WOTR (Now Phase Two) Enhancement Package

Hello fellow WOTRers, quick update to this thread to indicate that the (previous) WOTR GPU Tuner Patch and WOTR Phase One Enhancement Package have been superseded by the more complete and improved WOTR Phase Two Enhancement Package that is compatible with the BoF expansion for WOTR. The Enhancement Package includes improved scenery and texture budgets files, among several other file tweaks, and that help to maintain good, steady FPS and good quality terrain graphics in WOTR Phase Two.

Average FPS with the package range from about 60 (cockpit views) to about 70 or so (external views), while terrain graphics, especially at distances, are slightly crisper than possible with the older Tuner Patch. The package is found under the link located in the info. section below. I will leave the older WOTR GPU Tuner Patch (and Phase One Enhancement Package) under the relevant thread too - but recommended at this point is the WOTR Phase Two Enhancement Package instead. Continue however using the older Phase One Enhancement Package with Phase One of WOTR (if you never upgraded to the BoF expansion).

See also the relevant post regarding my various GPU Tuners and WOTR that is located under the mods. sub-thread for WOTR on SimHQ (for other details and files to remove if still running the Phase One Enhancement Package and/or older WOTR GPU Tuner in the BoF expansion pack).

EDIT: optional FrankenMiniTuner Ver. 1.2 add-on for the WOTR Enhancement Package is compatible both with the Phase One and Phase Two Enhancement Packages.

Happy WOTRing all,
Von S

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Was busy with a few more tweaks, and so I present to all interested, the WOTR GPU Tuner Patch (available in the post linked to below):

https://combatace.com/forums/topic/92320-fm-tweaks-for-woffuepe/?tab=comments#comment-780879

The file is JSGME ready. Simply unzip the file, and then place the folders called "01_VonS_MaxFPSnGraphicsGPUtuner_ver1.1" and "02_VonS_MaxFPSnGraphicsGPUtuner_ver1.2" inside your MODS folder for WOTR. Load up with JSGME and go fly. The "02" folder should be installed after the base "01" folder and is optional.

Some features of the tweaks:

- includes an extended preload.xml file to help load extra cloud types, etc., as per the HarryH preload file for WOFF
- no blue triangles
- hardly any micro-stuttering noticeable, if at all
- graphics maintained at high quality (both at low and importantly at higher alts. too)
- fps seem fairly smooth
- possibly lighter on GPU usage than stock numbers (by about 10% less)
- tree congestion has been slightly thinned out in this patch (by about 10-15%) from stock (should work well with the relevant European geography often flown over in WOTR)
- patch pixel dim and floating size numbers applied, for those interested, are floating size of 512, and pixel dim of 256 (these nos. seem to work best; tested with a variety of others and different ratios but no benefits were noticed)
- max. fps top out at around 130-140 (external views), with clear blue skies, and this patch installed; cockpit/internal views average to about 70 fps

Addition to ver. 1.1:

- includes an improved preload.xml file based on the one provided by HarryH for his no-cloud-popping mod. for WOFF

Addition to ver. 1.2:

- includes an improved "compositetexturebudgets" file in the "02" patch folder that improves "ringdim" and "tilecount" values slightly, for slightly more crisp terrains when viewed from higher alts., and at slightly greater distances (the change is subtle and does not impact negatively on fps)
- ave. fps are similar to those when the base "01" folder is installed and may also be slightly higher (3-5 fps higher approx.)
- the "02" folder should be installed after the base "01" folder, not before

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Thanks VonS,il certainly give it a try pal.

sounds like a magic bullet......I'll certainly give it a go.....does it require other mods to have been previously activated or is it a stand-alone? thx

Standalone, as is the GPU Tuner Patch for WOFF too. The WOTR patch isn't as much of a magic bullet as the one for WOFF, but it does eliminate blue triangles, offer slightly higher fps, and at least on my rig behaves smoothly. Should be an improvement over stock settings. And it's JSGME friendly.

