Enable FXAA in Dx9, Dx10 and Dx11 Games Now by some dude! # Version 9

[Fraggle]

Moving AA to the cpu is exciting as, let`s face it, we all have spare cores doing nothing while our poor gpus get more and more stress they don`t need. It`s daft.
The prospect of those idle cores doing physics and AA while the gpu renders gives me the goosebumps.

[Manicdan]

has anyone tested to see how much cpu resources are being used before/after FXAA?

[Fraggle]

It`s hard to see how AA could be implemented on the cpu. Is there really enough bandwidth to shuttle all the frames to main memory and back? Would be amazing though...

[kl0012]

It`s hard to see how AA could be implemented on the cpu. Is there really enough bandwidth to shuttle all the frames to main memory and back? Would be amazing though...

It shouldn't be a problem. Lets say one 1920x1200 uncompressed color frame is about 10 MB. So, considering that x16 PCI-e link bandwidth is 8GB/s, it is possible to get GPU->CPU->GPU transfer speed ~400 fps (about 2.5 ms per frame).
BTW, Intel says that using MLAA algorithm it takes to CPU ~4.5 ms to process one frame at 1280x800 resolution and ~9.7 ms at 1920x1200 resolution (probably, including transfer time) and it doesn't depend on the scene complexity.

[Fraggle]

That`s good to know, here`s to proper free AA in the future!

[kl0012]

That`s good to know, here`s to proper free AA in the future!

I still have some doubts about the quality of post-processing AA algorithms. I would want to see proper quality comparisons of MSAA, MLAA and FXAA.

[Manicdan]

its in the hardocp link

it does look promising, and according to the whitepaper they are making it happen before UI is rendered when the games themselves have FXAA

[JohnZS]

BETA 4 has been released!!!
This does support FXAA in GTA IV, however there are some graphical issues and some problems with the lighting.
You can download BETA 4 here
Some Dude is working on this at a rate of knots..

GTA IV NO FSAA
http://www.abload.de/img/gtaivnoaadodz.png

GTA IV FXAA BETA 4
http://www.abload.de/img/gtaivbeta4tq4u.png

John

[Fraggle]

I still have some doubts about the quality of post-processing AA algorithms. I would want to see proper quality comparisons of MSAA, MLAA and FXAA.

To be sure but once the door`s open they`ll only improve. It`s promising anyway.

[kaktus1907]

i have good news from some dude

I successfully injected FXAA shaders into some d3d10 applications (Unigine Heaven 2.5 DX10 and BioShock 1 Demo).
Proof:

Maybe the method works on more games. Share your experience.
http://hotfile.com/dl/125764390/1cef...dude_5.7z.html

There are also minor changes to the d3d9 method which fix some blackscreens.

beta version 5! directx 9, directx 10, x86 binaties only! may be incompatible with any other form of antialiasing! can be combined with downsampling!

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, put all files from the d3d10 directory into the directory containing the game executable.

Uninstall: Remove the files.

Notes:
Do not mix d3d9 and d3d10 the files.
Install the latest DirectX runtime.

Keys:
Insert : Enable/Disable FXAA
Del : Screenshot

[JohnZS]

Thanks

BETA 0.5 works with GTA IV and EFLC
HOWEVER there are some glitches :

1) The loading screens and menu are black so you are flying blind.
2) The performance hit on my 295 is HUGE. (It is almost like SLI is not working with this).
3) There are some jagglies on certain angles, but most of the image has FXAA applied and looks stunning.
4) I think some lighting effects are missing/not quite working correctly still.

John

[RejZoR]

Do i really need this if i already have MLAA ?

[Pontos]

What is the reason we have to use this or other methods to get AA working? Why is that so many new games from the past few years lack native AA and need people to force it through the driver's control panel or use third party apps like this one?

Is it a limitation in DX9+ (SM3+), a limitation in the newest game engines, or is just that developers don't care about adding native AA to their games knowing that it's just a port of the console version (Where just a handful of games use AA)?

The past few years have been the jaggiest I've ever seen...

[Fraggle]

I know! They trumpet on about PhysX and tesselation but then release games without anti-aliasing as if we aren`t going to notice. Who cares about bleeding edge features if the whole thing is ruined by jaggies, I don`t know why it`s seen as acceptable by developers. Should be a standard core feature and enabled by default in every game by now.

[Bojamijams]

I see little to no difference between those two. I can't see it worth any possible hits or compatibility issues

BETA 4 has been released!!!
This does support FXAA in GTA IV, however there are some graphical issues and some problems with the lighting.
You can download BETA 4 here
Some Dude is working on this at a rate of knots..

GTA IV NO FSAA
http://www.abload.de/img/gtaivnoaadodz.png

GTA IV FXAA BETA 4
http://www.abload.de/img/gtaivbeta4tq4u.png

John

[blindbox]

DX 10 on the latest versions? NICE.

