# Does FXAA really beat MLAA in IQ?  A little comparison…



## walkingdog (Aug 26, 2011)

Does FXAA really beat MLAA in IQ?  A little comparison…


E6500, 4GB RAM, ASUS 6850
FXAA：beta version 8
MLAA：CCC 11.8
Disable all normal AA when using FXAA or MLAA
Note：modern games use check points instead of free save/load, 
       for those using check points the angles of polygons among pics may be a little different, 
this will influence the results(jaggies), please keep that in mind.


DEAD SPACE 2







DEAD SPACE 2：when using FXAA, the light diffusion seems odd…







FEAR 3







FEAR 3







WOLFENSTEIN







WOLFENSTEIN







SINGULARITY(angle fixed)







MASS EFFECT 2(angle fixed)







MASS EFFECT 2(angle fixed)







you can download all png files here
http://www.filedropper.com/mlaafxaa_1


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## erocker (Aug 26, 2011)

Nice comparisons.  FXAA seems to be just a bit better in the IQ department. I actually noticed this last night while playing with settings in Deus Ex.


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## EastCoasthandle (Aug 26, 2011)

erocker said:


> Nice comparisons.  FXAA seems to be just a bit better in the IQ department. I actually noticed this last night while playing with settings in Deus Ex.



IMO, the MLAA in Deus Ex isn't AA'ing the game as good as it could be.  When I use CCC's MLAA objects do look more AA'd and it's very noticeable while moving albeit there is a performance hit.   But the hit in performance still allows me to play the game without issue.


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## erocker (Aug 26, 2011)

EastCoasthandle said:


> IMO, the MLAA in Deus Ex isn't developed well.  I get the impression that IQ was reduced to get similar frame rates.  When I use CCC's MLAA it does look better albeit there is a performance hit.



I'll have to give that a try. Honestly, I think all of the AA settings in Deus Ex could be better. I like SSAA the best though it will give you the largest performance hit. Sometimes MLAA just blurs things up too much.


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## EastCoasthandle (Aug 26, 2011)

erocker said:


> I'll have to give that a try. Honestly, I think all of the AA settings in Deus Ex could be better. I like SSAA the best though it will give you the largest performance hit. Sometimes MLAA just blurs things up too much.



When I get a chance I will try 4xAA from CCC just to compare.


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## walkingdog (Aug 27, 2011)

erocker said:


> I'll have to give that a try. Honestly, I think all of the AA settings in Deus Ex could be better. I like SSAA the best though it will give you the largest performance hit. Sometimes MLAA just blurs things up too much.




yeah,MLAA blurs too much,like a camera out of focus,
and FXAA also has the same problem.
Unless necessary,MSAA is always my first choice.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Aug 27, 2011)

I like the looks of FXAA better, but doesn't the game have to support it? I don't see any options for it in the nvidia control panel. Seems like a big con as the primary appeal of MLAA is that it'll work on anything.


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## walkingdog (Aug 27, 2011)

I forgot a game that should be tested-Borderlands,
I played this game with 4x msaa before and annoyed by its jaggies very much.
Now it’s no longer a problem…

Borderlands







Borderlands：Under most circumstances I think FXAA is a little better than MLAA.








Below are some tests about gaming texture details, 
I don’t hope MSAA will be gone or replaced unless one day more “beautiful” AA solutions are presented, until then, MSAA is still my first choice…

MASS EFFECT 2：”less jaggies, less details”, that’s the rule







Borderlands







Singularity：the mountains also an obvious disparity







PNGs here
http://www.filedropper.com/mlaafxaa2


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## ShogoXT (Aug 27, 2011)

I was a skeptic as well at first, being a ATI user and all, but I was wrong. I think FXAA might take alot of game setups by storm and you can get it working with a ton of directx 9 and 10 games and maybe OpenGL too. I did a ton of research on how you "inject" it into your games and learned alot. 

