Discussion Antialiasing methods and Nvidia Profile Inspector

GWARslave119

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Mar 23, 2019
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Ok, I've fiddled around with these options with various results. Either I notice a visual difference as well as a visable impact in performance, I don't notice anything at all, or the first part but with issues. The last part I take it is where the compatibility/flags come into play, which I still don't get how people come up with different values that aren't listed in the pull down menus...is it just guessing or do they kinda know a bit about code and how the layouts typically are. I think it's called hexidecimal, the whole 0x00000000 format, and those are all memory addresses i assume that can change settings at a hardware level? I've found partial explanations when i was poking around earlier, but I still have things unanswered (bare with me, i'm not quite the logical thinker, so things that deal with logic or common sense tend to befuddle me).

First is I take it there's not a way to tell what AA method is being used in a game unless it says so in the settings, not like how RivaTuner can determine what API is being used and put it on the OSD. So there's a lot of trial and error involved to see which have any effect and which don't. And then there's several types of combined methods, is the only way to know which would work is just by trying? Or are there certain rules/conditions where one thing won't work with the other so things can be ruled out? And then there's weird combinations i'm not familiar with along with very high rates (VCAA, Gaussian, 32x/64x/128x) which i've tried before and not noticed any visual or performance difference. Can transparency multi/super be applied to anything? Or do they require certain methods for it to work... I.e. will trans. multisampling only take effect if MSAA is being used, and trans supersampling only work with supersampling, or with multiple combinations? And with MFAA, that can only be used if MSAA is in effect correct, but does that also depend on the game or directx/api version as well, cause i know it's only for specific Nvidia gtx cards (or more than just gtx, i forget). Also under transparency supersampling, there's Replay Mode settings, any brief explanation on those? The only one I'm familiar with is the Replay Mode All, which, when combined with a high postive LOD, seems like it (usually) strips the playing field of textures and all the stuff that make up the final product of what you see. That or, like with Warframe, everything becomes pitch dark except the menus, and War Thunder the ground or grass seems to float as if part of it was taken away.

And of course, I also assume there's no way of getting around having to restart the program for any changes in Profile Inspector to take effect. Odd because some games require that upon display changes, some games don't require any restarting at all, and some only require that map/level to be reloaded.

I also read that things are different with directx11, someone at View: https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/9xzkpz/antialiasing_transparency/
said you can't do transparency AA on the driver side, which I take it is what Profile Inspector or the NV Control Panel do, and i've seen things regarding Ambient Occlusion compatibilty: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sq0vgFlerS-YT093TS2jEpx6xjZP7X1x1BcAs7EHXYY/pubhtml as well as AA compatibility: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ekUZsK2YXgd5XjjH1M7QkHIQgKO_i4bHCUdPeAd6OCo/pub and how nothing seems to take effect with dx11.


I hope that all made sense and didnt' jump around too much ha...
 

GWARslave119

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Mar 23, 2019
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Oops, forgot to upload a few screenshots that went along with some of my babbling..

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