Sweetfx

[mpad]

hi guys,

maybe some of you know sweetFX. It is a tool to costomize the looks of your game with shaders and can run with most dx9+ games.

it is often used in 3d shooters and role playing games.

 

luckily some awesome guy brought it up in the pinballarcade forum, because everybody there is desperately waiting for a proper dark mode and better lighting.

 

to keep it short: great stuff can be done with this!

 

And since VP is dx9 now, it totally works wit VP9.9 and PM5!!!

 

I saw a litle mention over at VPF, but it seems only a few people use it.

Sow I can only encourage everybody to give it a try.

Just tested with some tables and it is pretty awesome!

 

Will add a screen of Indy PM5

 

EDIT: Link to SFX basic files and including awesome settings switcher by Jupiter

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qvyy12r15wjwpd9/sweetfx_VP_SweetFXIniSwitcherVP.zip?dl=0

 

Guide:

- put all files in you VP folder where the VP.exe version of your choice resides

- be shure to have latest dx9 version and graphics card drivers (if you get dx dll error uninstall geforce experience)

- Start VP! SFX should be working now! Press "scroll lock" to toggle ON/OFF (key can be changed)

- To modify the visuals to your desire change values in the SweetFX_settings.txt (not *.ini !), hit "END" to reload SFX

- To auto change settings on the fly use jupiters SweetFXIniSwitcherVP

     - see readme for details how to set up for your cab

     - works great with PinballX as LaunchBeforeExecutable

     - can shout out *.wav files to indicate the setting

- There are 3 sample settings included (which have to be manually renamed to SweetFX_settings.txt if the switcher is not used)

[mpad]

Off On

 

btw: this is the NM version of Indy, which gets even darker. So if you have the day version using sweetFX makes a night mod at the press of a button...

[mpad]

if someone want's to give it a shot, just copy these files to the VP directory.

Edit: --> 1st post

[gogo69]

yes it is cool but you need a pretty beefy grafix card.. otherwise : stutter

for example on my gaming pc i have a gtx780 and VP runs with sweet fx super brilliant and super smooth - just perfect

on my pincab i have a gtx650ti and sweet fx gives me stutter...

need a faster card on my cab

 

what kind of card are you using ?

[mpad]

really? I have an older GTX560 Ti (overclocked)

 

I noted no difference at all, and I have everything maxed out like 33x csaa and 16x af ...

 

maybe it depends on the settings. the enhancements used in the example setting are very subtle.

only gamma, bloom, color vibrancy etc.

performance hungy stuff like fxaa is done by the driver.

[gogo69]

well maybe it is because i tried to run sweetfx with smaa .. didn't like the performance and then switched to fxaa ...

still not smooth enough for me   ..  i love how it looks but i hate the performance hit

[jupiter]

if someone want's to give it a shot, just copy these files to the VP directory.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/msidgu0lii2cg5c/sweetfx_VP.zip?dl=0

 

note: there are several setting files 001 002 003 icluded. just replace the current SweetFX_settings.txt to try them.

or of course make your own.

you may have to readjust your keyboard settings, as it is configured for my german keyboard:

// key_toggle_sweetfx = 45 ; insert

// key_screenshot     = 44 ; print screen

// key_reload_sweetfx = 35 ; end

 

sweetfx is on by default, so you have to delete the file to permanently get rid of it.

 

Over at TPAfans SilverBalls made a nice script to change the settings on the fly, but for VP I'm sure this can be incoporated into PinballX or sth.

 

This is silverballs (I am Jupiter here ).

I just updated my switcher script to work with Visual Pinball and PinballX.  The only change from the PinballX side is to change the LaunchBeforeExecutable EXE name in the Pinball.ini file.  Instructions are in the readme.

You can switch between ini files and SweetFX off all of the press of a single button.  I now do this in my cabinet for PA and VP.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wt0vf94a8fo0zw/SweetFXIniSwitcherVP.zip?dl=0

 

 

 

Here is the Pinball Arcade version (thread URL):

http://pinballarcadefans.com/showthread.php/9186-Pinball-Arcade-with-SweetFX-lightness-control-bloom-etc?p=179074&viewfull=1#post179074

[mpad]

This is silverballs (I am Jupiter here ).

I just updated my switcher script to work with Visual Pinball and PinballX.  The only change from the PinballX side is to change the VP EXE name in the Pinball.ini file.  Instructions are in the readme.

You can switch between ini files and SweetFX off all of the press of a single button.  I now do this in my cabinet for PA and VP.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wt0vf94a8fo0zw/SweetFXIniSwitcherVP.zip?dl=0

 

 

 

Here is the Pinball Arcade version (thread):

http://pinballarcadefans.com/showthread.php/9186-Pinball-Arcade-with-SweetFX-lightness-control-bloom-etc?p=179074&viewfull=1#post179074

 

Hello again. Jupiter sounds way more suited for this place

 

The Settings are actually your 001 Settings - I use theese for most of the tables.

The pictures are from the recently released night mod pm5 version of indy.

On some other night mods it is a bit to dark, so i just take the day mod version of the table.

 

Awesome job you did with the switcher, I thought you were busy!

