I Can't turn on AA in RTW

[Quietus]

I've posted this in the Apothecary, but there's no readership there.

Problem: AA drop down menu says "No Anti Aliasing". In the preference.txt: "AA_QUALITY:AA_OFF". I can't change it. Anybody know how to enable it?

The drop down menu nor the slider doesn't work. ~:confused:

[fret]

Have you tried forcing AA through the graphics card driver itself rather than being application controlled?

[Sin Qua Non]

What's odd is that you don't even get the option in the drop down menu. What graphics card are you using?

[Dooz]

Before reading my post, please keep in mind... there are no stupid questions... or stupid people!... for you wiseacres out there...

so moving along.

What exactly is anti-aliasing? ~:confused: :embarassed:

[HicRic]

Quietus, I think the chances are that RTW is looking at your graphics card to itself and saying "Nope, ain't no way AA is running on that thing!" and not giving you the option. What is your graphics card?

Wonderland, I believe AA is a process that helps remove jagged edges from graphics and gives everything a smoother, prettier appearance. I could be wrong, though.

[hoom]

Aliasing in this context is the squareness of digital edges.
Anti Aliasing smoothes them out.
It can make quite a dramatic difference.

Rome is weird with AA.
I've had some odd things like AA being permanently disabled if I try to run Rome with controlpanel AA ie refuses to work on any other games without a reinstall of the driver.

But AA is another of the ridiculous limitations of the auto settings detection.
The AA limitations can be changed in the descr_auto_optimise_options.txt

[Quietus]

Quietus, I think the chances are that RTW is looking at your graphics card to itself and saying "Nope, ain't no way AA is running on that thing!" and not giving you the option. What is your graphics card? Yeah, very possibly. I'm kinda wondering myself. But I have everything on max, every effects checked except desynch. And I'm using huge units. But the resolution is low: 1024x768 since I don't know how to force 1280x800 (my max resolution). There's no lag. In fact, I just fought a sick 5000+ man total siege battle. :charge:

It's GeForce4 4200 Go (http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce4go.html).

@fret. Yes, I've put it on 4xS which is the max for my card. Not sure if it is working though.


Before reading my post, please keep in mind... there are no stupid questions... or stupid people!... for you wiseacres out there...

so moving along.

What exactly is anti-aliasing? Of course there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers. ~;) j/k. I can't really add anything to what hoom said but here's a link: Antialiasing (http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_accuview.html). I just want to get rid of those slightly bent/jagged spears for the screenshots I'm taking. Kraellin said in the Apothecary that AA won't really make a difference on spears. They are smooth when stationary but viewed on different angles, distance and speed they get crooked.

I'll post a screenshot later Wonderland.

[Productivity]

Anti-aliasing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aliasing

Does a reasonable job of explaning it.

[Dooz]

Awesome guys. Thanks. ~:cheers:

[{Pharaoh}Anubis{Pha}]

Quietus, I think the chances are that RTW is looking at your graphics card to itself and saying "Nope, ain't no way AA is running on that thing!" and not giving you the option. What is your graphics card?

Wonderland, I believe AA is a process that helps remove jagged edges from graphics and gives everything a smoother, prettier appearance. I could be wrong, though.

HicRic is right on the money! AA removes jagged edges on your graphics,before i was unable to use the drop dwn menu for AA untill i got a new graphics card today =P and now i have a drop dwn for AA,you need a 256mb video card,i got a Nvidia FX5700LE and it cost 179.00plus tax and it works great =P got all settings on high or highest =D.

[Butcher]

I am having exactly the same problem with a Geforce 4! Most irritating! So changing the descr_auto_optimise_options file will help? How exactly? I guess it overrides the autodetect?

[fret]

Yes, I've put it on 4xS which is the max for my card. Not sure if it is working though.


If forced via the driver, its very likely it is working.

The easiest way to confirm is to compare low-res screenshots(800x600 will be good) at high zoom. So take a screenshot of a something with straight edges, but at an angle, an Onager or Seige Tower should do it, take one screen shot with AA forced, take another without it forced, load them both into photoshop or PSP and zoom right in on the edge of the Onager.

It will be very apparant if it is working or not after doing that.

[BDC]

If forced via the driver, its very likely it is working.

The easiest way to confirm is to compare low-res screenshots(800x600 will be good) at high zoom. So take a screenshot of a something with straight edges, but at an angle, an Onager or Seige Tower should do it, take one screen shot with AA forced, take another without it forced, load them both into photoshop or PSP and zoom right in on the edge of the Onager.

It will be very apparant if it is working or not after doing that.
Make sure they are BMP format otherwise the compression will blur the edges anyway.

[hoom]

So changing the descr_auto_optimise_options file will help? How exactly? That file is the file that the auto detect is based around.
If you work out which line your PC is categorised on & go through changing that line all to max values, then in the game options the max values are available.


i got a new graphics card today =P and now i have a drop dwn for AA,you need a 256mb video card Yes, CA seem to think for some reason that you need a 256Mb graphics card in order to do AA.
They are very wrong.


Kraellin said in the Apothecary that AA won't really make a difference on spears.Then Kraellin is very wrong too.
AA is most effective on long straight things like spears that are normally either near vertical or near horizontal.
I can't stand the sight of RTW spears without AA :thumbsdown:

[JeromeGrasdyke]

But AA is another of the ridiculous limitations of the auto settings detection. The AA limitations can be changed in the descr_auto_optimise_options.txt

The limitations which the auto-optimise system imposes are there for a good reason. RTW is very texture- and AGP-memory hungry in worst-case scenario's, and so on low-end machines it limits the maximum available screen res and AA settings, freeing up more resources. Modding these settings may result in visual corruption or some very large battles failing to load.

If you do decide to mod this file, and you have a 64 mb graphics card, you'll want to make sure that your AGP aperture is set to at least 128 mb, and even then you may see problems on some cards. Also, if you then distribute your mod, you should be aware that it may cause these problems on other people's systems. The reason why the file was left moddable at all was because it is possible to create mods where these restrictions don't apply (typically when factions have less than 12 unit types each).

[fret]

Make sure they are BMP format otherwise the compression will blur the edges anyway.

Ah yes, thanks for adding that BDC - very important! ~:)

[Quietus]

Then Kraellin is very wrong too.
AA is most effective on long straight things like spears that are normally either near vertical or near horizontal.
I can't stand the sight of RTW spears without AA

Ok, MY BAD, :embarassed:, I didn't meant to sully Kraellin's good name :bow:. What he meant is that the benefit outweighs the cost. The quality will improve but the performance will suffer severely. I apologize to Krae. :dizzy2:

[Lord of the Isles]

The limitations which the auto-optimise system imposes are there for a good reason...

Jerome, while I, like many other posters, have sometimes been critical of CA, I'd like to thank you, SpongeBob Fishpants (I know, but I prefer that) and other CA staffers for continuing to monitor the site and occasionally posting. We appreciate it, really.

Now, about the patch ...

[Nelson]

I can't stand the sight of RTW spears without AA :thumbsdown:

Me neither, hoom. My Rome menu only allows for low antialiasing. However, if I set the Radeon driver for my 9800 pro to 6X AA then that's what I get in the game. This makes a huge difference in the appearance of pike formations. With formations set to large I don't see much of a performance hit with an Athlon XP 2800+ and 512 ram.

[Quietus]

Awesome, thanks everyone for the help! ~:)

Anyway, here's the screenie w/ no AA:
http://img60.exs.cx/img60/3457/jaggedspears1kz.th.jpg (http://img60.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img60&image=jaggedspears1kz.jpg)

edit: click again to maximize image. Seems they shrank the image bit in the page.