First of all the developer for FXAA comes out with updates for it like every month or so it makes rapid progress on its downsides. Older versions being edgy and not as nice as MSAA or MLAA to making your games darker. All of those are fixed right now so I wouldnt pay attention to screen shots of older versions of FXAA. 

http://www.forum-3dcenter.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=510658

Now thats where you can consistently get the newer injector with the newer FXAA release (currently 3.11 with injector beta 10). Its in another language, but some of it is in english and you mostly just need the link. 

Dont forget to read the readme inside the zip file before you commit to it as it mentions things like you wont be able to use it on games that have anti cheat services like punkbuster. As well it does mention that you can edit the fxaa.h file with notepad, you practically need to to get it working I think(im no expert on this). Dont worry its not just constant code, as it has alot of helpful notes in between the lines. 






As alot more options than what im showing there, but a couple of the relevant ones are the shader type and PC mode which I think you need to enable them both to 1, as default it is 0. If you scroll below more you will see more options like for quality. Default quality preset is 12 and has a wiiiiiide range of presets along with customizing THOSE presets. Crazy stuff. 

Copy the files from the zip to where the exec is then edit the fxaa.h like I showed you above. Now maybe you can make those games which drive you NUTS in terms of AA (Dead Space) make them look good!

PS. So far made it work well on Dead Space 2 and Borderlands, but couldnt on Vindictus, which uses Source engine like L4D. I think it might have to do with the overlays, cant seem to fix it right.

EDIT2: Dont forget to do research on the sharpening options, as they can fix alot of those loss of detail issues. I have to say im impressed with the number of options.


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## EastCoasthandle (Aug 27, 2011)

I think you are over simplifying that FXAA hooking program.  You may need to change several numeric values of that file if FXAA isn't working correctly or not at all.  Making it a huge PITA.  You are not doing it just to get the best AA settings.   Furthermore, it's not something someone wants to do for every game they play.  If the game uses MSAA, MLAA, or FXAA they will simply use that over having to adjust several numeric components of that dll hooking program. 

Here are some of the things I noticed:
-This program isn't all that useful in all DX10/DX11 games.  It's mostly for DX9 games but some still need to be 'tweaked' to get it working right.
-This will not render OSD like MSI AF.
-Depending on the game it may crash.
-Most games have some sort of AA by default.  Which makes all that tweaking for it moot IMO.


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## HalfAHertz (Aug 27, 2011)

FXAA looks better to me


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## ShogoXT (Aug 27, 2011)

EastCoasthandle said:


> I think you are over simplifying that FXAA hooking program.  You may need to change several numeric values of that file if FXAA isn't working correctly or not at all.  Making it a huge PITA.  You are not doing it just to get the best AA settings.   Furthermore, it's not something someone wants to do for every game they play.  If the game uses MSAA, MLAA, or FXAA they will simply use that over having to adjust several numeric components of that dll hooking program.
> 
> Here are some of the things I noticed:
> -This program isn't all that useful in all DX10/DX11 games.  It's mostly for DX9 games but some still need to be 'tweaked' to get it working right.
> ...



I think the trick is to make sure the files are unloaded in the correct place. 

For instance for Starcraft 2 I was trying to get it working, but it wouldnt til I had 2 sets of the files in different spots. 
C:\Program Files (x86)\StarCraft II\Versions\Base19132
(newest patch spot I guess) and
C:\Program Files (x86)\StarCraft II\Support

Yea yea people dont wana tweak. This is PC gaming here! 

Something like this FXAA is needed more and more in recent games because of a lack of good AA and being unable to force them in driver. 

I havent messed with Directx 10 yet, but so far ive only needed to make sure the proper PC setting and Shader type is selected. There is other goodies, but so far just trying to make it work right?


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## INSTG8R (Aug 27, 2011)

erocker said:


> Nice comparisons.  FXAA seems to be just a bit better in the IQ department. I actually noticed this last night while playing with settings in Deus Ex.



That was my conclusion as well. I was pleased with the implementation of MLAA in the game but the FXAA is just a little bit sharper I think.


