Hello,

Are there any utilities that can be used to desaturate Il-2 when running it with ATI cards?

I have just been flying Lomac and the immersion is so much greater...

It is called ATI smartshader.

I think most people use ATI Tray Tools, which you can download for free. Once installed, go to Video & Colors menu/Color Settings (Color Correction) -- there, you can set new values for the basic color parameters. I have mine set as follows for IL2 to give it that "washed out" look:

Brightness -3
Contrast 12
Gamma 1.49

You can save these settings as a game profile, and they will load automatically whenever you start IL2 (and unload when you end the program). I would be interested to hear about anyone else's ATI settings in IL2. Hope this helps.

Major V

Well, it depends on product version. In response to the other posts

1) No, smartshaders do not work any more. IIRC., they were discontinued around Catalyst 6.3 (or so). As a result, it's completely not an option for any but the but the earliest X1K cards, and nothing newer (no support for those cards in these older drivers). ATI Tray Tools will not help, as it was removed outright from the driver.

2) That's...not really color saturation you are adjusting there with brightness/contrast/gamma. Try opening an image in Photoshop, and reduce the color saturation slider. Then, take the same image, and make the adjustments you suggested. You'll note quite a bit of difference! "Saturation" values can make the image move towards a more black-and-white (less colorful, more muted - like reality), which you cannot duplicate in other settings.

Anyway, the appropriate solution is in ATI's X1K-series cards (or better). In the Catalyst Control Center is an option "AVIVO Color Correction", which does work to desaturate images. For example, some comparisons of original shots, desaturated shots, and the above suggested settings:







...now, this is taking the effect to an extreme, but the idea is there. Reducing saturation is a very specific spectrum modification that really cannot be duplicated any other way. (And, in fact, it required hardware support to do, which is why it's not backwards compatible to ATI cards before the X1K series)

Oh yes, I forgot I still use old 5.9 Catalysts which work with the smartshader.

When looking around, I found a screenshot that makes an even better example.

Now, I am doing these effects in Photoshop, but this IS how it looks. You can't take a screenshot showing the effect, as it pulls directly from the (unmodified) framebuffer. Maybe Hypersnap could do it, though, dunno. In any case, it matters not, this is how it looks in-game. As you may imagine, in motion, it's even better.

Awesome illustrations, Xander. Unfortunately, I don't have the saturation control with my 9600XT (unless I want to roll back to old drivers), so I have to make do with the color adjustments.

Major V