Kraegar

I'd suggest checking if your CPU has hyper-threading active and disable it, old crap of a game like this wouldn't know how to use it anyway.
In my case I think the game uses the power of four cores, but still - the higher frequency of the single core the better.

And you do have a much more powerful GPU than CPU, I wonder if it's capable to use the graphics chip to it's maximum, although its laptop yes? so likely it has less power than desktop versions.

Another thing to try is to disable integrated graphics, at least when using the game, see if it makes the difference, dont forget to enable it back later  
Silly mention but I hope you are using "maximum performance mode" for GPU when playing games.
Otherwise I think you have a poweful enough gpu to handle physx too, probably better to put physx on gpu too and free the cpu for other tasks. Not an expert here, just an idea.

However, in the end, the real impact on fps comes from your scene, as you work with hook objects you have some freedom - try to use low poly models, sometimes a model with 10k or less looks exactly as a model with 300k, try to optimize them or download and convert the lighter ones. In game use performance-saving cull modes for high poly models (where possible) - like 0 or 1 (dont remember which one, it has to cull back faces, but of course will have negative impact for scene quality - like problems with sunlight) You can also disable shadowcasting for some objects.

As Sexvision suggested you can decrease the shadowmapsize, but, IMO it will kill all the shading and will look bad. Frankly, im not sure if this parameter even works rights, as 1k shadowmaps should make all the shadows blurry rather not sharp, but right now 1k acts as if there's almost no shadows at all.

As KOYOT mentioned MSAA x2 - I think hooks' default mainfx comes with this setting at "x2", you should set it to 0, as it's a real killer for a weaker systems. Note that there are two MSAA - one for hairworks and one general. The general one cannot be changed "on the fly" only when game is not running.

And one final thing. there's the "fResolutionScale                             = 1.000000" ,does what it's called, when I had a weaker rig I used 0.80 or 0.85 scale for FullHD, it yielded around around 15-20 extra frames for me at the cost of output rendering resolution, which is decently subtle when playing a game but very visible on screenshots unless you take hi-res ones.
This setting can also be increased, scale 1.3 with FullHD would mean your game will be rendered in 2k  At the extra frame cost (around same 15-20 extra for me). Screenshot quality boost is significant and no hi-res artifacts from bloom or ao or sslr if shots taken in native resolution.

13 hours ago, state808 said:

I understand the idea of substance painter making the texture....but then do I have to still create on obj file and apply the textures in blender and then use the H5m convertor to make it usable in the game? (or how do you bring it into the game?)

It's more like this - you download some 3d model, import it into blender, check if there's no problems with it, i.e. back face culling, broken normals, wrong faces orientation, UV outside the UV square, etc.
Make some adjustments to materials if you need to (rename, join, create new or delete some).
Not necessary to paint any texture in blender. 

After making sure the mesh is alright - export it from blender. If you plan to convert it to h5m later, export as .obj
Start SP, pick your object, import the included textures (if it got some) or start doing new ones if those are bad.

After that you export the textures from SP, add the obj and the "color" texture to hook5 converter and you're good.
You'll need to get some dds converter or photoshop/gimp plugin to convert exported normal and spec pngs to dds. There's also plenty of other dds converters - from online to custom apps. Once converted, name them after the color texture and add "_norm" and "_spec" to the textures names. That way hook will know which textures belong to which object.

BTW
The most optimal dds conversion method is DXT5 or otherwise called BC3. Ignore DXT3 or DXT1 (BC1 BC2) - DXT5 does it better and they will likely turn your textures to shit (quality sacrificed for a benefit of a little less file size). You may use them for a specific purposes, if you'll know what you're doing, but if used without care it may result in artifacts or some other undesired issues.
 

13 hours ago, state808 said:

Can substance painter make light or lit surfaces?

