Sweet fx

[Beardyman 604]

Where to find some good settings for FSX ?

To be honest i do not know how to set it correctly.

Can somebody share own settings ?

[mbucholski 9]

For version 1.4.

   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.   
  /                       Description                           /
  '------------------------------------------------------------/

Game: Any
SweetFX version: 1.4
Author: CeeJay.dk
Description:

These are the default settings for SweetFX 1.4
They smoothen jagged edges with SMAA anti-aliasing, sharpen the image with LumaSharpen and make the colors slightly more vibrant with Vibrance.

Please note when tweaking settings that higher numbers does not always equal better (nor does lower).
Finding the best settings for your game and your taste is about finding just the right amount to apply.

If you made a good setttings preset please share it with your friends, on forums and websites,
and/or submit it to the SweetFX Settings Database : http://sfx.thelazy.net/games/

   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                      Choose effects                         /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/

// Set to 1 for ON or 0 for OFF
#define USE_SMAA_ANTIALIASING 1 // [0 or 1] SMAA Anti-aliasing : Smoothens jagged lines using the SMAA technique.
#define USE_FXAA_ANTIALIASING 0 // [0 or 1] FXAA Anti-aliasing : Smoothens jagged lines using the FXAA technique. WIP - Currently only works in DX9 and you need to use the FXAA injector dlls.
#define USE_CARTOON 0 // [0 or 1] Cartoon : "Toon"s the image. (Interferes with SMAA, CRT, Bloom, HDR and Lumasharpen)
#define USE_ADVANCED_CRT 0 // [0 or 1] Advanced CRT : Simulates an old CRT TV display. (Interferes with SMAA, Cartoon, Bloom, HDR and Lumasharpen, and it has a very high performance cost)
#define USE_BLOOM 1 // [0 or 1] Bloom : Makes bright lights bleed their light into their surroundings (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_HDR 0 // [0 or 1] HDR : Not actual HDR - It just tries to mimic an HDR look (relatively high performance cost)
#define USE_LUMASHARPEN 1 // [0 or 1] LumaSharpen : Also sharpens the antialiased edges which makes them less smooth - I'm working on fixing that.
#define USE_TECHNICOLOR 0 // [0 or 1] TECHNICOLOR : Attempts to mimic the look of an old movie using the Technicolor three-strip color process (Techicolor Process 4)
#define USE_DPX 0 // [0 or 1] Cineon DPX : Should make the image look like it's been converted to DXP Cineon - basically it's another movie-like look similar to technicolor.
#define USE_MONOCHROME 0 // [0 or 1] Monochrome : Monochrome makes the colors disappear.
#define USE_LIFTGAMMAGAIN 0 // [0 or 1] Lift Gamma Gain : Adjust brightness and color of shadows, midtones and highlights (avoids clipping)
#define USE_TONEMAP 0 // [0 or 1] Tonemap : Adjust gamma, exposure, saturation, bleach and defog. (may cause clipping)
#define USE_VIBRANCE 1 // [0 or 1] Vibrance : Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation.
#define USE_CURVES 1 // [0 or 1] Curves : Contrast adjustments using S-curves.
#define USE_SEPIA 0 // [0 or 1] Sepia : Sepia tones the image.
#define USE_VIGNETTE 0 // [0 or 1] Vignette : Darkens the edges of the image to make it look more like it was shot with a camera lens. May cause banding artifacts.
#define USE_DITHER 1 // [0 or 1] Dither : Applies dithering to simulate more colors than your monitor can display. This lessens banding artifacts (mostly caused by Vignette)
#define USE_BORDER 0 // [0 or 1] Border : Makes the screenedge black as a workaround for the bright edge that forcing some AA modes sometimes causes.
#define USE_SPLITSCREEN 0 // [0 or 1] Splitscreen : Enables the before-and-after splitscreen comparison mode.


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                  SMAA Anti-aliasing settings                /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/

#define SMAA_THRESHOLD 0.12 // [0.05 to 0.20] Edge detection threshold. If SMAA misses some edges try lowering this slightly. I prefer between 0.08 and 0.12.
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS 16 // [0 to 98] Determines the radius SMAA will search for aliased edges
#define SMAA_MAX_SEARCH_STEPS_DIAG 6 // [0 to 16] Determines the radius SMAA will search for diagonal aliased edges
#define SMAA_CORNER_ROUNDING 0 // [0 to 100] Determines the percent of antialiasing to apply to corners. 0 seems to affect fine text the least so it's the default.

