R2:TW GEM - Graphic Enhancement Mod (obsolate)

[Hoplitus]

Hi, some one of you maybe have random setting from G.E.M before Emperor Edytion ? i want effect like on screenshots here http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...5/screenshots/ sory i dont have better screenshots :/


and sorry for my bad English

Hi! No I don't have any old setting but there are tons of presets of older versions in the SweetFX folder in your Rome 2 folder. But I think you must copy and paste their values by hand because Lucifer added some completly new values to the GEMsettings.txt.
On the other hand you could also tweak the GEMsettings.txt yourself, you should get a similar effect like on the screenshots by using the realistic filter, reducing the saturation (GSat) and GTBright a bit and maybe increasing the shadow depth (GShadowDepth).
Hope this helps a little

@Luficfer:

Great update, didn't encounter any wierd BM so far. The new GClearvision value seems to be a great addition (could you maybe explain a little what it actually does, I am eager to know, for someone who doesn't understand much about graphical work )

Some screens (all default GEMsettings with truecolor shader):

First custom-test battle (winter region of Syracuse):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Maybe it's just me but I think those Amor and Shields look much better now

And a battle in region of Koria (alpine pass in Summer):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Also love the enviormental wind looks really good. Really much thx for eveything

[AstroCat]

Kind of dark, no? Just curious why? Does this look correct?

This is a battle during the Winter at Trapezos.

GEM off, NO GEM environment

GEM on, NO GEM environment

GEM on, AZTEC environment

GEM on, GEM environment

[The Gravemind]

From my testing of various battle maps on different locations around the main campaign map I say that the general lighting needs to be increased on most maps. GEM environments is making the game far too dark and very unrealistic looking due to how dark things are.

Spring: Spring to me should give off a fresh semi bright tone of color and new life. Perhaps a white light based color with regards to the sun and a general light ambiance. The Steppe and Dacian maps seem to be alright however their brightness could increase a litte. The Italian and Mediterranean maps are just far too dark foe 20 gamma and 12 brightness. Spring Desert maps are also very dark.

Summer: Summer maps are generally ok in the desert regions, Northern European maps and the Steppes. The Mediterranean maps still are far too dark. The time of day does not seem to match the coloring at all as all the maps in this region look very dim and unlit with extremely dark terrain.

Autumn: Autumn is just way too dark all across the board. I cannot enjoy the nice changing leaves since every map looks like someone threw a dark shade over the sun and the shadows are very dark. Just very dim all around and visually dissatisfying.

Winter: Winter is very good on the regions that have snow. It is a nice cold but bright color which reflects how the terrain would actually look. I too have what AstroCat has in the Mediterranean and Desert regions. It doesn't give off a cold vibe, it just looks dark. As if all the light has been sucked out. Way too gloomy for default settings of GEM in my opinion.

Aztec's Lighting mod does a generally good job of reflecting the lighting of maps however I think it overbrightens some maps completely removing shadows and creating a sort of hazy look. I also think it has too much of an orange filter which doesnt fit Rome II's aesthetics for me personally. Just my two cents on the latest GEM!

[Ganossa]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I am glad there seems no need for fixes but rather tweaks so we get a result everyone likes

I will explain, showing the trapezos pictures of each season so you can also see the differences.

Winter
I do not know your (astrocat) settings but on default mine are much brighter than yours. CA's winter pattern is showing the end/start of a winter day. The sun is in front of us which means with GEMFX, facing the sun makes objects seem darker. If we would face the other way, we would see a much brighter BM.

However, I will see what I can do to brighten it up a bit.

Autumn
The sun comes from behind here. CA's pattern shows almost sunset that is why it is darker than it would maybe look during mid-day. Remember, CA took out all but one pattern with EE so until we get an update or create other patterns we have to stick with one for each season and weather condition (there are some exceptions).

I might make it also a little brighter but have to see how it works out.

Summer
It seems that the summer BMs differ a bit so I agree that this one could be a bit brighter (especially shadows). However, I saw other summer BMs that are much brighter so I have to first evaluate on that. Again, sun is coming from the front here and the CA pattern shows something between 6 and 7 pm.


Spring
At least in this one spring seems fine to me. I will check on other areas but note again, we are facing the sun here.