It lights the objects with IBL and there's an option to enable shadows, but has no point lights.
But it's more than enough to paint comfortably and you can rotate the light with RMB
SP comes with a bunch of IBL images, but you can also import your own hdri or any kind of image that could be used for IBL

Can you post your settings for water? And which room this is. I saw this glitch before, somewhere...
 

39 minutes ago, Sexvision said:

Have you tried making a transparant normal? Just a thought but it may help

No, pretty sure it won't do anything, and generally no need to change opacity on normal map as shader would simply ignore it and would still be able to read same RGB channels' values.

Not really my field, but I guess if multridrawlayer, writeZ and cull_modes doesn't help then the mesh itself might not have the back side and in that case only porting it anew with duplicated mesh that has inverted normals and then sorted MultiDrawLayer order between two shapes would solve it. At least, thats how I imagine a solution, not sure.

1 hour ago, PunkBuster said:

Idk, I didn't edit the add-on itself, I just changed the txf file and disabled the pass file and it really helped in this case 

I see... I'd double-check it though, would be a shame to lose h5 shading  

In here - "RGBA_8888" "AlphaBlend/AlphaMask/WriteZ"- it's better to use only AlphaBlend/WriteZ or AlphaMask/WriteZ.   

Alphablend allows partial and smooth opacity, alphamask will instantly make invisible any pixel that is not 100% opaque.
I dont remember if "alphamask" is ignored if "alphablend" is written before it, but that's something to be aware of, otherwise smooth fading hair tips (that some hair textures have) will get cut off like in that cheap-ass barber shop  
 

20 hours ago, PunkBuster said:

disabled the pass file

Not sure why you'd want to do that, it has no relation to the issue and might even help with some hook _pass commands like cull_mode, for some hairs.

In binaries/hook_data11 there are two luts - DiffuseLUT.bmp and SpecularLUT.bmp - my guess they control the appearance of ingame cartoon filters and thus can be replaced or edited for something else. Maybe cartoon shaders from reshade have a similar look or layout. Or possibly a similar lut can be found or explained somewhere from web. 

I never tried that yet but wanted to check later. You could try experimenting with that, maybe something will come out of it.

You're likely running a mod-heavy setup, or trying to load too much heavy content (HQ room+hires skin+hipoly 4k clothing dressed by default+some toy addons+smth else) memory accumulates and then you get a crash. 


What you can do to lighten the burden:

- check if you applied 4GB patch, reapply it if you suspect its not working.
- before starting the game shut down any system processes that take a solid chunk of RAM, clear memory, you can download and use some utility software for this stuff
- remove unneeded toys from "Addons" or put them in subfolder (toys and their textures are always preloaded in the memory)
- bake your Custom skin if you use one and if it has a lot of layers 
- every time you change clothing or select different hair or any other elements - it doesn't get culled from the memory, but stays until you run out of 4GB. If you sort through enough of 4k textures you'll crash quite soon.


Also here's a thing that works for me for windowed fullscreen - start the game in fullscreen, then either in main menu or when the scene is loaded - hold alt and press tab to move to some other explorer window (or application). You can pre-open "my computer" before starting the game to quickly tab to it. Switch back from explorer to the game - you should now be in windowed fullscreen and can safely alt-tab, no more risk of blackscreen for this game session. 

it seems to be just an autogenerated and auto-updated addon index, listing what and how many you have installed, it changes each time you add or remove smth, so I guess no need to do anything about it or backup it or do anything else.

13 hours ago, demonv1 said:

Almost every single skin I've come across if they include subs they are always 512x1024. There are 2 in the skin layer pack that are 4k and are colored purple. Dimisd.Analbell and rhrja.PG28 and they look great.

But I'm super curious on what skin you use? Your models skin always look nice.

Those low res were likely ported along with other Daz skins, and might be the ones suitable mainly for Iray or otherwise ray-traced subsurface scattering, but we are messing with fake SSS plus when Pervok first implemented scattering it was only calculating the epidermal look, and that texture looks like epidermal+baked SSS amount. Or both, but slotted in different channels.

