200 replies to this topic

[tetchy]

Morrowind Graphics Extender (MGE)
by Timeslip & LizTail -- additional development by krzymar, peachykeen & phal

This is a utility to add Oblivion style distant land and HDR to Morrowind, as well as many other graphical and input related tweaks. It is also a required utility for some mods which make use of the additional scripting functions it provides.

Note: MGE is a complex program working in a complex environment. There are lots of things which can prevent it from working, or at least prevent it from working as you want it to. You may need a certain level of computer literacy to solve these problems. Also, be prepared to spend some time experimenting with what options work best (or at all) for you. We tried our best to make the program's UI and documentation helpful, but this won't spare you from having to spend some (or sometimes a lot) of effort on it. Please weigh the improved visuals against the effort needed to get it working (and, obviously, the fps hit), and decide whether you really want to try using it.

*Attention* If you're having any problems, please read MGE's documentation and check the FAQ below before posting here. If you find you need to post about an issue, please include the following information:

• MGE version/revision number you're using
• Which versions of required support files are installed
• Operating System
• Graphics Card
• Crash report (if applicable)
• Please mention if your Morrowind install is the Steam version

Downloads and important links:

• Latest official version (3.8.0b) - 3.8.0b is the stable version, SVN-revs and others are development versions (see the end of the FAQ for a list of most recent versions).
• Official MGE documentation - explains all MGE functions and settings, offers step-by-step guides for common tasks like enabling distant lands, activating shaders, or enabling screenshots, has a troubleshooting section to help you with problems, and more.

Required

• Directx 9.0c Latest Version
• Visual C++ 2008 redistributable
• .Net 2.0

Related Downloads and Links:

• MGE Shader Library -- (forum)
• Tweaked Water Shader (by harlanrm)
• Phal's Water Shader (requires latest SVN build)
• MGE Mod List collected by bjam, with links to lots of MGE mods and shaders.

Screenshots:
(The screenshots here show an unmodded Morrowind with all the distant land settings on very high)

• Vivec
• Vivec
• Vivec
• Ebonheart
• Ascadian Isles
• Balmora
• Bitter Coast
• Bitter Coast
• Molag Amur
• West Gash
• Gnisis
• Grazelands
• Sheogorad
• Sheogorad
• Fort Frostmoth
• Hirstaang Forest
• Solstheim
• Solstheim

New Effects:

• Depth Based Water Effects
• Distant Blur
• Distant Blur
• Water Reflections
• Water Reflections
• Water Reflections

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

F.A.Q.

Q: Where can I find a detailed guide for using MGE?
A: The MGE Wiki can be found here - note that it's currently being worked on and updated so some info may be missing or out of date. Have a look through there first, and if you still need help then ask in this thread here.

Q: How do I enable screenshots in MGEgui?
A: Click on the input tab, then click "Launch Macro Editor".
Click the key you want to use (use something other than printscreen) and in the drop down menus select 'Function' and 'Take Screenshot'.
Click save, close and you will be able to take screenshots.
Your screenshots will be saved directly to your Morrowind folder.

Q: How do I enable shaders? (like Bloom, HDR etc)
A: Go to the Tools tab, press "Shader editor"
Use the "Select technique" combobox and Preview to find one you want (e.g. DX9 HLSL HDR*).
Then click "Edit active". Double click the one(s) you want. Click Save.
If you've selected more than one you can use the "Preview active chain" to get a feel for what they look like together. Use the Up and Down in the "Edit active" to change the order the shaders are applied until you're happy.

Q: Why don't the shaders work?
A: On the Render state tab, make sure "Hardware Shader" is checked. If HDR isn't working, on the misc tab, check both "Update shader variables" and "Supply HDR info to shaders".

Q: How do I get animated grass / trees?
A: For instructions on how to set up animated grass, go here. The animated trees feature is currently being worked into a proper mod, it will be released as soon as it's done.

Q: Why has pixel shaded water been disabled?
A: MGE's distant land is not compatible with Morrowind's pixel shaded water, and so it is automatically disabled. If you have a sm2 graphics card, MGE can replace Morrowind's water with its own. MGE will not automatically re-enable Morrowind's pixel shaded water when distant land is disabled, so make sure you double check. To re-enable it, open up the Morrowind Launcher and click "Options". Then click the check box called "pixel shading".

