A way to add bloom to the game.

**Dark_messiah** · August 28th, 2009, 12:18 PM

Hi all.

I've found a way to add bloom to the game.

When i was looking around the net i came across this site: http://boris-vorontsov.narod.ru/index_en.html

It's a modified directx.dll. Games instinctively look for DirectX DLL’s in their installation directory before falling back to the latest version in your system folders, primarily so that older games can ensure a compatible version is installed with the game and will continue to work years after release. This gives talented developers a means of doing interesting things like this.

Comparision: Original
Bloom with Dx8 version
Bloom with Dx9 version

So here is what you need to do:
1, Download: a, this and this for the Dx9 version
b, only this for Dx8 version

2, extract : For dx9: a(enbconvertor_dx8_dx9_v0014.zip + enbseries_gtasa_v0075s.zip) where istaria.exe is.

For dx8: b(enbseries_gtavc_v0005.zip) where istaria.exe is.

3, Open Enbseries.ini and costumize it to your liking BUT you must set
EnableOcclusion=0
EnableReflection=0
EnableMotionBlur=0
EnableWater=0
EnableShadow=0
EnableDepthOfField=0

all of them to 0 since they are not supported by this game and set
enablebloom to 1

DepthBias=0 <- setting it to 50+ can fix graphical artifacts if you experience any.

you can costumize the bloom intensity under [BLOOM].
you can set it from a mild bloom, up to the point where it burns your eyes out.

You can find a complete documentation of everything here

When you are ready, run the game and activate it with shift+f12.

Warning:
Dx9 version might cause the game to crast because of the convertor (it makes a dx8 game use dx9 what do you expect) also you wont be able to alt+tab and switch between windowed and full screen mode because it crashes the game. But other versions of enbseries might work better with the convertor try them.

No problem with the dx8 version so far.

You can download other versions here: http://boris-vorontsov.narod.ru/download_en.htm

Oh and i can run it without any impact on performance.

Good luck!

**Raeshlavik** · August 28th, 2009, 01:19 PM

Great find!

I had to set the BloomPowerDay, BloomConstantDay, and BloomScreenLevelDay all to 5 to tone it down a bit.

I also set UseEffect to '1' under [GLOBAL].

If nothing else, using this to force antialias and anisotropic filtering is awesome... No more jagged edges on the ground clutter.

**Takora Drakan** · August 28th, 2009, 02:55 PM

Holy crap this is awesome, gives the game at instant a better look D:

**AmonGwareth** · August 28th, 2009, 03:44 PM

Maybe its just me, but in those three screens I find the original to be the better looking of the set. In the second and third the clouds don't have as much depth and seem a little washed out (very much so in the dx9 version). And then the trees are too bright as if the shadows have been removed entirely.

**Solitaire** · August 28th, 2009, 04:11 PM

I would have to agree with Amon. Looks almost like the brightness and saturation were just cranked up real high. You may have vivid colors, but all the detail is gone. You could probably get the same effect or better by playing with the color settings for your video card.

**Dark_messiah** · August 28th, 2009, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by AmonGwareth

Maybe its just me, but in those three screens I find the original to be the better looking of the set. In the second and third the clouds don't have as much depth and seem a little washed out (very much so in the dx9 version). And then the trees are too bright as if the shadows have been removed entirely.

**Raeshlavik** · August 28th, 2009, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by AmonGwareth

Maybe its just me, but in those three screens I find the original to be the better looking of the set. In the second and third the clouds don't have as much depth and seem a little washed out (very much so in the dx9 version). And then the trees are too bright as if the shadows have been removed entirely.

Yeah, I'm not much of a **BLOOM** fan myself either - it's overused and cranked up too high in most games these days... Kinda like the current trend of 'brown=realism'; nice idea, but they went too far.

But, that said, using the modified DX lib to set a very subtle bloom, forcing aniso, and forcing FSAA does improve the render, in my humble opinion, as it blends the alpha-to-non alpha transitions on the textures a bit better - at least in my quick look in one small spot of Istaria.

We'll see what happens when I get into a busier area with more people after work...

**Guaran** · August 28th, 2009, 05:16 PM

I don't really like the bloom effect myself. The forced anti aliasing is useable, but you can do that from the display drivers' control panel, no need to hack the directx files.

But I would have to caution against using hacked directx dll's in any case.

**Raeshlavik** · August 28th, 2009, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by Guaran

I don't really like the bloom effect myself. The forced anti aliasing is useable, but you can do that from the display drivers' control panel, no need to hack the directx files.

True, but unless I'm mistaken setting FSAA in the display driver effects everything... Istaria I can run 8x and it doesn't seem to change much performance-wise, but running 8x in some of my other games would be detrimental.

So, in this case, using the modded DX lib works... For me at least.

**AmonGwareth** · August 28th, 2009, 06:35 PM

In the ATI console app you can specify settings on a per-game basis.

**Creme** · August 28th, 2009, 06:39 PM

I like the original better as well. The sky almost hurts the eyes to look at for too long in the other versions.

I'm sure that they can be tweaked and I know there are probably players out there that have the time and patience to fiddle around with the settings until they get optimal results, sadly that's not me...I've got too much questing to catch up on

**Raeshlavik** · August 28th, 2009, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by AmonGwareth

In the ATI console app you can specify settings on a per-game basis.

Nice. I'll have to check - Nvidia probably does too then.

**Vaz** · August 28th, 2009, 08:00 PM

Nice find, Dark_messiah.

I agree with all the talk of bloom's downsides, but it's alright if you want a dreamlike appearance. Bet it'd be terrific in the Rift.

Originally Posted by Raeshlavik

Nice. I'll have to check - Nvidia probably does too then.

