Extreme 4-Way Sli Tuning

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - HELLBLADE + RESHADE - TEMP FIX ON PERFORMANCE REDUCTION AFTER STUTTER SPOTS - UPDATE - 7/18/22:

Here is a way for Extreme Sli users where in this game, when you hit the infamous stutter spots (Certain ones), this will help keep your overall scaling performance up:

This is just an temp fix for now, I am still currently, extremely hard at work investigating this issue.

Before going any further, While testing under 2-Way Sli mode, along with brutal reshade settings as well as 4.5k.

In the Desert Area (Beginning of the game), there is a stutter spot, once you go over this particular spot, your Sli scaling performance goes down, in order to keep this in check, I notice something startling under 2-Way Sli:

If you Maintain a steady 30 fps, I hit the infamous stutter spot, checked scaling performance afterwards, up to only 1 fps drop.

Furthermore into this, I check under 4-Way Sli, this time, I tried to keep it within 48-52 fps range:

I tried using the resolution of: 4512X2538, brutal reshade settings, Custom made Engine.ini, custom in-game quality settings,

1 GPU gave me: 12 Fps before stutter spot and 12 Fps after the stutter spot

4 GPU's gave me: 48-51 Fps Before the stuter spot and 47 after the stutter spot.

Again, alot of it is how you tune the engine.ini as one small minute change = everything changes, so be very careful while tuning the engine.ini.

So, those of you who are tuning this game in similar fashion under similar setup as mine, you might want to keep the fps within the low 50's, so after you hit these infamous stutter spots, you will experience, drastically much lesser performance scaling gap, and further try to keep performance at peak level.

Granted, there is other areas where I mentioned this previously, some of these stutter spots hits so hard, you have to really jack up the resolution and your reshade filters in order to keep these scaling gap down when hitting these drag spots.

EDIT:

Going to upload some images showing performance, after the stutter spot, 1 GPU vs 4 GPU's.

Check back in a bit, thanks.

EDIT on performance after stutter spot:

Here, showing 2 images showing performance differences, after the stutter spot, Desert area (Beginning).

Resolution: 4512X2538 + Brutal Reshade Settings, Custom Engine.ini, Custom made Bits, Custom in-game quality settings:

1 GPU:



4 GPU's:



As you can see, excellent scaling results, after the stutter spot.

Those of you who are under 60hz screen, if you turn on Vsync or force Vsync with this game and maintaining more then 60fps at all times, the difference in frame pacing is basically non-existent, not only that, improved 1% & .1& Low's, as well as your frame time, so, if you trying to go under 60 fps, in hopes of keeping the scaling performance gap in check, after you hit these spots, you will experience lower #'s in all of these factors, so always keep this in mind, despite extremely heavy settings, it took some time to buffer, due to vram exhaustion, so, personally, for these cards, I wouldn't go more then 4.5k with this game + reshade (Depending on how brutal the settings are), despite all of this, it seems to be moving fine, if you try to use the frame limiter within nvidia inspector, it could also help the frame pacing,MS(Frametime), 1% & .1% Low's.

More to come.

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - THERMAL ADHESIVE PADS ON MEMORY, ETC, REMOVED - MISC PROJECT - UPDATE - 7-22-22:

So basically what I been doing lately:

Finally using Thermal glue for back of all of the GTX 970 Vram's, I put the thermal glue (Non-Conductive) around the corners as I am using upgraded thermal pads, Kritical Pads.

Also, all 4 Gpu's, fan's and heatsink themselves has been cleaned.

All 4 gpu's are using Kingpin's KPx thermal compound, excellent temps thus far.

I am also using Kritical Pads on the Vrm's and the Vram's (Front of the pcb).

Used 1.5mm pads on the Vrm's, 1mm on the Vram's (Front of the Pcb) & also 3x1.0MM and 0.5mm pads on back of the card where the Vram chips are, the bottom one I used a thinner layer as a protocol, as after I use spacers inbetween each gpu, the bottom seems to get hit closer to the fans on the other gpu fan's.

This is something I should have done long time ago but I been to lazy and not willing to wait a day or 2 for the thermal glue (Non-Conductive) to cure.

On back of each card, back side of the vrm's, I also have 3 copper shims on top of a 1.5mm thermal pad, I been doing this for quite sometime, Before I used the thermal tape to hold it down, but overall, seems to help just a tad, that also is held down with a thermal glue on the sides.

Basically, I wanted to make absolutely sure the memory heatsinks,etc themselves will not fall down, not only that, don't have to put that blue, very thin thermal tape to hold the memory down, furthermore, overtime, the tape can wear and tear, thus in the end, hitting and flapping it from the other gpu fans, so its something I wanted do for a long time now, just got to wait till tomorrow so it can fully cure, I have used this particular glue in the past, yup, good stuff but requires sometime to cure and if your putting it underneath an heatsink, you will need some kind of force to hold it down in same duration of when the curing time is complete (Very strongly recommended).

Link to the Thermal pads I used:

https://www.amazon.com/Kritical-Thermal-Pads-Conductivity-microelectronic/dp/B09PZHFVMZ/ref=sr_1_2?crid=XXTYDC9O4ZJH&keywords=kritical+pads&sprefix=kritical+pads,aps,115&sr=8-2

Link to the Thermal Glue I used:

https://www.amazon.com/Conductive-Silicone-Adhesive-Compound-Heatsink/dp/B07TSH6MNT/ref=sr_1_3?crid=NCKGGZ7UN10Z&keywords=gennel+glue&sprefix=gennel+glue,aps,101&sr=8-3

Link to the Thermal paste I used:

https://www.amazon.com/Kingpin-Cooling-Performance-Thermal-Compound/dp/B07ZDJ4MK1/ref=sr_1_4?crid=QXBI83ZWOTX2&keywords=KPx&sprefix=kpx,aps,89&sr=8-4

Kingpin's KPx (Used in the past) is on the same level as Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut pretty much, outstanding temps all across.

Similar project I used for this glue was on my Nvidia Titan Xp, if anyone is interested, here it is:

https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/t...core-edition-2-thumbs-up.438972/#post-5945911

And here are my 4 GTX 970's, Showing back of the card (Thermal pads are underneath the heatsink/Thermal glue is covering the sides then onto the pcb to further hold the heatsink down)/These are the same GTX 970's I been using, ever since I started this whole Extreme 4-Way Sli project, except the one one on the very left, that was replaced from a bad card (one of the original's & sorry for the messy thermal glue):



Additional Photos:

Vram Area (Back of card/Top area/1mm Thickness



Vrm Area (1.5mm Thickness):



Vram Area (Front of the card, near connector (1mm Thickness)):



Good to go for tomorrow, double check on temps, after that, back on schedule without delay.

EDIT:

Forgot to mention earlier that:

All 4 Cards has been tested, after the thermal pads/thermal glue procedure, everything is showing up fine, only 2 out of the 4 were tested on benchmark, there was 0 issues. will test all 4 gpu's tommorrow (After curing time is over).

Thermal Glue is the way to go, those adhesive on some of these pre-applied Memory heatsinks, or just thermal tape in general, none of them sticks really good, just a matter of time before one falls, I had to do this on my Titan Xp on my other system as the thermal tape that came with that aftermarket heatsink (Morpheus II), soon as you put the heatsink on the chip, falls down immediately, Even if you put some kind of tape to hold the heatsinks down, no can do, no way in the world, and that's after I used: Artic Clean kit (Thermal remover & Surface Purifier). Titan Xp till this day = Works excellent & Excellent temps as well.

I had one problem earlier but it had nothing to do with my gpu's, it was my motherboard, had to re-flash my mobo, reset cmos/battery, was getting some bsod on some devices after driver install, Re-formatted the win 10x64 build I normally use on the Usb stick then re-install Win 10 X64 (Build 15063/RS2-RTM/Update version: 2679), could had been a corrupted mobo bios, nontheless, everything is hunk'a'dory now (All good).

