bFXAAEnabled versus iMultiSample

[DoubleYou]

Hey, I'm just happy to see that the built-in FXAA actually works. Somewhere I had read that it only worked on Nvidia cards, and I'm on a AMD APU. I need all the performance I can get.

[darkside]

Can we use Build-in FXAA with ENB?

[TechAngel85]

I think so. Try it and find out. :)

[Yakuza]

NVidia-controlled 2x2 SSAA + 2/4X MSAA controlled + FXAA looks best for performance, but you're running FXAA over a postprocessing AA as well as 4x supersampling (meaning you are rendering 4* your game's resolution per frame).

 

 

NVidia Inspector (get it!) is what you need to manipulate AA settings to the max for Skyrim with NVidia cards, but most of the settings blow compared to in-game FXAA, surprisingly. Stuff to know before messing with AA much:

 

-- EQAA is the AMD "equivalent" to CSAA. They do slightly different things; I would say EQAA is better for picture quality overall/is closer to MSAA, but CSAA gives far better edges.

 

-- CSAA/EQAA/MSAA/FXAA/SMAA/TrSSAA/TXAA are all post-processes (I think, not sure on last two). They alter the image after a certain point. This means that multisampling/filter/post-processing options in drivers should apply to them.

 

-- FXAA should ideally not be ran with any other filter/post-process, possibly not even supersampling/downsampling processes.

 

-- It's either/or for Transparency Multisampling and Supersampling. Don't run both.

 

-- SSAA processes each frame's resolution by a multiplier given by its AA value and then shrinks it back down to your resolution. This is downsampling, and gives the best quality image overall, usually. But it's a first-off process and it's a ton of work so it's quite demanding. #x# SSAA means WxH or "Horizontal resolution by Vertical"; 2x1 SSAA is rendering twice your resolution width (1920 if 1920x1080 monitor, for example), while 1x2 processes double your vertical resolution (2560x1440 = 2560x2880 frame rescaled to 1440p). Which you choose is dependant on the game and what you see more of, aliasing along horizontal lines (bridges, rails, roadways in racing games, etc) or vertical ones (guard rails, fences, trees, etc).

 

Order of AA options from NVidia in order of roughly best to worst from my testing for Skyrim, taking into account my personal performance hits vs. opinion on the image quality (though both will vary depending on your system specs and monitor/resolution/maybe mods to a degree).

 

WORST

======

NVidia FXAA toggle in driver (This used to be good; they removed functionality to it to push launch ready drivers)

No AA

1x MSAA Skyrim

2x MSAA Skyrim

2x Quincunx MSAA

1x2 SSAA

4x MSAA Skyrim

4x MSAA

8x MSAA Skyrim

8x MSAA

4xS SS+MSAA (1x2 SS + 2x MS)

8x CSAA (I rate this as 2nd best for performance, next to 16xQ or Skyrim FXAA if you can't handle 16xQ)

8xQ MSAA

2x2 SSAA

8xS SS+MSAA (1x2 SS + 4x MS)

3x3 SSAA

8xSQ SS+MSAA (2x2 SS + 2x MS)

16xS SS+MSAA (2x2 SS + 4x MS) (Too performance costly for a slightly better image than 2x2)

16x CSAA (Slightly better image, worse performance than its brother)

12xS SS+MSAA (2x2 SS + 4x Gaussian MSAA)

4x4 SSAA (that is 16x supersampling, 4 times your resolution times 4 downsampled - garbage for the performance)

16xQ CSAA (This one is very good for the performance)

32xS SS+MSAA (2x2 SS + 8x MS) (Didn't run it; too heavy for my pc. I assume it's great)

32x CSAA - Hands down the best I used. Sadly it does not entirely kill shimmering. It is so damn good though.

======

BEST

 

Once I hit 2x2, the difference in quality wasn't as easy to see. I paid attention more closely to edges and kept Transparency Anti-Aliasing options off for comparisons (on when testing), and that helped me judge which is best for my eyes.

 

 

Now, what I found in the end was that Skyrim's default FXAA - all by itself, as its meant to be run - blows them all out of the water. It has a little blur to it but the performance is retarded compared to 16x/8x anything that can even begin to touch on its overall quality I think. Every single AA option and combination I tried did not match up well to it alone. Except 1, which isn't supposed to be done, didn't run great and is supposed to be pretty screwy with frame stability and the likes...

 

2x or 4x MSAA Skyrim + 2x1 or 2x2 NVidia "Enhance application setting" + Skyrim FXAA, like I said at the top. This produced the best quality picture of all, at least if it was 2x2 SS + 4x MS. It had a little bit of FXAA blur left, but just enough to remove pretty much every shimmering pixel in Skyrim.. Performance wasn't great and I'm pretty sure it's very unstable but that is by far the best setup. I just can't use it myself since I already cut corners to run 16x CSAA. The weird part is that NVidia's driver 16xS could not match it despite me leaving Skyrim FXAA on.

Edited November 7, 2015 by Yakuza

[TechAngel85]

This is all assuming you don't run an ENBSeries Preset... ::

 

I run ENB AA combined SMAA on medium or high preset and never have a single jagged edge in my game. The performance cost (on my system) isn't much either.

 

Transparency AA should not be used with Skyrim. It will sometimes cause transparent walls and doesn't play well with some transparency in meshes; leaving visible lines around the edge of the mesh. This is most easily seen around fires/braziers.

[Yakuza]

Transparency AA should not be used with Skyrim. It will sometimes cause transparent walls and doesn't play well with some transparency in meshes; leaving visible lines around the edge of the mesh. This is most easily seen around fires/braziers.

Noted! I saw this and wondered what was up. I do like the effect it has on some water though..

 

 

Here is a very good comparison of various AA types. Wish I found this sooner.

https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1271159

 

 

SMAA is supposedly like FXAA, but has no blurring. When it was first released, people crapped themselves at how good it is. Sadly my card doesn't support it, but yeah. I would recommend SMAA over all in every environment I think (unless you can stomach performance losses to extremes).

[Greg]

You can get SMAA via d3d9_smaa.dll included with some ENB presets or you can download it from mrhaandi's crypto corner. All this is in Guide:ENB here.

[Spock]

@yakuza: I would always prefer no AA to FXAA because FXAA blurs textures and bugs on long lines no matter the implementation.

There is no real reason not to take additional cover samples when doing MSAA (named EQAA and CSAA), it costs almost nothing and improves the AA quality.

SSAA and DSR gets you more detail, it isn't as effecitve in removing edges though.

I'm also not a fan of combining pixelshader AA and driver AA because you combine the disadvantages.