Simviation Forum - Bloom is not functioning

Reply #15 - May 6^th, 2010 at 12:16pm

FridayChild Offline
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I've already double checked all these hints.

One by one:

In order to work, the bloom module absolutely needs DirectX9 to be completely up-to-date with the various updates from Microsoft.
And it is: I have installed the latest "refresh" runtimes, as I always do (I'm an update-freak!) Wink

Also, the bloom will not work if the video card is too weak, or if it doesn't have enough video memory onboard,
As you can see from my signature, I have got a very strong video card with a current chipset and 1 GB of VRAM.

or if the AntiAliasing is set too high.
It's set to 4x, a value which I believe almost all flight simmers use. Sad

So the reason must be something else. It could be the CPU, but in this case the problem is probably not the fact that it's single core or that it's fairly slow, because it appears that other users were/are using the bloom with a similar CPU. Perhaps an Athlon64-only problem?
Please consider also that I was getting the exact same problem with my old video card, an NVidia 6600GT; nothing has changed when I changed the card, the bloom still turns my sim into a beautiful frozen screenshot.

But first of all, the version I was using is older than the one on SimV, I'll try that and keep you posted about the outcome.

Thanks

Founder of A.A.A.A.A.A.A. (Aircraft Amateurs' Association Against Absurd Aviation Acronyms) My system specifications: FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2004 - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ CPU - 3 GB PC-3200 DDR400 dual channel RAM - 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm SATA-II hard disk - Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1 GB PCI-E graphic card - Logitech Wingman Force 3D joystick + Logitech Formula Force pedals My FS whereabouts: low and slow, small single engine prop GA, Italy airfields.

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Reply #16 - May 6^th, 2010 at 12:35pm

FridayChild Offline
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Oop-la, I've tested and here I am again.
Soo.... the new version solved the problem!
Meaning that... NOW I HAVE NO BLOOM AT ALL Grin

Exactly like the guy who started the thread. Default ini file, shift+f12 is not assigned to anything, directx up to date, powerful video card... and no bloom Sad

Founder of A.A.A.A.A.A.A. (Aircraft Amateurs' Association Against Absurd Aviation Acronyms) My system specifications: FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2004 - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ CPU - 3 GB PC-3200 DDR400 dual channel RAM - 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm SATA-II hard disk - Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1 GB PCI-E graphic card - Logitech Wingman Force 3D joystick + Logitech Formula Force pedals My FS whereabouts: low and slow, small single engine prop GA, Italy airfields.

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Reply #17 - May 6^th, 2010 at 7:00pm

Daube Offline
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Now this is really strange...
When you press SHIFT+F12, you don't see anything happening ? Not even a little screen flash or something like that ?
Also, how does the [EFFECT] section of the ini file looks like ? Can you confirm only the bloom parameter is set to 1 ?

Got bloom ?
Got mountains ?
Got damage ?

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Reply #18 - May 7^th, 2010 at 2:47am

FridayChild Offline
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Daube wrote on May 6^th, 2010 at 7:00pm:

Now this is really strange...
When you press SHIFT+F12, you don't see anything happening ? Not even a little screen flash or something like that ?
Also, how does the [EFFECT] section of the ini file looks like ? Can you confirm only the bloom parameter is set to 1 ?

When I press SHIFT+12, nothing happens at all.
The .INI file is the one packed in the download from Simviation: the bloom parameter and the shadow parameter are set to 1, the rest is set to 0. I'll paste the [EFFECT] section here for convenience:

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

EDIT: I've found Boris Vorontsov's ENBSeries website: http://enbdev.com/index_en.html
In the download section, I cannot find a specific Flight Simulator version of the filter (does this mean it was adapted to FS by someone else?), but in turn I can find *two* DLL files belonging to DirectX9: the first (d3dx9_26) is the one provided with the Simviation package, and then there's another one (d3dx9_40)... do I need both? I'm confused... Shocked

PPS: anyway... there's an illustrated drivers setting section in his website, since he appears to have an ATI too I might copy his settings and see if it makes any difference, if I'll be able to understand what dobro kraniska woznich dnepro means Grin

« Last Edit: May 7^th, 2010 at 7:04am by FridayChild »

Founder of A.A.A.A.A.A.A. (Aircraft Amateurs' Association Against Absurd Aviation Acronyms) My system specifications: FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2004 - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ CPU - 3 GB PC-3200 DDR400 dual channel RAM - 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm SATA-II hard disk - Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1 GB PCI-E graphic card - Logitech Wingman Force 3D joystick + Logitech Formula Force pedals My FS whereabouts: low and slow, small single engine prop GA, Italy airfields.

