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#3881675 - 12/22/13 09:47 AM DirectX 8 to 9 converter (August 30th) - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK  
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This DirectX 9 mod is now included as a part of WOFF 2.0 Expansion [edit Polovski: and now updated versions included in WOFF3 and further in WOFFUE]

Only use it wiith WOFF1.


If you have WOFF2, WOFF3 or WOFF UE you should NOT replace its files with any existing versions of my converter. They aren't compatible for now.
If you accidentally do it you will most likely need to reinstall the expansion to repair the DX 9 shaders.[/b]


Updated on August 30th.
A new version. Hopefully stable this time smile
If you are not into testing, crashing your game and losing your pilots then just want to try previous version from March which is available below. And for those who like the risk here is download options:
Installer: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2918136/cfs/WOFF_DirectX9.20140830.Setup.exe
JSGME: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2918136/cfs/WOFF_DirectX9.20140830.JSGME.7z
Plain zip: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2918136/cfs/WOFF_DirectX9.20140830.zip

Quote
Change list:
- Should solve frequent crashes a few minutes into a mission.
- Removed ambient lighting tint until better times (it was an experiment).
- Added a setting into the ini file which allows to reduce shadow quality for better performance and lower memory usage. The highest quality (#5) is the same as it was in prior versions. It is also possible to turn shadows off completely by setting the quality to 0.
- No more shadows on the blurred propeller disc. Also should slightly improve performance.
- Improved performance of point lights (especially noticeable in CFS3 with many guns firing).
- Slight changes in water shader. This one is really difficult to get right.
- CFS3: Experimental self-illumination for reflector sights. Only for stock textures.
- Some compatibility fallbacks for older AMD GPUs. Theoretically it may even run on X1000 series (with shadows turned off though). Of course it is irrelevant for WOFF, but some people play CFS3 on rather old PCs.


Please report any issues in this thread, even if I don't answer immediately I'm still reading everything.

Previous stable version (March 25th) is still available at:
Installer: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2918136/cfs/WOFF_DirectX9_Mod_Setup.20140325.zip
JSGME: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2918136/cfs/D3D8%20Self%20Shadowing%20Mod%2020140325.7z
Plain zip: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2918136/cfs/WOFF_D3D9_Extended.20140325.Beta.zip

Installer will automatically detect the folder where WOFF (or OFF, or CFS3) is installed or you can specify another folder, but it has to be the one where CFS3.exe is located.
Then it will ask whether you need SweetFX compatibility - this option is turned off by default but you can always edit d3d8.ini manually to change it after installation.
Finally, it will suggest to open DirectX 9 download page. If you are installing my mod for the first time - it is recommended to download and run DirectX installer from that page. If you already have this mod working - you may uncheck the option to skip this step.
You can always uninstall the mod via Control Panel -> Remove Programs. It is called "DirectX 9 Mod for Wings: Over Flanders Fields (version NNNNNNNN)" there.

Very Important!
If the game fails to start a mission while using this converter, make sure you have the latest DirectX 9 installed.
Download automatic DirectX installer here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35

It will check whether you have the latest version. You see, there are probably 20 versions of DirectX 9, and even though it stopped being updated few years ago you may still happen not to have the latest one.

With this version you can use numpad "0" to switch extended graphics on and off while in game. This is debugging feature useful for comparing the image quality and checking FPS difference.

Additionally a simple version of the D3D9 converter (January 1st) is still available here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2918136/cfs/WOFF_D3D9_Converter.20140101.zip
This version does not enhance graphics on its own, but provides a good FPS boost over the original WOFF rendering.

Important Note:
To be able to use SweetFX with any of these versions you should edit d3d8.ini with a notepad (Windows often shows this file without the .ini part just as "d3d8" with a type "Configuration Settings") and change
NoMultisampling=0
to be
NoMultisampling=1
This will turns off ingame antialiasing which seems to be incompatible with SweetFX.
Please note that I'm not providing support for SweetFX installation and settings, I just made it work with this game and now you are on your own.

