LOTRO, SweetFX and you. A tale of pretty sunsets and lush foliage.

[Awenir24]

So... some time ago I created a post about using SweetFX with LOTRO.
I know some people love it and some people just don't get it, but given the recent new release of SweetFX, I thought it might be time to revisit it.
First of all, by way of giving credit where it's due - SweetFX isn't my invention, I just use it because I love it. I'm sharing it here because I think it adds a lot to LOTRO, and I think you'll love it too. So where does it come from? It was created by CeeJay.dk, who lives over at Guru3d.com. You can find him here: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=368880


So, what can sweetFX do for you?

Well, it's simple. SweetFX gives you a much broader level of control over the graphical options in the game than you could otherwise have, by employing DirectX shaders to do the work for you. In many respects it offers similar options to the simple brightness/gamma/contrast of the game, but with more depth. It also has a much more powerful Anti-Aliasing that you can employ if you wish.
For those of you who think visually, allow me to demonstrate.

In the image below, there are a few things you can/should notice. Some settings would be more useful by night etc., but this is a nice mix:

1) Greater colour vibrance, added without losing the clarity of the UI (you can mess with this setting). NOTE: Mine's fairly high, as I like things lush and green - I know some people prefer less saturation, and you can do that too. Don't be turned off by the saturation, as this is OPTIONAL, and is probably the LEAST important part of what SweetFX can do.

2) Much greater texture definition - using a sharpening shader that adds a great deal of clarity to the "muddy" textures often used in LOTRO. This is particularly noticable on small details, like trees, leaves, cracks in rocks etc. Note, though, that this doesn't show up well here, as I've had to resize the images to make them more... forum-friendly. This is, by far, the single most useful feature of SweetFX in my opinion, and makes the single greatest difference.

3) pretty AA, with much less of a frame rate hit - using SMAA shaders

4) the "grey cast" that you often see over everything is gone - completely

5) vibrant sunsets! - using an HDR shader to add greater colour and contrast to pretty much everything in-game without blowing out the UI.

...so why should you use it? The image should speak for itself. Like it? Download links and instructions are below, simply extract it into your LOTRO game folder (where the executables are, not the "C:\users\Username\My Documents\Lord of the Rings" folder) and it'll run for you. Use Scroll-Lock to enable/disable at any time to see the difference.




...and for an example of the (greatly) improved texture clarity (before and after - the 'after' being the more saturated, and the clearer of the two):






-----------------------------------
DOWNLOAD LINK
-----------------------------------

Full copy of SweetFX 1.5.1 - including my presets etc.
Simply extract this file into your Lord of the Rings folder (where the game executables are - NOT the one in "My Documents").

http://speedy.sh/VyqFw/SweetFX.zip


OR

Download SweetFX from its own web site (hosted by Guru3D) here:
http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/..._download.html

...and use my presets, which you can find here:

http://users.on.net/Awen/sweetfx_settings.txt

[Awenir24]

...this one cropped, not resized. The detail on the leaves (pictured here in Mirkwood) is nice. Notice too the finer detail on hair and other textures.

[Polymachos]

http://speedy.sh/VyqFw/SweetFX.zip

Why not http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/...download.html? After all, this is the official web page, where you will always find the most recent version. And Guru3D is big enough to cope with a few more downloads from its servers.


Greetings, Polymachos

[Harbut]

At the risk of much snickering, finger pointing and eye rolling can you explain further the simply extract bit please?
*shuffles feet*
Im not very computer literate *mashes the keyboard* and when folk say simply do this or that, I need step by step walk through instructions, in point form, with drink and pie break
Does look very interesting and would love to give this a go...once i get past the simply bit *looks sheepish and grins*
thank you

[Awenir24]

Why not http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/...download.html? After all, this is the official web page, where you will always find the most recent version. And Guru3D is big enough to cope with a few more downloads from its servers.


Greetings, Polymachos

That's a perfect option for people who know what they're doing - my option was presented for people who don't want to mess around with settings too much, or have to come up with their own presets.
With LOTRO, it's really easy to screw up the balance. Changing the bloom even fractionally, for example, can really blow out the whites. This is just simpler for people who want to have what I've demonstrated above.

With that said though, for others - definitely do keep an eye on that thread, and experiment with the settings to find what you like.

[Awenir24]

At the risk of much snickering, finger pointing and eye rolling can you explain further the simply extract bit please?
*shuffles feet*
Im not very computer literate *mashes the keyboard* and when folk say simply do this or that, I need step by step walk through instructions, in point form, with drink and pie break
Does look very interesting and would love to give this a go...once i get past the simply bit *looks sheepish and grins*
thank you

Deep breaths... everything will be okay

I've put the file in .zip format, as that's the most universal and probably the easiest. Best thing to do is to download the file I've uploaded for you, and put it in your LOTRO folder, wherever you've placed that. For me, it's K:\Lord of the Rings Online, but it will most definitely be something different for you. So... put that file into that folder.

Then, once you've done that, right click on the file, and find an option that says something like "extract here".
that's it, you're done!