Q: Why does the distant land generator crash when I try to generate the files?
A: MGEgui's file parser isn't perfect, and if it comes across a NIF or texture it can't read it tends to crash. All default meshes are known to work, so you can sidestep this problem by only generating statics for morrowind.esm and bloodmoon.esm, otherwise you will need to retry repeatedly until you find the problem mod. One known problem which isn't related to NIF's is Ald-Vendras, which contains a corrupt texture file. To fix it, download this and find aldtex.7z in morrowgraphext/files. Extract it to the Morrowind\Data Files\Textures folder before running the distant land generator.

Q: Certain places, such as Raven Rock, the Ghostfence, and the Strongholds, are not created by the distant land generator. Why?
A: The reason they don't show up when you enable Distant Statics is because they're not Statics, they're Activators. MGEgui doesn't generate activators by default. Check out povuholo's 'MGE Distant Activators Fix', it will help to display certain major activators such as the Ghostfence. (*Update, this is mostly fixed in the latest version - there's an option to include activators for distant static creation, and the generator will check an esp's script to see if the activator should be generated or not.)

Q: Why do the skies flicker from light to dark?
A: Change fog mode to range vertex.

Q: My distant land is all black, help?
A: This might happen when you are too high above ground, try going back closer to ground. If this happens on ground level reduce Distant Land draw distance.

Q: I get a water texture not found error / texture not found error.
A: Uninstall MGE completely and install a fully fresh copy and try again.

Q: Distant Meshes have 'holes' in them / look funny.
A: Either don't use the "old reduction method" or leave static detail at 100% when generating distant land.

Q: I have a decent rig, and yet my frame rate is terrible, what gives?
A: Be sure to disable all external anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering in your video card's control panel. Also try things like updating your graphics card drivers, and minimize the amount of background applications. This guide here at TweakGuides gives some good tips for improving your PC's performance. Another thing to try is FPS Optimizer for Morrowind.

Q: Where can I get the Beta source code for MGE?
A: Here - You will need to check out the source code via SVN. Tortoise SVN is a good choice for a program to do so on Windows. The SVN URL to use when checking out the code is here.

Q: MGEgui crashes when I run it, and my DirectX and .NET are up-to-date. Fix?
A: Try running the Morrowind launcher, opening the "Options" dialogue, selecting a different resolution, and clicking "Ok." If it still doesn't work, disable MGE (remove "d3d8.dll" and "dinput8.dll" from your Morrowind folder), then run Morrowind. Let it start and load, then exit out of the game. Move the MGE files back into your Morrowind directory, and try again. The issue is with registry and INI (configuration) settings that are not created until Morrowind is run the first time (for that install), but MGEgui still tries to read the missing entries and crashes on failure.

Q: Can I use MGE and ENBSeries together?
A: Yes. In fact, to use ENBSeries with Morrowind, you should have MGE. However, at this point, almost all of ENB's features are available using solely MGE. ENBSeries is also another layer of work for your computer, and so, you can usually expect a slowdown when using it (especially if advanced effects are turned on).

Q: What is the latest version of MGE?
A: As of this point (August 25, 2009, 00:15), the following are the newest versions:
Newest stable version: MGE 3.8.0b
Newest beta version: MGE 3.8 revision 117

Q: What version of MGE should I use?
A: Always try to use the latest release. In this case, you may want to use the latest stable release (3.8.0b). If you want to try out the enhanced features of the newer versions, beta revision 117 is a mostly-stable version usable in most cases. The working (test/dev) versions are not always stable or widely compatible, but do support the latest advancements. If you just want MGE for distant land and other simple effects, try the stable release. Only use test/dev releases if you are willing to risk crashes in exchange for features.


Note: If you need help with MGE, please don't PM either me or the creators - instead post your questions or problems here, that's what this thread is for, and be patient in waiting for a reply - don't bump or double post. Also, if you see anyone make a new thread about MGE or asks any MGE related questions, please redirect them to post in this thread instead, as it's best to keep all MGE questions and answers in one place.

Previous Thread.

Edited by tetchy, 25 August 2009 - 02:28 AM.

[R.D.]

