Risen Improved graphics for Risen

I didn't have much luck with this. I'm on Windows 7. It seems nhancer added a border around the edges of the screen on my game. But not always. Sometimes only when AA was switched on, sometimes when not. No clue what was going on there but I uninstalled it. Either way when I try to use AA of any kind (now trying with the nV control panel) I get a different problem of white pixels around edges.

I also get white pixels around edges when I use this mod.

As far as view distance, I'm near the monastery so I guess I can see the volcano with or without this mod. But I can see the ocean also without and I don't see anything else on the horizon with the mod. I don't know what else I'm supposed to see. The only thing it seemed to improve was objects and NPCs fade in more smoothly instead of popping in but I don't really see them much farther away, certainly not 10x.

EditL When I change the draw values to this higher ones suggested in the alternate link in this thread the white pixels around the volcano disappear and now I can see all of it. There's still some tearing around the bottoms of buildings. Maybe I can enable vsync for that.

edit 2 the tearing seems to be at the bottom of just one particular building lol, wasn't the case with the AA enabled, and it wasn't happening there at all without this mod. Jeez when you think have the symptoms figured out… at any rate the improvements seem to be coming together but I can't use AA or there's little tearing/white pixels all over
 
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I think turning the graphics up does make this video limited. Looking at Task Manager, my E6600 seems to be running one core at 80% and the other around 60%. My GTX 260 is giving me fluid frames though, with the draw distance tweaked right up. I can feel it slowing in some cases, but not down to anything unacceptable.


What resolution are you playing at? Also, what graphic options do you have on/off?
 
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Looks great, but what kind of system would you need to be able to play like that? I imagine only a very high-end rig would be able to run Risen smoothly with that draw distance.

My mid-range rig (Core 2 Duo 6700, 4GB RAM, 8800GTS 512) runs Risen pretty smooth at the default draw distance at 1280x1024 with all options on high, but struggles a bit in certain places - Harbor City, the Swamp during weather effects, etc.

Even with this graphics improvement, this game is not very demanding, a friend of mine has an older amd X2 5600 + 2.8 a 4870 Radeon 512, 4 GB ram. 1680 X 1050 res, everything maxed, game is smooth as butter. this is a middle of the road PC these days.
 
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I think Risen needs more CPU and (fast) RAM instead of powerful VGA. If adjusting graphics doesn't make big difference in FPS, then it definately tells that CPU is the bottleneck.

But in any case, Risen runs better on my comp than some other newish games.
 
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Risen still runs better on my computer (with this improved graphics tweak) than even Oblivion, which is years old now. I think it does take advantage of some newer GPU functions, which is a good sign. But since it is also far more hand-crafted, with a higher density of areas and mobs in those areas, it can fade things out far sooner due to heavy occlusion. That helps tremendously with frame rates.
 
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Risen still runs better on my computer (with this improved graphics tweak) than even Oblivion, which is years old now.


Guess it depends on your hardware. I was just talking to a friend who is playing it on an older system, and he was complaining about having to run it with textures and shadows on low to get a decent framerate. He was mad because it didn't run like Oblivion. :)
 
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is my gfx card (see sig) too weak for these graphical improvements? i have been very keen to play Risen that once i boot my PC, it's Risen all the way. no time to go through the config files. :)
 
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Yes, it's too slow. Frankly, the 8600 already sucked when it came out. You should check if your PC has PCIe. The chances are good because you have DDR2 RAM. A graphics card upgrade should give a massive performance boost. Especially the new ATI cards are looking good. Silent and fast.
 
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thanks for the info, i checked in the options and noticed that the Risen has set most of the stuff at 'medium' and 'low' for shadows. it's quite smart in that sense and the game itself is rock-solid, maybe i will get a new card for a 2nd play-through.
 
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Is everyone getting object (including npcs/monsters) draw distance increased 10x ?

Cause I'm not. And my settings are
zFarHigh="120000.000000"
zFarLow="45000.000000"
zFarMedium="90000.000000"

Those are only drawing distances for landscape.

Code:
ScreenObjectDistanceCulling="0.000800"
This sets the npc/monster drawing distance. Default is 0.008 and increasing by one decimal makes a difference. At least to me. :)
 
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is my gfx card (see sig) too weak for these graphical improvements? i have been very keen to play Risen that once i boot my PC, it's Risen all the way. no time to go through the config files. :)

If your CPU is a single core, then try to find a better CPU. And I agree that your graphics card isn't top of the line either. But memory is decent. Though another 2GB wouldn't hurt since RAM is cheap.
 
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Most X2 CPUs aren't single core. ;)
 
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the CPU is dual-core and i guess it's cheaper to upgrade the gfx card or RAM than the CPU. i'm looking at 9800GT at the moment which looks quite decent.
 
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Those are only drawing distances for landscape.

Code:
ScreenObjectDistanceCulling="0.000800"
This sets the npc/monster drawing distance. Default is 0.008 and increasing by one decimal makes a difference. At least to me. :)

That's what I have mine set to. There's no difference for me "0.000800" vs "0.008000" I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Code:
<Render
			ScreenObjectDistanceCulling="0.000800"
			ViewDistance="5"
			zFarHigh="120000.000000"
			zFarLow="45000.000000"
			zFarMedium="90000.000000"
			>
 
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The UT3 trick for AA on ATI cards does not work with the steam version. At least It did not for me, game wont even launch.
 