[Macroscian]

Personally, I wouldn't touch third party downloads with 7-foot Rohirric fishing rod. This looks neat and nice but please use caution

[Widmore]

How much overhead does this add to the system resources needed?

I run on a fairly low end computer, and while LOTRO runs perfectly fine, I'd be afraid something like this would cause my performance to plummet.

[ChampionSword]

What's the definitive answer on the legality of using this kind of program? I really would like to, but I just don't know if I can...

[Awenir24]

What's the definitive answer on the legality of using this kind of program? I really would like to, but I just don't know if I can...

There's nothing illegal about this whatsoever.
It doesn't modify any files or anything along those lines, it just adds some post-processing shaders over the top of what LOTRO is already doing.

I should have specified though - in order to use the AA of SweetFX, you have to disable the AA in LOTRO itself. SweetFX will then take over.


...now, as far as a third-party download...
The files I uploaded are clean etc., but I can understand that stance completely (I'm a bit the same way). If you would prefer not to download the files I've uploaded, I can always share my presets here in text format. You'd just have to cut and paste them into your own sweetfx_settings.txt file, and grab SweetFX from its site, which someone linked above.

[Awenir24]

How much overhead does this add to the system resources needed?

I run on a fairly low end computer, and while LOTRO runs perfectly fine, I'd be afraid something like this would cause my performance to plummet.

...My PC is quite high-end, so I'm not sure how well I can answer that. I have no performance hit whatsoever, but that might be meaningless.
What I can say is that most of the shaders have little to no performance hit on any PC (the sharpen routines, for example, really have pretty much no impact).
If you want to find out, simply download it and put it in your LOTRO folder... and if it has an impact more than you'd like, you can just press Scroll Lock to turn it off. Alternatively, you can also just delete the "sweetfx_settings.txt" file, which will mean sweetfx won't run at all.

[Shredderdog]

I can't get the game to launch using this, I think it's an incompatibility between it, DirectX 10/11 and Windows 8.1 but not sure.

[indiramourn]

I can always share my presets here in text format.

I'd appreciate it if you would do that, Awenir24. I've used SweetFX with Age of Connan and it made a huge improvement in the graphics and performance. I'd like to try it with LoTRO as well. Thanks!

[Harbut]

After much scratching of head, threating pc with blunt instrument and some pure guess work all i can say is....

HOLY MUFFINS!!!

Thank you very much for sharing....Im totally dumbstruck...which according to my wife is nothing new

[Brandon_Blackbird]

Is there someplace I can download this as a .zip file -without- having to install yet another micromanaging .exe download manager?

[melyjely]

Is there someplace I can download this as a .zip file -without- having to install yet another micromanaging .exe download manager?

You do not need to use the download manager being advertised - that's all it is, a revenue raising tactic that most file sharing sites use these days.

You may click on the download link at the top of the page to grab the file directly.

[manstan]

"Download SweetFX Shader Suite Download Version 1.5 - SweetFX is a universal image improvement and tweaking mod, that works with almost any 32-bit DirectX 9, 10 or 11 game or application".

[Widoch]

I can't get the game to launch using this, I think it's an incompatibility between it, DirectX 10/11 and Windows 8.1 but not sure.

I know this isn't helpful, but I have to ask, is there anything that Windows 8.1 is compatible with? Sigh....

[Onklatim]

I can't get the game to launch using this, I think it's an incompatibility between it, DirectX 10/11 and Windows 8.1 but not sure.

I tried it a week ago, but had the same Problem. It works with Directx9 everything besides AA activated. In Dx10/11 it don´t works even everything deactivated.
On the other Hand Tombraider (2013) works....so i doubt a generally problem with sweetfx dx11 and wind 8.1.

[Awenir24]

I'd appreciate it if you would do that, Awenir24. I've used SweetFX with Age of Connan and it made a huge improvement in the graphics and performance. I'd like to try it with LoTRO as well. Thanks!

[edited] - link to my own sweetfx_settings.txt now added to the original post. Want my settings? Use those!

[Marancil]

@Polymachos
that is only a page provided by Guru3D to present various tools posted by users on their site. But it has a lot of info, of course...

Also: http://sfx.thelazy.net/games/game/365/

[unip0pcorn]

Thank you, thank you so much! It looks a little dark because i've been playing this forever with what you see on the right side but once you get used to that bitter-sweet darkness its becomes our preciouss!

[Neumi]

"Download SweetFX Shader Suite Download Version 1.5 - SweetFX is a universal image improvement and tweaking mod, that works with almost any 32-bit DirectX 9, 10 or 11 game or application".

Guess what ... Lotro is a 32 Bit DX9/10/11 application even if it runs on a 64 Bit Windows System

[manstan]

Not on mine. Doesn't work at all on my comp. But then I don't need it. I can go right in to my LOTRO graphics settings and get those same results.

[Mar-Evayave]

Personally, I wouldn't touch third party downloads with 7-foot Rohirric fishing rod. This looks neat and nice but please use caution

I'm with you. I've had my entire computer go off the deep end for looking at a picture on Google of... *drum roll* a chalkboard. Yeah, a simple, plain old chalkboard. They hide wickedness in the most innocent things... O.o