Hello,

I'm trying to setup my new system so I can see that nice shinny water. When I look in the video options screen in IL2, I don't see the 'perfect' setting for landscape and such. I have an NVidia GTS250 vcard. Any ideas?

Thanks.

Posted this a few times before but it aplies to you also,
It should give you the best posible graphics for this game,
Just edit your Conf.ini file like this:

The Following is for NVIDIA (8 series and later) cards Only:


Set everything in the nVidia controle pannel to Default/nVidia recomended...

Than edit these into your OpenGL section of the Conf.ini file:

[Render_OpenGL]
TexQual=3
TexMipFilter=3
TexCompress=0
TexFlags.UseDither=1
TexFlags.UseAlpha=0
TexFlags.UseIndex=0
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=0
TexFlags.UseClampedSprites=0
TexFlags.DrawLandByTriangles=0
TexFlags.UseVertexArrays=1
TexFlags.DisableAPIExtensions=0
TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1
TexFlags.VertexArrayExt=1
TexFlags.ClipHintExt=0
TexFlags.UsePaletteExt=0
TexFlags.TexAnisotropicExt=1
TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=0

TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=1
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=1
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=1
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=1

HardwareShaders=1

Shadows=2
Specular=2
SpecularLight=2
DiffuseLight=2
DynamicalLights=1
MeshDetail=2
VisibilityDistance=3

Sky=2
Forest=3
LandShading=3
LandDetails=2
LandGeom=3
TexLarge=1
TexLandQual=3
TexLandLarge=1

VideoSetupId=17
Water=4
Effects=2
ForceShaders1x=0

PolygonOffsetFactor=-0.15
PolygonOffsetUnits=-3.0


After doing that Do NOT go into the games own Video settings or it will overwrite these changes again.

In the nVidia Controle pannel under the profile for IL2 set these ONLY, leave all others default!

Antialiasing - Mode = Override any application setting
Antialiasing - Setting = 16xQ (or lower if it impacts performance to much)
Antialiasing - Transparency = Supersampling

Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration = Use global setting(Multiple display performance mode)
You can try to set this to "Single" if you still have problems.

changing anything else than those to anything other than Default/Recomended might only give (more) glitches or/and slow down performance.
All the other settings are set in the Conf.ini and could conflict with the nVidia controle pannel settings.

As far as i know these are the best posible settings for the new nVidia cards so i hope these work for you also.

p.s. dont forget before edeting the Conf.ini file to make sure you have OpenGL selected in IL2 Setup.

Thanks NDS, I was messing around with the config file and somehow things got screwed up. I've got the nice water now but I have to keep water at 0 in the conf.ini or I get crummy frame rates 10-12 using fraps), I should be getting better than that with my rig (E8500 based). I'll fiddle around some more and try your settings.

Thanks again,

Hi,

I'm still getting low frame rates with perfect water. I'm currently running a 22"LCD in 1680X1050 screen resolution with all video options maxxed out.

Oh well, the fiddling continues...

Have you turned multithreaded optimization off in the nvidia control panel?

You can also try lowering the resolution a little bit to whats still acceptable to you.

What are your settings in now in the nVidia controle pannel?

Hello all,

Urufu_Shinjiro,

I currently have it set to 'auto', one of my squad mates said that with the latest NVidia drivers it can be selected to 'auto' or 'on' but I will try turning it off.

Nds_Camp.,

My settings are the ones you recommended, i.e.:

Antialiasing - Mode = Override any application setting
Antialiasing - Setting = 16xQ (or lower if it impacts performance to much)
Antialiasing - Transparency = Supersampling

I will try a different antialiasing setting and I was thinking of changing my screen resolution to 1280X1024, which is what I was using with my old 19" CRT. Barring that I will try one of IL2's native resolutions. I will also try turning off some of the processes that run in my XP setup using Game Booster.

Thanks again for all the advice, I'm sure I'll get to the bottom of it. I'll keep you posted.

Try dropping AA to 8x and lower the resolution to 1280x800 (same ratio (16:10) as 1680X1050)

Do Not set the Native IL2 Resolution trough setup, that will not only chenge the resolution but reset the whole Conf.ini file to dafault.

Just change the resolution in the Conf.ini like this, (but you probably already know that)

[window]
width=1280 <-put wanted resolution here
height=800 <-put wanted resolution here
ColourBits=32
DepthBits=24
StencilBits=8
ChangeScreenRes=1 <-has to be 1 to set other than screens native resolution
FullScreen=1
DrawIfNotFocused=0
EnableResize=0
EnableClose=1
SaveAspect=0 <-has to be 0 to change the resolution to anything other than 4:3 ratio
Use3Renders=0

Cool, thanks, I'll give it a try.

Hi,

Well, I think I've figured out the video settings for my rig. Rolling back the driver (the latest Nvidia driver was causing the game to crash after a few minutes), setting water to 0 and using the following conf.ini settings:

[Render_OpenGL]
TexQual=3
TexMipFilter=3
TexCompress=0
TexFlags.UseDither=0
TexFlags.UseAlpha=0
TexFlags.UseIndex=0
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=1
TexFlags.UseClampedSprites=0
TexFlags.DrawLandByTriangles=1
TexFlags.UseVertexArrays=1
TexFlags.DisableAPIExtensions=0
TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1
TexFlags.VertexArrayExt=1
TexFlags.ClipHintExt=0
TexFlags.UsePaletteExt=0
TexFlags.TexAnisotropicExt=0
TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=0
TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=1
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=1
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=1
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=1

HardwareShaders=1

Shadows=2
Specular=2
SpecularLight=2
DiffuseLight=2
DynamicalLights=1
MeshDetail=2
VisibilityDistance=3


Sky=2
Forest=2
LandShading=3
LandDetails=2
LandGeom=2
TexLarge=1
TexLandQual=3
TexLandLarge=1

VideoSetupId=17
Water=0
Effects=2
ForceShaders1x=0

PolygonOffsetFactor=-0.15
PolygonOffsetUnits=-3.0

With my AA set to 16X, supersampling on, threaded optimization and vert sync both off, my fps is now in excess of 100 at 1680X1050 with all the other settings maxxed out. All I'm really missing is land and object reflections in the water. I can live with that.

