GPL-Anti Aliasing

What do I need to be able to use the anti-aliasing option in GPL. I have 2xMonster 3dfx 12mb cards but the option is greyed out. If I can not use it, am I missing out on much? Thanks

You need a Rendition video card (eg Hercular Thriller 3D). Voodoo cards cannot really do antialiasing (in theory they can (look in the mirrors) but in reality it takes way too much of a performance hit (estimate 50%). Now, if you're running GPL in 800x600 (or higher) then the antialising becomes less significant (visualy). What it does is smoothes the edges of all polygons so that you don't see the "jagged" edges. ie. it blends them in. Regards, David Mocnay >What do I need to be able to use the anti-aliasing >option in GPL. I have 2xMonster 3dfx 12mb cards >but the option is greyed out. If I can not use it, >am I missing out on much? >Thanks

So how is it that I have anti-aliasing on the 3Dfx patch for N2 and Rendition never had it, or that Quake has AA? >You need a Rendition video card (eg Hercular Thriller 3D). Voodoo cards cannot >really do antialiasing (in theory they can (look in the mirrors) but in >reality it takes way too much of a performance hit (estimate 50%). >Regards, >David Mocnay

PJ> What do I need to be able to use the anti-aliasing PJ> option in GPL. I have 2xMonster 3dfx 12mb cards PJ> but the option is greyed out. If I can not use it, PJ> am I missing out on much? GPL doesn't offer this for voodoo-cards ;-( I don't know if it's a problem with GPL or the voodoo !? Also, man mailt sich... .\\atze [ FmMW2109 - FmMB2139 ] *home* : http://www.home4u.de/buesing/

I have never seen a 3dfx game that does antialising (and I've been looking). Quake does not have antialiasing. Also, I doubt that N2 has it (I have never seen N2 run though Voodoo so I can't be as definate). I have a feeling that you cannot differentiate between anti-aliasing (only seen in Rendition games) and bilinear filtering (most 3d cards support this). Anyway, here's what they are: -antialiasing = smoothing of the edges on the polygons. This is done by placing "in between" color pixels in the "jaggies" of the lines. Have a look at GPL or ICR2 run through the Rendition card/s to see what this looks like. -bilinear filtering = smoothing of the inside of the polygon. Now, here's the techical bit. Renition chipset has a spare frame buffer so that you do your antialising there. Voodoo chipests have got limited bufferes that are very specific and you don't have a secondary buffer to do your anialising. Therefore you have send the "screen" to the voodoo chip (as you normaly do), then retrieve it back to memory where you antialias it, and then back to the voodoo chip. This takes a lot of time and therefore you can kiss your frame-rate goodbye.

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>So how is it that I have anti-aliasing on the 3Dfx patch for N2 and >Rendition never had it, or that Quake has AA? >>You need a Rendition video card (eg Hercular Thriller 3D). Voodoo cards >cannot >>really do antialiasing (in theory they can (look in the mirrors) but in >>reality it takes way too much of a performance hit (estimate 50%). >>Regards, >>David Mocnay

OK Dave I have a Rendition Card, a Voodoo 1 and a Voodoo 2. In Nascar 2 the top of the guard rails have the jaggies with software and Rendition rendering, slap in the 3Dfx patch and presto, the top of the guard rails are smooth. So which is that, BF or AA? Steve >I have never seen a 3dfx game that does antialising (and I've been looking). >Quake does not have antialiasing. Also, I doubt that N2 has it (I have never >seen N2 run though Voodoo so I can't be as definate). >I have a feeling that you cannot differentiate between anti-aliasing (only >seen in Rendition games) and bilinear filtering (most 3d cards support this). >Anyway, here's what they are:

Hi Steve, That would be AA, If you're right, then N2 des have anti-aliasing in game (or part of it). GPL has antialiasing though Voodoo to a degree as well - in the mirrors. I haven't seen a full screen anti-aias in a 3dfx game .... N2 could be THE one, but I haven't seen it so I can't comment. Can you tell be if N2 though 3dfx has anti-alisong on: - side of the road, - the lines on the road - skid maks on the rad - outside of the cars - trackside ojects Thanks. By the way, I have a feeling that OpenGL games are more likely to have anti-aliasing than Glide games, I haven't seen one, but Turok comes to mind.... it might have antialising in some places but I can't remember. If anyone can check this then it could be helpfull. By the way, I'd love it of there was game out there that supports anti-aliasing though 3dfx. Then we could get on the "back" of manufactures and make them put it into theyr 3dfx games. IMHO antialising can do amazing things to the visuals of the game (of course the game has to look good in the 1st place.... F1RS could have used antialising.... that would make it 10x better). Regards, David Mocnay

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>OK Dave >I have a Rendition Card, a Voodoo 1 and a Voodoo 2. In Nascar 2 the top of >the guard rails have the jaggies with software and Rendition rendering, slap >in the 3Dfx patch and presto, the top of the guard rails are smooth. So >which is that, BF or AA? >Steve >>I have never seen a 3dfx game that does antialising (and I've been >looking). >>Quake does not have antialiasing. Also, I doubt that N2 has it (I have >never >>seen N2 run though Voodoo so I can't be as definate). >>I have a feeling that you cannot differentiate between anti-aliasing (only >>seen in Rendition games) and bilinear filtering (most 3d cards support >this). >>Anyway, here's what they are:

: I have never seen a 3dfx game that does antialising (and I've been looking). : Quake does not have antialiasing. Also, I doubt that N2 has it (I have never : seen N2 run though Voodoo so I can't be as definate). The 3Dfx patch for Tomb Raider (still prefer this over 2 and 3) was one of the first, if not the first, patches that supported edge anti-aliasing for the Voodoo Graphics. The differences between with and without anti-aliasing on TR was noticeable. The jaggies were gone, and I would occasionally turn the feature 'on' and 'off' during the game for those little 'Kodak moments'. Ooohhh... aawww... eeeewwweeee.... ahhhh. :) George

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>That would be AA, If you're right, then N2 des have anti-aliasing in game (or >part of it). GPL has antialiasing though Voodoo to a degree as well - in the >mirrors. I haven't seen a full screen anti-aias in a 3dfx game .... N2 could >be THE one, but I haven't seen it so I can't comment. Can you tell be if >N2 though 3dfx has anti-alisong on: >- side of the road, >- the lines on the road >- skid maks on the rad >- outside of the cars >- trackside ojects

Bilinear filtering: Anti-aliasing of textures within a polygon Edge anti-aliasing: Anti-aliasing of polygon edges Pretty much all 3Dfx games do bilinear filtering, but edge AA is rare on 3Dfx for two reasons. One, it requires an extra pass, which affects frame rate. Two, it's incompatible with Z-buffering, which is used in many games for fast depth culling. Edge AA is more common for Rendition games because with that architecture it doesn't kill speed, and Rendition doesn't support hardware Z-buffering anyway. The latest Tomb Raider 1 3Dfx patch does full-screen AA when you hit a function key. (I forget which one; try 'em all.) TR1 is limited to 30 fps, so with a modern CPU you can leave it on for the full game without noticing a frame rate hit. The market has mostly followed the 3Dfx architecture, which means lots of games using Z-buffering and not many using edge AA. As resolutions increase, edge AA matters less, though it's still nice except when it's applied indiscriminately and blurs text. -- spamgard(tm): To email me, put "geek" in your Subject line.