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - SYSTEM BACK OPERATIONAL - UPDATE - 7/25/22:

System is back in full operation, everything runs perfect.

Just heads up: On one of my GTX 970, bad Vrm, one of the mosfet went out on its own, through inspection, yup, seems like only one of the mosfet got burnt out real good, this was while I was on the main windows 10 screen, this particular card, I believe I had for sometime, been abused quite a bit, I had another spare Gigabyte windforce G1 GTX 970 so all good.

Also, far as the thermal pad size if anyone is interested to know in regards about these cards (GTX 970/Windforce G1 gaming).

Before going on to the thermal pads size, a word of extreme caution:

If your Vrm or Vram thermal pads are to thick, you may or may not have proper contact with the heatsink and the gpu chip, even though you might have good impression on heatsink/thermal paste as an indication, still does not matter, to thick of a thermal pad will make inproper contact of the gpu chip, thus in the end = higher Gpu temps overall.

Example of this:

On one of my GTX 970 Windforce G1 gaming card, I used 1.5mm for Vrm & 1mm for Vram modules, same as the other 3 remaining GTX 970 Windforce G1 card's, I notice quite a bit in higher gpu temps overall, I knew what it was so I used 1mm for Vrm's & .50mm for the Vram Modules, yup, under 4-Way Sli including my infamous spacers, overall, All 4 Gpu's are now within the same range, far as temps goes.

I will be putting more thermal glue on top of the Vram heatsinks on back of the gpu's, to further hold it down more, as a remainder, if you don't want to go with the thermal glue route, you can use the Thermal Adhesive on your Vram heatsinks, you also might want to put another layer over each heatsinks to further hold it down, just in case for any reason, the heatsink will come off and they will eventually, so this means in the end, spacers "Must" be used in-between each gpu, not only your gpu's in general will breath alot better, much better temps and also, prevents hitting those Vram heat sinks on back of the Gpu's.

Far as spacers is concerned, I used something like these:

https://www.amazon.com/Swpeet-Stand...B07LDBB94B/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=spacers&sr=8-5

Please start from the lowest you can use to start, as to much spacing in-between each gpu = can absolutely ruin your gpu temp's, as it will completely aggravate the heat sink making proper contact to the gpu chip, thus in the end, increased gpu temps, so be absolutely careful of using spacers, I would start on the far right of each gpu's, inbetween the pci-e power connectors, I have seen up to 8c drop's per gpu at the most under full load.

In regards about the Vram chip, on back of the gpu, the one next to the pci-e slot connector, be extremely careful with this one as you will have a much higher chance hitting this if heatsinks are being used, so please use proper spacing in-between each gpu, make sure it does not hit the Gpu fans at all.

Far as size goes for Vram heat sinks, back of the pcb, this is something that I use:

https://www.amazon.com/Easycargo-Heatsink-Conductive-Adhesive-14mmx12mmx5mm/dp/B091KMJKY4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3V6JXN561FLS6&keywords=Vram+heatsinks&sprefix=vram+heatsinks,aps,130&sr=8-3

Back to my projects, see you all there.

 

In DX12 mode i have enabled CFR and SFR/AFR just by setting SLI rendering mode and CFR mode. The scaling is very weak on 16x8 and lots of flickering objects and AFR/SFR crashing instantly. DX11 still nothing i'll keep chipping away at this.

Tuning dx12 bits didnt help or really change anything.

 

Again, very very interesting about this particular game, even under DX11, it is totally locked to 1 GPU mode, all the other UE4 games under DX11 = 4-Way Works all the time, just requires massive, 100's of hrs worth of investment into tuning/testing,etc.

Never seen anything like it, For a DX11 title, 1st of its kind that I am aware of, normally, DX11 games in general, no matter the game's engine that its using, one degree or another, you can do quick test just to see Sli is working, talking about gpu's even being kicked in, not scaling performance speaking, just getting the other cards to even kick in at all.

Far as DX12 tuning, again, I tried various games, no matter how you tune that DX12 bits, one minute change to any of the hex = 100% automatic hang during startup of that game, in Elden Ring situation, it didn't hang, but, non of the hex did nothing, I went through all the 8 hex's and its digits and letters, took awhile to go through it, 0 change, same thing goes for OGL (Open GL) Bits for Doom 3, within the OGL Bits, I didn't personally went through all of it, I did some tuning with it, nah, no change for doom 3, there were some stuff within the 8 - Extra & the unknown ID settings within nvidia inspector for Doom 3 that I changed, few fps gain, nothing to crazy, game scaled excellent right off the back, Other then Rise of the Tomb Raider under DX12 (+ A specific driver being used), with 0 tuning required, scaling is basically perfect under 4-Way Sli, with 0 graphic anomalies/problems, on the other hand, Doom 3, that game Scaled great right off the back with 0 tuning required, just some minor tweaks, good to go, one of the fewest games that 4-Way Sli works right off the back with 0 tuning required, Dead Space 1 + {MSAA + SGSSAA} & Hitman Absolution + {MSAA + SGSSAA} is another to name a very few.

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - MMORPG BLOWOUT - COUNTDOWN TO THE 980ti's - GAME # 13 (BALDUR'S GATE III) REPLACED WITH FFXI ONLINE + TEXTURE MOD - DG VOODOO + RESHADE + HYBRID AA {MSAA+SGSSAA} + INITIAL TESTING RESULTS.:

Now here is a game that I originally was curious about. I have did some testing in the past, I just recently went back on this game.

Been playing this particular game since, I believe it was around early 2003 range.

Even though the retail game, current game now compared to the old FFXI, made it 1 million times easier then it is if playing solo, you can always still play the old fashion way, thank goodness for it.

Now for initial testing results:

I been on this game for about 16 hrs or so, I have tried both DX9 and DX11 (With DG Voodoo), there is no doubt, that with the use of AO (Ambient Occlusion) shaders (Filters) within Reshade, the DX9 (With DX9 .ini bypass) runs alot smoother then the Fps capped is turned off (Originally set to 30/Using 60 with Ashita3) while under Sli in general.

There is no graphical problems that I can see, the only problem I had in the beginning was the flickering of lights,etc but all that has been taken care of.

Game was originally made with the Fps performance of 30 FPS (DX8), but you can uncap it with programs such as Ashita3.

I am currently testing using Texture mods such as Amelila's Texture mod & Ashenbub's 2x/4x texture upgrade, both mods works perfectly.

Far as 4-Way Sli performance is concerned, it was most defin't working under DX9 but under DX11, it is working but it has tons of problems under DX11 + DG Voodoo while using reshade's AO settings.

I'll go over my 1st update on the next post, but so far, 4-Way Sli is most clearly working.

Also, MSAA+SGSSAA along with this game, it does work but if your using it with reshade, AO is not working properly, I tried doing the Reshade bypass within the AA compatibility Bits within nvidia inspector = No go, I tried this under both DX9 & DX11, so I had no choice to increase the internal resolution of the game to something like 6k.

Again, more updates to come, for now, here are some videos (Not mine):

Video #1 (Amelila's Texture mod trailer #2):



Video #2 (How to install Ashenbubs Texture's):



Video #3 (Nextgames/FFXI 2022 Edition):



Video #4: Jeuno Area/Amelila's Texture pack:



& Video #5 (La Theine Plateau area/Amelila's Texture pack):



Be sure to check uploaders channel for more of their videos,etc, thanks.

And yes, its still one of my favorite games of all time, despite all the changes in this game over the years, I still play it the old fashion/hardcore way, game still holds its crown.

More updates to come.

EDIT:

Just recently tried: 5k (3200p/16:10 aspect ratio) + Nextgames mod package + Reshade & No SGSSAA, under DX9 = All 4 Gpu's are well over 90% usage, to make sure the performance is there, I checked performance from 1 gpu vs 4 Gpu's, yup, its clearly working.

