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The Future of Anti-Aliasing Settings in Question: NVIDIA Discussion

 by Derek Wilson on March 15, 2007 8:23 AM EST
50 Comments | Add A Comment
50 Comments

The Driver Enabled AA Question

Currently driver AA settings are very complex, especially for NVIDIA hardware. In-game settings are more compatible with each game on an individual basis, and future games will be able to support AA with floating point textures and enable CSAA in-game on NVIDIA hardware. So wouldn't the world be a better place if we could just throw out driver AA settings and rely on games?

Such a theory might work well for future games, but the reality is that driver AA settings are a necessity for enabling the functionality on older games or current games that neglected to include AA support in favor of floating point surfaces. In order to allow gamers to continue to benefit from these features while avoiding compatibility issues inherent in current an future games, NVIDIA is considering altering the presentation of AA in its driver.

We would like to make it clear that NVIDIA hasn't taken any steps in any particular direction at this point. In fact, any feedback we can get from our readers on these options would be of particular interest to their driver team. If any of these ideas stands out as a winner, please let us know on this article's comments.

One direction NVIDIA may go is to remove the override AA options from the general settings while keeping the enhance options on the main screen. This will allow gamers to enable CSAA in games that don't support the option in-game yet while encouraging the use of in-game settings for MSAA. For applications that don't have in-game settings, NVIDIA would still allow override AA to be set in the game profiles. This would allow older applications the ability to benefit from AA, and NVIDIA could disable the option in profiles for games that are fundamentally incompatible with MSAA.

We aren't sold on the idea of profiles, but it was also suggested that a coolbits like feature could be used to expose override AA modes. This would allow gamers who really know what they want to still have access to the feature in a traditional way after setting a specific registry key.

Another less complicated approach being considered is the addition of a warning box that pops up when AA settings are changed. This would be an informational approach to explain the possible complications of enabling override AA on an application that doesn't support it. This would have added benefit if NVIDIA included a list of games known not to support MSAA in this warning box (as these games should already be noted in their release notes).

The bottom line is that NVIDIA wants to provide the "... best default settings for the broadest set of users for the most likely scenarios." We certainly know what we as reviewers would like to see, but we would love to hear from our readers on the subject.

The Increasing Complexity of AA Final Words
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  • chizow - Thursday, March 15, 2007 - link

    Such a headache over a feature that should be streamlined and integrated. Sums up the nature of PC gaming though really. Not enough standards and guidelines, so there's no consistency.

    Not sure what the best approach would be, but from an end-user standpoint, I'd like to see a dedicated GUI similar to the 3D model in control panel that allows you to adjust image quality settings. Only I'd like to see it reflect actual game performance and available AA settings for any particular game.

    I don't know if NV is willing to undertake that level of support, but it would certainly make it easier for the end-user. Either have pre-configured .inf-like profiles for games or the ability to scan and assess games on any given machine and demo/benchmark them.

    Maybe the easiest implementation would be a timedemo of sorts. Like you could enable NV CP to run a game in stress test mode where it would just cycle through the different AA settings while you're playing the game, then report a summary of relative image quality and performance. Its not perfect of course, but right now testing is either subjective or a huge PITA.

    I'd love to see something like setting a target FPS and then allowing the drivers to enable the highest level of AA that still meets that target FPS. Right now the only way to really do that is to run a lot of tests (or reference reviews) and spend a lot of time changing settings, which takes time away from what you should be doing: playing and enjoying the game.

  • michal1980 - Thursday, March 15, 2007 - link

    couldn't nvidia just provide profiles with some settings set for games? if theres a game that doesn't support something, then have that feature dissabled.

    bf2 which i play alot, I sett AA in game to 4x (though wish it could go futher),

    and then set transaperancy AA in the driver game profile, because the game has no optition for it.

  • soydios - Thursday, March 15, 2007 - link

    I really wouldn't mind having a user-customizable performance profile in the graphics driver for each game. It would give me more control over the game, which I never complain about. For instance, I sometimes use ATi CCC to enable antialiasing in older games, but then I have to delve back into the driver to change it to "Application Preference" when I boot up BF2 or other newer games. It would be far more convenient for me if the driver would automatically load that game's profile when I start the game. The profile should include 3D settings for sure, and maybe color, brightness, even overclocks.

  • poohbear - Thursday, March 15, 2007 - link

    i personally set my AA setting to "let the application decide" in the CCC for my x1900xt and in game i usually choose 4x or the "AA high" option. most games allow u to specifiy how much AA to use, so that's fabulous, otherwise if a game doesnt have AA entirely then i force it through CCC. It's kinda annoying, but MOST games support it so i hardly ever have to worry about forcing it through CCC. :)

  • nefariouscaine - Thursday, March 15, 2007 - link

    I also use modded drivers most of the time that include the coolbits reg hack in them from the start

  • nefariouscaine - Thursday, March 15, 2007 - link

    well, I myself when it comes to such settings usually play the hit or miss game on each app I use. 9 outta 10 times I tweak out the AA settings in the drivers as a number of games don't go up to 8x AA but drivers do as well as have "forced" multisampling and super-sampling options as well.

    I've not really had too many issues involving this but more so in enabling AF in the drivers. This caused me many a crash in BF2 until I figured it out. It would be great to see more developers including higher level advanced options for graphics in games as the level of hardware continues to increase. I'm a firm believer that hardware shouldn't be bottle necked by the software its running (i'm talking games). There aren't too many games out that tax a 8800GTX and I'd love to see that happen, soon...

    I say make some warings that pop up when you enable such changes - that might help some but won't be perfect. I'm happy with the layout of the "classic" nvidia drivers settings but the new gets a big thumbs down from me as its too clumsy to find the advanced settings.

  • munky - Thursday, March 15, 2007 - link

    Modern games not supporting AA are a minority, and I don't see a reason to disable driver-override AA settings.

  • DigitalFreak - Thursday, March 15, 2007 - link

    If it's available, I always use in-game AA settings. However, games that have this option are few and far between. Considering how poor Nvidia's driver update schedule has been the last 6 months for anything other than Vista/8800 series, I think Coolbits is the way to go.

  • VIAN - Thursday, March 15, 2007 - link

    I hate to be bothered to constantly going into the control panel and changing the settings. So I usually leave the control panel to the highest quality settings, but leave AA, AF, and Vsync as an application preference.

    I love to use in-game settings to set these. I won't go into the control panel unless I really feel the need to in a game that doesn't support it. Because I also anticipate compatibility issues when forcing something the game doesn't support, I seldom go into the control panel and acknowledge it as a limitation of the game.

  • mostlyprudent - Thursday, March 15, 2007 - link

    I am at best a casual gamer. It has been quite sometime since I tweeked driver settings. However, I have been unhappy with the limitations of in-game settings in several games. If I had the time, I would dig deeper into driver settings to maximize the gaming experience and I think it would be a mistake to limit users to the settings provided by the developer.

    I don't think there is a problem with having a complicated driver structure (from the user's perspective) as long as there is a relatively simple set of settings adjustments in the game. Those who want more control will have to pay the price of a steep learning curve - as long as there is a good payoff in the end.

    Basically, I don't really have a preference as to the approach the driver developer takes as long as it doesn't eliminate the ability to tweek.
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