NVidia Anti-Aliasing Guide (updated)

So I've just picked up LOTR War in the North again to make some progress with a buddy. The AA and AO stuff works great, but no matter what I do the shadows in the game always seem to be stuck on the lowest setting. I've tried changing every setting in the game one by one with zero luck, and looking around in various folders and locations has yielded no config file of any sort. Could somebody load up the game and see if they can get anything better than awful shadows? It seems there might be some sort of .exe crack that somehow fixes graphics settings, but I have the steam version and don't really want to download a torrent crack.

 

No idea sorry.

 

Tomb Raider Anniversary

No AA
MSAA 8x + TrSSAA 8x via 0x00000040
SGSSAA 8x via 0x000000C0

In-game's AA said to have issues with shadows rendering. Granted I haven't checked these beyond the main menu but I'll play with 0C through the whole game in the next couple of days.

Edit: Ran into issues with C0 right from the start - the starting copyright image is showing through in places during gameplay - so had to switch to 0x00000041. This one give a bit worse quality but no issues so far.

 

That stinks, but maybe somebody who owns the game and has a few minutes will see this post and try the game out to see if changing shadow options does anything for them. All my searching online has led to nothing since the game is pretty old, somewhat unpopular and almost a straight console port.

Both the "No AA" and "MSAA 8x + TrSSAA 8x" options have some annoying kind of white outline on the leaves, while the "SGSSAA 8x" options seems to diminish or eliminate the leaf outline while slightly compromising the shadow between her face and the "R". I'm curious to see how C0 works out shadow wise through the rest of the game.

 

See update, C0 as well as a couple dozen other xCx bits I've tried have image retention issues unfortunately.

Another update:

MSAA 8x + TrSSAA 8x via 0x00000041 - seems to be working just as well as 40 so it can be used for forcing both MSAA and SGSSAA.

Lara's shadow which is absent with in-game AA enabled renders correctly when using 41 bit in both MSAA and SGSSAA modes:

No AA
Game's own AA option set to 8xQ - notice the absence of Lara's shadow
MSAA 8x via 0x00000041
SGSSAA 8x via 0x00000041

 

The main reason you need "0x000000C0" for TR:Legend is because of this next generation stuff
"C0" contains an additional supersampling AA bit compared to just "40".

TR:Anniversary uses more basic rendering, and "0x00000040" should be enough for all AA modes really.
But as you said, it might be a trade-off in terms of AA quality.

 

Well, 41 is working perfectly so far, no issues.

 

You could try C5 or 81 at the end to see if the image retention changes and if it effects AA quality. Couldn't hurt to try the AA fix as well.

 

I've tried pretty much all Cx bits with no luck. Don't remember if I've tried 81. But anyway, 41 works fine.

Btw, AA Fix is needed for TR Underworld's SGSSAA bit 0x004000C0, there are some white outlines on Lara's hair without it. Can easily be spotted in the beginning of the ship level after the initial underwater part.

 

Rocket League

SGSSAA - 0x0000F0C1

Comparison shots:
No AA
2x SGSSAA

Inspector

Issues:
None, after an hour of use.

 

Want to try that with 0x000000C1 instead please? The F shouldn't be needed but it may also cause an IQ difference.

Nice to see a game that 2xSGSSAA actually looks decent with again. Most of the time it ends up being this weird blurry,ugly mess.

 

The 0x02400205 (SLI) and 0x080000C1 (SGSSAA) profiles have already been in my spreadsheet for a long time now for Rocket League:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/932508/sli/rocket-league-sli-profile/

Since this game is just UE3, I highly doubt the shader supersampling bit is needed for SGSSAA.

 

I still use 0x000010C1 for 2x SGSSAA in Rocket League (found on some page in this thread).
I wonder which bit is better though? =)

 

Basically 0x000000C1 is enough for SGSSAA in most UE3 games at least for 16:9 resolutions.
0x080000C1 ensures compatibility with other aspect ratios, unless the game is locked into 16:9 mode (e.g. Mirror's Edge).

 

Works great in Forza Horizon 3 as well.

 

Are you guys sure it is working? I tried this back when he first posted about it and again just now, yet it does not work in either game. I use the exact settings shown in NVPI yet all signs point to it having no effect. Looking at figures like GPU load, core clocks, GPU wattage and power draw all show a linear increase from MSAA 2x to 4x and 8x. It seems like if it were working GPU load would shoot up on 4x since that is when the SGSSAA should take effect.

Care to break it down for me as to how exactly you got it to work for these games, because I'd love to use it.

 

Did you set MSAA in-game to the same value as you did in nvidiaprofileinspector? There is a hit to performance, but not nearly as much as downsampling or SSAA.

Static images aren't the best to show the gains in image quality but here you can see the difference in GPU load:

In game MSAA 4x only:


In game MSAA 4x and SGSSAA 4x:


Changes are most notable while in motion and on shadows, reflections, foliage, powerlines, and other thin geometry. I just did a quick drive around with only in-game AA enabled, and even with 8x MSAA, there is a ton of shimmering and aliasing that gets cleaned up quite nicely with SGSSAA. It really makes the Forza games and Assetto Corsa look fantastic without destroying performance.

 

Both are almost identical. I think the one with the F looks a tiny bit better.

0x000000C1
0x0000F0C1

 

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

0x000000C1

Images are zoomed in.

No AA
8x SGSSAA

Issues: AA makes it blurry, but that might not be a bad thing to some people. It kinda reminds me of the good old days of playing on a CRT TV.

I haven't tried any AA on the first game, but my guess is that it'll work.

 

Tried Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones today and again forcing MSAA don't work (and 0x00000041 bit from Warrior Within also don't help).
Ingame MSAA works though, buuut i think it can cause crashes and hang ups :wanker: Besides TRSSAA can looks so much better