Picture in Picture Port | True PiP [Multithreaded Branch]

[TheLostInPlace]

True picture-in-picture scopes + per-scope optics + SVP DLSS-SR scaffolding (DX11)

Summary

Adds true picture-in-picture (PiP) scope rendering to the MT engine: the scoped image is a real
second render of the scene from the optic's camera, composited through the lens instead of the flat
FOV/zoom trick. On top of that it adds a physically-derived optics layer (real per-scope eye
relief / exit pupil, two-zone eye-box, lens cosmetics), a 3DSS cosmetic gate that removes the
flat-scope parallax-shadow crescent for optical scopes, SVP performance levers (frustum + small-
object culling, adaptive scope resolution, supersample), and all engine-side scaffolding for a future
DLSS-SR upscale of the scope render (reconstruction left as a documented stub).

The feature is DX11-only (R4), additive, and off by default. With r__svpscope 0 the render is
byte-identical to stock MT, and the DX10/9/8 renderers (R1/R2/R3) are fully insulated.

• Base branch: all-in-one-vs2022-wpo-mt
• Scope: 74 files, +4786 / -336, 21 commits

Requirements

PiP renders the scene into the in-world scope lens, so it relies on the 3D Shader Scopes (3DSS)
GAMMA addon to supply that lens geometry and reticle. 3DSS is already bundled in GAMMA, so GAMMA
users have it by default and no extra setup is needed. Without 3DSS (or an equivalent scope-lens
setup) there is no lens surface for the PiP image to composite into, and r__svpscope has nothing
to draw. The real per-scope optics path (r__svp_optics_real) reads the eye-relief / exit-pupil
values from the 3DSS scope config; scopes without those entries fall back to geometry-derived values.

What's new (user-facing)

• True PiP scope — a live second-viewport render of the scene sampled by the lens shader (real
  parallax, depth, and lighting inside the optic), with smooth and analog (variable) zoom, magnifier
  reticle, and an over-zoom fix
• Real per-scope optics — eye relief and exit pupil taken from the 3DSS scope config drive a
  physical eye-box (the dark vignette tightens as you move off the exit pupil and as magnification
  rises), with an optional two-zone (exit-pupil + eye-relief) model
• 3DSS cosmetic gate — for true-PiP optical scopes, suppresses the 3DSS flat-scope parallax-
  shadow crescent / blackout, chromatism, and NVG blur at the source (thermals and see-through optics
  keep their stock look)
• Lens cosmetics — edge chromatic aberration, barrel distortion, exit-pupil dimming, radial
  chromatic fringing, radial vignette, procedural dirty-glass grunge + edge rim, and a field-curvature
  edge ring blur, all gated and tunable, with an in-game tuner page
• SVP performance — frustum culling and magnification-aware small-object culling of the scope
  geometry, adaptive scope resolution (render the scope to the on-screen lens disc), and optional
  supersample
• Per-viewport lighting, shadows, motion vectors, and skybox so the scope image is correctly lit
  and TAA-stable while panning (including a per-viewport sky-prev fix so the sky reprojects correctly
  under the scope camera)
• Recoil gate — an optional runtime gate for script-mod per-shot camera kick so the scope stays
  on the eyeline; base engine/weapon recoil is untouched
• Scope-pipeline debug visualization
• Gated DLSS-SR plumbing for the scope render (reconstruction not yet implemented)

Console Variables (default collapsed)

Console variables

The r__ cvars are registered only under DX11, so they do not exist on DX10/9/8. The g_zoom_* cvars are engine-side and apply on every renderer.