In any case, I believe its not suitable for using since the time when PP reworked the effect. So now epidermal texture is a fixed plain gray/white color and subdermal is your stage4 texture, then you mix those colors with sliders from hook main gui, skin section.

But the texture alone is not enough for good looks, its mainly an instruction for shader how to apply the effect, the real thing of getting realistic skin is adding more "subdermal/epidermal steps" - in my case no less than 4, the more you add the more the blur, and the more you add the less "radius" it should have. Plus there are other parameters in that section's upper part that mostly need to be tweaked once and left alone.
Additionally you need to have a little gloss on the skin and the skin diffuse shouldn't be too bright. PBR got a rule of not going too bright white and not too dark black.
Finally SSS slightly reacts to ambient light color (including one coming from IBL) and directional light power - more powerful light - like sun - will make it more visible. 

I wrote all that because you have to decide every time - every room brings its own ambient lighting and every skin you've downloaded is a little different in color or smth else, additionally scattering should look less visible in interior than it does in exterior, especially in a sunny one. So, for best effect you'll have to constantly tweak it to match or compensate for the scene and exposure or it may look uncanny. Nothing difficult really, just play with settings until it looks right to you.

Right now im using a modified version of sub set that can be grabbed here - https://www.klubexile.com/files/file/2215-legacy-2-custom-skins-skin-subsurface-set/
The one from the post is old but still handy.
Alternatively, you got this one https://www.klubexile.com/files/file/6108-soft-subsurface-skin-setting-and-maps/
Much more newer, I haven't tested it yet but looks good too.

19 hours ago, thorpey69 said:

I think you're right! After some more testing it appears this is not happening with every single Room. I was mainly using the default/"original?" Rooms, which I assume do not have the _level_definition.txt file? So I guess my follow up question would be, if the Room I'm using is missing the file, is there a way I can export the light settings as a _level_definition.txt and add it to the Room's folder?

You'll have to add the activemod folder with textures related to that room, then add the _level_definition.txt and it will start reading the settings from its own file now. 


Some old addon rooms have activemod folder by default but lack h5 maps or _level_def. In this case you just need to add this txt (copy from any other room, i.e.)

As for vanilla/base game rooms - this is a little more trickier if you're unfamiliar with the process (extracting and renaming base textures) - better to try and find some retexture and yet again add the leveldef if its missing...

I can think of one way this might be happening - if the room you launch is missing the "_level_definition.txt" file, some syntax error in the name of this file or if it's file extension deleted, or you're picking to load the room not from activemod path but from it's base addon's.

In cases above the settings marked as default in main.fx will be loaded - and if you modify the lights and press "save level" your new settings will be remembered and updated and used whenever you load a room without any _level_definition.txt found.

Might this be your case? 

It was a long time since I really messed with this but I believe it's in the scripts/luder/person AcBodyLook, it was pretty clear from that code when some "race" is applied or some offset for eyes or other is used. 

Not sure about the addons though, but maybe vanilla example can give some clue on what to look for...
 

On 11/27/2021 at 2:07 AM, Soroka said:

Хай йому грець)) Не думав тут знайти українську спільноту)) А що? Може зробимо в майбутньому шось своє....суто національне. Гарні дівки чорняві десь у селі....біля озера..... Козаки з вусами. Треба подумати над текстурами)

Козака з вусами і оселедцем із хейрворкса - це те що треба! ) а ще із шаблюкою і джавеліною. 

Та й шаровари можна за допомогою дісплейсменту роздути  

А так то у мене є трохи текстур одягу в блакитно-жовтих кольорах, або щось на цю тему, та й іще більше у планах на потім.
Буду викладати тут, якщо що

Does the room have its own sky sphere or hdri sphere, or something like that? If it's in the way you won't see a hook-based sky
Find it in the files and type name=Discard in it's pass file or make it's texture invisible

There used to be several competitions at once, it would be nice to bring this back.