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I cant get the tweaks to work. I downloaded the configUser.xml file and overwrite the original, but no visible change at all. After exit the game I get the original file without the tweaks (I think the game overwrites it at startup). I also made the file configUser.xml read only, but the tweaks wont working either way. Somebody pls help!
And sorry for my poor english ;)
 
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@beyczy

@beyczy
The game usually overwrites it if a parameter is out of range or if the syntax is flawed…

1)Make sure that it is in the right directory:
C:\Users\*your username*\AppData\Local\Risen

2)And make sure the syntax is correct (<CATEGORY> Your options <CATEGORY>)
and also be aware that there are subcategories too so you need to be aware of
where you put in your own lines so that all categories are opened and all are
closed…kind of reminds me of writing algorithms in a computer program…but it
could be just me…

Hmmm…maybe I'm not such a good explainer… why don't you just use mine it works great and has x2 the draw distance of the tweak that gives you x2 the draw distance :) this way I can see everything without popup which I DID experience using the more conservative tweak… just so I don't take up too much room I'll put the entire file hidden in this tab right
<options>
<Engine>
<Render
ScreenObjectDistanceCulling="0.000800"
ViewDistance="5"
zFarHigh="240000.000000"
zFarLow="60000.000000"
zFarMedium="120000.000000"
>
<Shadows
Quality="5"
>
<High
DetailShadowMapCount="5"
DetailShadowMapSize="1024"
ScreenSpaceAmbientOcclison="true"
SoftShadows="true"
TerrainShadowMapSize="1024"
>
</High>
</Shadows>
<PostProcessing
DefaultEffect="DoF"
>
</PostProcessing>
<Shader
Quality="2"
>
</Shader>
</Render>
<Graphics
TextureFilterMode="4"
>
<Mixer
Brightness="0.020000"
>
</Mixer>
</Graphics>
<Vegetation
Quality="High"
>
<High
ViewRange="16000.00000"
>
</High>
</Vegetation>
<Effect
Quality="High"
>
</Effect>
<Cache
Preset="High"
>
</Cache>
<Window
AdapterNumber="0"
Bottom="1050"
Left="0"
RefreshRate="60"
Right="1680"
Top="0"
>
</Window>
<Audio
UseHardwareSounds="true"
>
<Volume
Ambient="203"
Effect="203"
Master="1"
Music="206"
>
</Volume>
</Audio>
</Engine>
<Game
EnableTutorialSystem="true"
InvertMouseY="false"
ShowFocusHighlights="true"
ShowSubtitles="true"
UserPageMode="7"
>
<Autodetection
DetectionDone="true"
>
</Autodetection>
<Controls>
<Keys
Key_0="QuickUse0_0"
Key_1="QuickUse1_0"
Key_2="QuickUse2_0"
Key_3="QuickUse3_0"
Key_4="QuickUse4_0"
Key_5="QuickUse5_0"
Key_6="QuickUse6_0"
Key_7="QuickUse7_0"
Key_8="QuickUse8_0"
Key_9="QuickUse9_0"
Key_A="MoveLeft_0"
Key_B="QuickBar_0"
Key_C="Equipment_0"
Key_CTRL_L="MoveDown_0"
Key_CTRL_R="MoveDown_1"
Key_CURSOR_DOWN="MoveBackward_1"
Key_CURSOR_LEFT="MoveLeft_1"
Key_CURSOR_RIGHT="MoveRight_1"
Key_CURSOR_UP="MoveForward_1"
Key_D="MoveRight_0"
Key_E="TurnRight_0"
Key_ESC="Escape_0"
Key_F="WeaponMode_1"
Key_F5="QuickSave_0"
Key_F9="QuickLoad_0"
Key_I="Inventory_0"
Key_L="Log_0"
Key_M="Map_0"
Key_Mouse_ButtonLeft="PrimaryAction_0"
Key_Mouse_ButtonMiddle="WeaponMode_0"
Key_Mouse_ButtonRight="SecondaryAction_0"
Key_Mouse_WheelDown="ZoomOut_0"
Key_Mouse_WheelUp="ZoomIn_0"
Key_Q="TurnLeft_0"
Key_R="TurnUp_0"
Key_RETURN="MoveUp_1"
Key_S="MoveBackward_0"
Key_SHIFT_L="Walk_0"
Key_SHIFT_R="Walk_1"
Key_SPACE="MoveUp_0"
Key_TAB="Inventory_1"
Key_W="MoveForward_0"
Key_Y="LookBack_0"
>
</Keys>
<Axes
Mouse_X="TurnLeftRight"
Mouse_Y="TurnUpDown"
>
</Axes>
</Controls>
<Benchmark
BenchmarkLastDeviceID="37952"
BenchmarkLastVendorID="4098"
>
</Benchmark>
<Tutorial
DefaultHintDone="21"
>
</Tutorial>
</Game>
</options>
I hope you manage to solve your problem… Have a great day…
 
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Anything for the vegetation LOD restriction?

Hi… I am wondering this ever since I got the game:

What is the option for the level of vegetation LOD in the ConfigUser ?
The trees and bushes change very close to view not too gracefully and it seems to me that a fair GPU can handle less LOD restriction on the vegetation… There should be an option for it as it is an engine property and there is some value for the vegetation LOD in the game…"off course-thats obvious" you may say :) but that is my point… it is a set value in a program that can be…….set…

Any help, as always, will be appreciated…Thanks…
 
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