STARS MOD (standalone too) works fine with version 6.0 of the game and is required for XRSGE mod or can be used alone STARS MOD FOR VANILLA GAME IS FINISHED, NO UPDATES ARE NEEDED. YOU NEED TO UPDATE ONLY IF USING MY OTHER MOD XRSGE
LATEST RESHADE is also available to download This version is the latest, there is only one preset. STARS_dimm.ini I've implemented a better version of ANTIALISING. It works better than vanilla AA and SAO. It does not reduce the brightness of stars and is very effective indoor, the only trade-off is for the writings (UI set at 0.8 is good). My Reshade requires that game's AA and SSAO are OFF. Shadows and AA are managed by reshade. This also helps older gf cards and has a better result and better overall fps performance.
Hey man, I'm back after a few years (last playthrough I did I believe we were in lockdown ) and I'm currently remodding my game from scratch, eager to give it another go with a few new DLCs... and of course your skyboxes and textures: thanks for keeping this up this long and expanding on it, it's still a must have.
Was wondering one thing: have you tried DLAA (DLSS implementation with no upscale) as an AA method? I've been doing a few experiments in a couple sectors (with the latest DLSS dll downloaded from Techpowerup), and it seems to do a pretty great job without dimming the stars much (if at all). But I haven't tested it very thoroughly yet. What have been your impressions on it?
Other than that, I've been trying your reshade too: might be that my monitor is already quite contrasted and bright, but I had to almost halve your brightness/contrast sliders as to me it looked a bit too harsh. Other than that, pretty awesome! I lowered ambient light a tad as well, but that's just personal preference: it looks great and cinematic when looking at ships, but it made some atmosphere halos around planets too bright imo.
Anyway, thanks! Couldn't imagine playing without this mod <3
Thank you :) Even after upgrading to a more than capable rx 7800 xt I keep any AA off. They all make the objects look even more plastic and stars less vibrant. I add the AA in AMD panel as override but I don't think it is used by Vulkan. Btw I've made another Reshade preset that is less strong since I prefer to change the colors in AMD panel (+contrast -saturation +warmer light color), so aliasing is not strong at 1440. Will upload it.. I don't know about the dLLS, thanks for informing, I will look for it.
Yep, from what I've read I believe they just implemented DLSS with v. 7.60. It's usually meant for gaining FPS by AI upscaling, but its "neutral" setting with no upscaling, DLAA, is basically just doing AI antialiasing, so - when it's well implemented - it can differentiate between things, smoothing jaggies where it should while leaving details alone (or even re-create via AI details that are lost). I've read that 7.60 didn't ship with the latest Nvidia .dll and I updated it manually as I'm used to do in other games like CP77: I've made a few first quick comparisons in sectors like Mars or Argon Prime (pretty much just starting sectors, as I check the mods I'm installing) on the starry backgrounds and honestly couldn't see much difference. Compared to MSAA8/TAA it also seems to reduce the plastic look, but a downside I guess is it sometimes it makes certain far things a tad too crisp (things that would be supposed to look a bit fuzzy due to light reflection/aberration it sharpens on mistake).
First example I tried yesterday to check on the background stars and small, far away objects (1440p before using reshade):
No AA
DLAA
MSAA8
TAA
SSAA4
You can tell it botches that asteroid in the top right a bit, but the light on the borders of the windshield is much less aliased (on par with SSAA4 at a fraction of the performance hit), and compared to MSAA the station is crisp and detailed without being flattened by the light. TAA is decent on the station, but still flattens it a bit, while SSAA does a great job, but both of these kinda noticeably dim the starfield, which doesn't happen as much in MSAA. Being AI, where it "understands" it's a starfield and some stars might have been dimmed a bit, DLSS instead kind of strengthens some back to match the overall balance of the original. This can lead to some artefacts, but at first look it seems to me it gets results comparable to super sampling - even better at times like on avoiding dimming - and for nvidia users the performance hit is pretty much negligible. Unfortunately, it's indeed nvidia exclusive, so yeah, it's a gimmick only half the players are gonna be able to toy with.
Indeed on pics it seems to not change much, but I more trust what you see on screen and report, since pictures always loose the details no matter the encoding. Every some time I play Rebirth, to also take inspiration for my XRSGE mod and am blown by how much better and "spacey" everything looks despite the old DX9. Yes the engine is old and you see it, but damn the art direction was tons better, stations looking metallic and lights being "real". Then I start X4, it looks ...better, but seems a cartoon to me. Well..I uploaded all the reshade settings I made, I currently use the Experimental one, if you want to give a try. Basically similar to the previous but I worked on the single colors to achieve a more simplistic coloring that, to my eyes, better resembles a spacey lightning. And a sepia to further reduce the "lego look" ^_^
Woah, tried you Experimental ini and... it's definitely its own thing, totally new feeling. At first glance the amount of sepia and desaturation made it look kinda like a vintage filter! :P But in some framings it does indeed resemble some cinematic space-y looks. Gonna tinker with it a bit, as I believe it's too extreme of a shift to my eyes (it's all about habit, though), but the idea is intriguing: thanks!