Happy flying,
Von S

Cool.....thx. Installed as expected and indeed gave exactly what you predicted....a good add... thank you. I did have some random weird bullet hit sounds coming thru the start up screens but random weirdness is the world we live in. Anyhow....nice add....thank you

Glad the tuner patch is working well - should give a smoother flight experience than stock. The weird bullet hit sounds I haven't experienced at my end - my mod only changes the compositescenery and compositetexturebudgets files, also the Terrain file in /shaders30, plus it includes an extended preload.xml file for the main WOTR folder.

Happy flying gents',
Von S

I ran and it works quite nicely, I noticed no stutters and my frame rates were higher than before.

Thank you for the feedback Beard, pleased to hear that the tuner patch for WOTR is working well.

Von S

Many thanks, will give this a go!

Thank you very much

Trooper, I would like to hear your observations on this mod as I remember you were having difficulty with stutters. Has Vons' mod helped at all?

S!Blade<><

My experience, from a short try-out:

1. FPS is definitely improved, and panning around is smoother.
2. Blue triangles are reduced or eliminated
3. Terrain texture blur starts much closer, making it very noticeable compared to the settings I used before
4. I don't know about microstutters, but the megastutters when an RAF formation first wades into a formation of bombers are still there.

I'm currently using a variant with just the extra stuff in the preload.xml file, as I prefer the previous sharper terrain textures.

Thank you for the feedback Lima. I will test the WOTR tuner package with the compositescenerybudgets file available in ver. 1.3 of the tuner package for WOFF - since that one slightly improves distanced textures - and will include it with a new ver. of this tuner package should the improvement be noticeable. If there are no major differences I will leave the tuner package for WOTR as is, and everyone is welcome to tinker with it further on their installs of WOTR. The package, while it eliminates blue triangles and noticeably improves fps over stock - is not the "magic bullet" that such tweaks, and previously Panama Red's, have been able to do in WOFF. Distance textures are indeed slightly more fuzzy with the tuner package for WOTR than if WOTR is run stock - so it's a personal choice for everyone. It might be possible to get even more fps out of WOTR but textures would then have to be blurred some more. I've tried to go for a compromise with this package - since, when run in stock form, my fps are consistently in the 40s, both in cockpit and outside views, in WOTR.

In terms of mega-stutters, I doubt I can help with that - I'm no magician. Although I recommend, for those tweaking the preload.xml file in WOTR, to perhaps include several sounds there as well, towards the bottom of the file - since that may help with more noticeable stutters, such as when guns are being used for the first time, etc.

Try including the following entries at the bottom of the preload.xml file already included with my WOTR tuner package, if interested in testing on your rigs. I'm currently testing with these additions and noticed a slight improvement when firing the Browning 303s for the first time, when a dogfight begins.

<file name="20can_c.wav"/>
<file name="30cal_gun.wav"/>
<file name="50gun_01.wav"/>
<file name="collide.wav"/>
<file name="FlightSaysAffirmative1.wav"/>
<file name="gun_13mm_mg131.wav"/>
<file name="gun_303_browning.wav"/>
<file name="gun_792mm_mg81.wav"/>
<file name="WingBreak.wav"/>

Perhaps a placebo effect but worth a try.

Happy flying,
Von S

Many thanks for the suggestions VonS. I will try adding those sounds, also the 'I'm hitting him' variants as these seem to be what's often playing when the megastutters strike.

Hello fellow WOTR flyers,

Just a quick note that ver. 1.1 of the WOTR GPU Tuner Patch has been uploaded (link available under the first post on page one of this thread). Ver. 1.1. includes an extended preload.xml file.

On a related note, have tested different variants of the compositescenerybudgets file with WOTR and no further (visual) benefits were noticed, so I will leave the tuner patch at ver. 1.1 - with the compositescenerybudgets file that is already provided in the package.

