SSAO first impressions?

[Neil]

Mine are very favourable - whilst I saw only small differences in the SCS "with and without" pictures in the recent teaser, the difference from the better shadowing is much more apparent when moving - a feeling of depth missing before as well as better reflections off all my chrome truck parts.
With SSAO set to highest and other settings unchanged (1920x1080, 400% scaling, low anti-aliasing and all detail sliders at max) I still get solid 60fps in VSync-on mode on my NVidia 1070 GPU. Was worried my rig which is a few years old may not like full SSAO so pleasantly surprised.
Now all I need is Idaho on 16th and I'll be a happy bunny!

[walrus1]

I, sadly, haven't had good first impressions with SSAO but my GPU sucks.

The game set it to medium and I played it for a bit and it was running fine so I bumped it up to high and the FPS dropped so back to medium. Which worked fine until dawn came in game and the FPS randomly drops. I just switched it to low so let's see. I'm sure it's mostly my GPU and I'm sure SCS will release some fixes for it.

[Robinicus]

It's a start and good to see them working on graphics improvements; SSAO is certainly an outdated approach though but I suppose they had to start somewhere, I think Crysis introduced it as ground breaking technology back in about 2007 or so IIRC...

Would have liked to see them go after VXAO or at least HBAO to at least be using the ambient occlusion from around 2016-17 or so....

[walrus1]

Originally posted by Robinicus:

It's a start and good to see them working on graphics improvements; SSAO is certainly an outdated approach though but I suppose they had to start somewhere, I think Crysis introduced it as ground breaking technology back in about 2007 or so IIRC...

Would have liked to see them go after VXAO or at least HBAO to at least be using the ambient occlusion from around 2016-17 or so....

I do wonder if the game's engine could support VXAO or HBAO given its age.

[Robinicus]

I don't see why not, the main difference is timing of when the lighting occurs (i.e. is the object visible yet or not) and whether it is only looking at at one axis or both.

https://imgur.com/qVpQcj1

EDIT: added image for comparison

[draco.klingon]

Hmm, about 1420 miles fine, for the last 80-> unuseable. Why? I picked up a WOT-load in Yuma up to Bellingham, a log loader for deepgrove the forrest camp in the mountains close to bellingham. All looks fine no problem, after 1420 miles in one drive no break from the keyboard, short after everett I leave the I5 and the problems started, stuttering, framerate loss from constant 60 down to 10, .... . I switched SSAO off and all was fine, back to framerate 60 and no more stuttering.

EDIT: GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB, i7-8700 3.2GHz, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD -> HP Pavillion Power Desktop 580; No/never Mods installed, no/never overclocked CPU or GPU; latest drivers in use;

[Neil]

Originally posted by draco.klingon:

Hmm, about 1420 miles fine, for the last 80-> unuseable. Why? I picked up a WOT-load in Yuma up to Bellingham, a log loader for deepgrove the forrest camp in the mountains close to bellingham. All looks fine no problem, after 1420 miles in one drive no break from the keyboard, short after everett I leave the I5 and the problems started, stuttering, framerate loss from constant 60 down to 10, .... . I switched SSAO off and all was fine, back to framerate 60 and no more stuttering.

EDIT: GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB, i7-8700 3.2GHz, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD -> HP Pavillion Power Desktop 580; No/never Mods installed, no/never overclocked CPU or GPU; latest drivers in use;

I am in N Washington and will try and get a load that takes me over that wonderful scenic route, and report how it works for me.

[mojo_musica]

Originally posted by draco.klingon:

Hmm, about 1420 miles fine, for the last 80-> unuseable. Why? I picked up a WOT-load in Yuma up to Bellingham, a log loader for deepgrove the forrest camp in the mountains close to bellingham. All looks fine no problem, after 1420 miles in one drive no break from the keyboard, short after everett I leave the I5 and the problems started, stuttering, framerate loss from constant 60 down to 10, .... . I switched SSAO off and all was fine, back to framerate 60 and no more stuttering.

EDIT: GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB, i7-8700 3.2GHz, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD -> HP Pavillion Power Desktop 580; No/never Mods installed, no/never overclocked CPU or GPU; latest drivers in use;

I have an Asus GTX 10160 6Gb and with SSAO on, everything high or ultra, 200% scaling, it is running in the low 100 fps even in the most built-up areas. I've just checked my latest screenshot on WoT and the console is showing 150fps for a static pic, this is on a Dell UltraSharp 1920x1200 24" monitor..
Is your monitor refresh rate affecting the display, have you locked you card to the monitor refresh rate, or let it run as fast as it can? Y
You should be able to run SSAO easily, I have not noticed any reduction in frame-rate since I installed 1.38 this morning.

