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NoBlur Modification - Test Release v3
OUTDATED - NOT SUPPORTED
Go here for the signed addon version: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=97853
Caption: Rotating the player very quickly, before and after.
This bin folder, when placed in your arma2 directory, will override one shader file in the game and remove one type of blur which has performance issues:
- rotBlur: The fullscreen 'Vaseline' blur that makes the game like you've had to much to drink, most noticeable when the fps is low or you are turning around fast.
(and in version 1, optional in v3) radialBlur: this is the blur when running, a circular blur on the sides of the screen. Not that big of a deal.
Until BIS adds in a menu option that disables this non-fps-scaled 'rotBlur' shader, this will have to do.
Installation:
In this example, my ArmA2 directory is D:\Arma2\
1 Extract the bin directory from this archive into the arma2 folder.
2 There should now be a 'bin' folder in D:\Arma2\
3 Inside of that you will find 2 subfolders. Find the directory that is applicable to your version
4 Copy the correct shader file up one directory to the D:\Arma2\bin directory.
This is not a normal 'mod'. Do not load it as a modfolder with the -mod= line. It gets loaded by the game automatically because the directory is called 'bin'.
If you want to disable the modified shaders, rename the bin directory to something else like bin_modified.
This was tested and developed on the US steam version. Verify your version number in the lower right when ArmA2 is running.. this test version supports:
- 1.04.59026 retail patch (all)
- 1.04 beta builds (all afaik): 60141, 60295, 60308, 60309, 60393, 60588, 60718, 60803, 60902, 61012, 61032, 61062 etc
- 1.05 retail patch
This is a test version - It is not tested with signature checks.
IT IS NOT AN ADDON - IT OVERRIDES (but does not overwrite) A CORE GAME FILE WHEN THE GAME LOADS
It cannot be signed unless repackaged into a new bin.pbo file including the core game config.bin. Bin.pbo files are unique to different versions of the game so they cannot be released as a 'one-for-all' solution. Do not release your own signed version of the bin.pbo, it will cause a mess and config errors will occur with people who have different versions than you.
If you like this addon, please register and vote on this issue. This is important! Here is a BUG you should also vote up. Thanks!
NoBlur Modification Beta v3 (Thanks to Big and kheiro at Armaholic)
Download v3 (has both options, up to the user, uses alternate method of disabling running blur)
Download v2 (disabled only the full blur)
Download v1 (disabled the full blur and the blur while running)
Changelog:
-v2: Put running blur back in (radialBlur), since it isn't bad and my only real intention was to disable the fullscreen blur. (rotBlur) Unfortunately, the rotBlur shader also does the full screen out-of-breath blur. I would leave this in but it's not that simple, someone would have to rewrite the shader by hand in assembly. Since I know just the basics about assembly as a necessity of hacking/modding stuff, I don't think I'm capable of doing this... The rotBlur shader is very complicated and filled with floating point math.
-v3: Identical to v2, except contains extra folder of shaders that disabled the running blur as in version 1. I changed the way that running blur (radialBlur) was disabled, hopefully it won't cause crashes anymore, if it indeed was.
-v4: Just updated the readme and directories for 1.05 patch.
Useful FAQ:
Q: Does this modify my game files? Can I still patch the game?
A: No it does not modify anything except the run time configuration of ArmA2, only when it is present. To uninstall it, delete the bin directory. Yes you can still patch the game fine while it is installed. However, if you patch the game, and the patch contains updated shaders, you will not have the updated shaders loaded/enabled unless you delete my 'bin' directory. The effect of running my shader patch with an unsupported newer version, well this depends on how BIS updated the shaders.. the game could crash, or be very bright or very dark, etc. Best to delete the bin directory if you have doubts or problems. See this post on how to check if I need to make a new version.
Q: This is unfair in competitive games.
A: Not true. This doesn't hurt you in a match up against a person that uses it.. it does not provide an advantage. Multiplayer servers cannot force post processing modes, they only force grass and view distance. If a player couldn't stand the blur before, he likely had Post Processing OFF, which gives more of an advantage than with this modification. This modification is similar to if BIS added a 'very low' option for Post Processing or a full screen Blur Enabled/Disabled option.
Q: What could BIS do to fix this so this isn't needed?
A: The full screen 'rotBlur' shader should scale down blur amount based on FPS. If the FPS is low, the blur amount should be toned down since the blur and FPS are coupled. Right now: More FPS = Less Blur. Low FPS = Too Much Blur. In my opinion, this is a performance BUG, not a feature request.
Q: Something happened and now the mod doesn't work anymore.. there is a zero byte shader file in my bin directory now
A: This happens sometimes.. I still do not know why. When it occurs, simply delete the extra zero byte file that is causing the error and recopy the modded shader file if you think it has become corrupt.
Semi-Sarcastic FAQ:
Q: What is the point of this? You can already turn off Post Processing in the menu.
A: Some of us like the really great shaders that BIS has made (explosion bloom/NVG Noise, glare, lens simulation) but can't turn them on because the shader 'rotBlur' makes it a blurry mess when the FPS is low. This makes people feel sick, get headaches etc.
Q: My game looks fine with post processing on, the blur is realistic, this is useless.
A: If you don't like it, you don't have to use it.
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Tech Stuff
I need a person that can write a binary packer/unpacker for the shdc files, so that users can patch their bin's easily without having to redistribute BIS proprietary data. (I don't know if they frown on that) We could also supply sig files for all regions of the game, however it would be an effort collecting all of the required bin.pbo's from the different regions. We need a solution so we can get this signed and good to go for multiplayer servers. Please contribute to the technical thread if you can help out with any of this. Thanks.
The technical thread is here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?p=1491210
This modification substantially reduces the number of instructions in the rotBlur pixel shader, essentially making it do nothing, just short of removing it. (which we can't do since that would require editing the EXE) It may increase performance installed compared to identical video settings with it not installed. This is due to the rotBlur shader being huge and having tons of instructions, vs my patched version having only one instruction. I do not know if shaders are processed directly on the GPU core or if they have a floating point 'shader' processor to themselves. If the latter is true, the number of instructions is probably irrelevant.
Nov 18 Edit:
Performance details..
"Shaders have a direct impact on the time it takes to render a frame. While different GPUs have different #s of shader pipelines they must all write out to the final framebuffer. That frame buffer can not be displayed until it is full and finished. Shader speed is a function of shader code instruction count and the number of pixels on screen it affects in any given frame. For instance, on some other game the eyeball shader was the most expensive. It had something like 93-95 instructions. But, the number of pixels on screen it affected at any given time was very very low so the impact was not that great. For something like a motion blur shader, which affects the entire frame buffer, lower instruction counts will positively affect frame rate, for sure."
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This modification is free to the Arma2 community and may not be sold. It is offered without warranty and you choose to use it at your own risk. It can be modified and redistributed without contacting the author, with credit. This file contains intellectual property (shaders) owned by Bohemia Interactive, but is not useful without owning the ArmA2 game. Do not distribute ArmA2 core bin.pbo files with this shader or derivatives of this work in them as they are not compatible with all versions/regions of the game.
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dedicated to kegetys (we await arma2lib!) and mikero
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, but do not simply turn off the blur on the menu?
Originally Posted by Thr0tt
