OMWFX Language Reference

Overview

Shaders are written in a OpenMW specific *.omwfx format. This is a light wrapper around GLSL, so a basic understanding of GLSL should be acquired before attempting to write any shaders. Every shader must be contained within a single *.omwfx file, #include directives are currently unsupported.

By default, all shaders only guarantee support of GLSL 120 features. To target a newer GLSL version, you must specify it in the technique block properties. If the specified version is not supported on the target machine, the shader will not load.

Reserved Keywords

GLSL doesn’t support namespaces, instead reserved prefixes are used. Do not attempt to name anything starting with _ or omw, this will cause name clashes.

Builtin Samplers

GLSL Type Name Description
sampler2D[Array] omw_SamplerLastShader Color output of the last shader
sampler2D[Array] omw_SamplerLastPass Color output of the last pass
sampler2D[Array] omw_SamplerDepth Non-linear normalized depth
sampler2D[Array] omw_SamplerNormals Normalized world-space normals [0, 1]

These are included in a common header in every pass, they do not need to be re-defined. It is recommended to use the accessor functions to retrieve the sampler value. OpenMW supports multiview rendering, so these samplers will either be a sampler2D or sampler2DArray. If you want more control over how you sample textures, use the OMW_MULTIVIEW macro to determine the appropriate functions to use.

Builtin Uniforms

GLSL Type Name Description
mat4 omw.projectionMatrix The camera’s projection matrix
mat4 omw.invProjectionMatrix The inverse of the camera’s projection matrix
mat4 omw.viewMatrix The camera’s view matrix
mat4 omw.prevViewMatrix The camera’s previous frame view matrix
mat4 omw.invViewMatrix The inverse of the camera’s view matrix
vec4 omw.eyePos The camera’s eye position
vec4 omw.eyeVec The normalized camera’s eye vector
vec4 omw.fogColor The RGBA color of fog
vec4 omw.sunColor The RGBA color of sun
vec4 omw.sunPos

The normalized sun direction

When the sun is set omw.sunpos.z is negated

vec2 omw.resolution The render target’s resolution
vec2 omw.rcpResolution Reciprocal of the render target resolution
vec2 omw.fogNear The units at which the fog begins to render
float omw.fogFar The units at which the fog ends
float omw.near The camera’s near clip
float omw.far The camera’s far clip
float omw.gameHour The game hour in range [0,24)
float omw.sunVis

The sun’s visibility between [0, 1]

Influenced by types of weather

Closer to zero during overcast weathers

float omw.waterHeight

The water height of current cell

Exterior water level is always rendered at -1.0

bool omw.isWaterEnabled True if water is enabled for current cell
float omw.simulationTime The time in milliseconds since simulation began
float omw.deltaSimulationTime The change in omw.simulationTime
float omw.windSpeed The current wind speed
float omw.weatherTransition The transition factor between weathers [0, 1]
int omw.weatherID The current weather ID
int omw.nextWeatherID The next weather ID
bool omw.isUnderwater True if player is submerged underwater
bool omw.isInterior

True if player is in an interior

False for interiors that behave like exteriors

Builtin Macros

Macro Definition Description
OMW_REVERSE_Z 0 or 1

Whether a reversed depth buffer is in use.

0 Depth sampler will be in range [1, 0]

1 Depth sampler will be in range [0, 1]

OMW_RADIAL_FOG 0 or 1

Whether radial fog is in use.

0 Fog is linear

1 Fog is radial

OMW_EXPONENTIAL_FOG 0 or 1

Whether exponential fog is in use.

0 Fog is linear

1 Fog is exponential

OMW_HDR 0 or 1

Whether average scene luminance is computed every frame.

0 Average scene luminance is not computed

1 Average scene luminance is computed

OMW_NORMALS 0 or 1

Whether normals are available as a sampler in the technique.

0 Normals are not available

1 Normals are available.

OMW_MULTIVIEW 0 or 1

Whether multiview rendering is in use.

0 Multiview not in use

1 Multiview in use.

Builtin Functions

The following functions can be accessed in any fragment or vertex shader.

Function Description
float omw_GetDepth(vec2)

Returns the depth value from a sampler given a uv coordinate.

Reverses sampled value when OMW_REVERSE_Z is set.

float omw_GetEyeAdaptation()

Returns the average scene luminance in range [0, 1].

