Dx10 Antialiasing

[SteveFx 258]

I have placed several posts on my blogs which cover my testing of DX10 and AA.

 

I have one computer, one graphics card a small 1680x 1050 20inch monitor, no background in computer graphics and no particular desire to annoy anyone.

I do not claim that these results are definitive or representative of what anyone else experiences...

 

But this is what I believe that I found on my AMD 7750 graphics card using CCC.

How this relates to Nvida cards I have absolutely no idea.

 

Firstly testing with DX9

 

1. I can tell the difference between 2xAA and 4xAA MSAA

 

2. I struggle to tell the difference between 4xAA and 8xAA with a static image (this is looking normally - not blowing up and looking at pixels)

 

3. I cannot really tell the difference between the EQAA/CSAA modes and the base AA level with a static image either.

 

4. I can easily tell the difference between MSAA and SSAA at 4x

 

5. I can tell easily the difference between SSAA 4x and SSAA 8x

 

6. Adapative AA works a bit but is a lot less than a clever SSAA

 

 

With DX10

 

1. The default AA is 4x MSAA and looks better than 4x MSAA in DX9 too. (yes I know all those guides that say AA doesn't work in DX10 Preview....)

 

2. Unlike with DX9 you cannot override the settings and force a higher level (number of samples) in the Catalyst Control Center

 

3. There is a fsx.cg [GRAPHICS] setting MultiSamplesPerPixel which Bojote mentioned in th BP=0 thread in 2010.

This does nothing with DX9.

 

4. Its defined in the FSX library right after the definition of the D3D10 string.

It does work in DX10.

 

5. I cannot visually tell the difference between 4x and 8x in DX10 !!! (But I can see that pixels are calculated differently) - as per DX9

 

6. I can tell the difference between 2x and 4x in DX10 - so I can make my IQ worse.

 

7. Although I cannot override and change the number of samples in CCC there are two ways to access the EQAA enhancements

 

i) The Enhance Application Settings works in CCC but only goes from say 4x to 4xEQ or 8x to 8x EQ

 

ii) There is a fsx.cfg [GRAPHICS] setting MultSampleQuality= which has the same effect. The values are obscure. I found a AMD 6700 document which told me that 8-15

match xEQ for my card. The Nvidia developer site has been hacked and is down. For the GeForce 8800 in 2007 8xQ was quality 8 16xQ was quality 16

 

8. Nonetheless I cannot really tell the difference between the EQAA enhancements and base AA (as per DX9)

 

9. The MSAA - Adaptive - SSAA slider still works with DX10

 

10. I can easily tell the difference between MSAA 4x and SSAA 4x

 

10. I can easily tell the difference between SSAA 4x amd SSAA 8x

 

11. I can easily tell the difference between DX9 8x SSAA and DX10 8x SSAA (DX10 is much better)

 

12. Adaptive is still not very good.

 

Thats it. In all cases on my AMD 7750 card DX10 can be set up to give better quality AA than DX9. Which I am sure that you will agree is a surprise. Perhaps the card is heavily DX10/DX11 optimised?

 

Nb AA cannot make the blocky DX10 cockpit shadows look smooth - AA stops smooth lines looking jagged, it is not meant to make lines that are drawn jagged look smooth.

[FIVE-BY-FIVE 453]

and now 1 more time in English :lol: :Thinking: :Nerd: :help:

[SteveFx 258]

Well I guess you could click on the link and look at the pictures?! :lol:

Actually don't - it gets even worse.

[pmanhart 176]

Us nVidia users must be lucky.

 

I use FSX AA with DX10 Preview, and enable Multisampling and use 4x Sparse-Grid Super Sampling via nVidia Inspector and only the cockpit shadows are jagged with little no shimmering in the scenery.

 

Your FSX DX10 fixes, combined with being able to enable Super Sampling via nVidia Inspector have opened up a whole new world of FSX possibilities for me.

[VeryBumpy 272]

I've been trying several settings on nVidia with Inspector with poor results. Is there a DX10 AA compatibility flag that is known to work well?

[TacomaSailor 191]

Thanks for the clear and concise post - it is nice to see someone write a technical document that is easy to read, provides the necessary data, and does not editorialize.

 

Nice Work!

[BimmerCop 332]

Awesome findings and I'm very surprised it has gotten only 4 responses since published on July 17... Thanks for your work on this matter...

[simba_nl 34]

Us nVidia users must be lucky.

