NSR Shimmering

Hi all,

I finally got a copy to the UK. Frankly, I'm disappointed for all the
reason's listed in the Mr Nobody thread (and then some). I won't regurgitate
them - but I would ask if anyone has any ideas on a particular problem that
is making a poor experience even less satisfactory.

I find that there's an intolerable amount of shimmer at all tracks. It's
particularly evident on fences, posts, wall/track joins and worst of all on
the cars. As a car pulls away from you, the logo or decal on the back starts
to roll and shimmer. The sim experience is (for me ) being totally
interrupted by these appalling textures.

My hope is that I'm just missing something really simple. I've applied all
the tweaks listed on all the bulletin boards. The problem is unaffected by
resolution, AA or AF settings. I'm currently running 1024x768, 6xAA, 16xAF,
all options maxed fully out on an A8V, FX53, 1Gb, X800XT, 2ZS combination. I
have no jaggies at all and the frame rate never drops below 55 even at the
back of a full 43 car field.

I really hope there are some ideas out there which I haven't yet considered.
If I can get the graphics up to N2k3 quality it's worth hanging on for 'the
patch'.

Thanks in anticipation

"Neil Charlton" > wrote in message
...
> Hi all,
>
> I finally got a copy to the UK. Frankly, I'm disappointed for all the
> reason's listed in the Mr Nobody thread (and then some). I won't
> regurgitate them - but I would ask if anyone has any ideas on a particular
> problem that is making a poor experience even less satisfactory.
>
> I find that there's an intolerable amount of shimmer at all tracks. It's
> particularly evident on fences, posts, wall/track joins and worst of all
> on the cars. As a car pulls away from you, the logo or decal on the back
> starts to roll and shimmer. The sim experience is (for me ) being totally
> interrupted by these appalling textures.
>
> My hope is that I'm just missing something really simple. I've applied all
> the tweaks listed on all the bulletin boards. The problem is unaffected by
> resolution, AA or AF settings. I'm currently running 1024x768, 6xAA,
> 16xAF, all options maxed fully out on an A8V, FX53, 1Gb, X800XT, 2ZS
> combination. I have no jaggies at all and the frame rate never drops below
> 55 even at the back of a full 43 car field.
>
> I really hope there are some ideas out there which I haven't yet
> considered. If I can get the graphics up to N2k3 quality it's worth
> hanging on for 'the patch'.
>
> Thanks in anticipation
>

same here Neil..tried aa, no aa, tweaking the .plr file. Still can't get rid
of that shimmer. Cars or trucks look terrible when you are coming up on them
from behind.

DC

Neil,

I am running at 1600x1200x32 but using no FSAA or Aniso and the jaggies
are minimal at best. I see nothing like you describe with the bad
textures of a car or truck as it pulls away from you.

With your system, you should have no problem bumping up that resolution
and you will be amazed at how the jaggies disappear. Plus, with your
rig, no doubt you can run some kind of FSAA or Aniso even at that high
resolution. I have an AMD 3200XP, GeForce 6800 GT card and 1 GB of DDR
400 and the sim really moves along at that resolution. Your rig wont
even breath hard

"Smokin_Bob" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Neil,
>
> I am running at 1600x1200x32 but using no FSAA or Aniso and the jaggies
> are minimal at best. I see nothing like you describe with the bad
> textures of a car or truck as it pulls away from you.
>
> With your system, you should have no problem bumping up that resolution
> and you will be amazed at how the jaggies disappear. Plus, with your
> rig, no doubt you can run some kind of FSAA or Aniso even at that high
> resolution. I have an AMD 3200XP, GeForce 6800 GT card and 1 GB of DDR
> 400 and the sim really moves along at that resolution. Your rig wont
> even breath hard
>

mine looks even worse with aa, af turned off. intel 3.0, x800xt pe card. The
shimmering is there whether aa is on or off. Frames are high no matter what
also.

Using cat 5.1's may be the drivers?

