nV Drivers thread.

[demo]

Yeh TXAA looks amazing if you use a sharpening filter of some sort.

[Skinner]

I still think SMAA is king for shader AA. TXAA has a noticeable performance hit and yet its still blurry like FXAA.

Hmm, I find TXAA way better in cleaning shader aliasing (check the indoor area's with a lot of specular in Crysis 3), but you have to put in some sharpening as said (TXAAx4 needs sharpening at "1" for example in Crysis3). The perf. hit is indeed a bit high though, but that's a bit understandable as it use some form of SSAA I believe.

[SIrPauly]

It isn't traditional or conventional super-sampling but a super-sampled effect from using differing samples across time. In motion, really helps with shader aliasing.

I learned this from Timothy Lottes in this response to me:

Yeah TXAA is not conventional super-sampling. Certainly I'd rather just super-sample everything on a rotated grid, just do RGSSAA, but the cost of that is not practical in many cases. So TXAA does the next best thing, and uses samples across time. So in motion, when the temporal aliasing is bad with MSAA, you get some non-conventional form of SSAA with TXAA.

Note at some point the LOD bias could also be applied to TXAA just like RGSSAA. This is something I'm looking to improve upon on later TXAA releases once I get the jitter to the point where I like it (then you'd have 2 shaded samples/pixel on still images too, so LOD bias starts to make more sense).

The key with TXAA, to me, was a feature that tried to tackle temporal and texture aliasing while being more efficient than raw SGSSAA.

Too many simply blanket the feature based on the softness and yet a modest tweak can help if a gamer doesn't like the default softness.

[GanjaStar]

Will give TXAA another chance with sharpening. thx for the tip guys

As for the drivers, there seems to be a larger then usual amount of complaints concerning all 320 drivers. They all work flawlessly for me so its a bit puzzling.

[demo]

I don't know if it's the latest drivers or Crysis 3 patch but I can run 4xTXAA at 2560x1080 and maintain 60fps vsync now.

[koralis]

Yep, txaa is fixed. It may be my imagination, but seems a bit more detailed than before too. Wonder if they finally added in the LOD adjustments?

[SIrPauly]

Investigated that a bit actually and based on taking exact area screen shots in call of duty, TXAA quality was improved clarity wise compared to earlier drivers.

[demo]

Yeah I noticed using 0.7 r_sharpening in Crysis3 was enough, but seem to recall using 1.0 previously. Wasn't sure as I last played it over a month ago.

Runs very well compared to before and looks great

Which other games use it?

[Skinner]

Yeah I noticed using 0.7 r_sharpening in Crysis3 was enough, but seem to recall using 1.0 previously. Wasn't sure as I last played it over a month ago.

Runs very well compared to before and looks great

Which other games use it?

Thanx for the update guys, investigating TXAA now again, previously the perf.hit was big.

[koralis]

Investigated that a bit actually and based on taking exact area screen shots in call of duty, TXAA quality was improved clarity wise compared to earlier drivers.

Thought so. I was able to really tone down the sharpening effect and still get a good picture. Here's what I'm using now:


Secret World Lumasharpen
Sharp_strength: .55
Sharp_clamp: 0.030


Previously both of these values were much higher.

[Skinner]

Hmm, performance with TXAAx4 is just as bad (perf. hit) as with earlier drivers here. 2880x1800 (downsampled) with 4xTXAA is unplayable (30-35 fps) I need just two Titans extra grr.

[demo]

Hmm, performance with TXAAx4 is just as bad (perf. hit) as with earlier drivers here. 2880x1800 (downsampled) with 4xTXAA is unplayable (30-35 fps) I need just two Titans extra grr.

Do you need to downsample and use TXAA at the same time?

I'm only running 2560x1080 and it stays pegged at 60fps vsync with TXAA, to my surprise.

[Skinner]

Do you need to downsample and use TXAA at the same time?

I'm only running 2560x1080 and it stays pegged at 60fps vsync with TXAA, to my surprise.

Maybe I can drop the res a bit when using TXAA. I certainly gonna look at it, good idea.

Edit, indeed you're right, smooth as glass now and with a good covering post filter like TXAA downsampling is not needed anymore.
The perf. with TXAA appears to be a lot better now...

[SIrPauly]

I really enjoy TXAA discussion -- was labeled as ignorant hyperbole at Anands for offering, TXAA offers a non traditional or conventional form of SSAA, trying to discuss shader and texture aliasing benefits, quality while moving! So, happy I did get back up from the creator of TXAA: Timothy Lottes!

With a modest tweak, TXAA looks great for its efficiency!

[SIrPauly]

I would like to learn more on how TXAA uses pixels across time or frames -- which pixels and how similar to ATI's past temporal aliasing?

[Skinner]

I really enjoy TXAA discussion -- was labeled as ignorant hyperbole at Anands for offering, TXAA offers a non traditional or conventional form of SSAA, trying to discuss shader and texture aliasing benefits, quality while moving! So, happy I did get back up from the creator of TXAA: Timothy Lottes!

With a modest tweak, TXAA looks great for its efficiency!

Yeah they where a bit to premature with their judgement about TXAA. It stay's miles above the other post AA-forms. This is the AA for the near future for me. I hope it will show up on more games, it's a nice balance between IQ and performance.

