OBGE
or "Oblivion graphics Extender", is currently a work in progress addition for OBSE, a modular for TES:IV Oblivion.

While it is still in its EARLY!!! stages, the dedicated modders are working hard to bring a new age to Oblivion. If you would like to contribute, please feel free to participate in the sharing of knowledge and ideas to help us strive to complete our goal. Also if you find useful resources that can benefit the project, please feel free to share them as well.

This is a open discussion thread for OBGE and its development. Please respect the hard working people that take their time to bring this project together. If you see any other OBGE related threads about bugs or problems, please direct them to this thread.

Thank You

Link to Earlier Threads- - -> http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1050580 Thread 4
Link to Godrays Test Shader- - -> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/519253/Godrays.fx
Link to Depth of Field with toggle distance blur- - -> http://cid-465896b69b9940e8.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Oblivion%20Shaders/DepthOfField.fx
http://www.oblation.eu/downloads/obge/TestShaderv3.7z
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=04AC064B-00D1-474E-B7B1-442D8712D553&displaylang=en

A few screens to see the current stuff in action

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/6652/anvil101.jpg
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1478/anvil104.jpg
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/1994/god101.jpg
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/3404/dofview01.jpg
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/8996/dofv2.jpg
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/6130/dofv2a.jpg

*FAQ*

*Is this a RELz? Should I download this?
OBGE, like MGE, will be a growing project with many new applications added on with each feature. So far we only have a few test plugins and shaders but we encourage all to try them out.

*Does this require OBSE? If so any specific version?
Yes it does require OBSE. As for the version, currently we are not sure. Best to just keep the current OBSE in release.

*Stuff like Godrays, Depth of Field, and SSAO won't seem to work?
Make sure you installed Scanti's OBGE updates and his shaders correctly placed (data/shaders "...") Make sure to remove the depth.fx and testshader.fx from the shaderlist to see working shaders. From there follow these instructions:

1. Run oblivion with the OBSE loader.
2. Ingame, type this console command "ShowTestShader"
3. If you installed everything correctly, you should see working Godrays, DoF, and such

Your shader files go in this directory as posted above..."Data/Shaders"
Your OBGE file goes into the..."data/obse/plugins" folder

*Will shaders work on ATI cards?
Yes we are certain they will

*When starting Godrays, my game crashes or screen blacksout?
The Godrays is a PS 3.0 shader. You need a Graphics card that supports Pixel Shading 3.0 or greater

*Can I add to this project?
Yes feel free to add as many things as you want.

*I found a bug...
Good for you. If you find a bug, please list the error in-detail here. We can help you more when you explain the problem better

*My Godrays is just a searchlight in clear weather.
First off, Godrays is best displayed on cloudy weather types, in the morning from 6 to 8am and 7 to 9pm. But if you get the searchlight effect, you have to edit the shader FOV for Godrays to match your ingame FOV for oblivion. Example would be if your playing Oblivion on a 95 FOV, you have to edit your Godrays to a 95 FOV. The shader line should be "DefineFOV" near the top of the code.

*Which version of OBGE do I use?
So far, any version is confirmed to work. We haven't really fully tested them yet but its safe to just use Scanti's updates (as they are needed to run shaders.)

*How do I reduce over bright kill and whiteout in the sky when I stare at the sun with Godrays Enabled?
Use http://dl.dropbox.com/u/519253/NoGlare.7z texture fix for sunglare and disable HDR. You can optionally enable bloom to keep some white effect and brightness of the sun.

*Why do objects in the distant have weird black stuff on them when fog weather is active?
That is from the test SSAO. The author stated that it had some fog bugs. Until it's fixed, they will be there.

*Once I got Godrays to work, my AA disappeared? WHY?!?
Godrays seems to disable AA for some odd reason. No confirmed fix is available and no confirmed hardware (ATI or Nvidia cards) seem to help.

*What is the most recent version of this project?
As of Monday, 11/23/09 at 4:50 pm, Scanti's OBGE updates v.3 is the most recent and so far stable version.

This project is a Test Alpha. Expect bugs with some things like created new shaders and problems trying to run it yourself.

Just reposting my video so every one can see it

http://www.xfire.com/video/19a897/ oh and here is a http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/2e6ed50860e2ce38de09df007925394097c80192.png of what the video looks like this is allso done with HDR on

Previous post reposted to get some more feed back on it.

======================================

Idea: Dynamic Lens Flare effect

Now we know the position of the sun, maybe that it is now possible to make a dynamic lens flare effect as well. I hope that those that know what there are doing look into the idea and come up with something useful.

Image:
http://faculty.weber.edu/lmacleod/tbe2533/...ens%20Flare.jpg

Article:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article813.asp
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article874.asp

Yes I know a effect like this is caused by a lens in a camera and not the human eye itself, but I like the effect and it gives the game some more umpf..

======================================

Qzilla
Can anyone remember the god ray mod project Qzilla was working on? He had made a shader for an effect like seen in the next screenshot. The project never got released due to the fact we had no clue where the sun was on the screen at that time.

An effect similar to this:
http://ic2.pbase.com/g5/64/18664/2/68043679.6QXDrDYY.jpg

Note:
There is no sun on screen but god rays are drawn from the position of the sun and start at the brightest spots of light on screen. The percentage of brightness and darkness on the screen are set to determine the length of the beams. Total screen 95% dark and 5% bright then draw god rays from 5% bright with a length of ?

this should all be in the first post and maybe my video to as a Showcase

Dam it Double Post

What are the chances of porting over Phal's Morrowind water shader/how soon will water shaders be doable? It already looks a billion times better than Oblivion's vanilla water, so much so that it is painful to play Oblivion these days.

Forgive me if this was already answered but why is mine like this?

