What's the best way to simulate surface bloom in 2k4?

[Mircea]

I've been wondering this since I tried UT3 but still decided 2k4 is the best to stay with. The most obvious graphics feature that's present in ut3 but absent in 2k4 is the bloom / glow effect. I kept wondering what be the best way would be to simulate bloom effects on a map in UT2k4 as similar as possible to the ones in UT3. Of course in UT3 we're talking a direct graphics engine bloom effect, while in 2k4 i'd have to improvise, but I'd still be interested.

An idea was volumetric lightning, but that one's been removed after ut99 and didn't make it in 2k4. The most classic method would remain the light with a corona but that's kind of too old. Particles could be a way but I'm not sure how far... while distance fog is just fog so it doesn't keep glow's place. Does anyone have any ideas about this? Is there anything similar to volumetric lightning left in 2k4 or something that could make a surface look like it glows in UT3 way?

[evilmrfrank]

I remember reading a long time ago about a way to do it through a mutator although I have never tried it myself. There is no true way to do bloom in UT2k4 but this mutator is probably the closest way to do it you will find.

http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/Legacy:Bloom

Screenshots of the effects

http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/Legacy:Bloom/Screenshots

[Mircea]

Wow... such a mutator is *exactly* what I wanted. Thanks a lot! I don't need anything more then this :) Well now... don't take it as me wanting too much now, but I did install this mutator and I'd like three more things about it if it's possible;

1 - Is there any way to make the bloom fit on the entire screen? I have it only displayed in a centered portion of the screen as it shows in the attached screenshot.

2 - Is there any way to make the text saying "Bloom Active" and "XBloom" go away?

3 - Is there any version of this mutator which isn't actually a mutator you select from the game options but rather a display property?

I never thought rendered bloom could ever be possible in 2k4 without changing the rendering engine so i never considered such a thing until I seen this. Are there other such patches too similar to this one? And why didn't Epic release such a thing for 2k4 if it is possible in the UT2 engine?

[EDIT] Well there are a few issues with it such as shadows not displaying correctlly, bloom showing through meshes and stuff... so if another patch for this is available I would love it.