[DX11] Help regarding Nvidia Profile Inspector (NPI)

[BenganJ]

===== Note [3] in first post has been updated with info on new possible V-Sync settings in-game! =====

[roextended2020]

@BenganJ Recently I found something interesting and I want to share it and discuss it with you .
It's about the flicker of thin railings.
-
1. I read Nvidia DSR introduction, which wrote about the leaf flicker problem.
This seems to have something in common with the ETS2 thin railing flicker problem.
These fine things don't contain enough sampling points, causing flicker.
-
So I enabled DSR 4.00x 4K and NPI 32x, and the improvement is amazing. The flicker problem has been significantly reduced. Fortunately, I have 50 frames and G-SYNC, so I can play smoothly.

2. Another problem related to the flicker of thin railings is shadows,
I noticed that the shadow was divided into 3 segments of LOD,
Usually there is no flicker problem in the first-level LOD shadow area (about 10 meters)
But from the second level of LOD, the shadows flickered wildly.
-
Is there a way to manually set the switching distance of the first level LOD shadow? ? ?
-
3. I also tried changing the use r_sun_shadow_texture_size to "32768",
Visually, it blurs the judgment of the first-level LOD shadow and the second-level LOD shadow, which is effective for reducing shadow flicker.
But I think the method of increasing the shadow LOD judgment distance may be more efficient.
-
4. In addition, I also thought about whether someone can make a mod to improve the resolution of thin railings materials so that it can better determine the boundary and solve the flicker problem of the thin railing.
-
5. Do you mean
'32xS (Combined 2x2SS + 8xMS)'+8SGSSAA = '32xS (Combined 2x2SS + 4xMS)'+8SGSSAA
'8xQ [8x Multisampling]'+8SGSSAA = '8xQ [4x Multisampling]'+8SGSSAA
??

'4x [4x Multisampling]'
'4x Sparse Grid Supersampling'

Note: The higher values listed below are currently only providing 4x Multisampling.

'8xQ [8x Multisampling]'
'8x Sparse Grid Supersampling'

'32xS (Combined 2x2SS + 8xMS)'
'8x Sparse Grid Supersampling'

[BenganJ]

@roextended2020

Damn, that was interesting thoughts! Let me roll them around a bit in my head
and maybe test some before answering you. JHTrucker and Road Runner might
want to chime in too. But I'll answer two already now, these ones.

• 1. I use DSR 1.78x with vsync = "2" with a 1080p60 monitor, thereby getting a virtual
  graphics system of 2560x1440 and 30 FPS limit, even if I record in 60 hz. Together with
  the LOD changes I have in game_data.sii and r_sun_shadow_texture_size = "8192", I
  think it more or less eliminates the flickering shadows and a VERY smooth behavior.
• 5. What we mean with that added sentence is that we haven't seen, for the high
  level AA settings, more effective AA than 4xMSAA + 4xSGSSAA. Have you?

[JHTrucker]

Flickering shadows... textures.
I'm not a modder and don't download mods, but i do mod a few files to enhance my default game.
For years i've had a camera mod and just kept updating it when a new scs truck is added to the game.
It may not help now, i haven't removed it to check, so feel free to try if you want.

def\camera\units\interior_daf_xf.sii
near_plane: 0.5 (default is 0.2, newer trucks are 0.1)

From what i remember, anything below 0.5 makes no difference and anything greater will cut into nearby objects, steering wheel? I've had my visual steering wheel turned off since the day scs added the option.

You need to do that for all non-occulus files and any mod trucks i assume.

The good - reduce shadow flickering.
The bad - when looking out of driver window the view will clip through side of the cab a bit.
I'm looking forward/left/right 99.99999% of the time so the "bad" isn't even an issue to me.

Attached are for ETS2 and ATS. Use as you wish.
I only use the w900 in ATS so that's all that's in my ATS mod.
I may have tweaked the camera left right motion also in those files (because of my ultra wide single screen setup), in which case replace with default files and just change each to "near_plane: 0.5".
I use r_sun_shadow_texture_size to "8192".

If that doesn't help, then i don't know anything else to try.
EDIT:
Hopefully the big scs graphics update will give better lighting / shadows etc and will fix most of the flickering issues, but no MSAA, it's SMAA all the way for scs.

[BenganJ]

I have also maintained those camera def files for trucks, but I was after the far_plane parameter, moving
that further away. BUT, if I'm not mistaken, that parameter has more or less been taken over by the new
Map Editor specs for object. The two, near_plane and far_plane just defines, as far as I know, the display
range of objects, seen from the cabin. You don't want to see the nearest objects and raising the value of
far_plane would make more objects show up earlier, which would be harder on the rendering engine. Are
you sure JHTrucker that the near_plane had ANYTHING to do with vegetation shadows, sounds very odd to
me!

[JHTrucker]

@BenganJ
All i can say is it made a difference when i first started to use it.
If things have changed then there's no need to use it i guess, i may remove it to see.
Also, my single view is much wider than most.
I think the range of near to far is exponential.

[BenganJ]

@JHTrucker

Well, you can check the near_plane if it acts as you are used to, but
as I said, I fear that far_plane now is an obsolete parameter.

[JHTrucker]

@BenganJ - far_plane 50 should reduce view right down... or it used to.
I tested that ages ago and noticed that there was no FPS difference even though the view was massively reduced to hardly seeing beyond your truck wind screen.

EDIT: still works! far_plane 50

[BenganJ]

@JHTrucker

Okay, so it is still working in that direction, but as the default value was 1600,
I always raised that figure to 25000 to hopefully get those distant mountains
rendered earlier, but that never happened. Max at SCS said at one point that
the game engine now has an inherent set limit, so that's why it doesn't work in
that direction, I think. Actually I was interested to get ANY object rendered
earlier, those mountains has always floated around at will!

[JHTrucker]

@BenganJ - We still need near/far in game anyway because Google says...
Near and far clipping planes are imaginary planes located at two particular distances from the camera along the camera's sight line. ... Any parts of objects in the scene closer to the camera than the near clipping plane, or farther from the camera than the far clipping plane, are not rendered.

Yes game has hard coded limit. I think by moving near_plane forward it pushes LOD changes further away so you don't see them change... something like that was my thought. But i'll drive without to see if i come across flickering shadows and then add again to check if it fixes it.

I'm no expert on mapping or gfx engines or most things... but as far as mountains goes...
Why not have a flat 2D graphic of the mountain that's visible from far away and then when you get closer the 3D model pops over it? It may look like it got inflated? but not just appear.