TXAA Anti-Aliasing Makes Its Debut In Latest Update For The Secret World

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f1sherman

Platinum Member
Apr 5, 2011
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Did you watch the video? In the moving video, it's blurry. Think about it, if you apply TXAA, and you blur 1 frame ---> 1,000 frames moving together are 1,000 blurry frames. The marketing department can spin it all they want, the blurring is there and the colours are washed out until there is a video that disproves it. This is the same thing we heard from both camps regarding MLAA/FXAA. Both of those ended up far inferior in motion to classical MSAA and especially SSAA. TXAA looks like it is basically Temporal FXAA. If anti-aliasing blurs the image you are looking at, the added benefit of anti-aliasing is defeated. Why do people buy 2560x1440/1600 screens and IPS monitors? I presume to get more accurate colours and more detail due to higher resolution. By applying these AA methods, the textures wash out and blacks get less deep.



This is getting silly already...

For the 3rd time:
TXAA is not postprocessing AA.

If it was, it could be shader injected, and there would be no need for game to support it.
And stop saying FXAA/TXAA are being pushed onto us. No one prevents you from using old MSAA.

Games are not still screenshots. Pixel-crawling is by far the most annoying aliasing component.
If you don't agree with this, you are free to use MSAA.

Plus you get the bonus of shader and transparency aliasing :)
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
0
How about everyone arguing about it just buy the game and see for themselves instead of the sideline arguing? I don't think the game is the best candidate for better AA, I mean I never thought to myself "gee this game could use better AA" whereas I always think that when I'm playing crysis or crysis WH.

Anyway, its a fun game and its still not working. Will report back when it does.
 

boxleitnerb

Platinum Member
Nov 1, 2011
2,605
6
81
f1sherman,
the problem with FXAA/TXAA etc. is, that in many games where those are used, the developers forgo the traditional MSAA implementation. If FXAA/TXAA did not exist, we would have MSAA in more titles, I'm sure.
 

Anarchist420

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2010
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Never understood why it was necessary to go past old fashioned 4x RGSS. Multi sampling was unnecessary, 8x fixed sample pattern is unnecessary, ordered grid super sampling isnt good for most edges, FXAA sucks, and cSAa is stupid. 24x Edge detect was decent but not as nice as 4x RGSS. The only use I see for msaa is like to have greater quality than 2x RGSS and better performance than 4x RGSS... That is, combine 2x RGms and 2x RGSS the other way.

All of that said, I don t think that the first method used on consumer GPUs will ever be beat in terms of IQ.
 

PrincessFrosty

Platinum Member
Feb 13, 2008
2,300
68
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www.frostyhacks.blogspot.com
Blurry mess, it's a complete waste of time to render graphics in HD with high levels of texture filtering in place, only to blur the crap out of it afterwards.

Definite step towards making PC games look like lower quality console games, that's the exact feel this has.
 

f1sherman

Platinum Member
Apr 5, 2011
2,243
1
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f1sherman,
the problem with FXAA/TXAA etc. is, that in many games where those are used, the developers forgo the traditional MSAA implementation. If FXAA/TXAA did not exist, we would have MSAA in more titles, I'm sure.


MSAA in defered engines is a problem by itself. There is no easy implementation or standard for it.
It either looks like $#@, or it's some form of super-sampling bringing all the perf. penalties, and you might just as well use SGSSAA.

Again I have to mention latest FXAA implementation - Max Payne 3- FXAA is superbly implemented there. No blur, color, game squashing etc. whatsoever.

I'm not blind. I can perfectly well see blur on that NV video, but it's an early implementation (or demo judging by TSW owners) plus its 640p or close to it.

But you can allways make tradeoff like here <-- see? FXAA, but no blur or texture washing :eek:

How about everyone arguing about it just buy the game and see for themselves instead of the sideline arguing?

Really? Should I buy Ferrari's Formula 1 before joining a racing forum?
 
