Sparklies, Multisampling and FXAA
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 21:54
Just looking for a bit of background information to help me understand what's going on here because I'm not really up on the OpenGL terminology.
I've noticed with recent GZDoom builds the return of something that I haven't seen for a while: what I would call "sparklies"; those little white dots that appear and disappear in the scene as you move around.
Now, don't get me wrong, they are not bad and nothing like the ones I have seen in various games in the past, but they are there. What's more, I don't know if it's anything to do with the newer GZDoom builds or just my new computer.
In the past, changing the rendering quality option would fix them but this doesn't seem to make any difference to what I'm seeing. What does make a difference, however, are the Multisampling and FXAA settings. Both of these can cure the sparklies.
Multisampling has the more gradual effect. Turning it to 2X reduces them noticeably - they seem to get duller rather than fewer. I have to turn it up a bit higher than that to get them completely gone. certainly by the time it's up to 32x I don't see them any more.
FXAA has a more immediate dramatic effect. Even on the first Low setting the sparklies are basically gone with only an occasional one visible.
I guess my questions are really about what, if any, cost (e.g. speed hit) these two systems have, which one is better, do they co-exist happily (i.e. can/should both be enabled) and are there any other settings that might have an effect on these sparklies? Other than the effect on the sparklies, I don't really see much impact on the way things look with either Multisampling of FXAA. Should I?
Also, any idea why Render Quality no longer seems to make a difference to the sparklies?
I've noticed with recent GZDoom builds the return of something that I haven't seen for a while: what I would call "sparklies"; those little white dots that appear and disappear in the scene as you move around.
Now, don't get me wrong, they are not bad and nothing like the ones I have seen in various games in the past, but they are there. What's more, I don't know if it's anything to do with the newer GZDoom builds or just my new computer.
In the past, changing the rendering quality option would fix them but this doesn't seem to make any difference to what I'm seeing. What does make a difference, however, are the Multisampling and FXAA settings. Both of these can cure the sparklies.
Multisampling has the more gradual effect. Turning it to 2X reduces them noticeably - they seem to get duller rather than fewer. I have to turn it up a bit higher than that to get them completely gone. certainly by the time it's up to 32x I don't see them any more.
FXAA has a more immediate dramatic effect. Even on the first Low setting the sparklies are basically gone with only an occasional one visible.
I guess my questions are really about what, if any, cost (e.g. speed hit) these two systems have, which one is better, do they co-exist happily (i.e. can/should both be enabled) and are there any other settings that might have an effect on these sparklies? Other than the effect on the sparklies, I don't really see much impact on the way things look with either Multisampling of FXAA. Should I?
Also, any idea why Render Quality no longer seems to make a difference to the sparklies?