[mikea4]

Sorry if this has been posted before, I attempted looking through this entire thread for someone with the same issue, but I did not come up with anything. Since I upgraded to a new computer with windows 8.1, I've been having this weird glitch when using this mod. If I change the graphics settings at all on the battle map, or if the game Alt-Tabs out for some reason, my screen appears to zoom in entirely way too much, and the only way to exit the game is to alt-F4 out. This is what it looks like.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Most likely it is just an incompatibility with windows 8.1, but I haven't seen anyone else reporting it, so I'm not sure if it is just something on my end. The only mods I have are G.E.M and DEI, so I don't think it would be anything with that. I've also made sure to download only the windows 8.1 version. I haven't altered any of the files that come with G.E.M, so I'm baffled as to what is causing this issue for me.

thanks in advance for any help.

[Ganossa]

Great update, didn't encounter any wierd BM so far. The new GClearvision value seems to be a great addition (could you maybe explain a little what it actually does, I am eager to know, for someone who doesn't understand much about graphical work )

Some screens (all default GEMsettings with truecolor shader):
Also love the enviormental wind looks really good. Really much thx for eveything

I alienated a sharpening algorithm to add artificial texture detail in an older version (GEMv3 I think). However, some people do not like the grainy look on textures and tried to get rid of it with presets (which was not entirely possible). To make it easier I added the GClearVision value now which disable the previously added feature.

I noticed it is suggested to enable AA in game. Is this necessary considering GEM does it's own AA? And if it is necessary, would Nvidia control panel do it better? Thanks ahead of time!

Also, can the same be said for SSAO? I normally run GEM SSAO on and game SSAO off, does it matter?

In-game AA and GEM's AA do not conflict. About the Nvidia forced AA and in-game AA I cannot say other than it wont conflict with GEM's AA either, since I do not have a computer with Nvidia graphics card You need to test those yourself.

Sorry if this has been posted before, I attempted looking through this entire thread for someone with the same issue, but I did not come up with anything. Since I upgraded to a new computer with windows 8.1, I've been having this weird glitch when using this mod. If I change the graphics settings at all on the battle map, or if the game Alt-Tabs out for some reason, my screen appears to zoom in entirely way too much, and the only way to exit the game is to alt-F4 out. This is what it looks like.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Most likely it is just an incompatibility with windows 8.1, but I haven't seen anyone else reporting it, so I'm not sure if it is just something on my end. The only mods I have are G.E.M and DEI, so I don't think it would be anything with that. I've also made sure to download only the windows 8.1 version. I haven't altered any of the files that come with G.E.M, so I'm baffled as to what is causing this issue for me.

thanks in advance for any help.

It is a problem with the eFX version and Rome II. Since I am not the creator of eFX but only use it to implement my shaders, there is nothing I can do about it. I think it should be fine when changing settings in the main menu.

[The Gravemind]

Thank you for looking into improving GEM as you always do! Some BM need no changes at all but a few tweaks and improvements here and there wont hurt! I still find it very odd my Depth of Field option hasn't worked since installing GEM all those versions ago. Switching Off, Low, or High has had no effect at all for months now.

[Ganossa]

Thank you for looking into improving GEM as you always do! Some BM need no changes at all but a few tweaks and improvements here and there wont hurt! I still find it very odd my Depth of Field option hasn't worked since installing GEM all those versions ago. Switching Off, Low, or High has had no effect at all for months now.

Even little changes are quiet severe now, so I try to find a way to not alienate it to much...

Have you tried DoF without GEM? They changed quiet a few things, such as you cannot play the game anymore with dx9. Do you use win8.1 or win7?

[The Gravemind]

Even little changes are quiet severe now, so I try to find a way to not alienate it to much...

Have you tried DoF without GEM? They changed quiet a few things, such as you cannot play the game anymore with dx9. Do you use win8.1 or win7?

I use Windows 7 and run the game on DX10 or 11 as I believe.

[Ganossa]

I use Windows 7 and run the game on DX10 or 11 as I believe.

Same as me. I do not know of any DoF issue so far.

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

Reworked the shadows in italian summer to look more realistic, though the environment now looks to bright at times...

[chrisssj2]

Sorry if this has been asked before. but cant read 340 pages. need confirmation.

GEMSteamInstaller
R2-TW-GEMv60-HD-eFX

Installed these 2 with the emperor edition at rome total war 2 folder.
Window 8.1.

Then in options u cant use depth of field or disable shadows? not recommended?

I ask because shadows impact performance the most and I don't deem as necessary as much. And I noticed depth of field disabled...

[Ganossa]

Sorry if this has been asked before. but cant read 340 pages. need confirmation.

GEMSteamInstaller
R2-TW-GEMv60-HD-eFX

Installed these 2 with the emperor edition at rome total war 2 folder.
Window 8.1.

Then in options u cant use depth of field or disable shadows? not recommended?

