Dodgy Textures

[MONKEYMAN]

I am using my xfx fx5900xt with 4xAA and 8xAF at 1024x768 at 85hz, when I play BF1942 DC MOD I get three distinct qualities of texture, for instance I am standing on desert the sand directly in front is very high quality and distinct, then a few feet further away is a strip of lower quality and then a few feet after that is even lower quality, as I move forward I can see these strips drawing themselves (albeit very quickly) to keep up with my movement.
I have never noticed this when i used to play at lower levels of anisotropy and anti-aliasing, the framerate is still 45fps at least and an average of 60fps.
Anyone got any ideas why it is doing this and how to stop it?
Thanx in advance!

[dsio]

your video card is having anisotropic filtering problems by the sounds.

What drivers are you using?

[MONKEYMAN]

71.84 I think, I sometimes get a total loss of textures in-game but when I ALT+TAB into windows and then back again its sorted.

[dsio]

OK mate, can you go to AOAFiles.com and download the latest Valance Studios 76.50 driver package.

Then use driver cleaner, to completely remove your existing Nvidia drivers, before installing the valance studios drivers over the top.

I cannot stress how important it is to remove before changing drivers, particularly when you are going from nvidia, to modified, or from one series to another. In this case, 70 series to 75 series, so make sure you do it.

when you install them, use the Geforce FX option, and that should help.

I always recommend these drivers to people with Geforce 6 cards, as they are the ones that stand most to benefit, but I really should be telling Geforce FX owners to install them as well, as it actually will improve both image quality and performance for you guys as well.

Even Daniel had good results when he installed a new release Valance Studios driver on his old Geforce 4 TI 4600, by using the "reborn" setting.

So thats the first step.

1. download 76.50 Valance Studios modified driver from AOAFiles.com
2. download Driver Cleaner, and remove the existing drivers
3. reboot and install the Valance studios drivers using the Geforce FX option
4. allow the machine to reboot again
5. enjoy the speed and image quality improvements, along with added driver controls
6. if the problem persists please report back, but i would be reasonably sure that the driver update will solve the problem. Even if it doesnt, you will have a faster and better looking 3d experience, so you can sketch it up as a win either way.

Good luck mate.

[MONKEYMAN]

I'll get on it......

[dsio]

Ill be around for about the next 2 to 3 hours if you need any help so there isnt a huge hurry. Ill be playing online poker, and ill check back every 40 mins or so, so just because it doesnt look like im here doesnt mean im not really, ok.

[MONKEYMAN]

Brilliant! all sorted.....textures now perfectly smooths and no dodgy texture disappearances, thanks for your help!

Another quick question.....how come there is such a big performance hit going from 4xAA to 8xAA? going from 2x-4x doesnt make that much difference fps wise.

[dsio]

Anti Aliasing is mainly to do with your memory bandwidth. Every time you step up your AA by doubleing the number of AA samples, you are doubleing the strain being placed on your memory bandwidth. Sooner or later there is a stage where a straw breaks the camels back.

Think of it this way. Say you are on a 1Mbit connection, and are streaming a movie.

At 256k / sec bitrate its fine, at 512k / sec bitrate its fine, at 1024k / sec bit rate its fine, but as soon as you go over that 1Mbit mark, it cant keep up. Anti aliasing is much like that. The good news is, there isnt a big difference between 4X and 8X AA.

There IS a massive difference between 0X and 2X, and there is a big difference between 2X and 4X, but after that its hard to notice.

On your card I would actually recommend using Quincunx anti aliasing, which is somewhere in between 2X and 4X, offering performance very close to 2X, with quality almost as good as 4X.

Other than that, stick to 4X and 4XS (4XS is actually very good)

8X is overkill. Similarly, there is a big difference between 4X anisotropic filtering, and 8X aniso, however there is practically no difference between 8X and 16X.

Seriously you should not bother using 16X AF, as in most cases it makes the image look unnatural rather than better. AF reduces blurring at long distance, and it does need to be up high, but 16X makes the distance too clear, which the eye isnt use to. This breaks the illusion of 3D in that your eye can tell that it is fake. So there is a fine balance between quality, and too much quality.

In some games, 4X AF looks better than 8X even, and 16X looks terrible.

Just to clarify, AA = Anti aliasing
AF = anisotropic filtering.


That aside, im glad to hear that driver worked. Try some benching when you get around to it and you may notice some improvements in 3dmark03/05. Even if it doesnt improve 3dmark, I can assure you, in game it will be noticeably faster, and the textures and direct X 9 effects clearer.

Make sure you check back regularly to pick up new drivers as they are released. we try to have the latest and best available as soon as they hit the net!

[MONKEYMAN]

Thanx for your help with those drivers and explaining those things to me, its nice to know that you can come onto this forum and ask questions which may seem stupid or "noob" to some people and they will still take the time to answer them

[dsio]

Originally Posted by MONKEYMAN

Thanx for your help with those drivers and explaining those things to me, its nice to know that you can come onto this forum and ask questions which may seem stupid or "noob" to some people and they will still take the time to answer them

No probs mate, any time.