RealDust is a graphics and visual effects overlay utility bundle which brings both minor and major alterations to a supported game.

Originally designed for Project Reality, RealDust has been ported to other games ever since with this release being for ArmA 3.

In ArmA 3, RealDust aims to act as an enhancer as for gameplay so for other uses but is primarily designed to serve as a tool for cinematic output, ie screenshots, artwork uploads and videos hence why it comes in several variants, more info bellow.

RealDust Features:

- Color balancing utilizing advanced filters such as Reinhard, Technicolor, color bloom and others.
- Enhancer filters that sharpen textures, apply chromatic abberation, color illumination and more.
- Custom input entries such as LUT and overlay textures specifically designed for ported games thus providing flares and other visual effects. ArmA 3 port version uses only basic setting (for now)
- Finetuned consumption, which does not cost too many frames to run (more info bellow)
- Shadow and light cap filters making shadows in buildings or in shaded areas darker and outside light brighter.
- RealDust extends color range by either creating matching neighbour color where there is none or amplyfing a subtle color that is not visible with naked eye.
- And more.

RealDust PRO additionally adds:

- Depth of Field based Bokeh effect which is fully compatible with Splendid Camera and uses autofocus for both objects in the distance and at close range.
- SSAO+ which combined with HBAO in game further enhances color distribution on objects.
- RDHDR (RealDust High Dynamic Range) which emulates HDR effect (currently unavailable as it is WIP)

But that is not all, RealDust for A3 comes with RealDust HELMETCAM variant which aims to emulate older helmetcam models and realistic footage of one being worn in combat. This preset is only for cinematic experience and content and is not meant for gameplay.

Vanilla ArmA 3 screenshot VS RealDust PRO for ArmA 3 screenshot

*Click on desired image to see full size, please note that due to 2mb size limit images are still small in comparison, you can find full HD renders in RealDust for A3 archive.
**RealDust standard is similar but much sharper without the Bokeh DOF and SSAO+

Altis
Altis
Malden
Malden
Malden
Takistan
Takistan
Bystrica
Bystrica



RealDust HELMETCAM

Low Spec PC: From 10 to 25 FPS cost
Average Spec PC: From 5 to 10 FPS cost
Gamer Setup PC (medium and higher): 1-2 FPS cost


Low Spec PC: NOT RECOMMENDED, you may end up with bellow 5 frames or damage your hardware. DO NOT USE.
Average Spec PC: From 15 to 20 FPS cost
Gamer PC: From 5 to 10 FPS cost (depends heavily on your GPU)

*Same cost stats apply to RealDust HELMETCAM


+128 MB of VRAM
+300 MB of RAM
+20-30 MB storage space and any additional if you want to store screenshots.

Supported resolution is 1920x1080, anything lower or higher will also work but is not fully supported and may provide varying results.


- Quad processor with at least 4ghz clock speed per core.
- 10 GB of ram (for A3 maxed out settings + your OS)
- Gamer GPU with 2gb DDR5 VRAM or better yet 4gb or more
- Enough storage space to record videos and take screenshots :)


RealDust has been tested in multiplayer and works properly without any issues, you can join any server without any file dependencies. That said however there are times when BattlEye may block your game from launching giving an error and reporting dxgi or d3d9 dll files as blocked, this is very rare but it may happen, to fix this simply restart your computer and try again. Please note that RealDust was designed primarily for singleplayer and artwork and as such does not provide a guarantee for online multiplayer use, use RealDust online on your own risk.

To download RealDust port bundle for ArmA 3 use this link:

Replace DOT with . in the link bellow

yadi DOT sk/d/vnu6xmqe3NAJWR

OR download the entire RealDust bundle from here - http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f10-pr-bf2-general-discussion/142224-real-dust-graphics-mod-project-reality-a2.html


To install the mod do the following:
1. Download the archive from link above.
2. Extract files from the archive.
3. Open extracted files archive and in there you should find a folder called RealDust ReShade for A3, open it
4. Once in this folder, select all of these files and copy them.
5. Navigate to where you've installed ArmA 3 and place the files in there.

If your game is running in 64bit mode then RealDust is ready to run. If not, you will have to apply a proper plug dll as instructed bellow.

In plugs folder you can find 2 dll files, d3d9 is the one you should use for 32bit systems and dxgi is the dll you should use for 64bit systems. To apply these simply copy the required file to where you installed RealDust.