-------------------------------------------------

(Original post)

Updated on January, 1st. Happy New Year! smile
Reworked the way display modes are selected which hopefully should solve some issues. If you used older versions of the converter and updated to this one you may need to select screen resolution again in the game (even if it already shows correct one!).
This version may be considered final and stable (of course until I implement extended features like improved lighting).
It gives a good FPS boost (around 20-30%) on my rather old PC (i7 860 2.8 GHz, 4GB RAM, GTX 285 1Gb, 1680*1050), so it may be worth a try even if you aren't going to use SweetFX.

Don't forget to edit the d3d8.ini and set NoMultisampling=1 if you overwrite it with this new version and want to use SweetFX.


As you may know the DX8 to DX9 converter from ENB Series doesn't work with CFS3. That's why I just went and built my own converter with blackjack and h... well no, actually it is just the simplest and straightforward convert at the moment, but I have some ideas about extending it if I have time (per-pixel lighting and shadows anyone? wink ).

See note above. Use at your own risk!
Get it here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2918136/cfs/WOFF_D3D9_Converter.20140101.zip
There are two files in the archive - extract them into your "WOFF\OBDWW1 Over Flanders Fields" folder (i.e. the folder with CFS3.exe).

After that you will be able to use actual DirectX 9 graphics enhancers like ENB Series or SweetFX.

However, to use WOFF with SweetFX you will have to edit d3d8.ini and change one line there:
NoMultisampling=1
By default it is set 0 which means than WOFF multisampling settings are applied. The problem is that SweetFX doesn't like it and requires multisampling to be turned off in the game.
Note that I'm saying "in the game" because you still can use your videocard driver's control panel (or nVidia Inspector) to override any setting and they won't conflict with SweetFX.


Last edited by Polovski; 11/29/17 12:25 PM.
#3881704 - 12/22/13 11:06 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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Hi AnKor, please keep up your exploration, using SweetFX in WoFF would be awesome.

Dirk.

#3881705 - 12/22/13 11:07 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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Hey Ankor. Blackjack you say? Sounds intriguing... I'm in for testing. Thanks for your work.
Btw, what's a DX9 ENB Series tool? Just asking. I would love to see some SweetFX options working with WOFF.

Update: I'm only getting a "Game terminated prematurely" exception error when WOFF tries to launch CFS3.

Here's what the log says:

2013/12/22 18:15:38 PatchMemorySync: Launching game
2013/12/22 18:15:38 EXE 'C:\OBDSoftware\WOFF\OBDWW1 Over Flanders Fields\CFS3.exe'
2013/12/22 18:15:38 DIR 'C:\OBDSoftware\WOFF\OBDWW1 Over Flanders Fields\'
2013/12/22 18:15:38 CMD 'cfs3'
2013/12/22 18:15:38 PatchMemorySync: waiting for sync
2013/12/22 18:15:38 EXCEPTION Game terminated prematurely
2013/12/22 18:15:38 TellUser Game terminated prematurely

Last edited by Rover_27; 12/22/13 11:21 AM.

i5 2320, 3.3 GHz
GTX 560Ti, 4 GB graphics memory
8 GB RAM
Windows 7 64x
#3881762 - 12/22/13 01:54 PM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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AnKor Offline
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ENB series is a graphics "improver" similar to SweetFX which predates the latter for several years.

I think I figured out why SweetFX didn't work - it requires multisampling to be off, but the minimum value in WOFF settings is 2 so it is always enabled.
I will add an option to override it in the converter, but I'm curious why WOFF devs restricted it this way.

If the game fails to start try installing the latest DirectX. If it doesn't help then perhaps I screwed something. The next version will have an option for writing a diagnostic log.

Has anyone else tried this converter?

#3881808 - 12/22/13 03:32 PM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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My DirectX is up-to-date. Let's wait for the log option. Thank you


i5 2320, 3.3 GHz
GTX 560Ti, 4 GB graphics memory
8 GB RAM
Windows 7 64x
#3881942 - 12/22/13 07:19 PM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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You can force your driver to override application settings though so doesn't matter what WOFF is set to.


