FEAR Banding (Nvidia IQ issue?)

[BassBomb]

Ive been playing FEAR again. With the extraction point coming out soon im so happy .

This game runs like crap on my system when i want to turn stuff up of course, i have to run at 1280x960 so i dont scale like a mofo...

anyways, in the game i noticed the lights and stuff in some cases produce banding effects on walls and ground

I was wondering if anyone can post something from Ati hardware or other video cards to see if its just a NV4x specific issue or NV issue, or just my monitor..

i know its 6bit blah blah, but my monitor banding is nowehre near as bad as the banding i find in FEAR, ive also noticed this kind of quality in doom3 back in the day (which i found was a nv issue compared to ati, when HardOCP did comparision of 6800U to X800/X850)

 

[BFG10K]

Realistically I suspect it's your LCD but you could try lowering the gamma of the game.

 

[dug777]

The drab grey textures probably highlight your monitor's banding in the worst possible way i suspect, certainly not helped by the fact that you're running at a non-native res on your LCD...

I don't notice it with my 6600GT and my 21" CRT at 1024, everything maxed except soft-shadows, 8xaf/0xaa, and i've been playing through it again recently. I do notice the horrible jaggies, but my card won't handle 2xAA or 1280 playably with all the details maxed

 

[BassBomb]

True it could be the gamma, i forgot about that! lemme upload my screeny

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/5522/fear2006091615415617lq8.jpg

@dug, i can successfully run 1280x960 with black bars.. no other resolution will do black bars

 

[BassBomb]

i went in game and lowered the gamma and upped my monitors brightness... it became less noticeable but it was there, leading me to believe it is within the game engine... i wish i remembered if i saw it on my crt , i could just go downstairs and grab it but that thing is heavy

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
True it could be the gamma, i forgot about that! lemme upload my screeny

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/5522/fear2006091615415617lq8.jpg

@dug, i can successfully run 1280x960 with black bars.. no other resolution will do black bars

Interesting, i can see the banding in your screenshot on my CRT too...hmmm

 

[JRW]

Ya the banding in that screenshot is clearly visible on my CRT as well. I dont recall seeing any banding when playing through the game on my PC tho.

 

[Compellor]

I saw this banding on my X800 XL and my 7900 GT. It's either the game engine or my LCD.

 

[xtknight]

It's just jpeg compression and poor gamma settings in FEAR. Not the monitor's fault.

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

I didn't see any of that when I went through the game.

 

[BassBomb]

can anyone post a screenshot from a Ati card?

@xtknight u can see the banding just as much on the BMP which i originally took

i gotta go in game to similar lights to find out of they are doing it still with gamma lowered

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
can anyone post a screenshot from a Ati card?

@xtknight u can see the banding just as much on the BMP which i originally took

i gotta go in game to similar lights to find out of they are doing it still with gamma lowered

The textures in-game are JPEGs so even if you capture an uncompressed print screen of them you'll still see the artifacts.

 

[BassBomb]

So your saying if i went to Maximum textures, I may not see this?

I dont know what kind of textures they are using in this game personally

 

[Compellor]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
So your saying if i went to Maximum textures, I may not see this?

I dont know what kind of textures they are using in this game personally

Banding is still there with maximum textures.

 

[Munky]

Here's some screen of FEAR using my x1900xt.

FEAR.jpg
FEAR2.jpg

These are 100% quality jpeg screenshots. I see no banding in these on my CRT. In your screenshot I can see some slight banding, but it's not that obvious, and during gameplay I might not even notice it.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: munky
Here's some screen of FEAR using my x1900xt.

FEAR.jpg
FEAR2.jpg

These are 100% quality jpeg screenshots. I see no banding in these on my CRT. In your screenshot I can see some slight banding, but it's not that obvious, and during gameplay I might not even notice it.

I highlighted it (equalized) to make it easier to see. It's definitely worse in that area. The highlighted area on the right shows hardly any problem. http://xtknight.atothosting.com/images/FEAR2.png

On your first screenshot I can't see any problem. The artifacts in the OP's screenshot are pretty bad as well (at least on LCDs). They just did too much lossy compression in FEAR IMO. It's very similar to what you'd see running Quake 2 at 256 colors (8-bit WAL). Obviously not that bad, but relative to the very high quality of the rest of the game it's quite unsightly.

