Bad Company 2 Anti Aliasing Windows 7

[ixelion]

I researched this topic a bit but haven't been able to find any satisfying answers:

I have heard that there are limitations to how AA is applied in Bad Company 2. I am aware that it doesn't apply to foliage, but I am wondering if it is limited in any other way or if it works just like any other AA effect in any other game.

If someone can provide some screens, preferably with no AA and with 8xaa that would resolve any apprehension I have about installing Windows 7 (there are other reason why I want to upgrade but this is the only pressing one.)

Currently the aliasing in Windows XP is quite bad I am accustomed to using at least 4xaa in all my games, my system can handle it easily (4890, E8400)

 

[EvilComputer92]

The AA makes no difference in this game. I have it installed on 7 and the only thing that gets anti aliased is your gun and a few objects that are close. Everything in the distance still has jaggies going everywhere. It doesn't apply to buildings, foilage, or any kind of 2D object in the distance, which bad company 2 uses tons of since it's a console port.

Unless you have a GTX 480, which has a method of AA that works around this limitation, then don't bother.

It's probably the worst AA I've ever seen in a game. In screenshots it doesn't look so bad but when actually playing it looks terrible since you can really notice the jaggies when you character moves.

 

[Cheesetogo]

GTA IV is a pretty good contender IMO. Stupid designs...

 

[zerocool84]

The AA makes no difference in this game. I have it installed on 7 and the only thing that gets anti aliased is your gun and a few objects that are close. Everything in the distance still has jaggies going everywhere. It doesn't apply to buildings, foilage, or any kind of 2D object in the distance, which bad company 2 uses tons of since it's a console port.

Unless you have a GTX 480, which has a method of AA that works around this limitation, then don't bother.

It's probably the worst AA I've ever seen in a game. In screenshots it doesn't look so bad but when actually playing it looks terrible since you can really notice the jaggies when you character moves.

Have you tried 8xAA? It's the only one that I've seen make a difference. 2x and 4x were barely noticeable then when I went 8x it made a huge difference in everything except foliage but I got too much slowdown for my liking so I have it at 4x.

Oh and op, BC2 doesn't support AA in DX9 since you said you're using Win XP so you can't use and AA anyways.

 

[ixelion]

I guess I shouldn't expect 60+ FPS with 8xAA? I get that currently but with bloom and HSAO turned off.

I already own a copy of Win7 I just don't want to go through the hassle of backing up data etc unless I know if 8xAA is gonna be good. I guess I should just suck it up and do it.

Any one playing this game with 8xAA, is aliasing noticeable better?

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I personally think that 8xAA is much better than no AA in BC2.

 

[Ichigo]

I guess I shouldn't expect 60+ FPS with 8xAA? I get that currently but with bloom and HSAO turned off.

I already own a copy of Win7 I just don't want to go through the hassle of backing up data etc unless I know if 8xAA is gonna be good. I guess I should just suck it up and do it.

Any one playing this game with 8xAA, is aliasing noticeable better?

No you won't. You're also not getting 8xAA on Windows XP since BFBCS does not (as mentioned above) support AA for DX9.

 

[JAG87]

16x CSAA combined with dx11 does a pretty good job of removing most aliasing.

You don't realize but a lot of aliasing comes from shadowing in this game, and dx11 helps a lot.

What is left is transparency aliasing, which you can address now, but the performance hit is huge because nvidia applies FSAA instead.

And all is left is shader aliasing which your stuck with unless you do FSAA, if you can afford it.

And OP why the hell are you running XP... even if you don't have a dx11 card, why the hell are you running XP. I am disappoint.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

16x CSAA combined with dx11 does a pretty good job of removing most aliasing.

You don't realize but a lot of aliasing comes from shadowing in this game, and dx11 helps a lot.

What is left is transparency aliasing, which you can address now, but the performance hit is huge because nvidia applies FSAA instead.

And all is left is shader aliasing which your stuck with unless you do FSAA, if you can afford it.

And OP why the hell are you running XP... even if you don't have a dx11 card, why the hell are you running XP. I am disappoint.

What's wrong with XP?

 

[zerocool84]

What's wrong with XP?