So um, yeah. Continuing from the last thread, I can't use the rev-0117 update off the site. The zip keeps telling me there's a range check error. Can the people in charge check to see if there's something wrong with the uploaded zip?

[tetchy]

So um, yeah. Continuing from the last thread, I can't use the rev-0117 update off the site. The zip keeps telling me there's a range check error. Can the people in charge check to see if there's something wrong with the uploaded zip?

I just downloaded again and it opens fine for me. Are you using 7zip app to open the archive?


[edit] I'm using v4.42 of 7zip; latest version is v4.65 - you might want to try that.

Edited by tetchy, 25 August 2009 - 02:38 AM.

[R.D.]

I'm using ZipGenius 6, as whenever I try to use 7zip it breaks for whatever reason.

Its all fairly typical for me, really: technology just does not like working around me.

[matilija]

Winrar works just fine, and its free.

[Tomsonx]

@tetchy thanks man!!! xDDD

It finally works! And btw i would also like to tank everyone else who helped me along the way with this!

[Knu]

As promised, here are the updated SSAO and DoF.

http://www.speedysha.../722905288.html
Vanilla vs Shaded pix up: http://s911.photobuc...nuA/comparison/

Changes, DoF:
- Restructured code, very easy to tweak.
- SM2.0x compatible out-of-the-box.
- Used HDR instead of sun color for pupil dilation.
- Default blur increased for more prominent effect.
- Better random rotation texture.
- Slightly optimized.

Changes, SSAO:
- Restructured code, very easy to tweak.
- SM2.0x compatible out-of-the-box. (yes, yes, copy-pasted. but true!)
- Better algorithm.
- No more black blots.
- Effect is subtler and smoother but gives better depth perception.
- Better blur, with respect to edges.
- Highly configurable.
- Scalable: 12 to 48 samples.


Enjoy! And I'd like to repeat, these are made with tweaking in mind. So feel free to alter the default values, and share your config!


PS. Next up, improved water shader!

Edited by Knu, 25 August 2009 - 04:13 PM.

[C_Mireneye]

As promised, here are the updated SSAO and DoF.

http://www.speedysha.../722905288.html


Changes, DoF:
- Restructured code, very easy to tweak.
- SM2.0x compatible out-of-the-box.
- Used HDR instead of sun color for pupil dilation.
- Default blur increased for more prominent effect.
- Better random rotation texture.
- Slightly optimized.

Changes, SSAO:
- Restructured code, very easy to tweak.
- SM2.0x compatible out-of-the-box. (yes, yes, copy-pasted. but true!)
- Better algorithm.
- No more black blots.
- Effect is subtler and smoother but gives better depth perception.
- Better blur, with respect to edges.
- Highly configurable.
- Scalable: 12 to 48 samples.


Enjoy! And I'd like to repeat, these are made with tweaking in mind. So feel free to alter the default values, and share your config!

Pictures coming up soon.


PS. Next up, improved water shader! Awesome work Knu =)

Santa every day on the forums! Giddy, new and more water shader variations! Graphical madness!!! =)

[vtastek]

As promised, here are the updated SSAO and DoF.

http://www.speedysha.../722905288.html
Vanilla vs Shaded pix up: http://s911.photobuc...nuA/comparison/
snip

Changes, SSAO:
- Restructured code, very easy to tweak.
- SM2.0x compatible out-of-the-box. (yes, yes, copy-pasted. but true!)
- Better algorithm.
- No more black blots.
- Effect is subtler and smoother but gives better depth perception.
- Better blur, with respect to edges.
- Highly configurable.
- Scalable: 12 to 48 samples.


Enjoy! And I'd like to repeat, these are made with tweaking in mind. So feel free to alter the default values, and share your config!


PS. Next up, improved water shader!

The trees, the trees, oh my god, the trees, they look amazing!

[Povuholo]

Where do you put the noise64.tga? Same folder as the rest? What does it do exactly?

Also does the order in which you put them matter? I wanted to run a Bloom shader along with it.

Edited by povuholo, 25 August 2009 - 04:45 PM.

[Knu]

Data files/Textures, as usual. It helps the DoF blur look more natural (with enabled random sample rotation).

I'd say SSAO, Bloom, DoF, in that order.



vtastek: Err, the trees? Why?

