Question from Nvidia about StarCraft II AA.

[biostud]

Send me a copy of SCII and I can do an intensive study of the question

I like the way you think.

I'm pretty sure that's what TWIMTBP really means

 

[Skurge]

Im a bit confused Keys. So you aren't allowed to moderate a thread that you started?

Correct. That would be a clear conflict of interest.
-ViRGE

 

[Cookie Monster]

Id say AAing the HUD is a nice icying on the cake. Ive played several 1v1s and one thing ive noticed is that I rarely look at the HUD. Except maybe for general unit health and the minimap since I use alot of hotkeys.

However one thing I did notice is that once there are 200vs200 supply battles, even the GTX470 drops in performance to the 20~30 fps (with 4xAA).

 

[Seero]

Id say AAing the HUD is a nice icying on the cake. Ive played several 1v1s and one thing ive noticed is that I rarely look at the HUD. Except maybe for general unit health and the minimap since I use alot of hotkeys.

However one thing I did notice is that once there are 200vs200 supply battles, even the GTX470 drops in performance to the 20~30 fps (with 4xAA).

It doesn't have anything to do with the GPUs. There were custom maps that spawn lings until your PC dies or you quit. I grouped with multiple people on several occasions, we got the lag regardless of GPU or graphic settings. The lag is clearly a CPU lag.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Whatever is bottlenecking the game, it clearly stutters/framerate slows down once there are far too many units on the screen.

 

[ViRGE]

I have deleted roughly half the posts in this thread; both before and after my warning. Infractions will be going out shortly - you know who you are.

This is a legitimate question with real technical factors. Video is a technical forum, so this is the appropriate place to discuss it. End of story.

-ViRGE

 

[Skurge]

This might be off-topic, but in most games is AA applied to the HUD or is it a by games basis or other factors?

 

[zerocool84]

I play @ 1080 on a 23" and the game doesn't seem to need as much in-game AA as it does in the cut-scenes which need it badly. I still haven't seen any screen shots of in-game with AA and without but don't want this thread to turn into the last one.

 

[Keysplayr]

This might be off-topic, but in most games is AA applied to the HUD or is it a by games basis or other factors?

I haven't any idea. But I also think it would go unnoticed if AA was not applied to the HUD as it does not move. You won't notice crawling on a stationary object. You might see jaggies on it, but they won't crawl. For purposes of all around better looking game, I'd want AA on everything. But for the sake of better performance by sacrificing something that really doesn't have to have AA, I'd say do it. IMHO.

 

[waffleironhead]

Can't be done. To execute AA at driver level, either SSAA the whole scene, or not at all. At game level though, AA can be done on selected objects before sending them through Dx9 API. However, the API that is responsible for deferred shading allow mix of AA and non-AA objects.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Clearly if they are offering the option to be able to do it one way or another in the game then it is possible. If they are asking which way we want it, why not offer the choice?

 

[MJinZ]

Whatever is bottlenecking the game, it clearly stutters/framerate slows down once there are far too many units on the screen.

I am curious if a 4.0+ Core i7 will experience this as well

 

[zerocool84]

I am curious if a 4.0+ Core i7 will experience this as well

Here's a GPU/CPU review of the game.

http://www.techspot.com/review/305-starcraft2-performance/

 

[MJinZ]

Here's a GPU/CPU review of the game.

http://www.techspot.com/review/305-starcraft2-performance/

It looks like GTX 480 SLI and a 4ghz Core i7 is a minimum for smooth 1920x1200 Ultra forced 4xAA settings.

Beastly system for a dual core game heh.

 

[Cerb]

I haven't any idea. But I also think it would go unnoticed if AA was not applied to the HUD as it does not move. You won't notice crawling on a stationary object. You might see jaggies on it, but they won't crawl. For purposes of all around better looking game, I'd want AA on everything. But for the sake of better performance by sacrificing something that really doesn't have to have AA, I'd say do it. IMHO.

+1

Things that are stationary, in reference to monitor pixels, don't need AA. In addition, the HUD in 4xAA shots looks kind of fuzzy (still waiting, yeah...), so it could be an image quality win, as well.

 

[Seero]

The thing is, since the UI is highly customizable, it is really hard to classify what should or should not be using AA. Yes, the frame of the UI shouldn't be using AA, but what about the graphics within the UI? What if someone tries to rewrite the UI?

 

[Sylvanas]

I played last night after reading this thread and looked for any aliasing on the HUD. I had never noticed it but there is a little bit that would benefit from AA, but really I had to *look* for it. I applaud Nvidia for being ready to roll with AA from release and it goes to show the strength of their developer program no matter whose side you are on.

Keys, I gather this a question you are conveying directly from Nvidia, it's good to see involvement with customers like this. This is a hard one because I would appreciate any the extra performance to be had with not applying AA to HUD elements in the short term but in a year or so when we may have moved on to faster cards with resources to burn, its then that I'd rather have AA applied to everything. I'd suggest leaving it as is.

 

[Keysplayr]

I played last night after reading this thread and looked for any aliasing on the HUD. I had never noticed it but there is a little bit that would benefit from AA, but really I had to *look* for it. I applaud Nvidia for being ready to roll with AA from release and it goes to show the strength of their developer program no matter whose side you are on.

Keys, I gather this a question you are conveying directly from Nvidia, it's good to see involvement with customers like this. This is a hard one because I would appreciate any the extra performance to be had with not applying AA to HUD elements in the short term but in a year or so when we may have moved on to faster cards with resources to burn, its then that I'd rather have AA applied to everything. I'd suggest leaving it as is.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to be forwarding all responses so please, get your opinions in.
Keep them coming.
Keys

 

[ramj70]

I tried using AA but honestly didn't see any difference, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. That and my eyes are not as good as they used to be. I didn't notice any lag or slowdowns with it enabled.

I do however appreciate the option of trying it though, I would rather have options like that than not.

 

[Avalon]

A few guys so far from my university gaming club have responded, and the general consensus was to keep AA on the HUD.

Did get one particularly good response from a GTX 280 user running the game at 1920x1200:

"HUD AA definitely provides a nice enhancement to that[jaggies] and is noticeable, although I presume anyone with a GTX 260 or something of similar performance (category below the GTX 280) would vastly prefer an option to turn off HUD AA and to only AA the 3D (since really, that's where it matters most).

Tbh though, where they could really work on focusing their AA optimization is Zerg creep (not bad with forced AA on, but not amazing either; definitely has an impact[on performance]) and stacked units."