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Reply #19 - May 7^th, 2010 at 11:35am

FridayChild Offline
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OK guys, now I'm REALLY confused.
I've searched this forum and found this thread...
It seems that the two files I mentioned before are simply *additional* files which must be present in the root folder *in case they aren't in the system folder alread*..
Then there is a DLL file which is supposed to be the actual effect file, and finally an INI file.
Am I correct?
Then... where's the DLL effect file in the SimV download? It's not there! There is one of the two DirectX DLL files instead...
Huh

If I am right and the SimV download is missing one or more files... which one of the files available for download from the ENBSeries web site is the one that is supposed to work in FS? The one for GTA San Andreas?

Founder of A.A.A.A.A.A.A. (Aircraft Amateurs' Association Against Absurd Aviation Acronyms) My system specifications: FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2004 - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ CPU - 3 GB PC-3200 DDR400 dual channel RAM - 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm SATA-II hard disk - Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1 GB PCI-E graphic card - Logitech Wingman Force 3D joystick + Logitech Formula Force pedals My FS whereabouts: low and slow, small single engine prop GA, Italy airfields.

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Reply #20 - May 7^th, 2010 at 11:51am

Rocket_Bird Offline
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Its simply about dumping the two files into your FS folder. To my knowledge, you don't have to put anything in the system folder, just your FS folder.

The one I use is the one for GTA San Andreas, I believe, since there is a little red text that pops up every time I start FS that mentions "GTA San Andreas." You can try this link also for downloading EMB: http://realenvironmentxtreme.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=7467.0;at...

Cheers,
RB

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Reply #21 - May 7^th, 2010 at 12:21pm

FridayChild Offline
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OK... SOLVED!

Let's state some facts now:

FACT #1: the download on SimV (the one linked by ShaneG) is BROKEN. It does not contain the actual effect file, which is supposed to be called d3d9.dll and to be authored by mr. Vorontsov

FACT#2: there are many different d3d9.dll files around, and some of them have the same version number (1.0.0.1 for example) but they are NOT identical, and work in a different way (for example, one of the files I tried, downloaded from Vorontsov's site, had the effect of disabling all the textures)

FACT#3: as a matter of fact, at least in my case, the file provided by Rocket_Bird actually WORKS, the effect can be switched on with SHIFT+F12 and it has very little performance hit.

So THANK YOU VERY MUCH Rocket for your decisive help, and I hope this solves the problem for someone else too.

Founder of A.A.A.A.A.A.A. (Aircraft Amateurs' Association Against Absurd Aviation Acronyms) My system specifications: FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2004 - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ CPU - 3 GB PC-3200 DDR400 dual channel RAM - 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm SATA-II hard disk - Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1 GB PCI-E graphic card - Logitech Wingman Force 3D joystick + Logitech Formula Force pedals My FS whereabouts: low and slow, small single engine prop GA, Italy airfields.

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Reply #22 - May 7^th, 2010 at 4:14pm

Rocket_Bird Offline
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I'm glad this worked for you

Happy flying!

Cheers,
RB

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Reply #23 - May 8^th, 2010 at 6:32am

Daube Offline
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FridayChild wrote on May 7^th, 2010 at 12:21pm:

OK... SOLVED!

Let's state some facts now:

FACT #1: the download on SimV (the one linked by ShaneG) is BROKEN. It does not contain the actual effect file, which is supposed to be called d3d9.dll and to be authored by mr. Vorontsov

FACT#2: there are many different d3d9.dll files around, and some of them have the same version number (1.0.0.1 for example) but they are NOT identical, and work in a different way (for example, one of the files I tried, downloaded from Vorontsov's site, had the effect of disabling all the textures)

FACT#3: as a matter of fact, at least in my case, the file provided by Rocket_Bird actually WORKS, the effect can be switched on with SHIFT+F12 and it has very little performance hit.

So THANK YOU VERY MUCH Rocket for your decisive help, and I hope this solves the problem for someone else too.

Ah yes, that story about the incomplete archive at Simviation reminds me of something, now that you mention it...

Glad to see you could solve the problem. You guessed right, there are no FS-dedicated version of the bloom module, we use the one made for GTA San Andreas in fact.

So, how is it going, do you get some good visual effects now ?

Got bloom ?
Got mountains ?
Got damage ?

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Reply #24 - May 8^th, 2010 at 11:22am

FridayChild Offline
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Right now, I'm using the INI file Rocket_Bird gave me.
It's set to a very slight effect, very reasonable, I think it enhances the graphics and I haven't noticed a frame hit.
So, the only problem for me now is how to get rid of the horrible shimmering effect of the runways and the taxiways (see other thread).

Founder of A.A.A.A.A.A.A. (Aircraft Amateurs' Association Against Absurd Aviation Acronyms) My system specifications: FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2004 - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ CPU - 3 GB PC-3200 DDR400 dual channel RAM - 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm SATA-II hard disk - Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1 GB PCI-E graphic card - Logitech Wingman Force 3D joystick + Logitech Formula Force pedals My FS whereabouts: low and slow, small single engine prop GA, Italy airfields.

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