Shot/Shot comparisons are basically useless, unless you're comparing worst conditions with previous TM with the same condition with the new one; here we'll get huge differences but this is not just a aesthetic change... and major benefits are in the way this tonemapper works along 24/7 cyles and new automation. This one get rid of hacks and tricks we were using before to tame the old TM (introducing different issues as a consequence), produce a smooth and consistent sky/atmosphere gradient along different latitudes/altitudes, remove the auto exposure (means the sky and ambient are producing the same output, no matter the ratio dark/brightness inside the scene), remove that extra saturation we were getting with previous one and get rid of dull skies at noon. Also night light will be much more physically correct as well of dusk/dawn/sunset/sunrise. As a consequence of missing AE, cockpit are not affected by any exposure automation. As for mod to be fixed the rule is the same as before; mods not using the albedo map will needs to be tuned. Mods already using albedo maps instead LDR/Diffuse maps will works good. The headlight fix it's the consequence of removing hacks from night illumination. Now, unless you're driving a full moon night, or a track with plenty of trackside omnis, you'll get very dark nights.
If you're wanting a side-by-side comparison, I have one here: http://www.simracingpaddock.com/rF2GFX You can tell there's a notable improvement, where the cars "Fit in" with the track better with the new TM
This is very exciting. Glad to hear it is coming soon. Once we have this, a wider range of times will be popular for practice and endurance races and so on. Any chance the sunrise and sunset time zone issues can be tweaked? It seems as though the sun comes up an hour or two early in most locations (given the date) and sets early. I read some explanation of this in the past, but didn't pay any attention at the time because I had no intention of using night time.
This is track side (.gdb file); to get correct sunset/sunrise times you need proper lat/long, correct GMT offsets and DST on/off for the given date.
Pier one more question: Does all this fix those purple patches in near black areas? Also great, great amount of work done it seems. I salute you.
This is VERY good news and to be honest been waiting for this for quite some time. I'm no graphics specialist but have strong belief that if you do main things the right way then rest will follow and there's no need for tweaks here and others there. Proper 24/7 cycle will do very good for endurance racing. Looking forward!!!
You're not Pier! Hehe, Thanks a lot Luc. It makes me soooooooo happy. Keep on doing such a fine work. I bet you guys already have plans and ideas for future experiments and development, don't you? ^^
my mouth is shut edit: of to look if there is something happening online, let's go and race guys instead of waiting if we've got a present for the weekend