Nvidia tweaks to SH3/SH4

[Rubini]

Hi folks,

After some days in tests and with the help of our mates Periscope and mikaelanderlund, I finally finish my concise guide to enhance the image quality in SH3/4 using nHancer and nVidia cards.
I tested these tweaks using a C2D E6850, Gigabyte P35, 2Gb, 8800GT 512, WinXp, Forceware 169.21 WHQL and nHancer 2.3.2
These tips probably will be also useful for owners of others Nvidia cards, and perhaps, also for others sims.
Sorry, no pics at this moment, I´m really short in time, busy RL ;(
I will try to add them later.

Let's start:

The problems:
- nVidia hardware is really good but the image quality "out of box" really don´t mach the one of the ATI cards. The main motive is that nVidia uses another type of AntiAliasing (MultiSampling - more FPS, worse AA result, more shimmering texture in general) that isn't so good as the one of the Ati cards (SuperSampling). IMHO, this is really a cheat that nVidia uses to show more FPS on the bench sites...

- nVidia drivers have some specific problems with some games and Silent Hunter 3/4 aren't an exception: the sun halo isn't visible if we use anything more than 4x Multisample AA or Gama correction, the AA isn't entirely applied to the entire scene (this is very noticiable for any game that renders objects at high distance like the flight sims, etc) and the smoke in general is also affected by the AA type.
- these issues are more or less evident through the drives, but always present in some degree. Also nVidia choose to have specific hidden adjusts for each game what frequently makes the quest for a good image quality really a problem in the player hands.

The Solution:
- nVidia stock drivers are really very limited on AA types (image quality) but others AA types and others options are hidden on the drivers.

- nHancer - www.nhancer.com - shows to player (almost) all the hidden nVidia driver settings. The SuperSampling AA (SSAA) modes 4x4, 16xS or 32xS really shows the best image quality, the same of ATI out of box...but also brings a huge FPS hit and others small problems like the long dated sun halo absence and also making the smoke too tin. So, unfortunately this isn´t a choice for nVidia; the same ATI image quality will be never a true option for nVidia owners, because it isn´t completely bug free.

- to avoid the sun halo problem no more than 4x MultiSampling (MSAA) can be used and also the Gama correction can´t be used. To avoid smoke problems we need also to not use so much AA.

To finish - nHancer best settings for good image quality without any noticeable problem in SH3/4:
-in the main page at your right check Global, then in

- Enhancements page:
check MultiSampling 4x
check Super- Transparency AA
check AF 16x or 8x
check Vertical Sync Applicaion,

- Optimizations page:
check Texture filtering High Quality
check Tril. opt. Off
check Aniso sample opt. Off
check Neg LOd Bias Clamp
leave all the others settings unchanged

- Compatibility page:
choose AA Compatibility 20000000: EA Strategy Games (this is what makes a huge difference in image quality, forcing the AA to be applyed to the entire scene. This is probably also the best solution for Flight sims)
leave all the others settings unchanged.
Then just close nHancer and you are ready to go (no "Ok" or "Apply" button on nHancer).

Last comments:
-nHancer have a very good manual on line http://www.nhancer.com/?dat=d_start which will teach you also on how to make profiles for each game. It´s very simple and powerful!

-But be warned that the last Nvidia drivers don´t allow to use profiles automatically. Anyhow nHancer provides the possibility to activate profiles manually what is also very useful and enough if you don´t want to adjust the global settings for each game each time that you play them. I hope that the next forceware driver will fix this annoying limitation.

-If you have any comment or any other tip to enhance the SH3/4 experience when using nVidia hardware please share it with us!

Good Hunting!

Rubini.

[TarJak]

Great find Rubini! Thanks for this

[Subject]

Excellent!
Having just replaced my ATI 1950XT with an Asus 8800GTX and found the nVidea card must use far more "aggressive" settings to reach the same image quality. I'm sure this will help - and that nHancer thingy looks promising.

Thanks for the heads up!

[nikbear]

Thanks for the heads-up with this Rubini can't wait to give this a try and see some improvements hopefully

[Kpt, Otto]

I tried this out and it has been well worth it thank you Rubini for sharing it

I have had trouble with nvidai drivers ever since ive had an nvidia card, bought last year, its taken them several forceware drivers to correct several issues.

With these settings now I have smoke from the ships the like ive never seen!!! Wow! And the fires!!

There has been a framerate hit but nothing serious, before I was getting average 170 now 140 depending on what was happening in game but there is no problem. I could play around with the setting slightly and improve things slightly for my particular card, a GX2 7950 superclocked, which would trade quality for better frame rates but there is no need.