Also I use it on top of a color correction I set in the AMD panel of white color: 5600 or 6000 (default is 6400 which is too blue), then a contrast of 132/100 and desaturation of 72/100. AMD panel corrections are "free", they take not a single fps, well...not that the 7800 xt suffers from reshade, indeed it changes nothing. Ii is an habit I had before when using the RX 580 that suffered from Reshade. Ayway that can be used for a final touch on top of Experimental
Hey, quick question: how serious are the DLC requirements? Does the mod straight up not work if I don't own all DLC listed, or can I use and just won't get to see the stuff for the DLC I don't own?
Reason I ask is 'cuz I simply cannot afford the ~50+€ the missing DLC would cost me, so I was hoping it might be a soft requirement..?
No crash will occur but some planet could be missing textures. While I used a lot of new textures, when possible I re-used some dlc's ones to avoid bloated files. Especially terran textures.
Thanks for the quick reply... guess I'll rather wait til someone might gift me a DLC or two... or they go on deeper sale. Love your work either way, thanks for putting in the effort!
In Rolk's Demise was it intended for the brown dwarf to be swapped out for a translucent blue planet? I assume its a bug since the glow is still red. This is in the vanilla map by the way, not Expanse.
I don't know why somebody has this glitch, it was reported in the bug section too. I started a new game with STARS only and have not. Do other people see that? I can try repacking the entire mod (it had several updates). Also new changes by egosoft can cause some textures not loading with 7.6 beta (I had to remove the beta, my RX 580 literally stopped rendering).
I think it's because I'm an idiot. Downloaded the mod and started a new game with only the base game. When I activate all DLC, it's gone. Sorry for the work and thank you!
Is there a reason you changed the terraformed planet in Memory of Profit IX from a green-swathed planet to being a half frozen volcanic planet? Its such a massive change and doesn't align at all with the terraforming projects performed on it.
edit: also the primary planet in Argon Prime doesn't load, just get the atmosphere halo and nothing else.
I thought that shader issue with the planet (actually more than one) was a problem with the base game or recent driver updates. I never had that issue with STARS until recently. I really hope it's just a mod issue or this could take many months to see a fix :(
I don't play vanilla so any change is beyond radar. Please write a precise list (exact name of sector) of planets to revert back to vanilla, I'll do a patch for them.
Hi, thank you for the mod - universe looks a lot improved right now.
Are you certain AA needs to be turned off? I'm not sure whether Reshade's iMMerse Smaa preset does anything as everything looks pixelated. Turning back X4's TAA solves the issue.
I am uploading a new Reshade setting right now...well it depends, if your gf card can handle, TAA is not bad (I wrote it in the reshade description too), all other AA literally remove the background stars, which in vanilla with that terrible paintbox is usefull, with STARS...it depends, your taste, you can test with or without not a big deal. The Reshade settings I just uploaded are experimental, very desaturated but in a precise ways. Ships and close elements on stations are desaturated, backgrounds are selectively desaturated in order to have more crispy and spacey looks in cold-color sectors while vibrant and strong in warm-color sectors. Of course in XRSGE where I edit a lot of parameters and change entirely planets and nebulae (new models) this reshade is very powerful.
424 comments
THIS PAGE CONTAINS ONLY THE MOD STARS
PLEASE MOVE ANY REQUEST AND COMMENT ABOUT XRSGE GALAXY EXTENSION IN THE OTHER PAGE
From now on this page is dedicated to STARS Mod only.
Thanks
STARS MOD (standalone too) works fine with version 6.0 of the game and is required for XRSGE mod or can be used alone
STARS MOD FOR VANILLA GAME IS FINISHED, NO UPDATES ARE NEEDED.
YOU NEED TO UPDATE ONLY IF USING MY OTHER MOD XRSGE
--> DISCUSSION in Egosoft
LATEST RESHADE is also available to download
This version is the latest, there is only one preset.
STARS_dimm.ini
I've implemented a better version of ANTIALISING. It works better than vanilla AA and SAO. It does not reduce the brightness of stars and is very effective indoor, the only trade-off is for the writings (UI set at 0.8 is good).
My Reshade requires that game's AA and SSAO are OFF. Shadows and AA are managed by reshade. This also helps older gf cards and has a better result and better overall fps performance.
BUY ME A COFFE >>
.............................................
Was wondering one thing: have you tried DLAA (DLSS implementation with no upscale) as an AA method? I've been doing a few experiments in a couple sectors (with the latest DLSS dll downloaded from Techpowerup), and it seems to do a pretty great job without dimming the stars much (if at all). But I haven't tested it very thoroughly yet. What have been your impressions on it?
