rec.autos.simulators

by **Kieran Larki** » Tue, 25 Apr 2000 04:00:00

well having just found out that the voodoo 3 dosnt support anti aliasing
should i upgrad to a better card yet? if so which one?
ps i am not rich!

by **Dave Henri** » Tue, 25 Apr 2000 04:00:00

That all depends, I believe you are in error in your conclusion.
Yes the V3 3000 DOES support line edge AA. Thats why on my copy of GPL,
I have the Anti-Aliasing box checked. If it couldn't do it...the box
would be greyed out.
However, the V3 does not do the latest version of AA which is Full
Screen AA.(FSAA) The next 3dfx card, the V5 5500 will do hardware
accelerated FSAA. This feature though does knock the frame rate down
some though. Early testers have found running an 800x600 screen with
FSAA is better and clearer looking than a screen at 1024x760.
The fairly new GeForce(TNT3) does a software version of FSAA and the
frame-rate hit is also noticiable.
If you are limited by your funds, your best bet probably IS a V3 3000
or a TNT2. Remember is you have a crappy CPU then no vid card will help
beyond a certain level.
dave henrie
V3 3k=about 125 to 150 $. TNT2Ultra is about 150 to 200. V5 5.5k is
225 up to 300. The Geforce is 279 to 350 depending on memory type but
should come down in price(if it hasnn't already) when the V5's come out.
V5 6K will be $600

> well having just found out that the voodoo 3 dosnt support anti aliasing
> should i upgrad to a better card yet? if so which one?
> ps i am not rich!

by **Remco Moe** » Tue, 25 Apr 2000 04:00:00

AA was in GPL only supported when you had a Rendition card. Alas, it
did weird things to distant objects, so I turned it off after 5
minutes.

Right now you can get software drivers for the GeForce with FSAA (Full
Screen Anti Aliasing), but you really need a fast CPU to get that
working. Soon 3Dfx will release the V5 card, which will have FSAA via
hardware. Maybe that will be the new top card for GPL, but until then
you can't beat the V3.

Remco

>well having just found out that the voodoo 3 dosnt support anti aliasing
>should i upgrad to a better card yet? if so which one?
>ps i am not rich!

by **Pops** » Tue, 25 Apr 2000 04:00:00

> well having just found out that the voodoo 3 dosnt support anti aliasing

Must have been a bad source. My Voodoo 3 2000 PCI supports it just fine.

Pops...

by **mas..** » Wed, 26 Apr 2000 04:00:00

>well having just found out that the voodoo 3 dosnt support anti aliasing
>should i upgrad to a better card yet? if so which one?
>ps i am not rich!

Following up on the comments on FSAA (full screen anti-aliasing), check out
the previews of the Voodoo4, 5 and 6 just making the net the last week. One
especially worth checking is at www.andandtech.com. He compares the V5
using the usual benchmarks against all the major contenders (as an aside, he
addresses why he prefers to use the usual first person shooters. but I for one
am tired of these being considered the be all and end all). Anyway, the card
performs less spectacularly than one might have expected or hoped for, though
it is in contention for the fastest on the block.

Perhaps more germane to the topic, he shows some screens of NFS5: Porsche
Unleashed with and without the FSAA. To me, they just aren't all that
different to justify the hype (and framerate hit). To be sure, it looks
better with the anti-aliasing. But only after I had did a rapid back/forth
comparison to detect differences. I would assume that the apparent difference
when in 20, 30, 40+ fps would be smaller still.

by **Dave Henri** » Wed, 26 Apr 2000 04:00:00

yeah, I saw those photos also...the real winner graphically was Falcon
4.0. Several different flight sims really cleaned up with FSAA. I
would think the older, lower rez game screens will show the most benefit
from AA. I'm betting the artwork for NFS has at least some AA included
in it's artwork.
dave henrie

OH and I DID BLOW IT on the AA for GPL. I must have had that checked
back with my Rendition card. Now the box is greyed out. Never trust
your memory. However, there is supposed to be a config.sys line that
enables AA for 3dfx. I remember it when I had my V1. Gotta see if I
can track that down.
dh

> >well having just found out that the voodoo 3 dosnt support anti aliasing
> >should i upgrad to a better card yet? if so which one?
> >ps i am not rich!

> Following up on the comments on FSAA (full screen anti-aliasing), check out
> the previews of the Voodoo4, 5 and 6 just making the net the last week. One
> especially worth checking is at www.andandtech.com. He compares the V5
> using the usual benchmarks against all the major contenders (as an aside, he
> addresses why he prefers to use the usual first person shooters. but I for one
> am tired of these being considered the be all and end all). Anyway, the card
> performs less spectacularly than one might have expected or hoped for, though
> it is in contention for the fastest on the block.