Happy flying,
Von S

Ver. 1.2 of the WOTR GPU Tuner Patch has been uploaded (link available under the first post on page one of this thread, including info. on changes/additions to the latest version). This will most likely be the last iteration of this particular tuner patch since any further tweaks - to increase fps even more - would result in poorer quality terrains. Vers. 1.1 and 1.2 of the patch strike the best balance between performance and terrain quality at alts./distances.

Happy flying all,
Von S

I will give this a try. One comment as a first time installer is that the whole process is confusing. There is a version 1.1 and a version 1.2, but I install both? JSGME gives me an error when I do this. Have I got this correct or all muddled up?

@Scout, you have the correct process. Ver. 1.1 is the base install. Once you load 1.1, only then load 1.2. Ver. 1.2 will replace the earlier compositetexturebudgets file located in ver. 1.1. If JSGME shows a popup window when loading 1.2, simply click on the button to replace/override the earlier version files. (Same procedure when installing the WOFF GPU Tuner Patch as well.)

Without replacing the older files with the newer ones, you are still technically at the base, ver. 1.1 install.

(I could have have popped the newer compositetexturebudgets file directly into the ver. 1.1 patch, renamed it 1.2, and simplified things - but I did it this way to give everyone the option of running either ver. 1.1 or 1.2 - depending on which compositetexturebudgets file gives better results on your rig. I used the same logic for the WOFF Patch (that one contains four folders, ver. 1.1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 - where 1.1.1 is the base install, 1.2 gives an alternate compositescenerybudgets file, 1.3 gives another variant on the compositescenerybudgets file, and 1.4 gives an alternate compositetexturebudgets file.)

So, in short, the install logic is as follows for both gpu tuners:

for the WOTR GPU Tuner patch -----> loading only 1.1 gives you ver. 1.1, loading 1.2 after loading 1.1 gives you ver. 1.2

for the WOFF GPU Tuner patch, recommended install variants are ----->

base install - 1.1.1
ver 1.2 - means base install plus 1.2
ver. 1.3 - means base install plus 1.3
ver. 1.4 - means base install plus 1.4, or base install plus 1.2 plus 1.4, or base install plus 1.3 plus 1.4***

*** base plus 1.3 plus 1.4 is the best graphics-wise, base plus 1.2 is the best fps-wise, base plus 1.2 plus 1.4 is a good compromise between fps and graphics and is the one I mostly run in WOFF

(Those who decide to install the tuner patches for WOFF and WOTR - I recommend going over the install info. carefully in both the WOFF and WOTR posts that contain a download link to the patches. And always install higher no. folders after the lower no. ones, for example, "02" after "01," etc. - telling JSGME to override/replace the files of the previous folder.)

Happy flying,
Von S

OK, thanks for the confirmation. That helps!

Wrapping different versions into single stand alone packages as you mentioned might be less confusing, or maybe more intuitive naming like 'base install' plus "alternate 1" etc like you used in your explanation? All good regardless.

I know from my own experience that when making mods, me as the 'creator' know the contents and workings of the mod inside and out, and sometimes forget how it looks to someone just seeing it for the first time ... total confusion. I have been playing WOFF for a very long time and I still find venturing into the mods page a trip into virtual overwhelm! I can only imagine being a new player ... head explosion, haha.

I'm new to modding this game.

I downloaded your VonS_WOTR download and JSGME. I've copied the Mod and JSGME files over. Now I need to add your mod. Do I just unzip the VONS_WOTR into the mods folder?

@Racingfan,

Yes, the two separate folders that you find inside, once you unzip my main WOTR GPU Tuner patch folder, should be placed into the "MODS" folder of your main WOTR directory, and then enabled via JSGME. The two folders that go into MODS are:

"01_VonS_MaxFPSnGraphicsGPUtuner_ver1.1" and "02_VonS_MaxFPSnGraphicsGPUtuner_ver1.2"

The "02" folder should be installed after the "01" folder, via JSGME - simply override/replace the "01" folder if JSGME pops up any warnings.

