Shadow anti-aliasing - best options to improve AA?

Discussion in 'Automobilista 2 - General Discussion' started by Steve Lewis, Jun 21, 2021.

  1. Marc Collins

    Marc Collins Internal Tester AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2016
    Messages:
    6,752
    Likes Received:
    3,415
    Yes, it was your suggestion that made me go try these (FXAA and MFAA) in combination. Who knows? With MSAA at High (which I am fortunate enough to be able to run with no frame rate issues), everything looks great except the shadows...which these settings do not resolve. It is only the lack of AA on shadows past a few metres distance that annoys me...so it's not a big deal one way or the other. I will try your settings above for a while, though, just to see how I like them.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  2. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Free speech matters AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2016
    Messages:
    4,935
    Likes Received:
    2,160
    Yeah if i only ran a single i would use SS Ultra for sure, i tried 1080p single maxed settings and SS Ultra and it looked great, small but great and was still around 50-60 fps at night. When i get a new GPU i will be aiming for 5760x1080 with High to Ultra SS. The other setting that needs Ultra IMO is reflections for those wet reflections to not be all jumpy and flickery.
    I don't know what FPS your chasing (i see you have 144Hz screen) but MSAA Low and FXAA/MFAA looks near enough to MSAA High to me but with nowhere near the FPS cost. Well worth the investigation. I will be interested to hear you thoughts if FXAA/MFAA and Low MSAA works nearly as well as MSAA High and what the FPS performance is like in comparison.
     
  3. F1Aussie

    F1Aussie Well-Known Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2016
    Messages:
    2,423
    Likes Received:
    673
    I have tried SS on ultra with my RTX 3090 and it still tanks the frame rate, admittedly I did not adjust down many other settings and am running at 3840 X 1600 resolution though.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  4. bobbie424242

    bobbie424242 Well-Known Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2017
    Messages:
    1,254
    Likes Received:
    586
    It's normal for SS to tank framerate as it renders the game at a much higher resolution and downscale it.
     
  5. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Free speech matters AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2016
    Messages:
    4,935
    Likes Received:
    2,160
    Looks good though hey.
     
  6. F1Aussie

    F1Aussie Well-Known Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2016
    Messages:
    2,423
    Likes Received:
    673
    Definitely!!
     
  7. VFX Pro

    VFX Pro Well-Known Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2017
    Messages:
    1,294
    Likes Received:
    705
    Thanks for the tips. I wish you actually could post a few before / after of your long shadows in a sunset time so we can so if it's worth it to go through the many steps you kindly provided.
     
  8. TronLi

    TronLi Well-Known Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2020
    Messages:
    506
    Likes Received:
    352
    I have settled on SMAA Ultra with Supersampling set to Low. Looks better than everything else I've tried or seen suggested (at least with what you can do in-game or in the nvcp) and still runs good on a 1080Ti.

    I was testing on the Nürburgring in the afternoon with everything else maxed out. The shadow flickering was an eyesore but is much better now.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  9. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Free speech matters AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2016
    Messages:
    4,935
    Likes Received:
    2,160
    Try Longbeach, the fences flicker badly for me with SMAA, and there is no hiding that with clouds like i can the shadow flicker.

    What size monitor are you using?

    If j had more GPU I would run MSAA low and SS on as for me that is best but still not as good as it could be.
     
  10. TronLi

    TronLi Well-Known Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2020
    Messages:
    506
    Likes Received:
    352
    2560x1440 currently (upgrading to a 34" ultrawide this week though)

    Longbeach is the perfect track for this testing! If we stick with what's available in-game, it looks like you can't win no matter what you do. MSAA High has great looking fences but the shadows look terrible. MSAA Low with SS On still has poor looking shadows (to me at least). I don't think SMAA Ultra + Supersampling Low has terrible looking fences and it has decent performance so I'll stick with that for now (I tried Medium but it was right on the 60fps limit in the rain with AI at Longbeach). Whenever I can get a new GPU I'll bump it up.

    I wouldn't put it past Reiza to improve/upgrade the AA but that's probably something more for the Summer.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  11. Supa

    Supa Active Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2016
    Messages:
    276
    Likes Received:
    43
    Funny all this Graphics looking great etc. For me I turn all my graphics settings down as I mainly Race online. All that matters is smooth and with a 27in Single 144hz screen and Gsync I'm sorted!!
     
  12. Supa

    Supa Active Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2016
    Messages:
    276
    Likes Received:
    43
    Great looking fences! Give me a break!
     
    • Funny Funny x 1
  13. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Free speech matters AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2016
    Messages:
    4,935
    Likes Received:
    2,160
    I guess if you had more GPU you may be able to appreciate the great graphics.
    As for Gsync, I've not been able to get it to work without black screens every few seconds, tested on a single AOC 27G2 because Pascal doesn't support triples Gsync.
    Fences don't look to bad, certainly not great though.
     
  14. Supa

    Supa Active Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2016
    Messages:
    276
    Likes Received:
    43
    Hey yeh was maybe a little harsh but I can run AMS2 on a single 27in 1440p 144hz monitor fine at full settings with a GT1070 but to ensure a better frame rate I reduce settings. And you guys have to realise that %99.9 of the users will be doing 1 of 3 things. Time trial, Race AI or Race online.
     
  15. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Free speech matters AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2016
    Messages:
    4,935
    Likes Received:
    2,160
    How does that effect AA and having a better AA option for fences, the rear reflections of cars and shadows?
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
  16. Supa

    Supa Active Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2016
    Messages:
    276
    Likes Received:
    43
    Well in either case you will be too focused on the track ahead to worry about pretty 3D trees, Grass etc. I use NIS too which is giving me about %20 more fps
     
  17. Marc Collins

    Marc Collins Internal Tester AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2016
    Messages:
    6,752
    Likes Received:
    3,415
    What is NIS and how does it produce better frame rates?
     
  18. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Free speech matters AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2016
    Messages:
    4,935
    Likes Received:
    2,160
    Nvidia Image Scaling, upscale from lower resolution. Looks really bad from my short testing.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  19. Marc Collins

    Marc Collins Internal Tester AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2016
    Messages:
    6,752
    Likes Received:
    3,415
    Agreed, which explains why I forgot the acronym already.
     
  20. Supa

    Supa Active Member AMS2 Club Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2016
    Messages:
    276
    Likes Received:
    43
    Looks fine to me on 1440p.I assume you guys are only running 1080p.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1

Share This Page