I did something bad

T

Tahir2

Veteran
Supporter
Hi Guys

I did something really bad.

Firstly I sold my AthlonXP mobo and processor and replaced it with an Intel motherboard and P4 'Northwood' processor.

This is fine except I keep getting the error CPU unworkable - please check CPU softmenu. Now I have done a few things to resolve the problem and it isn't fixed so the board will be going back to where it came from.

Secondly I sold my Radeon 8500LE and replaced it as a temp fix with a Savage4 which was so slow at 2D even that I gave up on it. So I went to a computer fair and bought myself a GF4 Ti 4200. I thought, yea it will probably overclock nicely and be good enough until something like Doom III comes out and by then I hope the DX9 cards are cheap (er).

Er.. except I can't stand the GF4 Ti 4200. It is DEFINITELY faster (and noticable too) than the Radeon 8500LE I had before but in my favourite game of the moment (GP4) everything looks horrid. Even enabling 4XS FSAA does not improve matters.

I feel really shitty right now.. I am positive I can tweak my GF4 Ti 4200 somewhat to get the IQ higher but guess what the biggest problem is, Chalnoth? Texture aliasing.. EVERYWHERE in GP4.

And I swear Smoothvision (SSAA) is so much nicer than 4xS (MSAA).

So NVIDIA card owners - please help me! Is there anything I can do to reduce these problems I have with GP4 - ugly aliasing, dull colours and the 4XS mode?

I would REALLY appreciate it if someone could give me a few tips and appreciate it even more if people on this forum do NOT turn this into a flame war.

I just need a bit of advice... and these are issues I have experienced - it does not mean everyone will experience them.
 
Can't help because I don't have those problems. Maybe you should try a NVIDIA forum like nvnews or something.
 
texture aliasing is not really a nvidia card problem , it's more that in the most race games gp4,nfs porsche and also in the newest BF1942 the mipmap LOD bias is set very aggressive what let texture aliasing appear and SSAA is probably the best method do get rid of it without tweaking things (LOD tweaking) but you only have 2options on nvidia cards , the ones i described above because gf4 don't support SSAA anymore
 
As for the LOD BIAS settings, I'd suggest some value between 0 and 1. I doubt anything beyond that would help much.

But I am curious as to where you're seeing the aliasing. I've never played GP4 (or most any other racing games). In what textures is the aliasing eminent?

And have you tried enabling anisotropic filtering? That can really help out in aliasing for games that fail to use MIP maps entirely, or set the MIP LOD overly aggressive.
 
Have a look at some of these shots... I dont know what to call it but it is plain bad.. and I dont know what the Radeon 8500LE did different but it didnt render like this. :(

The aliasing is hard to pin point, in some background objects there are telegraph poles etc and they dont seem AA very well...

I have tried a few things now.. LOD Bias settings, Aniso levels, 4x9 tap, Quincunx, straight 4x also...

All give the same result except Quincunx blurs everything too much.

... maybe I should try the Omegadrivers? I am currently using the latest 30.82 build.


gp4.jpg


gp41.jpg


gp42.jpg


gp43.jpg
 
I'm not sure but if I see that right those points you marked are alpha textures which can't be cured from aliasing with MSAA/anisotropicfiltering/LODbias only with SSAA so the best thing you can do is use 4xs and if that's not enough satisfying for you then I don't know...what else to suggest
 
Yes, those points most definitely look like texture aliasing, and don't appear to be alpha texture issues.

Try using some 29.xx series drivers. Or, just try tweaking the LOD BIAS settings.
 
My GeForce4Ti4400 has inconsistent texture aliasing too. The thing is, it doesn't extend to all games. Texture quality in Unreal Tournament, Jedi Knight 2, and Warcraft III are flawless; but in Homeworld:Cataclysm all the ships have huge f-ugly texture shimmering. It's probably game specific - have you tried looking for texture aliasing in different games?
 
No I wasnt actually looking for it.

I just loaded it up and since play this game the most I was most distressed thats all. I dont think it is 'fixable' with changing LOD settings etc but if you are right it seems to affect D3D and not OpenGL from the games you mentioned.

I will load up other games soon... and keep you posted if I get any improvements.

First stop is the OmegaDrivers.

Update: OmegaDrivers set LOD BIAS to -1.0 and this totally fubars things.. set it back to 0.8 (which I found to be the best for GP4) ... looks better WRT colours etc... but even more aliasing.
 
For some reason the road on you pictures look very blurry:

gp4.jpg

This is 4X, not 4Xs.

(I tried to take one outside , but for some reason the game don't let me bind keys, and cycle cam is not binded).

The game sure could use some trilinear filtering, but I don't think I have those effects you have. But I do notice texture aliasing sometimes on the forest faar away in the pictures. Right below the trees.
 
What card are you running? And do you have Bump Mapping enabled?

Also you need to be travelling at high speed to get the road to blur like that :)

Try Monza as I was testing on that. For the outside pick I pressed the right cursor key on the keyboard.
 
Ti4200
Was driving fast (181).
I'll try that map

Bump mapping? Is that a setting in the game? (Have never played it, just installed it now).
 
I noticed your pic seems to be doing something closer to what my Radeon 8500LE used to do.

If you look at the boundary fence on the left.

What driver version and what settings are you using?

To change settings go to:

Main Menu/Options/Graphics/Advanced and then change everything to max except mirror is on no objects in my settings.
 
Hmm I first took this one: (driver 30.82)

gp4-2.jpg


Looks pretty good.
Then I changed the settings to max, including that bump-shit (looks like total crap):

gp4-3.jpg


Not on the same place, but that bumpmapping sure makes the road look like crap when driving fast.
 
Hmm there is harldy any aliasing in either of your screenshots Galilee..

There is hope for me yet :) And I guess the bump mapping is a feature I may have to turn off after looking at your screenshots. And I can definitely say it wasn't that ugly on the Radeon 8500LE. Oh well.. win some lose some :)

Thanks for your help guys ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
Its not just me, games used to be better
5 6 7
Replies
128
Views
5K
Shifty Geezer
Shifty Geezer
Cynicalking
Swap PS5 for a RTX 4070?
4 5 6
Replies
112
Views
12K
Davros
D
G
Nvidia G-Assist
Replies
2
Views
1K
Davros
D
A
RDNA3 Efficiency [Spinoff from RDNA4]
3 4 5
Replies
85
Views
9K
Bondrewd
Bondrewd
Z
I gave up on the Resident Evil series...
2 3 4
Replies
66
Views
3K
Zombietoid
Z
Back
Top