Allow Users to choose one (or multiple) post-proc effects to have always on

[BMagnu]

This is interesting for stuff like contrast, saturation, film grain, etc.

[MjnMixael]

How do you plan to balance that for mod designers? BtA, for example, has a perpetual desaturation applied that is a defining part of it's style.

[Sessile-Nomad]

How do you plan to balance that for mod designers? BtA, for example, has a perpetual desaturation applied that is a defining part of it's style.

Perhaps state somewhere that "(name of mod) uses (insert settings and effects) to create a distinct artistic impression, feel and identity, and the developers do not recommend altering these."

This should provide a nice balance between developer intent and player choice.

I'm probably going to have to do something like this for Causality since everything looking a little 'off' is part of its design.

[BMagnu]

Yeah, this is precisely a set of settings for players that maybe want to override the mod settings. Certainly not recommended, but we shouldn't outright lock players out of them

[MjnMixael]

Is someone actually asking for this or was it just a shower thought related to all the current Vulkan and HDR stuff? The current suite of post proc effects are also tunable via sexp which mods have used for effects. If you suddenly expose all of these, it has the potential to ruin those sorts of things.

I'm launching my Steam library games one at a time to see how common it is for these kinds of settings to be user-tunable, it so far it's not very common. Closest is a basic sort of contrast for display tuning.

[BMagnu]

I have been specifically asked with the film grain as an example.
And if we expose one, the pathway to exposing most is already there, so it'd be a given to expose as well

[MjnMixael]

I would think we can come up with a more mod-specific way for the one that needs film grain rather than exposing a bunch of sliders that are going to break modmaker's designs and mission effects.

[BMagnu]

mod-specific way for the one that needs film grain

This was asked by a player, not a modder, that wanted film-grain as done is some mods but in other mods, so we're looking specifically at mod-independent solutions here.

that are going to break modmaker's designs and mission effects.

I disagree with that. If a player wants to play with a little more contrast or saturation, they should be able to, even if it disagrees with the ideas of the original mod maker. It would for sure be not recommended for the authentic experience, and should maybe be behind an expert / unsanctioned options panel and certainly not front and center for someone just stumbling across it, but it should also be less annoying than having to fiddle with tables.

[MjnMixael]

Well I fully disagree with that assessment but it's seeming like trying to find a solution that works for both is not on the table.

[The-E]

I believe a useful compromise here would be to add settings to the postprocessing table that would allow modders to lock down settings they really consider crucial to the look and feel of their mod, and let users change whatever is not locked down that way.