ATI Settings Guide - Catalyst 6.4 Update
By
Bill Z Bubba,
Posted on: 2006-04-17 10:52 in Player Guides
That was a good read.
And a fine explanation of why someone running a 9800 trying to push 1920X1200 will be screaming often.
You aren't the first person to state that folks would be better off running 100% or less character detail, and I'll gladly admit that leaving mine at 200% is based on my obsession for eye candy. I've also not been able to determine any performance loss at having it cranked up.
But it's something that will be added in the next rev.
LOL... Lallendos, your last 2 links are the same links I posted just a few posts back, and are the same links that I've had in my performance guide for quite a while.
Always best to read everything before posting.
Be well, people of CoH.
Id run 200%/200% if I -could-. Sadly, Even OCed, my card wasn't doing much more. And 3% is hardly worth the trouble.
As an aside, I notice that ATI Tray tools has become increasingly incompatible for me since 6.xx catalysts.... I just use 6.2s and keep on going so far, without ATT
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Ok ok B Z- here's the root of why i'm such a meanie: I was looking for an ATI guide when I stumbled across yours. I needed to know why Fast writes was so troublesome for me, and maybe some insight into what variance there was between driver revisions.
None of that.
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You know, I can't let this slide. You're UPSET at BillZ because he didn't give you the information you wanted??? OMG, dude! Don't go disrespecting someone just because your needs are different. BillZ has put out his thoughts, ideas, and recommendations out of generosity, and all you can do is slam him for it... because he didn't mention something you were hoping to find???
Perhaps you think he is trying to represent himself as the end-all uber-expert of video cards and gaming? Dude. Is it your job to hatefully cast down false idols, or pit your ego against that of others? If so, your work is much more needed in politics. Knock yourself out. As for BillZ, he is far from the evil image you so unjustfully slapped him with and then attacked him for.
BillZ was right when he characterized your banter as "antagonistic." Everything you mentioned, Lallendos, you could have done in a positive, cooperative manner by offering something new. Instead, you chose conflict. It seems like you want to tear down all that BillZ has said, and yet replace it with... nothing??? Yeah, that's productive. I was going to suggest that you write your own guide with the information that you feel is valuable, but you know what? Bah! Just keep it. It'd probably be just another negative, counter-productive attack against something wihtout any real information offered.
As for BillZ's ATI Catalyst 6.4 guide... it's exactly what most players want. A quick fix. We don't NEED to know the HOW or WHY unless we need to fix something that's broken. Like with most things, we start with a base point, and then tweek, tweek, tweek. BillZ's guide is a great STARTING POINT.
In any case, Lallendos, I think you owe BillZ an apology. However, knowing your type, I'd be very surpised if you were gracious or civilized enough to offer one.
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Hmm- nope. Wrong. I'm not 'upset'. The guide lacks much information I normally would expect of a guide. I would, however appear that you are a little upset, and maybe a lot.
Mayhap you need to go find an "R U H34L0R?" thread. While I was antagonisitic to a degree, this forum i rife with worse(look in the mirror) and I never resorted to comments about intelligence, ego, or name calling. Perhaps if you look long and hard into yourself, you'll realize, that the following is true:
There is no generosity in giving your opinion in a forum. B Z, although well meaning, saw an opportunity to make a 'guide' or 3, and took it. The guide is largely conjecture, and offers little info (ATI-wise, for sure) that one cannot garner in- game in the graphics settings window, or in Catalyst Control Center, by hovering over an option(gives a detail ballon).
While I was a little put off that someone else didn't put forth the massive effort that I would in creating a guide for video stuff, I realized in this all that B Z was at least giving it a go, and quit being negative (again look in the mirror, black), providing relevant links, article info etc.
What, exactly, have you contributed.
I refuse to apologize, as if you examine the above posts, B Z gets a bit harsher than I. I expect nor give no quarter. But I will, however contribute in positive.