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - MMORPG BLOWOUT - FFXI ONLINE + TEXTURE MODS + RESHADE + ASHITA3/WINDOWER4 - 1ST UPDATE - 8/8/22:

Alright, 1st update for this game:

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EDIT in regards about reshade (Also pertains to 1 GPU mode):

One thing I forgot to mention of great importance, is reshade:

Extreme modders/tuners or whatnot out there, if your looking into using AO within rehade, absolute fair warning here:

Only version that seems to work fine, with only one exception here: rarely, you might experience a flicker or two but nothing serious at all, is "version 4.5.3", anything higher, you will have problems, now if your using the newest version, 5.0.2 and above, AO will not even show up at all, or even if it does, it will automatically disappear on its own, this is on both DX9 & DX11 (DG Voodoo 2) formats, as well as both: Ashita3 & Windower4, please keep a note of this, very important, I already conducted some extensive testing on it, thank you

Also, while on the topic of Reshade:

While using Reshade version 4.5.3, there is limited amount of shaders being installed, you can always use other reshade version shaders, I wouldn't go over 4.9.1, if you want to use extra shader's that's currently not visible within version 4.5.3, copy the ones from 4.9.1 over to your 4.5.3. reshade-shader folder, thanks.

NOTE: Some Shaders from version 4.9.1 while under 4.5.3, while have a hard time compiling shaders, the stuff like SSR, MXAO, HBAO,etc will work, SSR is working with this game but it is not displaying properly, so as of now, please refrain from using SSR, TAA also works perfectly, just some blur while moving around.

EDIT ON RESHADE:

Going to check on earlier version of reshade and test its AO performance (While under DX11 (DG Voodoo 2)), as at times, depending on the game, which version you use for reshade can defin't have a drastic outcome when it comes to overall performance in general, especially when using AO, so currently checking out other versions.

While on the topic of reshade:

At times, when on the actual game itself, sometimes when opening up reshade, sometimes, it can become stuck, if you point your mouse cursor to any of its tabs, sometimes it does nothing, you all might want to go into Reshade.ini and change your font size accordingly so your good to go upon launching the game.

EDIT ON RESHADE VERSION 3.4.1:

Just checked out this version of reshade, and nope, the way out of whack performance drop while under DX11 (DG Voodoo 2) is still present.

Also, interestingly enough, MXAO in this version of reshade and HBAO (Downloaded), seems to show quite a bit more accuracy when compared to Reshade Version 4.x.x, seems in this version, the standard MXAO, covers quite a bit more then it does with the 4.x.x. version.

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Before going any further, Extreme tuners looking to tune/test/mod this game, here are two programs that you will need:

Link to Ashita3: https://www.ashitaxi.com

Link to Windower4: https://www.windower.net

First off, please watch some tutorial videos on how to get Ashita3 / Windower4 working properly on your computer, and how to install the mods,etc.

Next, if your attempting to run the game under DX11 mode, you will need a program called DG Voodoo 2,

Link: http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/

You will also need a 4gb Patch, which you will need to patch up: POL.exe

One I currently using now: https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371

For those of you who want's to try out the DX9 injection method:

Here are two links, I am using version 1.0.0.0:

Version 1.0.0.0: https://forums.ashitaxi.com/download/file.php?id=30

Version 1.0.0.2: https://forums.ashitaxi.com/download/file.php?id=9&sid=6525ced0b9c18d4cce9d1713d68f50bc

There is quite of stuff to cover during my initial results, lets go over some stuff:

1st off:

Texture mods on both Ashita3 & Windower4, are working properly

2nd:

SGSSAA within nvidia inspector, only works under DX11 & factory DX8 version, speaking about the DX8 version, the texture mods while using Windower4, Nextgames texture mods nor Ashenbubs HD Prime, neither of them work, it Must be under DX9 or DX11, Also in regards about AA, and the only way to make it work is use the custom AA bits (Diablo III bits should work), along with within DG Voodoo (DX11), enable 4XMSAA, then from there, within nvidia inspector, under AA, you have to adjust the settings to where it reads: Enhance the Application settings, it is 100% confirm working but one extreme downfall, Reshade's AO (Ambient Occlusion) settings, no matter which one, does not show up at all, so just heads up on it, Yes, I tried under DX9 on both Ashita3 & Windower4, SGSSAA when used in override mode, it does not work.

Now, if your using the Supersampling that's built in within Windower4, Reshade's AO settings will work together just fine.

While under DX11, either both Ashita3 & Windower4, while using reshade, AO settings takes a significant hit, goes completely out of whack, whereas, under DX9 it does not while your using Windower4, BUT, while using Ashita3, AO under DX9, is a no go at this point as well, performance goes way out of whack.

From initial testing results, for absolute best Scaling performance while using Reshade along with its AO settings, is to use DX9 injection method along with Windower4, I am currently hard at work increasing overall scaling performance under DX11 on both Ashita3 & Windower4.

Also, if your tuning with reshade, for instance, under DX9, and wanted to test out DX11, if you load your reshade profile up, some stuff will be out of whack, it won't look the same, due to the API change, it shouldn't matter but apparently with this game, it does, so if your tuning with reshade, you might want to change the profile title to like FFXI-DX9 or FFXI-DX11, so this way, you can keep your profiles in order.

Also, by using the fps uncap method within Windower4, when loading from zone to zone, it seems much faster then without, it really speeds things up, speaking about speed, I also notice that while using Nextgames texture mod when compared to Amelila's mod, when moving zone to zone, load times are much faster then just using Amelila's texture mod alone, so heads up on it.

Overall, looking really good, sucks that I can not enable SGSSAA with Reshade's AO, I tried doing different methods, no can do, also, Reshade will not work at all under the factory DX8 API mode, "Only" works while using the DX9 injection method & or the DX11 (DG Voodoo method).

Supersampling setting within Windower4 is working perfectly under 4-Way Sli.

To top it all off, one word of extreme caution:

Extreme tuners/modders/players out there who's testing or playing under DX9 method, the OSD within MSI Afterburner will "NOT" work properly for some odd reason, you got to use, the one that's built in within Ashita3/Windower4, now if that does not work, you can try something like Fraps, it works wonders if your having problems displaying the OSD.

In the next post, I'll show performance images, 1 GPU vs 4 GPU's.

Also, another heads up, There is alot of visible seams within textures in this game, Despite the texture mods not fixing this, this has always been a problem in this game, game is very old, originally came out on PS2 back in 2002 (Japan).

EDIT on custom made bits (Very early in testing stages, test with extreme caution, thanks.):

Forgot to mention my current custom made bits:

If your going to be using AA within DX11, key this in within the DX1x AA compatibility Bits:

0x084412C1

Make sure you have AA set to: Enhance the Application settings, I only tested 2X & 4X SGSSAA + DG Voodoo2 (MSAA X2 or X4), both works perfectly under DX11 Only, DX9 will not work.

For my DX9 Sli Bits:

Sli Compatibility Bits: 0x00C03000

For my DX11 Bits:

Sli Broadcast (DX1x) Bits: 0x00000C03

Sli Compatibility (DX10+DX11) Bits: 0x0D9327F5 (Please set Gpu rendering mode to Autoselect for the time being), If want to try SFR, please switch: 0x0<<~~ 1st hex down, to digit 8, thanks.

Sli Specific Hacks (DX1x): Not used.

In regards about 8 - Extra and the unknown ID settings, nothing is currently being used, so please leave them alone for the time being, thanks.

Also, another heads up while under DX11:

If your under AFR of SFR rendering mode, while opening up POL.exe, only the top half will show, SFR doesn't seem to have a problem, thanks.

DX9 overall scaling as will as overall performance is concerned, is significantly better then DX11, especially while using reshade, again, hard at work beefing up the DX11 performance.

