I haven't been checking my blog since 12th of September, which makes two months. The lecturers in the college have been bombarding us with essays, response papers and books so heavily that I couldn't find time to post a dedicated entry in my blog. I didn't want to write something perfunctory so I just bided my time. I'm still not over with my courses but thankfully we have entered the exam period, which lessens the load of course-work dramatically. And there is a one-week holiday coming on at the end of this month. About damn time, or else I'd go berserk on my essay books and novels. Anyway.
I'm sorry I won't be able to post anything about Morrowind. I tried to install it on my new computer but it died on me after just two weeks (the computer). So I couldn't make any important progress on the way to 'The Ultimate Morrowind Setting for Awesome Graphics." (Oh, I liked this. I'll call this UMSAG from now on). However, I was very happy to see that both of Phal's shaders (Sunshaft and Improved Waters) were updated. The Improved Water Shader now includes distorted underwater vision and waves. Yes, we now have friggin' waves in Morrowind.
The new version of MGE (svn118) also got some important bug fixes, which make almost all fixes designed for it obsolete. It now also includes Knu's shaders (SSAO and Depth of Field) as default.
I've been checking Morrowind forums lately and there are some wonderful retextures released by Vurt, for tress and MGE's animated grass. The grass retexture is simply awesome and it comes with two alternatives; one colorful, one dark. What is even better, you can use a particular retexture for a particular area with some little tweaking. Vurt also posted his .ini and shader settings (I had tried the previous version of it before the computer got boomed but the sky was acting weirdly during the day [the blue of the sky was replaced with black]. I hope the new version solves it). I am yet to try it, as I'm so loaded with essays and novels now. But most of the comments, and screenshots, suggest that it is awesome. If I ever get it to work and like the result, I'll surely post my process of applying it, and any tweaks I made - if I'll do any.
As I have limited time to spend with computer, I've been playing other games than Morrowind since I reformatted my computer after the crash. For the last week, I played nothing but Grand Theft Auto 4 and Empire-Total War. I'm extremely enjoying both of it. I can't understand what people found in these games that made them critize them so harshly. Yes, GTA 4 is not as deep as San Andreas but it is still enjoyable. The same goes with Empire too, it is too complicated in the beginning but once you get used to it, it becomes one of the best strategy games you've very played (Yet I have to make some criticism: The unit acknowledgements are so perfunctory and out of place. A Janissary saying "Yes milord?" with a confused tone- pure failure)
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I’m around here and have not forgotten about my blog. I hope to write again soon.
15 Kasım 2009 Pazar
12 Eylül 2009 Cumartesi
Goodbye, Marmaris! I won't miss you.
Today, I've made some hardware changes in my computer. I changed my graphics card and PSU, as I'll move them to Izmir. That means I'm unable to play anything until I go to Izmir (on Monday, 14th of September). What is worse, my computer there is not in one piece. My monitor is at my cousin's home, I don't have an internet connection, and I need to replace the current GPU with the one I deplugged today. In short, I'll be offline for most of the next week.
Anyway, I was going to say that I changed my mind about the shader list I posted on Wednesday (9th September). As I said there, the brightness was too much, but I balanced it with ENB, which unfortunately, but also naturally, gave a FPS loss. I also deactivated DX9 HLSL HDR 2. The sparkles it creates on water are simply wonderful but it also makes small light sources (like candles) sparkle when viewed from afar. It is tolerable but sparkling leaves? Meh. (Almost all bloom shaders make it too bright when you look into the sea inside a forest. HDR not only duplicates this problem, but also applies sparkles over the edges of leaves, which seem rather immersion-breaking).
I've been talking with vtastek through Bethesda's official forums this week. He helped me a lot about shaders and explained a lot of things of which I had had no idea (some technical stuff about MGE in general). He sent me his set of shaders and his morrowind.ini. I compared them with my sunshaft + Gimp 1.3 + SSAOish combination and created a new list of shaders:
Knu's SSAO (I don't have any download link for this shader but I can send it to anyone willing)
Phal's Sun Shaft Rays (I provided a download link for this shader earlier)
Gimp HDRBloom v.1.3 (I am using vtastek's version, which he edited for himself. As per request, I can't share it)
ENB
Although not perfect, this combination creates a soft bloom whithout brightening up the sky as if a nuke just went off. However, I'm still experimenting with these, so I can't still post a definite list of shaders for recommendation. By the way, my effects.txt for ENB and my morrowind.ini are personally edited.
I was talking about lighting in the previous post. Unfortunately, I was so concentrated on these shaders that I couldn't complete my comparison between TLM'ed Morrowind/Vanilla Morrowind/TLM Modular'd Morrowind. So, it may take up to few weeks before I post a detailed result about the comparison and the final setting I'll settle on.
Anyway, I was going to say that I changed my mind about the shader list I posted on Wednesday (9th September). As I said there, the brightness was too much, but I balanced it with ENB, which unfortunately, but also naturally, gave a FPS loss. I also deactivated DX9 HLSL HDR 2. The sparkles it creates on water are simply wonderful but it also makes small light sources (like candles) sparkle when viewed from afar. It is tolerable but sparkling leaves? Meh. (Almost all bloom shaders make it too bright when you look into the sea inside a forest. HDR not only duplicates this problem, but also applies sparkles over the edges of leaves, which seem rather immersion-breaking).