If HDR is not in use, this returns 1.0

Scene luminance is always calculated on original scene texture.

vec4 omw_GetLastShader(vec2 uv) Returns RGBA color output of the last shader
vec4 omw_GetLastPass(vec2 uv) Returns RGBA color output of the last pass
vec3 omw_GetNormals(vec2 uv)

Returns normalized worldspace normals [-1, 1]

The values in sampler are in [0, 1] but are transformed to [-1, 1]

vec3 omw_GetWorldPosFromUV(vec2 uv) Returns world position for given uv coordinate.
float omw_GetLinearDepth(vec2 uv) Returns the depth in game units for given uv coordinate.
float omw_EstimateFogCoverageFromUV(vec2 uv)

Returns a fog coverage in the range from 0.0 (no fog) and 1.0 (full fog)

Calculates an estimated fog coverage for given uv coordinate.

Special Attributes

To maintain maximum compatability with future releases, OpenMW defines specific keywords, attributes, and functions for you to use. These should be used instead of their GLSL equivalent. Refer to the table below to view these mappings.

.omwfx Description
omw_In use in place of in and varying
omw_Out use in place of out and `varying
omw_Position use in place of gl_Position
omw_Vertex use in place of gl_Vertex
omw_Fragment use in place of gl_FragData[*] and gl_FragColor
omw_Texture1D() use in place of texture1D() or texture()
omw_Texture2D() use in place of texture2D() or texture()
omw_Texture3D() use in place of texture3D() or texture()

Blocks

fragment

Declare your passes with fragment followed by a unique name. We will define the order of these passes later on. Each fragment block must contain valid GLSL. Below is a simple example of defining two passes.

fragment pass {
    void main()
    {
        omw_FragColor = vec4(1.0);
    }
}

fragment otherPass {

    omw_In vec2 omw_TexCoord;

    void main()
    {
        omw_FragColor = omw_GetLastPass(omw_TexCoord);
    }
}

vertex

For every fragment block you declare, OpenMW generates a default vertex shader if you do not define one. This is used to draw the fullscreen triangle used in postprocessing. This means you rarely need to use a custom vertex shader. Using a vertex shader can sometimes be useful when you need to do lots of complicated calculations that don’t rely on pixel location. The vertex shader only invocates on the 3 vertices of the fullscreen triangle. Below is an example of passing a value through a custom vertex shader to the fragment shader.

vertex pass {
    #if OMW_USE_BINDINGS
        omw_In vec2 omw_Vertex;
    #endif

    uniform sampler2D noiseSampler;

    omw_Out vec2 omw_TexCoord;

    // custom output from vertex shader
    omw_Out float noise;

    void main()
    {
        omw_Position = vec4(omw_Vertex.xy, 0.0, 1.0);
        omw_TexCoord = omw_Position.xy * 0.5 + 0.5;

        noise = sqrt(omw_Texture2D(noiseSampler, vec2(0.5, 0.5)).r);
    }
}

fragment pass {
    omw_In vec2 omw_TexCoord;

    // our custom output from the vertex shader is available
    omw_In float noise;

    void main()
    {
        omw_FragColor = vec4(1.0);
    }
}

technique

Exactly one technique block is required for every shader file. In this we define important traits like author, description, requirements, and flags.

Property Type Description
passes literal list , separated list of pass names
version string Shader version that shows in HUD
description string Shader description that shows in HUD
author string Shader authors that shows in HUD
glsl_Version integer GLSL version
glsl_profile string GLSL profile, like compatability
glsl_extensions literal list , separated list of required GLSL extensions
hdr boolean Whether HDR eye adaptation is required.
pass_normals boolean

Pass normals from the forward passes.

If unsupported, OMW_NORMALS will be set to 0

flags SHADER_FLAG , separated list of shader flags
dynamic boolean Whether shader is exposed to Lua

When dynamic is set to true, the shaders order cannot be manually moved, enabled, or disabled. The shaders state can only be controlled via a Lua script.

In the code snippet below, a shader is defined that requires GLSL 330, HDR capatiblities, and is only enabled underwater in exteriors.

fragment dummy {
    void main()
    {
        omw_FragColor = vec4(0.0);
    }
}

technique {
    passes = dummy;
    glsl_version = 330;
    hdr = true;
    flags = disable_interiors, disable_abovewater;
}

sampler_*

Any texture in the VFS can be loaded by a shader. All passes within the technique will have access to this texture as a sampler. OpenMW currently supports 1D, 2D, and 3D texture samplers, cubemaps can not yet be loaded.

Block
sampler_1d
sampler_2d
sampler_3d

Warning

OpenMW vertically flips all DDS textures when loading them, with the exception of 3D textures.

The properites for a sampler_* block are as following. The only required property for a texture is its source.