[LostBoyLazarus]

Originally posted by draco.klingon:

Hmm, about 1420 miles fine, for the last 80-> unuseable. Why? I picked up a WOT-load in Yuma up to Bellingham, a log loader for deepgrove the forrest camp in the mountains close to bellingham. All looks fine no problem, after 1420 miles in one drive no break from the keyboard, short after everett I leave the I5 and the problems started, stuttering, framerate loss from constant 60 down to 10, .... . I switched SSAO off and all was fine, back to framerate 60 and no more stuttering.

EDIT: GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB, i7-8700 3.2GHz, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD -> HP Pavillion Power Desktop 580; No/never Mods installed, no/never overclocked CPU or GPU; latest drivers in use;

What graphic settings are you running? I.e high/ultra/custom - just curious.

[Neil]

Originally posted by Neil:

Originally posted by draco.klingon:

Hmm, about 1420 miles fine, for the last 80-> unuseable. Why? I picked up a WOT-load in Yuma up to Bellingham, a log loader for deepgrove the forrest camp in the mountains close to bellingham. All looks fine no problem, after 1420 miles in one drive no break from the keyboard, short after everett I leave the I5 and the problems started, stuttering, framerate loss from constant 60 down to 10, .... . I switched SSAO off and all was fine, back to framerate 60 and no more stuttering.

EDIT: GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB, i7-8700 3.2GHz, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD -> HP Pavillion Power Desktop 580; No/never Mods installed, no/never overclocked CPU or GPU; latest drivers in use;

I am in N Washington and will try and get a load that takes me over that wonderful scenic route, and report how it works for me.

Just run a load from Grand Coolee via Omak to Bellingham and solid 60fps all the way, apart from one minor hesitation as I dropped down to the Diablo Lake causeway. Looked even more beautiful than before using SSAO (on high), due to the better shadowing

I use VSync not because I get screen tearing or anything, just that the higher framerate with VSync off works my 1070 GPU a nit harder and so makes more fan noise, and TBH my old eyes can see no benefit in the image compared to 60 fps!!

Bed calls now, but have lined up a load from Bellingham to Spokane for tomorrow and will go via Omak to see how it runs in the eastward direction.

[vernongt47]

Originally posted by Robinicus:

It's a start and good to see them working on graphics improvements; SSAO is certainly an outdated approach though but I suppose they had to start somewhere, I think Crysis introduced it as ground breaking technology back in about 2007 or so IIRC...

Would have liked to see them go after VXAO or at least HBAO to at least be using the ambient occlusion from around 2016-17 or so....

Hey Robi,
Not understanding VXAO, HBAO, SSAO or WTF-AO, but would appreciate a tip here or there.
Tell me mate?
Are you gonna use SSAO and if so, what level are you gonna use?

Cheers mate.
Vernon

[Sandhill]

One would normally run SSAO on high unless it impacts game performance too much.

[Robinicus]

After doing some further reading, they are actually using GTAO (ground truth ambient occlusion); apparently them using SSAO terminology in their releases was "slang" FFS.....

Very hard to find any info on GTAO other than details on how it is implemented in the Unity game engine, still doing some digging to try find details on it and how it compares to protocols I am familiar with.

I have tried it in all settings and TBH, really only see much difference when looking at screenshots. I have it on high in case it is maybe more evident in some of the newer state DLCs; have been running around the south lately.

[Robinicus]

Here are a couple of comparison pics....as I said, very subtle difference between disabled and high; this is on my i9-9820X/RTX 2080Ti rig.

Max

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2166394745

Disabled

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2166394813

Max

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2166394581

Disabled

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2166394689

[Neil]

Originally posted by Robinicus:

After doing some further reading, they are actually using GTAO (ground truth ambient occlusion); apparently them using SSAO terminology in their releases was "slang" FFS.....

Very hard to find any info on GTAO other than details on how it is implemented in the Unity game engine, still doing some digging to try find details on it and how it compares to protocols I am familiar with.

I have tried it in all settings and TBH, really only see much difference when looking at screenshots. I have it on high in case it is maybe more evident in some of the newer state DLCs; have been running around the south lately.

Interestingly the difference with SSAO (or GTAO...) was more obvious to me when moving, and more so in the more hilly/tree-clad terrain where object shadows are more important perhaps. There is not so much to block the sun in plains of New Mexico I guess!

[Neil]

Originally posted by Neil:

Originally posted by Neil:

I am in N Washington and will try and get a load that takes me over that wonderful scenic route, and report how it works for me.

Just run a load from Grand Coolee via Omak to Bellingham and solid 60fps all the way, apart from one minor hesitation as I dropped down to the Diablo Lake causeway. Looked even more beautiful than before using SSAO (on high), due to the better shadowing

I use VSync not because I get screen tearing or anything, just that the higher framerate with VSync off works my 1070 GPU a nit harder and so makes more fan noise, and TBH my old eyes can see no benefit in the image compared to 60 fps!!

Bed calls now, but have lined up a load from Bellingham to Spokane for tomorrow and will go via Omak to see how it runs in the eastward direction.

Just parked up at Spokane after the run above - ran fine (steady 60fps without lags) for me running the Cascades Scenic Loop road west to east too.