Which MIP Mapping setting looks best in FFXI (Images provided for comparison)

[Pikarya]

Please halp BG. I'm thinking 4 or 5 looks the best/most realistic in terms of quality. But my eyes have failed me before

http://www.imagebeast.net/images/84v...ouc9o7hyz7.gif

#1
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/3oj...nn40rzc0pw.jpg

#2
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/66o...fj5ciggx0h.jpg

#3
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/5m1...wgzt9cfqzw.jpg

#4
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/w0z...3ej11ohn6n.jpg

#5
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/5z1c3or884uq43vt0.jpg

#6
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/plk...mt24g8vwbe.jpg


http://www.imagebeast.net/images/bwtkdtqvolqq0j8bm7.jpg

http://www.imagebeast.net/images/ca9...yd36b34ms6.jpg

http://www.imagebeast.net/images/zgs...e45wy4mgl2.jpg

http://www.imagebeast.net/images/f01...v5pk9ctqri.jpg

Thanks!

edit: Updated as requested, old host died.

[Calekor]

I've always liked "overdone" mipmapping, at the same time, I know some people have said they don't like it all, so results may vary!

I chose 5, something about 6 was a little too dark in certain areas.

[Pikarya]

Yeah I agree 6 definately looks way overdone in terms of boldness.

[Avanarius]

I personally find overdone mipmapping to make things look very plasticy and ruins a lot of the textures the game minimally has. Besides, the mip-mapping implemented in this game is very very very basic, and doesn't really accomplish what mip-mapping is suppose to do.

*edit* I voted #3.

[Epical]

In my opinion you should go in-game and head out to Thickets and take some screenshots there. The character selection screen is kind of a bad test subject.

[Aro]

In my opinion you should go in-game and head out to Thickets and take some screenshots there. The character selection screen is kind of a bad test subject.

This.

And that's because it looks the same to me in the given screenshots.

[Pikarya]

I attempted to do the same test as I did with the character selection screen (as suggested), but in the Mamool camp.

But since its much harder to find exact conditions (time of day, lighting, monster movement in the area, weather, etc.). Along with having to /shutdown each time, and reboot FFXI with the new MIP Mapping setting modified.

It seems much harder in these images to recognize the differences than in the character selection screen imo.

http://www.imagebeast.net/images/wkm...axvxi5amrm.gif


#1
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/pqv...fckrhxucdh.jpg

#2
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/30s...q09ewj0niv.jpg

#3
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/oek...3a3wx3jpis.jpg

#4
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/a4r...ouvgkcdcdl.jpg

#5
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/o96...pgnfhcm6vg.jpg

#6
http://www.imagebeast.net/images/kc1...cfq4m8yvnm.jpg

[Isiolia]

Where's the option for don't use MIP mapping (some say needs to be on level 1) and force Anisotropic Filtering via video card driver application settings? Same smoothing benefits, sharper textures.

[Pikarya]

What do you mean? Like if I set MIP to "1" and then go turn on Anisotropic Filtering in the ATi Catalyst it should look even better?

[Isiolia]

Yeah. Seems to be fine for me with MIP Mapping disabled, but I've seen people say that it requires it to be on level 1 to take effect.

[Pikarya]

http://imgshack.info/images/5wr1lo14e44spvncws7d.jpg

http://imgshack.info/images/lc8ku5vjbp8o3dkpbp3.jpg

You can definately see the difference if you look at the images in Windows XP Image Viewer (thats what I've been using to tell the difference).

The quality of the grass, mountains detail, and trees especially are apparent with the Filtering on 16x with HQ Adv Filtering checked.

Going to try all of that with like a MIP of 4-5 and see what I get as a final result.

[Sta]

number 6 seems to look very real, the trees are green and the sky is blue. Number 5 seems over green, even the sky. The rest before that look very bleh to me.

[Isiolia]

Part of the benefit for either method, to me anyway, is fixing the shimmering of distant objects, which doesn't really come through with screenshots.

number 6 seems to look very real, the trees are green and the sky is blue. Number 5 seems over green, even the sky. The rest before that look very bleh to me.

That's just from the day/lighting changing. The settings in question are for filtering/smoothing textures.

[Pikarya]

Part of the benefit for either method, to me anyway, is fixing the shimmering of distant objects, which doesn't really come through with screenshots.

That's just from the day/lighting changing. The settings in question are for filtering/smoothing textures.

Yeah I agree, the shimmering effect is extremely annoying to me. I experience it alot especially during 16~19 in game when the sun is going down, vice versa.

Some other still-examples.

http://imgshack.info/images/ooo1e6tbobs2url3r18.jpg

http://imgshack.info/images/1givneakh5pz7xdrqufw.jpg

After comparing all of them, I personally think the last pic I just posted is the most realistic in terms of accuracy, with some-effect of removing the shimmer in game (Currently in Latheine Plateau for testing)

[Isiolia]

While it's hard to tell with the screenshots, I generally found MIP mapping to blur textures a little much. Maybe not on the login screen, but in actual play when you're more zoomed out most of the time.

Really, Anisotropic Filtering is in most ways a more advanced way of doing the same thing MIP mapping does. MIP Mapping replaces high res textures with lower resolution ones as things get farther away. AF does that too, but can use lower res data along only one axis, maintaining sharpness at more extreme angles.
So you "shouldn't" need to have both of them on. If it looks better to you, then go for it, just sayin'.

[Day]

I like to think I have decent eyes but I can't really tell the difference in any of your SS =(

[Pikarya]

I like to think I have decent eyes but I can't really tell the difference in any of your SS =(

Yeah, the only way to tell is literally by using a program in Windows to slideshow the images to quickly show the difference. If I could make a .gif that could show one image per every 2 seconds it would be awesome, but that would be ridiculously downgraded in terms of quality and the size would be hueg.

[Shadowhusky]

Mip map 4+

bump mapping off

AA at max.

???

Profit.

[Reality]

where are you seeing these additional mip mapping settings besides the "enable mip mapping" in the configuration tool?

[Mabubeezareel]

You can very easily tell the differences in the first set of screenshots by looking at the group of trees directly to the left of her right shoulder. In the first screenshot (MIP = 1), the trees appear very fuzzy/blurry, almost to the point where they blend in with the mountains. However, in the last screenshot in that set (MIP = 6), you'll see that they are much more detailed and colored, standing out prominently against the mountains behind them.

IMHO, your very last screenshot looks the best (MIP = 4, AF = 16x, and HQ AF = ON).