Crysis: get DX10 very high features in DX9

[theteamaqua]

11/10/07 EDIT:
http://www.tweakguides.com/Crysis_13.html

'Very High' On The Cheap

There's another thing you can try if you find Very High mode is just a bit too strenuous for your system. You can try the "cheap" version of Very High, which basically only implements the more obvious visual enhancements of Very High. To do this, instead of editing your .cfg files as covered above, all you need to do is set your in-game settings all to High as normal, then add the following commands to your System.cfg file (or just test them in the console first): r_UsePOM=1, r_sunshafts=1, e_water_ocean_fft=1, q_Renderer=3 and r_colorgrading=1. This will make High look extremely similar to Very High in most respects, but with quite a bit less of a performance hit. In a pinch, if you still need extra FPS, try disabling one of the effects, though keep in mind that q_Renderer=3 is necessary for color grading to work. You can also turn off Edge AA (r_UseEdgeAA=0) to make things look crisper and boost performance further.

so:

download autoexec.zip
autoexec.zip

extract to:
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis SP Demo\Game\Config\

(You can also turn off Edge AA (r_UseEdgeAA=0) to make things look crisper and boost performance further.)

set everything to high, in game, and restart and ur done

DX9 very high:
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...4-21-11-09.jpg

DX9 "cheap" very high:
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...4-34-18-23.jpg

imo only draw distance, water r different ... lightning , sunshafts, POM effects is there ..

OLD:
1st saw this here:http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/show...4&postcount=15

and he direct me to this blog here:
http://blogs.nofrag.com/Scrapy/#article32013

basically you'll get most of the DX10 very high only features such as sunshafts, parallax occlusion mapping in DX9 XP ...

so:
1. dl the CVAR .cfg from here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/65472180...Frag_.zip.html
or
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PPVQWWZ3

2. and go to:
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis SP Demo\Game\Config\CVarGroups\

(make sure u backup the old ones)
replace everything in CVARgroup with the ones from "High to VeryHigh" from that zip file

3. start the game and set everything to "high"

and bam ur done:

heres what i got:
DX9 tweaked: (16AF)
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...X9-tweaked.jpg

DX10 very high: (default AF)
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0-veryhigh.jpg

like i said here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...8&postcount=59
only shadows, and draw distance are a bit different

[theteamaqua]

just checked to see if water looks the same, and it looks exactly the same, but DX10 has a lot better draw distance, more stones, more trees .. etc

DX9 tweaked: (16AF)
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...aked-water.jpg

DX10 all @ very high: (default AF 0?)
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...high-water.jpg

oh and all at the same clock speed, Q6600 @ 3.5GHz , DDR2 900, 8800 GTS @ 648/1620/999, on XP and Vista,

[YukonTrooper]

Nice write up. I'm running on an 8800GTS 640MB but at 1920X1200. I have to play at medium to keep everything playable with this resolution. Still though it is gorgeous at these settings.

DX10 looks amazing though. It may be subtle to some but the differences to me are very apparent. The textures and shadows are much softer and lifelike. The vegetation is out of this world and blends together much better in DX10. Can't wait until DX10 matures. Hopefully some crafty individuals crack DX10 for XP.

[KoHaN69]

how is the performance difference between xp and vista?

[theteamaqua]

how is the performance difference between xp and vista?

for me both with 169.01 beta at the same clock speed, XP is about 5fps faster (25fps vs 20 = 25% faster), but thats with less effect, and less draw distance = less trees, also the shadows are not as intense as vista ...

so give and take i'd say maybe ~15%/20% difference assuming both displaying the same thing, but ill be running in XP tho, SLI works like crap on vista

DX10 looks amazing though. It may be subtle to some but the differences to me are very apparent. The textures and shadows are much softer and lifelike. The vegetation is out of this world and blends together much better in DX10. Can't wait until DX10 matures. Hopefully some crafty individuals crack DX10 for XP.

u dont need it .... u get all the effects DX10 offers in XP with tweaked cvars .... im sure someone will make DX9 looks same as DX10 very high with mods or more cvar tweaks ....

in many of their ss such as here:
http://www.incrysis.com/index.php?op...sk=view&id=511

difference between high DX9 and very high DX10 was huge, and it wasnt after the tweak

[theteamaqua]

oh yeah they werent at the same setting ... the DX9 shots were with 16AF forced via nv control panel, and the DX10 was 0AF (or w/e the AF default is)

so yeah, DX9 could have been a lot better , here r some more:

DX9 tweaked 16AF:
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o.../DX9-stone.jpg

DX10 very high 16AF:
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...0-stones11.jpg

ouch 18 vs 28fps ... also notice how the rock on the left looks clear/more detail in DX9 , i think theres something wrong with AF in DX10 ... driver issue....