To activate cinematic version of RealDust for A3 called PRO, all you have to do is install RealDust ReShade for A3 and then copy the MasterEffects file from PRO folder to where you installed RealDust thus overwriting the existing file.

OR You can use switches with basic version. One you have RealDust installed in A3 as per instructions above all you have to do is open MasterEffects.h file in A3 directory with Notepad or similar text editor and switch parameters bellow:

To enable Bokeh DOF
To enable SSAO+

Save the edited MasterEffects.h file to apply effects. To disable Bokeh DOF and SSAO+ simply switch 1s to 0s in given fields.

*You can switch these filters live while you're playing. RealDust for A3 is compatible with SWITCHBOX from RealDust BUNDLE which you can find in original RealDust BUNDLE thread linked in credits page. RealDust BUNDLE is a collection of RealDust versions ported for select games and in addition contains additional global filters which you can also apply to ArmA 3 but be aware that these are not tested with A3.


ScrollLock - Activates/Deactivates mod in-game.
PrintScreen - Takes a screenshot (no sound or popup) Screens are autosaved in installed (A3) folder.

You can also change default activation/deactivation key by using instructions bellow.
*Method tested by Cpl. Kerry who helped remind me that you can actually change default keys which I totally forgot is possible.

To change the key do the following:
1. Open the A3 directory and find ReShade.FX file then open it with a text editor such as Notepad
2. Find the code line from bellow
3. Replace MASTEREFFECT_TOGGLEKEY with a keycode from this link for the keybind you want to use - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd375731(v=vs.85).aspx
4. Your code should now look something like this
5. Save the edited ReShade.FX with Notepad via File>Save
6. Run your game with RealDust, your newly assigned key will now work instead of default ScrollLock

You may use this preset for personal and non-comercial use only. You may edit and redistribute it, but please credit original authors. New textures with RD abbreviation were designed by me, you may use them unaltered for personal, non-commercial use only.

UPDATES (RealDust BUNDLE, for A3 port updates subscribe to this guide): http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f10-pr-bf2-general-discussion/142224-real-dust-graphics-mod-project-reality-a2.html (Original RealDust BUNDLE is where you can find SWITCHBOX and instructions of its use)

RealDust was based on GEM 0.52 preset from here - http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f10-pr-bf2-general-discussion/118973-pr-graphic-enhancement-mod.html which itself is a heavily modified version of MasterEffects Reborn which itself is a heavily modified and bundled version of older v1 ReShade released for public use. All rights are reserved to their respective authors, for full information visit ReShade.me

Known issues:

Like everything else, RealDust is not without a flaw. While it may enhance the overall cinematic experience in A3 it has several drawbacks that you should be aware of.

- RealDust tends to oversaturate very bright colors making them unatural.
- RealDust is not properly compatible with night due to the fact it uses special filters that enhance shadows thus making a dark night even darker.
- RealDust may sometimes get a frame lock (low fps) if you have low amount of GPU vram, so ensure you fulfill it's minimum required memory + what your game needs.
- RealDust can in rare occations get blocked by BattlEye during launch preventing game from starting, to fix this simply restart your computer.
- RealDust is not fully compatible with worn gadgets such as NVGs and FLIR optics, while it can in fact enhance these it may oversaturate them sometimes.

For most visual artifacts you may simply turn off RealDust while in-game by using ScrollLock key on your keyboard. If an issue persists please remove RealDust from your game as it may not be compatible with your system.


RealDust does not work on Windows 10?

In some cases, with some GPUs RealDust won't cooperate on Windows 10, that said it is not really the utility that is at fault but at how Win10 loads such libraries. RealDust uses mostly DX9 and DX11 features and does not use DX12 which is only tesselation feature that DX12 adds, however since Windows 10 comes with DX12 preinstalled your GPU drivers may force load the DX12 instead of depencencies needed for RealDust thus making RealDust not load and work at all.

There is a small temporary solution found by [Col.] |AlcaTraZ| so if you're having issues with RealDust on Win10 try the following; Apply proper plugin dll file as instructed by the original installation instructions then once done find the d3d9 OR dxgi dll file in your game directory and simply rename it to d3d11 so it ends up like d3d11.dll as a file, once done launch your game and RealDust should work now. However there is a huge drawback, your Steam overlay will not work when this method is used which means you won't be able to take Steam screenshots, you can still capture screenshots with RealDust though by simply using PrintScreen key on your keyboard. Everytime you press PrintScreen key on your keyboard a screenshot with RealDust effect will be taken and saved uncompressed to your ArmA 3 installed directory where RealDust is as well, this way you can still make cool artwork uploads.