Also, while under Windower4 and if you logged out the game properly, upon going back to Playonline viewer, you might get an unexpected crash, there will be a POL.exe window crash popup, don't click on the X on this particular window just yet, by clicking the X tab on the top right of this window, will forcefully shut down POL.exe completely, instead, leave the POL.exe crash popup windows visible, just log out the game as you normally would, once everything is done, X out on that POL.exe crash window, thanks.

Also, under REGEDIT of this game, if your using Windower4, at times, under line:

0003 & 0004, both of these will be doubled then the lines: 0001 & 0002, both are resolution related, I always try to match them both.

One more thing about Windower4:

While under the configuration window, under resolution, if your under Full-screen mode, for some odd reason, there is a problem of keying in the proper resolution you want, will not go through, to bypass this, 1st select: Borderless Full-screen mode, input your desired resolution, then switch the resolution to full-screen mode, all done, thanks.

In regards about maintaining your internal resolution within the game:

Please have your Main window screen resolution, same as the in-games resolution and also through Ashita3/Windower4, thanks.

If you exit out the game properly and trying to get go back on the game, upon doing so, you might experience an error: Initializing DirectX Renderer, if you get this, you will be prompt back to Play online viewer, from here, exit out the viewer like you normally would, after that, log back on, should have no problems.

More on reshade:

There seems to be a problem while using reshade while under DX11 (Ashita3 or Windower4):

While playing the game, when the chat window is not open, when trying to move your camera, it apparently seems to be hard locked, it only mainly focus on front of your main charc., now, if you open up your chat window, simply by pressing the / key, you can now move your camera around with no restrictions, so if your having the same problem as I am, open you chat window while your at it, should have 0 problems from here, thanks.

One exciting thing about DG Voodoo 2 with this game:

Extreme Single Gpu testers/modders out there, I checked one thing by accident, DX12, yup, it is working, you can give it a try on your end but I did not conduct any long term testing, just only for not even a minute, I notice the DX12 within MSI Afterburner, it may or may not work on your end so tune with caution.

More to come, thanks for reading.

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - MMORPG BLOWOUT - FFXI + TEXTURE MODS + RESHADE + DG VOODOO 2 + WINDOWER4 - POL.EXE CRASHED FIXED - URGENT UPDATE - 8/8/22:

I recently got some POL.exe crashes earlier, I routed it back to:

ffxi_d3d8to9_proxy_v1.0.0.2-by_atom0s

Please "ONLY" use the 1.0.0.0 Version (For Windower4 users only)

Ashita3 users: No need to worry, upon starting up POL.exe while under Ashita3, does not crash with the latest D3D8to9 proxy, so all good to go.

EDIT:

Just now learned more on this POL.exe error:

Apparently, depending on how you tweak the .ini file, you may or may not get the POL.exe error, if you do happen to get the POL.exe error, for now, do system restore to an earlier point.

Repairing the Visual C++ files/Netframework, does nothing, please restore computer to earlier time, all set.

What prompt this error to occur in the first place?

Within the .ini, scroll down to where you see:

[Patch_PresentParameters]

Under mst, which is for Multisampletype, be careful while tuning this parameter, thanks.

And yes, Ashita3 now just got affected, going to restore to earlier point then all set to go.

EDIT:

After for sometime, naturally, the POL.exe is crashing every time when launching POL.exe through Windower4, so it can naturally go out of whack, the only solution to my knowledge at this point, is to do a system restore to an earlier point.

EDIT ON SYSTEM RESTORE:

Just heads up, Even if you have Xipivot within Addons folder within Windower4, along with its Dats contents, your texture mods while playing the game won't be there, only thing will be there is the font changes, you would need to transfer files again, this is right after doing the system restore, as I had no choice due to that Pol.exe error within Windower4, again, this is mainly coming from that DX8to9 injector.

Please make backup of your FFXI roms just in case you need to transfer files again, on top of that, make sure you also backup all the Texture mods to another HDD/SSD while your at it.

In the event of doing a system restore, I would very strongly recommend throwing away the POL.exe within the playonline folder, use the backup one, afterwards, re-patch it with the 4gb patch that I mentioned in earlier post, thanks.

 

If you can, report your findings on https://reshade.me/forum/index

Crosire is really good at fixing regressions, and the latest 5-series has important fixes, optimisations, compatibility, and support for new functions in shaders that shader authors are using. It's easily the best version yet, but there have been a few regressions in compatibility which Crosire has already fixed for some, but he can't fix what he doesn't know about, so make a post there

 

Will do, basically the same symptoms that's occurring under 1 GPU mode is also pertaining to Sli in general, one thing you must understand, is that, I am attempting what, basically no one has really done to my knowledge with this game, so anything could happen along the way, thanks for the reply.

 

All taken care of, thanks for giving me heads up on it.

I left a pm on discord for Atmos in regards about that POL.exe crash overtime when using both Windower4/Ashita3 while using that DX8to9 injection tool.

Next, I went to that forum link you wanted me to go, I also left a new thread in regards about the AO (Ambient Occlusion problem) that's associated with Reshade version, anything over 4.5.3.

Thanks alot.

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - FFXI ONLINE + DX9 (DX8TO9 INJECTOR) + TEXTURE MODS + RESHADE + WINDOWER4 + 5K(3200p) - PRELIMINARY RESULTS + IMAGES - 8/9/22:

For those who are extremely curious on how the performance is coming along, I got 5 images in total, 2 images showing performance difference between 1 gpu VS 4 gpu's, the other 2 is the same but with the reshade window on the left so everyone can see the exact filters I used, the other is the GPU usage within the MSI Afterburner graph as the DX8to9 injector, it prohibits the MSI Afterburner OSD from showing up properly, for added kicks, I also Tried EVGA's XOC Precision, still, so I had to use Fraps, oldie but a goldie, the FPS meter is on the top right of the images shown below.

Initial testing Results:

Settings within Windower4:

Texture mods used: Nextgames + AshenbubsHD-Prime

Resolution: 5k (3200p/16:10 Aspect Ratio):

Supersampling option within Windower4 settings: ON

Bump Mapping within Windower4 settings: OFF

Lets look at the initial results:

Testing Location: Bastok/South Gustaberg region

NOTE: The color from both 1 GPU and 4 GPU's were different, due to the time of the day/weather,etc, even though I signed off right away then went back to my other gpu configuration, the scenery if off a bit due to the Time of Day/weather,etc but this will give you all a good example on the overall scaling potential.

Time of day: Late night to early morning

FPS meter location: Top right most of the image.

Additional note: I had to compress the image down a bit as the original ones were from .bmp from Fraps, so loss of quality will be present, thanks.

Results:

1 GPU:



4 GPU's:



1 GPU (Showing Reshade settings):



4 GPU's (Showing Reshade Settings):



GPU Utilization under 4-Way Sli:



As you can see, EXCELLENT SCALING.

Yes, there is still some flickering issue with reshade 4.5.3 at times, might have to revert back to older version for now.

I may have pressed the ambient light key within windower4 by accident, explains why the some of the above images were brighter, I'll revise later, for now, this is where it stands.

All in all, looking Excellent, more to come later.

 

GTX 970 - 4-Way Sli - FFXI + TEXTURE MODS + RESHADE + WINDOWER4 - UPDATE ON RESHADE 5.3.0 + ADD-ONS - 8/11/22:

Thanks for the help over @ Reshade forum's, I have now gotten the AO, all fixed up, still not perfect, it has to do with the Displaydepth.fx and the Add-on tab, after some fiddling around with it, it is now finally working.

Even though the AO's are working in full force, certain angle, also depending on the zoom in & zoom out situation, some AO appears to be missing but will eventually come back once back in normal viewing range, even then, some coverage is still missing, but it is alot better nontheless.

Far as performance goes, the DX9 of 5.3.0 of Reshade + Add-ons performs better then the DX11 counterpart, the DX11, while using AO, the performance is worse then the DX9 version of reshade, not only that, Sli scaling performance/fps consistency is alot better while under DX9.