I've been talking with vtastek through Bethesda's official forums this week. He helped me a lot about shaders and explained a lot of things of which I had had no idea (some technical stuff about MGE in general). He sent me his set of shaders and his morrowind.ini. I compared them with my sunshaft + Gimp 1.3 + SSAOish combination and created a new list of shaders:
Knu's SSAO (I don't have any download link for this shader but I can send it to anyone willing)
Phal's Sun Shaft Rays (I provided a download link for this shader earlier)
Gimp HDRBloom v.1.3 (I am using vtastek's version, which he edited for himself. As per request, I can't share it)
ENB
Although not perfect, this combination creates a soft bloom whithout brightening up the sky as if a nuke just went off. However, I'm still experimenting with these, so I can't still post a definite list of shaders for recommendation. By the way, my effects.txt for ENB and my morrowind.ini are personally edited.
I was talking about lighting in the previous post. Unfortunately, I was so concentrated on these shaders that I couldn't complete my comparison between TLM'ed Morrowind/Vanilla Morrowind/TLM Modular'd Morrowind. So, it may take up to few weeks before I post a detailed result about the comparison and the final setting I'll settle on.
9 Eylül 2009 Çarşamba
MGE
I was trying new shader yesterday night, and I think I've found the perfect combination this time, which is (in exact order)
sunshafet_v001a (Phal's Sun Shaft Rays)
GIMP_HDRBloom_v1_3 (It's a shader of Polik groNak, but I don't remember where I got it. I can send it to anyone willing to have it)
SSAOish v2 (by peachykeen)
DX9 HLSL HDR 2 (It's a default shader of MGE)
Still, I need to tweak the overall brightness. I don't know whether it is a specific shader or a combined effect, but the screen sometimes gets too bright. I'll make a new post if I get the perfect result. But even as it is, the overall effect is simply awesome.
By the way, I'm also using three modules from TLM (The Lighting Mod), which affects, obviously, the lighting system. My lighting is also set to quadratic. Combined with these shaders, these modules make every light source, especially torches, a joy to behold. I'll make a new post about the lighting to better explain my setting.
sunshafet_v001a (Phal's Sun Shaft Rays)
GIMP_HDRBloom_v1_3 (It's a shader of Polik groNak, but I don't remember where I got it. I can send it to anyone willing to have it)
SSAOish v2 (by peachykeen)
DX9 HLSL HDR 2 (It's a default shader of MGE)
Still, I need to tweak the overall brightness. I don't know whether it is a specific shader or a combined effect, but the screen sometimes gets too bright. I'll make a new post if I get the perfect result. But even as it is, the overall effect is simply awesome.
By the way, I'm also using three modules from TLM (The Lighting Mod), which affects, obviously, the lighting system. My lighting is also set to quadratic. Combined with these shaders, these modules make every light source, especially torches, a joy to behold. I'll make a new post about the lighting to better explain my setting.
8 Eylül 2009 Salı
Balmora BloodFest
I got uber bored today, and I went on a killing spree in Balmora. I am using "Starfire's NPC Additions" and "Morrowind Inhabitants," which provide an endless supply of victims...erm, NPCs. When I was fed up with the bloodbath, I had a bounty of 92000 golds on my head. I took a screenshot but it was messed up, I don't know why. Half of the picture was dark green, and the other half was super low-res.
6 Eylül 2009 Pazar
trueBloom g6
Just a quick warning. Don't use the latest beta version of "trueBloom g6" shader by peachykeen together with ENB. You get something like this at night:
Bulb Head
I am also using TLM - Complete, maybe that's why that dude was literally enlightening.
Bulb Head
I am also using TLM - Complete, maybe that's why that dude was literally enlightening.
5 Eylül 2009 Cumartesi
Phal's Sun Shaft Rays
Today, I've tried out Phal's new shader - Sun Shaft Rays - which adds a beautiful sunglare. It makes Morrowind's own sunglare obsolete. This is what Phal says:
Personally, I think this shader makes MW's sunglare obsolete, so I have included a completely transparent sunglare texture in the zip file to get rid of it. It will still work if you keep the sunglare, though it may look too bright and kinda strange when MW's sunglare keeps popping in.
This shader should be placed before bloom in the active shader list, to make bloom work on the sun rays. I have included some tweakable values at the top of the shader file, so you can adjust the shader parameters to your likings. I've also tried to describe what each parameter does. I have found that the strength of the bloom shader you use has a great effect on sunray brightness, so you may need to adjust the 'raystrength' variable to prevent overblooming.
I have added a beautiful screenshot to my Morrowind album using this wonderful shader. I also posted some screenshots on the Bethesda forum. You can view my post and Phal's reply to it from this link:
Link
(By the way, my username in official Bethesda forums is "Judassem")
The only problem of this shader, as Phal admits, it the sun's being too whitish at dusk; namely between 7-8 P.M. Other than that, I found it flawless :)
Personally, I think this shader makes MW's sunglare obsolete, so I have included a completely transparent sunglare texture in the zip file to get rid of it. It will still work if you keep the sunglare, though it may look too bright and kinda strange when MW's sunglare keeps popping in.
This shader should be placed before bloom in the active shader list, to make bloom work on the sun rays. I have included some tweakable values at the top of the shader file, so you can adjust the shader parameters to your likings. I've also tried to describe what each parameter does. I have found that the strength of the bloom shader you use has a great effect on sunray brightness, so you may need to adjust the 'raystrength' variable to prevent overblooming.
I have added a beautiful screenshot to my Morrowind album using this wonderful shader. I also posted some screenshots on the Bethesda forum. You can view my post and Phal's reply to it from this link:
Link
(By the way, my username in official Bethesda forums is "Judassem")
The only problem of this shader, as Phal admits, it the sun's being too whitish at dusk; namely between 7-8 P.M. Other than that, I found it flawless :)
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