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boxleitnerb

Platinum Member
Nov 1, 2011
2,605
6
81
MSAA in defered engines is a problem by itself. There is no easy implementation or standard for it.
It either looks like $#@, or it's some form of super-sampling bringing all the perf. penalties, and you might just as well use SGSSAA.

Again I have to mention latest FXAA implementation - Max Payne 3- FXAA is superbly implemented there. No blur, color, game squashing etc. whatsoever.

I'm not blind. I can perfectly well see blur on that NV video, but it's an early implementation (or demo judging by TSW owners) plus its 640p or close to it.

But you can allways make tradeoff like here <-- see? FXAA, but no blur or texture washing :eek:

If you look closely, you can see a light blur with FXAA in your Skyrim screenshot. Problem is, the blur is only so light because the antialiasing effect is weak. In motion the image would still crawl at many locations.

Here you have 8xMSAA vs. FXAA in MP3:
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038795585&postcount=52

There is definitely some blurring with the latest FXAA, look at the bright area above the right plant. FXAA isn't perfect either. TXAA apparently has taken that a step further: More aggressive smoothing but even more blurring in order to achieve that. Both are unsuitable in my opinion.

IF, and only IF MSAA is still present in those games where FXAA/TXAA etc. are used, fine by me. But this is often not the case, see Secret World.
 
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Grooveriding

Diamond Member
Dec 25, 2008
9,147
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Looking at the vids TXAA is still a post-AA blurfest IQ reduction vs using true MSAA. This was expected though, you could see the blur with TXAA even back when there was nothing but the tech demo available. :thumbsdown:

Will continue to run MSAA, SSAA, SGSSAA personally. It's looking like post-AA will never improve IQ over those, rather, make it worse.
 

Grooveriding

Diamond Member
Dec 25, 2008
9,147
1,330
126
This is getting silly already...

For the 3rd time:
TXAA is not postprocessing AA.

If it was, it could be shader injected, and there would be no need for game to support it.
And stop saying FXAA/TXAA are being pushed onto us. No one prevents you from using old MSAA.

Games are not still screenshots. Pixel-crawling is by far the most annoying aliasing component.
If you don't agree with this, you are free to use MSAA.

Plus you get the bonus of shader and transparency aliasing :)

TXAA is a mix of post-AA and MSAA. I am lazy, but there is a youtube video of nvidia demonstrating it, and that is exactly how they describe. I don't see the point it in it. It's still blurry, so why bother. With modern GPU horsepower, the standard MSAA is far superior in IQ and not costly performance wise in most every game.
 

f1sherman

Platinum Member
Apr 5, 2011
2,243
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There is definitely some blurring with the latest FXAA, look at the bright area above the right plant.

Wow...

You really do feel FXAA VERY HIGH ripped you off for some details above the right plant?

Very high btw...

PS
Were you involved in that DX10/11 LOD exposing petition?
The smart thing to do would be ask NV for proper SGSAA, not LOD, but hey ... :)
 
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boxleitnerb

Platinum Member
Nov 1, 2011
2,605
6
81
So? I was just pointing out that FXAA, even matured, has its shortcomings as well. If you don't care about the loss of sharpness, good for you. Doesn't mean that others feel the same :)
 

HurleyBird

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2003
2,818
1,553
136
TXAA is a mix of post-AA and MSAA. I am lazy, but there is a youtube video of nvidia demonstrating it, and that is exactly how they describe.

Exactly this. It's not only a post-process effect, but it's not not post-process AA. You can't blame people for using the most readily available and correct terminology in the absence of something better.
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
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TXAA is working as of RIGHT NOW. Testing, the framerate drop is signifigant - using 680 sli at 2560x1440.. Framerates maxed out in the 30s.

Game becomes a slide show during heavy combat, TXAA is applied to all of the spell effects. I mean, extreme choppiness. Ugh.
 
