Shadows, pixel grids, antialiasing...

[BlueGunk]

I used a 2560 x 1080 (21:9) screen - Acer predator. It's a 2k screen.

 

In some set ups, the grid of pixel cells is very clear particularly in shadows and transitions from shadow to light. With the right lighting and set up, the gridding is not easy to see.

 

So there is an "ideal" set up.

 

You can see what I mean here (sorry - I misspelt pixel in the picture! cringe...):

 

I use an NVidia 980Ti 6GB, with plenty of power behind it. I use Nuka-Shock ENB and a variety of texture packs, CBBE and FSM body textures.

NVidia Profile is set to

• cap 30FPS,
• Pre-rendered frames =1
• Fast Sync (adaptive)
• Texture filtering = high quality
• Ambient Occlusion = quality

The AA setting are left as default.

 

I'd love to know how to smooth this gridding so it is not as obvious. It contributes to rough shadowing artefacts.

 

Any ideas - gratefully received!

 

Thank you

[sopmac45]

What I can tell you is that the AA makes your texture smoother. I am a photographer and I use Nikon cameras for more than 25 years. For example, some Nikon cameras do not have the AA filter on the camera sensor which makes those cameras to be sharper than others with the AA filter on it.

 

The same principle applies here for the Nvidia card in our games. I DO NOT use the AA filter at all. It is OFF in my game settings. I also DO NOT use any graphic texture mod because when I did, my FPS dropped radically. So I decided to go the other way : AA = off, 2560x1440 resolution on my 27" Viewsonic 165 Hz monitor, lens flare = off, godrays = off ( via console command = just open the console and type : gr off ... and be done with that freaking function ) and other functions I keep them on High or medium. The one that I keep on ULTRA is Texture Quality ( I think it is ) and under this setup, my game is sharper than honestly, I do not have those grids that you are showing.

 

I do not know if it is your monitor ( it could be ) or your Nvidia setup. You need to try different settings to find out where the problem lies. The AA filter was designed by Nvidia to smooth the edges of the textures and avoid the jagged edges we were getting in our games. You have to look closely to see those jagged edges when you are not using the AA filter. Personally, I do not care about them. When gamers use the AA filter, they immediately see the poor quality of the textures and to compensate that, they start downloading graphic mods which fix that ... BUT ... make drop FPS.

 

I do not like that as I said. I prefer to lean on performance rather than quality because what is the point to have a game with beautiful graphics but very poor FPS ? You won't be able to play it and that is why I play all my games ( Skyrim and Fallout 4 ) with those settings. In my case because I do a 165 Hz monitor, my FPS in Fallout 4 vary from 55 to 140 etc ( I am using 144 Hz instead 165 because there is no difference that I can tell between both setup but on 144 my computer does not stress that much ) and for Skyrim, my FPS remain between 55 and 60 because I am using an ENB + several graphic textures. Believe it or not, Skyrim engine ( IMHO ) is much better than Fallout 4 engine. No matter how good your rig is, Fallout 4 will make you drop FPS in some places.

 

Just for your information, my video card is the Nvidia 1070, SSD drive, 16gb RAM, i7-6700 and Z170 mobo. I do have a decent rig and even without graphic mods in Fallout 4, this game makes my FPS drop ( sometimes ) to even 40 ... probably because I am using WOTC ( War of the Commonwealth ) which it is a very heavy mod that spawn enemies everywhere and I am using this mod in its highest setup so I am pretty sure it is this mod + the freaking ugly fallout 4 engine.

[BlueGunk]

Thanks Sopmac45 - a lot of useful food for thought there. I'll go tinkering...

 

This grid only shows through with the Bethesda engine - so Skyrim SE is also affected, but the shadowing in that game is so awful that I don't even get irritated by this grid. In all other use, the Acer Predator monitor is gorgeous.

 

Generally I get 60fps through the game, but I capped it at 30 to make sure I got no stutter for those moments it drops off 60 (The Fens and Boston are busy places). I don't use over 60 due to the Bethesda Engine's potential to go a bit berserk - especially in Skyrim.

I don't use WOTC.

[AGreatWeight]

Are you sure it's not related to the ENB preset (Nuka-Shock) you're using?

[BlueGunk]

I posted my reply on here, but I see it vanished. Uh? Here it is again.

 

Anyhow, I resolved this problem and case is closed.

 

The solution was the NVHBAO settings in Falloutprefs.ini.

 

Although the NVHBAO settings are for distant AO, on the advice from STEP pages, I had switched off the bBlurEnable. They thought it unnecessary, freeing you to tinker with sharpness. Bad move - that is the setting that brought out the "pixel grid" effect.

OpenGL call the effect "shadow acne"! Why STEP thought it was a good idea to switch it off I don't know.

 

I have NVHBAO switched on, and I have now re-enabled the bBlurEnable which has 95% removed the grid, though it may show through ever so slightly at times. I may drop a line to the STEP team on my findings.

 

Thanks for your support everyone!