Shadow Fix

[wacampbell]

Here's a little graphics improvement for TS2016. Its a very unofficial replacement for the sunlight shader provided in the Railworks\dev\Shaders folder. Here's what it does:

1. Fixes a shadow bias problem that was causing light to leak through overhanging eves when you pull back a certain distance from the building:




2. Enables blending on cascaded shadow maps to prevent sharp cutoffs of shadows at distance:




3. Enables screen-space ambient occlusion to improve the looks of models on their shadowed side:



See the readme for installation instructions. Its just one file to copy into your shaders folder.

Also, this worked OK for me, but these features must have been disabled for a reason. So your mileage may vary. Be prepared to revert back to the original shader if things don't look right.


Wayne

Download here http://www3.telus.net/wacampbell/downloads/RailworksShadowFix.zip

[august1929]

Thanks for sharing Wayne - will try it in a few minutes. Only recently noticed (or been irritated) by the effect on buildings. Couldn't remember if it had always been like that though.

Rod

[Bananarama]

Many thanks for this, Wayne. The above issues have always bothered me.

[NStrains]

Do either of you have Alpen's weather mod installed and notice that it still does this? I never paid much attention to the shadows before I did the mod but them seem to be darker and crisper than before so I'm just wondering if this is worth the download as well.

[DrewG]

You always continue to impress me Wayne. I would have no clue where to begin with doing this. Thanks a lot, this is a much welcome change!

[Bananarama]

Hi Wayne,

I discovered an issue with the shader:

Screenshot_0 Tehachapi Pass_35.20158--118.82376_12-01-03.jpg

Notice the various dark lines radiating along the surface of the crates? As you move around the scene, there's also a z-buffer issue on the surface of objects. This isn't as noticeable on darker and more complex textures (wood siding, etc.), but is still nevertheless present, even on shiny surfaces. Within a 100m radius, the scene becomes a subtle battle with moire effect coupled with z-fighting.

[wacampbell]

Notice the various dark lines radiating along the surface of the crates? As you move around the scene, there's also a z-buffer issue on the surface of objects.

I am not seeing that at all. I might see a light stripe pattern when my nose is within 1/2 a meter of a smooth wall but thats it. Beyond half a meter everything looks normal and I don't see any z-buffer issues. I guess success depends on how your PC is set up. I expected the fix might work for some and not for others. Its probably why they had all these features disabled.

For reference, I am running a GTX970, Driver Version 10.18.13.6869 on Windows 10. 4K Resolution - 3840 x 2160

[Bananarama]

No worries, I'll just have to live without it.

My specs are: Windows XP, GTX 750Ti @ 1920 x 1200. All sliders maxed, with bloom and flare disabled.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Interesting shader.

The scenario creation gizmo's now have shadows/lighting effects too, or am I mistaken?
Does your shader work globally?

[Bananarama]

The scenario creation gizmo's now have shadows/lighting effects too, or am I mistaken?

The gizmos on my copy have always displayed shadows - at least most do that I'm aware.

[wacampbell]

For those who are experiencing the banding problem described above,here is a version of the shader that enables screen space ambient occlusion, but reverts out the shadow bias and cascade blending fixes. Its too bad we can't make those shadow fixes work for everybody, but SSAO on its own is a nice improvement if your PC has the grunt to run it.

http://www3.telus.net/wacampbell/downloads/RailworksSSAO.zip


Wayne