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f1sherman

Platinum Member
Apr 5, 2011
2,243
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from The man himself:

If you try it in game, and don't like it, great. TXAA wasn't designed to replace all other forms of AA, but rather provide an smoother option which had not been there before.

@blackened23 pics please :)
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
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http://chattypics.com/files/TheSecretWorldDX11_2012_08_07__elv8wzbfxm.jpg
http://chattypics.com/files/TheSecretWorldDX11_2012_08_07__z7fm5upgjs.jpg
http://chattypics.com/files/TheSecretWorldDX11_2012_08_07__h1wji611ys.jpg


TheSecretWorldDX11_2012_08_07__elv8wzbfxm.jpg

TheSecretWorldDX11_2012_08_07__z7fm5upgjs.jpg

TheSecretWorldDX11_2012_08_07__h1wji611ys.jpg
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
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Its definitely more blurry, not sure if i'm going to use it because the framerate drop during heavy combat is signifigant
 

boxleitnerb

Platinum Member
Nov 1, 2011
2,605
6
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I have to correct myself:
As TXAA is built on MSAA, it is (hopefully) likely that MSAA will still be available in those games. Question is: How widespread will TXAA be, given that it is proprietary?
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
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I have to correct myself:
As TXAA is built on MSAA, it is (hopefully) likely that MSAA will still be available in those games. Question is: How widespread will TXAA be, given that it is proprietary?

I Dunno, seems like a hard sell to me because the difference so far doesn't seem to be mind blowing and the framerate hit is definitely there. Definitely will keep using FXAA here on my end for TSW

edit: I should have posted comparisons to FXAA high. Will do that later.
 
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Gordon Freemen

Golden Member
May 24, 2012
1,068
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The Secret World developers need to worry about OPTIMIZING there game engine before they mess with some jankey ass fake form of AA LOL.
 

SirPauly

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2009
5,187
1
0
Did you watch the video? In the moving video, it's blurry. Think about it, if you apply TXAA, and you blur 1 frame ---> 1,000 frames moving together are 1,000 blurry frames. The marketing department can spin it all they want, the blurring is there and the colours are washed out until there is a video that disproves it. This is the same thing we heard from both camps regarding MLAA/FXAA. Both of those ended up far inferior in motion to classical MSAA and especially SSAA. TXAA looks like it is basically Temporal FXAA. If anti-aliasing blurs the image you are looking at, the added benefit of anti-aliasing is defeated. Why do people buy 2560x1440/1600 screens and IPS monitors? I presume to get more accurate colours and more detail due to higher resolution. By applying these AA methods, the textures wash out and blacks get less deep. All it takes is to fire up BF3 to see how awful FXAA is sometimes. If TXAA doesn't fix the blur in motion, it's not moving forward.

Concentrated on how it addressed the anti-aliasing with-in a moving environment.
 
Feb 19, 2009
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MSAA in defered engines is a problem by itself. There is no easy implementation or standard for it.

DX11 compute can render MSAA in deferred engines, completely effective without the blur. Already done, its up the game devs to use it. Which some have, ie. Dirt Showdown and all the upcoming games based on the EGO engine.
 

SirPauly

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2009
5,187
1
0
TXAA is working as of RIGHT NOW. Testing, the framerate drop is signifigant - using 680 sli at 2560x1440.. Framerates maxed out in the 30s.

Game becomes a slide show during heavy combat, TXAA is applied to all of the spell effects. I mean, extreme choppiness. Ugh.

Doesn't enable for me.
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
0
Doesn't enable for me.

It didn't work for me until I exited the game, and reopened the launcher. It spent a brief second patching and then it worked ingame. Also you can try the "repair broken data" option in the launcher if that doesn't help
 
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blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
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What the hell? I just launched the game again and the option is greyed out AGAIN when it was working a while ago. WTH?

edit: It seems to work but ONLY when you're in game playing. If you set it from the title screen the option is greyed out.