DC

David Ciemny wrote:
> "Smokin_Bob" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> > Neil,
> >
> > I am running at 1600x1200x32 but using no FSAA or Aniso and the
jaggies
> > are minimal at best. I see nothing like you describe with the bad
> > textures of a car or truck as it pulls away from you.
> >
> > With your system, you should have no problem bumping up that
resolution
> > and you will be amazed at how the jaggies disappear. Plus, with
your
> > rig, no doubt you can run some kind of FSAA or Aniso even at that
high
> > resolution. I have an AMD 3200XP, GeForce 6800 GT card and 1 GB of
DDR
> > 400 and the sim really moves along at that resolution. Your rig
wont
> > even breath hard
> >
>
> mine looks even worse with aa, af turned off. intel 3.0, x800xt pe
card. The
> shimmering is there whether aa is on or off. Frames are high no
matter what
> also.
>
> Using cat 5.1's may be the drivers?
>
> DC

Sounds like a MIP mapping problem (or lack thereof). There may be a
player file setting to enable it. Otherwise, in the Cat's 3D panel,
move the MIP Map quality slider towards Performance - this will soften
up the MIPs a bit, maybe reduce sparkle.

joe
image space

I don't know, David, if the drivers would help or not. For me, I am
just not seeing the jaggies--but in Thunder 2004, they were terrible,
and that is what I compare it to. If I run anything at 1024x768 on
this 21" monitor, I get boatloads of jaggies, and the FSAA and Aniso
required to deal with it really hurts performance. EA also recommnends
NOT using your card to do the FSAA--I was going to try this, but the
Cube3d Config utility does not allow this option to show up. And for
some odd reason, FSAA gives me extreme physical discomfort--eye strain
and severe headaches, I have no idea why....

But if you have a look in your config.ini (Not the *.plr file--this one
is in the NSR root directory) file, look for this line=

ANISO=1 (Look for this line, it should be defaulted to zero, but
you can change it up....)
EFFECTS=1
MIPMAPS=1
VSYNC=0
VBSTRATEGY=1 (Vertex Buffer Strategy--possibles are 0,1,2--can help
with stuttering--at least in GTR I left mine at 1 so far works well
)

You have to manually add Aniso to the sim, but it does make a
difference--make it as high as 16 if you want, and see if it helps any.
I tried it without mip maps and it just looks worse to me.

"Scoob Droolins" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> David Ciemny wrote:
>> "Smokin_Bob" > wrote in message
>> ups.com...
>> > Neil,
>> >
>> > I am running at 1600x1200x32 but using no FSAA or Aniso and the
> jaggies
>> > are minimal at best. I see nothing like you describe with the bad
>> > textures of a car or truck as it pulls away from you.
>> >
>> > With your system, you should have no problem bumping up that
> resolution
>> > and you will be amazed at how the jaggies disappear. Plus, with
> your
>> > rig, no doubt you can run some kind of FSAA or Aniso even at that
> high
>> > resolution. I have an AMD 3200XP, GeForce 6800 GT card and 1 GB of
> DDR
>> > 400 and the sim really moves along at that resolution. Your rig
> wont
>> > even breath hard
>> >
>>
>> mine looks even worse with aa, af turned off. intel 3.0, x800xt pe
> card. The
>> shimmering is there whether aa is on or off. Frames are high no
> matter what
>> also.
>>
>> Using cat 5.1's may be the drivers?
>>
>> DC
>
> Sounds like a MIP mapping problem (or lack thereof). There may be a
> player file setting to enable it. Otherwise, in the Cat's 3D panel,
> move the MIP Map quality slider towards Performance - this will soften
> up the MIPs a bit, maybe reduce sparkle.
>
> joe
> image space
>

thx joe will give it a try in a few....reduce the sparkle that is exactly
what I am trying to do.

DC

"Neil Charlton" > wrote in message
...
> Hi all,
>
> I finally got a copy to the UK. Frankly, I'm disappointed for all the
> reason's listed in the Mr Nobody thread (and then some). I won't
regurgitate
> them - but I would ask if anyone has any ideas on a particular problem
that
> is making a poor experience even less satisfactory.
>
> I find that there's an intolerable amount of shimmer at all tracks. It's
> particularly evident on fences, posts, wall/track joins and worst of all
on
> the cars. As a car pulls away from you, the logo or decal on the back
starts
> to roll and shimmer. The sim experience is (for me ) being totally
> interrupted by these appalling textures.
>
> My hope is that I'm just missing something really simple. I've applied all
> the tweaks listed on all the bulletin boards. The problem is unaffected by
> resolution, AA or AF settings. I'm currently running 1024x768, 6xAA,
16xAF,
> all options maxed fully out on an A8V, FX53, 1Gb, X800XT, 2ZS combination.
I
> have no jaggies at all and the frame rate never drops below 55 even at the
> back of a full 43 car field.
>
> I really hope there are some ideas out there which I haven't yet
considered.
> If I can get the graphics up to N2k3 quality it's worth hanging on for
'the
> patch'.
>
> Thanks in anticipation

I don't see that at all.