Buying expensive state of the art hardware and using it on an ancient OS is retarded. W7 is faster, more secure, and better looking than XP and lets you take advantage of the latest Direct X version but looks like you and the OP would need new video cards anyways.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Buying expensive state of the art hardware and using it on an ancient OS is retarded. W7 is faster, more secure, and better looking than XP and lets you take advantage of the latest Direct X version but looks like you and the OP would need new video cards anyways.

I repeatedly hear its faster and more secure, but I have not noticed any meaningful difference in those 2 areas. I guess it would allow the use of DX10 and DX11 if you are into that, but so far I have not cared about the improvements offered by DX10. If its there and I can take advantage of it, I will, otherwise no loss. DX11 seems more promising but it does not matter at the moment. When it does, I will get a DX11 compliant card and then we'll see if switching completely over to Windows 7 is not pointless.

The biggest improvement over xp for me is vsync in flash videos.

 

[JAG87]

I repeatedly hear its faster and more secure, but I have not noticed any meaningful difference in those 2 areas. I guess it would allow the use of DX10 and DX11 if you are into that, but so far I have not cared about the improvements offered by DX10. If its there and I can take advantage of it, I will, otherwise no loss. DX11 seems more promising but it does not matter at the moment. When it does, I will get a DX11 compliant card and then we'll see if switching completely over to Windows 7 is not pointless.

The biggest improvement over xp for me is vsync in flash videos.

The thought alone that it takes an insane effort to install xp without using a CD, whereas 7 installs off usb mass storage by simply copying the contents of the iso, makes me want to puke.

And what else... proper 64bit support, TRIM, DX11, DXVA2, no fugly kmixer, and on and on and on. Saying that you have no reason to use 7 over XP is like saying you have no reason to use a Benz over a tricycle.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Saying that you have no reason to use 7 over XP is like saying you have no reason to use a Benz over a tricycle.

That's a little over the top. XP is at least a Chevy...

 

[VashHT]

What's wrong with XP?

With BC2 at least you can't use AA in XP (as someone else already said b4 you posted this), so there's a reason right there.

 

[ixelion]

Well I installed Win7, and I have to say that 8xaa looks great, and with some tweaking runs very smooth. Yes there are still some things aliased, but compared to none at all it's infinitely better.

As for performance, they are the same not much diff, I did have to install Cat 10.4a, which has a crappy interface but it works.

 

[EvilComputer92]

16x CSAA combined with dx11 does a pretty good job of removing most aliasing.

You don't realize but a lot of aliasing comes from shadowing in this game, and dx11 helps a lot.

What is left is transparency aliasing, which you can address now, but the performance hit is huge because nvidia applies FSAA instead.

And all is left is shader aliasing which your stuck with unless you do FSAA, if you can afford it.

And OP why the hell are you running XP... even if you don't have a dx11 card, why the hell are you running XP. I am disappoint.

Would you mind posting screenshots. I want to see what your AA looks like. At 4xAA there seems to be no difference at all.

 

[digitaldurandal]

I repeatedly hear its faster and more secure, but I have not noticed any meaningful difference in those 2 areas. I guess it would allow the use of DX10 and DX11 if you are into that, but so far I have not cared about the improvements offered by DX10. If its there and I can take advantage of it, I will, otherwise no loss. DX11 seems more promising but it does not matter at the moment. When it does, I will get a DX11 compliant card and then we'll see if switching completely over to Windows 7 is not pointless.

The biggest improvement over xp for me is vsync in flash videos.

With a gt250 there is not much point in switching for you.

Personally I do like XP, but I have heard the 64bit version is a little wonky sometimes. I assume you use that version since you have so much RAM.

 

[zerocool84]

Would you mind posting screenshots. I want to see what your AA looks like. At 4xAA there seems to be no difference at all.

For me, 4xAA isn't that noticeable at all and. There's hardly anything that it applies AA to. 8xAA was a huge difference.

 

[ixelion]

Resurrecting this thread because I recently discovered that under Windows 7 you can force AA via drivers in DX9 mode, this way you get the performance of DX9 with anti aliasing, furthermore I think driver side AA looks better than the in-game, and isn't limited in the same way as the in game AA, I haven't actually done an image comparison though.

 

[Worthington]

Unless you have a GTX 480, which has a method of AA that works around this limitation, then don't bother.

Are you referring to the 32xCSAA setting, or something different? Out of curiosity.