Rebirth VR: Very short vision range while on platform.

[vvvvvvvv]

Now, I know you guys are busy with the X4 beta and there were no updates to rebirth and Rebirth VR for a long time. But could perhaps, someone revisit this, take a look at what's going on here, and suggest a fix? Please. This is a major fun-killing issue.

The problem:

While player is standing on a platform, or is landed on a capital ship, rendering distance is greatly reduced. It is incredibly short, probably under 1 kilometer, to the point it is impossible to see the nearest station. Objects pop in and out of existence when player turns head (because clipping distance seems to be calculated on dot product between forward vector nd position difference between object and camer)

This is what I see, for example, standing on Balor next to a station in Omicron. (not sure why steam didn't produce "single" image on screenshot)



Skybox, nothing round, if I turn head, station piece will pop into existence.

This is what I see when I undock:


The station and ships around it immediately materialize.

Save file:
http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id=gf ... 121ac92a11
If it goes down, I can reupload it as many times as needed.

What I tried:
I tried modifying config.xml and set lodfactor, viewdistance and effectdistance to 4. That did have effect, but effect appeared only while I'm undocked and in space. Viewing distance remained short on platform.

I also unpacked ego_vr extension and tried to find some sort of camera configuration script. I did not find anything related to on-foot camera script.

Other people having this problem:
viewtopic.php?t=465624
viewtopic.php?t=396682

My possible guesses at the moment, are:
* This could be hardcoded.
* This is configurable, but camera configuration is not in ego_vr (but where?)
* There's some sort of invisible occluder around VR platform, which clips objects. (implausible, because objects pop in to the edge of the view).

[vvvvvvvv]

Tried to diff non-vr and vr version, not seeing a config change that could be causing this. Unless one of the dae files somehow is leaking camera zfar values. Most changes are in 09.dat

[vvvvvvvv]

Tried making an extension:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<diff>
  <replace sel="/parameters/playercamera/lookaround/external/@maxdistance">50000</replace>
  <replace sel="/parameters/playerfirstperson/speed/@yaw">5.0</replace>
</diff>

maxdistance by default is 10000
yaw is overwritten by ego_vr to 2.0

Player first person speed increased turning speed on platform
maxdistance seemed to affect external camera, actually. And it seemed like it did not help on platforms. While I was standing on platform with the extension above active, the vision range was in ballpark of 2 or 2.5 kilometers. Feels like there's a multiplier somewhere.
--edit--
Max distance has no effect on first person camera.

[vvvvvvvv]

I'll share some analysis results. A good portion of rebirth vr is identical to novr version. The differences are in:

02.dat --> adds fonts
03.dat, 04.dat --> voice lines (apparently from dlcs being moved in)

09.dat --> a lot of changes, most seem to be related to vulkan conversion. It goes like this:
https://pastebin.com/ntdTxL8Y

On top of that ego_vr overwrites bunch of files by itself:
https://pastebin.com/sLj3E197

Still unclear what the heck could be overwriting culling distance for walking mode or if it is something hardcoded. renderparam_library.xml alters some lod rules:
https://pastebin.com/V2vbCDx8

But it is unclear how it comes to play with walking mode. Lots is drastically changed.

A very interesting scenario can be seen in Teladi sector. The giant cracked rock in the sector with TU Overwatch is a composite object. Part of it is background object and is correctly being rendered, but half of the fragment are subject to culling and flicker in and out of existence when you watch it on foot. And again, it is unclear what's affecting this behavior.

Well. I can say that this whole thing is quite frustrating, especially coupled with painfully slow capital ship navigation in all sectors that have navigation lines.

[vvvvvvvv]

Another analysis attempt. I managed to make a better comparison of novr and vr version.

https://pastebin.com/NgghCY8M

This is done by scanning through all *.cat files and looking for those that have different size or checksum and weren't "deleted" by setting those to zero.

If we ignore all the converted shaders in shadergl, then it is just this:

Code: Select all

aiscripts/:
	boarding.pod.return.xml
libraries/:
	contexts.xml
	inputmap*: .xml, _defaults_joystick.xml, _defaults_saitek_x52.xml, _defaults_warthog.xml
	jobs.xml
	languages.xml
	material_library.x*: ml, sd
	parameters.x*: ml, sd
	renderparam_library.xml
	scriptproperties.xml
md/:
	Conversations.xml
	GM_Ambush.xml
	GM_Collect_*: Crafted_Item.xml, Loot.xml
	GM_Intercept_Xenon_I.xml
	GM_Protection_Detail.xml
	GM_Smuggle_Goods.xml
	GM_Station_Invitation.xml
	GM_Transport_Passengers.xml
	Hints.xml
	MC_Diplomatic_Aid.xml
	NPC_Architect.xml
	NPC_Engineer.xml
	NPC_Itemtrader.xml
	NPC_Licencetrader.xml
	NPC_Marine.xml
	NPC_Shiptrader*: .xml, _Small.xml
	NPC_S*: pecialist.xml, taff.xml
	NPC_Yisha.xml
	Notifications.xml
	Plot_*: Argon_Licence.xml, Restoration.xml, Xenon_Incursion.xml, ep1_ch1.xml
	Setup*: .xml, _Gamestarts_VR.xml
	Smalltalk.xml
	Test_MD.xml
	Tutorial_*: AdvancedFlight.xml, Collectables.xml, CommLink.xml, Crew.xml, Drones_Hacking.xml, Exploration.xml, Flight.xml, Menus.xml, Stations.xml, Trading.xml
	Tutorials.xml
ui/addons/ego_detailmonitor/:
	menu_encyclopedia*: stationcategories.xpl, ware.xpl, warecategories.xpl, wares.xpl, weapon.xpl, weaponcategories.xpl, weapons.xpl
	menu_platforms.*: lua, xpl
	menu_remotenpcs.*: lua, xpl
ui/addons/ego_fullscreenHelper/:
	helper.xpl
ui/addons/ego_gameoptions/:
	gameoptions.*: lua, xpl
ui/core/Lua/:
	Billboard.xpl
ui/widget/Lua/:
	widget_fullscreen*: .xpl, 2.xpl
vulkan/:
	dummy_texture.dds

That's not taking overrides from ego_vr into account, jsut novr and vr differerence.

Then I ran into an old threat where eMYNOCK mentions that NPC limits seems to be hardcoded. Also rendering distance persists in flatscreen mode.

*sighs*

[vvvvvvvv]

Well.

I tried to tinker with renderparams lod rules within "renderparam_library.xml". Tried to set sizecontrib to 0, to 100, trying to set range to 5 million, tried to assign stations to "always render" rule and it did not fix the problem. It does have an effect as it tanks performance, but the objects keep disappearing.

I concede defeat and will assume that this is a hardcoded rule. I'm not willing to invest even more time into binary analysis of this.

*sighs*