HL2 - Directx 8 water effects...
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ToastMan




Posts: 163
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Sun, 21st Nov 2004 19:29    Post subject: HL2 - Directx 8 water effects...
So I got this crappy GeForce 3 card, and its a directx 8 level card.
Now I know that the directx 9 level cards render very nice water reflections and all. I also know that directx 8 has the ability to show water reflections aswell, only not at the same high quality directx 9 can.
The thing is that the water I get are normal, clear water, with no type of reflection what so ever.
In morrowind I got some pretty neat reflection effects although I dont have a directx 9 card. I wonder if I can get the same in HL2...
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VyRuZRuLeZ




Posts: 192

PostPosted: Sun, 21st Nov 2004 21:07    Post subject:
try it , it won't byte Smile
i recommend u get directx 9.0c becuz it can pull out of yer card more ! if you can for morrowind , you can for all games who have this implemented .... but i think hl2's effect wil cost u more resources


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ToastMan




Posts: 163
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Sun, 21st Nov 2004 21:13    Post subject:
I have DirectX 9C. I just have a card that doesnt support all of its effects.
Anyways, it appears that the water actually do have DirectX 8 reflections. I dont know how I didnt see it that other time.
Its very nice, but not as nice as it should be.
I want a new card!!!
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Sublime




Posts: 8615

PostPosted: Sun, 21st Nov 2004 23:12    Post subject:
toast u sure ur gefore 3 isnt direct x7?
and the water doesnt reflect that much anyway, nor improve gameplay that much Smile.


Stealth88 and Lod|_Dod| wrote:
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ToastMan




Posts: 163
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Mon, 22nd Nov 2004 17:31    Post subject:
I'm pretty sure its DirectX 8.
The thing with DirectX 8 water, is that it doesnt provide real time reflection. It gives this fake reflection effect which does indeed look nice, but nothing like the real thing.
HalfLife have water effects similar to those of Morrowind. Its a shame that they didnt use the way Crytek made water for FarCry. FarCry's water had real time reflections even though I didnt have a DirectX 9 card.
It does improve gameplay for me. I find realistic water to give the game much more depth.
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Rzooq




Posts: 536
Location: "Mexico of Europe"
PostPosted: Mon, 22nd Nov 2004 17:55    Post subject:
As you cen see here:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2195&p=3
GF 3 - DirectX 8 with PS1.3 and VS1.1 Support

Here:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2281&p=2
And here:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2281&p=9
You cen see the IQ differences between different versions of dx.

Quote:

You can specify alternate rendering paths by using the following commandline switch: -dxlevel xx, where xx is 90 for DirectX 9, 81 for DirectX 8.1, 80 for DirectX 8.0 and 70 for DirectX 7.0. You can specify whatever DX level you'd like, but if your hardware doesn't support it you won't get any of the benefits of it.


But why not to check...


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ToastMan




Posts: 163
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Mon, 22nd Nov 2004 18:41    Post subject:
This is how water look with my card:
http://mercury.walagata.com/w/toastman/d1_canals_030004.jpg

I would appreciate it if someone with a DX9 card will post a screenshot in the same place. Just want to see what I'm missing Wink

Thanks for the info Rzooq. I'll check this tweak you posted, although I'm pretty sure it wont work.
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Rzooq




Posts: 536
Location: "Mexico of Europe"
PostPosted: Mon, 22nd Nov 2004 21:41    Post subject:
Quote:
http://mercury.walagata.com/w/toastman/d1_canals_030004.jpg


Link don't work for me...
But here some screens:








Last edited by Rzooq on Tue, 23rd Nov 2004 11:14; edited 1 time in total
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[sYn]
[Moderator] Elitist



Posts: 8374

PostPosted: Mon, 22nd Nov 2004 23:38    Post subject:
not bad at all!
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ToastMan




Posts: 163
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Thu, 25th Nov 2004 19:04    Post subject:
Oh man!!! This makes my water look like crap!!
Oh well...
Thanks anyways...
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Accelleron




Posts: 1926

PostPosted: Thu, 25th Nov 2004 22:34    Post subject:

This is taken from Tom's for your comparison


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Accelleron




Posts: 1926

PostPosted: Thu, 25th Nov 2004 22:49    Post subject:




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Accelleron




Posts: 1926

PostPosted: Thu, 25th Nov 2004 22:56    Post subject:
besides, feel lucky you're not this guy


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ToastMan




Posts: 163
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Fri, 26th Nov 2004 02:08    Post subject:
Accelleron, I'm not sure if I see clear because its quite dark, but according to that comparison image you provided, it seems that on the DX8 side there are real time reflections. Although not as clear and sharp as the DX9 one, but still. Or am I mistaken?
Could you please post the link of that article?
Thanks.
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Sublime




Posts: 8615

PostPosted: Fri, 26th Nov 2004 02:44    Post subject:
*** Voodoo 2 12MB and Voodoo 2 12MB SLI :OOOO
why feel sorry? he doenst habe to get the flashlight out every 2 seconds Smile. and as u can see from toms hardware, the effects arent that different enclosed, and when u have long stretches you r usually in transport neway.


Stealth88 and Lod|_Dod| wrote:
"And the winner is.... Sublime!" That fucking kid is always right. Sublime FTW!

http://artpad.art.com/?irqy7s4162w <3 you too
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ToastMan




Posts: 163
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Fri, 26th Nov 2004 12:02    Post subject:
Sublime wrote:
and as u can see from toms hardware, the effects arent that different enclosed


I can see that actually, and thats what I dont understand.
I have a DX8 card, but I dont get that kind of reflection.
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ToastMan




Posts: 163
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Fri, 26th Nov 2004 12:46    Post subject:
Rzooq wrote:

Quote:

You can specify alternate rendering paths by using the following commandline switch: -dxlevel xx, where xx is 90 for DirectX 9, 81 for DirectX 8.1, 80 for DirectX 8.0 and 70 for DirectX 7.0. You can specify whatever DX level you'd like, but if your hardware doesn't support it you won't get any of the benefits of it.


But why not to check...


I tried that and it didnt work obviously.
But now, Each time I run HL2, it runs it in DX7 mode!! And now the textures are stuck on LOW, and the water have no reflection effects what so ever. Trying to change the textures to High (Or anything else for that matter) reverts it back to LOW.
Putting the command line "-dxlevel 80" makes it DX8 mode again. But when I try to pump the textures to high, it reverts to DX7 mode again!!
Whats wrong??
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Rzooq




Posts: 536
Location: "Mexico of Europe"
PostPosted: Fri, 26th Nov 2004 15:15    Post subject:
I dunno...
Try to delete config.cfg from X:\<Your HL2 dir>\hl2\cfg
Then the game should load defaults settings.
I don't know if it would help...


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ToastMan




Posts: 163
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Fri, 26th Nov 2004 15:35    Post subject:
Tried it. No go.

Nevermind. I'm waiting for a decent release to appear.
This one is too limiting.
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ToastMan




Posts: 163
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Sat, 27th Nov 2004 10:59    Post subject:
Hmmm... an interesting thing.
I just played Bloodlines which also uses the source engine. So I went down to the sewers and obviously there are water there. The weird thing is that the water did have real time reflections.
I really dont understand this....
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