Anti-Aliasing

[vgazoo]

  Recently, I have started using the Anti-Aliasing slider within the video settings for Aces High. It slides to 3 different settings from min. to most.  What would the recommended setting should I be at? Does this affect framerates, etc.?  The graphics look great set at the "most", (all the way to the right). Not seeing any real framerate drops or other problems. I'm just curious as to what others use, and your experiences with this feature. Thanks for any info about this topic, 1EAGLE1.

[Ack-Ack]

  Recently, I have started using the Anti-Aliasing slider within the video settings for Aces High. It slides to 3 different settings from min. to most.  What would the recommended setting should I be at? Does this affect framerates, etc.?  The graphics look great set at the "most", (all the way to the right). Not seeing any real framerate drops or other problems. I'm just curious as to what others use, and your experiences with this feature. Thanks for any info about this topic, 1EAGLE1.

The recommended settings for AA (anti-aliasing) in game really depends on your graphics card as enabling AA can effect your frame rates if your graphics card can't handle having the AA set to high.

If you already have AA set to full and you're not experiencing any negative effects (loss of FPS) then there is no reason to change it as your graphics card can handle the load.

Personally, I have AA disabled within AH because I use the SweetFX graphics injector to set my AA for the game.

[Pudgie]

  Recently, I have started using the Anti-Aliasing slider within the video settings for Aces High. It slides to 3 different settings from min. to most.  What would the recommended setting should I be at? Does this affect framerates, etc.?  The graphics look great set at the "most", (all the way to the right). Not seeing any real framerate drops or other problems. I'm just curious as to what others use, and your experiences with this feature. Thanks for any info about this topic, 1EAGLE1.

Hi vgazoo,

The short answer is set this slider at the setting that gives you the best looking graphics at the fastest FPS your vid card can put out.

Yes adding more AA will affect frame rates depending on the vid card (and system as well to a lesser degree) being used so the end result will be up to your tastes.

From my testing the 2 AH in-game settings that sap vid card GPU cycles more than all others are AA & EM, w\ shadows being a close 2nd.

Myself I set this slider full right for full AH in-game AA at 1024 textures then back off the EM updates to 1 notch off None w\ all shadows enabled but this is what I use according to the vid card that I have to achieve the performance I want.

Others may chime in on this as they get around to it..............

Hope this helps you out.

 

[streakeagle]

Nothing better than trial and error because the hardware and personal taste vary so much from person to person. I am conflicted because I want the highest possible image quality and a solid vsync at 60 Hz. Many of my games force me to sacrifice one for the other. AH has tended to be less of a load on my system and I have almost always been able to run higher quality settings at or near vsync 60 Hz from AH1 to AH2 and now AH3 alpha. Flying low near cities will test your tolerance for frame rate vs quality. I can't stand trees and shadows without FSAA, but I also can't stand frame rates much below 45 fps. When I start dipping below 30, I adjust some setting to get above 40 fps.

[alskahawk]

 As everyone said, trial and error. It depends on your machine. Also check the other setting within the game. Start with the draw distance sliders. The way I did it was to set everything to full. AA, Draw sliders, everything checked in advanced options. And then reduced to a livable frame rate.

[eagl]

AA shimmering and "crawling" textures can really wreck game realism.  I used to have 2 settings I'd use depending on what I was doing.  I'd have high resolution with lower quality (no AA, etc) for dueling and scenarios where living was important, and lower resolution with all the quality sliders turned up as high as I could get without losing framerate.  And I'd try to keep framerates pegged around 60 (monitor refresh rate), dipping no lower than 45 when things got busy, because framerate stuttering drives me crazy, wrecks any game for me.

Bottom line is if you really need framerate and high in-game performance, I'd recommend flying at a high resolution with the eye candy turned off and framerates pegged at your monitor's native refresh rate.  If you are flying for fun, then turn the image quality sliders waaaay up and then turn down the resolution until the framerate is "fast enough" for you, meaning that framerate stuttering doesn't bug you.

