Gaussian Blur / Bloom / Unsharpmask

Look here and see if I did it right, please: i.imgur.com/S56JbQP.png

Moving the files to the Witcher's directory bore the same results.

It's a pastbin link here, maybe this can help?

pastebin.com/XKxLBQvT


Must be an issue with the Witcher only, not all 32bit games. Just tried it with FEAR 1 and worked fine by using the Gauss renamed to "ReShade.fx", exception was the effect 1 as before, tho.

EDIT:

Also worked with a OpenGL 64 bit game, Transistor.

Yup, you did it right. Unfortunately I don't know what the stuff in the logs mean so I can't try to figure anything out from that. I've been wanting to play Witcher 2, if I see it on sale maybe I'll pick it up and see if I can solve this. Hopefully this issue is isolated to that game.

Thanks for testing it out, at least I know it isn't completely broken. I'll upload a new version soon to fix that error. I also have one other thing I want to try that might fix the issue with Witcher 2. It'll probably be a few days before I can get to it though.

Alright, I am going to sleep then. Have a good night, Ioxa.

Wicked, give this one a shot and see if it works, I changed a couple things. I also made it so you don't have to open up any files and add any extra lines, all you have to do is open GAUSS_settings.txt and change the compatibility setting at the bottom of the file.
EDIT: Updated this again because I realized that would only work with dx10/11 games. Install is still similar, just have to rename MasterEffects .fx file if using the two together.

Download

Just tried it here, Ioxa. The same thing as before with The Witcher 2.

i.imgur.com/nGyfFpq.png

If I recall well, I once used it, an older version long ago, both ReShade and your modified Gauss, and worked normally with this game.

Well I'm out of ideas for now. If I think of anything else I'll let you know. If you happen to find the one that worked in the past let me know so I can compare the two and see what is different.

Updated the OP. Fixed a few bugs and fixed compatibility for MasterEffect version 1.1.111.
Added an option to chain additional .fx files. If using an older version of MasterEffect the file name can be added in the bottom section of GAUSS_settings.h, it would look something like this.

//---- Chain Additional .fx files ----
//-- This file will run BEFORE the Gaussian effects --
#define USE_EFFECT1 1 //[0 or 1] 0 = off, 1 = on.
#define FX_FILE1 "ReShadeME.fx" //File name must be in "quotes"

In most cases chaining additional files will cause problems but if you have a file that is compatible with SweetFX and/or MasterEffect it should work.

Testing out a different technique for making bloom wider because GaussSigma isn't working quite right. Here's the file if anyone wants to try it out and let me know if this looks better.

Bloom Test Download

Also experimenting with the HDR shader from SweetFX to see how it looks with the gaussian blur passes instead of the smaller blur passes it uses in SweetFX. Turns out it looks about the same, probably not worth the difference in performance cost. But its in that file if anyone wants to take a look.

Added a WIP version to the OP, I'll post it here too. Continued working on an HDR effect and am pretty close to the look I'm going for, any input to help me improve it is appreciated! I also made a change to the MasterEffect compatibility so PetkaGTA's GreatFX can be used in combination with it. With the new framework chaining files like this probably won't be an issue but this works for now. Just rename the file and add it at the bottom of GAUSS_settings.h, I named it ReShadeGFX.fx, and enable the effect. I didn't test everything so there may be an issue somewhere, I didn't encounter any though. Here's the file, WIP Download .

EDIT: Just tried this with the new framework and it seems to be working fine (aside from the toggle key not working). Set compatibility to 0 and rename the ReShade.fx file that comes with the new framework (I changed the name to ReShadeFW.fx), add it to GAUSS_settings.h, and set USE_EFFECT to 1. It should look something like this,
Pictures of the WIP HDR effect. Too dark? Too Bright? Any feedback to help me adjust it is appreciated!

How do I install the custom fx you gave me into the framework version? It gives me this error:
(88, 23): error X3004: undeclared identifier 'colorGammaSampler'

I don't see any HDR, just some contrast.

Sh1nRa358 wrote: How do I install the custom fx you gave me into the framework version? It gives me this error:
(88, 23): error X3004: undeclared identifier 'colorGammaSampler'

Try this one.

