Guild Wars 2

was wondering the game only goes up so high as far as graphics however if you go into the ATI catalyst control pannel for radeon cards you can set things higher as a sytem wide setting like anti analiasing, anisotropic filteriong and tessalation can be set way higher then the game has options for. will doing this make the quality of graphics better? i wonder cause im thinkin bout adding another card and do some other upgrades as of now i set them all high and on my high end system (custome built) i get around 20fps so il need to upgrade some stuff before hand and was wondering before i buy extra cards and what not if the game would look better by increasing all that beyond what game has options for

AA in drivers wont work, the game uses deffered rendering, and with deffered rendering, you cant use AA with dx9, had they launched with dx10 or 11 that wouldnt be an issue but…alas, this aborted console port of a game was not build so that you could get real aa.

if you want better AA then the FXAA in game, try SMAA you can disable fxaa and get FAR FAR better results using smaa.(fxaa is blurry as hell!!!)

upgrading won do you much good, even top end intel i7’s overclocked can only manage 25-40fps in WvWvW/DE’s, average cpus even overclocked cant do any better….sadly upgrading in hopes this game will run as expected are hopeless…

if you cant take how the game looks and runs try tera or some of the other decent f2p mmo’s out there and wait for the xbox720 to land, thats when anet will start working on making the game run better…..and support dx11.

ok i disable fxaa in game right?

then how do i enable that other one your talkin about?

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/67934-smaa-injector/

you can get the injector and a settings file here
http://sweetfx.thelazy.net/?p=41

thats the best way to get smaa working, its FAR sharper as you will see by the screenshots in the first link.

remember to run the game as admin or this wont work.

what kind of performance hit does it take? and also if its good then why did’nt anet put it in the game? just wonderin

as the thread poster says, most people get the same or less hit then the in game FXAA

if you scrounge around reddit, one of the dev’s commented, they didnt use SMAA because none of them knew about it, he had tried it and said they want to add it to the game but had not been given the time to do so.

typical of anet, its more important to do stuff that makes them money directly then it is to fix the games issues or even just add smaa support to the game internally.

short answer, nobody at anet heard of it till the game launched and people started using sweetfx on the game because the fxaa is blurry as kitten poo smeared on a rear view mirror.

so when pertaing to this game how do i use it? do i disable FXAA in game and install/use this prog?

i’d like to try out sweetfx…but i have doubts running it, unless i hear a clear word from an a-net staff member about this being “legal” or not.

i couldn’t find any threads about this nice little program, where it’s made 100% clear about it’s “legality”.

good point email anet and post back with us if you here somthing about this. and my question still stands how do i go about using it in this game what do i turn off in the game as far as graphics go

anet has said they will not vet any 3rd party apps, but as long as those apps dont give you an advantage or automate play your fine.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/account/Policy-3rd-Party-Programs-Multi-Boxing-Macros/first#post1532762

as i said, if you dig around reddit you will see at least one of the developers has and probably still uses this.

you can use it with or instead of fxaa(use it instead it looks alot better, dosnt make things blurry….) in short anet only care about bots and stuff like speed/teleport hacks not about smaa/sweetfx, you need to read how to use it, its quite easy you can even find posts explaining how to do it step by step if you google a bit.

I prefer FXAA PPI that will also have DirectX10/11 support added together with the integration of SweetFX features soon as well.

https://www.assembla.com/spaces/fxaa-pp-inject/wiki

Under the “Files” area, grab the “FxaaToolSVN117.zip”. It’s only 978kb

The program is GUI based with sliders so you don’t need to worry about editing settings via text in various files, though you can also add your own custom shaders into this as well.

I keep FXAA in-game enabled as well and full CCC quality boosting. I’ve also found better frame rates running in Windowed Fullscreen mode instead of Fullscreen mode.

With only a few tweaks to your graphics with some of the features below, you can increase graphics quality with very little fps loss. You can also toggle it on/off on the fly for comparison with one key (pause/break key) and also do split-screen.