// -- Advanced SMAA settings --
#define COLOR_EDGE_DETECTION 1 // [0 or 1] 1 Enables color edge detection (slower but slightly more acurate) - 0 uses luma edge detection (faster)
#define SMAA_DIRECTX9_LINEAR_BLEND 0 // [0 or 1] Using DX9 HARDWARE? (software version doesn't matter) if so this needs to be 1 - If not, leave it at 0.
                                      //Enable this only if you use a Geforce 7xxx series or older card, or a Radeon X1xxx series or older card.

   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                  FXAA Anti-aliasing settings                /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define FXAA_QUALITY__PRESET 9 // [1 to 9] Choose the quality preset. 9 is the highest quality.
#define fxaa_Subpix 0.400 // [0.000 to 1.000] Choose the amount of sub-pixel aliasing removal.
#define fxaa_EdgeThreshold 0.250 // [0.000 to 1.000] Edge detection threshold. The minimum amount of local contrast required to apply algorithm.
#define fxaa_EdgeThresholdMin 0.060 // [0.000 to 1.000] Darkness threshold. Trims the algorithm from processing darks.


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                      Cartoon settings                       /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define CartoonPower 1.0 // [0.1 to 10.0] Amount of effect you want.


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                    Advanced CRT settings                   /
  '----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define CRTAmount 1.00 // [0.00 to 1.00] Amount of CRT effect you want

#define CRTResolution 1.2 // [1.0 to 8.O] Input size coefficent (low values gives the "low-res retro look"). Default is 1.2
#define CRTgamma 2.4 // [0.0 to 4.0] Gamma of simulated CRT (default 2.4)
#define CRTmonitorgamma 2.2 // [0.0 to 4.0] Gamma of display monitor (typically 2.2 is correct)
#define CRTBrightness 1.0 // [1.0 to 3.0] Used to boost brightness a little. Default is 1.0
#define CRTScanlineIntensity 2.0 // [2.0 to 4.0] Scanlines intensity (use integer values preferably). Default is 2.0
#define CRTScanlineGaussian 1 // [0 or 1] Use the "new nongaussian scanlines bloom effect". Default is on

#define CRTCurvature 1 // [[0 or 1] "Barrel effect" enabled (1) or off (0)
#define CRTCurvatureRadius 1.5 // [0.0 to 2.0] Curvature Radius (only effective when Curvature is enabled). Default is 1.5
#define CRTCornerSize 0.0010 // [0.0000 to 0.0020] Higher values, more rounded corner. Default is 0.001
#define CRTDistance 2.00 // [0.00 to 4.00] Simulated distance from viewer to monitor. Default is 2.00
#define CRTAngleX 0.00 // [-0.20 to 0.20] Tilt angle in radians (X coordinates)
#define CRTAngleY -0.10 // [-0.20 to 0.20] Tilt angle in radians (Y coordinates). (Value of -0.15 gives the 'arcade tilt' look)
#define CRTOverScan 1.01 // [1.00 to 1.10] Overscan (e.g. 1.02 for 2% overscan). Default is 1.01
#define CRTOversample 0 // [0 or 1] Enable 3x oversampling of the beam profile (warning : performance hit)

   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                       Bloom settings                        /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define BloomThreshold 22 // [0.00 to 50.00] Threshold for what is a bright light (that causes bloom) and what isn't.
#define BloomPower 1.446 // [0.000 to 8.000] Strength of the bloom
#define BloomWidth 0.0142 // [0.0000 to 1.0000] Width of the bloom


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                        HDR settings                         /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define HDRPower 0.8 // [0.00 to 8.00] Strangely lowering this makes the image brighter
#define radius2 0.75 // [0.00 to 8.00] Raising this seems to make the effect stronger and also brighter

   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                     LumaSharpen settings                    /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
// -- Sharpening --
#define sharp_strength 0.10 // [0.10 to 3.00] Strength of the sharpening
#define sharp_clamp 0.025 // [0.000 to 1.000] Limits maximum amount of sharpening a pixel recieves - Default is 0.035

// -- Advanced sharpening settings --
#define pattern 4 // [1|2|3|4] Choose a sample pattern. 1 = Fast, 2 = Normal, 3 = Wider, 4 = Pyramid shaped.
#define offset_bias 1.0 // [0.0 to 6.0] Offset bias adjusts the radius of the sampling pattern.
                         //I designed the pattern for offset_bias 1.0, but feel free to experiment.
                           
