BSL++ shaders

Based off of BSL v7.1.02.2 by Capt Tatsu

Overview

Custom BSL shaders that enjoy the performance boost of BSL while still having more physically accurate water shaders present in other major shaders like Kuda. Since this is mostly a personal project, I removed features that I do not use: RP Support, Cel Shading, Lightmap Banding.

Key Changes

• Water:
  • refraction
  • multiplicative color
  • volumetric fog
  • tweaked water surface function
• General Transparency:
  • multiplicative color
  • reflective glass and ice
• Lighting:
  • support for greater dynamic range
  • tweaked sky gradients
  • tweaked light parameters
  • tweaked rain blending

WIP

• Caustics
• Perfecting water fog

Dynamic Range

The original shaders had a clamped dynamic range that made the image look drab. It also contributes to low contrast between low light areas and outdoor areas. I adjusted the colors and lighting parameters and added support for hdr light sources (simulated hdr, not actual display hdr). This makes the image a touch more photoreal.

BSL	BSL++
BSL	BSL++

Refraction

An approximate refraction model that displaces texture sample by a scaled surface normal. This gives water, glass, and ice more of a physical presence.

BSL

BSL++

Reflections

BSL already has great reflections. Unlike other shaders, BSL calculates multibounce reflections by using previous frame buffers. With such great reflections, they should be showcased whenever possible. I adjusted the material properties of ice and glass so that they are reflective.

BSL

BSL++

Multiplicative Color

I take a more physically based model of transparency. Colored glass filters out certain colors to produce an output color. This can be simulated by multiplying the glass color with the color of the scene behind it. This is also true (but less so) for reflections.

BSL

BSL++

Rain Blending

Reduced the transparency of rain and enabled proper blending with water and glass transparencies. Increased contrast of outdoor blocks to simulate a "wet" texture (prevents a washed out image from the gray lighting).

BSL

BSL++

Sky Gradients

This is more a matter of personal taste. The sky gradients in the original shader are too steep, making the sky look fantastical / cartoony (half orange half blue sky). I reduced the gradient by adding a bias to the <skypos,lightpos> dot product. These shots were taken at the same in-game time.

BSL	BSL++
BSL	BSL++