Enhance VP3 graphics with AntiAliasing

[AlinVille]

I don't think everyone knows about this, so I'll make a quick guide on how to manually enable AntiAliasing in VP3, even though the game doesn't have the option implemented.

If you're using an nVidia card and have the drivers installed, right click on the Desktop and click on NVIDIA Control Panel. There you need to take a look at the settings shown in red here:



The Antialiasing Setting has a different impact on performance depending on the quality of your graphics card and the resolution. Try switching between various settings and see what looks best for you. For my currently BFG 8800GTS OC2 while playing on 1920x1200 resolution, the best option seems to be 4x, as I don't see any difference setting it higher. The Anisotropic Filtering level should always be at 16x. And always Override mode! At last, the proof:

- no AntiAliasing, no Anisotropic Filtering: http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/8331/72021890.jpg

- no AntiAliasing, 16x Anisotropic Filtering: http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/6027/76053217.jpg

- 4x AntiAliasing, 16x Anisotropic Filtering: http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/2231/90803414.jpg

[9balldotcom]

Ive got a gtx 480 1500 mb card and i tried the antiliasing and it makes the cue smoother,but then again i cant see. oh and all the ridges around the table are gone also which is what antiliasing is for

I also have 16x antiliasing as well as a 16q whatever that is,but with em both on no difference

[Freeball]

I take it the same cant be done with ATI?

[zwylle]

It does work with ATI.

In Catalyst control center go to 'Advanced mode'.
On the top left in 'Graphics' menu choose '3D'.

Play around with the settings in the different tabs there, just make sure to uncheck the checkbox 'Use application settings'.

[BlackJagged]

Thanks, AlinVille! The lack of anti-aliasing in VP had annoyed me for years, and it never occured to me I could simply fix that though the graphic driver. Duh!

Everything looks so much more pristine now!

[AlinVille]

[9balldotcom]

Personally i think Celeris should steal(er borrow) this post for their site as they borrowed your HQ in game video off Youtube


it could be listed as how to improve your graphics, or Enhance VP3 graphics with AntiAliasing
particularly as theres a big percentage of people who use nvidia and ATI cards

[AlinVille]

I forgot to mention, if you're trying to record using Fraps while having AntiAliasing on, it might not work smooth at all. I can't explain why but for example if I set AA to 8xQ it makes it impossible to record anything smoothly but if I set it at 16xQ which is actually higher, it records perfectly smooth. So just mess around with AA settings if you plan on recording with Fraps.

[Agassi]

Works pretty fine, thanks Alin!

[9balldotcom]

Certainly will work fine if you got up to date drivers and software for nvidia cards.

[Lun@ticFringe]

If you are running SLI you can set one card to render the game and the second to handle the AA...alowing up to 64X AA..it looks realy realy good.

[Agassi]

I use "Antialising - Setting" - 16xQ CSAA and it looks better than 4x as Alin said:

With antialising:


Without antialising:

[Hanterp]

I exactly took over the settings in post one, but there was no difference.

My graphics card is ASUS Geforce 8600GTS

Any suggestions?

[Fluke[FIN]]

De toepassingeninstelling verbeteren

[Hanterp]

What's wrong with that? What should I improve about that?

[Fluke[FIN]]

I've got no clue what that sentence means, just sounds funny :)

[Hanterp]

"Improving the application-setting" ;)

[mikesaturday]

thanks for the post.

[Hanterp]

I have a new monitor: Samsung Syncmaster SA300.
When playing now, there is a strange side-effect.
When the red balls are moving, you see a a slight black trail behind the reds. What can that be? Is that something with my Nvidia-settings?
I see it at all video-modes I tried. ( Tried high, low and medium modes ).

[AlinVille]

Your issue is called ghosting and it's something common on a lot of LCDs with higher ms response times. More expensive LCDs usually have extremely low response times (e.g. 2ms which is better) so the ghosting becomes unnoticeable. It's something you get used to after a while though and won't be so obvious as it looks right after purchase. People usually experience this when transitioning from CRT to LCD. I'm sure it doesn't occur only in VP3 but other games or fast moving applications as well.