Edit- Changed "any" to "much" The guide has some interesting opinions, which -do - help to a degree.
New try at CoH.
I gained over 10 FPS by moving to 2X Temporal antialiasing and 4X standard aniso at 1024X768. I still am using HQ water- gonna test over water next. Gotta shrink my windows size in options down to 75%. Screen feels REAL cramped. I shouldn't have gained so many FPS.....
Ok -
1024x768 2X temporal AA, 4X standard aniso, crisp textures, HQ water, triple buffering, Vsynch on, 30 to 45 FPS, while SJ ing over water intalos. Looks BEAUTIFUL, no glitches, crashes, etc. I'd forgotten how much Triple buffering smooths things. The difference is so big, I am now compelled to run this somewhat lower res.
Glad we had this bit o flak, B Z. Made me think, and lernt stooff!!!
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Hmm- nope. Wrong. I'm not 'upset'. The guide lacks much information I normally would expect of a guide. I would, however appear that you are a little upset, and maybe a lot.
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Oh how it PAINS me that my settings guide didn't live up to your expectations! The HORROR!
You have a point, you know. People wouldn't need to write guides at all if everyone spent the time necessary to round up all the information on their own. But that's the reason I did it, and will keep doing it. I love tweaking my system. I love digging up the information. I love sharing what I've found in the hopes that other people who DON'T want to spend the time digging can at least get their systems running in an acceptable manner to THEM.
You could have said, "Oh, this guide doesn't have information pertaining to my search, so I'll go find another." Instead, you decided to come in here, without reading my performance guide, without bothering to read the other threads on this topic, without bothering to read further changes in other posts within this thread, without bothering to check my post history, hell, without even bothering to register the fact that this guide is TITLED "UPDATE."
You came in here to be a [censored].
You succeeded well in that. The few good points you've made have been completely trashed by your trolling of myself and the others that have responded to you. Believe me, I know trolling. I do it myself from time to time.
***EDITED FOR TOO MUCH SILLINESS***
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Ok -
1024x768 2X temporal AA, 4X standard aniso, crisp textures, HQ water, triple buffering, Vsynch on, 30 to 45 FPS, while SJ ing over water intalos. Looks BEAUTIFUL, no glitches, crashes, etc. I'd forgotten how much Triple buffering smooths things. The difference is so big, I am now compelled to run this somewhat lower res.
Glad we had this bit o flak, B Z. Made me think, and lernt stooff!!!
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You are very much confusing me. Here's why.
1: FSAA does NOT function on ATI cards if High Water, DoF or Bloom is enabled. This is not an opinion. This is a fact verified by the devs. Those HDR effects are pushed through a p-buffer, which ATI's drivers can not layer FSAA on to. So you might as well disable FSAA, as it isn't making any difference.
Beyond that... I'm glad you're happy.
Be well, people of CoH.
Sorry I don't have the infinite wisdom and instant perfection of others, but I've learned a few things from your info Bill.
Thanks.
I have an ATI Radeon X800 Pro and here's the set-up that's worked fairly well for me:
IN-GAME
Screen Resolution: 1280 x 1024 (same as desktop)
3D Resolution: (unchanged)
Refresh Rate: 60
Gamma: 100%
Advanced Graphics Settings: Enabled
Supress Extra Player FX: Disabled
Particle Physics: Enabled
World Texture Quality: Very High
Character Texture Quality: Very High
World Detail: 200%
Character Detail: 200%
Max Particle Count: 50000
Vertical Sync: Enabled
FSAA: Off
Shadows: Enabled
Use Geometry Buffers: Enabled
Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
Texture Crispness: Smooth
Shader Quality: High
Water Effects: High Quality
Depth of Field Effects: Enabled
Bloom Effects: Heavy
Bloom Amount: 100%
IN CATALYST® CONTROL CENTER
3D:
Anti-Aliasing: Let the Application Decide
Anisotropic Filtering: Let the Application Decide
Disable CATALYST® A.I.: Unchecked--Advanced
Mipmap Detail Level: High Quality--Quality
All Settings:
Wait for Vertical Refresh: Always On--Quality
API Specific:
Direct 3D Settings:
Enable Geometry Instancing: Checked
Support DXT Texture Formats: Checked
Alternate Pixel Center: Unchecked
OpenGL Settings:
Triple Buffering: Checked
Force 24-Bit Z-Buffer Depth: Unchecked
This works pretty well for me. There's some stilting in Nerva Archipelago and around the big casinos of St. Martial, but it's barely noticable (at least, not to me). I tried the things suggested here and, in my opinion, things looked worse and the performance increase wasn't that great. It seems to me the largest "hit" to performace are the Depth of Field Effects and the World Detail, each of which I can turn down at a moment's notice.