[BeepBeep2]

I see little to no difference between those two. I can't see it worth any possible hits or compatibility issues

Are you serious? That's a HUGE difference....

[RejZoR]

I see this FXAA as a good MLAA alternative for NVIDIA users which don't get engine independent anti-aliasing. AMD users already have this. Will have to try it on my Intel GMA950 if it will work. That would be nice since this one doesn't support any kind of FSAA...

[STEvil]

What is the reason we have to use this or other methods to get AA working? Why is that so many new games from the past few years lack native AA and need people to force it through the driver's control panel or use third party apps like this one?

Is it a limitation in DX9+ (SM3+), a limitation in the newest game engines, or is just that developers don't care about adding native AA to their games knowing that it's just a port of the console version (Where just a handful of games use AA)?

The past few years have been the jaggiest I've ever seen...

Consolitis

[LordEC911]

I see little to no difference between those two. I can't see it worth any possible hits or compatibility issues

Look at the concrete/beams that have the flames behind it. Notice the jaggies in one and little to no jaggies in the other?
That's called anti-aliasing.

[kaktus1907]

updated.. it works on some dx11 games now..

I have no DirectX 11 hardware, however I tried to just "blindly" write some code so you guys can test it. Try to use the files from the d3d10 folder with a d3d11 game and just tell me what happens.

Dragon Age 2@Dx11: NoAA FXAA
Dirt 2@Dx11: NoAA FXAA

Download
Mirror

[Bojamijams]

Again, I'm not seeing anything in that DA2 screenie, other then that FXAA pic is darker. If you have to stare at one spot for 5 seconds to notice the difference, is it worth it? You're going to be playing the game, you'll be in motion, you're not going to stare back into the mountains to see if there's jaggies (and I don't even see them on the mountains in the back) you'll be looking where your character is going.

Edit: Okay after starting at it for 10 seconds, I can see the sword on the main character's back is a weeee bit smoother. Woopedy doo.

[blindbox]

Again, I'm not seeing anything in that DA2 screenie, other then that FXAA pic is darker. If you have to stare at one spot for 5 seconds to notice the difference, is it worth it? You're going to be playing the game, you'll be in motion, you're not going to stare back into the mountains to see if there's jaggies (and I don't even see them on the mountains in the back) you'll be looking where your character is going.

Edit: Okay after starting at it for 10 seconds, I can see the sword on the main character's back is a weeee bit smoother. Woopedy doo.

Nitpicking. There are other games out there that benefits from FXAA. World of Tanks for example (thanks for mentioning this game, downloaded it right away and had a great fun).

Anyway, check the mountains. Still, you're right though, the differences are small for DA2.

Plus, it's free AA, what's there to refuse?

EDIT: I couldn't get it working for Dragon Age Origins (I'm sure it's a DX9 game, but I tried with both DX10 and DX9 dlls (not at the same time)). Or perhaps the differences are just too small.

[RejZoR]

Huh, i suggest you check your eyes :P The difference is like night and day even on static image, it would be a lot better on moving scene.
Here are some tips where you can easily see massive difference:

- look at the ridges at the point where they meet the sky. Jaaaaggies all over. Gone with FXAA
- weapon handles that point to the sky (on the back of characters). Smooth with FXAA
- right most character arms. All jaggy but none with FXAA
- hair of the middle character
- weapon pointing to the sky of the left most character

These are the most noticeable things that would look awful in movement with all the pixels moving around. With such anti-aliasing method, very smooth objects.
Though remember that this is just a post processing filter like MLAA and as such it heavily depends on the image itself. For example MLAA in GTA Vice City works with a feel of 32x FSAA during the day. But when its the night, edges look more rough and feel like only 2x FSAA. Also games that use heavy bloom that goes beyond polygon edges also make these methods less effective. I've seen the worst in Killing Floor using MLAA on Doom map and Gas Station where certain objects simply refuse to be processed. Yet, others look like they are smoothed to perfection. NFS Hot Pursuit 2010 as well. Most of cars are smoothed perfectly except white ones. if you take Bentley Continental Supersport in brilliant white, its roof will be badly aliased. If you take pretty much any other color, it will be fine.
But still, without such post processing filters entire game would be badly jaggy where with MLAA or FXAA, at least large majority of the image is processed and filtered even though game alon doesn't support any FSAA methods in-game.

[Eastcoasthandle]

BETA 4 has been released!!!
This does support FXAA in GTA IV, however there are some graphical issues and some problems with the lighting.
You can download BETA 4 here
Some Dude is working on this at a rate of knots..

GTA IV NO FSAA
http://www.abload.de/img/gtaivnoaadodz.png

GTA IV FXAA BETA 4
http://www.abload.de/img/gtaivbeta4tq4u.png

John

The luminous from around the blub is removed when using fxaa. It's as if the blub is off but it's not.

Edit:
After looking at the BC2 screenshots I noticed the name of rollo...?