I ask because shadows impact performance the most and I don't deem as necessary as much. And I noticed depth of field disabled...

I answered you already on the previous page

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

almost there, just a little less bright .oO

[AstroCat]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I am glad there seems no need for fixes but rather tweaks so we get a result everyone likes

I will explain, showing the trapezos pictures of each season so you can also see the differences.

I am using your default (Blur and Filmgrain off) settings for the tests. But I tried the map using a Custom battle and got the same results as you, I do think it's a little too dark still though. But, in my campaign I have a battle there, and on the start of the battle it's Fog condition so I wait 1 turn, the Fog goes away and then it's Dry condition so I start the battle and the map is too dark like my screenshot. Any ideas?

[Ferdiad]

Where's the download in the OP.

[Ganossa]

I am using your default (Blur and Filmgrain off) settings for the tests. But I tried the map using a Custom battle and got the same results as you, I do think it's a little too dark still though. But, in my campaign I have a battle there, and on the start of the battle it's Fog condition so I wait 1 turn, the Fog goes away and then it's Dry condition so I start the battle and the map is too dark like my screenshot. Any ideas?

Well, fog is definitly darker for obvious reasons but what you described sounds more like a vanilla bug. I will try to make it a little brighter though but have to see if its worth the sacrifices (if there will be any)

Where's the download in the OP.

Optional files setting if you mean the stand alone version.

[Stoferr]

These are some nice changes LuciferHawk! This has been my no 1. mod since the first version till this day! However I have a question, I just bought a 4K display, and since Win 7 doesnt scale too well, I've had to also "upgrade" to Win 8.1. Well, it could be worse, but I would like to know how updated the Win 8 version of GEM is compared to the Win 7 version? I just hope im not missing too much

[Ninjaheman]

In-game AA and GEM's AA do not conflict. About the Nvidia forced AA and in-game AA I cannot say other than it wont conflict with GEM's AA either, since I do not have a computer with Nvidia graphics card You need to test those yourself.

Do we get better results if we use both GEM AA and game AA methods together? Or is one or the other all we need? Sometimes it's hard for me to see any difference but I am curious to know if quality goes up at all using both.

[Ninjaheman]

These are some nice changes LuciferHawk! This has been my no 1. mod since the first version till this day! However I have a question, I just bought a 4K display, and since Win 7 doesnt scale too well, I've had to also "upgrade" to Win 8.1. Well, it could be worse, but I would like to know how updated the Win 8 version of GEM is compared to the Win 7 version? I just hope im not missing too much

I don't think there is a difference really. Although I am not certain. I use it and my game looks amazing.

[Ganossa]

These are some nice changes LuciferHawk! This has been my no 1. mod since the first version till this day! However I have a question, I just bought a 4K display, and since Win 7 doesnt scale too well, I've had to also "upgrade" to Win 8.1. Well, it could be worse, but I would like to know how updated the Win 8 version of GEM is compared to the Win 7 version? I just hope im not missing too much

You will miss a few features in the Win7 version, since I cannot really controle the binary which is eFX. It would be almost the same as using SweetFX in Win7 instead of GEM (though more powerfull). I would always recommend using the Win7 version but it is up to you guys

Do we get better results if we use both GEM AA and game AA methods together? Or is one or the other all we need? Sometimes it's hard for me to see any difference but I am curious to know if quality goes up at all using both.

You need GEM AA anyway to apply most of the shaders. Combining GEM AA with any other AA can only give you better results not really make it worse.

[Pupunishernc]

Hi! No I don't have any old setting but there are tons of presets of older versions in the SweetFX folder in your Rome 2 folder. But I think you must copy and paste their values by hand because Lucifer added some completly new values to the GEMsettings.txt.
On the other hand you could also tweak the GEMsettings.txt yourself, you should get a similar effect like on the screenshots by using the realistic filter, reducing the saturation (GSat) and GTBright a bit and maybe increasing the shadow depth (GShadowDepth).
Hope this helps a little

@Luficfer:

Great update, didn't encounter any wierd BM so far. The new GClearvision value seems to be a great addition (could you maybe explain a little what it actually does, I am eager to know, for someone who doesn't understand much about graphical work )

Some screens (all default GEMsettings with truecolor shader):

First custom-test battle (winter region of Syracuse):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Maybe it's just me but I think those Amor and Shields look much better now

And a battle in region of Koria (alpine pass in Summer):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Also love the enviormental wind looks really good. Really much thx for eveything

How I can find the truecolor shader please!? I love screenshots in the region of Koria, is so beautiful.