Property Type
source string
min_filter FILTER_MODE
mag_filter FILTER_MODE
wrap_s WRAP_MODE
wrap_t WRAP_MODE
wrap_r WRAP_MODE
compression COMPRESSION_MODE
source_format SOURCE_FORMAT
source_type SOURCE_TYPE
internal_format INTERNAL_FORMAT

In the code snippet below, a simple noise texture is loaded with nearest filtering.

sampler_2d noise {
    source = "textures/noise.png";
    mag_filter = nearest;
    min_filter = nearest;
}

To use the sampler, define the appropriately named sampler2D in any of your passes.

fragment pass {
    omw_In vec2 omw_TexCoord;

    uniform sampler2D noise;

    void main()
    {
        // ...
        vec4 noise = omw_Texture2D(noise, omw_TexCoord);
    }
}

uniform_*

It is possible to define settings for your shaders that can be adjusted by either users or a Lua script.

Block default min max static step description display_name header
uniform_bool boolean x x boolean x string string string
uniform_float float float float boolean float string string string
uniform_int integer integer integer boolean integer string string string
uniform_vec2 vec2 vec2 vec2 boolean vec2 string string string
uniform_vec3 vec3 vec3 vec3 boolean vec3 string string string
uniform_vec4 vec4 vec4 vec4 boolean vec4 string string string

The description field is used to display a toolip when viewed in the in-game HUD. The header field field can be used to organize uniforms into groups in the HUD. The display_name field can be used to create a more user friendly uniform name for display in the HUD.

If you would like a uniform to be adjustable with Lua API you must set static = false;. Doing this will also remove the uniform from the players HUD.

Below is an example of declaring a vec3 uniform.

uniform_vec3 uColor {
    default = vec3(0,1,1);
    min = vec3(0,0,0);
    max = vec3(1,1,1);
    step = vec3(0.1, 0.1, 0.1);
    description = "Color uniform";
    static = true;
    header = "Colors";
}

To use the uniform you can reference it in any pass, it should not be declared with the uniform keyword.

fragment pass {
    void main()
    {
        // ...
        vec3 color = uColor;
    }
}

You can use uniform arrays as well, but they are restricted to the Lua API scripts. These uniform blocks must be defined with the new size parameter.

uniform_vec3 uArray {
    size = 10;
}

render_target

Normally when defining passes, OpenMW will take care of setting up all of the render targets. Sometimes, this behavior is not wanted and you want a custom render target.

Property Type Description
min_filter FILTER_MODE x
mag_filter FILTER_MODE x
wrap_s WRAP_MODE x
wrap_t WRAP_MODE x
internal_format INTERNAL_FORMAT x
source_type SOURCE_TYPE x
source_format SOURCE_FORMAT x
width_ratio float Automatic width as a percentage of screen width
height_ratio float Automatic height as a percentage of screen height
width float Width in pixels
height float Height in pixels
mipmaps boolean Whether mipmaps should be generated every frame

To use the render target a pass must be assigned to it, along with any optional clear or blend modes.

In the code snippet below a rendertarget is used to draw the red channel of a scene at half resolution, then a quarter. As a restriction, only three render targets can be bound per pass with rt1, rt2, rt3, respectively.

render_target RT_Downsample {
    width_ratio = 0.5;
    height_ratio = 0.5;
    internal_format = r16f;
    source_type = float;
    source_format = red;
}

render_target RT_Downsample4 {
    width_ratio = 0.25;
    height_ratio = 0.25;
}

fragment downsample2x(target=RT_Downsample) {

    omw_In vec2 omw_TexCoord;

    void main()
    {
        omw_FragColor.r = omw_GetLastShader(omw_TexCoord).r;
    }
}

fragment downsample4x(target=RT_Downsample4, rt1=RT_Downsample) {

    omw_In vec2 omw_TexCoord;

    void main()
    {
        omw_FragColor = omw_Texture2D(RT_Downsample, omw_TexCoord);
    }
}

Now, when the downsample2x pass runs it will write to the target buffer instead of the default one assigned by the engine.

Simple Example

Let us go through a simple example in which we apply a simple desaturation filter with a user-configurable factor.

Our first step is defining our user-configurable variable. In this case all we want is a normalized value between 0 and 1 to influence the amount of desaturation to apply to the scene. Here we setup a new variable of type float, define a few basic properties, and give it a tooltip description.

uniform_float uDesaturationFactor {
    default = 0.5;
    min = 0.0;
    max = 1.0;
    step = 0.05;
    static = true;
    display_name = "Desaturation Factor";
    description = "Desaturation factor. A value of 1.0 is full grayscale.";
}

Now, we can setup our first pass. Remember a pass is just a pixel shader invocation.

fragment desaturate {
    omw_In vec2 omw_TexCoord;

    void main()
    {
        // fetch scene texture from last shader
        vec4 scene = omw_GetLastShader(omw_TexCoord);

        // desaturate RGB component
        const vec3 luminance = vec3(0.299, 0.587, 0.144);
        float gray = dot(luminance, scene.rgb);

        omw_FragColor = vec4(mix(scene.rgb, vec3(gray), uDesaturationFactor), scene.a);
    }
}

