It’s an appropriate choice. ED runs fine on lower-end hardware. The game would also look very different if only a few lights were available per scene (due to performance limitations).
2 Likes
Hi Guys, just want to share i got my clarity on the 8k+!
It turnes out to be the offset settings where the cause. I did reset everything back to 0 and all is much better in games in the distance just as with my old 8k completly acceptable.
The thing is, now the clarity is less in steamvr dashboard!?
I did use the dashboard to get the sharpest possible picture with the offset settings assuming it would be best ingame.
I can’t think of anything else than it is my eyesight at the dashboard distance, but if anyone has an idea let me know.
5 Likes
Increase SteamVR > Settings > Video resolution. Then lower the SteamVR > Settings > App resolution until your GPU can handle it.
This may not solve whatever problem you are having, but it does increase the resolution the overlays are rendered at, and it is what my spreadsheets are for…
4 Likes
Thanks mirage335. Cant wait to try it out when I get the 8KX
2 Likes
Just noticed on that article that some deferred rendering engines can support AA, namely FXAA which is an option for ED. I don’t recall trying it, will see what happens. Any other AA option I try has the opposite intended effect and aliases things x100 than without 
1 Like
FXAA did nothing.
‘Post must be at least 20 characters.’ 
1 Like
Ah well good to know, I’ll stick to none as before then
The strange thing is that some here have reported using MSAA x2 or x4, I don’t know how that’s possible without some other factor like Nvidia settings.
If I turn any of those options on in EDProfiler (for VR), it is completely unusable. I’d say it looks similar to what I’d expect if I set the resolution to VGA ie 640x480. Huge low-res jagged blockiness everywhere.
1 Like
In fact, in Elite Dangerous settings, it is called MLAA, IIRC. I have no problem using it, it works effectively, and in fact it is included at x4 in the param spreadsheet.
Historically, SMAA was cheaper, and nearly as effective.
1 Like
Right, no idea why that happens on my system. No unusual Nvidia settings, no issues on pancake or other VR titles.
Might be a typo then, but EDProfiler definitely labels it as MSAA x2 and x4. I don’t know my AA to be sure, but a quick Google says this (old link though):
- FXAA and MLAA are the same.
- NVIDIA came up with FXAA after AMD came up with MLAA.
Unclear to me when checking further:
Also an old link: Which AA setting do devs recommend? | Frontier Forums
“MLAA (which is in the game) and MSAA (which is not, but might be forced through the drivers?) are often mixed up.”
"SMAA > FXAA > MSAA
-
I believe FXAA is the fastest in terms of performance, however, it has a tendency to “blur” the overall image.
-
SMAA is a iteration of FXAA, provides cleaner overall image than FXAA with slightly less performance.
-
MSAA, never use this. Its performance impact does not warrant the visual quality it provides.
-
2x will provide you with the best performance, whilst still giving you the visual effect.
-
4x will look great, but the performance impact is multiplied somewhat when compared to 2x."
1 Like
“Never use”, they write… I would say that MSAA (multisampling) is the only one of those worth bothering with; It actually takes multiple samples along geometry edges - kind of “supersampling on the fly, but only where it is the most needed”, instead of the just applying more or less “smart” blur to the lowsampled image, in post, which IMHO just makes it worse than it started out.
I am pretty sure it used to say MSAA in the game options, too, rather than MLAA, and that that would be where drKaii got it from.
I used to guess maybe ED does some things deferred and others forward, with the MSAA (that now says MLAA; Label corrected? Algorithm swapped out? -Who knows…), only affecting passes of the latter – I have certainly never noticed much of anything when trying it (maybe one should keep an eye out on specific things, like glass structures, or something).
(Fun little thing to spot, is how the game graphics uses the hidden area mask of one’s HMD (hopefully actually masking pixel shaders, rather than just covering things up :9), but the title menu overlays (Scaleform, I’d guess) do not. :7)
4 Likes
Was a link from 5 years ago. A low end card in those days might have struggled. I think back then I had a pair 460 GTXs, which was running ED pretty well until Horizons came out. Wasn’t the performance that failed, they couldn’t render the planets properly and so genuinely didn’t meet min spec. I’d get partial wireframe meshes that I kept falling through in my SRV 
1 Like
Throwback to '84. :9
2 Likes
EDProfiler stating “MSAA” is a typo. IIRC, it does change the setting to MLAA. In any case, I have no problems setting MLAA in game to 4x.
You’re not missing much. SMAA is about the same, like I said.
@jojon Wherever you read ‘never use’ as far as ED MLAA goes, it’s basically true. ED does not seem to support any form of proper anti-aliasing for many 3D object edges… in any way. SMAA is nearly as good as it gets.
2 Likes
Agreed! I tried multiple stuff last year (including the cable hack method on an older driver) to get any sharpening solution working but Nvidia fixed all corners to prevent that.
Really sad because the geforce experience overlay tools are actually mighty tools that come with no performance trade-of. Some consider it bloatware but it really works great…in 2D
I play RDR2 at 4kish (ultrawide) and those filters really go well with the picture.
Some scenes even look like their textures were modded.
3 Likes
Definitely agreed. I’m trying to lobby Pimax to add post processing injection support to pitool for sharpening. In the form of Reshade or any equivalent.
It’s almost free performance wise and makes a big difference.
It may of course not work with particular engines for whatever reason. But please add your support.
Here is the thread:
5 Likes
That’s not real AA. It’s just filter doing a smoothing pass. I found that the ED AA makes the text blurry.
3 Likes
SMAA and MLAA settings in Elite Dangerous do greatly smooth out the orbit lines at least, so there is more than just a blur filter there.
There is a separate blur filter option in Elite Dangerous, which I do not use.
1 Like
For those who are taking issue with the statement that getting best image quality costs more on the 8K+ and other Pimax HMD’s in terms of hardware resources to achieve best results:
I did similar testing with the Reverb v.2 and Valve Index.
Cranking up the super sampling on the Index to very high levels dramatically improved image quality but caused massive drops in frame rate and still came nowhere close to the Reverb at even native resolution without any SS. Running the Reverb at native gave much better image quality at slightly higher frame rates than running the Index with reasonable amounts of SS.
6 Likes
@mirage335 Thank you for all of the work you are putting into this stuff.
Might you share data on what frame rates you achieved under various testing conditions? I’m particularly interested in DCS, though I also play Elite Dangerous.
I realize these two sims are very difficult to benchmark, I’m only looking for a rough idea.