Shaders included so far:
FXAA – Anti Aliasing
Pre-Sharpen – Removes FXAA created blur on edges
HDR – An HDR-effect-like shader
Bloom – Makes light texture colors bleed into the scenery
Tonemap – Adjusts gamma, exposure, saturation, bleach and defog
Technicolor – A three-strip color process, like found on old movies
Sepia – Adds Sepia tones to the scenery
Anaglyph – For usage with Anaglyph 3D glasses
Vignette – Adds a frame around the scenery
Post Sharpen – Another way to Remove FXAA-created blur on edges
Final Limiter – Adds option to limit the color output
Split-screen – Adds split-screen views, original vs shader
Noise – Adds noise as dots and lines
Radial – Adds from center drawn radial blurred lines
ScanLines – Adds horizontal lines
CustomShader – Add your own shader into CustomShader.h, 2 toggles and 6 sliders available for it in the GUI

Sorry on pics, I like a lot of bloom so I run multiples of it at max in the effect chain.

Also, here are some in-game split-screen comparison shots: http://imgur.com/a/qFbqk#0

that’s freakin alswome why on earth anet didn’t do this themselves is beyond me

if you prefer the blurrrryness of fxaa over smaa thats up to you, some do, thats why txaa has its fans.

this thread has all you need to know about sweetfx and smaa
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=368880
that includes a GUI for changing the settings rather then a text file(though the text file is quite simple honestly…..)

http://sweetfx.thelazy.net/

that has the configurator(see the right side of the page)

smaa=sharp and clear

FXAA=blurry

the creator flat out says this about fxaa and his latest invention TXAA.

due to TXAA you wont see any advancement or updates to fxaa, nvidia has the fellow dedicated to TXAA an nVidia only feature now.

SMAA is still in active development and works on pretty much any card you can actually use today.

Jazhara
“if you prefer the blurrrryness of fxaa over smaa thats up to you, some do, thats why txaa has its fans.”

Was that spoken toward me? I have multiple settings that I flip through depending on what I’m in the mood for. In the bottom image of those I attached, it is clear that there is no blurriness you say FXAA creates, which it does, but that tool, as I stated, removes the blurriness that is created by FXAA, so you get the FXAA benefits, as well as pre-sharpening and post-sharpening with blur removal that is totally customizable. I know SweetFX has good features for sharpening and the like, but this isn’t a competition. Simply because FXAA is in the title of the app, it doesn’t mean you only get a blurry image, as I stated and have shown in the images in comparison.
Pre-Sharpen – Removes FXAA created blur on edges
Post Sharpen – Another way to Remove FXAA-created blur on edges
Also HQ Sharpening shaders.

I understand that you prefer SMAA and SweetFX, but “dissing” the app I showed helps no one. Pointing out valid shortcomings and bugs in an app does, however. They asked for ways to improve the game graphics, we both offered a method to do so, and I don’t think anyone should start up with ‘mine is better than yours’ posts. I have tried out and messed with SweetFX for other games, but I prefer this one and thought I would share it, as you have also thoughtfully done.

you cannot bring back quality once its been lost, fxaa causes blure, adding a sharp filter over it still leaves less quality then you started with, try using blur then sharpen filters in paint.net kitten photoshop you will get what i mean.

try the configurator if you cant stand dealing with text(i use it when i use sweetfx)

I actually use RadeonPro to apply SMAA to most games, its as simple as ticking a box in the profile for the game and choosing a quality level.

its not about mine is better then yours, FXAA has its shortcomings if you want better quality, you cant fix the loss in quality it causes, even its creator admits this if you read blog posts hes done, he flat out says, if you dont like bluring dont use fxaa/smaa as thats a big part of their design, he feels its more natural way to do things, where SMAA works in a similar manner but dosnt cause the messy bluring effects fxaa causes.

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/01/fxaa-is-old-news-smaa-is-what-you-want/

http://web.archive.org/web/20120818022042/http://timothylottes.blogspot.de/2012/07/txaa-out-30479-driver.html

if you dir around timothy lottes blog, you will find some mention of fxaa but some of the posts where removed so i linked the archive so you can search and read up there.

fxaa flat out has worse quality then txaa, and txaa has worse quality then smaa(ask anybody with TSW whos tried it)

FXAA was abandoned because even the ver4 he was working on didnt require you have an nVidia card, and since this fellow works for nVidia, they really didnt like his work benefiting people not using nvidia cards.