To experience RealDust in A3 the way I have balanced it make sure to set following settings in your game.

- Generally you will want to have you game set on as high settings as possible to improve visual experience in particular for PRO shots.
- Disable motion and in-game depth of field settings as this may interfere with RealDust's own setting.
- Disable bloom in-game as RealDust has own color based bloom filter.
- Set your ambient occlusion to HBAO (best highest) if you are using RealDust PRO, this is best combination with the SSAO+ it provides as a bonus.
- Set in-game sharpness to 88.
- For cinematic screenshots/video while using RealDust PRO enable antialiasing and ATOC on grass and trees, this is important as it will remove artifacts in bokeh effects as those are directly created from in-game light sources.
- Use 1920x1080 resolution if possible.
- Do not use RealDust if your frames in game cannot exceed 25 at least without it and 20 with it, if you use RealDust with lower frames than 20 you are stressing your hardware severely.

RealDust PRO adds something that A3 vanilla doesn't have - bokeh DOF, color disipation and SSAO+, combined with A3 on Ultra you can get some incredible screenshots by just using RealDust alone, however there are times when just a screenshot is not sufficient and you may want more.

Sections bellow are dedicated to such tutorials which will teach you on how to create cool artwork uploads using RealDust and RealDust PRO and any other RealDust port for A3 that may be released in the future.

Each tutorial will contain required tools listed and step by step instructions.

In this tutorial I will show you how to make cool looking HDR-like artwork screenshots using some basic tools and skills.

- RealDust PRO installed.
- ArmA 3.
- Photoshop CS5 or CS6 (not sure about others)
- Basic knowledge in Eden editor and Photoshop.


Click the photo to see a bigger size. As you can see the photo has soft shadows and light on edges and the grass appears as if it was drawn by hand.


1. Open ArmA 3 and Eden editor. Deactivate RealDust PRO by pressing ScrollLock on your keyboard.
2. Place an object you want to take photos of, I recommend a vehicle that will not move.
3. Click on Play scenario.
4. Press Escape on your keyboard and open Splendid Camera.
5. Once in Splendid Camera mode, activate RealDust PRO by using ScrollLock on your keyboard.
6. Position your camera and apply focus of your choice, make sure that the crosshair is on the object of your choice as RealDust PRO will blur everything else (both in distance and in close range) and apply bokeh, perhaps a tutorial for this will also be available in the future. Do not move camera for remainder of setup.
7. Press Backspace on your keyboard to make sure you like this shot.
8. Press Backspace to bring Camera GUI up, now make sure that time is flowing to a maximum.
9. Change time and date to early morning.
10. Press Backspace again to remove GUI then press F12 to capture Steam screenshot OR you can use Insert to capture RealDust screenshot found in game directory.
11. Bring GUI back up, change time forward by 1-2 hours.
12. Remove GUI using backspace again and take another screenshot.
13. Repeat this proceedure until late evening in game time, generally you want at least 10 screenshots. I have used 13 for this entry.
14. Once done, close Eden and game.
15. Close game launcher, a Steam screenshot uploader will pop up, click on SHOW ON DISK button.
16. Once in there, copy screenshots you took of this scene into a new folder you will make. Important, the folder must contain ONLY these photos.
17. Open Photoshop.
18. Go to File>Scripts>Load Files into Stack
19. A new window will pop up, click on Browse and find the folder containing screenshots you previously copied, select them all and press ok. Tick the Create Smart Objects checkbox and then press OK.
20. After Photoshop completes adding your screenshots into a smart layer do the following; Go to Layer>Smart Objects>Stack Mode>Mean and let PS process the image.
21. You should now see the combined result already, if you wish so you can now Rasterize the smart layer and apply blur or other filters but the file is ready for export. To export it simply go to File>Save As and select PNG, directory and name your file.

You will then have something that looks like this:

This setting is not the only one to take, you can experiment with lights, moving objects in the background, smoke, clouds, simply put use your imagination as EVERY screen set you take will be unique.

If you like the mod bundle as well as tutorials provided in this guide please feel free to share it to your friends by using the Share button which will give you a direct link. You may also like and favorite the guide thus making it more visible for others to see.

If you make cool screenshots and artwork please make sure to post links in the comments, I am looking forward to seeing what you can achieve with RealDust!

Do you have any suggestions? Recommendations for a feature that is not in RealDust? Or perhaps a tutorial you would like to see? Please let me know and I will see what I can do for you.