Progress report (no preview build yet)
Added 2020-07-22 23:50:12 +0000 UTCSorry for the lack of preview build, I was stuck in the last few days making a (initially intended to be) small detour. Not sure if you noticed, but to get rain to work, I had to add quite a few new shader sets, and possibly a few more would need to be added later.
(This way, if there is no rain, AC would use shaders that don’t even mention it, so whatever performance hit rain could add because of additional shader complexity wouldn’t happen.)
And, well, there was this very old idea (more like hope, really) to get dynamic shadows at some point. Those would need their own shader sets, so they could remain optional and not affect FPS if disabled. A few days ago I had an idea on how they could work and thought, maybe it would be a good thing to add them sooner and then design the rest around them instead of making the whole thing incompatible with that idea. And, truth be told, it took longer than I anticipated, since I ran into a few problems.
But they work now! 15 1024×1024 shadow maps, plus extra 16 256×256 shadow maps for something less important. They are quite slow, taking about 1.8 ms on my new 2080 card on highest settings in this scene. But those settings could be tuned down, resolution can be halved without losing too much in quality, maybe not all of those big track lights would need dynamic shadow maps and so on. And, have to say, they work faster than I expected.
Had to use exponential shadow maps instead of regular ones, because a lot of track spot lights are too close to 180°, so regular PCF shadows looked very, very pixelated. Exponential shadow maps have their own issues (like a tradeoff between pretty limited range vs light leaking), but here range is limited, so I think they should work all right. Here are shadows in detail, notice how quality drops with wider spot angle.
There is some other progress too — I reworked wipers animation (now with a proper intermittent mode and options for car configs to redefine wiper modes), optimized regular AC shadows a bit and a few other things. I tried to get a preview build working today, but unfortunately ran into some new issues with those dynamic shadows I had to fix, very sorry about that (not that it’s perfect now, it still behaves weirdly in replays with too many lights visible at once, but I think that is mainly the question of fine tuning that could be done later). Hopefully I’ll get something ready tomorrow. And also, I’d want to work on some public update now, without the rain yet, but with other new features that are ready by now.
Thank you so much for your support! I’ll get back to work on rain tomorrow, now not worrying anymore if it would be compatible with dynamic shadows or not.
Comments
How do I get the latest version of content manager? , I saw a couple posts that appears to be a new version but the one I have is this: 0.8.2297.38573 (x86)
Robert Kriger
2021-06-30 02:03:33 +0000 UTCThank you, I’m very glad you like it!
Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab
2020-08-22 23:14:16 +0000 UTCIlja - this is absolutely awesome.!drove last night on brands and had a partial damp partial dry track in an Elise and the grip/slip Feeling was phenomenal - looking forward to your dev and having changing conditions as a race progresses - you are the wizard of Assetto. Fantastic - thank you 🙏
Paul Clark
2020-08-16 03:11:26 +0000 UTCYou would only have to not exceed the pit speed limit, if so you would get a penalty. I believe other games trigger a penalty based on speed alone, the pit limiter just helps in not exceeding the speed limit. An penalty would likely result in a stop & go thing.
Morten Eriksen
2020-07-27 05:08:59 +0000 UTCСпасибо! Прошу прощения за задержку :)
Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab
2020-07-27 02:34:52 +0000 UTCActually, maybe yes! Now when there are those CSP-only servers and per-car tweaks, it might be a possible thing to add. Will work on that. But I would need more info on the whole concept though. There is no need to actually turn on pit limiter, right? Just not to exceed a speed limit? And pit limiter helps with that. Like, what should trigger a penalty, going too fast or not having it turned out? 🤔
Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab
2020-07-27 02:34:24 +0000 UTCSorry, what do you mean? I was thinking about switching to something like tile-based lighting, system used in CSP is somewhat unconventional (https://worldoffries.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/simple-alternative-to-clustered-shading-for-thousands-of-lights/), but it offers a few very neat advantages like working in mirrors or reflections pretty seamlessly
Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab
2020-07-27 02:32:06 +0000 UTCИлья, ты СУПЕР, продолжай в том же духе, + динамические тени!!!
2020-07-26 14:32:09 +0000 UTCИлья, нашёл нестыковку, нужно RSR и иже с ними было отключить!
2020-07-26 14:29:57 +0000 UTCЗдравствуй Илья. У меня отсутствует debug rain, куда копать???
2020-07-26 14:10:50 +0000 UTCThanks ;-) I'll check it out right away!
2020-07-26 13:56:25 +0000 UTCGo in weather fx and click debug rain
snewpy3434
2020-07-26 07:51:58 +0000 UTCI installed the rain preview build though the MODS folder both fresh (CSP uninstalled first) as well as over the current public CSP. I cannot make it rain :-( What am I missing?
2020-07-26 03:34:01 +0000 UTCQuick thought, would it through CSP be possible to have manually control in the pit lane in regards to a pit limiter?
Morten Eriksen
2020-07-25 20:44:44 +0000 UTCMan, your work is AMAZING, i've started to "play" AC since early stage (when you had only lotus elise and Magione) and since you worked on Custom Shader Patch as well as Content Manager, every new patch version give me smile, because the game is becoming more and more realistic. The new rain shader is astonishing, and your work on shadows is stunning. You're a wizard, keep going on !
2020-07-24 09:01:02 +0000 UTCthis is the future. Really this one beautiful.
2020-07-24 06:19:53 +0000 UTCStunning work! Art takes time! We can be patient. You're doing amazing work for us all!
2020-07-23 13:13:52 +0000 UTCAmazing work, it’s incredible how far you have brought AC already! Thanks for all the hard work
Morten Eriksen
2020-07-23 05:14:09 +0000 UTCWOW! I literally thought about dynamic shadows yesterday, and wondered if it would be possibile one day, and now you're posting this? Incredible!
Ztirom Winter
2020-07-23 05:06:56 +0000 UTCFantastic work, Ilja! Keep going!
2020-07-23 04:09:58 +0000 UTCx4 please can you say something on new lighting system after this patch is done? I think thats a great deal for AC, current lighting is honestly lacking a lot
2020-07-23 03:19:35 +0000 UTCDon't stress that much about preview builds! They are not fun if they don't work o/ I would choose quality over rush anytime! (Anyone agrees?) Amazing work o/
Bruno Ventura
2020-07-23 03:02:17 +0000 UTCUnbelievable!!! My jaw hurts from falling on the floor!
Ian Moore
2020-07-23 01:41:33 +0000 UTCAmazing as always.
2020-07-23 00:32:43 +0000 UTCWaited this long for something deemed "impossible" to do... no complaints here 😆👍 Love your work!
2020-07-23 00:11:25 +0000 UTC256x256 are the numbers 💪lovely work on those shadow maps. 🙏
Techno Racer X
2020-07-23 00:10:08 +0000 UTCLooks excellent! Thank you for all your work on CSP for AC.
Izzie
2020-07-22 23:54:54 +0000 UTC