> Perhaps more germane to the topic, he shows some screens of NFS5: Porsche
> Unleashed with and without the FSAA. To me, they just aren't all that
> different to justify the hype (and framerate hit). To be sure, it looks
> better with the anti-aliasing. But only after I had did a rapid back/forth
> comparison to detect differences. I would assume that the apparent difference
> when in 20, 30, 40+ fps would be smaller still.

by **Ronald Stoeh** » Wed, 26 Apr 2000 04:00:00

snip

> Perhaps more germane to the topic, he shows some screens of NFS5: Porsche
> Unleashed with and without the FSAA. To me, they just aren't all that
> different to justify the hype (and framerate hit). To be sure, it looks
> better with the anti-aliasing. But only after I had did a rapid back/forth
> comparison to detect differences. I would assume that the apparent difference
> when in 20, 30, 40+ fps would be smaller still.

Well, each preview I read the writer stressed the fact that screenshots
would
not do FSAA justice, esp. regarding pixel popping (you know what I mean
;^)
and swimming textures. BIG difference...

--
l8er
ronny

Your mouse has moved. Windows must be restarted for the change
to take effect. Reboot now?
|\ _,,,---,,_ I want to die like my Grandfather,
ZZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ in his sleep.
|,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( `'-' Not like the people in his car,
'---''(_/--' `-'\_) screaming their heads off!

by **Kieran Larki** » Wed, 26 Apr 2000 04:00:00

is 800X600 with aa better than 1024x768 wihout on GPL and F1 2000

by **Kieran Larki** » Wed, 26 Apr 2000 04:00:00

is there ny changes you made to the config pops?

> > well having just found out that the voodoo 3 dosnt support anti aliasing

> Must have been a bad source. My Voodoo 3 2000 PCI supports it just fine.

> Pops...

by **Dave Henri** » Wed, 26 Apr 2000 04:00:00

That is the "GENERAL" opinion, but I haven't seen either of those two
sims previewed with the FSAA yet. I did see the NFS PU and the
difference wasn't all that great in the still shots, the clear winner
were the flight sims. The buildings and aircraft practically pop out of
the picture compared to the fuzzy's in the other shots.
Now F12k will probably benefit more graphically than GPL from the AA.
just because the nature of F12k's busier artwork. But I think that
unless you harness the Voodoo up to a pretty stout processor, you still
will have slowdowns if you try and turn the eye candy all the way up.
All the above is guesswork tho...we need a Sim Site to get ahold of a
V5 and do some testing....I'll volunteer to be a *** reviewer for
any site..... :)
dave henrie

> is 800X600 with aa better than 1024x768 wihout on GPL and F1 2000

by **Michael St.Julie** » Wed, 26 Apr 2000 04:00:00

Hi,

I've got the v3-3000 and my AA box is greyed out. But in N3 I was able to
do AA. Not sure why this is. I'm using a beta driver that they put out a
while back.

Saint19

> That all depends, I believe you are in error in your conclusion.
>Yes the V3 3000 DOES support line edge AA. Thats why on my copy of GPL,
>I have the Anti-Aliasing box checked. If it couldn't do it...the box
>would be greyed out.
> However, the V3 does not do the latest version of AA which is Full
>Screen AA.(FSAA) The next 3dfx card, the V5 5500 will do hardware
>accelerated FSAA. This feature though does knock the frame rate down
>some though. Early testers have found running an 800x600 screen with
>FSAA is better and clearer looking than a screen at 1024x760.
> The fairly new GeForce(TNT3) does a software version of FSAA and the
>frame-rate hit is also noticiable.
> If you are limited by your funds, your best bet probably IS a V3 3000
>or a TNT2. Remember is you have a crappy CPU then no vid card will help
>beyond a certain level.
>dave henrie
>V3 3k=about 125 to 150 $. TNT2Ultra is about 150 to 200. V5 5.5k is
>225 up to 300. The Geforce is 279 to 350 depending on memory type but
>should come down in price(if it hasnn't already) when the V5's come out.
>V5 6K will be $600

>> well having just found out that the voodoo 3 dosnt support anti aliasing
>> should i upgrad to a better card yet? if so which one?
>> ps i am not rich!

by **Jan Hoviu** » Thu, 27 Apr 2000 04:00:00

Hi all,

I'm stupid I know but please help me out: What exactly is (FS)AA?

Jan.

by **David L. Coo** » Thu, 27 Apr 2000 04:00:00

Full Screen Anti-Aliasing. It blends the "jaggies" - but at the cost of
some FPS.

--David Cook

by **Remco Moe** » Thu, 27 Apr 2000 04:00:00

>What exactly is (FS)AA?

AA == Anti Aliasing, a technic to get rid of the jagged diagonal
lines. FS == Full Screen, what in this case means that all the
diagonal lines are drawn with AA.

Remco

by **Dave Henri** » Thu, 27 Apr 2000 04:00:00

Yup, I blew that, crossing my old Rendition days and N3 with GPL.
OOPS Sorry.
But I'm still looking for an enviroment line that "should" enable
the V3's AA. Anyone?
dave henrie

> Hi,

> I've got the v3-3000 and my AA box is greyed out. But in N3 I was able to
> do AA. Not sure why this is. I'm using a beta driver that they put out a
> while back.

> Saint19