Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

I saw NaturalViolence his post. He tested it on 3.5-1102 and celebrated the revival of SSAA.
I just tried it on 3.5-1103 and it doesn't work anymore.
To make sure it's not that specific version, I also tried the latest build and it's still broken.

(04-03-2013, 11:45 PM)Garteal Wrote: [ -> ]Just verified it and you're right. SSAA is still broken in Direct3D9.

If you want, you can try the other back-ends for anti-aliasing.
OpenGL also supports SSAA now in addition to MSAA (albeit only at 4x, more is too taxing anyway) and CSAA.
Direct3D11 supports MSAA only.

I am using the HD texture pack for Xenoblade and per the creator of the texture pack, using Direct3D9 is recommend because Direct3D11 cause issues with the HD textures loaded. SSAA is better than MSAA, right? Albeit more taxing. Correct me if I am wrong, I thought SSAA is the highest quality of AA available in Dolphin.

@Garteal

Don't toy with my dreams man. I just tested 1103 master and it's still working normally.

@driedupfish

Yes.

Are you sure NaturalViolence?
Here's a comparison between Direct3D9 with no SSAA, 4xSSAA and OpenGL with 4xSSAA using 1103.

Direct3D9 No SSAA


Direct3D9 4xSSAA


OpenGL 4xSSAA


Can anyone with an AMD GPU test if SSAA with the Direct3D9 back-end works for them?

(04-04-2013, 04:16 AM)Garteal Wrote: [ -> ]Are you sure NaturalViolence?
Here's a comparison between Direct3D9 with no SSAA, 4xSSAA and OpenGL with 4xSSAA using 1103.

Direct3D9 No SSAA


Direct3D9 4xSSAA


OpenGL 4xSSAA


Can anyone with an AMD GPU test if SSAA with the Direct3D9 back-end works for them?

I have a HD 7950, like I said in my previous post. I've tried that new ax HLE build that was recommended at, 4x SSAA, doesn't seem to work. I am not sure if the latest ax HLE build is any different from the latest build posted in the download section.


Here is the ax hle branch i downloaded from: http://dolphin-emu.org/download/list/new-ax-hle/1/

@Garteal

That's a really bad screenshot to show off SSAA. It's mostly flat ground and post-processing effects. I see a reduction in aliasing in d3d9. However since increasing the IR alone will do that I don't know for sure if it's working from this screenshot alone. You should have taken some from an earlier revision to compare against. In the openGL backend I see some kind of horrible blur being applied to the entire image which is reducing aliasing even further. Obviously it's using a more aggressive scaling filter. Also I would highly recommend using fraction (auto window size) IR if you can to avoid potential scaling issues that a proper box filter will inevitably produce (if you're not already, I don't know since you didn't list the IR that you used).

While it's a matter of some debate whether SSAA is supposed to blur the entire image or not I certainly prefer the filters that do not. And I have found that often fullscreen blur is indicative of a problem with post-processing filters (not intended behavior).

In my screenshots aliasing is noticeably reduced in 1102 (there is still some there, but that's normal) compared to earlier revisions and it looks exactly the same in 1103.

3.5-1098: http://i.imgur.com/zGoQqFy.jpg
3.5-1102: http://i.imgur.com/OfCfiXv.jpg

Note that in 1098 4xSSAA still has a significant impact on reducing aliasing but not as much as your would expect from 4xSSAA. And in 1098 2x IR + 4xSSAA looks exactly the same as 4xIR + no SSAA whereas in 1102 the former produces noticeably less aliasing. Which indicates that the filter is doing its job. Also in 1102 it looks the same as in r6505 which suggests that the behavior of the shader is back to the way it was.

Assuming that it is still working correctly it's nice that we now have two different SSAA filters. A more aggressive filter in openGL for users that are ok with trading a fullscreen blur for less aliasing and a less aggressive filter in d3d9 for users like me that demand sharpness while reducing edge aliasing. Also while the textures are blurred in openGL by SSAA they are sharpened by SSAA in d3d9.

Edit: Also sorry for .jpg. Imgur seems to convert my .png images to .jpg automatically to save space on the server. And I hate .jpg artifacts.

Double edit: What happens in openGL with 4xSSAA as you raise the IR? Does it reduce the blur?

NaturalViolence Wrote:That's a really bad screenshot to show off SSAA. It's mostly flat ground and post-processing effects.
It's the only save game I had (from an user on the forums) and it's not as bad as you claim. As if Luigi's head is any better.

