Guild Wars 2

SMAA Injector: http://mrhaandi.blogspot.com/p/injectsmaa.html

What this does is adds support to the game for SMAA, a type of anti-aliasing far superior to FXAA. It does this by adding a directx dll file to the games directory.

This provides no advantages, no gameplay/skill automation and no hacking/botting/scripting potential. Would this be allowed?

While ANet hasn’t officially said anything about it, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be ok. I’ve been using it since launch and no issues here.

I too was wondering this, as I’ve been adding ENB’s to most of my FPS’s when I can.

GaileGray.9587:

The name makes me ask: Is that adding to the directory, as in side-by-side, or is it injecting into the game code? We’re not going to vet, research, approve, or support a third-party program, but I’m curious about how this works.

I think the readme will cover this:

injectSMAA v1.2

Description
- adds “Subpixel Morphological Antialiasing” to an application
- is based on “injectFXAA” (written by “some dude”)
- is supposed to work only with directx 9, directx 10, directx 11, x86 applications
- may be incompatible with any other form of antialiasing
- may be incompatible with overlays (Steam Overlay, MSI Afterburner, Fraps, …)

More information at http://mrhaandi.blogspot.com/.

SMAA is a very efficient GPU-based MLAA implementation, capable of handling subpixel features seamlessly, and featuring an advanced pattern detection & handling mechanism.
http://www.iryoku.com/smaa/

Install
If the game uses DirectX 9, put all files from the d3d9 directory into the directory containing the game executable.
If the game uses DirectX 10/11, put all files from the d3d10 directory into the directory containing the game executable.

Uninstall
Remove the files.

Configure
The “injector.ini” allows to change the keymapping, the smaa preset as well as enable some experimental hacks.
The “injector.ini” is supposed to be self-descriptive, though you have to look up keycodes somewhere else (VK_PAUSE = 19,VK_SNAPSHOT = 44, …).

Notes
You may need to run your applications as administrator (required to write the logfile).
Do not use this tool while playing on anti cheat enabled servers (may be detected as a cheating measure).
Do not mix d3d9 and d3d10 the files.
Install the latest DirectX runtime.
A “log.log” file is created to log behaviour/ bugs. Look inside to get additional information.
Sometimes the shader files (.fx, *.h) are supposed to be put in a different directory.
If the “log.log” file is not created then you use the wrong ".dll" or you put it into the wrong directory or your game doesn’t use d3d9/d3d10 at all.
Try to put the files into different directories before saying it doesn’t work.

Default Keys
PAUSE : Enable/Disable FXAA
PRINT SCREEN : Screenshot

Changelog
v1.2
-Add: Configuration file
-Change: Internal modularisation
-Change: (d3d9) Improved state handling
-Fix: (d3d10) Possible memory leak
-Fix: (d3d9) Steam overlay incompatibility via “weird_steam_hack”

v1.1
-Fix: (d3d9) GTA4 AlphaTest issue
-Fix: (d3d9) GTA4 DepthStencil issue

v1.0
-Add: SMAA 1x

My Creative ALchemy 3D sound utility also places a .dll in the directory, so I’m guessing that alone isn’t too big an issue; I’ve been using it since about 2009 with the original Guild Wars, as well as this game since beta.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/account/Will-I-get-banned-for-using-Combat-Mode-1-0/first#post234824

Looks like the stance on Combat Mode is under scrutiny. However, I’d think that an SMAA injector would be deemed far less intrusive game-wise.

Interesting:
[spoiler]

I’m reposting 1:1 to avoid any confusion, or misrepresentation. I only changed formating and removed the headers/footers of the emails.

From: Me

Today I read a reposted answer from a support representative on Reddit.

quote: “Basically, anything that touches the game client in any fashion, including but not limited to visuals, overlays, controls, inputs, outputs, automation, sounds, or play experience is going to be referred to as a mod. The Guild Wars 2 software package is meant to be delivered and used AS-IS, with zero flexibility for the end user. If your script changes anything about the game itself, how it’s displayed, or how it’s played, then it’s forbidden 3rd-party software.”

Now, I’m really horrified by this, because this covers a lot of software that I’m using.

In particular this covers:

any gaming grade equipment (mouses, keyboards, headsets, special equipment)
any recording or streaming tools like Fraps or Xsplit
any reasonable graphic card drivers (nvidia in particular)
any overlay tools (Steam, Enjin, TeamSpeak)

I could go on.

So was this response meant seriously? Are really all these tools forbidden?

I’m actually using a dedicated Windows installation for games, just to avoid issues of this type, but it’s really impossible not to violate such broadly defined rules.

So please could I get a clarification?

From: Gaile

This is a very interesting question, and I appreciate hearing your thoughts.

As you are aware, we cannot approve or review or “vet” any third-party program; that is a given. However, our position is somewhat different than the one expressed in the GM response, so I’ve already contacted the team to be sure that everyone is on the same page.

Our general statement is that anything that gives advantage is forbidden. There are many utilities that help the player without taking a hit on others, without, for instance, being a detriment to the other players in a match. TexMod is one example of a program that doesn’t really give anyone an advantage over someone else. I’ve heard about certain programs that help disabled players, and those seem just fine, too. And of course there are others. We can’t say “Sure, use this and that and that other thing” because that’s tantamount to “approval,” but we do recognize the distinction between advantage-giving programs and those that simply make it easier to play the game under specific circumstances.

Thanks for pointing out that response. We’ll get things clarified so that future responses are consistent with our policies.

From: Me

Could I get your permission to share this answer? Because I really believe that people would like to have this information.

From: Gaile

I think it’s ok to share this. I just want to be very clear that:

(1) we don’t review or approve programs, and

(2) programs can sometimes contain components that a legitimate player doesn’t realize is a cheat element

In the end, it’s good to go VERY cautiously with the use of any third-party program, but we appreciate that there are definitely situations when a helpful, non-advantage-giving program is extremely beneficial to players.

source: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/10a0qk/official_response_clarifying_the_stance_on_mods/

[/spoiler]

Gaile Gray.6028:

The name makes me ask: Is that adding to the directory, as in side-by-side, or is it injecting into the game code? We’re not going to vet, research, approve, or support a third-party program, but I’m curious about how this works.

Hey Gaile, didn’t see this before but better late than never
The injector is a directx proxy, so it does not alter the game files at all.
It works like this, all native calls to Windows libraries are made to local dll’s before global dll’s, so by either placing a d3d9.dll into the GW2 folder or by adding a hardlink (virtual link) for the dll, GW2 will call that file first, the same way how FRAPS on other application add their injection proxy.
The d3d9.dll used for the AA shader injectors are going in just before the real d3d9.dll renders the image to the screen, this is needed to add post processing on top of the original image, like SMAA/FXAA, Bloom, HDR, Tonemapping and other graphical enhancements to make the game look prettier.
GW2 uses the FXAA implementation by itself btw. but it doesn’t offer the quality preset selection neither does it let the user control the sharpening that removes some of the FXAA created blur.
You can check out the image gallery I got on my revision control to see exactly what this is about: https://www.assembla.com/spaces/fxaa-pp-inject/wiki
I also got all code as open source, with exception of the dll, since I didn’t create it, neither could I get my hands on the source for it (would love to, since I then could add user selectable hotkeys).
I hope that brings some light upon what SMAA Injector, FXAA Tool and SweetFx are about.