[Help] I changed my graphics card ati -> nvida and graphic quality took a plunge

[goldorak]

Originally Posted by Dr.Sid

It is the bad graphics I talk about all the time. DW runs in 16 bit mode only, which is just absurd these days.

ATI cards use dithering to fake more colors. nVidia cards don't. This banding cannot be disabled in any way, nor dithering can be disabled on ATI cards, as far as I know.

Oh my thats absurd.
Why can't I have a graphics card that has good rendering and excellent drivers under linux ?
I knew that Nvidia cards rendered at 16 bit or 32bit but I didn't imagine that would have such a terribile effect on DW or on any other game that uses 16bit color.
I've tried also SH III and Orbiter and these don't use 16 bit graphics but the banding is still present.
What a shame.

I like nVidia more, since ATI's dithering can create strange patterns and it moves all the time. It brings a lot of stress to the eyes, at least to my eyes.

I chose Nvidia this time because I was going to setup a dual boot pc windows xp and freebsd.

But all the other things should work in the same way .. reflections, shadows, and so on. Detail textures need some extra video memory, but that should only be problem on some old notebooks, not on recent videocards.

Yes thats no problem, but I noticed the banding effect almost immediately.
Its true that ATI may not have the greatest drivers on earth, but their cards are second to none when quality of the image is taken onto account.
Oh well, this will be my first and last Nvidia card until they manage to improve visual quality.
Live and learn.

[Dr.Sid]

Post screenshots .. maybe I don't understand what you are talking about ..

I had ATI, now I have nVidia. DW looks better I think, even with banding. But I see no banding in other games, including Orbiter.

I think it is not problem of ATI or nVidia. 16 bits graphic is just obsolete, DW is only game I now which does not support 32 bits.
As a developer I also absolutely see no reason for that.

[goldorak]

Originally Posted by Dr.Sid

I had ATI, now I have nVidia. DW looks better I think, even with banding. But I see no banding in other games, including Orbiter.

Uhm, did you look at the clouds at night in dw ?
Its absolutely atrocious. Way way badder than what you get with an ATI card.
Orbiter as far as I know lets you choose between 16 and 32 bit graphics.
Even if you chosse 32 bit graphics banding is present.
Its not as evident as in DW or SH 3 but its there.
While you're in orbit, try zooming on the atmospheric haze at the maxmium zoom.
You will see a very light banding effect.
You don't notice it without zooming though.

I think it is not problem of ATI or nVidia. 16 bits graphic is just obsolete, DW is only game I now which does not support 32 bits.
As a developer I also absolutely see no reason for that.

I agree, and it was one of the first things I asked about on the forum at the time the game was released.
The answer from SCS was that they couldn't for $$$ reason develop a new 32 bit graphics engine.
So they used a modified (?) version from the engine of sub command.
And that was 16 bit graphics.
Now the irony, is that even if sub command is 16 bit graphics, it doesn't look as bad as dw does.
And thats something I really don't understand. :hmm:

[Dr.Sid]

Hm .. this calls for side by side visual comparison. But I only have nVidia now.

[Castout]

Err what about some screenshots? What the hell is banding btw?

Thx for the info that DW is supposed to be played at 16 bit. I had some minor graphics glitches with 32 bit desktop.

[Dr.Sid]

Originally Posted by Castout

Err what about some screenshots? What the hell is banding btw?

Thx for the info that DW is supposed to be played at 16 bit. I had some minor graphics glitches with 32 bit desktop.

It should not be related to desktop settings. As far as I know you can't play in windowed mode when desktop is in 32 bits.

DW just always runs in 16 bits.

[Dr.Sid]

Look at the light reflection. You can see individial bands of colors. That is called banding. nVidia 7300 go.