Monthly is good - plenty of time to work on smth truly special, but also monthly takes too long, imo.
Bringing one or two weekly (or two-weeks long) would be also cool, they might not get the same special treatment as monthly and image of the year - but again, not everyone is doing it for a medal, many do it just for artistic expression and general enjoyment of the public.

Weekly is where some kind of restrictions/conditions - or lets call them "challenges" - can be used. 
This might be anything that everyone can have access to and within game or hook possibilities - theme, min/max characters, black and white, clothing rules (only skirts, topless/top on, only catsuit, must have a headwear, glasses, masks, face covered), black room(no room), soft/hardcore, humorous/funny etc...

...maybe even allow the first place winner to pick ONE condition for the next week challenge (ideally a challenge would have several conditions) and perhaps that one and the same condition cannot be applied for the next two challenges or smth like that.
Winner's choice would apply not for the next but for the challenge the week after, if challenges would start and end non-stop. Or maybe there will be a voting day. say each monday, leaving 6 days for preparing an entry. Theme could be decided by admins or randomly and announced with the competition start, leaving the winner's pick - a blind pick  If a winner wont log in that day - his choice will be lost.

Generally, a certain pool of conditions can be made - and each week some of them will be picked (with a possibility of 1 winner's pick). 
Competitions with a set of uncommon conditions might make it interesing by forcing people create smth out of their comfort zone, should they choose to participate.

Challenges can occasionally have the "no hook" back to the 2000s condition xD

It doesn't have to be strongly enforced even, imo, just all participants will be warned that work that fails to meet this conditions will be taken down prior to competition end, without notification.
******



Regarding photoshop - personally, I think that using PS wont pull a lazy work to top work, it can only make an already good work great.
Will it improve the chances for someone? It might but it might not. Everyone probably has a certain criterias on what they vote for, so PS would just be a minor advantage, however those who dont use hook but still participate and have skills in PS might actually get on even ground in visuals.

 

Subsurface (subs) are there to imitate the effect that occurs when any light is passing, penetrating the skin, bouncing inside, lighting everything under it and exiting the skin through different direction or fading inside. it is usually red because this means that blood is giving those rays its color but for high quality texture its not 100% one color tint. Sub consists of four channels - RGB for color and alpha for amount. (which means dds is needed, if png is used I think it treats alpha as full white (not good)).

Normally, amount depends on tissue thickness, and also on whats under the skin at that point - if it is a bone right under (i.e. cheekbones) you paint low amount, if thin skin (ears, nostrils - high amount) - you can paint it black (meaning no scattering) useful for brows, thick/dense hairline or in some other cases - like adding metal to a skin (painted metal bracelet on skin layer, for example).

As for the resolution of textures - its incorrect to say that some textures can be bigger and some can be smaller.
When you create a texture set - if it is a high quality set - everything in it should be of the same resolution - because each pixel carries a certain information, and if you downsize one detailed textures that means that missing pixels will need to be interpolated - and interpolation doesn't know for sure it only has an approximate value for missing info and if it fucks up - you can see all kind of weird stuff - from strange colors gradation, wrong specularity to height/normal artifacts.
***
But of course, if there's a 4k texture filled with just one HSB value - there's no reason to keep it in 4k, but that also depends on how the engine treats such texture, whether it calculates every pixel in it or just reads "they're all green". You can notice that it will take several ms to load a 4k diffuse, normal, spec if they're single color but much more when they're detailed.
Same for subs - if its just blur - you can get away with low res - but if you need pixel-sniping accuracy - than surely it will need to be higher or equal. 

Might be the AO... with some settings it likes to apply itself to uv borders, also smooth or flat shading for seam edges has an effect on AO too.

Its always better to use the hook's debug modes for troubleshooting or inconsistency, including the texture channels checks.