Or if you're lucky you could have this issue, which I had no clue about but apparently there's an easy solution:
www.madebymark.com/madebymark/2009/2/25 ... mages.html

[Hanterp]

Your issue is called ghosting and it's something common on a lot of LCDs with higher ms response times. More expensive LCDs usually have extremely low response times (e.g. 2ms which is better) so the ghosting becomes unnoticeable. It's something you get used to after a while though and won't be so obvious as it looks right after purchase. People usually experience this when transitioning from CRT to LCD. I'm sure it doesn't occur only in VP3 but other games or fast moving applications as well.

Or if you're lucky you could have this issue, which I had no clue about but apparently there's an easy solution:
www.madebymark.com/madebymark/2009/2/25 ... mages.html

Thanks :)
I have read the article you was referring to and followed the advice to see if the monitor-cable was touching another one. Well, it did and I made sure the cable was not anymore.
Still the ghosting was there, so I will try what happens when buying another cable ( Mine is a DVI-cable ) .
My old monitor was no CRT but also a LCD ( Samsung Syncmaster 200B ).

[Hanterp]

I tried another DVI-cable and made sure it did not touch other cables.
No improvement....

I am not sure if the following is also ghosting...



The edge right-under is blue. Is this also ghosting or some other monitor=problem?

Please let me know.

[AlinVille]

Ehm... can't tell much from that, but is it a screenshot you made? Ghosting is basically a fast-fading trail of something that moves on screen. The image above looks static, so it's definitely not ghosting.

But more importantly, ghosting and such monitor issues don't appear in screenshots, so I'm not sure what's wrong with it or if there is something wrong, but it's 100% not monitor related. I mean you can have a monitor broken to pieces and still be able to take that screenshot and it would look the same!

So it's impossible for it to show any different than if you took this exact screenshot on your older monitor, unless you changed something graphics-card related as well. Are you sure it doesn't look the same? If so, you either changed your graphics drivers or your graphics card altogether and that should be the only reason for it.

The VP3 ghosting issue (and I'm sure you can see this in other games as well or even movies) is indeed monitor related though and there's nothing you can do about it really but get used to it, which shouldn't take too long. Unless it's really bad, then you could have it replaced. When buying LCDs always look for ones with lowest possible response times (2ms) and also read in-game reviews about them because those numbers don't say it all every time. If you plan on gaming that is... that's where the ghosting can become most noticeable.

[Hanterp]

After your post I decided to look at it on another computer ( MacBook AIR ) to see if the issue of the screenshot above is there too and it is.
So that is indeed no monitor-issue.
I have this issue because I bought another monitor. My previous one was a Samsung Syncmaster 200BS and my new one is Samsung Syncmaster S24A300BL.
It is here: http://www.vergelijk.nl/lcd_monitor/sam ... pecs.rhtml
As you can see the response-time is 5 ms.

I have other games but those are no real action games ( Football manager 2012, Civilization V ) so there is no ghosting.
Maybe I should loan WSC REAL 09 from a friend and see how the balls roll in that game.

EDIT: I tried the other snooker-game and I have the same problem. I go trying to bring the monitor back and go for another one with 2ms response-time.

EDIT #2 I brought the monitor back and I have a LG monitor instead: The Flatron IPS235.
Nice monitor, about the same price, so no extra money paid to change it, but the problem is still there.
I really think my current Graphics card is not stron enough to handle a 23 inch monitor withou these side effects.
I have a Nvidia Geforce 8600 GTS
Nou I am thinking about a Asus GTX 560 or Gigabyte GTX 460, but I wonder if my CPU can handle them....?


My specs:

CPU: Intel dual core 6600@ at 2.40 Ghz ( 2 CPU's )
RAM: 3326 MB RAM
DirectX 9.0c
Graphics card : Nvidia Geforce 8600 GTS
Windows XP Professional.
Motherboard: ASUS P5Q SE PLUS

[sheilaaellis44]

Anti-aliasing means removing signal components that have a higher frequency than is able to be properly resolved by the recording (or sampling) device. This removal is done before (re)sampling at a lower resolution. In signal acquisition and audio, anti-aliasing is often done using an analog anti-aliasing filter to remove the out-of-band component of the input signal prior to sampling with an analog-to-digital converter. In digital photography, optical anti-aliasing filters are made of birefringent materials, and smooth the signal in the spatial optical domain. The anti-aliasing filter essentially blurs the image slightly in order to reduce the resolution to or below that achievable by the digital sensor (the larger the pixel pitch, the lower the achievable resolution at the sensor level).