Cant say I'm too keen on the new look HDR "automation", the game now looks too flat and lacks depth and with this new way I fear people wont make HDR profiles as before. Just to stress I am no HDR expert, I'm merely going on what I see & feel when racing and this was an immediate "oh..." reaction I got from first going out on track. I understand the HDR changes are more broader and may help other areas but please respect these are 1st impressions...but they're the ones that count usually! I'll try to explain as best I can with the following images.: TOP of each image is 493 BOTTOM is 382 Both identical ingame settings (including Time & Weather) & PLR, plus CCC changes, 382 used NONE on the HDR Profile Box, automation in 493. As you maybe can see the top images look flat and almost colourless to how an early morning (6:30am) sunrise looks, see the walls & sign in 493, check the bottom pics and you'll notice more of a difference especially in the depth and the slight colour tinge to represent this time of day, look down the far end of the track (both pics) there is more atmosphere in 382 (haze). Check the colouring of the curbs, 382 has a more natural look to me. Now it maybe just me and onviously HDR preference is totally subjective, but personally I dont like the new look, I'm hoping there is more to come in the STable build that will address this, if so feel free to ignore. Unfortunatley I cant ignore the FPS loss though, only just noticed that!
There is no any new HDR. The automation is using a complete set of functions to change all day elements automatically/dynamically, based on real geo location variables and time of the day. To long and complex to explain, but just to be clear; there is no any new HDR. The fact you don't like it is ok. We're more interested in making it more stable and realistic. Cheers.
Thanks for clearing it up Tuttle I'm useless at explaining it! as above I'm no expert so no idea apart from the fact that to me it just does'nt look as good as it used too, feels more natural in 382 and therefore more realistic to me.
Well I guess it's subjective, but to me the top picture looks better. For example the bridge text WWW.SILVERSTONE.CO.UK looks muddy on 382 but actually shines white as it's supposed to in 493. Same with grandstand roof in the second picture, on build 493 it actually looks like it reflects the sun while in 382 it looks muddy.
I've only tested Silverstone at dawn > morning so far, and I'm really liking the HDR automation. I feel it works much better than previous incarnations, I think it makes colours and environment much more realistic.
In daytime conditions the tweaked HDR is especially a lot better. In the first screen (382) you see the rFactor2 problem that people complained about since long, that is, daytime clear sky conditions look like a cloudy day. 493 reminds much more of what it should be. View attachment 11735 View attachment 11736
downloading right now, but images posted above from new build look much better than from the old build. Seems like right way to go , no dozens of HDR profiles, just lighting based on real data.
see told you it was totally subjective done loads more laps and yes automation looks better at different times than 382 but it's still lacking something at Silverstone in the early morning (not tried any other tyracks yet), the UK simply does'nt look that flat and white first thing in the morning I can tell ya
Now I haven't tried it on my own machine yet - but I agree stonec & sg, (sorry marc!) looking at the comparison grabs I also think 493 looks more like it should on a bright, sunny day - crisper & more contrasty with the grandstand roof reflecting the light etc.. (I'm an illustrator, so lighting occurs in all my pictures - or at least should ) Now to stop talking with second-hand knowledge & to install it & try it for myself..
Agree from those screenshot (didn't load unstable yet), all seems far better at least on my monitor. Good
it'll probably grow on me....scrap that it'll have to grow on me! either way not a major concern or issue at all and as ever it's subjective, what can look right to 50 people can look wrong to 1 Just to amend the FPS loss was due to the schoolboy error of having different Track Detail , now they're the same the FPS is roughly the same *phew!*
Did a couple of laps with AI's at silverstone and Brianza. The coloration and lighting looks sharpened. Frame rate seems a bit smoother.
did some testing with AI. I like the "new" lighting. Looks good on my display. Not dark anymore like it used to be. There are some small problems like sun in the dawn is just white glow on half of the sky, but overall feeling is much better than those manualy made profiles. Still probably room for improvement but i like it. Shadows in replay are greatly improved too (mid setting). But hey my fps went dramatically down! now i get 30%-50% of fps i used to get on exactly the same settings. Seriously , i double checked and i remeber my setting cause i use the same for about a year. i used to get up to 110fps in the race when there are not much opponents around, now i get max fps like 65.
Strange that we see a different HDR "look", as Tim said nothing changed in the HDR, just the profile is built automatically rather than being handcrafted. I have some screenshots (not on this laptop now) that I took yesterday when doing a race at Sebring from 04:30 with 5x time as c3po suggested. Particularly during the most difficult transitions (first light to dawn/sun out) I noticed the following "problems": * there are "back and forths", as sun goes away again and everything turns pitch black for a few seconds. I take this is happening because of the 5x acceleration, as I never noticed this with 1x. I believe nothing changed in this regard with build 493. * lighting is not realistic, again in particular on these critical transitions, from dark sky with just a bit of dawn light until sun up, where everything turns red and then super bright yellow. Again, I don't believe this has changed with build 493. After those transitions, lighting is very good and realistic (IMO). One thing I noticed only with build 493 is that after dawn transition is complete, going towards noon, the sky looks strange, as if it was displayed through a photo camera, too saturated and "posterized" if you know what I mean, which big areas of white. Not sure what it is at this point, I don't believe the monitor is to blame. I have a few pictures I will post later on if this is deemed interesting.
Did you do anything to clouds rendering? I always liked rF2 clouds and sky rendering, but I have the impression that clouds improved further. No evidence, just a couple of races with partial cloudy weather, which I think has the best results in terms of realistic sky rendering.
I like the HDR profile a lot - great new feature ! I noticed during a replay with clouds and rain though that the brightness changed briefly all the time = the screen was blinking.
