Nvidia tweaks to SH3/SH4

[Schwuppes]

Hi Arclight!

Yes I just have a single 8800GTS G92.
I havent tried SH4 yet, still addicted to SH3 and GWX right now. And in stock res of 1024x768 I can even use 32xS AA with with very smooth gameplay.

When I use the res fix to play in 1680 res I have to drop it back down to 8xSQ.

[Arclight]

Hey dude,

Yeah, SH3+GWX is awesome, really love it as well. But the 3D damage in SH4 won me over (for now), nothing like blowing a gaping hole in a freighter. Just a sucker for eyecandy I guess. That, and I have a thing with the Pacific. Guess it's because I played P.T.O 1&2 an awfull lot in the past.

You never noticed the sun halo disappearing? Just a detail, but I can't stand the idea of missing some visuals... Geez, I really am a sucker for eyecandy, aren't I?

Btw; E6750, P35 MoBo, Kingston memory, 8800GTS... I'd say we have the same taste.

[CaptainNemo]

Wrong thread, plz delete.

[TopcatWA]

Can you tell me if there are any tweak settings in nHancer when running 2 video cards in SLI Mode? Do I leave it in the auto settings as I see EA Games SH4 is not listed in the Compatibility flags section?

[Ripper]

Originally Posted by hcwolf9

- Optimizations page:
check Texture filtering High Quality
check Tril. opt. Off or unchecked
check Aniso sample opt. ON (This removes Jaggies and removes the while lines you get around models and waves and rivits etc. If you are running 1920x1080 like me)

The last two options are always disabled when you have texture filtering set to high quality, so setting them has no effect.

Originally Posted by modisch

I found that this kills the antialiasing for me. The way I checked my antialiasing was to go to the bridge and give myself a good, angled view of the three metal plates the TBT is mounted on.

Same experience here. The description of "enhance in-game AA setting" seems to contradict the purpose of the "20000000:EA Strategy Games" compatibility setting so it's no surprise.

[Kloef]

Thanks for the tweak!

I've been trying different things out,and made a profile especially for SH4,the jagged edges are ok(4xAA).

Only thing i cant resolve is that i think the wake behind my boat is too dark,and the sky keeps moving quickly after i did a time acceleration,still sorting that out..you can make it stop by accelerating time and go back to time x1 a couple of times,and they go back in sync,looks really weird.

But all in all i am very happy,especially the AA makes the simulation so much better looking!!

[PappyCain]

I am running these settings - if there is better I am all ears but this is giving me good results:

Anisotropic Filtering = Application controlled
Antialiasing - Gamma Correction = On
Antialiasing = 16XQ
Antialiasing - Transparency = off
Conformant Texture Clamp = use hardware
Extension Limit = Off
Force Mipmaps = bilinear
Multi-Display/mixed-GPU acceleration = single display performance mode
Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization = On
Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias = Allow
Texture filtering = Quality
Texture Filtering - Trilinear Optimization = On
Triple Buffering = Off
Vertical Sync = Force On

[Arclight]

For anyone using Nhancer;

Click Tools > Activate Profile > Best Quality (no speeed optimizations). This will set the global profile to... well what it should be IMHO. Now select your game profile and make the tweaks you want.

For SH4;

Set anti-aliasing as desired. DO NOT use enhance in-game settings, as SH4 does not have AA, so there is nothing to enhance! Anything above 4x MSAA will remove the sun's halo and has some more negative effects. You can use transparency AA (multi -or super-) without losing anything... well, beside a little performance. DO NOT enable "Gamma correction".

Again, AFAIK SH4 does not have anisotropic filtering, so set it as desired, not application.

Set anti aliasing compatibility mode to "20000000: EA Strategy Games". This is to get AA working properly, but how and why this works exactly is beyond me.

If you're having frame rate issues, you can reduce your AA / AF settings, and / or enable some or all optimizations to gain some performance. Disabling / reducing in-game graphic options will also gain you performance. How you balance things out is up to you...



So Pappychain, since you asked ;

Anisotropic Filtering = Application controlled > set as desired, not "application controlled".
Antialiasing - Gamma Correction = On > off. You can adjust gamma in-game if needed.
Antialiasing = 16XQ > no halo, thin smoke, but it's your choice.
Antialiasing - Transparency = off > multi- or super-
Conformant Texture Clamp = use hardware > normally "on", set to "off" if your having anomalies.
Extension Limit = Off > normally "off", set to "on" if your having anomalies.
Force Mipmaps = bilinear > only use for old games that don't use mipmaps. Probably better to disable.
Multi-Display/mixed-GPU acceleration = single display performance mode
Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization = On > off for better graphics, it's a speed optimization.
Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias = Allow > clamp for better graphics (if a game uses negative bias).
Texture filtering = Quality > high quality to automatically disable all speed optimizations.
Texture Filtering - Trilinear Optimization = On > off for better graphics, it's a speed optimization.
Triple Buffering = Off > on if you're using / forcing V-sync.
Vertical Sync = Force On > SH4 has a V-sync option, I suggest you use that (set to "application").

