Forceware drivers w/anti-aliasing support

Saturos

Saturos

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Hi guys, can someone who owns an NVIDIA gfx card tell me which version of Forceware supports anti-aliasing without anti-aliasing artifacting?


P.S. CptStern, if you can help me with this, I'll leave you alone forever. Nobody else seems to have the answer, and you seem like a know-it-all type.:laugh:
 
aa artifacting??? ive never heard of it

mind showing a pic?

artifacting is usually and only cause by an overheating video card or it is damaged.
 
d3_c17_06a0001.JPG Here you go. It's more noticeable if it's in motion though. They disappear as I approach. It's an old problem HL2 had with anti-aliasing support back when the game was first released. Also, here's a link from Gabe Newell stating how they were going to fix the problem. Everyone was to busy freaking out over Gabe to ask anything constructive though.http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3071
 
I know some games use different techniques for textures etc. And in some cases enabling AA ingame vs in the driver control panel has different results.

Not sure if there is a driver version that will help you out. FYI a lot of Nvidia cards do not use 6x AA so make sure you are not trying to use that in the game menu.
 
I'm 100% positive it's not my hardware though. It only happens when aa is enabled, whether it's by Forceware control panel or the in-game aa settings. If there's no solution to my problem, could someone go to this location (Anti-Citizen One Tunnels)and tell me if they have the same problems with aa? This is totally not fair as it is beyond my control. Without aa, HL2 isn't nearly as pretty.
 
If that's the case; maybe its more of an engine rendering issue than video? I agree with Giant; I never heard of such a thing as one forceware with corrupted AA and one without.
If a version of forceware is corrupted Nvidia would simple update and such forceware would simply be ousted with new forceware.
I think Valve has updated hl2 with AA artifact; That thread being almost 5 yrs old. And Like Gabe said "Its the game that's causing it" Steam should update your copy of hl2 accordingly.

Good Luck.
 
but all my HL games are updated to 100%, as well as the Steam platform itself. As far as I know, I didn't have this problem with Episode One for some reason. I think I finally have a problem to stump even the savviest of technophile enthusiasts.
 
Saturos said:
I'm desperate.;( You shouldn't have said that, now nobody's gonna help me, yet again;(;(;(
Click to expand...

so its not overheating or was that discussed in the thread before. i dont remember what happened in it
 
67 degrees on the first GPU and 57 degrees on the second when loaded. 62 degrees and 57 degrees when idle. FEAR, Doom3, Serious Sam 2, among others, have no trouble with graphics. I do think it's a rendering issue on behalf of Valve. Maybe Steam is giving me bogus cache files by mistake or something. But how do I get their attention on this?
 
I've seen that in other games (such as WoW). You aren't going crazy. I can load up that level and check my HL2 game but I have an ATI card.
 
Asus said:
I've seen that in other games (such as WoW). You aren't going crazy. I can load up that level and check my HL2 game but I have an ATI card.
Click to expand...
It would be much obliged. But since you have an ATI card, you get the benefit of Centroid Sampling, which NVIDIA users don't have. (Maybe Centroid Sampling was never implemented either.):rolleyes: It's just strange hearing others saying how pretty HL2 is at 4x or 8x MSAA, but they never reported this problem.
 
I get the same thing when using ingame AA settings. AA disabled does not have it. None of the other settings (texture quality, AF etc) make an impact. But I only noticed it at that specific location you mentioned (in that picture). No were else in the level.

I'm going to test the control panel settings now.

EDIT
AA via Game menu
No AA
AA via driver panel
(Adaptive AA for transparent textures not enabled)
 
So if everyone (Nvidia and ATI users) do notice this "Artifacts" then this should have something to do with the game and not the hardware?

I'm graphic fanatic type, and I love to max-out everything the game overs, plus, through Nvidia control panel.
I did reinstall Steam after finishing hl2 and I can't load that level without replaying the entire game or unlocking levels. But I don't remember seeing artifacts the first, the second, the third and forth time I played hl2.

Let's see what Asus says.
 
Not faulty hardware. Just how the game uses AA.

9600/9800 went above and beyond DX9 (SM2.0) and had centroid sampling. Nvidia FX cards did not. But under DX9c with SM3.0 it should be supported by either brand's hardware. The issue probably is centroid sampling not getting enabled.

As for why people say good things about AA and HL2. The big thing that stood out previously in HL2 was all the textures for trees, fences etc did not get any treatment from the AA. That was before both GPU brands enabled transparency AA. Probably why lot of people rave about having AA enabled in HL2 now.
 
Asus said:
Not faulty hardware. Just how the game uses AA.

The big thing that stood out previously in HL2 was all the textures for trees, fences etc did not get any treatment from the AA. That was before both GPU brands enabled transparency AA. Probably why lot of people rave about having AA enabled in HL2 now.
Click to expand...
At least now I know I'm not alone. Thank you Asus and Barney Fife for sticking with me, I'm a bit more relieved now. But isn't there some way you could use your HL2.net staffly powers and inform Valve that this problem still exists? I just don't understand how Valve could be so vigilant with software updates, and how so many fans and NVIDIA enthusiasts are so googly eyed over the graphics and they don't see that the problem still persists.:rolleyes: BTW: I have DX 9.0c hardware, but since I have an NVIDIA card, does that mean I'm out of luck? Also, you probably have Centroid Sampling, then why do you still have the artifacts? So that means that the techniques explained by Gabe have been implemented, the artifacts just are not as severe as it used to be right?
 