Core

cvar	type	default	purpose
r__svpscope	int [0, 2]	0	enable true PiP scope rendering (0 off, 1 eyepiece, 2 objective)

Real optics & eye-box (the physical model, master-gated by r__svp_truepip)

cvar	type	default	purpose
r__svp_truepip	float [0, 1]	0	physical eye-box master strength + 3DSS cosmetic gate (0 off = stock 3DSS shadow)
r__svp_optics_real	float [0, 1]	1.0	real per-scope eye-relief + exit-pupil from the 3DSS config (1) vs scope geometry (0)
r__svp_optics_soft	float [0.02, 0.6]	0.15	eye-box falloff width (lens-local)
r__svp_optics_gain	float [0, 5]	1.0	eye-offset sensitivity (crescent onset speed)
r__svp_optics_zoomvig	int [0, 1]	1	magnification-scaled eye-box vignette toggle
r__svp_optics_zoomvig_blend	float [0, 1]	1.0	zoom-vignette blend (0 static exit-pupil .. 1 mag-scaled)
r__svp_eyebox_relief	float [0, 1]	0	two-zone eye-relief zone strength (0 = single-zone)
r__svp_eyebox_relief_size	float [0.1, 1]	0.5	eye-relief clear-zone radius (lens-local)
r__svp_eyebox_relief_soft	float [0.02, 0.6]	0.25	eye-relief falloff softness
r__svp_eyebox_aspect	float [0.3, 3]	1.0	clear-zone ellipse stretch (1 = circular)

Lens FX (gated by r__svp_lensfx; cosmetics also active under r__svp_truepip)

cvar	type	default	purpose
r__svp_lensfx	int [0, 1]	0	enable lens FX (edge CA, barrel, exit-pupil dim, tunnel)
r__svp_lensfx_strength	float [0, 2]	1.0	lens FX overall strength
r__svp_lens_ca	float [0, 0.02]	0.0018	chromatic aberration in the ring
r__svp_lens_distort	float [0, 0.05]	0.0040	barrel distortion in the ring
r__svp_lens_floor	float [0, 1]	0.10	tunnel ring brightness floor
r__svp_lens_refmag	float [1, 16]	6.0	tunnel reference magnification (open at or below)
r__svp_lens_vigk	float [0, 4]	1.5	tunnel close rate vs magnification
r__svp_lens_blur	float [0, 0.03]	0.0040	radial edge blur amount
r__svp_lens_fringe	float [0, 1]	0	radial chromatic fringing toward the edge
r__svp_lens_vignette	float [0, 1]	0	radial vignette darkening (independent of the tunnel)
r__svp_lens_vignette_r	float [0, 1]	0.6	vignette onset radius (0 center .. 1 rim)
r__svp_glass_dirt	float [0, 1]	0	dirty-glass procedural grunge on the ocular
r__svp_glass_rim	float [0, 1]	0	soft highlight rim at the lens-glass edge
r__svp_dof	float [0, 0.10]	0.040	field-curvature edge ring blur (rim softens, center sharp)
r__svp_dof_onset	float [0, 1]	0.55	ring blur onset radius
r__svp_eyebox	float [0, 1]	0	legacy dynamic eye-box crescent (3DSS override)
r__svp_eyebox_shift	float [-25, 25]	0	legacy crescent drift gain (negative flips the side)
r__svp_lens_menu_key	int [0, 9]	0	lens FX tuner open key (PiP options dropdown index)
r__svp_stabilize	float [0, 1]	1.0	sway reduction, blends the lens toward aim (0 full sway, 1 tracks aim)

Performance

cvar	type	default	purpose
r__svp_cull	int [0, 1]	1	frustum-cull the scope geometry to the scope cone
r__svp_cull_ssa	float [0, 8]	4.0	magnification-aware small-object cull strength (0 off)
r__svp_cull_grass	int [0, 1]	1	cull grass instances to the scope cone
r__svp_lod	float [0, 1]	0	scale scope LOD selection to its pixel coverage (0 off)
r__svp_adaptive_res	float [0, 2]	1.2	size the scope render to the on-screen lens disc * margin (0 off)
r__svp_supersample	float [1, 2]	1.0	SSAA the scope image (applies on vid_restart)
r__svp_skip_motionblur	int [0, 1]	0	skip motion blur on the scope pass
r__svp_skip_ssr	int [0, 2]	1	scope reflections (0 reflective+SSR, 1 flat+SSR, 2 flat no-SSR)
r__svp_skip_volumetric	int [0, 1]	0	skip volumetric lights on the scope pass
r__svp_skip_grass	int [0, 1]	0	skip grass/details on the scope pass
r__svp_sss_sun	int [0, 1]	0	keep the SSS sun contact-shadow term on the scope (expensive)
r__svp_diag	int [0, 1]	0	scope perf diagnostics log

