46 replies to this topic

[Beefsweat]

EDIT: since this thread has seen some more activity lately I figured I'd make this a hub for sweetfx information and hawken-specific presets. For those that don't know what sweetfx is, it's a graphical enhancement tool that 'injects' customized shaders into almost any dx9/10-powered game in order to add effects such as antialiasing, tone mapping, bloom & HDR lighting, texture/channel sharpening and much more. Installation/uninstallation is pretty straight-forward and it is by no means a permanent mod, you can also set keybinds to toggle its various effects on or off entirely. In addition due to the way it injects effects into games, you can simply alt-tab out of your game, change the sweetfx config, save it and tab back into the game to see its effects without having to quit out or restart anything.

You can find the latest versions of sweetfx and any related news at the Guru3d forums here: http://bit.ly/1fdhjWc - this forum is also a good area to look for any technical support related to sweetfx as it can be finicky with some hardware setups. In addition you can go here http://sfx.thelazy.net/games/ for a constantly-updated database full of sweetfx presets for all kinds of games.

The installation process as I mentioned is painless and easy to reverse should you encounter problems with sweetfx or just not like it/etc. The sweetfx readme also describes this process - simply find the game's main executable file (for hawken this will be in C: program files (x86)/steam/steamapps/common/Hawken/binaries/Win32), open the sweetfx folder/zip, and copy all of the sweetfx files into that folder where hawken's executable file is. If you start your game now you won't see any visual difference as at this point sweetfx hasn't been configured to actually inject any effects, so you'll need to edit the 'sweetfx_settings' document. Customize to your heart's content. Once you're finished, save the document and launch your game to see your new effects in action!

Here are some hawken-specific presets that have been made by myself and other forum members - if you've got your own that you'd like to add, throw it up onto pastebin and into the thread!

my own "Subtle Saturation" preset:
comparison: http://imgur.com/a/3qeNw#0 - pastebin link: http://pastebin.com/c41XpW3w

Kopra's "Desaturated Demolition" preset:
comparison: http://i.imgur.com/1Ped1yz - pastebin link: http://pastebin.com/ygighWzt

Edited by Beefsweat, July 04 2014 - 10:45 PM.

[machmanx]

Wow, it's a bit too bright for Bazaar, but it makes the other two maps look more vibrant, judging from those screenshots.  Does the user have to do the tweaking or is it pre-configured_

[nullface]

Origin looks really good.

Edited by nullface, January 15 2013 - 01:23 PM.

[Beefsweat]

I think it comes with a basic preconfiguration. It's got a text file that you edit to change various settings with, and it's not too hard to figure out. Bazaar is definitely blown out, I'm gonna mess around with the contrast and get it right.

Edited by Beefsweat, January 15 2013 - 01:25 PM.

[Pap]

@Beefsweat
can you provide us with DL links and/or your configuration for this you had made for hawken game_

[DeVact]

I'll take my mechs gray with a touch of gray and a bit gray on top but thank you very much

[Beefsweat]

Pap, on January 19 2013 - 06:21 AM, said:

@Beefsweat
can you provide us with DL links and/or your configuration for this you had made for hawken game_

Sure thing. Here's where you can find the SweetFX mod: http://forums.guru3d...ad.php_t=368880
And here's my current config dropped into pastebin: http://pastebin.com/suZeREz5
I've edited my default config a bit so the contrast isn't so blown out, especially on maps like bazaar and uptown. Let me know if you have questions about installing. Apparently there is even a program that gives you a GUI to customize sweetFX...

Edited by Beefsweat, January 19 2013 - 08:43 AM.

[WhiteCr0w]

I've heard about this mod, but never gave it a go. Looks like it might be worth while in Hawken. Any word on any kind of performance hit if any_ I'd rather maintain a constant 60 FPS, but if I can get away with that and this that'd be golden.

[Gree]

I don't like strong colors on this game, it has to be a sad/suspicious atmosphere.

[necroq]

some effects lower fps a lot. bloom for example is ~ -5fps for me.
btw. screenshots don't show superior sharpen effects. i changed some numbers in .ini and hawken looks much much better.

[Keiichi81]

I've never understood why people think oversaturating the hell out of their games is an improvement. It was the same thing with graphical mods for Battlefield 3 and Skyrim.

