HBAO+ Compatibility Flags Thread

Discussion in 'Videocards - NVIDIA GeForce Drivers Section' started by MrBonk, Mar 3, 2014.

  1. CrunchyBiscuit

    CrunchyBiscuit Master Guru

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    Ah! Figured it out. It wasn't working because I was using "gfx_fSubPixelPrecision = 2" in the game, which is basically super sampling. When I set "gfx_fSubPixelPrecision" to a value of "1", ambient occlusion works! So I guess I'll have to use DSR for super sampling instead, and leave "gfx_fSubPixelPrecision" at "1".

    Ambient occlusion in Serious Sam 2 does suffer from some bleeding issues though. It's not too bad, but it's certainly there (AO visible through bright particles, such as waterfall splashes and such).
     
  2. CrunchyBiscuit

    CrunchyBiscuit Master Guru

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    Blegh, just too many bleeding issues. Some edges along certain pixel boundaries are too bright as well (the typical bright halo around some objects before AO begins). Also, very heavy AO in areas where there shouldn't be (subtle elevation differences on concave terrain now look very angular because of dark strips of AO along the folds).

    Maybe I'm too picky, but I don't think it's usable in this state. Too bad. I'll just leave it disabled. Thanks for the help and keep up the good work!
     
  3. MrBonk

    MrBonk Guest

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    It might be possible to improve it with some tweaking via Hex edits if you are willing to play around with it.
    As for Anti Aliasing, I wouldn't use the in game Super Sampling, it's pretty bad. You should be able to force AA without any bits. You might try just forcing 2x2 Supersampling if you want an effect similar to the in game SSAA option.
     
  4. CrunchyBiscuit

    CrunchyBiscuit Master Guru

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    Thanks for the advice!

    I'm currently too busy (lazy) to mess around with the HEX edits and stuff. I'll just play without AO (when I get the chance to even play at all, lol), until someone else figures it out.

    I did find some time today to try out some of the AA tweaks and various combinations, but no matter what I force externally, nothing looks anywhere near as good as increasing the in-game subpixel precision. Only at exactly 2x though (game won't accept higher), anything between 1 and 2 looks mediocre. This isn't the same thing as the in-game option for AA by the way, which is MSAA. And while it does nothing for foliage (alpha), it somehow does manage to mess it up (thin lines over grass and other alpha textures, like they're slightly displaced). Additional methods either look too blurry, or mess up NVIDIA sharpening and my custom SweetFX. I'm content with how it is now.
     
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  5. BlindBison

    BlindBison Ancient Guru

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    For the control panel HBAO, I assume this only works in games that use specific APIs, correct? Does it only work in DX9 or OpenGL games or some such? Most games these days are at least DX11 (if not Vulkan / DX12) so if I've understood right this only works really for older titles (still it's a cool feature to have of course).
     
  6. MrBonk

    MrBonk Guest

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    It does work for DX10/11 games (All of the games with bits set in these slots 0x00000000 ) , but there are less flags in the driver by default. So less options by default to try.
    It does not mean you can't figure out how to hex edit the dlls to make it work either. (But that requires a lot more trial and error)

    You can see in the google doc with Dead Rising for example, which is a DX11 game. But needs hex editing to get a good result.
     
  7. Markie

    Markie Member Guru

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    Dark Void - 0x00000024

    No AO
    [​IMG]

    HBAO+
    [​IMG]

    No AO
    [​IMG]

    HBAO+
    [​IMG]

    This is an UE3 game. Instead of trying every UE3 flag in OP, I just went and checked which version of UE3 this game uses here and then looked for a game in the spreadsheet that uses the same version. Batman: Arkham Asylum does (UE3 version 4701). The flag works flawlessly -- both in gameplay and cutscenes, doesn't apply over menus or HUD, no flickering issues, no bleeding issues, no performance issues.

    @MrBonk I have been testing the HBAO+ flags for Outlast and turns out no flag works with SGSSAA without issues. 0x00000010 doesn't just flicker ocasionally (as mentioned in the original post), it also causes vertical (or horizontal, depending on the resolution) black lines to appear over the image, it is mostly visible when looking at walls. I tested every other UE3 flag and basically all of them behave similarly. It's a shame because SGSSAA in that game is incredible and if combined with the FXAA that's included in the high and very high effects settings (bAllowPostprocessFXAA=True in OLSystemSettings.ini) it does some of the best anti-aliasing I have ever seen. You have to see it for yourself. Despite my monitor being 768p there is almost zero aliasing or shimmering, IQ is nearly perfect, it kind of looks like TAA but not as blurry and without the shortcomings like ghosting. Really makes me wish Nvidia and engine/game developers looked at it and started developing something similar, because it's unbelievably good AA. Anyway, you're left with downsampling with 0x00000025 HBAO+ (extremely demanding and not nearly as perfect IQ as SGSSAA) or SGSSAA only if you want to avoid issues.

    The Bureau: XCOM Declassified suffers from the same issue as Outlast, it is not possible to have HBAO+ with SGSSAA without issues. It's either downsampling with 0x0000002F HBAO+ or SGSSAA only.

    (EDIT: I later found that the issues present when HBAO+ is combined with SGSSAA in Outlast only seem to happen at 16:9 resolutions other than 1600x900 and its multiples or 1920x1080 and its multiples, so resolutions such as those as well as 3200x1800 and 3840x2160 work fine but resolutions such as 1280x720 and 2560x1440 or 1366x768 and 2732x1536 do not. This probably applies to The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and any other UE3 games where HBAO+ has those issues when combined with SGSSAA as well.)

