Graphics on terran ships (X3 TC)

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Prometeus
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Graphics on terran ships (X3 TC)

Post by Prometeus » Wed, 17. Jul 13, 19:58

I'm a player of X3 Reunion, and recently I've bought X3 TC in Steam. Today, after playing a little bit, I've realized that some of the graphics on terran ships are very simple. This doesn't happen with old models like Argon ships, stations... or at least, it's not so noticeable.

I'm not sure if it's because the old models usually have metallic textures and the terran are ceramic or something, but the initial terran ship you have (a M4) it's really ugly. Not because it doesn't have details and all that, but it looks as if you were looking at it without shadders, anisotropic or something. It doesn't look real, like if it was the test version of a ship. Other ships, however, specially if they are bigger, or the stations, have a more reallistic look.

And yeah, I know X3 Reunion and Terran Conflict are using the same graphic engine. It's like if the terran stuff were less polished.


Do you know if I can play with the settings so I can improve it?

Currently, my settings are

AA: 4x
Anisotropic filtering: 8x

Post processing: Enabled

Texture Quality: High
Shader quality: High

Dynamic lights: Enabled
Color variation: Enabled
Automatic Quality: Disabled
"The plague of AGI was being released on the universe once more. Again perhaps with the best of intentions and again however, with the deadliest of results."

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Post by Alan Phipps » Wed, 17. Jul 13, 22:16

Please post some linked screenshots. I think I know what you mean but I want to make sure. Also we may need your system specs as a DxDiag.
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Post by Prometeus » Wed, 17. Jul 13, 23:12

I've taken some screens. These are more or less the most significant, though I've seen something new about argon ships now that I'm comparing pictures, they are more metallic than the last time I've tested it (before, in Omycron Lyrae, now in Argon Prime)

Terran

The surfaces are too smooth
http://oi42.tinypic.com/2mn0g11.jpg

Again, the ship is too "perfect"
http://oi40.tinypic.com/2po9jqf.jpg

However, the stations are well designed, not all of them at the same level, but in general, better than small terran ships
http://oi43.tinypic.com/2ef47xx.jpg

Argon

This is when I have got a surprise about argon ships. Last time I have checked they didn't look so "metallic"
http://oi41.tinypic.com/23rv5ds.jpg

Another argon ship
http://oi40.tinypic.com/zn095e.jpg


A decent-looking argon station
http://oi42.tinypic.com/raq96o.jpg

Same station, but now it's a bit weird, the surface is quite smooth
http://oi42.tinypic.com/167tjqb.jpg


After reviewing the screenshots, I think the main problems are: 1) shadows, 2) Details

When the objects have shadows in the right places, the gradient of the shadows is right, and they have lots of details, then those objects look much better


PS Sorry, I forgot the dxdiag. Here it is

http://www.mediafire.com/view/b76q010x3 ... DxDiag.txt
"The plague of AGI was being released on the universe once more. Again perhaps with the best of intentions and again however, with the deadliest of results."

X3 Terran Conflict's Intro

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Post by Alan Phipps » Thu, 18. Jul 13, 10:09

Yes I can see what you mean and I think it may be a pretty general thing with Terran assets as I get something similar in addition to shadows and detail popping in and out erratically depending upon both range and angle of view to target. You may have to live with it. Terran assets are also notorious for display z-buffer fighting causing detail to flicker and shimmer.

That said, given your 64 bit OS, see if some more fitted RAM (perhaps another 2 or 4 GB) allows you to use the high textures better. The 32 bit game exe will usefully employ up to about 3.4 GB of memory just for itself, and the graphics card likes plenty of shared memory. The extra RAM will be useful in many applications and games.

From the DxDiag, there are a few other issues you can tweak, mainly for in-game fps I would think:

1. Replace that old generic Microsoft sound driver with the latest RealTek Win7 x64 HD Audio Codec driver (currently 2.71) from the RealTek update site. You have a RealTek onboard sound chipset.

2. Disable use of Ffdshow with the X3 game exes as per the Sticky above on this forum if you have not done so.

3. Get rid of Haali codecs by uninstalling whatever codec pack (k-lite, CCCP, etc) or give-away media player application installed them.

4. See if you need all those Xiph.Org codecs while you are at it.

Good luck.
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Post by Prometeus » Thu, 18. Jul 13, 23:16

Thanks for the advices, they are most useful.

About the RAM thing, do you think 4 more GB are going to make a difference overall? I mean, other games and all that. I've heard that 4 Gb are more or less the recommended specifications in many games.

And well, I don't know almost anything about sounds settings. I'm not having many problems with them. But I would want to know more about those xiph.org codecs, because neither I know when they were installed in my computer, or what program uses them.
"The plague of AGI was being released on the universe once more. Again perhaps with the best of intentions and again however, with the deadliest of results."

X3 Terran Conflict's Intro

Alan Phipps
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Post by Alan Phipps » Fri, 19. Jul 13, 13:04

On the sound, you have a RealTek sound chipset on your motherboard. It makes sense to use a 2013 RealTek sound driver designed for that chipset and the current builds of OSs, rather than use an old and generic driver that MicroSoft Update/auto-install uses because it is not even checking what actual hardware devices are fitted.

Yes 2-4 GB more RAM will help this and many other games and applications (with that 64 bit OS) by allowing swift exchange of large texture and data blocks from RAM rather than slow harddrive access pagefile. It may improve fps and reduce in-game stutters and pauses.

Get rid of any extra codec packs and give-away media player applications that you do not use and that usually solves most unwanted codec problems.
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