Disable reflections?

[Alien147]

Hello all,

For my sins I am playing SH3 GWX on a laptop with built in Intel HD graphics. I am coming up against the issue of incorrectly drawn reflections that seems to plague Intel onboard graphics. (This is discussed in an old thread which if I was clever enough I would link to here) It's quite distracting but oddly enough I don't have the same issue with SH4 which runs pretty well.

Anyhoo, I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to disable the reflections? Is there some simple code bashing I could do to the effect of 'reflections = no'!?

All helpful response appreciated.

[Anvart]

Hi, Alien147.
Screenshots (with problem) are welcome...

[Alien147]

As requested (I should have posted some in the first place...)

What the pictures don't show is that this tends to change as you rotate the camera and the wierd shifting and changing is whats distracting.
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s457/Alman3000/SH3sunreflection.jpg


In this image you can see the uboat has stretched across the screen...http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s457/Alman3000/SH3underwaterreflection.jpg

The reflected colour of the smoke here has gone from horizon to horizon!
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s457/Alman3000/SH3smokeandsunref.jpg

I don't expect theres a fix for this but if there were some way to disable reflections it might be a little bit less distracting.

Thanks for the quick reply by the way!

Also some system specs...

SH3 1.4b & GWX Gold
W7 Professional
HP Probook 6550b
4Gb RAM
Intel Core i3 CPU
Intel HD Graphics
Direct X 10.1

[U570]

The only thing that looks sorta iffy to me is DirectX 10 :hmmm:

[Anvart]

SH3 program runs on DirectX 9!!!
I've never tried SH3 in DirectX 10.1.
In the pictures i see incorrect reflection of the textures of SkyColors_***.dat, scene.dat files, as well as textures of all the other objects.
Disabling the reflection of celestial objects - this is a wrong decision.
Disabling the reflection of other objects - is irrational and therefore the wrong decision - a lot of work and incompatibility almost with all the mods.
...
:hmmm:
Cleanse the folder ..\My Documents\SH3\data\cfg and then try to play with the video settings (textures resolution, particles, etc.).

[Graf Paper]

You may be able to correct this problem by adjusting the Level Of Detail settings to higher or lower values. Look in your Cfg folder for a file named Effects.cfg and open it with Notepad or any plain-text editor. The LOD settings under the [glare] section would be the first with which to experiment.

Also, make sure your video card/chip settings are correct. Maxing things out or set too high can cause problems. Anti-aliasing is best at 4x and anisotropic filtering should be no more than 8x.

If nothing else works, you can try copying the d3d9.dll and d3d9d.dll files into your SH3 game's main folder. This should force SH3 to use DirectX 9 instead of the DX10 system files.

[Alien147]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll give them a try and let you know how I get on. :up:

[Alien147]

Just out of curiosity, I opened the scene.dat file in VIM and it looked like this:
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s457/Alman3000/VimscreenSH3cfg.jpg

Don't know if it's just me but that looks like mumbo jumbo and I wouldn't know where to start if I was going to try and tweek the reflections or something!?

Also, I tried changing Glare LoD settings in the cfg file but that had no obvious effect at all. My sum total programming experience with games comes from creating ships for the space trading game Oolite. I recall having to hold down the shift key on loading the game for it to call up any changes I had made to the various cfg or model files. I think that cleared a cache and loaded the new files. Should I be doing that with SH3 if I tweek a config file? Anvart, you said cleanse the folder...is that what you mean? Clear the cfg cache (?) and if so how do I do that?

By the way, Direct X10.1 is listed in the Intel HD graphic and media control panel Direct X version. I have updated Direct X with various game installations so I had previously had Direct X 9. I've no idea wether SH3 is using 10 or 9? I just assumed it would use the correct version.
Once again, thanks for the help.

[Anvart]

Just out of curiosity, I opened the scene.dat file in VIM ...
:hmmm:
To open a script files as a *.dat, *.sim, etc. you must use S3D program - author Skwasjer.
Link:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=119571&highlight=Silent+3ditor (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=119571&highlight=Silent+3ditor)
... Anvart, you said cleanse the folder...is that what you mean? Clear the cfg cache (?) and if so how do I do that?
...
Yes.
At first run sh3_detection.exe in ..\SilentHunterIII\Support\DetectionTool\SH3Detect ionTool EN\ folder.
If all are OK.
Second, delete files&folders from folder ..\My Documents\SH3\data\cfg (as cache with cfg and saved game)... then manually change Main.cfg in ..\SilentHunterIII\data\Cfg.
And only then run SH3.
... or try older driver for video card.
... or create virtual machine with other OS, DirectX 9, cfg of options and SH3 game.
... or ???

[Alien147]

Thanks Anvart, I guess I'll have a play around with it. I'm glad it's not supposed to look like that (the .dat file) otherwise I doubt I'd ever comprehend a programming language!

If I have any luck I'll let you know.

I suppose the ultimate fix would be a laptop with a decent graphics card! I've always got SH4 if I can't get past it but I just haven't managed immerse myself in it quite as much as SH3 GWX. Still... at least I have the option!

[LGN1]

Maybe this helps:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=195421

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=157068

Cheers, LGN1

[Alien147]

Thanks LGN1! I can't access them right now but I'll do it at first opportunity and report back. :up:

[Anvart]

i hope you use modern drivers, firmware etc.
... adjusting the video driver.
For 32-bit Win7:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=4173776&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=4173845&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=4053#11360
... reflection off does not solve the problem.
...

[Alien147]

I tried the Intel graphics fix mod and it sort of works...

It's good for general work from the conning tower or external views of the sub but the poor sun reflection is still there and it seems to have no effect on smoke or fire reflections. If your buzzing your target with the free cam to watch the destruction you've unleashed there are still lots of wierd reflections!

Ho hum... I think the best fix for the Intel onboard graphics chipset problem might be buying a laptop with a proper graphics card!

Thanks for the tips though guys. :up:

(also...since I've posted this thread I realise I hadn't been using the forum search function properly. I'm sure I'm not the first and probably won't be the last! Apologies for starting a thread without having a proper look.)

[Harald_Lange]

I tried the Intel graphics fix mod and it sort of works...

It's good for general work from the conning tower or external views of the sub but the poor sun reflection is still there and it seems to have no effect on smoke or fire reflections. If your buzzing your target with the free cam to watch the destruction you've unleashed there are still lots of wierd reflections!

Ho hum... I think the best fix for the Intel onboard graphics chipset problem might be buying a laptop with a proper graphics card!

Thanks for the tips though guys. :up:

(also...since I've posted this thread I realise I hadn't been using the forum search function properly. I'm sure I'm not the first and probably won't be the last! Apologies for starting a thread without having a proper look.)

Does that mean you've found a better fix? I ask as I'm having the same problems and maybe we could help each other out. I'm using a Dell laptop with GMA4500 inbuilt graphics and I get those exact same reflection errors.

[Alien147]

Hello Harald,

No I didn't find a better fix unfortunately, but the Intel GFX fix mod is better than none I think. Reflections around the uboat are certainly a lot less busy and distracting.

Check it out and see what you think. I've no idea if there are any adverse side effects from the mod but I haven't encountered any!