SMAA and DLAA as well as a few even newer methods are supperior, and yes i looked at your images, and again, if you dont mind or even prefer the look if the sharpened fxaa thats fine, just dont try and tell me or anybody else who knows whats up that theres no quality loss….anybody whos done image processing even for home photo’s will know a blure filter then shapen=lost detail..(sometimes thats good, can remove bad grain effects from poor camaras or film)

some more info for those interested in this stuff (im betting a few people would like to know some of the nuts and bolts behind these various AA methods)

http://www.iryoku.com/smaa/

http://www.iryoku.com/

http://iryoku.com/aacourse/

there are more if you google a bit.

again StinVec, if you like the blur effect smaa gives, even with shapen filters, have at it, thats up to you, I just think its best everybody here know that they will still loose quality vs using smaa, and they can still apply those sharpen filters/shaders and other shader effects with smaa, with less quality loss in the process.

if you like it more power to you, I personally want the best quality I can get, just knowing that im harming image quality bothers my ocd(geek ocd, only bothered by geeky things)

Jazhara Knightmage.4389:

AA in drivers wont work, the game uses deffered rendering, and with deffered rendering, you cant use AA with dx9, had they launched with dx10 or 11 that wouldnt be an issue but…alas, this aborted console port of a game was not build so that you could get real aa.

if you want better AA then the FXAA in game, try SMAA you can disable fxaa and get FAR FAR better results using smaa.(fxaa is blurry as hell!!!)

upgrading won do you much good, even top end intel i7’s overclocked can only manage 25-40fps in WvWvW/DE’s, average cpus even overclocked cant do any better….sadly upgrading in hopes this game will run as expected are hopeless…

if you cant take how the game looks and runs try tera or some of the other decent f2p mmo’s out there and wait for the xbox720 to land, thats when anet will start working on making the game run better…..and support dx11.

If you use SMAA,you should keep FXAA enabled…thats point 1.The SMAA will sharpen the FXAA out,and the FXAA provides about 10x better Aliasing for plants/gras/etc etc,they can work together for AA,no need to use one or the other.And for someone just asking to raise ingame quality higher,its a pretty weird move to suggest him to move on to tera.

no fxaa is not better then smaa, your more then welcome to think it does, but most of us dont like the way it makes everything a blurry mess, nothing can bring the detail lost to fxaa blur back.

again if you like the blur effect of fxaa vs the sharpness thats fine, but dont act like fxaa is giving you a quality boost when by design it blurs the whole image(even its inventor/creator admits thats how it works)

I’m so gonna use SweetFX from now on…it even can make textures appear more sharp.

Screenshots:
the difference is not that big, but i just got SweetFX and messed randomly for about 10 minutes with it.

Left half = Default
Right half = SweetFX

http://z84.img-up.net/Screenshotae36.jpg
http://q25.img-up.net/Screenshot4546.jpg
http://w21.img-up.net/Screenshotbd48.jpg
http://m05.img-up.net/Screenshot1d44.jpg
http://z13.img-up.net/Screenshot95a7.jpg

also, “Supersampling” seems to make more of a difference together with SweetFX…now does anybody know a good tweak to reduce the performance hit of Supersampling?
SSAA doesn’t affect CPU-demanding stuff like zergs or that north-part-while-looking-at-the-mystic-forge-at-LA…but 45-52FPS instead of 60FPS (80-90FPS w/o v-sync) while all alone at the PvE? i thought my GTX580 would finally manage to get 60FPS with SSAA after 6 months of patches and driver updates.

http://ashentech.com/index.php/topic,3103.msg20616/topicseen.html

view that thread, read the links, and I think you will see why alot of us are not expecting to be gw2 players much longer…..

SweetFX made it so much sharper. Thanks..

yeah smaa is the win, fxaa is blah…….unless you like blur then fxaa is the win