1946 +4870 +water (help)

[genbrien]

Hi, I've bought a 4870 2 days ago and I wanted to put water4 but each time it take it back to 1. the max water seeting I can get is 2. I'm in opengl and everything is maxed out... except water. If someone can help me, it would be appreciated

E8600@ 3.8
4870
P5B
TX760w
4x1gb 5-5-5-15 @800 corsair

[IceFire]

I think water 3 and 4 are still nV only modes. Water 2 is nearly identical and works on nV and ATI cards. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this...it used to be the case because the 3 and 4 modes were rendering using a nVidia only capability...even when thats not supposed to happen these days.

[genbrien]

ah ok... and if I put my conf.ini in there, could u plese tell me what can I changed to have a better image quality ???
Thx

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

TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=0
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=1
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=0
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=1
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=0

HardwareShaders=1

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

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

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

VideoSetupId=17
Water=2
Effects=2
ForceShaders1x=0
ForceShaders3x=1
TypeClouds=1

PolygonOffsetFactor=-0.15
PolygonOffsetUnits=-3.0

[BadAim]

Water 3 and 4 were intended for Nvidia cards before the latest generation of ATI cards came out, as far as I can see they are disabled if you have an ATI card, even though technically the cards are capable of running them now.

If I am wrong, someone please let me know, as I would love to see water 4 on my 4850 as well.

Actually I would welcome any tuning tips, as I don't speak ATI real well yet.

Edit: LOL I type too slow

[genbrien]

k, thx for ur answer. I'm gonna wait for BoB then....

[IceFire]

The ATI cards are still likely not capable of rendering in the method used in Water=3 and 4. That was a nVidia specific extension. I don't think they ever added it later in the ATI cards. It was never part of the standard DirectX 9.0 package so it was never supported by anyone except nVidia. Stupid I know.

Water=2 is nearly as good and renders far faster.

As for the Config.ini...no I don't see anything that'd make a big difference.

What I'd focus on is your Anisotropic Filtering and Anti-Aliasing settings. See how high you can set both of those while still maintaining a high FPS. These are not game settings...these need to be enabled in the Catalyst Control Centre. I haven't used it in years so I can't tell you what its all about but I imagine there are application specific settings just like in the nVidia Control Panel.

[genbrien]

The minute I put the 4870, I put the max AA on Il2... so 24x + 16As
And I noticed something.... for Il2 and Mass Effect (maybe other games but I didnt tes) There is new ligh effect with the 4870. My old card was a 8800 GTS and when I put the new one, if U fired in IL2, I can now see the light of the guns on the fuselage... I think it was there but not as much as with the 4870. It makes the game even more amazing. But it's my first ATI card and I found the Nvidia control center way easier than the CCC. Anyway, thx

EDIT: I'd like to say that BoB will be awsome. 2-3 years after BoB wil be so F**** CRAZY. Nothing to add!

[BadAim]

I'm very impressed with the image quality on my 4850, but it's not particularly fast with the AA and AF cranked up, and the long sight distance too. Overall, I like the experience though.

Thanks for the info Ice, I thought it was just a shader 3.0 thing, but then again, special Nvidia only extensions don't suprise me either. Can't we all just get along?

[WTE_Galway]

Probably stating the obvious ....

But providing your not playing online upgrade to 4.09b will improve lots of visual stuff.

[fireflyerz]

Originally Posted by genbrien

Hi, I've bought a 4870 2 days ago and I wanted to put water4 but each time it take it back to 1. the max water seeting I can get is 2. I'm in opengl and everything is maxed out... except water. If someone can help me, it would be appreciated

E8600@ 3.8
4870
P5B
TX760w
4x1gb 5-5-5-15 @800 corsair

This is funny , a mate of mine has just renewed the guts of his pc with two new rad gc's, and graphics are top bananna , fps is better than mine , BUT , he cannot get water = more than 2, have tried several different roots but it just keeps reverting back to W=2 , I have Nv gtx.xxx and have no probs getting water = 3/4, anyone have a fix for this problem...?