Edited by Knu, 25 August 2009 - 05:10 PM.

[vtastek]

Data files/Textures, as usual. It helps the DoF blur look more natural (with enabled random sample rotation).

I'd say SSAO, Bloom, DoF, in that order.



vtastek: Err, the trees? Why?

The trees have inner shadows now. It gives great depth. Look:

SSAO off
SSAO on

SSAO on
SSAO off

That was not like this before.

[Knu]

That IS nice. And good to know that it works perfectly in such a complex case!

By the way, which tree texture replacer is this?


Edit: nevermind, I also have it (but never noticed!)

If my thinking is correct, we need to get MGE grass to be included in depth buffer to achieve similar effect there. That would be something!

Edited by Knu, 25 August 2009 - 05:45 PM.

[vtastek]

That IS nice. And good to know that it works perfectly in such a complex case!

By the way, which tree texture replacer is this?

Isn't it? Some alphas aren't problematic it seems. As for the tree replacer, connary or vality, maybe visual XT.(One of them but maybe a vanilla one. I have no idea. It needs an upgrade though.)

[C_Mireneye]

Isn't it? Some alphas aren't problematic it seems. As for the tree replacer, connary or vality, maybe visual XT.(One of them but maybe a vanilla one. I have no idea. It needs an upgrade though.)

Yes. It seems some alphas are very problematic while others work perfectly. What are the nifskope settings for alpha on the meshes that are ok compared to those that are not? Might be worth looking into.

I did some testing. Toggle disable distant land will set depthframe to a constant frame instead of updating it in real time. I don't see really why depth needs distant land o_O but it is definitely a requirement.

& vtastek, Awesome screenshots. It's looking real nice with those two shaders =)

Edited by C_Mireneye, 25 August 2009 - 06:01 PM.

[Povuholo]

The trees have inner shadows now. It gives great depth. Look:

SSAO off
SSAO on

SSAO on
SSAO off

That was not like this before.

Yeah the trees are awesome. I actually made a shot of them myself too.

At first I was a bit skeptical of how this shader was going to look. I thought it wouldn't make much of a difference. I was wrong!

These shots are all taken with the SSAO shader and no others.

Outside

Before/After (Trees! )
Before/After

Inside: Items

Before/After (love the money)
Before/After
Before/After
Before/After
Before/After (Nice effect on the cups)

Inside: NPCs (It kinda looks like self shadowing on the faces there)

Before/After (Good old Caius)
Before/After
Before/After
Before/After
Before/After

Random cat picture!


Aside from a few alpha issues (things hidden in distant fog still get black outlines, and it also shows right through animated grass and fire) which I can live with this shader is amazing!


Connary's Texture Compendium + Distant Land + Reflective Water + Bloom/HDR + SSAO + Godrays + Animated and Interactive Grass + Animated Morrowind + Snow/Rain collision = Epic. If all of this works out eventually we can start complaining about Oblivion's crappy graphics instead.

Edited by povuholo, 25 August 2009 - 07:17 PM.

[R.D.]

... great. Now I need to learn how to use shaders and things like that after viewing those screenshots.

[Pluto]

I am having difficulties getting my Distant Land to work properly, and I am wondering if anyone can advise me on how to set my MGE Settings and my Video Card settings.
I can create DL just fine, but even on the lowest settings, it looks like an utter mess everywhere except right beside my character. Or it just crashes on some settings.

I have looked through the wiki and the documentation, but I can't seem to find the correct combination of settings. And the tech terms pertaining to my Video Card are foreign to me.
Can someone with the knowledge, or someone with a similar PC, suggest how to set my Card and MGE so that it works.
I don't need uber-distance, but I'd like for it to at least work, if it's possible for this PC....

MGE Version: 3.80.116 
FPS Optimzer: 1.9.6
Operating System: Microsft Windows XP Pro (5.1 Build 2600) 
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 x 2 Dual Core Processor 4400+, MMX, 3DNow
Memory : 1022MB RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6200 TurboCache (memory 256MB)

Is Distant Land possible for this PC?
I can run Oblivion quite well, and it never crashes, but Distant Land with MGE eludes me. Any advice would be appreciated.

Edited by Pluto, 25 August 2009 - 07:06 PM.

