AA/AF, how to set them w/ 9800Pro256MB?

[SkaarjMaster]

OK, I finally decided to get with the program and start setting these things (anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering). Check sig for specs on the Dragonslayer system. Right now I'm using the 3.9 catalyst drivers, but will be switching to the 4.7s soon. I haven't bought Doom3 yet and probably won't for a couple of months. The main games I'm concerned about are UT2004, UT2003, UT, Unreal2, UnrealXMP, Quake]|[ Arena and Postal2 as those are pretty much the only ones I have installed right now; of course, Doom3 in a couple of months.

I noticed Rage3DTweak in ControlPanel/Display/Settings/Advanced area and here are my AA/AF settings right now (I did change some other settings to Quality as opposed to performance):

DIRECT3D
- # of samples (FSAA) >> 2
- Anisotropic Filtering >> By Application
- Anisotropic Mode >> Quality
- FSAA Mode >> Quality: App. Pref.

OPENGL
- # of samples (FSAA) >> Disabled
- Anisotropic Filtering >> By Application
- Anisotropic Mode >> Quality
- FSAA Mode >> Quality

Also, are there any other settings I need to worry about that need to be changed from the default values? I'm new to messing with AA and AF and would like to set them to 2X AA and 4X AF for a while and see how they work, then maybe 2X/8X and maybe 4X/8X. I do know that there might be some problems forcing AF in some games though. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Gurck]

Try various settings in various games & see what you like. The object is to get what, in your opinion, is the best compromise between image quality and performance. There's no right answer. Of note though is that, from what I've read, ATI cards suffer only a slight hit in image quality if you set them to performance over quality, but have big framerate gains. I'm still playing around with it myself; I just got an ATi card.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

That's my whole question, how do I do it? Of course, I'm going to play around with the AA/AF settings, I just want to make sure I'm doing it right before I even start. Am I on the right track? Based on the info. I just gave it seems like I already have 2X AA set for D3D and that's it. Is that right?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: SkaarjMaster
That's my whole question, how do I do it? Of course, I'm going to play around with the AA/AF settings, I just want to make sure I'm doing it right before I even start. Am I on the right track? Based on the info. I just gave it seems like I already have 2X AA set for D3D and that's it. Is that right?

FIRST OF ALL, flash your card into a 9800XT - you'll get ~10% more performance just make sure you have a r360 core.

Secondly, setting AA and AF is by trial and error . . . start with NONE and check your FPS . . . then add more and more till it chokes, back off and enjoy

edit: i usually do an "application preference" in control panel and THEN custom set AA/AF and all the details for each game . . .

 

[Gurck]

Right-click on desktop, go to settings -> advanced, you should be able to feel your way from there. It's more about what you think looks good than framerate; you might think a lower reso with all the eye candy turned on looks better than a higher reso without it, for instance.

 

[BFG10K]

I noticed Rage3DTweak in ControlPanel/Display/Settings/Advanced

Don't use that; use ATi's control panel instead.

Also, are there any other settings I need to worry about that need to be changed from the default values?

Use the following:

16x performance AF.
Texture & mip-map detail on maximum.
Vsync & Truform off.

Use AA only if you have enough performance after using the above values.

I do know that there might be some problems forcing AF in some games though.

If you have issues in older D3D titles then toggle alternate pixel centre in the D3D control panel.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

All of that makes sense, except why does Truform need to be turned off?

Also, do I already have 2X AA set for D3D in my above settings?

And, the UT series games have INI files and I noticed only one setting that stands out that may have to be changed and that's "LevelofAnisotropy=1". After forcing AA and/or AF, do I need to change this in the INI file or something else as well or does it change automatically?

I'm switching the the 4.7 or 4.8 drivers soon, so I won't be using Rage3DTweak very long but just as a test with the 3.9s temporarily. I just installed the 4.7s on someone else's computer last night and it looks like the ATI Control Panel only comes on when you get to Advanced Settings. Does this have to be running all the time for the changes to take effect because I have his computer set up now to reboot and ATI Control Panel not coming on?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: SkaarjMaster
All of that makes sense, except why does Truform need to be turned off?

It doesn't work with most games, and is a pretty big performance drag even when it does.

Also, do I already have 2X AA set for D3D in my above settings?

YES. What else would you think the "FSAA" (Full Scene AntiAliasing) setting does?

And, the UT series games have INI files and I noticed only one setting that stands out that may have to be changed and that's "LevelofAnisotropy=1". After forcing AA and/or AF, do I need to change this in the INI file or something else as well or does it change automatically?

Sorry, can't help you. However, I believe that UT2K3 and 2K4 can control AF from within the game if you set it to "Application Preference". If you force them from the drivers, you always get that level regardless of what the application tries to do.

I'm switching the the 4.7 or 4.8 drivers soon, so I won't be using Rage3DTweak very long but just as a test with the 3.9s temporarily. I just installed the 4.7s on someone else's computer last night and it looks like the ATI Control Panel only comes on when you get to Advanced Settings. Does this have to be running all the time for the changes to take effect because I have his computer set up now to reboot and ATI Control Panel not coming on?

