to process. Just use one or the other, whichever looks best on this particular game.

Reply 16 of 18, by lambdatorus

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Today, i recently tried to add bloom effects to Total annihilation .It took me hours struggling with config file and game asset,but i did something good already. 😀

***************************UPDATED BLOOM EFFECT***************************

Recommended look this pic at fullscreen 😎

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I set the effect so it touch mostly weapon effect / green lathe / explosion.

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Note : that It still work IN PROGRESS,and may subject to change in the futur.

Last edited by lambdatorus on 2018-10-27, 09:59. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 17 of 18, by lambdatorus

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MORE INGAME PICTURE:

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