ENBSERIES: Boost framerate and fix numerous graphical issues with ease!

The ENBSERIES DirectX 8 to DirectX 9 Converter is an extremely easy way to make Istaria run better! By converting Istaria's DirectX 8 API calls to use DirectX 9 in real time, one will notice immediately that their framerate will increase noticeably (often by double digits in many areas) and that some texture issues are fixed. While it's not 100% perfect by any means (it is certainly possible that it may rarely cause issues with certain graphics on occasion), I and several other Istaria players have performed quite a bit of testing with great results and hardly any issues at all. I encourage everyone to at least give it a try, if not stick with it, as who wouldn't want to have performance increases and visual fixes?

Two examples of said graphical fixes, thanks to Miiralaeuntryr Rashemi for the heads up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbJE1HOlWvI (Water rendering is fixed for NVIDIA users)
http://sta.sh/0148ap2vj8wq (Water/lava flow in now flows in front of dragon murals instead of being cut off)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INSTALLATION:
Download and extract the contents to your Istaria folder where Istaria.exe resides. You only need the d3d8.dll and enbconvertor.ini to install it, and no changes in the INI file are needed.

http://enbdev.com/convertor_dx8_dx9_v0036.htm (the download link is the little pixelated down arrow on the page next to "ENBSeries DX8 to DX9 Convertor <version>" below the page header)

REMOVAL:
Delete d3d8.dll and enbconvertor.ini from your Istaria folder.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please feel free to post any information below concerning what this modification fixed and how much of a framerate increase you noted with your hardware (listing CPU and graphics processor models would be great!) I'm looking forward to your feedback!

PROBLEMS?
If the game hangs at launch, try relaunching the game a few times and make sure any programs that hook into games and display framerate or other overlays in the game are disabled (e.g. RivaTuner Statistics Server bundled with MSI Afterburner), though there may be workarounds and you can likely disable them just for Istaria.exe.

PLEASE NOTE that this modification also limits the maximum framerate to your monitor's refresh rate, which honestly should not be an issue.

So it's safe to use then?

I'll give it a go.

This works amazing on my laptop! Went from on around 10-20 fps on average to 30-40 fps. So far I've had no issues with it, but if I do run into one I'll definitely tell you!
Thanks Jstn!

Neat stuff and pretty amazing. No install files, just 2 simple files in the .zip. Nothing to setup, configure, etc.

I've never had much problems with FPS, but I was more so interested in seeing it fix the Nvidia issues. Sure enough the water looks like it used to.

Using the /window lagwindow fps settings (I don't trust the /window fpswindow because mine shows more than 60 and I don't think thats correct). But based on the /window lagwindow I went from 42 to 50 fps, sitting idle in a secluded area with no action going on around me.

Norton wont let me try it, says its medium risk unsafe and removes it when I try to unzip it.

I'd have to say norton is pretty wrong. That site also is the only host for the ENB series that people use for modding the environments to several games, GTA and skyrim amongst them. Its required to make use for some of the environmentals I use for skyrim.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Smaug

Norton wont let me try it, says its medium risk unsafe and removes it when I try to unzip it.

---

Thats because Nortons crap, It's almost as big a malware program as the things it tries (and usually fails) to get rid of.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Calyndrell

Thats because Nortons crap, It's almost as big a malware program as the things it tries (and usually fails) to get rid of.

---

Come on now, tell us how you really feel

I knew this was coming, just expected it to be first reply to my post, not 2nd :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Smaug

Come on now, tell us how you really feel

I knew this was coming, just expected it to be first reply to my post, not 2nd :)

---

He's right though? Norton is known to give some of the most false flags of any antivirus software, allong with McAffee.

I'd say grab something like Avast, it's almost never given me any false flags.

I use Norton as well (get the torches and pitchforks!) and it was its usual painful self and removed the file. I just restored it and chucked it in my Istaria root folder and everything worked fine, no viruses or risk to my computer. Just another one of the many, many false flags

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Smaug

Come on now, tell us how you really feel

I knew this was coming, just expected it to be first reply to my post, not 2nd :)

---

It would've been the first but miira types faster than I do.

It would've been the first but miira types faster than I do.

lol

If anyone has problems with this "mod", please make sure to post. The devs are carefully considering making this part of the standard install.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yfelvik

If anyone has problems with this "mod", please make sure to post. The devs are carefully considering making this part of the standard install.

---

the only negative thing I've noticed while using this (though at parts I was wondering whether it was even active) was that during the loading screen there's a clear line between the info line and the rest of the screen, though that might always be there and I just never noticed.

Played a little with the mod. Water looks much better. But unlike the one link that demonstrated holes in waterfalls in a lair are fixed, I still have them. Though, it seems like in the smelting chamber where the waterfall that was occluded by the scaleforge that was behind it is working correctly now. Certainly better but not perfect.

Attachment 2592

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yfelvik

If anyone has problems with this "mod", please make sure to post. The devs are carefully considering making this part of the standard install.

---

I installed the mod, then played for a couple of hours. Seemed to work for me, I had no problems. Framerate was higher than usual so it works as advertised ;)

I have used this mod since it was first posted and have not had any issues. Weather it has increased the frame rate, I'm not real sure, but the frame rate is more consistent, not jumping up and down as I change areas.

The only issue I've personally had with this is that it caps my game at 60fps.

Sometimes my game can run at far over that, breaking the occasional 100. The following are Frap's excel benchmark files, screenshotted. I let it run for a good 10-20 seconds after having been logged in for a few minutes, sitting still during the tests.
Before ENB:
http://i67.tinypic.com/16s51k.jpg
After ENB:
http://i63.tinypic.com/33e22z8.jpg

ENB definitely stabilizes the FPS, though, and fixes a few graphical issues. Moving around, my FPS varied wildly without it. Now I'm very stable, though it slowly declines over hours of play nonetheless (that's got nothing to do with ENB, though, that's just Istaria being Istaria).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yfelvik

If anyone has problems with this "mod", please make sure to post. The devs are carefully considering making this part of the standard install.

---

I've been using it for a few days and I'm very happy with it. Water renders much quicker and looks better. The ocean would usually not load at all before I installed this. (I'm a Radeon user.)

I've never had FPS issues so I didn't bother to compare before/after, but it's safe to say that my framerate hasn't been negatively affected.

I have been using it for several hours dual login (two monitor setup) and it's working fine for me with a Nvidea GTX950.