 

[JRW]

Originally posted by: munky
Here's some screen of FEAR using my x1900xt.

FEAR.jpg
FEAR2.jpg

These are 100% quality jpeg screenshots. I see no banding in these on my CRT. In your screenshot I can see some slight banding, but it's not that obvious, and during gameplay I might not even notice it.

Yea I dont see any banding in those screenshots on my CRT but LCDs tend to exaggerate or 'reveal' any subtle banding that might actually be there (as shown in the equalized shots in xtknight's post).

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: munky
Here's some screen of FEAR using my x1900xt.

FEAR.jpg
FEAR2.jpg

These are 100% quality jpeg screenshots. I see no banding in these on my CRT. In your screenshot I can see some slight banding, but it's not that obvious, and during gameplay I might not even notice it.

I highlighted it (equalized) to make it easier to see. It's definitely worse in that area. The highlighted area on the right shows hardly any problem. http://xtknight.atothosting.com/images/FEAR2.png

On your first screenshot I can't see any problem. The artifacts in the OP's screenshot are pretty bad as well (at least on LCDs). They just did too much lossy compression in FEAR IMO. It's very similar to what you'd see running Quake 2 at 256 colors (8-bit WAL). Obviously not that bad, but relative to the very high quality of the rest of the game it's quite unsightly.

Yeah, I can definitely see the banding in the highlited are on the left, and it's probably even worse on a LCD.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: munky
Here's some screen of FEAR using my x1900xt.

FEAR.jpg
FEAR2.jpg

These are 100% quality jpeg screenshots. I see no banding in these on my CRT. In your screenshot I can see some slight banding, but it's not that obvious, and during gameplay I might not even notice it.

I highlighted it (equalized) to make it easier to see. It's definitely worse in that area. The highlighted area on the right shows hardly any problem. http://xtknight.atothosting.com/images/FEAR2.png

On your first screenshot I can't see any problem. The artifacts in the OP's screenshot are pretty bad as well (at least on LCDs). They just did too much lossy compression in FEAR IMO. It's very similar to what you'd see running Quake 2 at 256 colors (8-bit WAL). Obviously not that bad, but relative to the very high quality of the rest of the game it's quite unsightly.

You're not being serious are you? The effort they put in to scenery & textures is the worst i've seen for a very long time, amazing graphical effects that's for sure, but you essentially play in revisions of the same few scenes throughout, and have you looked out of a window? Looks like a kid with paint drew the surrounding scenery

Good thing the gameplay, freaky paranormal crap, norton mapes, and the graphical effects more than make up for it

 

[LittleNemoNES]

he effort they put in to scenery & textures is the worst i've seen for a very long time, amazing graphical effects that's for sure, but you essentially play in revisions of the same few scenes throughout, and have you looked out of a window? Looks like a kid with paint drew the surrounding scenery

I totally agree. the outside scenery looks awful.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: munky
Here's some screen of FEAR using my x1900xt.

FEAR.jpg
FEAR2.jpg

These are 100% quality jpeg screenshots. I see no banding in these on my CRT. In your screenshot I can see some slight banding, but it's not that obvious, and during gameplay I might not even notice it.

I highlighted it (equalized) to make it easier to see. It's definitely worse in that area. The highlighted area on the right shows hardly any problem. http://xtknight.atothosting.com/images/FEAR2.png

On your first screenshot I can't see any problem. The artifacts in the OP's screenshot are pretty bad as well (at least on LCDs). They just did too much lossy compression in FEAR IMO. It's very similar to what you'd see running Quake 2 at 256 colors (8-bit WAL). Obviously not that bad, but relative to the very high quality of the rest of the game it's quite unsightly.

You're not being serious are you? The effort they put in to scenery & textures is the worst i've seen for a very long time, amazing graphical effects that's for sure, but you essentially play in revisions of the same few scenes throughout, and have you looked out of a window? Looks like a kid with paint drew the surrounding scenery

Good thing the gameplay, freaky paranormal crap, norton mapes, and the graphical effects more than make up for it

and the fact that its free

 

[xtknight]

Well all the rest of the textures look great to me, and then you see these ugly effects on a couple of them.

 

[BassBomb]

I lowered gamma and upped my monitor brightness to full, the game looked ALOT better, in every aspect. Thanks to who suggested that

As far as banding it may just be my texture size also.

Just beat the game for the second time now