settings for radeon 6990 - switch from nvidia

[Whacker]

HundertneunGustav, a few things.

Water=4 is perfect, we ATI users can only do max water=2. Anything higher than 2 is ignored. I have personally verified this with testing, and this is what you will find every single other post on this subject in multiple other forums agree with. If you put it over water=2, it will change the conf.ini and drop it back down to 1.

You also have a few Nvidia specific options checked, namely these:

TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=1
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=1
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=1
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=1

The game will ignore these, as they are Nvidia driver-specific code paths for the rendering engine, even with VideoID set to custom (17). You should set these to 0. Again I've verified these through testing, and is consistence with what other forums' posts say.

You also are running a modded game, given your conf.ini. I also have installations of UP3 and DBW 1.71, and the DBW 1.71 install + the water textures looks awesome, just like in your screenshot.

The bone stock, unmodded game looks very drab and crappy though.

[HundertneunGustav]

okay.. lets try stock 411.
i mean like... this aint got anything to do with mods. right? right?

Okay:
start game, go settings, make sure perfect is on.
No good.


setup.exe - video tab, custom settings all checkmarks.


still, no good.
Just as you say. fugly.

Lets copypaste the conf ini section.

[Render_OpenGL]
TexQual=3
TexMipFilter=2
TexCompress=0
TexFlags.UseDither=1
TexFlags.UseAlpha=0
TexFlags.UseIndex=0
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=1
TexFlags.UseClampedSprites=0
TexFlags.DrawLandByTriangles=1
TexFlags.UseVertexArrays=1
TexFlags.DisableAPIExtensions=0
TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1
TexFlags.VertexArrayExt=1
TexFlags.ClipHintExt=1
TexFlags.UsePaletteExt=1
TexFlags.TexAnisotropicExt=1
TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=1

TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=1
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=1
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=1
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=1

HardwareShaders=1

Shadows=2
Specular=2
SpecularLight=2
DiffuseLight=2
DynamicalLights=1
MeshDetail=2
VisibilityDistance=3

Sky=2
Forest=2
LandShading=3
LandDetails=2

LandGeom=2
TexLarge=1
TexLandQual=3
TexLandLarge=1

VideoSetupId=17
Water=2
Effects=1
ForceShaders1x=0

PolygonOffsetFactor=-0.15
PolygonOffsetUnits=-3.0

...for graphics.
from DBW 1.71 --> 4.11 bog stock

Disregarding anything "nvidia specific settings", and water = 4 and stuff...
I am not following guidelines and what theory says.
I am not doing this by the schoolbook.
I am confirming by testing.

So... what ever YOU tested... i can not confirm.
What ever others found... say, think or do...

it works for me.
Looks like "perfect water" to my eyes...



Trying water=3... nogood. (see nogood.jpeg )
Maybe its a weather thing. go back to game, check with bad weather. Nope, nogood. Weatehr no influence.

Water =4 maybe? fair weather?
No! No joy at all! water has been reset to 1! what kind of a Beach is this game?

conf.ini... setting water=2, + save
go to game, launch qmb, and crappy weather...
here we go.

I am sorry to , kind of, shake up the old Nvidia vs ATI debate...
i am also not very technical about the texflags and stuff... mostly, when i am lucky and get what i want even without all the techno, i just use it.
but my 6970 definitely gives good results.

Screw the texflags and Nvidia/ATI debate.

As long as its a damn recent Card, ATI can do perfect.

And you know why i am motivated to write this post?
last year i assembled a new rig, for BoB. I was aware of th e Nvidia and ATI properties and stuff.
Before, i had a 9800GT. some 3 years old. she could have run on for a little while...
but i wanted to go back to an ATI card. For no tangible resaon at all, except that i like their Logo and advertizing better. Less "ooh and aah".
And i was actually bloody amazed by this and freaked out over it over at the SAS forums.

[Ralf'N'Cockpit]

I think there is a misunderstanding regarding water settings. Water=1 or 2 are settings optimized for the ATI card, Water=3 or 4 are settings optimized for Nvidia cards. Water=2 on a ATI card gives you the same results as Water=4 on a Nvidia card. So for your ATI card, Water=2 does give you perfect setting. Does it look different compared to an Nvidia card? If so, then it is the rendering code that instructs the card how to display the water.

[HundertneunGustav]

Originally Posted by Ralf'N'Cockpit

I think there is a misunderstanding regarding water settings. Water=1 or 2 are settings optimized for the ATI card, Water=3 or 4 are settings optimized for Nvidia cards. Water=2 on a ATI card gives you the same results as Water=4 on a Nvidia card. So for your ATI card, Water=2 does give you perfect setting. Does it look different compared to an Nvidia card? If so, then it is the rendering code that instructs the card how to display the water.

Thank you for this clarification!