In any case, if you're not happy with the image quality then throw more money at the problem.  Buy an NVidia GTX980 Ti (or two), an obscenely high resolution monitor with 120hz refresh rate, and crank all the sliders up to 11.  If that still doesn't work, sell the computer and get into RC flying

Edit - you TOTALLY need to check out this thread if you really want to maximize flightsim image quality:

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,376467.0.html

The monitor tech they're talking about changes the monitor's refresh rate to match the video card's framerate output.  This makes ALL games feel much smoother with far less image stuttering and tearing.  But the monitor has to match the video card, so they're expensive.  If I was single and still into gaming like I used to be, one of these monitors would already be on order or on my desk.

[Bizman]

A layman's summary:

• Trial and error is the method.
• AA will affect framerate if your card can't handle the load. Simply put AA draws the lines several times slightly off each other. It either takes more time or more of the little demons trapped inside the card.
• The higher the resolution of your monitor is, the less you benefit from AA. When the pixels are small enough you don't have to smudge diagonal lines to hide the sawtooth effect.
• As for testing above cities, some maps seem to be tougher on the video card than others. Test with several maps and locations. The hardest environment is probably a large surface level furball against a horde right above a burning large airfield.

[streakeagle]

I have never seen a resolution where I didn't need at least x4 AA to get rid of jaggies. They are always there, and I can see them... even on a 4K Ultra HD monitor. Apple coined the "retina display" term. I want that (resolution so high that my eye is incapable of seeing pixels) on a 60" screen 2 or 3 feet from my face. Right now, I am using 1080p on a 46" screen about 3 feet away, and the jaggies are after me! x8 super sampling looks really good... no jaggies, no shimmering, but no frame rates either!

For those that can't see jaggies with no AA, God bless you! You can run awesome frame rates and still be blissfully happy.

[Chalenge]

Attached to the following post is an 8k screenshot of the AHIII program with AA turned off. On a 40" monitor even you cannot see jagged edges anywhere. I play at 4k resolutions with AA off and even if there are some jagged edges I don't notice them much.

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,377054.msg5022799.html#msg5022799

I believe we will have hardware available before the end of this year that will make 8k a playable resolution, although 4k will only just begin to enter the mainstream of hardware.

EDIT: You should maximize your browser and after the image loads click on it and use your mouse wheel to zoom in.

[Bizman]

@ streakeagle: 1080p on a 46" screen viewed from 3 ft away will definitely show jaggies because of the physical size of a single pixel, the covered area being 0.53x0.53 mm. That's 2,073,600 pixels on the entire screen. Since Apple puts the same amount on a 5.5" screen it's no wonder you can't see any jagged edges.

On the other hand, if you'd like to have a 46" Retina display, it should be something like a 16k as doubling the diameter quadruplicates the surface area and their 4k retina display is 21.5" of diameter.

[puller]

Ahhhhh...now I know why the roads and stuff like that move and crawl around....time to mess with my AH2 settings now 

And to anyone else reading this...if you have computer issues that you don't understand, just hang out in the Hardware and Software forum long enough and your questions can and will be answered...even if you don't post your problem....

[streakeagle]

I very much understand the relationship between distance and pixel size. I can simulate the pixels of a 4K TV by moving farther away to halve my horizontal FOV from almost 60 degrees to 30 degrees, in this case, doubling the distance to 72 inches is a good approximation. At that distance, I can still see pixels, particularly on text and instruments as well as canopy frames. At 3 x my current distance (almost against the wall) the pixels become pretty much indistinct, which is about 8 times the area of 1080p compared to UHD having 4 times the area. So at 46" diagonal and 36", an 8K display would be about right, but I am going to be going a little bit bigger to 60 inches for more FOV, so I might want/need FSAAx4 to get the smoothness I like. Of course, I already went through this on a 24" LCD monitor at 1080p: At a similar viewing distance with 1/4 the area, I still needed FSAA with a pixel size roughly equivalent to a 46" 4K UHD TV. Call me picky, but I don't like jaggies and they are still obvious to me at resolutions and FSAA settings that are good enough for most people.

[Bizman]

Lucky you! I used to be able to see the pixel grid when I started playing AH, now I need at least +1.5 reading glasses to see it.