Water shaders, OpenMW vs MGEXE

[kuyondo]

OpenMW


MGEXE

[akortunov]

And? What kind of conclusion should we do?
As for me, shaders looks pretty similar on these screenshots.
Only differences I see:
1. MGE has a bloom.
2. Water color is different a bit because of sky reflection.

[wareya]

They're comparing the more-transparency-near-shores that MGEXE has. It's a nice feature. OpenMW doesn't have it right now.

[AnyOldName3]

I'm pretty sure the depth of the water is used for something already (as at the very least it's something that needs to be known to get refraction right. If the effect isn't there, we do already have all the data we need to implement it.

[drummyfish]

I'm pretty sure the depth of the water is used for something already (as at the very least it's something that needs to be known to get refraction right. If the effect isn't there, we do already have all the data we need to implement it.

Yep, we already have the depth data. We're currently discussing the water shader improvements at GitLab, will add this feature.

[drummyfish]

quick test:

Code: Select all

diff --git a/files/shaders/water_fragment.glsl b/files/shaders/water_fragment.glsl
index 7511375..4025c1c 100644
--- a/files/shaders/water_fragment.glsl
+++ b/files/shaders/water_fragment.glsl
@@ -253,10 +253,10 @@ void main(void)
 
     // refraction
 #if REFRACTION
-    vec3 refraction = texture2D(refractionMap, screenCoords - screenCoordsOffset).rgb;
+    vec3 underwater = texture2D(refractionMap, screenCoords - screenCoordsOffset).rgb;
 
     // brighten up the refraction underwater
-    refraction = (cameraPos.z < 0.0) ? clamp(refraction * 1.5, 0.0, 1.0) : refraction;
+    vec3 refraction = (cameraPos.z < 0.0) ? clamp(underwater * 1.5, 0.0, 1.0) : underwater;
 #endif
     // specular
     vec3 R = reflect(vVec, normal);
@@ -269,7 +269,11 @@ void main(void)
     if (cameraPos.z > 0.0)
         refraction = mix(refraction, waterColor, clamp(depthSampleDistorted/VISIBILITY, 0.0, 1.0));
 
-    gl_FragData[0].xyz = mix( mix(refraction,  scatterColour,  lightScatter),  reflection,  fresnel) + specular * gl_LightSource[0].specular.xyz;
+    vec3 output = mix( mix(refraction,  scatterColour,  lightScatter),  reflection,  fresnel) + specular * gl_LightSource[0].specular.xyz;
+    output = mix( underwater, output, pow(shore,10));
+
+    gl_FragData[0].xyz = output;
+
 #else
     gl_FragData[0].xyz = mix(reflection,  waterColor,  (1.0-fresnel)*0.5) + specular * gl_LightSource[0].specular.xyz;
 #endif

[psi29a]

Nice work!

I also noticed something where water can look 'wavey' when it gets close to the shore... pulling back and coming ashore. I'm assuming this is a trick of the shader where parts goes invisible when coming into contact with a low-grade sloop. Maybe I got that wrong and there is in fact 'volume' to the shader or water plane where it ungulates.

[AnyOldName3]

I think the transparency effect there is way too strong. IRL, it's easy to see where the water starts and the ground stops, but in those screenshots, it isn't.

[drummyfish]

I think the transparency effect there is way too strong. IRL, it's easy to see where the water starts and the ground stops, but in those screenshots, it isn't.

I agree, however I noticed that this is how it's usually done in games, e.g. 0 A. D.:



It's probably considered looking nicer than the sharp edges, even if not % 100 realistic. It could be made less prominent though (by changing the pow parameter).

Also this effect is only possible with refractions enabled. Without refractions the water is rendered differently, there is no depth information, it's just a plane with alpha blending.

[MiroslavXO]

I really dislike normal map for OpenMW version, waves look better in MGEXE.