I'm not sure it's working properly for me...

Pic:
http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab197/nack210/Morrowind/Morrowind2010-03-1016-06-47-54.jpg

Do I have to use HDR, bloom or something?

To me this looks quite alright. You do not need other shaders.

Under render state tab in MGEgui:

Hardware shader

Under Misc tab, below shaders

Update shader variablesSupply shaders with depth infoSupply HDR info to shaders

Be sure to tick all of them.

Ah, thanks, ticking those last 3 http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab197/nack210/Morrowind/Morrowind2010-03-1016-24-20-29.jpg?t=1268249235.

You're welcome. You may want to install the empty glare file too. (You can download it from the first post.)

Oops! It would appear I need to change some of my settings too. Thanks!

It doesn't seem to be working for me either. I'm not even getting a sun disk. I have update shader varibles, depth info, and HDR checked in MGE. I have the hardware shader turned on too, and a toggle macro. I am also using no glare, which works fine, except now it is like there is no sun at all. Any idea why it is not working?

As you described the problem is depth info. Try SSAO and/or DoF shaders. If one is working the others should work too theoretically. Also knowing your specs and MGE version helps.

I have the MGE version 3.8 rev 01118. I thought that it automatically provided depth of field if I checked that button. I don't seem to have any problems running Phal's awesome water or Truebloom, so it does seem like depth info issue.

That still doesn't explain why there is no sun disc.

Which button? DoF shader is included in MGE package with the name knx_DoF_v12.fx, and SSAO similarly knx_SSAO_v08.fx, I think.

Just enable them, and see if they are working. I am guessing you're not using the right shader file or you haven't tick all options I listed in my above post. And I have to mention the shader won't work without distant land enabled.

The button in the misc tab that is a check box that says "supply shaders with depth info."

Anyway, thanks for the tip, but it still is not working. I'm just getting some kind of HDR affect. No shaft rays. It was killing my framerate anyway. I guess I will try out the Godfingers shader and see if that works.

It shouldn't kill your framerate, it is a light shader on performance. Maybe it is a corrupt install, or missing prerequisites. Sorry, I couldn't be any help.

PS. Depth info is being used in more than just Depth of field shaders. SSAO, DoF, Godrays and some other shaders use this feature too. That's why I want you to test one of them to test if the feature works OK.

I have a quick question for whoever knows (phal, prolly):
Is there a v003 that has something to do with clouds out there? I think I saw a comment about that in the forums... MGE screenshots thread. Is that version, if it exists, in a beta and unreleased stage or it's out there somewhere?.

Cloud version is a new version. It needs a special beta dll which you can find in MGE thread's first post(Scroll down a little, the package contains the shader too). It can create a mask based on cloud texture's alpha channel. So sun disc doesn't appear over the clouds but behind the clouds now and rays too shine through them. You can even notice where the sun is behind the clouds.

Thank you! So that's where it was!

I tried both of those shaders and then them together. I don't know what they are supposed to do, and I could not tell what they were doing. Like I said, they were doing an HDR like effect, except backwards. They were imbalancing screen brightness. It was weird. I don't have a very powerful machine, so simply by checking the depth info button I was reducing my already paltry framerate. My graphics card should be able to handle the shader though, as it has support for shader 4.0.

As for the corrupt install, or missing prereq's, I don't know what prereq's it would need, and the shader is just a text file, and MGE said it was able to compile it.

Just on a whim I decided to try the new cloud one you were talking about, and I got the new .dll and still nothing. I suppose this is a dream I will have to wait for...

I think we should continue on this in official MGE thread, but I want you to post:
Full specs: cpu, gpu, operating system..
MGE version,
shader list(s),
and screenshots: one DoF, one SSAO, one sunshafts, combined shots..

The more screenshots, the more we can help.

If you are willing to do some troubleshooting, I will help until you get your dream.

I have a 2.66 GHz cpu, and 1 GB of ram. I am using a nvidia 9400GT, but I got the PCI kind, because I think that my APG slot is faulty, so it only opperates at 133 MHz. I also just tried out the new version of MGE. It didn't antialias for some reason so I switched back to revision 118.

I like. Almost no framerate hit, and good visuals.

Trying to use this on my rig but it doesn't seem to want to be cooperative. I tried adding it to my active list but MGE is giving me a "This Shader Does Not Currently Compile" ding. Is it a Pixel Shader issue or a MGE version issue? Or even an issue with the shader plugin itself?

Setup:
ATI X600 laptop GPU (good for up to PS v2.0)
MGE 3.8.0 vanilla

LordHaHa

P.S.: I read through the forums just before I posted and saw that this .FX is rated for PS v3.0. I guess that means I can't use this at the moment, but I also remember seeing a post about a similar "godrays" .FX that may work. Where would I be able to acquire it?

The other godrays shader is mine, but it requires PS 3.0. But phal's shader can work under PS 2.0. I think your problem is vanilla MGE. This requires a later revision. I recommend getting rev 118. It is pretty stable. If it still won't work, post the whole error.

OK, installed r118 after removing/cleaning vanilla 3.8.0. Still getting an error. When I test it out in the MGEgui, the scroll bar says "Error setting effect technique, or shader validation error". Trying to add sunshaft002a to the list causes a window to popup "This shader does not currently compile", just as when I ran it in vanilla 3.8.0. Enabling all of MGE's shader calls (including HDR, which the readme does not state as nessessary) does not rectify the situation.

EDIT/AFTERTHOUGHT: I thought that it might have been a bad download (the default server for the .FX seems to be a bit wonky) but the file was extracted from the .ZIP without incident and the code for the .FX itself does not seem to have any strange missing bits.

EDIT #2: I tested out HDR_Modified_v3.1 just now and it ran. It uses PS 2.0, so if Sun Shafts is PS 2 compliant that seems to negate the video card as the culprit. I did do the update to 118 as well (the reccomended built for the effect) so everything should be working, unless I did something spectacularly wrong or I am missing a file.

LordHaHa

It shouldn't be the case but you can try lowering:

#define N 20

to 15 or something. I'm not sure.

"N 15" didn't do anything to resolve the issue. But, I decided to go lower still. Discovered that the max value that would compile was "N 2". The joys of using 3 year old laptop graphics.

I'll give it a shot in a moment but I'm guessing that the end result will not be ideal.

LordHaHa

EDIT: I was right. Not sure if it was the severe gimping of the effect or the alpha of my modified 2048-res SWG skies obscuring the remainder but it just didn't work (did a good job of slowing my box down though). I guess I'll have to wait for my upgraded box to come together to give it a whirl.

Sorry, I totally svck helping you. You never know what they remove from GPUs.(It's like they first make a Ferrari, then break the engine, remove some tires, so they can sell it. I never understood the logic.)

PS. Don't forget to get some powerful CPU(with high per core frequencies. 3.2+)