Other than that, I've been trying your reshade too: might be that my monitor is already quite contrasted and bright, but I had to almost halve your brightness/contrast sliders as to me it looked a bit too harsh. Other than that, pretty awesome! I lowered ambient light a tad as well, but that's just personal preference: it looks great and cinematic when looking at ships, but it made some atmosphere halos around planets too bright imo.
Anyway, thanks! Couldn't imagine playing without this mod <3
Even after upgrading to a more than capable rx 7800 xt I keep any AA off. They all make the objects look even more plastic and stars less vibrant.
I add the AA in AMD panel as override but I don't think it is used by Vulkan.
Btw I've made another Reshade preset that is less strong since I prefer to change the colors in AMD panel (+contrast -saturation +warmer light color), so aliasing is not strong at 1440. Will upload it..
I don't know about the dLLS, thanks for informing, I will look for it.
I've read that 7.60 didn't ship with the latest Nvidia .dll and I updated it manually as I'm used to do in other games like CP77: I've made a few first quick comparisons in sectors like Mars or Argon Prime (pretty much just starting sectors, as I check the mods I'm installing) on the starry backgrounds and honestly couldn't see much difference.
Compared to MSAA8/TAA it also seems to reduce the plastic look, but a downside I guess is it sometimes it makes certain far things a tad too crisp (things that would be supposed to look a bit fuzzy due to light reflection/aberration it sharpens on mistake).
First example I tried yesterday to check on the background stars and small, far away objects (1440p before using reshade):
No AA
DLAA
MSAA8
TAA
SSAA4
You can tell it botches that asteroid in the top right a bit, but the light on the borders of the windshield is much less aliased (on par with SSAA4 at a fraction of the performance hit), and compared to MSAA the station is crisp and detailed without being flattened by the light. TAA is decent on the station, but still flattens it a bit, while SSAA does a great job, but both of these kinda noticeably dim the starfield, which doesn't happen as much in MSAA. Being AI, where it "understands" it's a starfield and some stars might have been dimmed a bit, DLSS instead kind of strengthens some back to match the overall balance of the original. This can lead to some artefacts, but at first look it seems to me it gets results comparable to super sampling - even better at times like on avoiding dimming - and for nvidia users the performance hit is pretty much negligible.
Unfortunately, it's indeed nvidia exclusive, so yeah, it's a gimmick only half the players are gonna be able to toy with.
Every some time I play Rebirth, to also take inspiration for my XRSGE mod and am blown by how much better and "spacey" everything looks despite the old DX9. Yes the engine is old and you see it, but damn the art direction was tons better, stations looking metallic and lights being "real".
Then I start X4, it looks ...better, but seems a cartoon to me.
Well..I uploaded all the reshade settings I made, I currently use the Experimental one, if you want to give a try. Basically similar to the previous but I worked on the single colors to achieve a more simplistic coloring that, to my eyes, better resembles a spacey lightning. And a sepia to further reduce the "lego look" ^_^
AMD panel corrections are "free", they take not a single fps, well...not that the 7800 xt suffers from reshade, indeed it changes nothing. Ii is an habit I had before when using the RX 580 that suffered from Reshade. Ayway that can be used for a final touch on top of Experimental
Also, any specific Reshade version? Wasn't sure if you meant the game or ReShade when talking about 5.1/6.0
Does the mod straight up not work if I don't own all DLC listed, or can I use and just won't get to see the stuff for the DLC I don't own?
Reason I ask is 'cuz I simply cannot afford the ~50+€ the missing DLC would cost me, so I was hoping it might be a soft requirement..?
Love your work either way, thanks for putting in the effort!
In Rolk's Demise was it intended for the brown dwarf to be swapped out for a translucent blue planet? I assume its a bug since the glow is still red. This is in the vanilla map by the way, not Expanse.
In Argon Prime there is a really strange visual bug:
Do other people see that? I can try repacking the entire mod (it had several updates).
Also new changes by egosoft can cause some textures not loading with 7.6 beta (I had to remove the beta, my RX 580 literally stopped rendering).
edit: also the primary planet in Argon Prime doesn't load, just get the atmosphere halo and nothing else.
Are you certain AA needs to be turned off? I'm not sure whether Reshade's iMMerse Smaa preset does anything as everything looks pixelated. Turning back X4's TAA solves the issue.
Are the descriptions still relevant to X4 7.5+ ?
The Reshade settings I just uploaded are experimental, very desaturated but in a precise ways. Ships and close elements on stations are desaturated, backgrounds are selectively desaturated in order to have more crispy and spacey looks in cold-color sectors while vibrant and strong in warm-color sectors. Of course in XRSGE where I edit a lot of parameters and change entirely planets and nebulae (new models) this reshade is very powerful.
EDIT : my bad I was running REM Speed with the overhaul and that is the conflict. Sorted now.
Just got these orange triangles on the map now trying to fix