// -- Debug sharpening settings --
#define show_sharpen 0 // [0 or 1] Visualize the strength of the sharpen (multiplied by 4 to see it better)


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                      TECHNICOLOR settings                   /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define TechniAmount 0.11 // [0.00 to 1.00]
#define TechniPower 2.8 // [0.00 to 8.00]
#define redNegativeAmount 0.88 // [0.00 to 1.00]
#define greenNegativeAmount 0.88 // [0.00 to 1.00]
#define blueNegativeAmount 0.88 // [0.00 to 1.00]


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                      Cineon DPX settings                    /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Red 8.0 // [1.0 to 15.0]
#define Green 8.0 // [1.0 to 15.0]
#define Blue 6.0 // [1.0 to 15.0]

#define ColorGamma 2.0 // [0.1 to 2.5] Adjusts the colorfulness of the effect in a manner similar to Vibrance. 1.0 is neutral.
#define DPXSaturation 2.0 // [0.0 to 8.0] Adjust saturation of the effect. 1.0 is neutral.

#define RedC 0.36 // [0.60 to 0.20]
#define GreenC 0.36 // [0.60 to 0.20]
#define BlueC 0.34 // [0.60 to 0.20]

#define Blend 0.2 // [0.00 to 1.00] How strong the effect should be.


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                      Monochrome settings                    /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Monochrome_conversion_values float3(0.18,0.41,0.41) // [0.00 to 1.00] Percentage of RGB to include (should sum up to 1.00)


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                      Lift Gamma Gain settings               /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define RGB_Lift float3(1.000, 1.000, 1.000) // [0.000 to 2.000] Adjust shadows for Red, Green and Blue
#define RGB_Gamma float3(1.000, 1.000, 1.000) // [0.000 to 2.000] Adjust midtones for Red, Green and Blue
#define RGB_Gain float3(1.000, 1.000, 1.000) // [0.000 to 2.000] Adjust highlights for Red, Green and Blue


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                        Tonemap settings                     /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Gamma 0.7 // [0.000 to 2.000] Adjust midtones

#define Exposure 0.1 // [-1.000 to 1.000] Adjust exposure

#define Saturation 0.00 // [-1.000 to 1.000] Adjust saturation

#define Bleach 0.00 // [0.000 to 1.000] Brightens the shadows and fades the colors

#define Defog 0.000 // [0.000 to 1.000] How much of the color tint to remove
#define FogColor float3(0.00, 0.00, 2.55) // [0.00 to 2.55, 0.00 to 2.55, 0.00 to 2.55] What color to remove - default is blue


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                       Vibrance settings                     /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Vibrance 0.05 // [-1.00 to 1.00] Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation.


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                        Curves settings                      /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define Curves_mode 0 // [0|1|2] Choose what to apply contrast to. 0 = Luma, 1 = Chroma, 2 = both Luma and Chroma. Default is 0 (Luma)
#define Curves_contrast 0.40 // [-1.00 to 1.00] The amount of contrast you want

// -- Advanced curve settings --
#define Curves_formula 7 // [1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9] The contrast s-curve you want to use.
                             //1 = Sine, 2 = Abs split, 3 = Smoothstep, 4 = Exp formula, 5 = Simplified Catmull-Rom (0,0,1,1), 6 = Perlins Smootherstep
                             //7 = Abs add, 8 = Techicolor Cinestyle, 9 = Parabola.
                             //Note that Technicolor Cinestyle is practically identical to Sine, but runs slower. In fact I think the difference might only be due to rounding errors.
                             //I prefer 2 myself, but 3 is a nice alternative with a little more effect (but harsher on the highlight and shadows) and it's the fastest formula.
                             
