Sweet FX for Empire/Napoleon ver 1.3

[yobi_uk]

SweetFX version 1.3 for Total War
After falling in love with Empire Total War at last (I've owned it since it came out) I have used & tested SweetFX on it.

WHY?
If you like more control on visual style/mood of your games this is the tool/mod for you.

WHAT IS SweetFX?
SweetFX is a universal image improvement and tweaking mod,
that works with almost any 32bit DirectX 9, 10 or 11 game or application.

It's goal is to provide similar tools to games in realtime, as video processing software provides for movies and videos.
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This should work for Napoleon Total War too, but I do not own it to test it. As it states, however, it should work for almost any DirectX game. (I use it for many of my games to enhance the visual mood and look.)

I invite you all to try it to either enhance the mood of your games, not just Total War. For those of you creating video clips of your battles, etc this could add those cinematic effects in-game. Do share them with us.

FEATURES:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[LEFT]Effects included:
(I know many of these features are included in-game but you have a more direct control over them.)

* SMAA Anti-aliasing : Anti-aliases the image using the SMAA technique - see http://www.iryoku.com/smaa/
* LumaSharpen : Sharpens the image, making details easier to see
* Bloom : Makes strong lights bleed their light into their surroundings
* HDR : Mimics an HDR tonemapped look
* Technicolor : Makes the image look like it was processed using a three-strip Technicolor process - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technicolor
* Cineon DPX : Makes the image look like it was converted from film to Cineon DPX. Can be used to create a "sunny" look.
* Lift Gamma Gain : Adjust brightness and color of shadows, midtones and highlights (avoids clipping)
* Tonemap : Adjust gamma, exposure, saturation, bleach and defog. (may cause clipping)
* Vibrance : Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation.
* Curves : Contrast adjustments using S-curves.
* Sepia : Sepia tones the image - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepia_tone#Sepia_toning
* Vignette : Darkens the edges of the image to make it look more like it was shot with a camera lens. - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vignetting )
* Dither : Applies dithering to simulate more colors than your monitor can display. This lessens banding artifacts - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditheri...age_processing )
* Splitscreen : Enables the before-and-after splitscreen comparison mode.

INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS WITHIN ZIP FILE. Don't be daunted it's really easy.

============= SweetFX for Total War: =================
INSTALL:
1. COPY/EXTRACT contents of SweetFX zip file into: "steamapps\common\Empire Total War" folder (same folder as the game .exe basically).
2. Copy the tweaked SweetFX_settings.txt into the same folder (overwrite any previous files)

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Inside game, press:
Scroll Lock to toggle on/off,
Pause/Break to reload shaders (useful when editing values for yourself).
Print Screen to capture a screenshot.

****NB: The settings I have used is completely customizable to the user's preference. For me the settings are to my liking and are constantly tweaked when needed.
However, there are instances the settings are visually better looking for land/naval battles and not so much for the campaign map. You can always deactivate the settings by pressing Scroll Lock button. (You are free to amend the settings to your liking.)

You can amend the values in the SweetFX_settings.txt while the game is running by pressing ALT+TAB to switch to the TXT file. Just make sure you reload the shaders by pressing the Pause/Break button.

ESSENTIAL SETTINGS: unnecessary now for SweetFX (only for compiling...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1. In the file "dxgi.fx" and/or "d3d9.fx" you must set the following line to match your in-game resolution:

#define SMAA_PIXEL_SIZE float2(1.0 / 1280.0, 1.0 / 720.0)

2. So if you play the game for example Full HD 1920x1080 replace the line:

#define SMAA_PIXEL_SIZE float2(1.0 / 1280.0, 1.0 / 720.0)

with

#define SMAA_PIXEL_SIZE float2(1.0 / 1920.0, 1.0 / 1080.0)

3. Then click save

Not doing so may result in a CTD.

***ALSO DOWNLOAD TWEAKED SweetFX SETTINGS FOR EMPIRE/NAPOLEON
Copy and paste this in the same folder you've installed SweetFX in (...\steamapps\common\Empire Total War); overwrite the old file.

