Why can't I "force" external AA onto the DX11 Beta?

[Shanerion]

Hello there. I usually use the AMD Catalyst Control Center to force heavy Anti-Aliasing onto the regular, non beta version of the game. I put on 24x samples, edge detect, super sampling, 16x anisotropic filtering, etc., and it makes ALL the difference. I hate jaggies, and the game goes from being PSX level jaggies to being totally and satisfyingly smooth.

However on the DX11 Beta, I just can't get the settings to take. I usually target the application "Pinball Arcade" for my tweaks. So I figured it would make sense to target the application "PinballArcade11" for the tweaks I would attempt for my beta-testing. When I load into the game, the jaggies are there, front and center.

To make sure I was tweaking the right application, I ctrl+alt+delete to see the exact name of the application in use, and surely, it was "PinballArcade11". So as a final test, I went and clicked directly on the application "PinballArcade11" instead of launching it through Steam. While it did launch with the improved graphics this way, it also launched into the beta-realm version of DX9, defeating the purpose.

The long winded question here, is, is there a way to force external anti-aliasing onto the DX11 beta, because if there is, so far I haven't figured it out. Thanks all.

 

[nudnick]

Hello there. I usually use the AMD Catalyst Control Center to force heavy Anti-Aliasing onto the regular, non beta version of the game. I put on 24x samples, edge detect, super sampling, 16x anisotropic filtering, etc., and it makes ALL the difference. I hate jaggies, and the game goes from being PSX level jaggies to being totally and satisfyingly smooth.

However on the DX11 Beta, I just can't get the settings to take. I usually target the application "Pinball Arcade" for my tweaks. So I figured it would make sense to target the application "PinballArcade11" for the tweaks I would attempt for my beta-testing. When I load into the game, the jaggies are there, front and center.

To make sure I was tweaking the right application, I ctrl+alt+delete to see the exact name of the application in use, and surely, it was "PinballArcade11". So as a final test, I went and clicked directly on the application "PinballArcade11" instead of launching it through Steam. While it did launch with the improved graphics this way, it also launched into the beta-realm version of DX9, defeating the purpose.

The long winded question here, is, is there a way to force external anti-aliasing onto the DX11 beta, because if there is, so far I haven't figured it out. Thanks all.

May or may not help ... try running PinballArcade11.exe as Administrator (right-click, Run as Administrator). I say this because if you launch the 11.exe as Administrator, it will open the DX11 ver instead of 9 ... at least it does for me.

 

[Biff]

Global (System) Settings in CCC affect TPA on my Comp. (HD7950)
I haven't tried Appllication Settings.

 

[Shanerion]

May or may not help ... try running PinballArcade11.exe as Administrator (right-click, Run as Administrator). I say this because if you launch the 11.exe as Administrator, it will open the DX11 ver instead of 9 ... at least it does for me.

Strange, even when I run it as Admin, it still launches in DX9.

 

[nudnick]

Strange, even when I run it as Admin, it still launches in DX9.

That is strange ... if I just double click it opens 9 ... . Right cick, run as admin and it opens 11 ... weird. I am running Windows 8.1.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

Have you tried running the game at a higher resolution back buffer and letting it downscale?

Also, I was under the impression if you crank up the AA in the configuration client it goes high enough to remove all jaggies too?

 

[Michael DiFilippo]

That is strange ... if I just double click it opens 9 ... . Right cick, run as admin and it opens 11 ... weird. I am running Windows 8.1.

Are you sure?

Right-clicking "PinballArcade11.exe" and choosing "Run as Admin" still executes DX9. It basically opens the steam client which just opens up the first exe it can fine. < assuming

The only way to execute the DX11, currently, is in STEAM.

 

[Michael DiFilippo]

Okay, I found a loop hole.

1. I had the dx11 beta since the beginning.
2. After FS pushed the beta (1.37.8) with the last update there was a follow up beta update with some minor work done. Keep in mind that the beta was "public" April 17th, 2015.
3. I decided to "opt out" and now able to run the DX 11 exe normally.
4. I'm now opting back into the beta to get the latest and greatest to verify that the exes are broken or not.

EDIT

Okay it worked. Opting back into the beta fixed the DX11 executable triggering DX9 instead.

 

[Shanerion]

Okay, I found a loop hole.

1. I had the dx11 beta since the beginning.
2. After FS pushed the beta (1.37.8) with the last update there was a follow up beta update with some minor work done. Keep in mind that the beta was "public" April 17th, 2015.
3. I decided to "opt out" and now able to run the DX 11 exe normally.
4. I'm now opting back into the beta to get the latest and greatest to verify that the exes are broken or not.

EDIT

Okay it worked. Opting back into the beta fixed the DX11 executable triggering DX9 instead.

Good find! I'll try this tonight.

 

[Just Some Guy]

However on the DX11 Beta, I just can't get the settings to take. I usually target the application "Pinball Arcade" for my tweaks. So I figured it would make sense to target the application "PinballArcade11" for the tweaks I would attempt for my beta-testing. When I load into the game, the jaggies are there, front and center.

