CAWS MOD team - TRACK RELEASE - Brands Hatch

[tchemi]

Awesome work H, but this makes me wonder if you may not have just opened the pandora box.
This kind of track should be the default quality for mods. But, why does it cost that much in memory and why other tracks like Aragon or Mugello don't ??
Are we reaching the limits of GPBikes ?

[Napalm Nick]

I would say yes the limit is being surpassed. The track needs the LAA as do all the tools to make it.
Which is why we are backing PiBoSo when he says he is thinking of 64 bit-ing everything to bring the game into the 20th Century.

If we want this quality as the norm (and better) then I would suggest getting behind his idea with your best +1 finger 

http://forum.piboso.com/index.php?topic=4865.msg75002#msg75002

[HornetMaX]

Cheers Max, I have a few ideas that may help with the remaining flickering textures, but I am surprised by the tree Z sorting issues.

Didn't get a screenshot but I will next time I see it. There were a bunch of trees that were 1st row (with respect to the camera) but semi-transparent (grey-ish).

[h106frp]

The semi-transparent is not the Z sorting but seems to be an artifact of using CK_ to resolve the Z sorting issue. I did ask a few questions about the best ways to tackle the issue of transparency but not resolved so far.

The problem of track size is mainly about texture memory - every time you make a texture twice as big (and we can only scale by ^2) it needs 4  times the memory, add a transparency layer and it doubles again, add a shader and another increase. Modern game engines can harness all sorts of trickery to lighten the load but I guess this sort of graphics engine overhaul is a way off when we still need stable network play and physics issues resolved.

 

[Napalm Nick]

Some people have increased their graphical settings in the. Ini  too so if they can't run these tracks it might be worth going back to default to try. No point raising it there then having to lower settings in game

[CapeDoctor]

my gpbikes.ini has the following graphic settings in the [core] section::

Code: [Select]

[core]
replay = 128
bike_shadow = 512
bike_reflections = 1024
texture_quality = 1
if i have understood things correctly, the texture quality = 1 is the maximum graphical setting, so this is still set highest.
i turned down my replay from 256 to 128, and bike shadow from 1024 to 512.

this setting still keeps things looking pretty sharp, so i haven't made any further changes here.
with this setting, the first time i noticed a big hit was with this new Brands track.
following the advice given, i turned my ingame slider bar for textures from High to Medium, and that immediately made a huge difference for me.
Brands now well playable.
at least i can gather from this that it's definitely a system thing, as well, so when i do eventually upgrade to a 'bigger, better, faster, MORE!' machine, things should get proportionately easier to run at highest settings again. 

[Toomes1]

i can't find where to download this LAA stuff, l go to the link provided but just see a load of information on how it works, no details on how to download LAA. Can somebody show me the way please.

[Blackheart]

i can't find where to download this LAA stuff, l go to the link provided but just see a load of information on how it works, no details on how to download LAA. Can somebody show me the way please.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/laa_2_0_4-zip.34392/

[CapeDoctor]

hi Toomes,
if you go that LAA link, you should end up here: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/large-address-aware.112556/

just scroll down to below the first couple screenshots, you'll find a set of attached files, 3 in total. i grabbed all 3 just in case, but i think it's only really the first attached file you need, called
laa_2_0_4.zip

hope that helps

edit:  Blackheart just beat me to it, lol

[matty0l215]

BH beat me to it but

https://mega.nz/#!KZ5SzJqB!xgvhV0pLemTqZMdHu9Pw4hSN-rIsCuSmME7G-hFstjk

[Toomes1]

Haven't been on Gpbikes for sometime now but good to know it's still full of good guys....thanks very much people.

[Napalm Nick]

my gpbikes.ini has the following graphic settings in the [core] section::

Code: [Select]

[core]
replay = 128
bike_shadow = 512
bike_reflections = 1024
texture_quality = 1
if i have understood things correctly, the texture quality = 1 is the maximum graphical setting, so this is still set highest.
i turned down my replay from 256 to 128, and bike shadow from 1024 to 512.

this setting still keeps things looking pretty sharp, so i haven't made any further changes here.
with this setting, the first time i noticed a big hit was with this new Brands track.
following the advice given, i turned my ingame slider bar for textures from High to Medium, and that immediately made a huge difference for me.
Brands now well playable.
at least i can gather from this that it's definitely a system thing, as well, so when i do eventually upgrade to a 'bigger, better, faster, MORE!' machine, things should get proportionately easier to run at highest settings again. 

personally I think your system should rock GPB but the main thing with the texture quality and other settings is this caveat

1 gives the better quality and much faster loading times, at the expense of video ram usage and a performance hit.

increasing the others all affects VRAM and performance too.

As ever, its a matter of tweaking to get the best setup that works for ones machine.  Personally I haven't increased any of these since getting my new GFX Card so I also have some experimenting to do with these new High quality tracks. 

[CapeDoctor]

personally I think your system should rock GPB...

for the most part, it does, and always has in the past.
i just for the first time ever, started experiencing big frame issues when messing with the WSBK 2017 bikes on Mugello track(another thread) and the LAA hack.
then i loaded this Brands track, and it was a slideshow, lol.
i have played on some much bigger (size-wise, perhaps, not texture-wise)tracks previously with no issues whatsoever.
believe me, if i was having any fps issues before, you guys would've heard about it by now, lol. 
anyway, settings turned down a notch, and all is good.

[vali_grad]

Thank you !
Works like a charm, only with LAA  very close to assetto corsa quality
Finally I can fly on this and not cry for a full blown Nordschleife )
To me these too and cadwell park are top 3 on technical/euphoria level
First time tankslapped the ninja (3rd turn), no crash, so its a winner !

[vali_grad]

another great Brit track is Oulton Park, and i'm surprised we don't have a version for GPB yet. any plans in the works for Oulton, if i may venture to ask...? 

theres a mod track for AC, wink wink ! {laser scan data!} https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar5Q8-_13Qg

{just installed it, the international layout with 2 chicanes is mind blowing a real test for brakes and suspension though a slower/more technical track than brands hatch. tested with Mazda 787B by Kunos }