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how to make the game beautiful on a modern PC[message #361050] Sat, 29 August 2020 03:00 Go to next message
Tengu_1 is currently offline Tengu_1

 
Messages:17
Registered:July 2020
Hi,
since Asdow was so nice to walk me through it on Discord and I think not everyone is aware its possible, here is a quick guide how to update the graphics of JA 2 to make it look absolutley amazing on modern PCs and HD monitors.
It is easy and transforms the graphics to a more 2020 look on Windows PCs.

This is especially useful on large 4K screens where the game can get tiny or blurred depending on your settings.
Requirements: a somewhat modern PC with a dedicated graphics card. It runs on onboard graphics too but may slow down your framerate. On a Geforce 1050 or better card you won't have any problems.

1. clean install of JA2 or 1.13 or mod of your choice

2. download and extract DxWrapper
https://github.com/elishacloud/dxwrapper/releases
(dgvoodoo or dxwnd work too, all these tools make the game use current DirectX)

Copy ddraw.dll (from dxwrapper/stub/ folder), dxwrapper.dll & dxwrapper.ini into JA folder (where the .exe is)
In the dxwrapper.ini, set 'dd7to9' and 'DdrawUseNativeResolution' from 0 to 1.

3. download ReShade
https://reshade.me/
Just double click the program, select the jagged alliance exe file and download and install all filters.
In the final step, you can select or deselect the filters to use. Deselect all except for lumasharpen, magicbloom and hq4x (you can also select/deselect later from inside the game, but it will look weird on startup this way)

4. compatibility settings
ReShade doesn't require WindowsXP compatiblity mode. In fact it won't start with it on. I only use compatibility settings 'Reduced color mode 16-bit' and 'Change High DPI settings = System Enhanced'

Start the game and enjoy beautiful graphics.

In game, you can hit the Home-key (Pos1-key in some countries), to fine tune the graphics. It brings up the reshade menu and a short introduction how to change and save settings.


Advanced:
The filter 4xBRz is a little prettier then HQ4x but it is not included in the standard download. Get it here:
https://reshade.me/forum/shader-presentation/4416-4xbrz-filter
Place the file 4xBRZ.fx into \reshade-shaders\Shaders\
You can switch from HQ4x to 4xBRz using the Home-key ingame

Any input or questions is appreciated, just post it here or send me a PM.


[Updated on: Sat, 29 August 2020 03:46]

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Private
Re: how to make the game beautiful on a modern PC[message #361491 is a reply to message #361050] Tue, 06 October 2020 17:14 Go to previous messageGo to next message
fandorinsan is currently offline fandorinsan
Messages:1
Registered:October 2020
Hi.

Could you please sharea few screens with improved graphics?

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Civilian
Re: how to make the game beautiful on a modern PC[message #361505 is a reply to message #361491] Fri, 09 October 2020 12:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Asdow is currently offline Asdow

 
Messages:126
Registered:August 2010
https://i.imgur.com/OjG25cx.jpg
Here's one with xBRz, bloom and slight sharpening applied. Whether it's better than original is subjective.
The bigger benefit imo is in being able to scale a smaller resolution to 4k monitors without having gpu's default bilinear scaling applied, which makes everything look blurry. Note that that only works nicely with resolutions that can be scaled up with an integer factor. So, 1280x720 or 1920x1080 for example for a 4k monitor.

You can also do silly stuff like this with the pixel filters.
https://i.imgur.com/dfftjxQ.png

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Sergeant
Re: how to make the game beautiful on a modern PC[message #361514 is a reply to message #361505] Sat, 10 October 2020 18:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
SinMachina is currently offline SinMachina

 
Messages:48
Registered:August 2020
The blur effect would be super cool to have a TRUE / FALSE switch for FOW effect.

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Corporal
Re: how to make the game beautiful on a modern PC[message #361531 is a reply to message #361050] Sun, 11 October 2020 16:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Inveris is currently offline Inveris

 
Messages:32
Registered:September 2020
Tengu_1 wrote on Sat, 29 August 2020 03:00
... how to update the graphics of JA 2 to make it look absolutley amazing on modern PCs and HD monitors.
It is easy and transforms the graphics to a more 2020 look on Windows PCs.
The author of this thread presented this new feature in such a fantastic light, that I thought the graphics would look like in Crisis. But it turned out, that it seems, that it's only adding a sharp effect, which every graphic editor has.

Like it was said. This is very subjective.

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Private 1st Class
Re: how to make the game beautiful on a modern PC[message #365047 is a reply to message #361050] Fri, 16 December 2022 21:18 Go to previous message
Nixou is currently offline Nixou

 
Messages:56
Registered:January 2008
Location: France
Thank you so much for this guide. thumbs up

reshade is truely a life changer for older games, and to destroy pixel effect

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Corporal
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