Recoil

cvar	type	default	purpose
r__truepip_recoil	int [0, 2]	2	gate the script recoil mod's per-shot camera kick (0 normal, 1 off in true-PiP, 2 off always); base engine recoil untouched

Objective mode (r__svpscope 2)

cvar	type	default	purpose
r__svp_obj_dist	float [0, 3]	1.0	objective front-distance scale (auto geomscan, fixed fallback)
r__svp_obj_size	float [0.1, 6]	0.65	objective radius = eyepiece radius * this

Reticle / DLSS scaffolding / debug / dynamic zoom

cvar	type	default	purpose
r__svp_reticle_mag	int [0, 1]	1	engine-drive the 3DSS reticle magnification so the FFP reticle scales
r__svp_dlss	int [0, 1]	0	enable the DLSS-SR scope path (currently a passthrough stub)
r__svp_render_scale	float [0.4, 1.0]	1.0	scope render-extent scale, inert until DLSS is enabled
r__scope_debug	int [0, 4]	0	scope-pipeline debug visualization
g_zoom_smooth	float [0, 60]	12	dynamic-scope zoom smoothing rate (lerp per second), 0 is instant stepped
g_zoom_analog	float [0, 200]	0	dynamic-scope analog zoom, 0 is the discrete config steps, higher gives finer steps

How it works

Double-pass / second viewport. When PiP is active the frame runs an extra scene pass for the
optic camera into a dedicated second-viewport target (TargetSVP). A hybrid frame selector routes
work between the scope pass and the main pass:

• off: legacy throttled SVP behaviour (unchanged)
• on (true_pip_on): per-pass selection driven by m_render_pass_is_svp

Lens composite. The scope target is sampled by the lens shader and composited on-screen with the
reticle, supporting smooth and analog zoom.

Real optics & cosmetic gate. With r__svp_truepip on, the eye-box is built from real geometry:
eye relief and exit pupil come from the 3DSS scope config (r__svp_optics_real), the clear zone grows
with the exit pupil and tightens with magnification, and the eye offset is the real bore-vs-aim drift.
For optical scopes it also clears the 3DSS flat-scope SETTINGS bits (parallax shadow, chromatism, NVG
blur) and strips the fisheye so the magnified image is clean, while thermals and see-through optics are
left untouched.

Per-viewport correctness. Lighting, shadows (via the shared-shadow accumulation hook), motion
vectors, and the skybox previous-frame transform are tracked per viewport. Previous-frame matrices,
foliage transforms, and the sky-prev matrix live in [2] arrays indexed by the active viewport, so the
scope image is correctly lit and stays motion-vector / TAA stable when panning.

Performance. The scope geometry is frustum-culled to the cone, and a magnification-aware small-
object cull (r__svp_cull_ssa) drops tiny distant clutter that the magnified cone can't resolve — the
SVP g-buffer is draw-call bound, so this is the main lever. Adaptive resolution sizes the scope render
to the on-screen lens disc, and supersample optionally over-renders for SSAA.

Recoil gate. r__truepip_recoil controls a small runtime gate (zzz_truepip_recoil_gate.script)
that neutralizes a script recoil mod's per-shot camera/PP/FOV kick while scoped, so the optic stays on
the eyeline. It is a runtime monkey-patch only — it edits no files, and the base Anomaly engine/weapon
recoil is untouched.

DX11-only insulation. true_pip_on is hard-forced false on DX10/9/8 and the cvars above are
not registered there, so every shared render path collapses to stock for R1/R2/R3.

