SC:CT patch 1.04 adds ps2.0

I can't get AA and the "HDR" at the same time, but it don't see why it would be incompatable so I'm still holding out hope that we can do both somehow.

Also, the tone mapping option is there, but best I can tell it does nothing, and I am pretty sure parallax mapping looked better on the SM3 path. Anyone have any info on this new SM2 path and the features it adds?

*edit*, after running the game on my Geforce again I am sure I was wrong about the parallax mapping looking better on the SM3; it was just more impressive when I first saw it than it is now.

 

Like i've said its the same from my judgement. HDR with tone-mapping works. Its the same as the FP filtering method. The HDR in Chaos theory is not the same as witness in Far Cry. It is more subtle. Far Cry for starters doesn't use Tone-mapping as far as i know or you wouldn't get such a chiroscuro [such extreme range between light and dark regions]. So don't worry, HDR on the SM2.0 path is working. You will notice it when playing a level and witnessing in certain areas a slight shift in brightness.

 

Could someone post a screenshot for those who don't own the game

EDIT: Screenshot of the video settings and in game please thanks.

 

Have you not played Chaos Theory on 6600 or above? I have a 6800gt I can post some shots from to show the difference if you want, but I can asure you that it is by no means the same.

And again, I can't see that the "tone mapping" option does anything at all in the SM2 path, I took some screenshots with it on and off in the same spots there are obvious differences with my Geforce and saw no change. If you could provide some shots to show otherwise, I'd love to see them.

 

I have a Geforce 7800GTX, and i forced the 9800pro Device ID using 3DAnalyzer. At forst glance it looks the same to me.

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1333834954&postcount=24

From a member at Rage3D [shudders] was has an ATI series card.

 

Huh, maybe that is the issue then as I suppose your Geforce could be doing the same HDR regardless of if SM2 or SM3 is selected, while my Radeon can't do the the SM3 path version. I'm installing the game on my machine with a Geforce right now, I'll post back after I have looked into things a bit more.

 

Just ran the benchmarking script 3 times, once with the 1.1 profile, then with 2.0, then with 2.0 with parallax mapping and soft shadows enabled. The 1.1 and 2.0 profiles were very close in performance, though the latter was slight slower (by a few frames per resolution). And obviously enabling the other two features caused the greatest performance hit. Testin was done with a FX-55 and Radeon X800 XT (500/500MHz).

Worth noting is that the 2.0 profile removed the banding in the specular lighting that was so readily apparent with the 1.1 profile.
The HDR support is obviously for a future ATI part.

 

Tone mapping is what makes HDR actually work.

HDR does all the stuff to make everything look like real life lighting. This makes the image ratio on the scale of 1000000:1

What Tone mapping does is to reduce this into a 8 bit image so the ratio is reduced to 255:1 so that monitors can produce them as they cant produce HDR.

So if you start the game up and try the game with HDR on and off there will be no difference, but if you switch HDR on and tone mapping you can see that HDR is actually working.

HDR, Soft Shadows, Parallax Mapping look EXACTLY the same in comparison pics from the 6800 to my X850XT-PE. Funny thing is i havent seen much of a performance drop.

 

I think the HDR mode will be rendering to float textures (a la UE3 SM2.0 HDR mode).

 

Ah, didn't know that. I didn't even enable HDR since I assumed it was for the (hopefully) imminent R520 release.

 

The patch itself has nothing to do with the next gen - AFAIK it was actually completed a number of months back.

 

Comments from Humus?

Anyone care to dissect how the features were implemented versus the SM3 path?

 

Geforce: No HDR | HDR | HDR + Tone

Radeon: No HDR | HDR | HDR + Tone

The Geforce shots are with SM3, but SM2 looks the same. Note that HDR looks the same with or without the tone mapping option on the Radeon, unlike the Geforce where there is a very obvious difference between the two.

 

Cool, thanks. Is there a difference between HDR w/o tone mapping and no HDR for both cards on those shots? - I can't seem to see it.

 

Yes, if you look at the rocks in the centre, their specular highlights are more pronounced in the HDR shots.

 

Ok cool I see it now. Thx.

What's performance like on SM2.0 HDR?

 

http://www.simhq.com/_technology/technology_058a.html

Edit: be gentle.

 

Well, thx to Kyle for the great location to show the HDR output difference between the two profiles.