 

I use FSX AA with DX10 Preview, and enable Multisampling and use 4x Sparse-Grid Super Sampling via nVidia Inspector and only the cockpit shadows are jagged with little no shimmering in the scenery.

 

Your FSX DX10 fixes, combined with being able to enable Super Sampling via nVidia Inspector have opened up a whole new world of FSX possibilities for me.

 

Well, I'm surprised, tested several times since 2007 with no luck but now I have in DX10 preview mode a perfect picture with AA so it's working and even the shadows are sharp as a arrow...

 

I made a quick testflight with the iFly 737 and the Lancair Legend and both are perfect in 2D and 3D Vision graphics with DX10 preview.

 

The only problem I have to solve now is getting the 3D Vision stereo graph in Windowed mode for using the FSInn/CoPilot window in my 3D stereo graph. As soon I put it on my screen my stereo image is gone. Funny thing, in DX9 mode I can have stereo in Fullscreen and Windowed Mode and in DX10 preview only in full-screen with the problem as mentioned.

 

Happy landings... in DX10 from now...

 

PS: I haven't tried the DX10 fixes yet, I tested on my normal setup.

[BimmerCop 332]

Us nVidia users must be lucky. I use FSX AA with DX10 Preview, and enable Multisampling and use 4x Sparse-Grid Super Sampling via nVidia Inspector and only the cockpit shadows are jagged with little no shimmering in the scenery. Your FSX DX10 fixes, combined with being able to enable Super Sampling via nVidia Inspector have opened up a whole new world of FSX possibilities for me.

Well, I'm surprised, tested several times since 2007 with no luck but now I have in DX10 preview mode a perfect picture with AA so it's working and even the shadows are sharp as a arrow... I made a quick testflight with the iFly 737 and the Lancair Legend and both are perfect in 2D and 3D Vision graphics with DX10 preview. The only problem I have to solve now is getting the 3D Vision stereo graph in Windowed mode for using the FSInn/CoPilot window in my 3D stereo graph. As soon I put it on my screen my stereo image is gone. Funny thing, in DX9 mode I can have stereo in Fullscreen and Windowed Mode and in DX10 preview only in full-screen with the problem as mentioned. Happy landings... in DX10 from now... PS: I haven't tried the DX10 fixes yet, I tested on my normal setup.

 

Hey guys, I am trying to get DX10 Preview to have AA but I haven't been able to. Here are my changes:

 

FSX: AA CHECKED and DirectX 10 Preview CHECKED.

 

nVidia Inspector:

 

 

[Paul J 349]

Your FXAA is disallowed and turned off, Efrain.

[VeryBumpy 272]

Your FXAA is disallowed and turned off, Efrain.

 

Probably on purpose cause FXAA is pretty crappy compared to proper MSAA and SSAA.

 

There is AA happening for me in DX10 of what looks like a hard set 4x which I am unable to change with Inspector. Shadows and 2D instruments are not being AA'ed.

[pmanhart 176]

nVidia Inspector:

 

You need to set your Transparency Multisampling to Enabled for the SSAA to work.

 

I'm not using FXAA, only 4x AA with 4x Sparse Grid SS.

 

Another thing to note is that the AA will not show up in the Aircraft Preview in the Free Flight Menu, but will show up as soon as the simulator loads.

[Dirk98 354]

You need to set your Transparency Multisampling to Enabled for the SSAA to work.

 

I'm not using FXAA, only 4x AA with 4x Sparse Grid SS.

 

 

Philip, is it plain 4x XX? There are [4x Multisampling], 4x4 and 4xS methods. Did you try going higher? What's your video card?

 

Thanks,

Dirk.

[pmanhart 176]

Philip, is it plain 4x XX? There are [4x Multisampling], 4x4 and 4xS methods. Did you try going higher? What's your video card?

 

I still use a GTX 480, and it's just 4x MS. I've found that anything over 4x MS is overkill when using the 4x Sparse Grid SS, as I cannot tell the difference between 4x, 8x, 16x with that level of super sampling.

 

I've also never tried to go over 4x MS in DX10, only when using DX9. It may be a limitation. I've attached a screenshot of my Inspector settings just in case anyone wanted them.

[VeryBumpy 272]

8xSGSSAA is useful in certain areas. see pic. This is DX9 btw, still unable to force higher AA in DX10.

 

Edit: hmm...seems you have to click on the pic to open it up in a different tab, it is suppose to be animated.