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## EastCoasthandle (Aug 27, 2011)

ShogoXT said:


> I think the trick is to make sure the files are unloaded in the correct place.
> 
> For instance for Starcraft 2 I was trying to get it working, but it wouldnt til I had 2 sets of the files in different spots.
> C:\Program Files (x86)\StarCraft II\Versions\Base19132
> ...



I think the real trick is to play only Unreal Engine 3 games .  I honestly wouldn't want to tweak every file for every game I play.  It has nothing to do with us being PC gamers, it's simply to much work when most games use AA.  And if some jaggies are still there after using AA I would think people would enable Adaptive AA as well for transparent objects, etc.


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## ShogoXT (Aug 28, 2011)

I dont mind a little extra tweaking if I learn stuff in the process. As well the downgrade of AA quality in the past few years was getting on my nerves. 

So far ive been able to get it working on two different DirectX 11 games. Call of Pripyat and replacing the default FXAA in Deus Ex. It wouldnt work unless I left the "define shader" options to 0. So specifying shader 5 made it error out. Also the file placement seems a bit trickier as you need to put the dll in one folder and shaders in another, in the case of COP. Deus Ex doesnt seem to have quite as smooth lines as the other games ive done it on, but still looks good and runs well even with the quality setting maxed at 39.

The quality difference on COP is ridiculous, as the included AA reallllly sucked. 

Dangit Nvidia y u make me like u again!?


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## EastCoasthandle (Aug 28, 2011)

ShogoXT said:


> I dont mind a little extra tweaking if I learn stuff in the process. As well the downgrade of AA quality in the past few years was getting on my nerves.
> 
> So far ive been able to get it working on two different DirectX 11 games. Call of Pripyat and replacing the default FXAA in Deus Ex. It wouldnt work unless I left the "define shader" options to 0. So specifying shader 5 made it error out. Also the file placement seems a bit trickier as you need to put the dll in one folder and shaders in another, in the case of COP. Deus Ex doesnt seem to have quite as smooth lines as the other games ive done it on, but still looks good and runs well even with the quality setting maxed at 39.
> 
> ...



I found in game MSAA working just fine so far.  From what I've seen post process AA isn't better then MSAA. As far as IQ goes MSAA is still better.  Sure, it's a good substitute for those with mid to low end PCs.  As it can save some frame rates.  But if you have a high end PC and the in game MSAA is available it's the go to choice.  If the game doesn't have AA there is always the control panel AA along with AA for transparent textures.  Something we've been doing for years now.  But again, that takes a decent PC to do.  

As for DE HR you should notice by now that objects further away aren't properly AA with post processing.  It's only effective using near to mid range objects (a few feet from you).   So, I wouldn't call it better in that case.  But again, to increase frame rates and give that smooth like console gaming experience post processed AA as a whole is another decent option.


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## douglatins (Aug 28, 2011)

ATI only damn it


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Aug 28, 2011)

i find mlaa with 4x edge detect supersampling(x12 effective) on to be the best setting all in and ive had few issues in all games with it forced on in cat


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## ShogoXT (Aug 29, 2011)

As I said there are a ton of options for it in the files that have to do with thresholds and sharpening, which makes it even better depending the game. Ive already read other people having promising results, i just need to figure out the proper formatting for it when adding lines.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Aug 29, 2011)

how do you change the AA type for a game?


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## ShogoXT (Aug 30, 2011)

So apparently I have been ultra retarded attempting to edit the wrong file. The FXAA file was the pass through file, but it didnt actually define the settings themselves. The shader file was the one specifying use of FXAA PC and what shader type, along with those other sharpening options ive been looking for. It already specifies shader 4, but for some reason my attempt at making it shader 5 for deus ex still doesnt work. Oh well, shader 4 works fine for some reason. 

I have been playing with the settings and its very promising. Messing with it further can and does improve on IQ and whatever you need. As well you can include a sharpening pass as well that was derived from Media Player Classic Home Cinema. Havent messed with it too much yet. 

No AA





FXAA my settings





EDIT: Starcraft 2 is pretty difficult to tweak, but id still argue it looks better. 

No AA





FXAA with some stuff changed


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