Use nHancer.

**Amerelium** · August 29th, 2009, 08:04 AM

...never liked bloom myself - basically just makes everything glow. Only place I like it is in EVE online, albait noly WITH HDR, that takes away the unnatural glow. But then again, HDR means no AA...

**Raeshlavik** · August 29th, 2009, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by Xoshara

Use nHancer.

That's pretty slick... I replaced the modded DX lib with this as I'm not really after bloom, per se; I just want the ability to use all of the functions of these fancy-pants video cards I've got.

It's too bad we have to keep the OS and drivers stock when running tests at work (we emulate the typical end-user environment for compatability and play testing) - otherwise I'd get more opportunity to experiment with stuff like this.

**Kodey** · August 29th, 2009, 08:50 PM

I love the subtle pieces. Makes the lighting take on a more realistic setting if it's not overboard like most games, in which I generally have it disabled completely.. T_T But I love the wash, and some areas can be rather drab.

Definitely something I'm going to manipulate for a while. Thanks. <3

**velveeta** · August 29th, 2009, 09:15 PM

i own my noobness, so i must ask, what is bloom?
can someone post screenies so i can tell if i like it or not?
many thanx!

**Spirit** · August 30th, 2009, 12:54 AM

Originally Posted by Kodey

I love the subtle pieces. Makes the lighting take on a more realistic setting if it's not overboard like most games, in which I generally have it disabled completely.. T_T But I love the wash, and some areas can be rather drab.

Definitely something I'm going to manipulate for a while. Thanks. <3

Being able to tweak something like this for Horizons is pretty awesome and while I'm not really sold with the settings used for the screenshots here, I'm pretty sure that with some tweaking this could be used to make Istaria look better while not overcooking it.

The thing is, settings that work great for some areas may suck for others. The Rift for example ... and then bloom while it's dark could look odd.

If you find any general settings that look great, post them here please for the rest of us.

Rakku

**Romirez** · August 30th, 2009, 10:28 PM

Originally Posted by Xoshara

Nice find, Dark_messiah.

I agree with all the talk of bloom's downsides, but it's alright if you want a dreamlike appearance. Bet it'd be terrific in the Rift.

Use nHancer.

i am using nHancer right now for Istaria. i hate bloom...i just want istaria a little brighter, in some spots it's too dark. did i say i hate bloom?

**Dark_messiah** · August 31st, 2009, 02:33 PM

Try this one

Adds a glow effect to bright objects
Ensure that the glow does not oversaturate the colors (oversaturated = similar to WoW's)
Brought up the color of dark objects by 10% for both daytime and nighttime
Only change the settings listed below.
DO NOT COPY & PASTE THIS. YOU MUST EDIT THE .INI YOURSELF.

[PROXY]
EnableProxyLibrary=0
InitProxyFunctions=1
ProxyLibrary=

[GLOBAL]
UseEffect=0
AlternativeDepth=0
AllowAntialias=1
BugFixMode=0
SkipShaderOptimization=0
QuadVertexBuffer=0

[EFFECT]
EnableBloom=1
EnableOcclusion=0
EnableReflection=0
EnableMotionBlur=0
EnableWater=0
EnableShadow=0
DepthBias=50

[REFLECTION]
ReflectionPower=15
ChromePower=10
UseCurrentFrameReflection=0
ReflectionQuality=0
ReflectionSourceSpecular=50
ReflectionSourceTFactor=50
UseAdditiveReflection=0
ReflectionDepthBias=0
UseLowResReflection=0
ReflectionSinglePass=1
UseEnvBump=1
EnvBumpAmount=100
EnvBumpOffset=100
ReflectionFlip=0

[Bloom]
BloomPowerDay=10
BloomFadeTime=1000
BloomConstantDay=4
BloomQuality=0
BloomScreenLevelDay=70
BloomCurveDay=4
BloomPowerNight=20
BloomConstantNight=5
BloomCurveNight=4
BloomScreenLevelNight=20
BloomAdaptationScreenLevel=90
BloomAdaptationMultiplier=20
BloomAllowOversaturation=0

[SSAO]
UseFilter=1
OcclusionQuality=2
FilterQuality=1
DarkeningLevel=40
BrighteningLevel=40
IlluminationLevel=40
AdditiveIlluminationLevel=20
UseAmbientOcclusion=1
UseIndirectLightning=0
FadeDistance=50
UseForAlphaTest=1
UseForAlphaBlend=1
[COLORCORRECTION]
DarkeningAmountDay=-30
ScreenLevelDay=60
ScreenLevelNight=20
DarkeningAmountNight=-30
GammaCurveDay=2
GammaCurveNight=3
ColorSaturationDay=0
ColorSaturationNight=0
UsePaletteTexture=0

[WATER]
UseWaterDeep=1
WaterDeepness=20
WaterQuality=0

[SHADOW]
ShadowFadeStart=70
ShadowFadeEnd=120
ShadowAmountDay=80
ShadowAmountNight=50
ShadowScreenLevelDay=60
ShadowScreenLevelNight=20
ShadowQuality=0
UseShadowFilter=1
FilterQuality=2
ShadowBlurRange=30

[ENGINE]
ForceAnisotropicFiltering=0
MaxAnisotropy=8
ForceDisplayRefreshRate=0
DisplayRefreshRateHz=60

[MOTIONBLUR]
MotionBlurQuality=2
MotionBlurVelocity=2
MotionBlurRotation=2

[PERPIXELLIGHTING]
SpecularColorMin=0
SpecularColorMax=100
SpecularColorMultiplier=100
SpecularGlossinessMin=0
SpecularGlossinessMax=5
SpecularGlossinessMultiplier=100

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