BZ2 with ENB Series

[Tempest Storm]

Now that TA5 has gone public, those of you interested in enhanced graphics for BZ2 might want to take a look at ENB Series. ENB Series is a 3rd party script that runs additional graphical enhancements on Direct X9 applications. Now that BZ2 has been updated to the DX9 API it is possible to run ENB Series alongside BZ2 in order to achieve more graphical enhancements.

ENB Series supports a wide range of graphical features that can all be activated and configured individually; some may enhance the way BZ2 looks, some may not. There are plenty of options to choose from, including (and not limited to)  Bloom effects, SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occulsions) and SSIL (Screen Space Indirect Lighting), Depth of Field, as well as even Motion Blur. I have done some basic experimenting with BZ2 and ENB Series and with the right tweaks to the settings you can get a real pretty picture.

AFAIK, some of the effects use Shaders V2.0 (or V3.0 if the setting is enabled and your card supports it) and other features that may be specific to modern videocards. I have not tested it on older cards but my system runs the game just fine at 1920x1080 with most of the effects enabled without any real framerate hit at all. Performance wise it is all hardware specific from what I can tell.

I took two comparison screenshots just to give a basic idea of what ENB Series is capable of, for quality preservation purposes I kept them at full resolution:
Check: BZ2 W/O ENB for TA5 in its current state, and BZ2 W/ ENB for TA5 with a basic setup from ENB Series.

It needs alot more fine tuning but it gives the general idea of what can be accomplished using ENB Series.

You can find ENB Series at its homepage Here if you are interested. I'm curious to see what a few modders might be able to come up with after messing around with the settings.

[Nielk1]

I've been looking for a way to remote control that via DLL since you showed it to me during the 1.3 beta.

[Steeveeo]

Where the frik is the download link? I only see a bunch of presets for the actual thing I cant find! What, do we select one of them and tune from that?

[Tempest Storm]

That's what I did honestly.

I originally found a link for a specialized version on another site about a year ago and had used that version. I suppose there is no download link to a basic version now that I look at it, so yeah I would just grab any one for a specialized game and tweak it as needed. They all have the same capabilities, they are just configured differently from what I can see. Be sure to check the documentation on the website as well to see how to edit the settings effectively.

[Steeveeo]

MY EYEEEES!!

lol, careful when touching the bloom controls!

BTW, I found that when alttabbing with this on, I get this AV:

Code Select Expand


---- Battlezone II Log File ----
//=====================================================
App version: Patch 1.3TechAlpha5 EDITOR Apr 23 2009 13:39:30
Windows version: Windows Version: 5.1.2600 'Service Pack 3' PlatformID=2

Last few battlezone.log lines (may or may not be relevant):
DIAG|                 vid:538  |09:59:08|321328 |d3d: supports border address mode
DIAG|                 vid:701  |09:59:08|321328 |In Vid::OnResetDevice, pd3dDevice = 0x05BCF008
DIAG|              icroot:193  |09:59:08|321332 |Root window now 1280x1024
DIAG|                DXUT:2570 |09:59:08|321333 | DXUT unpause on change device done
(done)

Exception code: C0000005 (ACCESS VIOLATION) READING from 00000000h
Message :  Exception
Error occurred at 4/30/2009 09:59:10.
D:\Games\Battlezone II 1.3TA5\BZ2Edit.exe, run by Steeveeo.
D:\Games\Battlezone II 1.3TA5\BZ2Edit.exe, run by Steeveeo.
CPU: 2 processor(s), Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E8400  @ 3.00GHz
     x86 Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 6
Process Memory :   1776 MB free out of   2048 MB total
Physical memory:    971 MB free out of   2047 MB total
Page(swap) file:   2959 MB free out of   3940 MB total
This exe is using 15 MB, peak use 126 MB

Fault address:  4FE5B00A 01:0008A00A C:\WINDOWS\system32\d3d9.dll

Registers:
EAX:000000AE
EBX:0206ED60
ECX:00000000
EDX:0206ED60
ESI:0010F140
EDI:0AF1C0A0
CS:EIP:001B:4FE5B00A
SS:ESP:0023:0206ED20  EBP:0206ED3C
DS:0023  ES:0023  FS:003B  GS:0000
Flags:00010246

Call stack:
Address   Return    Function            SourceFile
4FE5B00A  00000000  4FE15703  Direct3DShaderValidatorCreate9+0x0002B65A
4FE15703  00000000  4FE1F650  DebugSetLevel+0x0001A6D3
4FE1F650  00000000  4FE59DE0  DebugSetLevel+0x00024620
4FE59DE0  00000000  4FE76DA4  Direct3DShaderValidatorCreate9+0x0002A430
4FE76DA4  00000000  4FE58920  Direct3DShaderValidatorCreate9+0x000473F4
4FE58920  00000000  05159359  Direct3DShaderValidatorCreate9+0x00028F70


Perhaps because I chose to use Shader Model 3 for the effects, or perhaps the bloom was so damn bright the game didnt wanna display it anymore.

[AHadley]

Looks pretty, TS

Steeveeo... less so.

[TheJamsh]

looks good. will definately use this somewhere...

how damaging is it to performance though?

[hybirdisdf]

Man,I cant even see the picture.Its all whiteout and washout detail complete.Horrible Horrible

[AHadley]

@Jamsh: Could this be implemented in the update, or are we too late-stage for that?

[TheJamsh]

It COULD be but id rather keep this out of it, as its changing the original game too much. Its also probably got to go through a bundle of bug testing...

I do think it looks good. A lot of detail is missing, and the brightness and darkness thresholds need bringing closer together somehow...

I will DEFINATELY be using this some places in S-mod, mainly because steeveeo's environment has made something much easier.

[TheJamsh]

Saying that, it does make things look blurry and overly soft...

[AHadley]

I'm sure this can be adjusted. I'd love to see this implemented into the engine in some way in a patch.

[General BlackDragon]

http://boris-vorontsov.narod.ru/download_en.htm

Wich thing do i download 

I hate navigating some websites

[TheJamsh]

any one of them (i got the top one)

you have to tune it yourself. you can turn it on/off in game using SHIFT+F12

[Vid]

with ENB looks far far too fuzzy/bright,  without looks fine to me, but /shrugs.
It basically looks like the same picture, except ENB you raised blurness and brightness.