antialiasing/anisotropic effects

[Alizan]

Hello,
For some reason I can't get these effects to work in this game. I have other games that work when these effects are cranked up but in ddo it does nothing. My frame rates don't change from off to 8/16 and the graphics don't get smoothed out. I tried to let it be application controled in my nvidea control panel and have tried to force the application to max effect but still get no changes. I have a evga 8800 ultra. Any1 else notice this. It is easiest to see if you click on you're character. His/her portrait will pop up in the examination window and is moving. As the character moves around slightly you can see the jagged edges of the picture. I want a way to remove these jagged edges but can't figure it out. This is the only game I have that does this.

Thanks

[Razar]

You can turn off Anti-aliasing.
Anisotropic filtering has eliminated the need for anti-alias.

Go to your graphics card settings, turn off the anti-alias filter.
While in your setting, turn on anisotropic filtering. Some cards will have a number next to the anisotropic filter setting. Usually, 0-16. 0 being off. 16 being your maximum setting. Some cards have a higher/lower number than 16 or no number - just an on/off setting. Set your card to the largest number possible no greater than 16. Remember that number.

Now log into game, but don't enter a character into the game. Stop at the character selection screen. Look for the options button and press it. Turn off anti-alias under the graphics option. Now choose the advanced graphics option. Under texture filtering, turn on Anisotropic. Now use the slider bar. Left (or zero) means off. Right (or 16) means maximum. Now the trick, set your slider bar to the maximum number your card supports.

Press close to save the settings. Then exit the game. Log back into the game and check your settings again. If they indeed saved, enter game and have fun.

NOTES: If your card does not support anisotropic filtering, then the game won't do it. The game will only use the maximum anisotropic filter setting that your card supports, so eliminate a potential problem by not setting the game to a higher number than your card can support. If your card can't support anisotropic filtering, then and only then will you need anti-alias filtering. Using these suggestions will increase frame rate and minimize the load on your graphics card.

Hope this helps.
Anti-alias definition
Ansitropic definition

EDIT: Think about how graphics cards work. If you have both selected, your graphics card will first apply the anti-alias effects. Then your graphics card will just over-write everything just done and apply the anisotropic effects. End result - your graphics card will have to work twice to produce the exact same image as not even applying the anti-alias effect in the first place.

[Alizan]

Thankyou so much Razar. I didn't know that. I will try what you suggested as soon as I get home from work. The 8800 ultra is top of the line graphic card costing ~800 so it supports all these effects. Awsome help

[Alizan]

Ok got home and tried what you said and had with no results. Googled these effects and found that they are indeed 2 different effects that work together. Antialiasing is used to remove jagged edges of the graphics which is what I am complaining about. Anisotropic is an effect that increases the detail of the graphics with out increasing the resolution. With antialiasing off and anisotropic on I have very jagged graphics while with anti on it is much smoother. I see now it is working just wish it was a little smoother. My graphic card gives me the option for 16x but ddo gives me 8x. 16 would probably make it smooth as glass. I know this has a performance hit on frame rates but I can afford it as I built a very nice computer.

[Razar]

You're absolutely correct.

These are two totally different effects.

If you are experiencing tearing, check your V-sync. Google it.

Anti-alias and Anisotropic explained

My favorite quote:

The optimizations done these days seem devoted to eliminating edge-cases where AF wasn't properly applied; the kind of stuff graphics fans geek out about by scrutinizing screenshots, but your average user won't even notice. Of course, all the work done to make AF faster can be appreciated by everyone.

Antialiasing and anisotropic filtering are features that many enthusiasts understand, but we think many more users could appreciate. There are gamers out there right now who don't enable these features, or enable the wrong ones in the wrong games, simply because they don't know what they are or how they work.

None of the above references say I'm wrong. And none of the programming I have done says I'm wrong. And I'm not saying your wrong either. It's all a matter of perspective. If your graphics card makes the image look better with AA on, then by all means, have it on. I'm just saying that AA is not necessary if AF is implemented correctly.