Von S

Bit of extra info. about the WOTR Tuner Patch - specifically regarding the tweaked shaders.xml file located in the WOFF GPU Tuner patch - it may be copied over to the WOTR Patch too:

https://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4565093/re-wotr-pics#Post4565093

Cheers all,
Von S

Cheers VonS, look forwards to any work that can help with any potential FPS issues

Bumping this thread up with the latest update info. - please see the first post of this thread for info./link to the WOTR Enhancement Package Ver. 1.0 that supersedes the older WOTR GPU Tuner Patch.

Representative screenies below - and, yes, those are the BH&H2 1.17 improved clouds plus 23 selected clouds from the 4L0M ver. 2.0 clouds pack loaded successfully in WOTR. For more info. on how manually to set up and JSGME-load BH&H2 1.17 clouds into older WOFF UE/PE installs, also into WOTR, see this post under the WOFF Casual Campaigns thread.

ReShade preset files being used in BH&H2/WOTR, by the way, are also located under the same CombatAce thread where the WOTR Enhancement Package is found (scroll up/down to find the relevant files while there).

Cheers all and happy WOTRing,
Von S

Refreshing this thread with a new post that includes a few other details regarding the WoTR Phase Two Enhancement Package (have also included relevant changes in the very first post of this thread).

Have done a bit more tweaking to my BoF expansion install and I'm pleased with the results overall. Turning off of FXAA and LumaSharpen in my ReShade profile for WoTR increases ave. FPS by about 5-6. Have also tinkered with the in-sim menus and I'm getting good results with cloud scale/density, also terrain reflections and glossiness, set to a value of 4 (I usually use a value of 6 for those entries in my FrankenWoFF 4.18 and BH&H2 installs). Mods. also continue to work well in the BoF expansion (and that previously worked well in Phase One; I'm including a pic of that below in this post, too).

As well did some circuits in the Hawk 75 and enjoyed it very much - a nimble aircraft but somewhat underpowered. Recommended is to lower engine RPMs on it (do this when at full non-WEP throttle, for accurate results) to about 2500 -- should improve engine life since the Hawk seems to have been rated historically up to about 2550 RPM (see this good link that includes specs. on the Hawk, with several other fine documents linked to on that page). In terms of other details regarding the Hawk, I'm getting good landings with magneto one on (and two off) -- no need that way for flaps, except if used (unorthodoxly) as emergency air brakes if coming in too quickly, or too steeply. Didn't bother testing max. historical recorded speed of about 510 kph but it goes up into the 450s kph with no problem.

If you find that the Phase Two Enhancement Package is "enhancing" your experience in the BoF expansion a bit too much -- might I recommend removing the simulation.xml file from the package before loading it via JSGME -- the simulation.xml file, among other things, increases AI enthusiasm by about 10% for novices and 5% for aces/veterans, increases fighter-on-fighter threshold values to -2/-3 (which makes the AI engage a bit longer in dogfights even after suffering minor damage), and also reduces the collision range and min. alt. in dogfights to 150 and 60 m AGL, respectively, etc. These last couple of values may also be modified via the excellent "WoTR Customizer" (i.e., MultiMod) by JJJ.

NOTE: the "scenery density" value in the BoF expansion was at a default of 3, in my install, before I began tinkering with it; values of either 2 or 3 work best on my rig (tweak to taste/performance obviously on your own rig, for that entry) -- in the WoFF series, for example, I run that value at 5, with no major FPS drop -- in WoTR Phase Two, I prefer either a value of 2 or 3, from what I've been able to test, for best compromise between decent scenery detail/congestion and acceptable FPS.

Cheers all and happy (Phase Two) WoTRing,


Settings & Mods. Used




Random Pics with FPS not Dropping Below About 50 or So (XJouve's "Lite" Water Mod. Ver. 1.1 continues to work well, as it did in WoTR Phase One; all pics are also with my ReShade profile for WoTR loaded)






Bringing the Hawk in at Amiens (scenery in all pics in this post contains a light, selective mod. chosen from some WoFF-UE era tiles done by 4L0M)