Personally, I like the way the Bloom Effects make things look, and I've also grown fond of the Depth of Field Effects outdoors.
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Quick question Bill. What video card are you using again? I'm running 2 x1600xt's in crossfire, but I currently have crossfire disabled because I can't see that it's actually doing anything. My fps and quality doesn't change with it on or off.
Of course having the ASUS a8r-mvp mobo doesn't help, with it having its own set of problems.
I run an X800Xt at stock speeds. Unfortunately, I haven't done any research into ATI's Crossfire setup, so I'll be of little help to you there.
Be well, people of CoH.
If Vsynch is on 8 crossfire video cards, and a 17 Gigahertz processor will not make frames pers second go up. It would allow for a LOT of effects, and really nice looking image quality that never dipped. But go ahead and leave crossfire disabled, you are only losing about 30% of your net performance under conditions that would require more than 1 cards' worth of acceleration.
"You are very much confusing me. Here's why.
1: FSAA does NOT function on ATI cards if High Water, DoF or Bloom is enabled. This is not an opinion. This is a fact verified by the devs. Those HDR effects are pushed through a p-buffer, which ATI's drivers can not layer FSAA on to. So you might as well disable FSAA, as it isn't making any difference. "
While water effects may not be antialiased, the rest of things render noticeably better. Also, Water doesn't really seem to need FSAA. Now if it forces FSAA disable when using those effects, I may buy in. I am seeing something different, however.
Edit: One interesting thing of note:
I never ever had any issue with windows key or alt-tabbing. As soon as I made the sole change of enabling FSAA at 2x, I now have zero luck alt tabbing.
So I can validate the need to choose FSAA and windowed mode if you must have FSAA and need background apps.
Also: I've been told that CoH runs smoother in windowed. Dunno. I just dont like windowed mode. I may have to play with that some.
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While water effects may not be antialiased, the rest of things render noticeably better. Also, Water doesn't really seem to need FSAA. Now if it forces FSAA disable when using those effects, I may buy in. I am seeing something different, however.
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Not sure what you're seeing, but High Water, OR Depth of Field OR Bloom, or any combination of those three break FSAA on ATI cards with the current or previous Catalyst drivers and the current implementation of those HDR effects in CoH/V. Meaning that NOTHING has FSAA layered on it. Low water doesn't break FSAA because it doesn't go through the p-buffer.
At least that is how it was explained to me by the devs.
I have been informed by ATI that engineering is working on the issue and I've been told by one of the graphics devs at Cryptic that they are in talks with ATI on finding a resolution.
Of course, I've been hearing that for 6 months now.
I'm the same way about windowed mode. I hate it. Hopefully someone from Cryptic will give us an update soon on this outstanding issue.
Be well, people of CoH.
So how do you fix the messed up contact pictures??
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So how do you fix the messed up contact pictures??
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I had messed up contact pictures with 6.3. I had one messed up contact picture with 6.4 but I haven't seen the problem in a few days. What version of Catalyst are you using? I know with 6.2 I didn't have any problems with contact pics.
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So how do you fix the messed up contact pictures??