What's "ATI Control Panel"? The changes you make under Control Panels/Displays/Settings/"Advanced..." (if that's what you're talking about) are permanent until changed.

 

[BFG10K]

All of that makes sense, except why does Truform need to be turned off?

When it does work (rare) the performance hit is large and the IQ gain is miniscule.

Also, do I already have 2X AA set for D3D in my above settings?

It appears so.

After forcing AA and/or AF, do I need to change this in the INI file or something else as well

No, if you don't use "applicationm preference" in the driver it'll always override the game.

Does this have to be running all the time for the changes to take effect because I have his computer set up now to reboot and ATI Control Panel not coming on?

The control panel only provide access to the settings. If you really wanted to you could manually tweak the registry yourself and not even bother with the control panel, but that's pretty clumsy.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

I believe I only have one more question before I start. I'm planning on using the 4.7 drivers. Should I turn VPU Recovery off as well?

 

[BFG10K]

It doesn't really matter but I'd probably leave it on, on the off chance that it'll generate an error report that's actually useful to ATi.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

OK, I lied, two more questions:
1. If AA 2X is enabled, do the benchmarks that don't use it for default settings (3DMark2001SE, 3DMark03 and Aquamark3) turn it off before running the tests?
2. Do the game benchmarks (esp. UT2004, UT2003, UTbench, CityIntro, Q3demo) all leave it on before running their tests, so that whatever is on in AA/AF settings is used for these game tests?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: SkaarjMaster
OK, I lied, two more questions:
1. If AA 2X is enabled, do the benchmarks that don't use it for default settings (3DMark2001SE, 3DMark03 and Aquamark3) turn it off before running the tests?
2. Do the game benchmarks (esp. UT2004, UT2003, UTbench, CityIntro, Q3demo) all leave it on before running their tests, so that whatever is on in AA/AF settings is used for these game tests?

i really don't pay much attention to benchs, however, my understanding is to use "application preference" in CP when running them . . . that way you do not "force" AA/AF on apps that don't use them



of course someone else will probably come in and pick my reply to pieces . . .

:roll:

sigh

at least it's a 'bump'

 

[BFG10K]

1. If AA 2X is enabled, do the benchmarks that don't use it for default settings (3DMark2001SE, 3DMark03 and Aquamark3) turn it off before running the tests?
2. Do the game benchmarks (esp. UT2004, UT2003, UTbench, CityIntro, Q3demo) all leave it on before running their tests, so that whatever is on in AA/AF settings is used for these game tests?

If the setting in the driver is set to "application preference" then games will dictate how it works, otherwise the driver setting dictates how it works.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

It makes logical sense that the benchmark programs would work the same way as they are applications (as are the game benchmarks). I'm guessing that if the settings are forced, they will stay set in ALL applications no matter what. Is this the case?

If this is the case, it brings up an interesting scenario in that why pay for 3dMark03 to change the default settings when you can do it yourself for AA and AF at least?

 

[SkaarjMaster]

"However, I believe that UT2K3 and 2K4 can control AF from within the game if you set it to "Application Preference"

That's what that LevelofAnisotropy=1 line is in the UT200X.ini file then. I didn't see anything related to AA though. Thanks, this confirms my suspicions about UT2003/UT2004.

I just realized that I may not have D3D FSAA set to 2. The FSAA mode is set to Quality: Application Preference and the # of samples is set to 2, but I can't change it. Once again, these are for the 3.9 drivers. Am I correct in my assumption?

 

[BFG10K]

I'm guessing that if the settings are forced, they will stay set in ALL applications no matter what. Is this the case?

Yes, except in 16 bit mode where FSAA will not be forced.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

Looks like I was correct and that FSAA Quality has to On and not App. Pref. Anyway, I ran a bunch of benchmarks today with the 3.9 drivers with the two 3DMark tests and Aquamark3. With various settings of AA/AF for 3DMark03 and Aquamark3, it looks like all the numbers are in order but with 3DMark2001SE they are different. Is this normal? Check the below order, the settings on top have the highest benchmark values (ok, so I'll give the values also not just the order):

3DMark2001SE:
1024x768, Default, 18675
1280x1024, no AA, no AF, 15811
1280x1024, 2XAA, 13545
1280x1024, 4XAF, 12956
1280x1024, 8XAF, 12311
1280x1024, 2XAA, 4XAF, 11451
1280x1024, 2XAA, 8XAF, 10903
1280x1024, 4XAA, 8XAF, 9329

3DMark03 (resolutions all 1024x768 default because they can't be changed in free version):
no AA, no AF, 5824
4XAF, 5003
8XAF, 4692
2XAA, 4680
2XAA, 4XAF, 4052
2XAA, 8XAF, 3817
4XAA, 8XAF, 2924

Aquamark3 (resolutions all 800x600 default, they can't be changed in free version):
no AA, no AF, 44385
4XAF, 42365
8XAF, 40111
2XAA, 39475
2XAA, 4XAF, 38361
2XAA, 8XAF, 36187
4XAA, 8XAF, 34043

It's strange that the 2XAA score is higher than the 4XAF and 8XAF scores in 3DMark2001SE, but lower in 3DMark03 and Aquamark3. Does this have something to do with DX9 or did I do something wrong when I ran the tests?