Have to make a couple of setting and just do some testing... but I have limited time now as my gf just returned from her shopping spree

[jupiter]

Just re-uploaded with Mpad ini files, but with the SweetFX default keys.  Please re-download.

[jupiter]

Hello again. Jupiter sounds way more suited for this place

 

The Settings are actually your 001 Settings - I use theese for most of the tables.

The pictures are from the recently released night mod pm5 version of indy.

On some other night mods it is a bit to dark, so i just take the day mod version of the table.

 

Awesome job you did with the switcher, I thought you were busy!

Have to make a couple of setting and just do some testing... but I have limited time now as my gf just returned from her shopping spree

 

Thanks - I didn't realise they were the 001 settings I did for PA.  I messed with the VP ones so much I obviously made them worse, 

 

I am working the next 2 weekends so didn't think I would have much time, but I really was interested to see how it works (and as the wife is away and the kids are on the Xbox instead of doing homework  ) I managed 1-2 hours today and it seems to work.  Let me know if any issues.

 

Cheers

[jupiter]

Sorry to anyone who has setup the VP version (probably only Mpad ) - there is another change to the Visual Pinball version.  Please re-download SweetFXIniSwitcherVP v1.2 and in the PinballX config and make it call SweetFXIniSwitcherVP using the LaunchBeforeExecutable param instead. The readme.txt is updated.   I found problems when exiting other versions of Visual Pinball fron PinballX when using it's System_1, etc.   By launching with LaunchBeforeExecutable the whole thing is cleaner as my script no longer needs to launch VP, and it works for all VP versions in PinballX.

 

Same link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wt0vf94a8fo0zw/SweetFXIniSwitcherVP.zip?dl=0

[jupiter]

Here is Big Brave first with SweetFX off and then On.

 

 

 

I have a GTX480 1.5GB running 2 screens and don't see any performance hit (FXAA).

[mpad]

Nice. I have two more for JP (which is a pice of art). Day version, first OFF then ON, same settings...

It is a matter of taste of course, but for people who like it dark...

[Loafmeister]

Can this sweetfx be switched on/off at a press of a button?

[jupiter]

Yes - the default is Scrolllock but that is configurable.  With the switching util I did, one press of the same button will allow you to cycle through each of your configs.  When the last one is reached, SweetFX is switched OFF, on the next press it cycles around to the first one.

 

If you really don't like SweetFX and want to remove it completely you just delete some folders and rename/remove 2 DLLs - you don't install anything (it's a manual copy of files to set it up) so no mess in your registry or in the Windows system directories.   It is used by many people for hundreds of different games.

[Loafmeister]

Ok I def need to try this! Thanks for the info

[Dazz]

Is this only for PinballX?

[mpad]

No, sweetfx works in every kind of setup. Any direct x9 and above game or app.

Just the settings switcher jupiter made is for launch with pinballx.

[mpad]

If you want to know more:

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/sweetfx-shader-suite-download.html

The files posted use a special shader library. See original post at pinballarcadefans for details and original download link.

[jupiter]

The switcher is in ahk so it should be callable from fplaunch - just call it before VP is launched. The script will run in the background allowing you to switch configs and once VP closes my script kill itself so should be a one line change in FPLaunch to integrate it.

I will upload the script to the forum downloads properly in a few days, in the meantime I will leave it in my dropbox.

[lightpin]

Holy shit is this ever a literal game-changer. You definitely need some muscle behind some of the filters, but damn! With the right balance of HDR, Bloom, Gausian, LiftGammaGain, and Tonemap, I'm seeing depth and realistic glare like never before. Take a game like UW's latest Bride of Pinbot that already looked great, and it makes the lights that much deeper and the plastic ramps look genuinely substantial.

 

(Note that the filters don't do anything to B2S — the detail of her in the bottom right is because I shared this w/ some non-VP'ers this AM). But damn can you see the filters in the shot to the right of her (face 3). Almost looks like an actual photo.. the helmet lights halo BEAUTIFULLY. Makes me wish I hadn't taken the photos on my rough cab; this one doesn't have a slot-mounted playfield. If it weren't for the edge, you almost wouldn't be able to tell it was virtual.

[CarnyPriest]

Looks nice! Hopefully more people will give this a try and share their settings.

[open6l]

Time to sport dual GTX 980s

[jupiter]

I have a gtx480 1.5gb running 2 screens and Sweetfx causes no perf hit or stuttering. Contrary to what has been said it shouldn't do either - all the program is doing is intercepting directx calls, applying your custom config, and the continuing the call to directx. It is just allowing you to define the graphical settings that the software developer normally define. If you did see a perf hit then just remove the folders and 2 DLLs and you are back where you started.

[lightpin]

I would disagree that it's cut and dry. Certain filters/shaders, especially if tuned to their higher parameters and stacking them, most definitely cause varying degrees of performance issues. Not so much STUTTER (as it's not affecting vpinmame) — more like FPS drops and graphic clipping.

But it's definitely manageable, especially if you're patient with tweaking settings. I mean in my example I've got five routines running on an already resource-hungry table but it is still playing silky smooth. I only had time to try a few others (mostly newer Stern tables) and all was good. Batman and Tron look especially awesome for their respective reasons (bright purples / ramp lights).

 

Thanks again for — putting this on the table.