This is a tip for if you have a decent computer already and want to get good AA/AF without a huge performance hit. This is NOT for machines that are low end. Posting here since apparently this isn't warranted on the wiki.
Tested on: Both DX11 supporting AMD/NVidia cards, Dolphin 4.0.1
Requires: Discrete Graphics Card, game that can work with DirectX9 or DirectX11, so Windows only.
"Little to no performance hit" - Depending on your machine, and if you are running the game with a frame cap. I'm guessing the speed up is because the graphics card is taking care of the AA/AF, instead of through the emulation wrapper. There would be an impact if your graphics card can't handle the game without AA.
How to:
1) Set AA/AF settings to None/1x in Dolphin. Backend must be set to DX9 or DX11
2) Open up your graphics card settings program (NVidia control panel and AMD CCC). If you don't see the option, update your drivers.
3) Set your graphics card to override application settings, and set AA/AF to what you want.
4) CLOSE Dolphin completely, and restart (Graphics settings change doesn't take effect until the program is completely closed)
5) You now have high AA/AF settings with little-no performance hit.
*Remember: If you want to use OpenGL again, you will need to turn off application override in the future.
Performance comparisons for my desktop computer (specs are from the generation released 4 year ago) as a reference/example:
Xenoblade Chronicles (NTSC), 30fps cap, numbers are lowest (lag spike)/average (usual)
FPS with no AA in Dolphin: 25/30
FPS with no AA in Dolphin, Graphics Card override to 24xSSAA: 24/30
FPS with no AA in Dolphin, Graphics Card override to 12xSSAA: 25/30
FPS with 2x AA in Dolphin: ~18/20
FPS with 8xAA in Dolphin: ~2/5
FPS with 4xSSAA in Dolphin: ~2/5.
Tested on: Both DX11 supporting AMD/NVidia cards, Dolphin 4.0.1
Requires: Discrete Graphics Card, game that can work with DirectX9 or DirectX11, so Windows only.
"Little to no performance hit" - Depending on your machine, and if you are running the game with a frame cap. I'm guessing the speed up is because the graphics card is taking care of the AA/AF, instead of through the emulation wrapper. There would be an impact if your graphics card can't handle the game without AA.
How to:
1) Set AA/AF settings to None/1x in Dolphin. Backend must be set to DX9 or DX11
2) Open up your graphics card settings program (NVidia control panel and AMD CCC). If you don't see the option, update your drivers.
3) Set your graphics card to override application settings, and set AA/AF to what you want.
4) CLOSE Dolphin completely, and restart (Graphics settings change doesn't take effect until the program is completely closed)
5) You now have high AA/AF settings with little-no performance hit.
*Remember: If you want to use OpenGL again, you will need to turn off application override in the future.
Performance comparisons for my desktop computer (specs are from the generation released 4 year ago) as a reference/example:
Xenoblade Chronicles (NTSC), 30fps cap, numbers are lowest (lag spike)/average (usual)
FPS with no AA in Dolphin: 25/30
FPS with no AA in Dolphin, Graphics Card override to 24xSSAA: 24/30
FPS with no AA in Dolphin, Graphics Card override to 12xSSAA: 25/30
FPS with 2x AA in Dolphin: ~18/20
FPS with 8xAA in Dolphin: ~2/5
FPS with 4xSSAA in Dolphin: ~2/5.