Borderlands 2... another AAA title bites the FXAA bullet......

[Grooveriding]

So yet another AAA title is releasing without proper Anti-Aliasing. There is a screenshot of the graphical options for Borderlands 2 around and it shows only the option for crap post-AA.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1094x1200.

This is a really crappy trend in gaming and a big step backwards. Getting tired of all these titles, and they all seem to be big titles, going this route. Off the top of my head so far we recently have Diablo 3, Guild Wars 2 and now Borderlands 2 all releasing with only a Post-AA option. Lazy work on the part of these developers imo. I know there are more I'm forgetting as well.

Looks like Borderlands 2 will be another blurfest game if you use the in game AA. At least it is not a fully lazy port as there are FOV and decent mouse options.

Never mind the console ports that release with no AA whatsoever :thumbsdown:

 

[sontin]

Deferred Renderer i guess.

I don't see a problem with FXAA. Sleeping Dogs is using it, too and there is no blur.

 

[HeXen]

it'll be ok. fortunately for me, this will not hamper my enjoyment of the game in the least as i don't plan to stand around and stare at objects.

 

[wlee15]

I don't believe that the original Borderlands supported setting AA in-game (you had to force it through the control panel) so the addition of FXAA is a plus.

 

[boxleitnerb]

Custom AA-Bits will probably be the same as for Borderlands 1.

FXAA might actually be useful in that title as it has not as many high contrast details as Sleeping Dogs for example (which looks terrible in motion with FXAA).

 

[Grooveriding]

Sleeping dogs allows you to use SSAA though if you wish. It works well on AMD cards, pretty bad performance hit on nvidia though. Sad state of affairs to see Anti Aliasing going backwards.

In some games AMD & Nvidia will add in driver control panel support for MSAA. Hopefully we see that in BL2.

 

[Aikouka]

Borderlands 1 was based on the UE3 engine, which I don't believe supports AA natively. Although, I thought I heard something about nVidia getting them to add it... or something like that. Maybe someone can shed some light on my fuzzy recollection. However, the point is that I believe Borderlands 2 uses a modified version of the engine from the original Borderlands, which would explain the lack of anti-aliasing.

 

[Dkcode]

Fuck AAA titles 'most' of them are shit anyway.

I point out most as i did really enjoy Max Payne 3

 

[Qbah]

In Borderlands 1, MSAA or SSAA did very little to help IQ, while causing a noticeable performance drop. The art style of the game has thick black borders around everything and those AA options didn't do squat to help with that (at least not much). Once you enabled MLAA (I don't know about FXAA), the game looked a million times better - the pixels on those black lines were gone, completely. That alone made MLAA for me the option to use over MSAA/SSAA.

Since Borderlands 2 uses the same art style, I would think FXAA will greatly enhance this aspect, which in my mind beats any "better" AA types for it.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

yeah, Borderlands 1 didn't have any AA option in game whatsoever, so this is only an upgrade

that being said, I remember the art direction and game engine didn't exactly make AA easy or practical for BL1 (or even all that necessary)...so its not exactly surprising its not in BL2

to be honest, lack of FOV adjustment as well as a frame cap of 60fps were much much worse offenses than lack of AA option (had to "hack" your ini to get those changed, and FOV was particularly a PITA because it would break when you entered a vehicle), and I see an unlimited frame rate option AND ability to change FOV

win win win

keep QQing about AA though

 

[Silverforce11]

Can't enjoy gaming when its full of shimmering jagged edges and neither can i put up with the blurfest... so seriously these devs are being slack. At least make sharp FXAA, we know its possible with custom injectors, there's no excuse besides being bad.

 

[sandorski]

Either I'm too old or just lazy, but I don't even care if a game supports AA as long as it displays in 1080p. The Jaggies of today just don't bother me like they did at Lower Resolutions way back in the days of yore.

 

[Siberian]

FXAA is great. This propaganda against it is getting old.

 

[chimaxi83]

FXAA is great. This propaganda against it is getting old.

Your opinion concerning image quality is great, but it's not really necessary to champion something which clearly blurs an image

 

[-Slacker-]

FXAA is great. This propaganda against it is getting old.

The what? You're not one of those tin foil weirdos, are you?


Anyway, I don't think fxaa will be such a bad thing in this game - yeah, it's probably going to blur out the textures but, considering it's a quasi-cell shaded game, it probably won't make any difference, since there's not much to blur anyway.

 

[Red Hawk]

Don't see how this is a problem. Don't like, don't use. MSAA is not implemented for reasons other than the devs being lazy (as others have said, it just doesn't work for a game with a lighting system and art style like BL).

 

[tviceman]

I didn't care for Borderlands 1 all that much so I doubt I'll get BL2, but I am glad that AA doesn't make or break a game for me.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Your opinion concerning image quality is great, but it's not really necessary to champion something which clearly blurs an image

 

[ocre]

This is fantastic. Borderlands one didnt have any in game AA options and it looks like borderlands2 will have at least something.

if you dont like FXAA you dont have to use it. Maybe one could try forcing AA outside the application or just go with out it completely. But there will be many many ppl who will enjoy having an in game AA option that can be triggered hassle free.

You cant please everyone, especially the ones who are bitter and displeased with just about every single thing you do. no surprises there

 

[zebrax2]

I don't really like FXAA as well but i just have the feeling that IQ wouldn't suffer as much because it is cell shaded.

The main complaint i guess though is why FXAA the only option.

 

[Keysplayr]

Looks like the top one is using some sort of AA. I can say it does not look blurry compared to the bottom.

So, is there blurring going on with only FXAA or does all AA methods apply some extent of blur?

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Guild Wars 2 only has FXAA, Nvidia has not allowed the use of MSAA to be forced nor can LOD bias be applied at this time from what I've tried.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Honestly, the first iterations of FXAA and MLAA were horrible, but they have improved immensely recently.

Anways, FXAA or Regular AA can do nothing to break the monotony of constantly doing the same fetch quest over and over again so Borderlands 2 will still suck if it's anything like Borderlands 1.

I'm waiting for reviews.

 

[Yuriman]

I'm lucky that the pixel size of 1920x1200 on a 24" screen doesn't bother me.

As for the gw2 example, you can stand somewhere in-game and toggle FXAA and see that it does indeed cause some blurring in textures, but it isn't major.

The performance hit is next to zero making it usable even on 5 year old video cards, but the small texture quality loss is actually a bigger deal to me than the small amount of pixel crawl / shimmering at 1920, so I leave it off.

I agree intellectually that it's unfortunate that you can't get the best of both worlds in modern titles, but the IQ difference isn't large enough either way for me to take offense.

 

[MrK6]

I think the problem is that some people use poor quality TN panels; the fact that they can't immediately tell the difference between comparison screenshots speaks volumes. Even in the poor lighting conditions above meant to hide the differences, it's still obvious. When you honestly take a comparison series in adequate lighting, the differences are glaring:





The other thing to note is what did FXAA add to that picture besides blurring it? There wasn't much noticeable aliasing in the first place. FXAA is a poor man's AA and a cheap trick made to fool neophytes, it has no place in the discussion of image quality.