The control panel just gives the driver some other instructions that the in-game setting doesn't. Not uncommon.

I'm wondering if Nvidia went against full DX9c spec and did not include centroid sampling in their hardware? (7800, 7900 series) Or is cent. sampling just optional in DX9c...
7800 spec list side-by-side X850XT and 6800. Scroll down and you can see Centroid Sampling listed under the ATI card for AA specialty. But not the Nvidia cards.
 
Asus said:
The control panel just gives the driver some other instructions that the in-game setting doesn't. Not uncommon.

I'm wondering if Nvidia went against full DX9c spec and did not include centroid sampling in their hardware? (7800, 7900 series) Or is cent. sampling just optional in DX9c...
7800 spec list side-by-side X850XT and 6800. Scroll down and you can see Centroid Sampling listed under the ATI card for AA specialty. But not the Nvidia cards.
Click to expand...
Did you have a thorough look at that link I sent earlier with Gabe's post? I know it's old, but he did mention that NVIDIA's GPU's doesn't support Centroid Sampling. I doubt that'll ever change either.:P Still, I'm a bit puzzled as to why your still getting the artifacts. I at least expected owners of newer NVIDIA cards to still have the problem. What ATI card do you have again? I'm pretty certain that your card should have supported Cent. Sampling.
 
(Saturos sits with a dumbfounded look):| Uhh, what should we do now? There's definitely a discrepancy in Cyberspace somewhere.
 
Nvidia hardware (6800 and on) does support centroid sampling. Saw a Nvidia pdf and some other sites that say so. Although it is not advertised. lol
ATI puts it on pretty much all spec info for their cards and for reviews.

The only setting I saw in the Nvidia control panel that referred to texture boundaries was 'Conformant Texture Clamp', but that is just for OpenGL.
 
Heh, 6800 cards were released at around the time HL2 was released, and around the time aa artifacting complaints were in full swing. This is so irritating. Why would Gabe say such things if it wasn't true?:| If only Steampowered.com had a live chat support desk. I wonder if Linux/OpenGL users have any trouble with aa artifacting with the "Conformant Texture Clamp" setting enabled?
 
Have you tried enabling Super Sampling (instead of multi-sampling). Big performance hit but it is more thorough. (MSAA - "Additionally, samples are reused for neighboring pixels, meaning that less calculations have to be done.")

Gabe was talking about 9600/9800 vs FX series specifically back then. But I think ATI and Nvidia would be the ones needing to tell their driver to use centroid with MSAA in HL2. I remember Gabe saying ATI would have to write another driver for it.
 
Asus said:
Have you tried enabling Super Sampling (instead of multi-sampling). Big performance hit but it is more thorough. (MSAA - "Additionally, samples are reused for neighboring pixels, meaning that less calculations have to be done.")

Gabe was talking about 9600/9800 vs FX series specifically back then. But I think ATI and Nvidia would be the ones needing to tell their driver to use centroid with MSAA in HL2. I remember Gabe saying ATI would have to write another driver for it.
Click to expand...
Do these chip makers have a suggestion box like Microsoft's Windows/Office Live? I'd definitely would post that suggestion if so. Yeah, I always use SuperSampling, it makes certain textures alot more crisp, and I still can run the game at around 50-60fps with it enabled. But, as they say, one rotten apple spoils the whole bunch, and it doesn't matter how pretty SuperSampling makes things look. Oh, and I tried disabling this completely to see if that would remedy the problem, but to no avail. Thankfully, the artifacts are only prominent in certain areas, and less noticeable in others.
 
Saturos said:
View attachment 20377 Here you go. It's more noticeable if it's in motion though. They disappear as I approach. It's an old problem HL2 had with anti-aliasing support back when the game was first released. Also, here's a link from Gabe Newell stating how they were going to fix the problem. Everyone was to busy freaking out over Gabe to ask anything constructive though.http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3071
Click to expand...


I have this problem too. Its noticeable on games that rely on brushes to construct levels, as opposed to heightmaps; The reason why these artifacts don't appear in RTS games

Like you said HalfLife is a problem, and so is Oblivion (only noticeable in caves and dungeons)
 
Thank you for clarifying this DEATH eVADER. More proof that others have the problem too.:D The problem now lies within myself. I'm just to damn excessive compulsive for my own good when it comes to graphical perfection. I should just try to ignore it, purchase Orange Box, and enjoy the game for what it's worth for now and maybe in the future they'll fix this issue with some patch. (easier said than done when I'm such an anal perfectionist) Just one more question, if it's not our hardware, and it's just an unfixable flaw within the rendering engine, then why do all screenshots in magazines or videos/previews on G4 or YouTube, show no such artifacts in darkened areas like caves and tunnels? How do I/we make our systems to run the game with no flaws like the pros as advertised? They must edit it somehow, no?
 
Buy an ATI card? :p
Because they made their driver tell the hardware to do centroid sampling for HL2.
X1900GT 4x AA (via driver panel)

For years ATI has been the one for image quality with playable settings. Nvidia's cards are spot on now, except for their driver not using centroid sampling in HL2 (which the hardware has).
 
Asus said:
Buy an ATI card? :p
Because they made their driver tell the hardware to do centroid sampling for HL2.
X1900GT 4x AA (via driver panel)

For years ATI has been the one for image quality with playable settings. Nvidia's cards are spot on now, except for their driver not using centroid sampling in HL2 (which the hardware has).
Click to expand...
But didn't you, being that you have an ATI card, test HL2 in the area specified yourself and get the same artifacts as stated above?
 
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