FFXI Resolution question

[avelle]

So I run 1920x1200 resolution on my monitor, I always generally ran 2048x2048 background resolution but I recently read that you should run double the background resolution for a crisper image. I had tried this before but always ran into this problem where the onscreen log gets distorted so always reverted back to 2048x2048. So I guess I'm asking if this is working as intended or if I should not be running 3840x2400 and just go back to 2048x2048.

Screenshots as an examples:

Spoiler: show

http://www.risen-guild.com/avelle/ffxi/resolution1.jpg
http://www.risen-guild.com/avelle/ffxi/resolution2.jpg

[Cyn]

Are you using regedit to get the 2048x2048?

[avelle]

Are you using regedit to get the 2048x2048?

Ya

[Cyn]

FFXI texture resolutions max at 1024x1024. 2048x2048 is double resolution.

I don't play FFXI anymore, but I use the same monitor resolution and unfortunately the 2048x2048 regedit is about the best you can do. You're not even increasing the resolution honestly, just doing sort of a ghetto AA.

[SephYuyX]

Running square res (ie 2048x2048) is the way to do it. You can go higher than 2048, and it can even be some ghetto number like 3357, but it wont really improve any more than 2048, as stated.

[avelle]

Alright thanks guys, I'll just go back to 2048x2048.

[Solefald]

set the background resolution equal to the foreground resolution, then force AA through your video driver. force anisotropic filtering too for better image quality.

[fishstix]

set the background resolution equal to the foreground resolution, then force AA through your video driver. force anisotropic filtering too for better image quality.

does this actually make a difference? would you mind posting SSs

[Solefald]

does this actually make a difference? would you mind posting SSs

doing AA through the drivers is for performance reasons since it's being done on the GPU rather than the CPU. I don't know how much of a difference AF makes for FFXI tbh since FFXI's textures are such a low res anyway.

[Cyn]

AF does not have an affect on 3d games really.

[Solefald]

Yes it does. What the fuck are you talking about.

[Cyn]

Well it does, though not nearly as much as it does on 2D games. But as far s I remember, FFXI had a problem acknowledging forced card settings.... has that changed, or am I completely off base here?

[Solefald]

anisotropic filtering has no effect on 2D games whatsoever. it exists to correct the 'muddiness' that occurs when a texture is viewed at an angle.

[Cyn]

Ok ignore me then, I'm clearly too drunk to give advice.

Are you certain that it works for FFXI though? I seem to remember the regedit thing basically being a way around FFXI's refusal to listen to your video card.

[Isiolia]

FFXI can do over 1024x1024 as well. It can do over 2048x2048 (and it doesn't need to be square either). Use regedit to double your overlay/foreground resolution. OP, you were doin' it right.

The "restriction" is/was card based, not game based. When FFXI was released not all cards supported past a 2048x2048 max texture resolution. Most everything from the past several years supports 2-4x that though. FFXI is rendered to texture, just like the PC port of Halo, Silent Hill 4, and so on. Things work differently for those games.

Forcing AA in software won't work for FFXI. It's rendered to a different buffer than the GPU AA affects. Again, you can find other games that AA plain does not work on, it's not a 100% thing.
Oversampling is a way to effectively get 2xAA, which is why people do it. AF is the better quality way to achieve what MIP Mapping is in FFXI to do - but it's still broken for ATI drivers I think. Ideally though, yeah, force AF in drivers.

[Solefald]

AA definitely works on my card (ATI) but I think you're right about AF being broken.

If you pick a square background res like 2048x2048 but your foreground res is rectangular, there will be distortions in the oversampling effect because FFXI stretches the background texture to fit in your window. It's mostly only noticeable in lower settings like 1024x1024 though.

[Aem]

Avelle, how do you get that user interface?

[fishstix]

It's in the stickies for FFXI related sites FFXIStyle & FFXICartography

[EvilSid]

I used a Radeon 9800pro since yesterday, with catalyst 7.8, and the anisotropic filter always worked good with FFXI.

Unfortunately that card passed out after six years of good work, forcing me to buy an HD 4650.

I removed the old drivers and installed the 9.11. And now setting the anisotropic filtering from Control Center no longer works.

Since the only game I run on this pc is FFXI, I'm thinking to downgrade the drivers. What version should I install to get the AF work?


EDIT- nvm find the answer in another topic: http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showt...ht=anisotropic

[Deadgye]

AA definitely works on my card (ATI) but I think you're right about AF being broken.

I'm pretty sure ffxi just ignores whatever AA you've forced through your card and uses the registry. Set the resolution to something retarded like 1/4 and force AA through your video card to see which one it's following. If it looks horrible, then it's safe to say that you need to go through the registry to set the other resolution to 1x, 2x, 4x, etc your actual resolution.

AF is broken in the newer versions of the drivers, I think you have to go as far back as 9.1 or something for it to work.