    (EDIT 2: It looks like neither Outlast flag is really recommendable, at least in my opinion. 10 not only flickers heavily under certain lighting conditions but also bleeds severely with night vision on, and 25 not only locks out of phase occasionally but actually flickers just like 10 too. The original poster missed out on those details apparently.)

    (EDIT 3: I was determined to get HBAO+ working in Outlast and with SGSSAA as well so as a last resort I decided to try the The Bureau: XCOM Declassified flag, as it seems to use the same UE3 version and has the same issues Outlast does after all. It turns out it works great and has none of the problems 25 and 10 have save for some pretty minor flickering and bleeding in some areas that can hardly be spotted, it seems flawless otherwise. So 0x0000002F should be the HBAO+ flag for Outlast in the spreadsheet now @MrBonk)

    Oh by the way, the 0x00000156 flag for Alan Wake just crashes my game as soon as I try to move the camera, and the 0x0000002D flag also seems to bleed more than 0x00000006, in addition to the checkerboard pattern over grass issue. I think 0x00000006 should be considered the only appropriate solution, it is also the only flag that's fit for Alan Wake's American Nightmare anyway.

    @pedigrew I saw your post about HBAO+ in Alien: Isolation in the previous page, is it impossible to force without issues then? Should I remove the HBAO+ section I had added to the PCGamingWiki page?
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2023
  8. GPUnity

    GPUnity Guest

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    Hi, looking for help regarding HBAO+ tuning. Do the dll destinations apply for Windows 10? Referring to this section here in the original post:
    These files are not in the stated destinations for me. I found only one instance of nvd3dum.dll after doing a global search, but it's in this directory C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_3b12ac0f95b18b9d\
    I copied it over anyway and pasted next to Arkham Asylum's executable. Tried the two working flags (0x00000024 & 0x00000030), but messing around with the parameter values does absolutely nothing. The HBAO+ flags are definitely working with their default settings, so i'm not sure what's going on. I've tested other games as well (Metal Gear Rising & Alien Isolation) - the latter of which i followed Pedigrew's post on the previous page but still not seeing any changes. Hope someone can help me out here. My GPU driver is 511.79.

    Edit: Okay i managed to get it working. Had to roll back drivers, went with the version Pedigrew used for A:I (497.29). Locally copying the dll's next to the game executable doesn't seem to work, had to edit from the source destination. Both Dx9 and Dx11 work now.
     
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2022
  9. pedigrew

    pedigrew Master Guru

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    Yes, it's impossible without major issues.
     
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  10. MrBonk

    MrBonk Guest

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    For Outlast you might try the "Performance" option for HBAO+ instead of "High Quality". Sometimes this can fix problems with HBAO+ and SGSSAA. Is what I had to use with Dead Space from what I recall.
     

  11. Markie

    Markie Member Guru

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    That did not fix the issue. I think you should add a note about the SGSSAA and HBAO+ incompatibility for these two games (Outlast and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified) to the spreadsheet. I suspect other titles that use similar UE3 versions and have similar flags might have the issue as well...
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2023
  12. MrBonk

    MrBonk Guest

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    I'll add a note for those 2 titles. By chance does turning the AA fix on or off change anything? Also just to throw it out there, 768p is a non perfect 16:9 resolution and that much of an offset may cause issues as well. (As UE3 and non 16:9 ARs are notorious). Just to see, it may be worth it to just try checking it with a custom resolution that is a perfect 16:9 AR like 1360x765 or just 1920x1080.
     
  13. Markie

    Markie Member Guru

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    I did try the AA fix as well as true 16:9 resolutions, neither thing helped.
     
  14. MrBonk

    MrBonk Guest

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    Ok, always worth a try. Thanks for giving it a shot.
     
  15. Gonzo32

    Gonzo32 Member

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    Hi there, I need help with Saints Row 2. I have tried to force ambient oclussion with the fallout 3 flag and it doesnt work. Can someone please help me with this?
     

  16. Markie

    Markie Member Guru

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    Last edited: Apr 30, 2022
  17. KainXVIII

    KainXVIII Member Guru

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    BTW, what's the difference between 0x00000024 and 0x00000030 in Arkham Asylum? Forum guide recommends 24 but Advanced Launcher for AA sets hbao+ flag to 30..
     
  18. Markie

    Markie Member Guru

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    0x00000030 is the flag which works in Arkham City, under DX9. The developer of the Advanced Launcher for Arkham Asylum told me he "picked the 30 flag because it flickers less, including at the default FOV, and is also less harsh with a lower accumulation distance". He also said "24 is way too pronounced IMO, therefore it exposes the main issues you get with forced HBAO: Over Shadowing in the distance and bleeding".

    In my experience, the 0x00000024 flag which works in Arkham Asylum but not in Arkham City seems to work better. It affects smaller objects and spots more visibly, the difference is subtle but it's definitely there. But the 0x00000030 flag might have an advantage with extended FOV ratios and less flickering as explained above so it's probably best to replace 0x00000024 with it in the spreadsheet.

    Another small detail, the Advanced Launcher automatically sets the HBAO+ mode to Quality instead of High Quality upon applying settings, you'd have to set it back to High Quality with Nvidia Inspector if you wanted that. However, there is no point in doing so as High Quality doesn't seem to make any difference compared to Quality with either flag in this game, curious.
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2023
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  19. KainXVIII

    KainXVIII Member Guru

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    Guide in the first post of this topic recommends Quality mode too.
     
  20. Markie

    Markie Member Guru

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    I think High Quality can make a difference compared Quality, both in performance and visuals. I'm not completely sure, but I believe it shouldn't always be like in this Batman game.
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2022
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