FXAA Injection?

[Inoperable]

UPDATE:

To enable FXAA Injection in X3:TC or/and X3:AP do the following:

1. Download FXAA Injector files - I use the same files that I use for SKYRIM, but there is probably a newer version around, Google it

2. Install all the files into the game Dir

3. Start X3 and set Antialiasing to OFF in game settings

4. Set your own Antialiasing settings in Nvidia Control Panel and Override the Application settings

5. Set your Injector settings in injFX_Settings.h

Mines are:
#define USE_ANTI_ALIASING
#define USE_PRE_SHARPEN
//#define USE_BLOOM
//#define USE_TECHNICOLOR
//#define USE_TONEMAP
//#define USE_SEPIA
//#define USE_VIGNETTE
#define USE_POST_SHARPEN
#define USE_FINAL_LIMITER

6. Start the game

7. Profit

The Injector in it's default settings enables all kind of filter so it will look strange the first time you run it. Don't scary yourself. Thats ok and it means the Injector works.

Disable the stuff you don't like (Bloom/Technicolor/.../)
IMPORTANT: disable anti aliasing in X3:TC / X3:AP settings otherwise the injector won't work in Fullscreen mode

[qwizzie]

all i know is if you have nvidia card you can force this game to use higher antialiasering and higher anisotropic texture filtering.
So for example you can set the game graphic setting to 4x antialiasering and 4x anisotropic texture filtering and via nvidia control setting force the game
to use much highter settings (depending on videocard).

Your mentioned link is new to me .. not sure how that works.

edit : btw, X3 AP is setup somewhat differently then X3 TC, i would check
first if it works on X3 TC

edit 2 : i read up on this topic and its very interesting material. looks like this is coming from a nvidia techn who is developing it on driver level. appearently some beta nvidia drivers are already using it ? interesting stuff.

[Inoperable]

Yup. I use it in Skyrim and it gives hell a lot to the graphics. I'm trying to enable it in X3:AP now. Will post what I find out.

I'd like to get the Sharpen filter running

[Killjaeden]

you can turn up the saturation/contrast on your screen or in the driver settings, no need for "FXAA injector" to get "better graphics"

and AA&AF can also be turned higher via driver in both ati and nvidia since x years. I don't see the benefit of that thing tbh.

[qwizzie]

FXAA is rumoured to be perferming equally or better as AA but with lesser costs (giving you more FPS) .. specifically on dx9 games. This could be interesting to get more FPS out of old games like X3 TC and X3 AP (old as in running with DX9). For older computer or computers with lesser videocards thats something to look forward to.

to op : i got the tool you mentioned to work with X3 TC but i'm not sure how to interpret it, zero experience with it. Will see what you come up with.

LINK to thread about this tool, and where you can also download it :
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=355472

(check with Files if you wanna download : FXAAToolHg4.zip is latest version)

[Killjaeden]

AA and AF is performed by the gpu iirc, so you will propably gain 0 benefit, because the CPU is the bottleneck of X3

[qwizzie]

the bottleneck also depends on yr pc / videocard. If you have older pc or older videocard this could in theory grant you more FPS or gets you better visuals.
**in theory**

if Nvidia themself are putting so much effort in it.. it must mean something
(try google for ''nvidia 295.18 FXAA'')

Here is some interesting stuff about FXAA in general and some test done on a game that has specifically FXAA in their engine.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/07/ ... echnology/

[TrixX]

As KJ mentioned if you have any sort of good gfx card or even pretty bad the game is 99% CPU bottlenecked. It requires a lot of single core horsepower to run making the GPU less important in about the only modern game about doing this still.

Most other games have at least 3-4 core support now negating the single core issue, but X3 is not one of them.

[Jack08]

X3:TC/AP is CPU bound even with older cards, so it probably wont make much diffrence to FPS unless your running a EXTREAMLY old card that well - you just shouldnt be using

[qwizzie]

well, i was thinking of laptops with less then medium videocards.
The upcoming beta nvidia driver seems to focus on mobile videocards
(in laptops) in particular. A lot of ppl using older videocards cant even use
full settings, let alone full AA.

I have this laptop with a good processor (Intel i5 first gen) but with an outdated videocard, i'm forced to set AA on 2x and all other settings on medium just to get playable FPS.

With the upcoming driver release or maybe this tool we can profit from gaining extra visual depth in the game... who knows.

I'm willing to keep an open mind, besides the topic sparked my interest

qwizzie

[Inoperable]

Guys,

FXAA does not "only" gives you a better AA or better sharpening - It truly enhances the graphics better then any driver settings.

I can't get the same results in Skyrim without FXAA injection through drivers or anything else.