I'm not saying you have to set it like that, but you can improve graphics a lot. Things like setting "force mipmaps" either does nothing at all or cause conflicts with a game like SH4. If you aren't already, I suggest you use Nhancer; it gives more info on options and provides additional links with info.

Hope it helps.

[PappyCain]

Thank you sir - I will give it a try! S'

('PappyChain' .. I resemble that remark!)

[Arclight]

could have sworn I used copy-paste?! Sorry mate, just a typo, I swear it.

I don't know if the difference is all that noticeable, but you certainly got the horsepower to settle for nothing but the best, graphically. I hope it works out for you.

[IronPerch]

... i'm feelig a bit lazy :

has anyone tuned an optimum solution to run SH4 with Nvidia's 7950GT (512MB) and Vista (Ultimate). Vista's performace rating is round 5 (cpu)? Currently i'm not quite happy with the antialiasing...

[Arclight]

I'd say set for max quality, and tune down if you need more performance. Max 4x MSAA if you don't want to lose the sun halo. First post and my # 191 should tell you all you need to know.

Optimum solution doesn't just depend on your card, memory and CPU also come into play.

[IronPerch]

Thanks Arclight, now the game looks great!!! And i didn't have to spend more than a minute for optimizing. The skyline still gives a feeling time to time that there is "large pixels" in the smoothly changing colors, but water, interriors and sub's are great. My black Porpoise has newer been so pretty during sunset

Here are my settings for 7950 GT:

Anisotropic Filtering = 16
Antialiasing - Gamma Correction = Off
Antialiasing - Setting = 4x
Antialiasing - Transparency = Multisampling
Conformant Texture Clamp = use hardware
Extension Limit = Off
Force Mipmaps = None
Maximum prerendered Frames = 5
Multi-Display/mixed-GPU acceleration = single display performance mode
Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization = Off (can't change at all)
Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias = clamp
Texture filtering = High Quality
Texture Filtering - Trilinear Optimization = Off
Triple Buffering = Off
Vertical Sync = Application

I get round 30 - 40 fps while inside the boat and 40 - 50 at deck/outside the ship. Map gives 60.

[Arclight]

I'm glad it's working out for you. But leave it up to me to find something to nag about :rotfl: ;

Noticed you have prerender limit at 5. Maybe you did this on purpose, i don't know. Copy from Nhancer:


"During the rendering of scenes, the driver usually accepts commands for more than a single frame. This way the GPU doesn't stall the CPU until it's absolutely neccessary.

If the GPU accepts the command for too many frames ahead, additional mouse lag can be introduced, though. That means that there is a very slight delay between the moving of the mouse and the actual reaction on the screen. Using this setting, you can limit the amount of frames the driver accepts ahead of the currently displayed frame. This should be left at the default value (3) to get the best performance.

You can get a faster reaction on your mouse movements in some games by lowering the limit. This might also cause a loss in framerate, though."


Maybe you can get a little boost in performance by setting it back to default, 3 (but maybe not ). Might be something to tweak a bit to get that optimum solution.

BTW I think you can't change "Anisotropic sample optimization" and "Trilinear Optimization" because "Texture filtering" is set to high quality. Setting it to quality would allow you to enable those (speed) optimizations and gain a little performance at a minimal loss in quality. Just a note.

[IronPerch]

Originally Posted by Arclight

I'm glad it's working out for you. But leave it up to me to find something to nag about :rotfl: ;

Noticed you have prerender limit at 5. Maybe you did this on purpose, i don't know.... Copy from Nhancer:


"During the rendering of scenes, the driver usually accepts commands for more than a single frame. This way the GPU doesn't stall the CPU until it's absolutely neccessary.

If the GPU accepts the command for too many frames ahead, additional mouse lag can be introduced, though. That means that there is a very slight delay between the moving of the mouse and the actual reaction on the screen. Using this setting, you can limit the amount of frames the driver accepts ahead of the currently displayed frame. This should be left at the default value (3) to get the best performance.

You can get a faster reaction on your mouse movements in some games by lowering the limit. This might also cause a loss in framerate, though."


Maybe you can get a little boost in performance by setting it back to default, 3 (but maybe not ). Might be something to tweak a bit to get that optimum solution.

BTW I think you can't change "Anisotropic sample optimization" and "Trilinear Optimization" because "Texture filtering" is set to high quality. Setting it to quality would allow you to enable those (speed) optimizations and gain a little performance at a minimal loss in quality. Just a note.

Thanks for naging . I raised the the prerender limit in purpose and i didn't notice any kind of lag, but maybe i should test the setting again with a convoy scene or something. I also like the quality, so if possible let it be High Quality