[KingbobertVII]

I don't see anything that would make it impossible to use distant land. That video card might get it a bit rough though. I'd use medium-low or medium type settings for it, and if that works with 20-40FPS (Whatever suits you, I guess, I find 30 to be more than enough for anything really.) Then go ahead and turn em up slowly. I doubt that you would want to turn distant land settings to anything above medium though. That takes some real juice.

[tronvillain]

The SSAO looks great. If only there was a way to have animated grass render on top of it, rather than having black outlines of buildings/rocks/etc. across the grass. Ah well, one day I am sure. *chuckle*

[NMZmaster]

Just tested out the new SSAO/DOF shaders... great work!

The DOF is a bit strong for me right now (trying to see if I can tweak it a bit), but despite the grass issue with SSAO, it looks amazing!

[R.D.]

Um, I'm pretty new to this whole shader thing, so I have to ask, where does SSAO and DoF go?

EDIT: Nvm, figured it out... I think.

Edited by R.D., 26 August 2009 - 04:16 AM.

[blooo]

I'm sure I have the DoF and SSAO in the right place but I don't see any difference in-game. I think I activated them correctly in the shader editor, I get some increased mouse lag in-game, but no visual effects. Ok to use them both at once? When I try to preview Dof/ SSAO the preview screen turns solid blue. I can get the shaders that came with MGE to work just fine.

Edited by blooo, 26 August 2009 - 06:52 AM.

[C_Mireneye]

I'm sure I have the DoF and SSAO in the right place but I don't see any difference in-game. I think I activated them correctly in the shader editor, I get some increased mouse lag in-game, but no visual effects. Ok to use them both at once? When I try to preview Dof/ SSAO the preview screen turns solid blue. I can get the shaders that came with MGE to work just fine.

For the effects to work you have to have Distant land enabled. It's a requirement to get these particular (and any that use a depthmap) shaders.

[Knu]

I'm having some problems building the latest SVN d3d8.dll. It works fine (shaders and all), except that enabling distantland does nothing, and disabling it back crashes MW.

I'm using Vista x64 (yeah, I know), VS2008 and DX March SDK.


Anyone has a clue?

[blooo]

For the effects to work you have to have Distant land enabled. It's a requirement to get these particular (and any that use a depthmap) shaders.

I do have distant land enabled. Forgot to mention, sorry.

I dropped the three files from the zip into data files\ shaders\ default... should the noise64.tga go somewhere else?

preview screens:

SSAO: http://img21.imagesh...g21/37/ssao.jpg (yikes, hadn't tried that alone yet)

DoF: http://img517.images...7/8271/dofe.jpg

and for comparison, default emboss shader: http://img12.imagesh...5433/emboss.jpg

Edited by blooo, 26 August 2009 - 11:02 AM.

[phal]

I do have distant land enabled. Forgot to mention, sorry.

I dropped the three files from the zip into data files\ shaders\ default... should the noise64.tga go somewhere else?

Textures for shaders always need to be placed in 'Data Files\Textures'.




Had some time to work on MGE recently, depth map now also includes grass. This requires, however, to render grass twice, so it could impact performance a bit. I also had to add two new passes for rendering grass into the depth map in the InGame.fx shader file.

To install, simply unpack the contents of the zip into your MW folder (apart from the 'source' folder, which just contains the modified source code). In the uploaded .zip I included the standard 'InGame.fx' file, which is the modified 117 version. But I also included a 'Improved05a_InGame.fx' file, which is my improved water shader 0.5a. In order to use that version, simply rename it to 'InGame.fx'.

link

[blooo]

Argh. Dropped the tga into the textures folder, still the same.

[Povuholo]

Had some time to work on MGE recently, depth map now also includes grass. This requires, however, to render grass twice, so it could impact performance a bit. I also had to add two new passes for rendering grass into the depth map in the InGame.fx shader file.

To install, simply unpack the contents of the zip into your MW folder (apart from the 'source' folder, which just contains the modified source code). In the uploaded .zip I included the standard 'InGame.fx' file, which is the modified 117 version. But I also included a 'Improved05a_InGame.fx' file, which is my improved water shader 0.5a. In order to use that version, simply rename it to 'InGame.fx'.

link

Thanks for the update, the grass 'fix' is very welcome.