[YukonTrooper]

Of course you don't NEED it but IMO it's nice to have. I don't even have Vista but when DX10 matures and shows its potential I won't hesitate in the slightest.

[RPGWiZaRD]

Very good post theteamaqua!

So yea I'm not suprised some of these non-DX10 groundup-built titles can be tweaked to look the same as I don't think the limitation of DirectX feature support in DX when it's made this way, I only think it's a way to get people to swap to DX10, ie developers are only on purpose limiting DX9 users even if it would be able to deliver the same stunning IQ as current "DX10 tweaks". But in one way it's good that they are pushing people to upgrade too so we can ASAP enjoy the REAL DX10 goodness.

However I'm still quite confident as Yukon Trooper believes as well, once DX10 groundup-built games arrive (too bad Crysis didn't become one), DirectX10 will get a whole new meaning.

I think my current 7900GTO would die on me if I let it run "very high" settings, luckily it's time for a GPU upgrade very soon. But of course I will have to try out this and see how it looks like at least regardless the lagfest it would be. Just need to get it downloaded first!

[theteamaqua]

yeah .. i am not saying DX10 does not worth it, just that Crysis DX10 very high brings little to nothing compare it to the tweaked DX9.... it just doesnt make sense to get 30% less framerate, and sees very little gain (in this case, more shadow, higher draw distance, which i think is tweakable in XP also .... )

when DX10 matures, ie .. games build for DX10 from ground up releases, we will have Geforce 9,10, HD4k / 6k ...etc ... and running games in DX10 mode wont be an issue, performance wise

now im sure that they will bring more DX10 features to Crysis in future patches ... and maybe 9800GTX will be out by then, so i can finally play it in vista without worrying about performance ...

[adamsleath]

thx for the comparisons.

good news for dx9 and me

im not changing to vista until nehalem
& dx10 for xp...mmmm i hope so...but i doubt it will be officially supported ever.

i have bookmarked this thread...are the "cvargroup" files likely to be modified in the future?

[theteamaqua]

thx for the comparisons.

good news for dx9 and me

im not changing to vista until nehalem
& dx10 for xp...mmmm i hope so...but i doubt it will be officially supported ever.

i have bookmarked this thread...are the "cvargroup" files likely to be modified in the future?

hope so, i mean it was there in the beta, and many ppl mod it as well

here r some 1680 shots, again the difference being DX10 has better shadows, and that DX10 offers higher draw distance = more stones,trees .. etc .. the texutre, lightning everything looks the same ...

all @ 1680x1050 16xAF no AA
DX9 tweaked high:
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...-tweaked11.jpg

DX10 very high:
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...veryhigh-1.jpg



now as for effects i dont know .. maybe DX10 has better water ripples, better explosion effects ..etc

[adamsleath]

yeah...well im an ignoramous when it comes to ...well most things really...what are the limits of the texture codes and other effects that are coded into dx10 and the limits of dx9 ?

you have proved that textures can be improved in dx9...but are there other physics-like effects/other effects that dx9 is unable to achieve that dx10 can?

i thought there were physics effects in some dx9 games:?
a few lighting effects and modified textures can achieve wonders.

i suppose more improvements will come to "dx10" aswell. over time. code improvements etc.
i'd be more inclined to buy dog droppings if it was wrapped in gold foil

those two pics you link above look almost identical to me...and dx9 has a few less rocks to stumble over

[theteamaqua]

thats what i said...., even the water waves looks exactly the same in my 2nd or 3rd post .... i really see no point of playing this in vista right now

the only reason i am not using vista is the crappy game performance + SLI sux on vista (i have 2HDDs so no big dela really), vista has nice GUI, better search function , but without games windows sux ... might as well use mac or linux, i had a good time with ubuntu

those two pics you link above look almost identical to me...and dx9 has a few less rocks to stumble over

notice that DX10 has more shadows, in that ss.... other than that im guessing DX10 has day/night cycle while DX9 doesnt (not sure ..)?? cuz i just shot the water in both DX9 and 10 , i cant tell the difference , ripples looks the same...

