[How-To] Highest graphic quality on NVidia cards (SGSSAA)

[jfx]

Hi,

it always bothered me that KSP had no in-game support of anisotropic filtering. As most of you will know is an easy fix for that (just force it via the NVidia driver). However there is even more you can do to improve the visual quality of your game - if you have enough GPU power to spare. Sparse Grid Super Sampling Anti-Aliasing is as Awesome as it sounds. The "normal" MSAA/CSAA you can apply via the KSP graphic settings only smoothes out the polygon ("model") Edges while SGSSAA improves the entire Image. Edges, textures, alpha textures - everything smooth and silky. Also this does not Blur your Image - there should be no loss of visual information (as opposed to FXAA).

1) Get nvInspector from http://downloads.guru3d.com/NVIDIA-Inspector-1.94-download-2612.html - it allows you to change advanced profile settings which the standard NV driver interface hides.

2) Start it up and go to the advanced settings tab. You will need admin privileges to do that

On this screen there are also various info about your GPU. There are also settings to monitor stuff like temperatures etc. and an overclocking panel (dont use it if you don't know what you are doing.)

3) create a new profile for your KSP .exe (if you have not already done so)

4) follow the Instructions on the screencap

Compatibility bits for unity engine:

0x004000c1

Use following LOD values:

2x SGSSAA: -0,375

4x SGSSAA: -0,875

8x SGSSAA: -1,375

5) don't forget to hit "apply settings"

6) As always you do this on your own risk. (Optional:) ) If you screw up something and don't know what delete the profile you created for KSP - the GPU will use its default driver values for KSP again (there is no KSP profile out of the box just yet).

Comparison Screenshots (imgur album with full resolution screenshots)

no Anti Aliasing, no Anisotropic Filtering - jagged polygon Edges, blurred textures (wings,grass)

no Anti-Aliasing, 16x Anisotropic Filtering - crisp wing and grass textures

8xCSAA Anti-Aliasing, 16x Anisotropic Filtering - polygon edges smooth

no 8xSGSSAA Anti-Aliasing, 16x Anisotropic Filtering - smooth edges, best image quality - especialy visible on a moving picture (wings). The flickering pixels on the small craft details (bolts, etc.) will be gone.

I hope this helps, happy screenshotting

Edited August 16, 2012 by jfx

[sal_vager]

This is good info, and might be better off in How-To, as Support is really for help with the game proper, this is an external feature really.

I'll move it

[jfx]

Thanks, i was not sure either where it belongs

Edited August 14, 2012 by jfx

[Tosh]

Wooo-ho!

Just resetting 'em to factory defaults instantly solved the problem with [thread=16277]jaggies[/thread].

Thanks a lot!

UPD. It seems that jaggies in map view were caused by Anisotropic Filtering Mode switch. It should be left as "Application-Controlled" for them to disappear.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Tosh

[Ziff]

Can we get a Sticky on this post? This is good stuff for anyone with an Nvidia card. I still think I have an issue with Jaggies though.

[vexx32]

Just looking at it from a logical point of view, I think the antialiasing may affect the jaggies issue to some extent as well.

[Tosh]

Just looking at it from a logical point of view, I think the antialiasing may affect the jaggies issue to some extent as well.

Just tested that. AA smooths polygons' edges (and sometimes screen fonts too), but does not affect line drawing code, i.e. orbit appearance.

[erkha343]

whats unity's anti aliasing comparability values?

[jfx]

0x004000c1

I updated the post - it was just in the screenshot, not in the text .

[Lucchese]

Hello, quick question, is this still possible for 0.22?

If so, could you help me as Inspector changed a bit (there is no compatibility section no more?)

[jfx]

Yeah, this should still be possible. I can't make nV inspector screens anymore since I switched to an AMD card last week (sadface, no awesome 3rd party tools anymore) but are you sure there is no compatibility section anymore? (nvInspector needs to be run as admin, otherwise it may not show you all features - just to be sure).

[Lucchese]

Yes it still works, I did not extract all files which is why I had no compatibility section :')

Edited October 25, 2013 by Lucchese