Regards,

Polovski,
OBD Software, developers of immersive flight sims;
Wings Over Flanders Fields and Wings Over The Reich
http://www.overflandersfields.com
http://www.wingsoverthereich.com
#3881985 - 12/22/13 08:53 PM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: Polovski]  
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AnKor Offline
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Updated the download. Now it should work for everyone.

Originally Posted By: Polovski
You can force your driver to override application settings though so doesn't matter what WOFF is set to.

Yes, it doesn't matter for end result, the problem is that SweetFX inserts itself as intermediate layer in the rendering and doesn't work if a game has multisampling enabled.
So this config doesn't work:
Game (MSAA: ON) -> SweetFX -> GPU Driver (MSAA: OFF - Override)
but this one works:
Game (MSAA: OFF) -> SweetFX -> GPU Driver (MSAA: ON - Override)

It applies to any game, not just WOFF.

#3882032 - 12/22/13 10:34 PM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: Rover_27]  
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Originally Posted By: Rover_27
My DirectX is up-to-date. Let's wait for the log option. Thank you

Did you edit the ini file and set NoMultisampling=1 as AnKor says at the start?


Regards,

Polovski,
OBD Software, developers of immersive flight sims;
Wings Over Flanders Fields and Wings Over The Reich
http://www.overflandersfields.com
http://www.wingsoverthereich.com
#3882119 - 12/23/13 03:03 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: Rover_27]  
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Originally Posted By: Rover_27
Hey Ankor. Blackjack you say? Sounds intriguing... I'm in for testing. Thanks for your work.
Btw, what's a DX9 ENB Series tool? Just asking. I would love to see some SweetFX options working with WOFF.

Update: I'm only getting a "Game terminated prematurely" exception error when WOFF tries to launch CFS3.

Here's what the log says:

2013/12/22 18:15:38 PatchMemorySync: Launching game
2013/12/22 18:15:38 EXE 'C:\OBDSoftware\WOFF\OBDWW1 Over Flanders Fields\CFS3.exe'
2013/12/22 18:15:38 DIR 'C:\OBDSoftware\WOFF\OBDWW1 Over Flanders Fields\'
2013/12/22 18:15:38 CMD 'cfs3'
2013/12/22 18:15:38 PatchMemorySync: waiting for sync
2013/12/22 18:15:38 EXCEPTION Game terminated prematurely
2013/12/22 18:15:38 TellUser Game terminated prematurely


Hi Ankor,

I'm getting the same error even after making the adjustment in the ini.

#3882150 - 12/23/13 04:39 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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Hey Ankor! It's now working perfectly with SweetFX! Thank you so much for this little miracle. S nastupayuschim Novym Godom!




i5 2320, 3.3 GHz
GTX 560Ti, 4 GB graphics memory
8 GB RAM
Windows 7 64x
#3882158 - 12/23/13 04:54 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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@Rover,
Then it's my settings that I may have messed up somewhere. Would you mind telling me a step by step how you did it? What version of SweetFX are you using?

Nvidia inspector is 8xQs with 2x SGSS & in workshop I have aa set to 8.

#3882168 - 12/23/13 05:27 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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Hey yaan,

I just copied the files to the same folder cfs3.exe is in and changed the NoMultisampling=1 as Ankor said.
Then I opened FlightFX (I got it here), created a new profile for cfs3.exe, ticked Enable SweetFX option on the right panel and proceeded to tuning in the adjacent tab. Looks like that's it.

Good luck,

Rover

Updated: And I have sadly admit I have to disable it because it leads to about 15-20 fps loss (which is critical for me). Even without sweetfx. But that's probably my system.

Last edited by Rover_27; 12/23/13 08:22 AM.

i5 2320, 3.3 GHz
GTX 560Ti, 4 GB graphics memory
8 GB RAM
Windows 7 64x
#3882231 - 12/23/13 10:38 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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AnKor Offline
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If you get errors, try following options

0. If you downloaded the very first original version, make sure you don't still have it. Correct d3d8.dll is 18.5 KB in size (18944 bytes to be specific) and the older one was just above 20 Kb.