So for extreme Sli tuners out there, looking to go back into this game, while using texture mods, reshade, etc, might want to hop on the DX9 version.

Also, the person who developed the d8to9 injection tool for this game: Atm0s, I had conversation within him within discord, and explained the problems I had with the POL.exe crashes, etc, he says that the injection tool, is solely geared towards Labtop users, to help further improve performance over the stock DX8, not only that, it was mainly designed to work with Ashita3 and not Windower4, and he has no plans in the future to do more testing on Windower4.

Still, despite issues, being an very old game, works great with reshade.

So just one word of caution here:

while using d8to9 injection tool v1.0.0.0, at times, you might get an POL.exe crash error while trying to launch the game through Windower4, and at times, you will constantly get the POL.exe crash, the only work around the issue is to do a system restore to an earlier point.

I tried using the d8to9 injection tool v1.0.0.2, instant POL.exe crash while trying to load within Windower4 so be careful while using this injection tool.

More updates to come.

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - FFXI ONLINE + TEXTURE MODS + SGSSAA + WINDOWER4 - UPDATE ON OTHER DX8TO9 INJECTORS - 8/12/22:

More great news coming along here...

There is 2 that I just recently tried out:

1st one, doesn't even want to get into the actual game, it will result in a crash, however, it may or may not work for you,

Link to this program (Don't forget to test out the converter):

http://enbdev.com/download.html

The next one is called: DXCPL.exe (Version 4.08.01.0612 / 64bit version).

It works excellent and not only that, I can finally use forced injected AA from nvidia inspector: 2XMSAA+2XSGSSAA + Reshade, yup, it works perfectly together but takes a HUGE hit in performance.

Lets go over the POL.exe errors I had with DXCPL:

I did not get any POL.exe crash errors upon starting up POL.exe within Windower4, nor from exiting the game itself and coming back to Playonline viewer's main screen, there was one instance I had, that the game instantly crashed on me, that was when I was fiddling around with the reshade settings while on the game but that was just that one time, I haven't really did any very long term testing as of yet.

Next, I wanted to compare the overall image quality within the game, when using the Supersampling setting within Windower4 vs 2XMSAA+2XSGSSAA (Injected through nvidia inspector) @ the same exact resolution, and as I originally expected, the 2XMSSAA+2XSGSSAA spanks the built in Supersampling within Windower4 by a large margin, far as performance hit goes, obviously the SGSSAA will take more of a hit.

For Extreme Sli/Tri-Sli or even 4-Way Sli tuners out there, who are running similar setup as mine and want to do something absolutely insane, such as this game/project, please tune, only under these conditions down below, no exceptions:

Please use this: DXCPL.exe (DirectX 9.3-64-bit/Force Warp= Checked/Disable Feature Level Upgrade= Checked)

Link to the DXCPL:

https://www.pconlife.com/viewfileinfo/dxcpl-exe/

You will need: Nextgames init.txt to be installed within windower:

https://github.com/NextGames2000/FFXI-Beauty

Nextgames Texture pack + AshenbubsHD-Prime Texture Pack (Installed within Windower4):

Link to Nextgames Texture pack:

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1H_dASJ3N4BPh9xlK84c7Lx_SiQH9Cwvq&export=download

AshenbubsHD-Prime Texture pack:

https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy11/mods/1

Reshade version 5.3.0 + Add-on:

https://reshade.me/downloads/ReShade_Setup_5.3.0_Addon.exe

Fraps:

https://fraps.com

Now for people who wants to go beyond insanity and want to inject MSAA+SGSSAA (For Extreme Sli tuners under similer or same setup as mine):

For 4k (Either 2160p/2400p), I would not, under any circumstances go over 4XMSAA+4XSGSSAA

For 5k (Either 2880p/3200p), Under no circumstances whatsoever you shall raise it anything more then 2XMSAA+2XSGSSAA

Moreover, while testing it under 1 GPU mode, despite the lack of MSI Afterburner not showing up properly within DX9, there is a high Bus Usage in the beginning, it can take a awhile to settle things down, so you will experience a massive drop under 1 GPU mode, Extreme 4-Way Sli tuners out there, seems ok, things already will settle down real quick, so if your trying to compare performance from 1 GPU vs 4 GPU's in this manner, you have to wait for the Bus usage to go down, cause if not, you will not get accurate comparision and you won't be able to see the BUS usage due to lack of OSD not working properly within DX9, but you can see the Bus Usage through the graph that's within MSI Afterburner, but please use something like Fraps, it works wonders in this condition, and closely monitor your FPS while tuning in this fashion

So can finally confirm, that:

FFXI Online + DXCPL.exe + Texture Mods + Reshade (AO included) + Windower4 + MSAA+SGSSAA within nvidia inspector is working perfectly,

Just be careful as MSAA+SGSSAA takes an incredibly huge hit on the Gpu's in general, when first tuning this game, I would strongly recommend using the Windower4's built in Supersampling first, prior to using/injecting anything else, if your using MSAA+SGSSAA, please turn off Supersampling within Windower4 for the time being as I have not conducted any test in conjunction, thanks.

Also one more thing:

Make sure to be safe, to shut off Shadows & Weather effects from the in-game misc settings while your tuning this game, when everything is all set on your end, enable it back, thanks.

Also, please be sure to go to Nextgame youtube channel, good tutorial videos up to help set your texture mods + Windower4 for your FFXI Online game:

Link to his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NextGamesGuide

Alot more to come.

EDIT ON DXCLPL.exe under DX11:

Forgot to mention earlier that, while using DXCPL.exe, I tried it under DX11 API, does not work.

EDIT ON GRAPHIC DRIVERS & OS USED:

OS used: Win 10x64 Build: 15063(RS2/RTM)-Update verion: 2673

Graphic drivers used:

Modified Quadro drivers: 392.68

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - QUADRO DRIVERS - 473.81 (NEWEST) - INITIAL TESTING RESULTS WITH ROTTR - UPDATE - 8/13/22:

Here we got a new set of Quadro drivers: 473.81, which is currently the latest version.

Initial testing results with my personal 4-Way Sli testing game of choice:

Rise of the Tomb Raider

OS tested in conjuction: Build 15063 (RS2-RTM) / Update version: 2679

Under DX12, both DSR and custom resolution played extremely well and smooth, just make sure you have Vsync forced on as well as in-game settings called: Double Buffer under Vsync, do "NOT" set it to Triple buffering as upon starting up the game, right before the title screen appears, the game will result in an immediate crash.

Also, it seems anything above your native resolution, you will get some massive screen flashing, consisting colors of pink/purple, Older branch drivers won't do this, drivers such as 392.xx & anything from 43x.xx and under + Win 10x64 Build 15063 (RS2-RTM), the temp fix the problem, simply log off windows and sign back on, should fix the issue.

Under DX11 + my custom made bits = Does not work, its in total handicap mode.

So if your looking to tune this game under DX11, please use: 392.xx & 43x.xx or under drivers + Win 10x64 Build 15063 (RS2-RTM) "ONLY" please, many thanks.

I quick tested the Glacial area to the cutscene where you meet up with that women with the bow & arrow, everything seems rock solid stable, few stuttering, mainly due to my lack of Vram during Cutscene's, even if you have Vsync forced to on, you still might get some stutter and a dip on your 1% & .1% Low's, but it is light and day difference when compared to Vsync being forced on then off, just make sure to lower your shadow + Ambient Occlusion settings if it dips below 60 fps (If on a 60hz screen).

Long term testing with these drivers have not been conducted, so test with extreme caution but initial testing results with this game under DX12 = Excellent.

I will be testing other games with these drivers so I will give heads up later.

EDIT ON EXPORTING PROFILES:

Just heads on these specific drivers.

For absolute hardcore/extreme sli tuners out there, if you already have an .nip saved nvidia inspector profile file from an older driver branch, example: 392.68, and you tried to open the existing profile with these newer quadro drivers, with the same old nvidia inspector version, will result in an immediate error/crash, this is due to when you saved a profile from an older existing graphic drivers.

