Skip to main content
  • Version ID: 1386
  • Size: 55.69 MB
  • Published: 2021-02-07

Changelog

New features, options and improvements​

  • Smart Shadows:
    • Fourth shadow cascade for distant shadows and shadows in mirrors (optional);
    • Adaptive distance for first split for exterior cameras (distance is reduced if close to a car, optional);
    • Adjustable blur amount;
  • Extra FX:
    • Motion blur shader reworked from scratch to improve performance and quality;
    • Fog blur updated;
  • Various optimizations:
    • During loading, new bounding spheres are calculated, smaller and more precise;
    • AABB culling for track geometry, with optional SSE acceleration for reflections;
    • New culling options: forced culling for pieces partially visible cars, orientation-based culling;
    • Occluders-based culling (occluders are defined via track config);
    • Reworked cubemap and shadows reflections rendering for more straightforward and faster rendering;
    • Option to reproject reflections cubemap to get smoother transition with partial updates;
    • FidelityFX: with UAV flag for output (optional), no extra copy is necessary, saving some time;
    • New performance analyzer app with graphs and detailed measurements (going to replace Render Stats later);
    • Some Python apps without visible windows now go to sleep mode to speed things up;
    • Python apps profiler updated, now showing nicer average and max (averaged) time;
    • Extra FX: building light map for bounced light is now faster;
    • IMGUI blending (used by new CSP apps and more) is no longer slow;
    • Option to disable car shadows for third cascade for interior and exterior views;
    • WeatherFX: experimental option to run garbage collector or optional maintanence processing in a separate thread;
    • A few smaller optimizations;
  • Separate parameters for number of visible cars for exterior views, slightly higher by default;
  • Reflections cubemap: prefilter option to get rid of pixels;
  • Working cubemap reflections in mirrors;
  • MSAA tweaks: resolve with tonemapping to improve quality, optional custom kernel for smoother image;
  • Brake Disc FX: procedural cuts for more complex look;
  • New CSP apps now can be pinned from context menu of their title bar;
  • No more clearing color buffer (optional, help with performance and small holes in some tracks a bit);
  • New option (set via track config) to align trees lighting with surface underneath, helps to improve look of hilly tracks;
  • Navigators now remember the type of camera previously used;
  • CSP would try and fix missing windscreen shader, as well as apply skip G-buffer flag to dashboard glass;
  • Option to force headlights for other cars online in Weather FX section;
  • Color grading: GPU-accelerated conversion, now 16-bit and square non-HALD color LUTs are properly supported;
  • GrassFX is enabled by default now.

Fixes​

  • Tyres FX fixed;
  • Backlit glass shader fixed;
  • FidelityFX CAS now applied after FXAA 3.11 and such (CMAA2 was fine);
  • Improved main form detection for the new taskbar;
  • Dynamic shadows fixed:
    • Flickering shadows in distance fixed;
    • No more occluding light on tracks like Shuto;
    • Headlights range fixed;
    • Proper look for lower poly geometry;
    • Multiple headlights for a single car now have proper dynamic shadows;
  • GrassFX rarely messing up motion blur and looking all buggy fixed;
  • Disabling CJK symbols fixed;
  • CJK symbols consume less VRAM and don’t cause a freeze upon race start anymore;
  • Ghost car obscuring view with strange artifacts fixed, as well as its refraction (disabled by default);
  • Helmets now don’t receive sun light in mirrors in enclosed cars fixed and cast proper shadows in first person view;
  • Shadows filtering adjusted to reduce artifacts, shadows from distant geometry fixed;
  • Missing car details in mirrors fixed;
  • Timezones sanity check on launch fixed (no more messed up lighting);
  • No-shadows and no-lighting shader sets were removed to improve loading speed;
  • Refracting lights TAA no longer adds that much lag, also sharper in screenshots;
  • No more pieces spawned from collisions with non-mesh car colliders (those usually are for bottoms and skid blocks);
  • Virtual mirror no longer messes with UI;
  • DXGI flip mode is no longer available in full screen, as it should have been from the start;
  • CSP radar app now fades properly;
  • CSP driver tags work properly with post-processing disabled;
  • Motion blur won’t overly blur everything right after camera jumps;
  • Baked fake shadows or car wetness maps now rebuilt if model changes;
  • Actual car model (lowest LOD) now used to calculate car dimensions, because, as it turned out, colliders of some mods are badly misplaced;
  • Misshaded static tyre marks fixed;
  • Ground height estimation fixed for extreme cases (such as when there are holes in the ground nearby);
  • SSLR misbehaving in fog fixed;
  • Python function ac.ext_getTyreBlister() no longer crashes AC in certain cases;
  • New flames better compatible with SSLR;
  • Distant blug for fog blur effect removed (fog-based only is enough);
  • Compatibility with AC PRO fixed;
  • Negative mip bias in AC video settings no longer affects performance of GrassFX map generation and such;
  • Issue with disappearing distant emissives fixed, improved look in reflections;
  • Car shadows appear in third shadows cascade, overall rendering improved;
  • More cars visible in high details at once;
  • New main menu is centered in the middle for triple screen;
  • Car paint won’t mess up carbon by default now;
  • Extreme specular parameters for car paint won’t result in crazy glare;
  • Shader ksPexPixelAlpha now functions correctly if alpha parameter is above 1;
  • Live reload of color grading textures in PP editor fixed;
  • WeatherFX: frustum test now has an extra argument to stop heading adjustment;
  • New photo app: motion mode now doesn’t reset orbit camera;
  • Distant emissives work with moving objects (such as ferris wheels);
  • Few smaller bugs and crashes fixed.

For new content and configs​

  • Support for BC7 DDS compression (takes the same as DX5, looks much better);
  • New app to arrange track occluders: walls and boxes;
  • New mesh filtering keywords: flag static for static track meshes, flag castsShadows for meshes casting shadows, number largerThan checking bounding sphere radius;
  • Culling mode for dynamic lights shadows is adjustable now, with default changed from double to front-facing;
  • Now it’s possible to disable volumetric lights for some headlights;
  • Car inputs: no more zeroing for stalled by default;
  • Extra car animations: hold final state, blend several animations together, blend animations with regular steering animations (can be used for handbrake animation);
  • Original car animations: apply LUT and other postprocessing to alter keyframes selection;
  • Shader replacement: if file for texture replacement is missing, whole thing would be ignored;
  • Car paint shader updated (new ApplyMatteFix parameter, applied automatically for v3);
  • Track lights now can skip cars to speed things up;
  • Track meshes can stop casting dynamic shadows;
  • New Python functions: ac.ext_pauseWhenHidden(frames), ac.ext_isAnyAppVisible();
  • New track config value: [WIND] DYNAMIC_FLAGS_TESSELLATION=1, change to 0 to deactivate tessellation;
  • New G-buffer flag ALPHA_TEST_GBUFFER to enable alpha testing, using ksAlphaRef as threshold;
  • New INPUT_REFRESH_RATE option allowing to set custom refresh rate in Hz, 5 Hz by default for digital instruments;
  • Extension configs, both for cars and tracks, now can access track’s data.