DLSS-SR scaffolding (gated, eval stubbed)

All engine-side plumbing for a Streamline DLSS-SR upscale of the scope render is present behind
r__svp_dlss, with the reconstruction itself left as a documented stub for the Streamline
integration:

• scope rendered at a render-extent (g-buffer, lighting, and motion vectors scale together)
• sub-pixel jitter baked into the scope projection (placeholder Halton sequence)
• engine AA skipped under the gate so the eval receives a raw aliased and jittered image
• an atomic history-reset flag fired on the events that should reset temporal history (ADS-in, lens
  first appears, zoom-type change, target re-create)
• a POD input contract (SvpDlss.h) carrying color, depth, and motion-vector SRVs, the output
  target, matrices, jitter, and camera params, with zero sl:: / NGX dependencies
• EvalSVP_DLSS is a bilinear/copy passthrough, and replacing its body is the only remaining step

SvpDlss.h documents the open interface items (depth form, output format, exposure, colour space,
jitter convention, resource state) for whoever wires up the actual eval.

Invariants held:

• at r__svp_dlss == 0 the output and GPU work are byte-identical to the non-DLSS path for any
  r__svp_render_scale
• every touched cross-thread structure has a verified read/write thread map, and the single
  game-to-render flag is a std::atomic

Compatibility & safety

• DX11 (R4): the feature
• DX10/9/8 (R3/R2/R1): insulated, true_pip_on false, cvars unregistered, shared gates collapse to stock
• Off by default: r__svpscope 0 is stock behaviour
• Zero regression when off: verified byte-identical render at the gate

Testing

Tested on Anomaly 1.5.3 with GAMMA (3D Shader Scopes, SSS, Atmospherics):

• gate-off: no visual or performance regressions
• PiP on: scope renders the live scene with correct lighting and parallax; variable zoom, magnifier
  reticle, smooth zoom, real per-scope eye-box, and the 3DSS cosmetic gate all working
• lens cosmetics (CA, fringing, vignette, dirty-glass, ring blur) and the in-game tuner verified
• small-object cull verified clean (no popping) in open terrain and dense areas
• skybox reprojects correctly under the scope camera (no sky smear/ghosting on pan)
• DLSS gate on: scope upscales through the stub (passthrough) with no artifacts beyond expected aliasing
• full engine build green across R1 to R4 (DX11-AVX)

Known limitations

• The DLSS-SR reconstruction is not implemented, so r__svp_dlss 1 runs a passthrough stub
• The recoil gate (r__truepip_recoil) targets a script recoil mod's camera kick; with no such mod
  present it is a no-op (base engine recoil is never touched)

Attribution

The true picture-in-picture scope code was written by m22spencer. This is a port of it from the
gc64 fork that adopted it (CnRJay/xray-monolith-gc64).
The DX11 second-viewport rendering, the lens composite (draw_scope), the per-viewport history, and
the DLSS input contract all follow that implementation. The per-scope optics, cosmetic gate, lens
cosmetics, and SVP performance work were added on top.

• m22spencer: original author of the true PiP scope implementation
• gc64 (CnRJay/xray-monolith-gc64): the fork that adopted it, the source this port is taken from
• Redotix99, 3D Shader Based Scopes (3DSS): the scope lens and reticle content this builds on
• themrdemonized: the base xray-monolith engine this targets

Files changed

74 files, grouped by area

Gamedata (new)

• gamedata/scripts/zzz_extra_scope_features.script: magnification and zoom utility
• gamedata/scripts/zzz_truepip_recoil_gate.script: optional script-recoil gate
• gamedata/scripts/lens_fx_tune.script, gamedata/configs/ui/ui_lens_fx_tune.xml: in-game lens FX tuner page
• gamedata/scripts/options_modded_exes_pip.script: PiP options page
• gamedata/shaders/r3/scope_lensfx.{ps,s}: lens FX (CA, barrel, dim, eye-box, cosmetics)
• gamedata/shaders/r3/scope_{debug,depth_write,color_write,vertex,custom_depth,defines}.*: scope debug and depth/colour-write shaders

Console / cvars

• xrRender_console.cpp / .h, xrEngine/xr_ioc_cmd.cpp
• xrGame/console_registrator_script.cpp: is_svp_active() Lua binding for the recoil gate

Shared render layer (xrRender, all renderers)