To be more precise, with water set to 0, in perfect mode I still get the nice glassy water effect, just no reflections from nearby ground or objects like ships.

An fps rate of 100+ does seem a bit excessive, but I tested it on several maps using the 'fps START SHOW' command in the game console. Actually the average fps rate was in the 150-160 range, and the visuals were very smooth.

Oh well, as long as it works

Hold on...

nVidia driver 191.07 crashes the game after a while?

And you get a FPS over 100 with Water=0 but if you set it to 3 or 4 you get FPS thats unplayable?

Did you actualy copie my Conf.ini settings (all of them) exactly and tried those?

And could you post your DXdiag here please?

My game would crash to windows desktop after about eight minutes, (I actually timed it over a dozen times and it would crash within 30 secs of 8 mins, weird ), whether using my 4.09 or mod installation. When I rolled the driver (191.07) back to the one that came with my vid card, (the version escapes me now), I instantly got a minimum 10% fps increase using water 2 and up using your settings (fps is 18-29). I then tried water=0 and got that huge fps increase. Don't ask me how because I don't get it either, those fps rates seem a bit, um, suspect but the visuals have never been smoother with landscape set to 'perfect'.

Unfortunately I will be away from my desktop computer for the next week but I will post my dxdiag, conf.ini, IL2 video settings and Nvidia control panel settings when I get back.

The only thing i see is the the first bit of what you posted from your Conf.ini is incorrect and this could be the reason why you get isues from running Water=3 or 4, thats why i asked if you exactly copied what i posted.

Example: TexFlags.UseDither=0 that needs to be 0 to get Perfect Water working.

The 191.07 drivers are the best drivers for IL2 we have had in a while IMO with OpenGL 3.2, so i really dont get it why its crashing your game, unless you have set something wrong in the Conf.ini or the nVidia Controle pannel.

Hi NDS_Camp.,

It's all very weird. All I know is when I was using the latest drivers my game would kick me back into Windows after about eight minutes. I checked my temps and everything running under 55C.

Running the game with the settings you suggested produced slightly improved frame rates than the generic IL2 and NVidia settings but nothing more than 27-29fps with perfect water set to anything more than 0. Add some explosions and the frame rates drop below 20.

I spent some time troubleshooting with members of my squad who are more knowledgeable about these things and from what I understand it's possible that the latest video drivers were somehow incompatible with my vcard/motherboard combination. In the case of a conflict between the cpu and gpu IL2 is dumped to prevent further problems. Both are Asus products so I decided to go back the the oem drivers supplied with the hardware. The settings you recommend might not be the best ones for my rig although there is no logical reason why that I can see.

The thing that makes me scratch my head is that with perfect water set to anything other than 0 I get a lovely picture but crummy frame rates. I suspect it's some minor setting in the the IL2 video options in the setup screen where you make custom settings for the vcard that is conflicting with the Nvidia control panel settings.

As you can imagine, it's a rather slow process of changing one thing then testing it, rinsing and repeating.

Did you try water =2 or 3 with Effects =1? Effects=2 can bring even the fastest rigs down sometimes.

quote:

Originally posted by Urufu_Shinjiro:
Did you try water =2 or 3 with Effects =1? Effects=2 can bring even the fastest rigs down sometimes.

Water=2 is for ATI cards only.

Effects=2 enhances explosion and splash effects, so it should only be a problem if there are shell/bomb splashes in the water, or shell/bomb impacts on the ground/village etc.

I use water=2 with my 8800gts 512 just fine, I in fact prefer it to water=3 or 4. ATI is limited to water =0,1,or 2, that does not mean that water=1 or 2 is exclusive to ATI.

quote:

Originally posted by Urufu_Shinjiro:
I use water=2 with my 8800gts 512 just fine, I in fact prefer it to water=3 or 4. ATI is limited to water =0,1,or 2, that does not mean that water=1 or 2 is exclusive to ATI.

0 is water with no reflections etc.
1 is water with simple reflections and wave shadows.
2 is as of 4.03 with detailed reflections, wave shadows foam wave crests (depending on weather) and Hardware shader rendering optimized for ATI cards
3 is as of 4.03 same as 2 but with Vertex Shader 3.0 Optimized for nVidia cards.
4 is the same as 3 but with enhanced Vertex Shader 3.0 effects for nVidia cards.

So 2 will run on an nVidia card also but i doubt it will give a big FPS increase compaired to 3.

It also might be that the new ATI cards like the HD series can run 3 and 4 also but so far i have not been able to test it.



@Sillius_Sodus:
Copie my settings and try with Water=3 And Effecs=1, i think that should give you an FPS of 40~50, wich is more than enough for smooth gameplay.

Thanks NDS_Camp, I'll try that.

Water=0 does give you reflections and that 'shiny' look to the waves, just no reflections from land or objects. The waves are also a bit less detailed.

A steady 40-50 fps should be good, will that rate hold up when flying over forests and cities in landscape 'perfect' mode?