skyrim settings: Should i use any AA if I check the FXAA option?

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PanzeR-

Limp Gawd
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ATM I'm using 2x AA and I did check the FXAA option. Does it mean FXAA is 2x or I'm getting 2x AA + FXAA (wich doesnt have a level)?
 
If I enable FXAA I would personally disable normal AA. FXAA already does rather good edge antialiasing (on par with AA X4), enabling normal AA would only introduce a biggish performance hit for next to no gain.
 
I'm taking this off something I read in passing but wasn't/isn't FXAA more geared towards Nvidia cards and MSAA was more geared towards AMD/ATI cards?
 
I played for a while with FXAA enabled and 0x MSAA.
Bumped it up to 8x MSAA and there's a shockingly noticable improvement on distant objects (like trees and houses).

So if you can spare some GPU horsepower, then enable the MSAA and see how you like it. ;)
 
UtopiA said:
I played for a while with FXAA enabled and 0x MSAA.
Bumped it up to 8x MSAA and there's a shockingly noticable improvement on distant objects (like trees and houses).

So if you can spare some GPU horsepower, then enable the MSAA and see how you like it. ;)
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Where is that MSAA option?
 
Q-BZ said:
Where is that MSAA option?
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Let me try this again because I don't see an option for this anywhere at least as far as the game's launcher and such is concerned. Is it just the AA option that I see there?


I've seen some conflicting opinions on this including from the suggested tweaks so far that seemed to favor using FXAA as well.
 
Q-BZ said:
Let me try this again because I don't see an option for this anywhere at least as far as the game's launcher and such is concerned.
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MSAA is the normal antialiasing we talk about, multisampling antialiasing that is.

I'm taking this off something I read in passing but wasn't/isn't FXAA more geared towards Nvidia cards and MSAA was more geared towards AMD/ATI cards?
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No, FXAA is universal. It may have ties with Nvidia, but it works with both Nvidia and ATI cards. You are thinking of MLAA, which is AMD/ATIs equivalent for postprocessing antialiasing, but is ATI only.

MSAA > FXAA any day of the week.
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It depends. MSAA has its good sides, like overall clarity and lack of blur, but FXAA also antialiases special effects, transparencies AND texture details, with next to no performance hit where good old MSAA is quite a performance hog, especially if you enable transparency antialiasing. Personally I think the pros of FXAA outweight the cons. I kinda like the 2xSAI filter look it gives too.
 
MaZa said:
MSAA is the normal antialiasing we talk about, multisampling antialiasing that is.
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Good. Just wanted to make sure I'm not missing out on anything. :)

Mine's maxed out and FXAA is turned on. Looks awesome to me but I'll have to experiment with FXAA on and off and see what's what for grins.




No, FXAA is universal. It may have ties with Nvidia, but it works with both Nvidia and ATI cards. You are thinking of MLAA, which is AMD/ATIs equivalent for postprocessing antialiasing, but is ATI only.
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That was it. I stand corrected.


It depends. MSAA has its good sides, like overall clarity and lack of blur, but FXAA also antialiases special effects, transparencies AND texture details, with next to no performance hit. Personally I think the pros of FXAA outweight the cons. I kinda like the 2xSAI filter look it gives too.
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The tweakers all have it on and have everything maxed out and that's what I'm doing. I think it looks great myself.
 
I think FXAA actually compliments the game very well, I prefer the look it gives, some call it blurry, to me it seems more like artistic.

I'm running 4xMSAA with FXAA.
 
I have 8X MSAA + FXAA + 2X Supersampling Transparency AA enabled

FXAA blurs details up close hence the reason for the transparency AA
 
MaZa said:
No, FXAA is universal. It may have ties with Nvidia, but it works with both Nvidia and ATI cards. You are thinking of MLAA, which is AMD/ATIs equivalent for postprocessing antialiasing, but is ATI only.
Click to expand...

MLAA is actually a technique first demonstrated by Intel (not sure if it was entirely developed by them or not). The reason was to showcase the ability for the CPU to do AA. AMD implemented it in their drivers using Directcompute by leverage the modern GPUs ability to do more general processing work (which is why it is only available on the newer AMD GPUs).

MLAA is not specific to AMD cards just like FXAA. Developers can implement MLAA in their games just like FXAA. Hard Reset for instance had MLAA as the post AA option before switching over to FXAA in a later patch. DXHR has FXAA and MLAA.