• R_calculate.cpp: DX10/9/8 PiP gate
• r__dsgraph_build.cpp, r__dsgraph_render.cpp, r__dsgraph_manager.h, r__dsgraph_types.h: scope-pass routing, shared shadows, SVP cull + objective capture
• rendertarget_phase_nightvision.cpp: scope capture seam, lens composite, optics/eye-box, eval call
• dxEnvironmentRender.cpp: per-viewport skybox previous-frame transform
• R_sun.cpp, lights_render.cpp: per-viewport lighting and shadows
• R_Backend.h, R_Backend_Runtime.h, R_Backend_xform.cpp / .h: per-viewport matrices
• FTreeVisual.cpp, SkeletonCustom.h, SkeletonX.cpp, Shader.h, Blender_Recorder_StandartBinding.cpp, HW.h, dxRenderDeviceRender.cpp
• Debug/renderdoc_app.h (new), Debug/dxPixEventWrapper.h

DX11 / R4 (PiP engine)

• SvpDlss.h (new): DLSS input contract
• r4.cpp / .h, r4_R_render.cpp, r4_rendertarget.cpp / .h, r4_rendertarget_phase_combine.cpp

DX10 layer

• dx10EventWrapper.cpp / .h, dx10HW.cpp, dx10ResourceManager_Scripting.cpp, dx10SH_RT.cpp

Engine (xrEngine)

• device.cpp / .h: second viewport, matrices, atomic reset flag
• CameraManager.cpp, x_ray.cpp, bone.h
• xrEngine.vcxproj: /LTCG:INCREMENTAL on the WPO configs

Core (xrCore)

• _matrix.h, Xr_ini.cpp, xr_ini.h

Game (xrGame)

• Actor.cpp / .h, ActorInput.cpp, Level.cpp, Weapon.cpp / .h, WeaponAK74.cpp

Build

• .gitignore

[TheLostInPlace]

Temporarily putting the PR on draft while I investigate an edge case of scopes not rendering their PiP viewport onto the eyepiece properly on (1) weapon that I have found so far, I thought I fixed the error for all weapons ;-;

[TheLostInPlace]

Alright that was a quick investigation, turns out that weapon had an improperly positioned eyepiece mesh resulting in the PiP drawing incorrectly

For issues with PiP:

1. Open the console and type r__scope_debug 4
2. Take a screenshot of the weapon + scope while unaimed + aimed
3. Post screenshot

In general, you want the blue line to go through the scope, with the upvector lines properly pointing up, and the eyepiece detection circle on the eyepiece

Screenshot of what it should look like:

[TheLostInPlace]

Here's a download link to the current MT build of the PiP exes with the db0 and PDB.

Keep in mind this was tested with the following primary stack on GAMMA:

• 3DSS GAMMA 4.17
• ARC Disabled
• Mark Switch Disabled
• Thick Russian Reticles Disabled

Installation is similar to how you would install the current exes, so re-pasting it here:

Installation

First, follow the start guide below
Drag and drop the folders in the zip (bin and db) into your anomaly folder

Start Guide

Delete everything in db/mods folders
Delete everything in gamedata/configs folder except localization.ltx, axr_options.ltx and cache_dbg.ltx files
Delete these folders if you have them:
    gamedata/materials
    gamedata/scripts
    gamedata/shaders

[TheLostInPlace]

Updated Preview Build

Let me know if there are any issues with this (pop in, LOD issues, etc)

[TheLostInPlace]

I'm at a point where this isn't much more to port over/fix/adjust as far as I am aware with my testing, so the PR is "complete" for now so to speak. I know you mentioned that you won't merge anything render related till SSS24, so just wanted to let you know the state of the PR

Edit: Swallowed my words after doing some testing with Ascii on SSS24 + PiP

[TheLostInPlace]

RC-1 Build for testing: RC1

[TheLostInPlace]

There have been some pretty significant changes that require a 3DSS Patch I made to make certain things work properly, so I would not merge/review until I change the PR from draft to review.

Progress tracker: https://discord.com/channels/912320241713958912/1521006040550867044

The state of the non-mt port is also on hold for now, wrangling the MT branch is taxing enough as is for now.

[TheLostInPlace]

Closing in favor of #615