If you still want to use the old existing nvidia inspector in question wit these newer drivers, please do the following:

Use the newest version of nvidia inspector, next, open up the existing profile (.nip) in question, then do: export all driver profiles (NVIDIA TEXT FORMAT), finally, open up the nvidia text format file with the old nvidia inspector in question, you should be all set, if there is still some stuff missing, open up a profile: Lost planet: Extreme Conditions, export the file and then import the file once again, go to your desired profile in question, should be all set to go.

EDIT ON OTHER GAMES TESTED:

Tested with: OS (Win 10x64 Build 15063 (RS2-RTM) Update Version: 2679

Hellblade: Under 4-Way Sli + Custom made engine.ini + Custom made bits = Extremely sensitive when changing resolution, do not use these drivers, please use 392.xx / 43x.xx and under drivers + Win 10x64 Build 15063 (RS2-RTM) "ONLY", thanks.

ECHO: Under 4-Way Sli + Custom made engine.ini + Custom made bits = same results as hellblade, when changing your resolution, you will get a black screen, may take 5 mins to settle things down, even if you manage to get back into the main windows screen, the screen will still remain black, have to push power button down and restart system, please use the same specific graphic drivers and windows 10 x64 build as explained with Hellblade, many thanks.

DOOM3: Under 4-Way Sli + Reshade + Dhewm3 + Redux Mod 2.0 (RC) + Nvidia Inspector Forced AA: when using custom resolution (Above Native Resolution), the scaling is absolutely there but there is some Frame Pacing issues, I tried under DSR, Reshade hinder the scaling significantly, please use 392.xx drivers, Light and day difference, thanks.

Black Desert Online Re-mastered + 4-Way Sli + Reshade + Custom made bits: Under Custom resolution = Black screen right before title screen appears, could take up to 5 mins to settle down, Do CNTRL+ALT+DEL once you hear the window sound, should be prompt back on the main windows screen, also tried under DSR mode, its alot more stable but overall 4-Way scaling potential = total handicap mode, absolutely light and day when compared to drivers: 392.68, please use "ONLY" drivers: 392.xx for the time being + Win 10x64 (RS2-RTM), many thanks.

I think I tested enough to see the initial impression of these drivers, reverting back to the good ol' 392.68 drivers, absolutely light and day difference when it comes to overall sensitivity and overall sli scaling in general, huge differences, there is absolutely no comparison.

Also, just a major heads up:

Reverted back to the good ol' Quadro drivers 392.68, Tested with Hellblade + Custom made bits, Double checked everything, absolute staggering differences between this specific driver and the latest Quadro drivers: 473.81, Massive difference, Holy moly.

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - FFXI ONLINE + TEXTURE MODS + WINDOWER4 + RESHADE + {MSAA+SGSSAA} - UPDATE ON DX8TO9 INJECTORS - 8/16/22:

Just heads up:

d8to9 injector v1.1.0.0 from Atom0s + Reshade + {MSAA+SGSSAA} works perfectly, thought it did not before, very close observation, yes, its clearly working.

Another thing I need to point out:

If for any reason, you have to re-install FFXI Online, or even a clean windows install, there might be a chance that several of the following does will not work:

DG Voodoo2 (DX11/DX12 injector)

DXCPL.exe

Now I am having problems of making both DXCPL.exe & DG Voodoo2 to even work, now with DG Voodoo2, I am getting POL.exe crash, right before going into the actual game itself.

Also, under the Factory DX8 mode, Texture mods will work perfectly along with {MSAA+SGSSAA} but reshade will not work, you will need to inject to at least DX9 in order for reshade to even work at all.

Also, in regards to the D3DCompiler_47.dll, depending on which particular OS you have, whether 32-Bits(System32 Folder) or the 64-Bits(Wowsys64 Folder), if you don't have the D3DCompiler_47.dll, it is required when not in the factory DX8 API mode, but, if you already have in there already, there is no need to replace it with another D3DCompiler_47.dll, should be all set to go.

So those of you who are seriously tuning this game, if for some odd reason or reasons that DXCPL.exe or DG Voodoo2 don't work, please give:

Direct3D8 to Direct3D9 Proxy v1.1.0.0 a try,

Link: https://forums.ashitaxi.com/download/file.php?id=30

Please be forewarned that, this injector was solely geared towards Labtop users and it was built to go hand to hand with Ashita3 and not Windower4, although it does work great with Windower4, there will be times you might get an POL.exe error upon logging off or might come across where launching POL.exe from Windower4, and might get POL.exe crash all the time upon launching the POL.exe from Windower4, again, if you happen to come across this, the only way that I know of as of now is to do a system restore from an earlier point, I tried doing registry cleaning to delete all Windower4 registries, after re-install of Windower4, I still got POL.exe crash upon launching the program through Windower4, Even replacing a backup/good working POL.exe, still resulted in a crash, as always, please be sure to back up all of your Roms folder within the Final Fantasy XI folder before doing any modding, in the end, please extremely cautious when using this injector tool.

And yes, Reshade's AO (Ambient Occlusion) + {MSAA+SGSSAA} + Texture mods with the Atom0S injector, works perfectly, just be extra careful incoming POL.exe crash, which will come very unexpectedly.

EDIT:

Current Working Antialiasing Bits:

0x084412C1

Antialiasing Fix: ON

EDIT ON AA:

One more thing I need to point out here:

For quick indication that {MSAA+SGSSAA} is indeed infact working, two things that you must be aware about:

When under the factory DX8 API mode, while on the title screen area, if injected properly, you should already able to see if its kicked in or not.

Now, while under DX9 mode with the use the injector, at times during the title screen area, you won't be able to see if infact {MSAA+SGSSAA} is infact working, but while your physically on the game itself, you can clearly see that its infact working perfectly.

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - FFXI ONLINE + TEXTURE MODS + RESHADE + WINDOWER4 + {msaa+sgssaa+} + DX8 TO 9 INJECTOR - UPDATE ON OVERALL STABILITY - 8/17/22:

Update on the overall stability on this game thus far:

Played for few hrs under 4-Way Sli with the Fps uncapped, everything is running beautifully, absolutely no crashes whatsoever while playing the game.

One thing I need to mention here:

Those of you who are seriously tuning this game, there is an Sli Rendering method we need to look at:

AFR_of_SFR

Although this is working perfectly, on my side of testing, when enabling within reshade: Blooming_HDR.fx, the entire screen will covered in white color, I switched back to SFR rendering mode, does not have this problem.

Speaking about SFR, SFR in general seems to be running excellent, but majority of my testing was set to Autoselect.

If you want to test it under SFR, here is my custom made bits, and yes, some stuff has been changed:

Current custom made bits:

Ambient Occlusion Compatibility: 0x00000021 (Gears of War)

Antialiasing Compatibility: 0x084412C1 (Works excellent along with reshade + AO)

Antialiasing Fix = ON

SLI Broadcast Bits (DX9): 0x00000603

SLI Compatibility Bits: 0xA0C03005 (For SFR rendering mode only) / For Autoselect rendering mode, please set the first hex down: 0x0<<~~ to digits either 0,1 or 2, 0 should work with no issues.

Sli Specific Hacks: (DX9) Not used

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT:

Forgot to add some things here:

Within 8 - Extra:

ASYNC9_ENABLE: 0x37605846 When safe - Enable AsyncDevice except in configs that do not work (some SLI, Optimus)

ASYNC9_PRESENT_MODE: 0x89624578 Force Async - All DX9 presents will be asynchronous.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, those of you who are running on under 4 identical cards as mine, You can use {msaa+sgssaa}, but be careful how you set these settings as to much will make the game totally unplayable.