Most (all?) DirectX 11 applications do not support MSAA injection. Those options typically only apply to DirectX 9 and older titles, or OpenGL.
The fix here is to increase the backbuffer resolution as Alex suggests. If you use 3840x2160 on a 1920x1080 screen, that is effectively 4x supersampling.
2880x1620 would be "2x supersampling". I typically find anything other than 2x in both dimensions to be ineffective when using supersampling in games, though it may work better in The Pinball Arcade due to what is actually being rendered compared to most games.

Be aware that this can be very demanding on system performance, especially if combined with MSAA, and the menus do not seem to be scaled correctly right now. They work fine, they're just a bit ugly.

I would suggest using something to monitor your framerate/GPU utilization (I recommend MSI Afterburner) and loading up one of the more demanding tables such as Cirqus Voltaire to check that your system can still run the tables smoothly.
If you let CV run the "attract screen" after selecing it, that seems to be the best indicator for whether or not a table will run smoothly as it really pushes up the GPU utilization when all the lights are on.

GPU utilization should always remain below 99% and framerate should not drop below 60 FPS. (assuming you have a typical 60Hz display)

 

[Shanerion]

Have you tried running the game at a higher resolution back buffer and letting it downscale?

Also, I was under the impression if you crank up the AA in the configuration client it goes high enough to remove all jaggies too?

Definitely doesn't go high enough to remove all jaggies. In fact I think it may be broken. Just now I've been switching from MSAA 1x Sample and MSAA 0% Quality (the lowest the AA settings can go in the config client) to MSAA 8x Sample and MSAA 100% Quality (the highest it can go), and there is no discernible difference. Whether essentially "off", or maxed, the config client AA leaves everything extremely jaggy, extremely sparkly. Rails are the worst, but everything is extremely visually noisy.

Very hard to accept this coming from 24x Supersampling on the DX9 version (using my video card's control panel). Everything was totally smooth, rails were shockingly perfect in their rendering, looked next-gen. It's too bad that to gain the special lighting of DX11, we have to lose essentially all the visual fidelity we were used to in DX9, (at least those of us who were throwing the kitchen sink at the problem with extreme external AA injection).

 

[Just Some Guy]

Definitely doesn't go high enough to remove all jaggies. In fact I think it may be broken. Just now I've been switching from MSAA 1x Sample and MSAA 0% Quality (the lowest the AA settings can go in the config client) to MSAA 8x Sample and MSAA 100% Quality (the highest it can go), and there is no discernible difference. Whether essentially "off", or maxed, the config client AA leaves everything extremely jaggy, extremely sparkly. Rails are the worst, but everything is extremely visually noisy.

Very hard to accept this coming from 24x Supersampling on the DX9 version (using my video card's control panel). Everything was totally smooth, rails were shockingly perfect in their rendering, looked next-gen. It's too bad that to gain the special lighting of DX11, we have to lose essentially all the visual fidelity we were used to in DX9, (at least those of us who were throwing the kitchen sink at the problem with extreme external AA injection).

I don't know what AMD are using at "24x Supersampling" because it will certainly not be 24x.
That sounds like a combination of MSAA+Supersampling similar to NVIDIA's "32xS" which is 2x2 SSAA plus 8xMSAA. (16xS = 2x2 SSAA + 4x MSAA)

2x2 SSAA would be equivalent to the backbuffer being 2x your output resolution.
So for a 1920x1080 display, the backbuffer would be 3840x2160.

1080p 4x MSAA
2160p 8x MSAA

Of course this is absolutely unplayable on my GTX 570 in DX11 mode, but it's certainly possible to supersample the game.
You just have to use the game's options for it rather than your driver.

 

[Shanerion]

I don't know what AMD are using at "24x Supersampling" because it will certainly not be 24x.
That sounds like a combination of MSAA+Supersampling similar to NVIDIA's "32xS" which is 2x2 SSAA plus 8xMSAA. (16xS = 2x2 SSAA + 4x MSAA)

2x2 SSAA would be equivalent to the backbuffer being 2x your output resolution.
So for a 1920x1080 display, the backbuffer would be 3840x2160.

1080p 4x MSAA
2160p 8x MSAA

Of course this is absolutely unplayable on my GTX 570 in DX11 mode, but it's certainly possible to supersample the game.
You just have to use the game's options for it rather than your driver.

Even with the backbuffer set to 3840x2160 and the MSAA maxed, the image quality isn't remotely close to what is in DX9 with external supersampling applied. Also, the performance hit is noticeable, whereas it's a non-issue with external forced AA.

You're right 24x Supersampling can't be right... but here are the settings I'm using for the DX9 image enhancement.
AA Mode: Override app settings
AA Samples: 24x
Filter: Edge Detect
AA Method: Supersampling

With these settings, jaggies are completely nonexistent. Not one. Perfectly smooth. With the highest possible settings you can achieve using the Pinball Arcade Config Client (increasing back-buffer size, pumping up AA samples and quality) there are still very, very noticeable jaggies, and performance slows to a crawl.

I really hope there's someone out there, even a dev, who has a trick up their sleeve for all of this. Because it's up in the air for me what is more important, lighting or texture quality. The lighting is great, I love it, it adds to the realism, but the extremely jangly, jaggy, shiny shimmering flickering that's going on on all the rails really takes away the immersion. With perfect AA you feel like you're on a real pinball table. With jagged lines on every surface, you feel like you're playing pinball on a PS1 emulator.