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UPDATES - After install please follow this...
Empire_TW_settings (4nov12)
1. Copy into your main Empire folder.

2. Open SweetFX_preset.txt file & change the line #include "SweetFX_settings.txt" to #include "Empire_TW_settings.txt"

That's it, you're ready to play.

IMPORTANT NOTICE
It may be necessary to adjust your GAMMA/BRIGHTNESS settings too.
Recommended settings are as follows: GAMMA: 2.0 ; BRIGHTNESS 0.8
(This is especially important to adjust for GUI/Model issues where they appear too bright).

SMAA ver 2.7 update
Please overwrite the old file in ".../SweetFX/Shaders" folder

Credits to CeeJay.dk and Guru3D forum
You can find new releases of SweetFX in it's thread on the Guru3d forums :
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=368880

[yobi_uk]

SCREENSHOTS are a representation of in-game content but some quality may have been loss when converting to web-friendly Jpg format. Therefore, it might be fairly difficult to spot the difference at times from the images shown.

BEFORE

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

AFTER

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The finer details are more sharp...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

OFF


ON

CAMPAIGN MAP

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

You can save/download the images and use IrfanView to view them better to see the changes, it's better to get a back-to-back comparison that way.

[yobi_uk]

RESERVED

RESERVED

[Alf Stewart]

Why the hell say released if this is coming soon, geez, say WIP or something instead

[yobi_uk]

Why the hell say released if this is coming soon, geez, say WIP or something instead

Alright Alfie, keep your knickers on. I planned to put it up at the same time but the missus was nagging to go to bed.

Now just let me pick her up from work

[Flikitos]

Really nice idea! Hope to see your job on that way soon.

[Little Legionaire]

Looking forward to see that mod in action! Good initiative and let us know on progress mate

[Alf Stewart]

Well all I want to know is what the hell does this mod do to the Graphics

[yobi_uk]

Well all I want to know is what the hell does this mod do to the Graphics

You can sharpen the visual look of it and change the mood of the game itself, it allows you to take more control of the in-game shaders/lighting etc.

As I have tested, it has minimal impact on game stability. It doesn't affect texture mods. FPS shouldn't drop significantly.

Screenshots will come soon...honest.

[yobi_uk]

FULLY RELEASED.... I think so anyway.

[Lordsith]

It seems to me the game became too bright

[yobi_uk]

It seems to me the game became too bright

I've made some adjustments, would you mind trying this file for me...

1. Copy into your main Empire folder.

2. Open SweetFX_preset.txt file & change the line #include "SweetFX_settings.txt" to #include "Empire_TW_settings.txt"

[Flikitos]

Post some pics Lordsith or yubi_uk (I am not at home and I can not see what it can do yet).

[Lordsith]

[yobi_uk]

@Lordsith - have you tried amending in-game brightness/gamma.

I play mine on gfx_gamma_setting 2; gfx_brightness_setting 1 (as written in preference file).

I've tried the amended Empire_TW_settings and I don't get that high exposure.

BEFORE --- AFTER

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Lordsith]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[yobi_uk]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Could you tell me your GAMMA / BRIGHTNESS settings?

Would you be using the new Empire_TW_settings?
I've tried this several times and don't experience the high exposure (as in my example several posts before). The bloom effect really is extreme.

[Lordsith]

I use default gamma/brightness.
Yes i use Empire_TW_settings.
What is your PC settings?

[yobi_uk]

I use default gamma/brightness.
Yes i use Empire_TW_settings.
What is your PC settings?

I'm away my rig at the moment, but I believe my settings are as follows:
- GAMMA 2.0
- BRIGHTNESS 0.8



@et al : what is everyone else experiencing? Could we get some feedback please.

@Lordsith: have you also amended the SweetFX_preset.txt entry as stated in the OP?

[Lordsith]

No, i changed anything. Just follow your instructions and run the game