[adamsleath]

yeah well. nothing that major to make me go to vista right now :/

linux flavours and apples leopard pretty pretty with more features.

i was happy with xtree !

although i like pretty pretty graphics....

i reckon paying more for laggier frames would really pi$$ me off so im avoiding until a bigger better gfx plus cpu combo can compensate for newer fatter code.

more features/textures/particle effects etc etc etc all need more crunching power....more ram?

ad nauseum.

linux with wine...i just cant be bothered

[Soulburner]

thats what i said...., even the water waves looks exactly the same in my 2nd or 3rd post .... i really see no point of playing this in vista right now

the only reason i am not using vista is the crappy game performance + SLI sux on vista (i have 2HDDs so no big dela really), vista has nice GUI, better search function , but without games windows sux ... might as well use mac or linux, i had a good time with ubuntu



notice that DX10 has more shadows, in that ss.... other than that im guessing DX10 has day/night cycle while DX9 doesnt (not sure ..)?? cuz i just shot the water in both DX9 and 10 , i cant tell the difference , ripples looks the same...

Nope, the demo starts out with you landing at night and a little bit later cycles into day time where it gets quite bright just like Far Cry.

You don't need any fancy DX version to program this into a game.

[theteamaqua]

oh i thought DX10 has that "real" real time day/night cycle ... ie after say .. 30 min it changes to night, and 30min later its day again .... not after reloading

[DTU_XaVier]

oh i thought DX10 has that "real" real time day/night cycle ... ie after say .. 30 min it changes to night, and 30min later its day again .... not after reloading

It is always real-time... Probably, if you stay in one place for long enough, the sun will come up before you reach aztec...

[Soulburner]

It isn't realtime, because it doesn't take 24 hours.

Still you don't need a fancy engine to do that. Games have been doing day/night cycles since DirectX 8.

[emoners]

hmmm gotta try this. thanks!

[theteamaqua]

heres one with DX9 high vs DX9 very high

DX9 high:
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...hot00311-1.jpg

DX9 very high:
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...hot00301-1.jpg

lightning is much different, waves have more movement, but the waves in DX10 very high still has slightly more movement than DX9 very high

but ouch ... 32fps vs 50fps .... but very high DX10 will be like 15fps ....

[FlyBoyGeo]

thanks.

whats the command to show fps in the upper left corner?

[SteveLord]

It isn't realtime, because it doesn't take 24 hours.

Still you don't need a fancy engine to do that. Games have been doing day/night cycles since DirectX 8.

Name some popular games that did. I know a few of the Ultima games did and Joint Operations (I think)

Its nothing new, but its rarely used.

[***Deimos***]

I am going to assume that anybody with 8800 is going to run the game in DX10, just out of principle. You just don't go buy $600 GTX so that you can play games on medium quality.

Thus DX9 tweak is probably best for folks with GF7, X1900's and ofcourse underpowered 8600's, 2600's. However, I doubt these people are looking for more IQ... probably more frame rates.

In the end, although initially entertaining to fulfill curiosity, game setting tweaking distracts from playing the game. Vast majority of people picked up Valve's HL2, set all settings to high, adjust resolution so it was playable and never bothered with any cvars... even original Far Cry was much more merciful on older systems. Although GF6 was greater, you could easily play game on FX or even GF4.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...idia/page5.asp

[_g0]

Name some popular games that did. I know a few of the Ultima games did and Joint Operations (I think)

Morrowind FTW!

[Soulburner]

Name some popular games that did. I know a few of the Ultima games did and Joint Operations (I think)

Its nothing new, but its rarely used.

Lineage 2 is the only one I can think of right now. That was a DX8 (modified Unreal Engine 2) game.