Check this package, its from R9X times, with R9X naming, but a good chance that its what you seek. Norms, specs and their alternatives for several clothing pieces (blouse, shirt, pants, topz)

https://www69.zippyshare.com/v/HyTAiJHP/file.html

Fully agree with Smoke and HDiddy, would add my 50 cent here.

You can conserve VRAM or RAM by using the same skins for additional models, sure its not very pretty but if it will be the only way to go 4 models then thats the price you gotta pay. Textures currently loaded into memory stay there and if the 4th model calls for same skin it will use the stored textures in the memory and will not load  the additional copy of the same one, works for customized skins too. Even if you use two different skins you can still edit their pass files so that they will call their normals and speculars. subs from the same unified folder - this way only additional diffuse will be loaded but not others and will save memory.

DDS vs PNG - optimization vs quality. Personally, I dont like dds at all, hook already has a problem with rendering normals right, compressing them make it only worse, but dds goes directly to VRAM and not through RAM to VRAM conversion, eating precious 32bit RAM limit. 

Pagefile - increasing it helps in some things, mainly with custom skins, I got 8GB RAM and in the heaviest game setup anything less than 12GB pagefile will mean either an instant crash or a crash after few tweaks/clothing changes. Apparently every memory operation - changing clothes, layers, skins etc. accumulates until you run out of the memory. The bigger pool you have - the longer it will take to crash. 32bit rules still apply though, pagefiles mainly helps with VRAM interactions.

Tessellation - most skins have this "tessellation_level = 1" command added to each skinned body part. What Tessellation does is increases polycount of the mesh by dividing each existing triangle into two triangles = doubling the amount - visually it is mostly undistinctive, because the actual geometry doesn't change, however since villa engine seems to be smoothing all edges - it does have a small anti-aliasing effect. The true purpose of tessellation is in increasing the amount of vertices - because displacement works only with vertices.
Setting it to zero will decrease the burden on the system. However any kind of displacement data will be immediately deactivated, but if you dont use any - then its just dead weight. 

Room tweaks - what if you like the room but 1million polygons of tree leaves are an overkill ? Shut the suckers' shadows off ...hell... write "name = Discard" in their shader name if they bear no purpose to the room. Same goes for some other props whose shadows or presence may not be important at all. Same thing with culling modes - a 300k sofa with back faces culled will mean around half of the actual polygons loaded and taking part in rendering. 
This is quite excessive really, but if you would really need it - the option is on the table.
 

Which exe do you use? From root or from binaries? Gotta use from the Launcher from Binaries

Use onevision's tip for using CustomStatic shader, it will at least fix the holes for now. However the addon itself seems to be faulty - just look at normals debug  


Also, check this tutorial for toy porting, very simple, fast and well explained. 

@Morius, not sure what you mean here, but maybe my writing below will have it sorted.

Now to the topic

For me it happens eventually, sometimes with newly cloned male models after applying the custom skin (I no longer use any non-custom skins). But for me - simply reloading the room fixes it and usually never happens again with the same male. However, this can later happen when you apply vanilla layers to males or hide body parts from clothing tab or apply default piercing, use hairstyles with vanilla head scalp - all that when custom skin is active, and the fix is again the same - reload the room. 

I dont think it's a hook problem but rather some vx bug of latest versions, cause from hook's perspective it doesnt matter if a skin is default or customized, it just applies the mapping to a surface according to pass file instructions. But if for some reason the surface that should get this mapping is missing, overwritten or cannot be called by engine than there's nothing to apply a texture to.

My speculation is that some base male models, just like female have their own pre-set layers and small details like piercing - and that will also cause this bug right from the first loading.

I would still encourage people to use custom skin because control over shader there vs non-custom skin is simply unrivalled. Not to mention all the customization

@jogoho4, awesome, man! Thousand thanks! 

Check the hair txf file, play with the settings, also changing DoF from targeted to constant might help.