1. If you already installed SweetFX or ENB Series try removing their d3d9.dll from the game folder to see if it helps. If it does then something is wrong with their config and no with the converter.

2. Try setting WriteLog=1 in d3d8.ini so it will write d3d8.log when the game is started.
If the log is short (less than ten lines) and ends with something like "Create Device RESULT = <some number>" where the number is not 0, then for some reason my dll can't set requested screen resolution. Try changing resolution in workshop to see if any of them works. Note that 16 bit modes are not supported by the converter, only 32 bit ones work, but I doubt anyone really wants to use 16 bit colors.

If the log is a large file then something else didn't work and it will difficult to figure out frown
I had some free time over weekend to make this tool, but now I don't have any to support it. Sorry.

Rover_27,
Quote:
Updated: And I have sadly admit I have to disable it because it leads to about 15-20 fps loss (which is critical for me).

This is odd. I specifically tested to see if there are any performance changes, but haven't noticed any.
Though this may really depend on your system. I have an old GTX 285 (though even being old it has a bit faster memory bus than GTX 660 for example smile ) and run at relatively low resolution 1680*1050.

#3882250 - 12/23/13 11:36 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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Mine is GTX 560Ti with 256 bit bus Width. The resolution is 1920x1080.
I'll try that again later with different settings

Upd: Looks like your converter's eating away 1 GB of my memory (don't ask me how)

Look



Now it says 909 virt while usually it shows around 1800-2000. Btw, what these numbers after fps mean?

Well, maybe a bit less but it will grow eventually.

Note the same setting (planes, graphics, terrain) without converter



Last edited by Rover_27; 12/23/13 12:05 PM.

i5 2320, 3.3 GHz
GTX 560Ti, 4 GB graphics memory
8 GB RAM
Windows 7 64x
#3882260 - 12/23/13 12:04 PM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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Wow, this is very interesting!

Thank you very much for your work, AnKor!

notworthy




Will need to play around with the settings some more. Couldn't see any FPS loss. (core i5-2500k@4GHZ, GTX 470, 8 Gig RAM Win7 64 bit).


"...late afternoon the Air Tasking Order came in [and] we found the A-10 part and we said, "We are going where!? We are doing what!?"

Capt. Todd Sheehy, Hog pilot, on receiving orders during Operation Desert Storm

#3882401 - 12/23/13 03:45 PM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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Rover_27, interesting observation, will take a closer look a bit later (and I don't really know what those numbers mean too smile )

Para_Bellum, if you make a good looking preset -- please share it smile

#3882776 - 12/24/13 01:31 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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yeah I need some settings please;)

#3882860 - 12/24/13 04:14 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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Hellshade Online content
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Originally Posted By: AnKor
Has anyone else tried this converter?


I have. I made a few videos using it with SweetFX and posted them in the forums. Here's the link. Great stuff AnKor! Thank you very much for doing this.

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3882857#Post3882857


Flying Wings Over Flanders Fields: Between Heaven & Hell II
videos at www.youtube.com/hellshade68

#3882898 - 12/24/13 06:31 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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So what's involved with setting it up?
Putting the converter and SweetFX into the WoFF directory?

I set up SweetFX for RoF, but used the FlightFX program that Jason had Laser make....


AKA: Major Awesome
System specs:
CPU: i7 3770k @3.5GHz stock w/Phanteks PH tc14pe cooler
MB: Asus Maximus V Gene
PSU: Corsair 750w
OS: Win 7 64bit
RAM: Gskill 16gb @1600
GPU: Nvidia GTX670 4GB Drivers: 314.22
Extras: MS Force Feedback 2 Joystick, CH Pedals, TrackIR 5, Saitek Throttle Quadrant, ButtKicker Gamer 2, 3 24" monitors for 5760x1200
#3882899 - 12/24/13 06:35 AM Re: DirectX 8 to 9 converter (that actually works) [Re: AnKor]  
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Try creating a profile for cfs3.exe in Flight FX


i5 2320, 3.3 GHz
GTX 560Ti, 4 GB graphics memory
8 GB RAM
Windows 7 64x
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