   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                         Sepia settings                      /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define ColorTone float3(1.40, 1.10, 0.90) // [0.00 to 2.55, 0.00 to 2.55, 0.00 to 2.55] What color to tint the image
#define GreyPower 0.11 // [0.00 to 1.00] How much desaturate the image before tinting it
#define SepiaPower 0.58 // [0.00 to 1.00] How much to tint the image


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                       Vignette settings                     /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define VignetteRatio 1.00 // [0.15 to 6.00] Sets a width to height ratio. 1.00 (1/1) is perfectly round, while 1.60 (16/10) is 60 % wider than it's high.
#define VignetteRadius 1.00 // [-1.00 to 3.00] lower values = stronger radial effect from center
#define VignetteAmount -1.00 // [-2.00 to 1.00] Strength of black. -2.00 = Max Black, 1.00 = Max White.
#define VignetteSlope 8 // [1 to 16] How far away from the center the change should start to really grow strong (odd numbers cause a larger fps drop than even numbers)
#define VignetteCenter float2(0.500, 0.500) // [0.000 to 1.000, 0.000 to 1.000] Center of effect.


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                        Dither settings                      /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define dither_method 1 // [1 or 2] 1 = Ordering dithering (good and very fast), 2 = Random dithering (even better dithering but not as fast)

//Note that the patterns used by Dither, makes an image harder to compress.
//This can make your screenshots and video recordings take up more space.


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                        Border settings                      /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
//No settings yet, beyond switching it on or off in the top section.


   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                     Splitscreen settings                    /
  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define splitscreen_mode 3 // [1|2|3|4|5] 1 = Vertical 50/50 split, 2 = Vertical 25/50/25 split, 3 = Vertical 50/50 angled split, 4 = Horizontal 50/50 split, 5 = Horizontal 25/50/25 split

[Paul J 349]

There's a couple in the "How-To" guide, Artur.

[VeryBumpy 272]

Be curious to see some before and after pics in DX10 if anyone has any.

[Beardyman 604]

Dziekuję Matthew,

 

Paul - i have found those mentioned in "how to", but those are rather not nice looking for me, that is why i wrote "good" one for FSX.

[Bernie5 11]

I installed SweetFX after installing Steve Parson's DX10 fix. The result was that FSX wouldn't even start - CTD while initialising.

 

Are these two incompatible or am I missing something obvious?

 

Thanks

[Paul J 349]

You didn't say you wrote a "good one", Artur. You asked for someone to share their settings. Below is a bit of a "How-To" that might help:

 

 

 

Where to find some good settings for FSX ?

To be honest i do not know how to set it correctly. Can somebody share own settings ?

 

To make Bloom or HDR (for e.g.) work - first it has to be enabled, so - Under "Choose Effects" you will see the words "USE_BLOOM" - make the first number a "1", and that effect will be used in FSX. If it's a "0" - it will have no effect. Do this with all effects that you want to try. Here we have enabled both Bloom and HDR.

 

  /*-----------------------------------------------------------.

  /                      Choose effects                         /

  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/

 

#define USE_BLOOM         1 //  [0 or 1] Bloom - similar to ENB series, or Bloom being checked in FSX.

 

#define USE_HDR           1 //  [0 or 1] HDR : Gives the appearance of High Definition.

 

.. and here below, we are setting how much Bloom and HDR there is.

 

 

   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.

  /                       Bloom settings                        /

  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/

#define BloomThreshold 20.25 // [0.00 to 50.00] Threshold for what is a bright light (that causes bloom) and what isn't.

---> If you change this one to 30.00 or higher, you will find that there is very little bloom. I use "28.25"

 

#define BloomPower 1.446    // [0.000 to 8.000] Strength of the bloom

---> If you change this one, the bloom will get very much stronger. I usually turn this one down a bit, say "0.9"

 

#define BloomWidth 0.0142   // [0.0000 to 1.0000] Width of the bloom. 

---> I usually move this a bit lower, using the Cessna wing strut "glow" as a guide - "0.01" works for me.

 

   /*-----------------------------------------------------------.

  /                        HDR settings                         /

  '-----------------------------------------------------------*/

#define HDRPower 1.29  // [0.00 to 8.00] Strangely lowering this makes the image brighter:

---> SweetFX seems to darken the image slightly on my pc, so I move this downwards a bit - 0.90.

 

#define radius2  0.87  // [0.00 to 8.00] Raising this seems to make the effect stronger and also brighter.

---> and this one I leave as it is.

 

The default numbers are different between 1.3.7 and 1.4, so it means a bit more experimenting. I found that I only needed to enable these three listed below for FSX, as I had no desire to make it look like a 1950's Technicolor film, or a Vignette, and the AA makes the whole business of AA very complicated. HDR and Vibrance are my two main "adjustments", with bloom being turned down just a bit.