For serious tuners who are tuning this game with the Fps uncapped, here what I strongly recommend:

For 4k (Either 2160p or 2400p), Please use "No More" then 4XMSAA+4XSGSSAA, for 5k (Either 2880p or 3200p) Absolutely no more then: 2XMSAA+2SGSSAA, and yes, even at 5k with no AA, you will absolutely still see shimmering,etc within grasses/bushes/certain textures,etc, Even while using Supersampling within Windower4 at these high resolutions, it is no where near perfect, there is still quite a bit of aliasing involved, MSAA+SGSSAA will absolutely help this problem but at a cost of tremendous performance hit but absolutely worth using, massive difference between this and the supersampling setting within Windower4, it will stress down even the most demanding Gpu's out there, barnone.

So within Nvidia Inspector, if I play this game under 4k, this is how my MSAA+SGSSAA will look like:

3 - Antialiasing:

Antialiasing - Mode: Override any application setting

Antialiasing - Setting: 4x [4x Multisampling]

Antialiasing - Transparency Supersampling: 4x Sparse Grid Supersampling.

Far as AO within Reshade, I am using Quint_MXAO.fx, Its set to 4 samples (Lowest) with tweaked adjustments, I would not set it to anything higher as if you are trying to maintain upper 50 to low 60 fps, it won't happen, now, if your looking to keep the game at factory 29 fps, you can inject much more stuff within reshade but be careful of incoming frame pacing issues, to much of these strong settings will increase frame pacing issues so be careful while tuning with reshade.

Now, single gpu user's out there that is extremely curious on how it will run with the same exact settings as mine + all the other stuff, including: Reshade (With MXAO) + Texture Mods with 4XMSAA+4XSGSSAA and a resolution of 4k (2400p / 16:10 aspect ratio) to go with it, along with fps uncapped and hopes to keep it on the upper 50's to low 60 fps, 2080ti would be the absolute bare minimum, even then, don't expect to keep it over 60 fps at all times.

Also, while I was testing out the overall stability of this game, both Shadows and Weather effects were enabled and worked without no issues whatsoever.

While using Reshade 5.3.0 version with the Add-on, to get the Quint_MXAO.fx to even work, please check the box where it says: Generic add-on within the add-on tab, also, check the box where it displays the current resolution that your playing the game under, you need to do this to get the AO to work properly, next, within the reshade settings, select Displaydepth.fx, you need to set it very abnormal, otherwise the AO will not work, please set it where the left side of the screen shows the Normals, while the right side shows the black screen and not the depth, I don't know why this is the case but apparently you need to set it this way in order for Quint_MXAO.fx to even work properly at all, be careful though, while in this condition, if your turning on SSDO, it will look totally messed up but I am not using SSDO so does not matter, HBAO.fx seems to be working ok but that's not including within reshade, you have to download that elsewhere.

I also tried RTGI (Real-time Global Illumination) / Pathtracing from Marty Mcfly, it does work but not working as effective and the performance hit is absolutely insane, if your going to test this particular setting, please disable MSAA+SGSSAA as both of these will defin't make your game absolutely unplayable.

So far, game itself while playing is Concrete stable, I am very confident that all the other zones should have 0 problems.

This game will be like Black Desert Remastered online, more time I am playing it under 4-Way Sli, I will constantly update the amount of time invested on the game, so always be sure to check out my front page (Page 1), where it shows all the hrs currently invested in all my current and old projects, thanks.

In the future posts, I will show image differences, with and without reshade.

So, far as my impression thus far in this game under 4-Way Sli, Which is absolutely insane, while playing = 2 Brutal thumbs up.

Overall AA quality with the nvidia inspector AA injection while playing with reshade = Pretty damn good.

All in All = SMFH!

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - FFXI ONLINE + TEXTURE MODS + RESHADE + WINDOWER4 + {msaa+sgssaa+} + DX8 TO 9 INJECTOR - UPDATE ON HBAO.fx & COMPLING SHADERS ERRORS - 8/19/22:

Update on the use of HBAO.fx within reshade:

Although this works great along with Quint_MXAO.fx, there appears to be some flickering issues, it also seems that it affects while using MXAO as well.

If you happened to try both of these at the same time and if you disable HBAO.fx and just use MXAO and still see flickering issue, log out the game completely, playonline viewer and all, log back on the game, should fix the issue, try not to use HBAO.fx for the time being, thanks...

Moving forward, I been getting some issues on Compiling shaders upon launching the game, it seems that whatever reshade you have left turned on prior to logging out the game, once you come back on with these shaders turned on upon launching the game, there could be a chance that some of your shaders that you were currently using could be in red (Error compiling shaders),

To work around this issue, prior to logging off the game, disable the shaders that your currently using, once your back on the game, just turn them back on, should be all set to go, please make sure you keep a backup of your working shaders just in case you do get an error in red when compiling shaders, no need to uninstall and re-install reshade, just use the ones you backed up (Shaders), should be all good to go.

Zones I have currently been in and tested around with:

West Ronfaure
La Theine Plateau
Valkrum Dunes
Konschtat Highlands

Also, within the zone: Konschtat Highlands, it seems AshenbubsHD-Prime is taking over first on top of Nextgames mods, I set it to where Nextgames comes first then AshenbubsHD-Prime second, appears in this zone, the main background textures, Ashenbubs takes effect first.

I mainly use the AshenbubsHD-Prime, solely for npc's,charc,etc, while Nextgames does everything else, I am not a fan of that very smearing/Crayon look on AshenbubsHD-prime on the background textures, I would choose Amelila's Texture over these any day, the smearing looks while using AshenbubsHD-Prime, is similar to the smearing look while playing an Snes/genesis emulator and using a specific filter, not a huge fan of it at all, although it does look crisp and clean, not a fan of the smudging/smearing look to it.

So far, game has been absolutely Concrete stable.

There was one instance where I was stuck right upon the title screen, I was trying to use an injector called: ENBinjector, which helps 3rd party programs, such as Msi Afterburner to get it to work, I tried using that with this game, got a black screen, system went unresponsive for about 4-5 mins, then everything was fine then, so please don't use this particular injector for any means, thanks.

Played good 3+ hrs just recently, so far so good, taking a break.

EDIT on other areas:

North & South Gustaberg: Seems to be working excellent.

Bastok area: There seems to be some stuttering issues in the Bastok area, whether it be Bastok Mines or Bastok Markets, even without reshade + using Vsync forced on, didn't seems to help, I will try more testing later but this area seems to require some work, more updates to come later.

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - FFXI ONLINE + TEXTURE MODS + RESHADE + WINDOWER4 + {msaa+sgssaa+} + DX8 TO 9 INJECTOR - STUTTERING PROBLEMS IN BASTOK AREA, FIXED - UPDATE - 8/20/22:

Fixed the stuttering problem with the Bastok area...

This may or may not work on places such as: Jeuno, San d'oria, Windurst to name a few as these areas, hasn't really been tested through, but serious/extreme Sli tuners out there that's having this issue, I have found a fix:

Apparently, it seems the stuttering is coming from AshenbubsHD-Prime Texture mod.

I checked Nextgames mods by itself, no stuttering, next, I used Nextgame mod along with AshenbubsHD-Basic and there was no stuttering, It could very well be that my Vram (4gb) was completely exhausted, I further checked under MSI Afterburner graph, Vram is almost 3.6gb, I have to double check on the system ram usage as if its over a certain amount, its using it as buffer, so need to check on that as well.

Those of you who are on a 60hz screen, you might want to force Vsync in this area as it will smooth out everything, stuttering wise, when compared to using: AshenbubsHD-Prime, absolutely staggering differences, so for those who are seriously tuning this game, might want to try the above method.

Also, {msaa+sgssaa} within nvidia inspector along with reshade, everything is absolutely smooth while Vsync is turned on, just try to stress the gpu's down to where you get slightly above 60fps, all set to go.

For any additional stuttering in other areas that I have not tested yet, try using Nextgame + AshenbubsHD-Basic, should see world of difference.

More updates coming.