When you ran 3d config, did you check "use mip maps"?

If you didn't, the graphics are going to look like bad. A lot like what you
described.
--
David G Fisher

"David G Fisher" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Neil Charlton" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I finally got a copy to the UK. Frankly, I'm disappointed for all the
>> reason's listed in the Mr Nobody thread (and then some). I won't
> regurgitate
>> them - but I would ask if anyone has any ideas on a particular problem
> that
>> is making a poor experience even less satisfactory.
>>
>> I find that there's an intolerable amount of shimmer at all tracks. It's
>> particularly evident on fences, posts, wall/track joins and worst of all
> on
>> the cars. As a car pulls away from you, the logo or decal on the back
> starts
>> to roll and shimmer. The sim experience is (for me ) being totally
>> interrupted by these appalling textures.
>>
>> My hope is that I'm just missing something really simple. I've applied
>> all
>> the tweaks listed on all the bulletin boards. The problem is unaffected
>> by
>> resolution, AA or AF settings. I'm currently running 1024x768, 6xAA,
> 16xAF,
>> all options maxed fully out on an A8V, FX53, 1Gb, X800XT, 2ZS
>> combination.
> I
>> have no jaggies at all and the frame rate never drops below 55 even at
>> the
>> back of a full 43 car field.
>>
>> I really hope there are some ideas out there which I haven't yet
> considered.
>> If I can get the graphics up to N2k3 quality it's worth hanging on for
> 'the
>> patch'.
>>
>> Thanks in anticipation
>
> I don't see that at all.
>
> When you ran 3d config, did you check "use mip maps"?
>
> If you didn't, the graphics are going to look like bad. A lot like what
> you
> described.
> --
> David G Fisher
>
>
Yes - I have it selected Dave. If I capture a still frame, the thing looks
almost as impressive as N2k3 - no problems with the picture at all. It's
when the whell is moved, or other vehicles are in motion, that the
sparkling/shimmering happens. I'll try the Aniso = 1 and mipmap in 3D config
suggestions and get back.

Thanks for the help.

Regards

I doubt if any of you guys have this problem but when I went into my
nVIDIA control panel, I discovered every single possible optimization
routine enabled!!! Well, enough of that, so I disabled the
optimizations and ended up with a noticeably better image quality, and
no reduction in FPS.

The Aniso tip I mentioned earlier--you can set it to 1,2,4,8 (?),
16...(?). Not only is it an 'on or off' deal, but you can adjust the
level as well, or at least that is the impression I got.

This sim is really starting to shine on this system. I also had a play
with the 'Detroit Locker' modification to the *.svm (setups) file--I
used a DiffPower of 18 and a DiffPreload of 1, and the driving felt a
lot 'looser' in the corners, but still I could feel the mass of the car
(virtually, of course), and the tires grabbing the pavement. With this
modification, it became nearly impossible (for me) to powerslide the
thing anywhere. Actually, it felt great--unfortunately, I don't feel
like updating 60000 *.svm files to make them do this, nor do I want to
muck up the *.hdv files as that would cause a multiplayer mismatch.

I SURE HOPE EA puts the correct differential in the sim--it is very
good, in my opinion, out of the box, but with that little
adjustment--wow, is all I can say. Why they left out the correct Diff,
I will never know-maybe so the newbies could slide it around like a
dirt tracker and have fun that way. It is noticebly more difficult to
drive with the mod to the svm file, but at least both wheels spin when
you give it the gas. How can you miss something like this??? Even
this was brought up in the demo discussion and they still leave it
in???

I hope EA makes new hdv or svm files, cause I sure in the Sam Hill am
not looking forward to doing this for EVERY SINGLE SETUP I USE Of
course, if I have to, I will--but why should I, or anyone else, fix
that differential issue ???

Well, enough for now. I think my graphics are set very well, and the
race I did last night at Atlanta was amazing--especially as I pull out
of the pits and 30 cars go blasting by!! That was awesome!!!! Like
very much so far.....