It has enough objects onscreen and I took it at a high resolution for a reason.
Look at the characters, rails and objects in the distance.

NaturalViolence Wrote:I see a reduction in aliasing in d3d9.

Yes, but far from how SSAA at 4x should look, and not even close to your Luigi comparison.

NaturalViolence Wrote:Also I would highly recommend using fraction (auto window size) IR if you can to avoid potential scaling issues that a proper box filter will inevitably produce (if you're not already, I don't know since you didn't list the IR that you used).

I should have yes, but I've shot this at 4xIR, I should have mentioned it.

NaturalViolence Wrote:While it's a matter of some debate whether SSAA is supposed to blur the entire image or not I certainly prefer the filters that do not. And I have found that often fullscreen blur is indicative of a problem with post-processing filters (not intended behavior).

It shouldn't this much, so this is definitely a more aggressive approach. It looks like might even have FXAA applied to it.

NaturalViolence Wrote:Edit: Also sorry for .jpg. Imgur seems to convert my .png images to .jpg automatically to save space on the server. And I hate .jpg artifacts.

Use a proper host then. minus, abload, any host that doesn't compress your screenshot that horrible.

Edit:

NaturalViolence Wrote:Double edit: What happens in openGL with 4xSSAA as you raise the IR? Does it reduce the blur?

Yes, raising the IR reduces the blur.

driedupfish Wrote:I have a HD 7950, like I said in my
previous post. I've tried that new ax HLE build that was recommended at,
4x SSAA, doesn't seem to work. I am not sure if the latest ax HLE build
is any different from the latest build posted in the download section.

Here is the ax hle branch i downloaded from: http://dolphin-emu.org/download/list/new-ax-hle/1/

Ah, sorry. I must have missed your specs. But thanks for letting me know.
The latest new-ax-hle build is different from the latest build in the download section, but there shouldn't be any major differences between them besides the HLE awesomness in the new-ax-hle.

Double edit: Grrr, the WYSIWYG editor is getting annoying after constantly trying to fix all the quotes. It screws up the quotes after previewing the post.

Garteal Wrote:As if Luigi's head is any better.

But it is. It's a single large object in the foreground facing perpendicular to the camera with many easily identifiable edges at a variety of different angles and no obnoxious post-processing effects or distracting background objects.* I chose that "spot" for my demonstration deliberately. Even the color palette is perfect for showing off aliasing.

Hell you don't even have to zoom in to make a good comparison since the aliasing is staring you in the face (pun intended).

Garteal Wrote:Yes, raising the IR reduces the blur.

And that's at 4x IR! Good lord. I can only imagine how bad it is at 2x or 3x IR.

Garteal Wrote:Use a proper host then. minus, abload, any host that doesn't compress your screenshot that horrible.

But I like imgur

Garteal Wrote:It shouldn't this much, so this is definitely a more aggressive approach. It looks like might even have FXAA applied to it.

Nope. I've spent enough time staring at FXAA to be able to identify it in a heartbeat. FXAA does not produce such a uniform blur and it has a noticeable "curving" effect on certain types of edges which is not present in your screenshot.

Garteal Wrote:Yes, but far from how SSAA at 4x should look, and not even close to your Luigi comparison.

Do you by any chance have SMG2? Actually SMG1 would probably work too.

NaturalViolence Wrote:I can only imagine how bad it is at 2x or 3x IR.

Just because you're being nice today.
Feast your eyes on this beauty. Yes, that's at 2x IR.

NaturalViolence Wrote:Do you by any chance have SMG2? Actually SMG1 would probably work too.

Sure. Here's the floating Luigi head you like so much. It still looks bad compared to yours.

Garteal Wrote:Feast your eyes on this beauty. Yes, that's at 2x IR.

Garteal Wrote:Sure. Here's the floating Luigi head you like so much. It still looks bad compared to yours.

I'm going to assume that this was done with fractional IR?

Can I ask another favor?

Take two more. Using windowed mode at 1920 x 1200 and crop (or be 1337 and use fraps so that you don't have to crop). One from 1103 and one from an earlier revision (anything before 1099). Then we can make a fair comparison without your godly monitor getting in the way.


Edit: Ok apparently dolphin has a built in shortcut for screenshots. It's F9. That should save you some work.