Reducing Shimmers

[jjjallen 37]

The latest GEX update does wonders for shimmering Pine trees. Check it out. Cheers jja

[RudiJG1 172]

Hi Jime - yup - under [Display] You can play with the numbers, though I never tried 16.

 

Are you sure, Paul? The "how-To" .pdf (DX10 Notes.pdf) states that these lines go under the [Graphics] section of the FSX.cfg file.

[Paul J 349]

Guess I'm getting old...... [graphics] it is!

 

 

[GRAPHICS]

MultiSamplesPerPixel=4 // Must have for good AA. Using 8 is a huge perfomance killer for a very small improvement

MultiSampleQuality=16 // Can be 4 for better performance. This enables nvidia 16x AA

[jime59 58]

Thanks, Rudi. That particular pdf is locked so I couldn't read it.

 

 

jime

[Paul J 349]

How locked, Jime? What are you seeing when you try to download it, or open it? It should not be "locked", as locking only prevents someone editing to contents. I use Microsoft Word to create them, and they're in the same folder as the .doc is.

 

 

Thanks for having sharp eyes, Wayne!

[RudiJG1 172]

Thanks for having sharp eyes, Wayne!

 

You're welcome, Paul...being a recent convert to DX10 preview, I was fresh from studying that doc and configuring my FSX installation accordingly.

[Paul J 349]

I appreciate it! Sometimes I'm just as thick as a plank...

 

:lol:

 

All the Best,

[TheFamilyMan 281]

I'm a REX 2 user, and I've found that its "Enhanced" Runway Markings seems less noticable on the shimmer effect. I've also read that setting 4x AA in NI enhances the "full screen" effectiveness of 4xGSAA (though the AA setting itself is ignored by FSX DX10, and I really can't tell if this really makes a difference anyways). Finally, if you want to really break the FSX DX10 AA performance bank, the maxed fsx.cfg settings for nvidia are "8 by 32" (32x AA). The complete FSX DX10 nvidia AA list: 2 by 2 (2x), 4 by 4 (4x), 4 by 8 (8x), 4 by 16 (16x), 8 by 8 (8xQ), 8 by 16 (16xQ) and 8 by 32 (32x). Since I'm not an ATI user I have no info on ATI AA.

[flying_w 58]

What shimmering do you still find bothersome? I find that airfield stripes shimmer the worse, as do straight edges in the VC though only by tiny amounts (essentially I have to stare to find them). Autogen trees look fine on my system. 8xGSAA will help with the trees if necessary, though it comes with a performance hit. Recently I ran a DX9 test to compare these shimmers and found that DX9 AA wasn't perfect using NI 8xS + 2xGSAA (it was only marginally better at best; higher DX9 AA settings choked my performance to unacceptable levels).

 

No, DX9 is most decidely not perfect. I can still find shimmers in DX9, though not to the same extent as DX10 at the same settings or higher within the bounds of GPU performance. I'll try to explain the DX10 challenge in the following pictures. Each is just a small part of a 1080p full screen at 8xS and 4xSGSS. The shimmer is seen in certain types of scenery object (i.e. airport buildings, AI aircraft and winter leafless autogen trees) that are some distance from the camera. Move up close to each object concered, and they are perfect. For comparison with DX9, I can do better using 8xS and 2xSGSS. To get DX10 to the same quality, I have to go 8xQ and 8xSGSS.

 

In shimmer1.png below, Manchester Airport EGCC is a mile or two away, and the red circle is drawn around the airport buildings. In a stationary screenshot they look fine, but as soon as the aircraft moves they start to shimmer to the extent that it's hard to ignore across the entire length of the terminal building.

http://www.supertraf...im/Shimmer1.png

 

In shimmer2.png, the autogen trees are to the left. It's difficult to see, but the small woodland here has trees that are just branches and plenty of transparency between then. That seems to cause shimmer, summer trees with leaves are much less of a problem. Once again, they look fine until the aircraft is in motion.

http://www.supertraf...im/Shimmer2.png

 

Shimmer3.png does not look so good even when stationary.

http://www.supertraf...im/Shimmer3.png

 

Perhaps it's high time to just settle down and fly before I start over analysing the situation. DX10 still has lots of goodness.

 

Simon

[TheFamilyMan 281]

Your first shot reminds me of the FSX DX10 car/truck headlamp problem, which is they are way too bright and blink/shimmer at a most annoying rate from a distance when flying. I try to avoid scenery that insist on using FSX cars and trucks. Your last shot realy shows the FSX DX10 AA weakness, which is it has no substitute for DX9 8xS that doesn't cripple performance. Being a GA flier I generally stay away from large, detailed airports (of which I don't own any add ons) so I don't see this situation usually. As you know tuning FSX settings is always an exercise in give and take and it all comes down to what you value the most (and what irritates you the least). DX10 preview isn't a panacea, but merely "yet another option" with its benefits and shortcomings.

[TheFamilyMan 281]

This last evening I decided to test drive in DX9, with its 8xS and 2xGSAA AA and 16x AF, my new RealAir Lancair Legacy and rediscovered what I had been missing for months: the ability to fly around densely packed, fluffy 2048x2048 clouds without a huge FPS hit, and the superior AA/AF. Given this "Legacy" experience, I think I'll be staying with DX9 in the foreseeable future since this aircraft looks better in DX9 than in DX10. With my FSX settings I'm usually pegging 30 fps in either DX mode, so for now I'll lose the DX10 bloom, VC shadows and enhanced water effects to gain the DX9 cloud performance and superior AA/AF. Crud, I really did miss those clouds...

[jjjallen 37]

8sQ does it for me. Cheers jja

[Paul J 349]

Here's a doc (or a pdf) that one might use to get rid of shimmers that won't go away...

[jjjallen 37]

There are a number of different MIPS options is DXTBMP. Does anyone know what the best setting is for airplane textures for DXT5? Cheers jja

[flying_w 58]

I discovered that regular supersampling in place of SGSS eliminated the autogen tree shimmer without the performance cost. However it did not help on airport buildings and AI aircraft. I'm pretty sure these are mipmapped, being MyTrafficX and default FSX airports. That's the last part of the puzzle to solve, and I'm not sure I can find a solution without a slide show.