 

Bloom

HDR

Vibrance

 

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

[Paul J 349]

I installed SweetFX after installing Steve Parson's DX10 fix. The result was that FSX wouldn't even start - CTD while initialising.

 

Are these two incompatible or am I missing something obvious?

 

Thanks

Hi Bernie:

 

1). Just the groundwork first: You should have a SweetFX folder directly in the FSX root folder, then four .dll files and one ini file also directly under the FSX root folder. Here's how they should look:

 

2). Did you run FSX BEFORE installing Steve's patch?

 

3). Did you run FSX after installing the patch, and was it successfull?

 

4). Have you tried removing (or re-naming) the SweetFX injector and the four .dlls?

 

5). Last - VC_Redist 2010 is required for SweetFX. If you don't have it - you can get it here and here. I suggest installing both.

 

I'll be out for much of the day today, so if anyone else wants to jump in to help Bernie - please - feel free.

 

Hope this helps, Bernie.

 

All the Best,

[LesPaulGuitarsRock 0]

Is this an alternative to the "Shine" addon?

[Paul J 349]

What is the "Shine" addon? 

[LesPaulGuitarsRock 0]

Ahhh blond moment.

Sorry, I meant.   Mogwaisoft - Shade for FSX

[adi518 73]

Each time I go to dx10 mode I get an appcrash (d3d11.dll) after a short while. It also happens relatively or unrelatedly while I'm using sfx configurator to tweak SFX on-the-fly. It doesn't crash when I tweak while being in dx9 mode so there must be something else screwing it up. I have steve's latest fixes, but I installed those before learning that installing REX fixes DX10 too so I tried removing Steve's patch now and I think I did the steps right so it should be removed. I then figured that maybe reinstalling my REX theme will make sure dx10 is fixed so I did that and then booted fsx again. This time it look a little longer before it crashed with the same error (while tweaking). I also noticed that dx10 really powers up sfx's bloom effect so I had to tone it down right away lol. Other than that, it does seem to operate better.

 

Edit: I don't have a d3d10.dll or something in my fsx folder, could that be it? I don't think there was one in the sweetfx zip file.

[Paul J 349]

Yup - it will replace Shade if one takes the time and effort to tweak each of the bits; it's very configurable and responsive to changes right away, whereas Shade requires a reboot (I think - it's been that long since I un-installed it.) and is such a "kludgy" interface.

 

Sunsets always make nice screenshots, but the big advantage to Sweet is the ability to easily control Bloom, color, brightness, shadow and vibrance: Having the settings open on the desktop, with FSX in windowed mode, it's just a matter of change a figure, say HDRPower from 0.99 to 0.90, save it without closing it, going to FSX and hitting the "Pause" key. Instant change to a "bit brighter".

[adi518 73]

I use the configurator and then I just resize the window a bit and it reloads sfx with the new settings.

 

Paul, I saw those dx10libfixer.dll you have but I don't have them (they're not included in the default sweetfx 1.4 download). I think it could be the cause of the crash I'm having.

[Paul J 349]

I have steve's latest fixes, but I installed those before learning that installing REX fixes DX10 too so I tried removing Steve's patch now and I think I did the steps right so it should be removed. I then figured that maybe reinstalling my REX theme will make sure dx10 is fixed so I did that and then booted fsx again. This time it look a little longer before it crashed with the same error (while tweaking). I also noticed that dx10 really powers up sfx's bloom effect so I had to tone it down right away lol.

 

No - REX doesn't fix DX10, ADI! REX provides cloud textures which are DX10-compliant - nothing more, and the DX10fixerlib.dll is one of Steve's "DX10 Fixer" dll's which only his beta testers would have, and again, are nothing to do with SweetFX. The DX10 dll's which we (dx10'ers) use for SweetFX are dxgi.dll, and dxgi.fx and the injector.ini. Both the DX10 patch and SweetFX do require the C++ 2010 redistributables (32 bit), though, so make sure you have them listed in your Control Panel.

 

However - I'm very suspicious of a couple of things regarding this new D3D11.dll crash. I would like to know just how many other folks are getting it? I've had it twice in the last, maybe three weeks, and think it may be related to thr latest Nvidia series of drivers, or possibly SweetFX, as the only other new addon has been OrbX's England and Elstree airport. I don't expect a DX11 problem with a DX9/DX10 application, but certainly Nvidia and Sweet are both capable of it.

 

Anybody else?