Neither implementation is really biased to either company (at least there is nothing suggesting so). For instance DXHR, an AMD sponsored game which did support more AMD features out of the box, has a lower performance hit for both MLAA and FXAA on Nvidia hardware (not a very big difference between the both mind you). While FXAA outperforms MLAA on AMD hardware, just like it does on Nvidia hardware (again not significantly).
 
limitedaccess said:
MLAA is actually a technique first demonstrated by Intel (not sure if it was entirely developed by them or not). The reason was to showcase the ability for the CPU to do AA. AMD implemented it in their drivers using Directcompute by leverage the modern GPUs ability to do more general processing work (which is why it is only available on the newer AMD GPUs).

MLAA is not specific to AMD cards just like FXAA. Developers can implement MLAA in their games just like FXAA. Hard Reset for instance had MLAA as the post AA option before switching over to FXAA in a later patch. DXHR has FXAA and MLAA.

Neither implementation is really biased to either company (at least there is nothing suggesting so). For instance DXHR, an AMD sponsored game which did support more AMD features out of the box, has a lower performance hit for both MLAA and FXAA on Nvidia hardware (not a very big difference between the both mind you). While FXAA outperforms MLAA on AMD hardware, just like it does on Nvidia hardware (again not significantly).
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Ah, thanks for clarification/correction.
 
Polonyc2...

Are you turning on 2X Supersampling Transparency AA in the Nvidia control panel?
 
I use FXAA with 4x MSAA along with the sharpen mod on SkyrimNexus.

It makes the game sharp but still have very smooth edges. Almost no jaggies at all, it's pretty amazing.
 
I prefer 8X MSAA + FXAA in Skyrim. Best of all worlds, FXAA really improves the AA on trees and vegetation, without a massive perf hit, and 8X MSAA helps improve polygon edges more. If you have the power, 8X MSAA + FXAA is your best IQ/Performance balance.
 
Amaze said:
What is the ATI-equivalent settings of supersampled transparency AA?
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Adaptive anti-aliasing. But forcing it in the Catalyst Control Center creates artifacts with transparent textures.

On the other hand you can force morphological edge-detect anti-aliasing with no problem, which can net you something like x12 to x24 samples, but I don't like the effect it has on text.
 
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I didn't even consider the FXAA route. I'll have to try tonight.

I've been wondering though, what makes Skyrim so much more intense graphically than compared to F:NV? I am able to max everything out (including 100% distance) in NV without even the smallest hiccup in FPS but in Skyrim I'm seeing drops to 30 on mixed high setting at 50-75% distance.

One thing I have noticed clearly though, shadow detail really takes a toll on the performance. The biggest jump in average framrate I have gotten is by putting shadows to medium, and other setting I have only seen at best 3-4 fps gains in average. Blocky shadows make me sad, considering the dynamic lighting/shadows in this game is very nicely done.
 
Has anyone got AA on lockipicking or viewing items/books in your inventory?
Everywhere else in the game has AA except these, I've tried in game AA and NV control panel and same thing.
 
Einhanderkiller said:
I use FXAA with 4x MSAA along with the sharpen mod on SkyrimNexus.

It makes the game sharp but still have very smooth edges. Almost no jaggies at all, it's pretty amazing.
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The Antialliasing mod is throwing me off a bit... It says it uses FXAA. So does that mean if i have FXAA off in the menu, the mod turns it on? What if i have MSAA 2x, FXAA, AND the mod? Is that overkill?
 
Brent_Justice said:
I prefer 8X MSAA + FXAA in Skyrim. Best of all worlds, FXAA really improves the AA on trees and vegetation, without a massive perf hit, and 8X MSAA helps improve polygon edges more. If you have the power, 8X MSAA + FXAA is your best IQ/Performance balance.
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So that's 8x aa in the game launcher right, not forced?
 
Is the MSAA in game the same as 8XQ AA. I am confused because there is also CSAA but that is a control panel only thing, right?
 
Korben Dallas said:
I didn't even consider the FXAA route. I'll have to try tonight.

I've been wondering though, what makes Skyrim so much more intense graphically than compared to F:NV? I am able to max everything out (including 100% distance) in NV without even the smallest hiccup in FPS but in Skyrim I'm seeing drops to 30 on mixed high setting at 50-75% distance.
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The reason is that "Maxing settings" is not some magical ceiling of graphical quality, it's the developers choice that decides what settings sliders actually alter in game and where the top end of that slider sits.

The Fabled Max Settings
 
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