Next we can define our technique block, which is in charge of glueing together passes, setting up metadata, and setting up various flags.

technique {
    description = "Desaturates scene";
    passes = desaturate;
    version = "1.0";
    author = "Fargoth";
    passes = desaturate;
}

Putting it all together we have this simple shader.

uniform_float uDesaturationFactor {
    default = 0.5;
    min = 0.0;
    max = 1.0;
    step = 0.05;
    description = "Desaturation factor. A value of 1.0 is full grayscale.";
}

fragment desaturate {
    omw_In vec2 omw_TexCoord;

    void main()
    {
        // fetch scene texture from last shader
        vec4 scene = omw_GetLastShader(omw_TexCoord);

        // desaturate RGB component
        const vec3 luminance = vec3(0.299, 0.587, 0.144);
        float gray = dot(luminance, scene.rgb);

        omw_FragColor = vec4(mix(scene.rgb, vec3(gray), uDesaturationFactor), scene.a);
    }
}

technique {
    description = "Desaturates scene";
    passes = desaturate;
    version = "1.0";
    author = "Fargoth";
    passes = desaturate;
}

Types

SHADER_FLAG

Flag Description
disable_interiors Disable in interiors.
disable_exteriors Disable when in exteriors or interiors which behave like exteriors.
disable_underwater Disable when underwater.
disable_abovewater Disable when above water.
disable_sunglare Disables builtin sunglare.
hidden Shader does not show in the HUD. Useful for shaders driven by Lua API.

BLEND_EQ

.omwfx OpenGL
rgba_min GL_MIN
rgba_max GL_MAX
alpha_min GL_ALPHA_MIN_SGIX
alpha_max GL_ALPHA_MAX_SGIX
logic_op GL_LOGIC_OP
add GL_FUNC_ADD
subtract GL_FUNC_SUBTRACT
reverse_subtract GL_FUNC_REVERSE_SUBTRACT

BLEND_FUNC

.omwfx OpenGL
dst_alpha GL_DST_ALPHA
dst_color GL_DST_COLOR
one GL_ONE
one_minus_dst_alpha GL_ONE_MINUS_DST_ALPHA
one_minus_dst_color GL_ONE_MINUS_DST_COLOR
one_minus_src_alpha GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA
one_minus_src_color GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_COLOR
src_alpha GL_SRC_ALPHA
src_alpha_saturate GL_SRC_ALPHA_SATURATE
src_color GL_SRC_COLOR
constant_color GL_CONSTANT_COLOR
one_minus_constant_color GL_ONE_MINUS_CONSTANT_COLOR
constant_alpha GL_CONSTANT_ALPHA
one_minus_constant_alpha GL_ONE_MINUS_CONSTANT_ALPHA
zero GL_ZERO

INTERNAL_FORMAT

.omwfx OpenGL
red GL_RED
r16f GL_R16F
r32f GL_R32F
rg GL_RG
rg16f GL_RG16F
rg32f GL_RG32F
rgb GL_RGB
rgb16f GL_RGB16F
rgb32f GL_RGB32F
rgba GL_RGBA
rgba16f GL_RGBA16F
rgba32f GL_RGBA32F
depth_component16 GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT16
depth_component24 GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT24
depth_component32 GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT32
depth_component32f GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT32F

SOURCE_TYPE

.omwfx OpenGL
byte GL_BYTE
unsigned_byte GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE
short GL_SHORT
unsigned_short GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT
int GL_INT
unsigned_int GL_UNSIGNED_INT
unsigned_int_24_8 GL_UNSIGNED_INT_24_8
float GL_FLOAT
double GL_DOUBLE

SOURCE_FORMAT

.omwfx OpenGL
red GL_RED
rg GL_RG
rgb GL_RGB
bgr GL_BGR
rgba GL_RGBA
bgra GL_BGRA

FILTER_MODE

.omwfx OpenGL
linear GL_LINEAR
linear_mipmap_linear GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_LINEAR
linear_mipmap_nearest GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST
nearest GL_NEAREST
nearest_mipmap_linear GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_LINEAR
nearest_mipmap_nearest GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_NEAREST

WRAP_MODE

.omwfx OpenGL
clamp_to_edge GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE
clamp_to_border GL_CLAMP_TO_BORDER
repeat GL_REPEAT
mirror GL_MIRRORED_REPEAT

COMPRESSION_MODE

.omwfx
auto
arb
s3tc_dxt1
s3tc_dxt3
s3tc_dxt5
pvrtc_2bpp
pvrtc_4bpp
etc
etc2
rgtc1
rgtc2
s3tc_dxt1c
s3tc_dxt1a