I think using sweetFX for sharpening will result in an even better IQ (for compensating the blur) then just adjusting LOD bias?
To bad sweetfx lets Crysis 3 crash on Win. 8.1 preview I'm running now, but I will look back to Win 7 later. Are there any other post sharpeners?

[SIrPauly]

When nvidia offered flexible and automatic lod for DirectX 10+ SGSSAA, they did take away adding positive or negative lod over-all. One can't add negative or positive lod without adding some level of SGSSAA.

This may of changed.

[SIrPauly]

I just checked or investigated a gaming title: Lod flexibility only for SGSSAA.

[Skinner]

I just checked or investigated a gaming title: Lod flexibility only for SGSSAA.

Also in dx10 and 11? Sinds I use sweetFX I rarely use more then automatic load. I set the desired amount of sharpness via the sweetfx sharpener

[SIrPauly]

Yes.

I fooled around with the lod with DirectX 11 Assassin's Creed 3, where adding negative or positive lod had no effect 'till I added SGSSAA!

[Nvidialist]

I just checked or investigated a gaming title: Lod flexibility only for SGSSAA.

Hi Sir
You can change also LOD-Bias (negative such as positive) without SGSSAA and this Inspector-Settings:

http://abload.de/img/lodbiaso9x1n.png

This works with all DX-APIs. However, I don't know if this is possible in Addition to TXAA.

[SIrPauly]

Indeed! It does work with that specific setting -- had no idea -- thanks!

AA_MODE_REPLAY_MODE_AA!

[koralis]

Indeed! It does work with that specific setting -- had no idea -- thanks!

AA_MODE_REPLAY_MODE_AA!

nspector doesn't work with Secret World though, correct? Probably can't use this setting + TXAA

[acroig]

I really enjoy TXAA discussion -- was labeled as ignorant hyperbole at Anands for offering....

Isn't that your label everywhere?

[SIrPauly]

nspector doesn't work with Secret World though, correct? Probably can't use this setting + TXAA

Didn't try TXAA yet, but will later on!

[SIrPauly]

Isn't that your label everywhere?

Probably!

Here is the post:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=33799820&postcount=110

And my response:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=33799831&postcount=112

[SIrPauly]

Call of Duty TXAA:

+3.0 Lod:

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4830/ros8.jpg

-3.0 Lod:

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/2986/b0e6.jpg

I'll try other TXAA titles later on!

[demo]

That looks quiet good, and no over sharpening artifacts to contend with

[Nvidialist]

That looks quiet good, and no over sharpening artifacts to contend with

In Crysis3 it also works with 4xTXAA, but more than LOD -1.0 i would not recommend, otherwise the Aliasing-Artifacts are too strong again. (green marked as Example on second Crysis3-Screenshot)
Crysis3 4xTXAA , Default

http://abload.de/img/crysis3_txaa_defaultu1uq2.png

Crysis3 4xTXAA , LOD -1.0

http://abload.de/img/crysis3_txaa_-1.07tum9.png

It is a matter the best Compromise to find, this can be different from Game to Game, according to Content (Shaders,Textures etc.)

[koralis]

Works in secret world. Anything past -1.0 starts making the textures crawl when moving. Still seems to want a little post-effect sharpening though.

[BababooeyHTJ]

What games does TXAA work with? Just AC, Secret world, and Crysis 3?

Aren't there a few upcoming titles? I still haven't tried it out yet but would love to see what the fuss is about.

[Mangler]

Black Cops 2 also has txaa support.

And the only upcoming title with txaa support that I know of is the new splinter cell.

[SIrPauly]

Batman Origins, Watch dogs, Assassin's Creed IV!

[BababooeyHTJ]

Cool, I'm glad to hear that it'll be in Watch dogs. I'm looking forward to that game. As is the only game that uses it that I'm interested in at the moment is Crysis 3 but I'm positive that my rig won't handle TXAA in that game.

I may give TSW a shot though. I'm not usually an mmo fan but that game doesn't seem like your typical mmo.

[Nvidialist]

Batman Origins, Watch dogs, Assassin's Creed IV!

Maybe "Project Cars" also... Martin Griffiths has at least announced it.
What do you like more Sweet FX "Luma-Sharpen" or directly via Driver-LOD?

[SIrPauly]

Nice to have the flexibility of both but prefer luma sharpen! Would be nice to see the old nvidia image sharpening feature return!

[koralis]

I may give TSW a shot though. I'm not usually an mmo fan but that game doesn't seem like your typical mmo.

I mostly play it as a single-player game... basically just avoid the dungeons. As a single-player game it has HUGE value. The cut scenes alone are worth the money. I bought a copy for my brother for $15. It'll keep him entertained for months with no additional cost.

[Dem2k]

326.19 beta

new drivers 326.19 Windows 8.1 etc

http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/download_geforce_326_19_beta_driver.html

http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/326.19/326.19-win8-win7-winvista-desktop-release-notes.pdf

[Greasy]

I tried twice with 326.19. Once letting Gefore Experience update it, and another after a clean install using driver sweeper. Both resulted in my monitor going to sleep as soon as windows booted up. Rolled back to 320.49.

[Cynicalking]

I tried twice with 326.19. Once letting Gefore Experience update it, and another after a clean install using driver sweeper. Both resulted in my monitor going to sleep as soon as windows booted up. Rolled back to 320.49.

I can't get them to install, it just fails, using express or custom settings.