So thanks very much again for your good advice.

[Rubini]

Originally Posted by Kpt, Otto

I tired this out and it has been well worth it thank you Rubini for sharing it

I have had trouble with nvidai drivers ever since ive had an nvidia card, bought last year, its taken them several forceware drivers to correct several issues.

With these settings now I have smoke from the ships the like ive never seen!!! Wow! And the fires!!

There has a been framerate hit but nothing serious, before I was getting average 170 now 140 depending on what was happening in game but there is no problem. I could play around with the setting slightly and improve things slightly for my particular card, a GX2 7950 superclocked, which would trade quality for better frame rates but there is no need.

So thanks very much again for your good advice.

Thanks for the reply mate!
I'm happy to help!

[Subject]

Strange, but nHancer isn't a help here. And I don't understand the missing halo? Aren't we talking SH4 only?

Here's a demo:


Another demo, showing as good an image as I could get with the old ATI x1950 Pro.
nVidea do indeed require more AA to be as effective, but performance overhead is so great with this card, I rarely get below 100 fps...


My settings in nPanel:

AF - 8x
Gamma - Off
AA - 16xQ
Transparancy - MultiSampling
Texture clamp - off
Force mipmaps - none
Texture Filtering - High Quality
Triple buffering - off
Vertical sync - use apps' settings

I did experience nHancer screwing up nVidea's Control Panel Had to use System Restore to get rid of it again...

[mikaelanderlund]

Hi Subjekt,

You don't experience any sun halo problems when you using AA 16xQ? I have sun halo problems when I'm using AA above 4x:hmm: .

[Subject]

Made me wonder too... unless you won't call this a halo?


Can you show a sample? Perhaps we can track down, why there are differences and what causes them?

Card is Asus 8800GTX, driver latest nVidea 169.21 and mod is... still... GWX 1.03 with some modification.
Not shure if scene.dat hasn't been changed too...

[Rubini]

Originally Posted by mikaelanderlund

Hi Subjekt,

You don't experience any sun halo problems when you using AA 16xQ? I have sun halo problems when I'm using AA above 4x:hmm: .

Subjekt,
I second that doubt too...I will try yours settings but AFAIK also for me the sun halo isn't present with anything more than 4xMSAA. Using a 8800GT with 169.21:hmm:

What are yours specs (hardware)?

[nikbear]

I've finally managed to solve my nvidia problems and the mess that nhancer had caused by............getting an ATi card instead not impressed with nvidia to be honest and should have stayed with ATi,oh well you live and learn

[Rubini]

Originally Posted by nikbear

I've finally managed to solve my nvidia problems and the mess that nhancer had caused by............getting an ATi card instead not impressed with nvidia to be honest and should have stayed with ATi,oh well you live and learn

I will revert again to ATI ASAP. I just need to sold my new 8800GT first. Oh my god!

[Rubini]

Originally Posted by Rubini

Subjekt,
I second that doubt too...I will try yours settings but AFAIK also for me the sun halo isn't present with anything more than 4xMSAA. Using a 8800GT with 169.21:hmm:

What are yours specs (hardware)?

Humm...after some tests....yes you are right, is possible to have sun halo with 16xQ...but only with clear sky! If you have some clouds...then to really have sun halo only using 4xMSAA at maximum.

[Subject]

Originally Posted by Rubini

Humm...after some tests....yes you are right, is possible to have sun halo with 16xQ...but only with clear sky! If you have some clouds...then to really have sun halo only using 4xMSAA at maximum.

:hmm: really? Looked through my scrapbook and found some shots:


Specs:
MSI K8-Neo-something
AMD Athlon64 3700
Asus 8800 GTX

Originally Posted by nikbear

nhancer gave me more options but just seemed to make matters worse and it was a total pain to get rid of after freezing my nvidia control panel, so tonight its back to ATi with a 1950Pro and hopefully more joy and better results

yes, nHancer will do that to your nVidea CP and it is a pain! I dumped my 1950pro because of slowdowns when in action. Could end in a crawling 15-20 fps... haven't experienced that (yet) with the new nVidea.

[mikaelanderlund]

Originally Posted by Rubini

Humm...after some tests....yes you are right, is possible to have sun halo with 16xQ...but only with clear sky! If you have some clouds...then to really have sun halo only using 4xMSAA at maximum.

I don't have any sun halo when skyclear:hmm: . What is your new settings?