Edge Smoothing/AA

[Kralore]

Is anyone else having issues with edge smoothing not working fully?  I have it set to medium which would be 4x AA but it's not smoothing as much as it should be. Edges should be smoother then they are. It is working, if i turn it off or switch down to low/2xAA the edges are very rough.  I've tried forcing through Catalyst Control Panel and just get the same results.  I've seen 4x AA with TS2 and the edges are almost completely smooth.

Video card is an AGP  ATI 3850 with 512meg memory.

[Fat D]

Pescado had once suggested an out-of-game solution for Spore, which does not even have anti-aliasing features built in:

How do you make the screen smooth out? I have tried changing resolution, heightening graphics settings, and lowering graphics settings. Nothing seems to work. There is no anti aliasing slider that I can see.

[Shazaam]

I'm using Radeon 4850, I install the latest driver and I don't have any problem with AA. I set the smoothness (in game setting) at medium and it work fine.

I never use turn on AA in Catalyst CC, since many game has conflict with it. The Sims 3 also doesn't support adaptive AA.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

As was suggested to me elsewhere on here, I had to disable adaptive anti-aliasing in Catalyst Control Center, and then I was able to set edge smoothing up to the highest level in the game options without weird effects.  I've noticed though that not all edges look 100% smooth still, so I would use Pescado's recommended Vodka option.  Either drink until they are completely smoothed or drink until you don't care.  Whatever works.

[Kralore]

I've noticed though that not all edges look 100% smooth still,

That's the part that is irritating me actually,  It does appear to be smoothing to 4x AA, but some objects will have nice smooth edges, while others right beside them will have rough edges. The other thing I've noticed is that when I first load the game it will sometimes look perfect, then after awhile the edges will start to get rough again.   In the end I've got used to the edges being a bit rough.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Well, some with ATI cards are experiencing issues with graphics, while others aren't.  I suppose we're the unlucky ones. 

[pennyhugo]

I have ATI Radeon 9550 and in standard settings, I selected Use Custom Settings. Then in-game, I set Edge Smoothing to Medium and it looks a little smooth now. It will be much smoother if it's in High settings but my vid card lags. You can try it in your card. I love MATY!

[jolrei]

Is anyone else having issues with edge smoothing not working fully?  Video card is an AGP  ATI 3850 with 512meg memory.

Nope.  I have the same video card (P4 3Ghz system, 2Gb RAM, and ATI 3850 system running all graphics settings at high or max) and edge smoothing is working.  There is some jagged edge stuff going on with shadows (especially shadows on sim faces), but I can live with that.

[Rockermonkey]

I have a 6150 with almost maxed out settings, I can only turn it up to low without extreme lag. Then after that I drop down to like 5-10 fps from like 20-30. Damn old thing

[lzimbu]

I'd have shot anyone who suggested the following but I was forced to try it for myself and verified it:

AA doesn't work well with windows vista. I have a Radeon HD2900XT which can do AA well. I didn't even notice the problem when first I installed the game in Windows 7 (7100).

Then my windows install failed and I had to fall back for several hell hours to Vista.. no AA in the game to speak of.. it was like a chainsaw to the eyes.

No matter what was attempted the graphics looked like cerated ass.

BUT after jumping back to Win 7 (7201).. AA is back.

The lesson children is that Vista sucks monkey balls.

[McCrea]

Is anyone else having issues with edge smoothing not working fully?

I don't know extensive graphics terminology.  Fortunately, AA might bet the only term I understand fully.

First of all, my (and some other people's) shadows at med or high game settings always have blocky edges.  Leads to a shimmering as the sun moves.  Pisser.

Secondly, it's wasn't an AA issue, but I had a symptom that could have been partially described as "street lines were blocky":  After I switched video drivers for my Radeon x1600, I noticed wierd graphics.  They were very "sharp", and the pixels were contrasting rather than blending, creating a shimmer when the camera moved.  it's somewhat like it wasn't mipmapping at all, but was hardly influenced by adjusting the typical mipmapping (Mipmap detail level).  I believe I tracked it down to a single setting, and what a shock to see I may have been using the right term for a change.  Graphics looked odd with "Force Mip-Map Filter" checked in ATI Tools.  Normal ATI options don't show that though, so maybe that's probably not your problem.

[Kralore]

This is what I see in game with edge smoothing set to medium, which is equivalent to 4x Anti-aliasing....



I've seen screenshots from a friend who is using an Nvidia card and he is seeing the same thing and he is actually running at High/8xAA. That also seems to be an issue. I'm seeing no difference between Medium and High edge smoothing. Both settings look identical.

What I'm trying to figure out is why some edges seem to show proper smoothing and others don't.  If you look at the fireplace, couch, end table staircase and kitchen table, they seem to be showing proper smoothing. If you look at the stove and fridge you will see rough edges that are not smoothed to 4xAA.

It can't really be seen very well in this picture, but the speakers on the stereo, the chair backs in the kitchen, the sink and toilet in the bathroom and the walls also have very rough edges. I'm seeing this all over the game. Some edges are smooth, while other edges are very rough.

Could other players with edge smoothing set to medium or high, also post a screenshot showing what their game looks like?  I don't have this problem with any other games. The Sims 2, Oblivion, Fallout 3. All these games I play at 4xAA and I know how smooth the edges should be.

Edit:  Changed to thumbnail and increased size of the picture to better show the rough edges. When you view the picture use the full size option to see it more clearly.

[pennyhugo]

with my settings... just wanted to share...
















OS: Microsoft XP Pro
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1.5GB

PS: I hope the screenies' sizes are ok.