[Beefsweat]

Keiichi81, on January 29 2013 - 11:15 PM, said:

I've never understood why people think oversaturating the hell out of their games is an improvement. It was the same thing with graphical mods for Battlefield 3 and Skyrim.

Is there really that much to understand_ Different strokes for different folks.

Edited by Beefsweat, January 30 2013 - 10:52 AM.

[Sylhiri]

Kinda looked like you washed one side of your window while the other side still has the layer of dust and dirt. lol

Might be interesting, easier to spot mechs maybe_

[Elix]

Sylhiri, on January 30 2013 - 11:01 AM, said:

Kinda looked like you washed one side of your window while the other side still has the layer of dust and dirt. lol

Might be interesting, easier to spot mechs maybe_

Those are splitscreen with/without-SweetFX comparison shots, taken in-game using SweetFX's split-screen option (it only applies its render effects to one half--in this case, the right-hand half).

[Sylhiri]

Elix, on January 30 2013 - 11:22 AM, said:

Sylhiri, on January 30 2013 - 11:01 AM, said:

Kinda looked like you washed one side of your window while the other side still has the layer of dust and dirt. lol

Might be interesting, easier to spot mechs maybe_

Those are splitscreen with/without-SweetFX comparison shots, taken in-game using SweetFX's split-screen option (it only applies its render effects to one half--in this case, the right-hand half).

I know. Just saying it looks like someone took a squeegee to the right side as the left is dull in comparison.

[Elix]

Ask Beefsweat what happened the last time a squeegee kid tried to climb up Fred's chassis to clean the front pane. (I don't have an inside joke with him, I'm just hoping he comes up with a good story or I look like a hooting gibbon.)

[Beefsweat]

Elix, on January 30 2013 - 11:31 AM, said:

Ask Beefsweat what happened the last time a squeegee kid tried to climb up Fred's chassis to clean the front pane. (I don't have an inside joke with him, I'm just hoping he comes up with a good story or I look like a hooting gibbon.)

Oh god. That poor kid. I swear, some of... him got inside the cockpit and I still don't know how...

[Sylhiri]

Beefsweat, on January 30 2013 - 11:34 AM, said:

Oh god. That poor kid. I swear, some of... him got inside the cockpit and I still don't know how...

Using SweetFX won't cause any problems when playing, even with a low performace PC (as whitecrow asked)_

[Elix]

Beefsweat, on January 30 2013 - 11:34 AM, said:

Elix, on January 30 2013 - 11:31 AM, said:

Ask Beefsweat what happened the last time a squeegee kid tried to climb up Fred's chassis to clean the front pane. (I don't have an inside joke with him, I'm just hoping he comes up with a good story or I look like a hooting gibbon.)

Oh god. That poor kid. I swear, some of... him got inside the cockpit and I still don't know how...

Still baffles me how we found his shirt, unripped, around the torque guard assembly when we went in to fix the hydraulic cage two months later.

Sylhiri, on January 30 2013 - 11:49 AM, said:

Using SweetFX won't cause any problems when playing, even with a low performace PC (as whitecrow asked)_

The settings file gives hints on what features have what sort of performance impact. HDR is a fairly considerable hit to performance; the sharpen filter isn't. It depends on how you configure your SweetFX settings. The defaults include bloom, which can have a bit of a performance hit, but even my creaking old machine can handle sharpening and a little bit of bloom (with Hawken's built-in bloom disabled). Fortunately, SweetFX's settings are basically reloaded dynamically from file on alt-tab, so if you want to know if the bloom is too strong, just save the settings file and alt-tab, (should-be-)instant filter change.

Edited by Elix, January 30 2013 - 12:00 PM.

[Beefsweat]

Sylhiri, on January 30 2013 - 11:49 AM, said:

Using SweetFX won't cause any problems when playing, even with a low performace PC (as whitecrow asked)_

It doesn't seem to cause any performance impact for me, but I have a fairly high-end PC. I'm not entirely sure about low-end PCs. In the screenshots I posted, I am only running a color post-processing effect and its 'fake HDR' utility. There are quite a lot of effects to inject, like SMAA, vignetting, other kinds of color post-processing, bloom, intelligent saturation/desaturation, naturally more effects will have a higher performance impact...