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/6893/screenshot15a.jpg

Remove the Depth.fx and Testshader.fx from your shader folder. That's what I had to do!

oh okay, i will try it now. Thanks!

Does Oblivion change FOV depending on game resolution and aspect ratio? I use 1680x1050 resolution and was wondering if I have to change the fov in the Godrays shader.
Note: I haven't manually changed FOV anywhere.

For those of you wondering how Phal's Morrowind water shader looks like (as Enzo Dragon mentioned above) :

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMk0CnaHTP8&feature=related
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZRIyNDtymQ
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ZSyt0acDQ&feature=related
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsfT974aSbM&feature=related
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN0vYp9nabQ&feature=related

It looks good, but lets aim for this, for Oblivion :

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTc_h3AEo4k

I personally use that watershader with 3D waves in MGE... can't remember who made it though. :/

Bleh, why is half of MGE's decent stuff in ASM? I can't read ASM! I know it's more generic than HLSL, which is handy, but what I would give for comments.

Looks like I'll have to pick up on ASM too now, seeing as 1/3 of shader stuff seems to be written in it. i'll leave GLSL for after my exams.

For people wondering about water, it's one of the most complicated things to do, probably, I can't even begin to think how you'd start formulating a method for it, let along programming it. If the assumption is made that I'm lagging behind vtastek and AmpolX slightly, then even they're going to take a very long time to do anything about that, should they wish to. It's a goal that we'll get to eventually though.

@ Sjors_Boomscors: I have but one thing to say: Only noobs use lense flare! (case in point: Star Wars Episode 1. 'Nuff said.)

It would be about the same as Godrays in terms of difficulty to do, I think. I personally don't care much for it, so you won't catch me working on it, but it is certainly doable at this stage should someone else want to.

I think someone else already replied to your second question in the last thread.

Got a little question... is it a problem or conflict if I use one of the released Motion Blur plugins with the Godrays /DoF setup? I'm just a little confused by the fact that the Motion Blur plugins have an ESP, but no shaderlist.txt whereas naturally the Godrays/DoF have /use a shaderlist.txt but no ESP. I'm concerned that these two "conflicting" methodologies might cause one or the other set of shaders to encounter issues. Is that likely?

Also what is the correct way to remove/disable a shader-- I don't particularly want to use DoF (machine too low-end), and I have seen it recommended not to use it all the time anyway. Can I "safely" not install it in the first place, leaving only godrays.fx in my shaderlist.txt, or should I list it in my shaderlist.txt and remove the shader itself?

Second question first: If you don't want to use a shader, simply removing it from the shaderlist.txt will prevent Oblivion from loading it. Since you're not using it, you might as well also delete the .fx file too.

As for the motion blur, that was made using the OBGE OBSE plugin, OBGE.dll, whereas the godrays and DoF and SSAO are using Scanti's DepthTest.dll. They're two separate things, and OBGE doesn't need a shaderlist.txt, but DepthTest does. Scanti's stuff doesn't have an ESP because it doesn't need one. It's (obviously) a test plugin, and Scanti's now moved on to rewriting OBGE itself. Once that is done, who knows how things will be structured?

OK, thanks; I feel much more secure now .

Agreed.

BTW strupekutter those are all old versions of Phal's shader. It's great, but the newest one is a lot better.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/iamerik/MW%20and%20Oblivion/MGEScreenshot75.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/iamerik/MW%20and%20Oblivion/MGEScreenshot76.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/iamerik/MW%20and%20Oblivion/MGEScreenshot11-3.jpg

There's also an underwater caustics shader to go along with it:
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/iamerik/MW%20and%20Oblivion/MGEScreenshot78.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/iamerik/MW%20and%20Oblivion/MGEScreenshot25-2.jpg


Oblivion's water reflections definitely could use some improving, they're very glitchy in the distance.

Wow, great pictures povuholo :tops:, it definitely looks better than any oblivion water mod out there <_<

Godrays can already illuminate through trees and canopys as your said picture.

Im on the same boat as Wrinklyninja about the lense flare effect. I wouldn't care too much for that.

Are there any plans down the road to get godrays to behave on HDR? I'd really love to play around with it but I'm not giving up the HDR lighting for it

Godrays plays pretty well on HDR. All my pics have HDR on...

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4685/grazelands.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/439/skyview01.jpg
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/4836/omgheaven02.jpg

I guess I'm somewhat confused then since there's advice in the OP to turn off HDR and use a no-glare sun texture.

Thats only for if you prefer no bright sunglare, allowing you to see the rays more (IMHO, with HDR, the rays look more dynamic that with no HDR and the blank sunglare file)

I don't class Cogstar-class brightness levels as playable, that to me just washes everything out, and I think that's what Arthmoor is referring to. In my brief experiments, removing the sunglare texture does help a lot, though if I remember correct it's still prone to getting a bit overbright. No doubt there are settings that can be tweaked to minimize this, I just haven't taken the time to look yet.

I'd say that getting reasonable, subtle sunglare working in all lighting set-ups is pretty important, so that would definitely be one thing I'd want to see confirmed for the next iteration of the shader, if it isn't at that stage already.

Oh, and I was wondering how you guys would feel about setting up a Google Code SVN repo for the project, as a collection for all the code we're writing? It's going to get pretty large and fragmented as time goes on, and I know that MGE has a repo for their stuff.

Arthmoor, try these..

I may have some settings that should help HDR and Sun Glare.

just need to get god rays to show up stronger when used with these tweaks..

I will get it just need to play around some more..

I got the luminance, middlegrey, whitecutoff value just right I think. So there is no blinding white that happen when looking directly at the sun or running around etc, .

I just need to tweak the decay, weight, exposure some more..So God Rays are stronger with these settings..