Can someone explain the AA settings in this game?

[(ADORA)ble 🌈👊]

Google failed me. I've never heard of these settings and being forced to quit the game to change settings and not being able to change settings mid race makes it a wicked pain to figure out whats what.

[Smegger]

smaa and fxaa add a blurry type effect but cost less performance wise to aa settings, ideally want higher aa and leave fxaa and smaa off.

[TMoney]

All the "DS" settings are DownSampling AA. Similar to what nVidia DSR does, renders the image at a higher resolution and scales it down to fit your monitor.

Most people with a fairly modern gaming PC will find DS2X - DS4X to be a good setting. The DS2XM setting combines 2X downsampling with MSAA. If you have a lot of GPU power and memory you can pull of DS6X but that's Titan territory. If Downsampling is too much use MSAA or High.

[(ADORA)ble 🌈👊]

Okay thank you for that. I wish they'd either just called it down sampling or had descriptions of the settings.

[Mahjik]

Here's some info from the WMD forum (not by me):

The MSAA based modes are as follows: MSAA which is 4xMSAA & High which is an SMS custom 4xMSAA mode. The MSAA based modes are better at reducing flicker on vertical lines, like fence posts & lamp posts etc, but introduce white dots on edges (less so using High than MSAA).

The downsampling based modes are as follows: DS2X which is double height, DS4X which is double height and double width, DS6X which is triple height double width & DS9X which is triple height and triple width. The downsampling modes are better at reducing flicker on shadows and stabilise moving images.

There is one mixed mode which is DS2M. This combines 2xMSAA with DS2X. Sadly the although this does include downsampling, it doesn't reduce the flickering on shadows, in the same way that the pure DS?X modes do. It does introduce white dots on edges (as per the other MSAA modes), but to a lesser extend than MSAA (as it is only using 2xMSAA).

You can add Post Processing (FXAA or SMAA) to any of the MSAA or downsampling based modes, but you have to choose between FXAA or SMAA, you can't apply both. SMAA performs slightly slower than FXAA, but as both perform way better than MSAA or downsampling, you are unlikely to notice much difference fps wise between the two, if you are applying the, with MSAA or downsampling. Most people are put off by the blur that FXAA introduces. Personally I prefer it (as SMAA introduces some pixel creep in motion).

You asked about the best ratio for perfomance\quality for the various AA methods.
Post processing is incredibly effective for the minimal fps hit that it introduces.
MSAA, DS2X & DS2M are all sensible options, you just have to try the yourself to see which you prefer, IQ wise.
With High, DS4X & DS6X, you are getting into the realms of diminishing returns, however many run DS4X and a few High and even fewer DS6X, as they are prepared to accept the fps hit.
DS9X is for screenshots only, not driving !
The order in terms of the least frame rate impact, to most frame rate impact, is as follows: MSAA, DS2X, DS2M, DS4X. High can fit in below or above DS4X, depending on your system

MSAA, DS2X or DS2M and adding either FXAA low or SMAA low, would be a good place to start.

[(ADORA)ble 🌈👊]

Thank you for that Mahjik. Very helpful. Not used to seeing such helpfulness on the internet :P I was expecting to be laughed at for asking this, not helped by 3 different people :D Thank you everybody.

[Ser]

Good info

[Dmny]

Great info indeed. Using DS2X or MSAA combined with SMAA ultra I was experiencing flickering edges in motion, mostly on environment objects. As I read in that post, it might've been caused by SMAA. I'll try different settings today and come with an update.

[jan.helge.uggedal]

Publicado originalmente por Mahjik:

Here's some info from the WMD forum (not by me):

The MSAA based modes are as follows: MSAA which is 4xMSAA & High which is an SMS custom 4xMSAA mode. The MSAA based modes are better at reducing flicker on vertical lines, like fence posts & lamp posts etc, but introduce white dots on edges (less so using High than MSAA).

The downsampling based modes are as follows: DS2X which is double height, DS4X which is double height and double width, DS6X which is triple height double width & DS9X which is triple height and triple width. The downsampling modes are better at reducing flicker on shadows and stabilise moving images.

There is one mixed mode which is DS2M. This combines 2xMSAA with DS2X. Sadly the although this does include downsampling, it doesn't reduce the flickering on shadows, in the same way that the pure DS?X modes do. It does introduce white dots on edges (as per the other MSAA modes), but to a lesser extend than MSAA (as it is only using 2xMSAA).

You can add Post Processing (FXAA or SMAA) to any of the MSAA or downsampling based modes, but you have to choose between FXAA or SMAA, you can't apply both. SMAA performs slightly slower than FXAA, but as both perform way better than MSAA or downsampling, you are unlikely to notice much difference fps wise between the two, if you are applying the, with MSAA or downsampling. Most people are put off by the blur that FXAA introduces. Personally I prefer it (as SMAA introduces some pixel creep in motion).

You asked about the best ratio for perfomance\quality for the various AA methods.
Post processing is incredibly effective for the minimal fps hit that it introduces.
MSAA, DS2X & DS2M are all sensible options, you just have to try the yourself to see which you prefer, IQ wise.
With High, DS4X & DS6X, you are getting into the realms of diminishing returns, however many run DS4X and a few High and even fewer DS6X, as they are prepared to accept the fps hit.
DS9X is for screenshots only, not driving !
The order in terms of the least frame rate impact, to most frame rate impact, is as follows: MSAA, DS2X, DS2M, DS4X. High can fit in below or above DS4X, depending on your system

MSAA, DS2X or DS2M and adding either FXAA low or SMAA low, would be a good place to start.

So too get an average over 60FPS with an 4-way SLI on 980gtx , i75930K .. what will you guys recommend there?

[Mahjik]

Start with DS2X and FXAA on LOW.

[rauf00]

As Mahjik said, plus visual aspect explained:
http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/project-cars-comparision-benchmark-thread.104721

[jan.helge.uggedal]

Thanks guys!
Is SMAA or FXAA the best? whats the different? and when I get my new 1440p screen, will AA settings not be that important? or will that just be the case if you get an 4K display?

[Neawoulf]

Publicado originalmente por jan.helge.uggedal:

Thanks guys!
Is SMAA or FXAA the best? whats the different? and when I get my new 1440p screen, will AA settings not be that important? or will that just be the case if you get an 4K display?

Even on a 4k screen anti aliasing improves the image quality a lot. When you've got your new screen just try out what looks and works best for you. I'm not a huge fan of SMAA and FXAA because they make the image a bit blurry, but try it. Maybe you like it. At least both draw less performance than most other anti aliasing methods.

[jan.helge.uggedal]

Publicado originalmente por Thurgan:

Publicado originalmente por jan.helge.uggedal:

Thanks guys!
Is SMAA or FXAA the best? whats the different? and when I get my new 1440p screen, will AA settings not be that important? or will that just be the case if you get an 4K display?

Even on a 4k screen anti aliasing improves the image quality a lot. When you've got your new screen just try out what looks and works best for you. I'm not a huge fan of SMAA and FXAA because they make the image a bit blurry, but try it. Maybe you like it. At least both draw less performance than most other anti aliasing methods.

So you recomend just using DSX2X - DS9X ?

[Mahjik]

Publicado originalmente por jan.helge.uggedal:

So you recomend just using DSX2X - DS9X ?

Start with what I recommended.

[jan.helge.uggedal]

Publicado originalmente por Mahjik:

Publicado originalmente por jan.helge.uggedal:

So you recomend just using DSX2X - DS9X ?

Start with what I recommended.

So low fxaa does not mean lower quality ?
sorry for asking so much, but I'm in a learning curve when it comes to graphics ♥♥♥♥ on pc :)