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EDIT ON 8/22/22:

Major correction on the use of AshenbubsHD-Basic

I did not inject that particular mod as it was not in the Xipivot > Data > DATs folder, only the Nextgames and AshenbubsHD-Prime was in the folder at the time of testing, so I do apologize.

I am currently testing Nextgames Texture mod + AshenbubsHD-Basic in town/castle areas.

I'll keep everyone posted, thanks.

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EDIT ON 8/22/22:

Just recently tried out: Nextgames + AshenbubsHD-Basic in Bastok & Jeuno areas, here is my experiences thus far:

Overall, plays extremely well but here are some flaws:

There is some stuttering, usually pertains in the same spot, but, once you come back to that particular spot, the stuttering is not present (Depending on the spot), also, if your zoning out to another area, for instance: Bastok markets to Bastok mines then coming back to Bastok Markets, those stutter spots will still be present, again, once you hit these stutter spots, then come back to it, you should not experience any stutter, if so, very minute.

I also lowered my Resolution a bit to get the 60+ fps + reshade, I tried running it @ 3504x1971 (16:9 aspect ratio) + {4xMSAA+44xSGSSAA}, holding on its own very nicely.

I also double checked the Vram Utilization along with my system Ram usage, both are well within range, Vram I saw about almost 2.8gb Vram, Main physical ram, almost 6gb usage, so well within range.

My personal recommendation on people who are currently tuning this game under similar setup as mine, for now, if you want to run with smoother experience, going into towns, back to outside solo'ing, etc, I would highly suggest/recommend just using Nextgames Texture mods, if you want to use the AshenbubsHD Mod, I would strongly recommend using the Basic version, nothing more at this point, again, if you want smooth transition within outside and town area, don't use any of the AshenbubsHD mods, and try to force Vsync while your at it, try to maintain slightly above your monitor's refresh rate at all times, this way, you will have much better gpu usage across all of your working/testing Gpu's and on top of that, absolutely smooth gameplay and yes, when forcing vsync on to 60hz on my end (I am on a 60 hz screen), it is smooth as butter (With the exception of the stutter spots when mods are being used).

If anyone is interested in the Aspect ratio caculator, here is a good one to fine tune your resolution in accordance to your proper aspect ratio for your monitor, as always, tune with absolute caution:

https://calculateaspectratio.com/

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EDIT ON AREA's: JEUNO/WINDURST - 8/22/22:

Just briefly tested the area: Jeuno & Windurst with Nextgames texture mod + AshenbubsHD-Basic, same as Bastok areas, once you hit the stutter spots then come back to the same exact spots, its no longer there, also, double checked within the ouside zone within the Bastok area, everything runs absolutely smooth, absolutely no stuttering.

Just per remainder to all:

You can still use Nextgames mod + AshenbubsHD-Prime in the outside zones only, from what I can tell, there is absolutely 0 problems.

And just heads up on the overall stability while playing the game:

Under 4-Way Sli: Rock/Concrete stable, far as crashes while playing: 0, if your fiddling around your reshade settings, there could be a chance that it will but far's on my end, wouldn't worry about it, game overall is absolutely rock solid stable.

Far as temps goes:

All 4 Gpu's are hitting well over in the upper 80% and into the 90% usage (60 Fps cap/60hz), while using the low voltage mod on all 4 Gpu's, Highest I seen was around 61c and lowest, 53c(4th Gpu), mostly in the 50's c while in a hot room of 83 degrees fahrenheit, no AC is being used, Excellent temps across all 4 Gpu's, also another heads up and per remainder to all, using Kingpin KPx thermal paste on all 4 Gpu's, along with my infamous spacers inbetween each gpu (Known to cut down up to 8 Celsius tops), Upgraded Thermal pads from Kritical pads on Vram and Vrm's, also in regards about fans, I recently changed this awhile back ago, Still using the Yate Loon fans but now switched from their best 140mm fans to their 120mm fans (Their best ones), as overall it blows quite a bit more air and also better overall temps across all 4 gpu's, infact, originally, that's what I was using anyways. Now using: 4X120mm Yate Loon Fans (Best ones) right above the 4 gpu's, another 1X140mm Yate Loon (Best One) fan right behind the 4 gpu's, acting as an exhaust for better overall temps.

And to end it all:

For those who are tuning to the absolute buggery on a 60hz screen & running the game through Windower4, do the following method while playing:

//Config FrameRateDivisor 0

This will uncap your frame rate, if you put it under 1, it will cap it to 60, 2 will cap to 29-30 fps range.

If your tuning the game with all the above mentioned stuff and also tuning within the 60 fps range on a 60hz screen, you might want to use the: //Config FrameRateDivisor 0 instead of 1, this will help a bit on your overall fps in general.

Also, be absolutely sure, that within Windower4 > Plugin > Config is installed, otherwise the Fps cap will be limited to 29, the //config method won't work, thanks.

Far as resolution of choice, some stuff has been changed:

If using 4XMSAA+4XSGSSAA along with Reshade's MXAO (X4 Samples), along with other shaders, resolution of choice, in order to keep 60 fps mark (Vsync/60hz screen), resolutions now using are as follows:

Gpu's: 4 GTX 970's / 2080ti (Bare minimum) Gpu or equivalent

Outside/Exp areas: 3408x2130 (16:10 Aspect Ratio) / 3408x1917 (16:9 Aspect Ratio)

In Towns/City areas: 3304x2065 (16:10 Aspect Ratio) / 3312x1863 (16:9 Aspect Ratio)

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EDIT ON MXAO - 8/22/22:

In regards about reshade's: MXAO, you can go high as X8 samples (Outside areas only), but, you might want to turn off your weather effects within the in-game options, there is a performance hit with weather effects while MXAO is in use, even @ X4 MXAO with weather effects, still quite bit a performance hit, try to see which one will work for you. Far as shadow quality goes, you can try to use normal settings, if you still got some gap left, try setting it on high, be careful when toggling to high settings in huge crowded areas as you will experience a massive hit in performance, best to leave it off in huge crowded areas.

As always, tune with absolute extreme caution.

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EDIT in regards about: Windower4 built in Supersampling + {MSAA+SGSSAA}:

Forgot to mention this earliler:

While using Supersampling option within Windower4 along with Nvidia inspector forced Antialiasing, whether 2XMSAA+2XSGSSAA or 4XMSAA+4XSGSSAA while reshade is being used, game will be absolutely unplayable, there is a very serious adverse reaction when used in conjuction, it seems the AA on both is working perfectly but there is major performance issues, I would totally refrain from using it, just disable the Supersampling that's built in Windower4 and use the forced AA injection through Nvidia Inspector instead, many thanks.

 

GTX 970 - 4-WAY SLI - ECHO + RESHADE - Quint_SSR.fx CONFIRM WORKING - UPDATE - 8/24/22:

This was tested with the newest release of reshade + Add-on.

Ever since I tested the Displaydepth.fx within reshade with FFXI online, decided to see if other AO's & SSR would behave differently as I have never messed with Displaydepth.fx before.

From initial glance, Quint_SSR.fx seems to be working properly, but the reflections itself is mainly around the edges of walls and whatnot, it does not reflect lights coming from doors, chandeliers, also, I went back to MXAO to see if it will behave this time, does not work in this condition, I also gave HBAO.fx a try. although it seems to be working but while moving, it gives off some unusual haze as well as more aliased edges, thus in end, decreases overall image quality of the game, PPFX_SSDO.fx on the other hand, behaves the same so all good there.

In dark areas, SSR is basically really not needed as you won't be able to see much at all in these areas, usually in the beginning of the game.


Also, far as performance hit is concerned, between HBAO and MXAO is alot, MXAO takes like 3 times the hit, depending on your resolution of course, MXAO is upwards 10fps, HBAO about 3fps or so, again, depending on how many samples your using.

I just recently went back on this game after several months of taking a break from this game, now back on it in full swing, along with hellblade+Reshade.

More updates later.