Question about grafic card driver settings...

[Sigurd44]

Last weeks I read a lot about several AA technics (FXAA/SMAA, MSAA, SSAA, CSAA, TrSSAA, TrSGSA etc.) and at moment I am fiddling around with several settings. Though I used google to find an answer I am still somewhat clueless how settings ingame, .inisettings, Nvidia Control Panel settings and Nvidia Inspector settings behave to each other.

 

In Skyrim you have the following options (if you are using a Nvidia card):

 

1) SkyrimPrefs.ini (Display):

 

iMaxAnisotropy=(value or 0=off)

iMultisample=(value or 0=off)

bTransparencyMultisampling=0/1 (off/on)
iWaterMultiSamples= (value or 0=off)

bFXAAEnabled=0/1 (off/on)

 

2) Skyrim ingame options:

 

AF 2x - 16x (max value, maybe it's an application dependant, special Skyrim AF)

AA 2x - 8x (max value, I strongly guess its normal MSAA, but not Nvidia's one, it's maybe an application dependant, special Skyrim MSAA)

FXAA on/off (Skyrim's own and pretty bad FXAA in my eyes because it blurs a lot...)

 

3) Nvidia Control Panel:

 

AF 2x - 16x (Nvidia AF)

AA 2x (normal Nvidia MSAA for only one grafic card) - SLI 64x CSAA (max...Nvidia CSAA, a special Nvidia sampling method similar to MSAA...and yes I run 2 x Asus 670 GTX 4 GB VRAM as SLI and therefore have that option)

TrAA 2x - 8x SSAA (max)

FXAA on/off (Nvidia FXAA and not bad, if you like FXAA)

Texture Filtering High Quality (max)

Ambient Occlusion Quality (max)

 

4) Nvidia Inspector:

 

AF 2x - 16 x (Nvidia AF)

AA (lots of settings possible, true SSAA over Nvida's CSAA up to mixed SSAA/MSAA settings)

TrAA 2x - 8 SSAA or 2x - 8x SGSSAA (Sparse Grid SSA, which should be the best TrSSAA of all)

FXAA on/off (Nvidia FXAA)

Texture Filtering High Quality (max)

Ambient Occlusion High Quality (max)

 

5) RCRNv36 (FXAA injector mod, it's a special FXAA, which might beat even Nvidia FXAA)

 

FXAA on/off

 

 

So...I already noticed that changing the above SkyrimPrefs.ini settings directly correspond to the Skyrim ingame settings. If you turn off AF, AA and TrAA by .ini edit you will watch, the next time you start Skyrim by launcher, that all the values are turned off in the Skyrim options too. I am not sure, if this will occur the other way round, maybe the .ini settings overwrite the Skyrim launcher options if you actually start Skyrim and load a saved game, maybe they will be changed to the launcher settings (if your SkyrimPrefs.ini isn't write protected), I have no idea who is the master and who is the servant here, but it does not bother me, because I think Skyrim's own grafic system is inferior to Nvidia's and therefore I turned AF, AA, TrAA and FXAA off by .ini edit and in the Skyrim launcher options. I only want Nvidia driver based grafic enhancements + RCRNv36 FXAA.

 

The same behaviour occures for the interaction between Nvidia Control Panel and Nvidia Injector, but there my question starts...

 

With my rig

• Processor
  i7 2600K
• Memory
  16 GB DDR3 RAM
• Motherboard
  Asus P8P67 Deluxe
• Graphics Card:
  2 x Asus Direct CU II 670 GTX 4 GB VRAM SLI
• Monitor Size
  >27" (2560 x 1440 native and yes I play Skyrim with this resolution and if you ever did this you never want to change back to 1920 x 1080)

 

it's understandable that I want to run the best grafical settings possible (I have loads of texture mods). and I fiddled around for a while and came to this conclusion:

 

I want to force all settings by Nvidia Injector, because as well as Nvidia Inspector has more and maybe better AA and TrSSAA methods (true SSAA, SGSSAA), Nvidia Inspector delivers Ambient Occluion on high quality not only quality) and I want use only RcRnv36 FXAA in addition (maybe, I am still fiddling and comparing)

 

I realized there are two setting options in the Nvidia Inspector:

 

-Antaliasing Behaviour Flags

-Antialiasing Mode

 

I decided to set

 

-Antaliasing Behaviour Flags to "none"

-Antialiasing Mode to "override any application settings"

 

Is that right for getting only Nvidia Inspector forced settings without any additional mix of application settings (to be on the safe side I set all values to off already in the .ini and in the Skyrim launcher options) or Nvidia control panel settings?

[Georgiegril]

Have you read the Geforce Tweak guide? It answers many of your questions.

Generally
speaking, there are a lot of choices in the Inspector, because it is
there not just for skyrim, but many applications. Just because a setting
is there, do not assume it will work for Skyrim. One example of this,
is that the override any application setting has been found not to work
at all. To force AA, you would set your ingame settings to 0 or 2, and
set your mods to "enhance the application setting.

 

Generally
speaking as well, its best to start by setting your ingame settings,
then your driver settings, then your .ini changes. Because when you open
up your "options" menu in the game menu, it will revert a number of
settings back to what it thinks you should have. I think, though, if you set something in the .ini to "0" after setting it to a specific value in the driver, that you are effectively undoing you driver setting, which is not what you want.

 

In addition to the Geforce Tweak Guide, the STEP guide also has a lot of useful information, even if you are not planning to use all of it.

 

Edit here is a link to the STEP nvidia inspector page.

[Sigurd44]

Yes I know the Nvidia Tweak Guide. The problem with this guide is exactly that he tells well how to "override" ingame AF (works great just with NCP, no need for inspector) and to raise Ambient Occlusion from "quality" (max in NCP) to "high quality" by Nvidia inspector, There is no problem too, to adjust/override TrAA to 8x SSAA or 8x SGSSAA by the inspector, but not a word how to adjust/override "normal" AA.

But thx for the answer, after googling I found out that there is some sort of override protection for Skyrim ingame normal AA and you have to apply a low value to normal AA ingame and then enhancing it by NCP or inspector with Nvidia AA.

[Georgiegril]

You really may find the Step link I gave you to have what you are looking for. It is very clear and addresses your issues.

[Sigurd44]

The guide is great, yes. Together with another internet source I could adjust my dream settings:

 

Nvidia CP: AF 16 x

Skyrim: 2 x MSAA

Nvidia CP/inspector (enhanced application mode): SLI 16xQ MSAA/CSAA

Nvidia inspector: TrAA 8x SGSSAA

 

on my 2560x1440 27'' screen.

 

...have to say, this looks fantastic :-)

[Georgiegril]

Glad you got it working!