Put the include line in the Effect Ordering section in ReShade.fx.

MaxG3D wrote: I don't see any HDR, just some contrast.

I guess thats pretty much all it is, just increased contrast between bright and dark areas to show more detail. I'm trying to get a look similar to these pictures but I don't really have an eye for this stuff. What do you think would help get me closer to that look?

Photographically speaking, those are really bad examples of HDR. Preferable HDR shows detail in bright and dark areas without oversaturation and excessive contrast.

That said, in order to get the look you're going for, you want local contrast and micro contrast. Left 4 Dead actually uses local contrast if you look closely.

Here: www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=1962

At the bottom of the post, you can find a video of the first person eating a bottle of pills. Directly after, you can see the local contrast max out. That's the kind of effect you're looking for, right?

Thanks, that helped a lot! Yeah, thats exactly what I'm looking for, I just want to see more of the detail without making everything else too bright or too dark. I don't know anything about photography and I had never heard of micro contrast, but after looking at some examples I have a better idea of what I should be adjusting and maybe some better ways to get the look I'm after. I went back and made some adjustments and I got it a little closer to what I want but nowhere near as nice as nice as those examples from L4D.

I looked around to see if anybody implemented a local contrast shader. Ceejay apparently researched for 1.6 of SweetFX, but I can't find anything in the current version of 2.0 resembling local contrast.

However, I decided to play with the LumaSharpen settings and I got somewhat close to what you're looking for.

Here is my configuration as of writing this:

// -- Sharpening --
#define sharp_strength 2 //[0.10 to 3.00] Strength of the sharpening
#define sharp_clamp 1 //[0.000 to 1.000] Limits maximum amount of sharpening a pixel recieves - Default is 0.035

// -- Advanced sharpening settings --
#define pattern 4 //[1|2|3|4] Choose a sample pattern. 1 = Fast, 2 = Normal, 3 = Wider, 4 = Pyramid shaped.
#define offset_bias 6.0 //[0.0 to 6.0] Offset bias adjusts the radius of the sampling pattern.
//I designed the pattern for offset_bias 1.0, but feel free to experiment.

It looks pretty bad (well, the inner photographer in me thinks it looks bad) when I was messing with it in Payday 2, but it is a start and I'm willing to bet you can get close to the look you want by playing with these settings. Start with mine as a base, and play with them.

Here is a Unity shader that also features that local contrast look you're going for: docs.unity3d.com/Manual/script-ContrastEnhance.html

Yeah, the effect from those settings was a bit much but I could see where you were going with it. I went back and made some more adjustments to what I was working on and I think got it. It's much more subtle, maybe a little dark in some spots but not bad.

I ported this to the new framework. Download
I tested it with a few different effects turned on and didn't get any errors but let me know if you run into any.

Install Instructions

1. Copy the ReShade folder to the same folder that ReShade was installed to and merge it with the existing folder.
2. Open ReShade.fx and add the line "#include EFFECT(CustomFX, Gaussian)" in the Effect Ordering section.
3. Find Gauss_Settings.cfg in the ReShade folder and open it to adjust the settings.

Ioxa wrote: I ported this to the new framework. Download
I tested it with a few different effects turned on and didn't get any errors but let me know if you run into any.

Install Instructions

1. Copy the ReShade folder to the same folder that ReShade was installed to and merge it with the existing folder.
2. Open ReShade.fx and add the line "#include EFFECT(CustomFX, Gaussian)" in the Effect Ordering section.
3. Find Gauss_Settings.cfg in the ReShade folder and open it to adjust the settings.

If you do not mind, I would verify and include it into the next release.
I still need to write on the dev tutorial for the framework

LuciferHawk wrote: If you do not mind, I would verify and include it into the next release.
I still need to write on the dev tutorial for the framework

I don't mind at all. If you're going to include it in a release you may want to look back at Boulotaur2024's originals to see where I have made mistakes, as I'm sure I have made a lot. In it's current state it's a mix between the DX9 and DX11 versions and there are some parts of the bloom that I can't figure out, maybe you could get it all working correctly.

Excellent work, Ioxa