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  • #1

    Ambient Occlusion

    Hi,

    I'm considering the purchase of the new GPU. I personally prefer ATI, but I love the possibility of forcing the "Ambient Occlusion" through the NVidia drivers, which ATI does not allow (and they keep promising to add this feature since 2009).

    My question is:

    - does somebody of you NVidia Card owners uses this option in NWN2?
    - if yes, could you post here some screenshots?
    - what's the real performance loss? (if you turn "the showfps on/off" via the debug menu?)

    Thanks.
    Tupoun v.r.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    No AO in NWN2 as far as I know, using it in Skyrim though.
    The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.

    George Carlin

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    • #3
      Unless I'm missing a trick you can't force AmbOcc to function in an unsupported engine. Sadly NWN2 isn't supported, so marveling at nicer shadows.

      Edit: Beaten by the boss!
      It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little - Do what you can.
      Sydney Smith.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Doubtful View Post
        Unless I'm missing a trick you can't force AmbOcc to function in an unsupported engine. Sadly NWN2 isn't supported, so marveling at nicer shadows.

        Edit: Beaten by the boss!

        Yes, I've found some articles, where the guys are over the moon using it in Counter Strike and other older games running in DX9. It should be possible to force the use of Ambient Occlusion in older games, which actually do not support it. The only problem should be significant loss of FPS in DX9 engines (unlike DX11, where it should be improved and almost 3x faster).

        It should be hidden in the NVidia Control Panel/3D Settings/Manage 3D Setings/Ambient Occlusion (ON/Performance/Quality/Off).

        Some guys also mentioned the "User profiles" as a way to force the Ambient Occlusion to work in certain games. I can't test it, so if you are ready to take a look I'd be grateful.
        Tupoun v.r.

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        • #5
          "To activate AO in a game that doesn’t natively support it, do the following:"

          From the NVidia. Here is the link:

          http://www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guid...ient-occlusion
          Tupoun v.r.

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          • #6
            But that doesn't help you much when the complete setting in the nVidia control panel is not available at all because it is disabled for a certain game.

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            • #7
              The Source engine is fully supported, so DoD:S and CS:S are fully go-go for it as are quite a few other DX9 titles (Mirrors Edge looks great with it and it smartens up the origional Mass Effect a touch. Doesn't work with the MEII). The global toggle (ON, Performance, Quality, Off) defers to the control panel / title setting, if the title supports it then it'll run it. If not, you're out of luck.

              I'll carry on looking for a way to force it, if you run across one let me know.
              It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little - Do what you can.
              Sydney Smith.

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              • #8
                Yes you can force it, but like Doubt said, the engine has to support it (at a basic level). NWN2 does not.

                This is why for example Ambient Occlusion in Skyrim didn't work when the game shipped (because nvidia didn't release a profile with Ambient Occlusion that is compatible with Skyrim yet).

                Unreal 3 engine has support for AO, this is why even though certain Unreal 3.0 games don't support it, it can be forced (because the engine itself supports it).
                The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.

                George Carlin

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                • #9
                  Nonsence! There must be a way - my brain can not accept this. Itīs DX9. Not satisfied at all.

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                  OK, AMD then.

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                  I secretly hoped, that it was dependant on DX9 and not the engine itself. So AMD, well. But you are all sure, right?
                  Tupoun v.r.

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                  • #10
                    If a game is using it's own custom lighting models and such, you can't force it unless NVidia somehow has some sort of profile for the shader code and able to inject their own into it (AKA Hacking!)

                    AO is a nice feature for a lighting engine though, think I'll code it into mine.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by GodBeastX View Post
                      If a game is using it's own custom lighting models and such, you can't force it unless NVidia somehow has some sort of profile for the shader code and able to inject their own into it (AKA Hacking!)

                      AO is a nice feature for a lighting engine though, think I'll code it into mine.
                      Nvidia likes tricks. ATI just generally does things better. Its the way things are and always have been since I've been building computers (17 years).

                      Games that have odd visual tricks might not work at all on an ATI card. ATI cards are generally better quality in colour and depth overall though. Oblivion runs better on my ATI X1900XTX than it does on the equivelent dual GPU Nvidia GX2 despite the GX having almost twice the memory and speed (and a lot less heat). Ill always go with ATI because I've had so many problems with Nvidia imo

                      *edit* Before you start quoting. I have like 9 different examples since ive been building so dont mess! im a sleepy fuck right now.
                      Originally posted by roguethree
                      If I had my way, clerics would have spell failure and a d6 hit die. And Favored Souls wouldn't exist.

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                      • #12
                        The biggest problem I had with ATI in the past was buggy or non-existant Linux drivers for their cards. Their hardware has always been awesome. Their Crossfire is also a better solution for running multiple video cards than NVidia's SLI.

                        That said, I still usually go for NVidia cards on my game machines, because most games are developed on that hardware and debugged on that hardware and target that hardware platform, so they are less likely to have issues on that hardware.

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