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I had messed up contact pictures with 6.3. I had one messed up contact picture with 6.4 but I haven't seen the problem in a few days. What version of Catalyst are you using? I know with 6.2 I didn't have any problems with contact pics.
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My Contacts images were only messed up the one time, with one character, all I did was drop out of the game, disable Fast Writes, reboot, problem gone. <Shrug> I have no idea what is actually causing the garbled images, nor the long delay when bringing up the contact menu. However, I am not currently experiencing either. But I'm playing a lowbie with a small contact list.
Be well, people of CoH.
I got the messed up contacts as soon as I installed 6.4 and I get it every time I log in. Have not tried disabling fast write.
Oddly enough, I've kept the same settings, and now my fps has dropped by 10-15fps both indoors and out 
X700 256mb running at 462mhz/540mhz (stock is 400/500)...
hrm
Maybe I should just give up on Ati, this is just getting stupid, every driver version is getting worse seemingly...
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Just going to point out some observations of mine:
I've actually combined using in-game FSAA and control panel FSAA and it was weird how the two worked. It's like they both worked but the way the pixels were smoothed looked different. As if the slight depixeling (or whatever it's called) was depixeled and it looked almost like software rendering.
I realize I'm not wording that right, but at least in my experience you should either let the ATI control panel handle FSAA or let the game, not do both. It just doesn't look right, at least to me. 
I don't notice a problem at all with the shadows, not a performance decrease.
That said, I really do prefer Bloom at Regular at 100% - there are some objects that really look better with it enabled.
BTW my system is a A64 3000+ 2GB RAM 256MB ATI 1900GTO and I have playable framerates at 1280x1024. I don't use FSAA right now, but when I do use it, I use the in-game FSAA.
I do have a bug where the enhancement menu won't allow me to target the enhancements. The mouse pointer gets shifted about an inch to the right when it hovers over where they should be. It's a little vexing, for sure.
Great guide. The suggestions in here really helped me to tweak my card, and get a much smoother frame rate in game.
If anyone is using a 24" Dell 2405FPW widescreen flat panel, here is some good news. If you're using the DVI cable that came with the monitor, go out and buy a DUAL DVI cable if your video card supports it. The one that comes with the monitor is a SINGLE DVI cable. There is an improvement in less stuttering/pausing with gameplay especially when traveling with things like Super Jump, etc. Lag still occurs because of the servers as usual, but I've noticed a definite difference for the better with the Dual DVI cable for graphic related stutters. The dual cable allows more info to go from the video card to the monitor. If you look at the cable that came from Dell, it's missing like two rows of pins even though the monitor connection allows for all the rows to have pins. These extra pins help increase the bandwidth to the screen. Newegg.com has the Belkin PURE AVI Male/Male Dual DVI cable on sale for $40. If you're not into name brands, there are cheaper ones available for like $15-$20.
OMG, BillZ, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!
I'm actually using catalyst 6.3 (omega), but looking over your tweaks and the mention to have the control center handle FSAA, and AF, I did that, and tried a few other tweaks based on my system and what I had before. And, I have now not only have better graphics, but I have BETTER FPS!!!
So, thanks again.
Whoa. o.O I seem to load faster too! I had no clue that having the control center handling the stuff would make a positive difference... Always thought forcing it was bad.
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You're very welcome. I'm always glad to hear that I've helped someone get a better gaming experience.
Be well, people of CoH.
Now, see I believe that you are inferring that I am lazy. Um, no. Actually, the job of a GUIDE is to educate. None of these guides teaches us how to understand the interoperation.
But you are right, a hotbot, err, dogpile, err oh yeah google search can show us a lot. Once we get past the page hit wonders.
So, B Z: here ya go:
ATI
http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_1.html
Nvidia
http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_1.html
These are, eh pretty good driver setting guides, and really dig into how these things operate. I see a faster frame rate with FW on, but it's crazy crashtastic/glitchy at times. I dont use it for that reason now. I give up on trying to make it work.