For example the sharpening filter is a must

[Inoperable]

QWIZZIE:

How did you get it to work? I can't see any difference - meaning it does not load in my case.

[Axeface]

I was thinking about asking this myself yesterday. In Skyrim FXAA worked wonders.
It smoothed out trees, as the inbuilt edge blur wasnt enough, and it also had 0 impact on FPS, where setting AA in Skyrim did.

If you could get it to work, it could smooth out distant stations.
Looking forward to seeing if it works!

[Inoperable]

UPDATE 1:
Works with Albion Prelude - only in Windowed Mode o.O
meaning the AA is disabled, but I definitely got the sharpening effect and other settings working. Still no AA. Strange.

UPDATE 2:
Works with Terran Conflict, but only in Windowed Mode

Can't find out why the injector does not work in Fullscreen Mode though.

UPDATE 3:
Enabled FRAPS and watched the performance.
Fullscreen Mode I got 60fps with maxed everything (32AA/16AF/AA Transparency SuperSample x 4) and I get 60 fps

in Windowed Mode I get 36 fps o.O

First I thought thats because of the Injector so I disabled it and I still got 36 fps. This is really strange. If I go fullscreen with maxed out settings in Nvidia Control Panel I get 60 fps. If I do the same in Windowed Mode I get 36 fps.

Still I'm overriding the Application Settings in case of Windowed Mode since I can't enable AA otherwise.

UPDATE 4:
Now I get it in Fullscreen as well Sweet. Sharpen filter makes a lot of diffrerence. Things are more "crispy"

For making it work:

1. Download FXAA Injector - I use the same files I use for SKYRIM, but there is probably a newer version around, google it
2. Install all the files into the game Dir
3. Start X3 and set Antialiasing to OFF in game settings
4. Set your own Antialiasing settings in Nvidia Control Panel and Override the Application settings
5. Set your Injector settings in injFX_Settings.h

Mine are:
#define USE_ANTI_ALIASING
#define USE_PRE_SHARPEN
//#define USE_BLOOM
//#define USE_TECHNICOLOR
//#define USE_TONEMAP
//#define USE_SEPIA
//#define USE_VIGNETTE
#define USE_POST_SHARPEN
#define USE_FINAL_LIMITER

6. Start the game
7. Profit

The Injector in it's default settings enables all kind of filter so it will look strange the first time you run it. Don't scary yourself. Thats ok and it means the Injector works.

Disable the stuff you don't like (Bloom/Technicolor/.../)

[dougeye]

could it be an issue with x3 games abilityies to run in the background and when minimised? + i believe skyrim runs in whats known as a false window mode, im not to upto date on my window modes lol

[Jack08]

UPDATE 1:
Works with Albion Prelude - only in Windowed Mode o.O
meaning the AA is disabled, but I definitely got the sharpening effect and other settings working. Still no AA. Strange.

UPDATE 2:
Works with Terran Conflict, but only in Windowed Mode

Can't find out why the injector does not work in Fullscreen Mode though.

There are major diffrences between fullscreen and windowed mode when it comes to DirectX, while the end user code doesnt change (much if at all), internally DirectX runs Windowed and Fullscreen in diffrent ways.

Quite a few internal flags change depending on witch mode your in, any number of these could be causing problems with FXAA, It is after all a hack (DLL injection), so its bound not to work on same games & modes.

If it is a code/compatability problem, i dont think you will be able to fix it as FXAA is closed source (i think?)

Another problem could be that X3 is running its own fullscreen shaders that are conflicting, but thats just a guess.

[qwizzie]

FXAA as tool is an open source project i think

quote :

'' All source code used for the tool, with exception of d3d9.dll source code, is available on Mercurial Hg: http://www.assembla.com/spaces/fxaa-pp-inject/wiki ''

to OP : maybe you can ask around on their site, if they experienced this problem with other games.

another option is waiting for the official Nvidia (beta) driver .. shouldnt take too long i guess since one was leaked anyways

[Jack08]

the d3d9 proxy dll is the sourcecode that would likely be required to fix this, thats the part i was refrencing. Looks thats the only part that they are not releasing

shame, would love to see how its done, i failed to hijack the shader engine of directx with my own DLL in X3... could never get it to stabilize

[Inoperable]

I make it work in Fullscreen as well Had to disable Antialiasing in X3:AP settings. Don't ask me why but now it works. I'm getting Antialiasing through the OVERRIDE function in Nvidia Control Panel to work.

Graphics looks really nice and I got my 60fps back

[qwizzie]

can you tell me what options / filters you use in that tool for X3 TC / AP ? There are a lot of filters and options you can use in there and i assume not all work really well in X3 TC / AP ?