So after a few attempts to find my FO3 GOTY edition in my rather packed storage unit, I finally found them on Saturday. Now I can play around with the image quality settings of the game, hoping to improve it for The Phoenix Imperative. I have tried changing the settings before, and all I got was CTDs. I thought I would give it a go again and see what happened.
The first thing I changed, was setting the view to "window mode". I thought that having a smaller area for the graphic card to render game resources in would help avoid any more crashes. Next was increasing the quality to "ultra" and crossing my fingers as I started the game.
Well slap me silly! No crashing! And things seemed to be much better looking to my impaired vision (I'm near-sighted). But hey, this could just be my hopeful imagination playing tricks on me, so I started messing around some more with various setting combinations and screen sizes.
Here are four screens I took while messing around in a new game I started. I thought I would explore the Outcast alternative start option in FWE.
Here are two images of Amy Wong:
And two of Clover using Chrome Hamster's companion mod:
Now, before any of you start thinking that this level of quality still isn't the best, I remind you that my laptop's graphics card is an NVIDIA Geo Go 7600: its at least a year older that the FO3 game. This is about as good as it is going to get for me without getting a new computer system.
The next thing I was wondering about, was how will this quality affect one of the editting steps I do. I loaded all four of these shots into my main editor and ran them through the enhancement filter. One of the images of Amy was verging on being washed out. The detail of her face began to disappear. The other three shots had negligable levels of change, so I left all four of them unenhanced. It looks like the improving of the graphic quality has practiacally eliminated the need for me to run the individual screen shots through the enhancement filter. This is good, since that cuts down on the time required to edit the project as a whole.
Learning now you are, Padawan.
ReplyDeleteNeither computer that I own is capable of running the Gamebryo games on maximum graphics settings, but when I take screenshots which I intend to share with others I always maximize at least the settings for the textures, lighting/shadows and of course resolution in an attempt to get the best results. Perhaps maximizing these settings will make it more difficult to get characters posed properly, but the end result is usually worth it.
I also agree that this should eliminate the need to run the images through any enhancement filters, except maybe a moderate noise reduction.
As always, I look forward to seeing how the project progresses. Keep up the good work.
Since we're referencing Star Wars, I guess I should mention my favourite lightsaber colour is red...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, learning? Yes I am, but I needed the tools to do so. In this case the missing tool was the game disk. Without it, I couldn't do a thing with the settings. Now, of course, I'm good to go. I think one of the first things I'll do now is come up with a new cast screenshot for the top of the blog, including all five guest stars this time :)
Potentially silly question time: why did you need your disc to change video settings? Those can be accessed from the ini files, and from FOMM as well. Was trying to edit the settings in the ini causing crashes? The FOMM graphics settings page appears to be the same one that pops up when you use the disc, so I'd have thought it at least would work okay.
ReplyDeleteOn screenshot editing: I've never found those enhancement filters to be terribly useful. I played with them all when I first started using GIMP to process images, and the best settings I found didn't screw the images up -- others did. Badly, in some cases.
The biggest boost to screenshot quality I've yet found was in the jpg conversion process. I made sure it was set to bare minimum compression with some of the nicety options turned on, and to the naked eye they ended up indistinguishable from the full-quality png versions that were larger (and Picasa refused to upload correctly). You can tell a quality difference between the original bitmap and processed jpg... but it ain't much.
There are no silly questions Nos, just silly/stupid/dumbass answers.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of answers: I try not to fool around with the ini if I can avoid it. I have a bad habit of not saving it before modifying it >.< I was also unaware that you could change the settings via FOMM. I tend to stick with functions I know, and don't do much exploring.
With the graphics settings I had up 'till now, the enhancement filters were a must. My screen shots were exceedingly dark. The change in brightness that I have now almost hurts my eyes. Its like the difference between inside and outside on a sunny day. I don't need to use that function now, at least for "outside" screens.
I will freely admit that I have practiacally no experience in messing with game settings. I just normally load and go. You have informed my of a few things that I was unaware of before, so I am now better prepared to delve into it. For that, sir, I thank you :)
I also had no clue that FOMM could be used to adjust the graphics settings. I did know that they could be changed manually in the .ini, but I usually reserve that procedure for settings that are not accessible through the normal means. Simply dropping the game disc in does tend to feel a lot simpler and less risky.
ReplyDeleteWell then, no matter what else happened to us today, we both learned something.
ReplyDeleteAnd knowledge is power, and half the battle...
So... I'm guessing I'm the only one in the group that gets curious and reads up on and/or tries every option and function in any new program he gets access to? (GIMP took a long time -- it has a lot of those little options...)
ReplyDeleteFor FOMM: Make sure you have the new version (0.13.21 or whatever it is). Load 'er up, choose whichever game you want to change (the new one does FO3 and NV). Once it loads, up near the top, above your load order will be a toolbar menu called Game Settings. Click it, and then Graphics Settings (the only option on it at the moment) and vee-oh-lah! Same advanced options menu you get from the disc launcher, without having to dig up the disc.
Next week on NosCo Modding Seminar: we delve into the wonderful world of exporting your load order to a text file to use as a backup, so that when it gets modified you don't have to spend eleventy billion hours setting it up again! And stay tuned the week after that, because we'll be talking about using the BSA creator without causing your head to implode in frustration!
Lol! I tend to be more curious in regards to things mechanical, more than technical. Backing up one's load order seems like a smart move, which is why I probably haven't ever done it...
ReplyDeleteI do have the new version of FOMM. Got it not long after it was uploaded.
I have been meaning to investigate the BSA creator, but your menioning of head implosions now has me a wee bit weary...
I always use ObMM to export my Oblivion load order in exactly such a manner because it's constantly pushing the limits. I've never run enough mods in either Fallout game for it to be as much of a concern.
ReplyDeleteI could probably benefit from a tutorial on BSA creation, though...