HDR vs. AA in oblivion

[BFG10K]

Compared to what HDR is starting to look like (Oblivion) neither Source or Crytek have done it very well.

Actually Source has arguably done it the best. It's fast, good-looking and it's 100% compatible with AA.

 

[josh6079]

IMO Oblivion's HDR is unrivaled. I won't argue that Source's HDR does work with any AA and it hardly degrades performance, but it's look is a matter of pure opinion. To me, it has too "liquid" of effects. When I look at the sun, I don't want the light to have Source's kind of viscosity.

EDIT: Clarifyied original post. It had sounded like I was saying Oblivions HDR could always have AA. (Obviously that's not the case)

 

[Ulfhednar]

Originally posted by: schneiderguy

Originally posted by: Bull Dog
You have FarCry HDR screwed up. Try a different setting.

no i dont, thats not even my screenshot.

here are a bunch other of the eye burning FC HDR effect

Text, Text, Text, Text, and Text

I'm afraid at least two of those screens are messed up and probably have the HDR set to max, the rest can be corrected by the user easily. Far Cry never looked that horrific with HDR on my systems.

The pic you linked to in your previous post was also 100% messed up settings, nothing more.

 

[josh6079]

The night picture wasn't messed up. Far Cry has that problem on night maps.

The other shots though were definatley over done HDR, probably set to a value of 11 in the console command. Far Cry's HDR wasn't that great since it was added to the game. If they would have wanted to implement it from the start, it probably would have been better. However, it was only that bad if someone didn't know how to control it and keep it at 7 or lower. I used 3 sometimes and it worked pretty well without oversaturating things.

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Obviously it's up to the developer. I think Bethesda did a nice HDR job.

 

[Ulfhednar]

Originally posted by: josh6079
The night picture wasn't messed up. Far Cry has that problem on night maps.

It never looked that way for me, and I had my HDR set on the "default" value of seven. I must have been doing something right for a change.

Originally posted by: gersson
Obviously it's up to the developer. I think Bethesda did a nice HDR job.

I can't honestly say that I've seen HDR done badly yet, except in screenshots of Serious Sam 2, but I've not actually played that game yet. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Far Cry, Half Life 2: Episode One & Lost Coast, Day Of Defeat: Source and Counter Strike: Source all look fantastic to me.

Of course, I would say that Oblivion is easily the best looking game out of all of those if you are lucky enough to play with HDR and antialiasing enabled at once, otherwise the crown falls on the new Source games.

 

[MechaSheeba]

Personally I think HDR looks fvcking stupid, and I never use it, in any game.

 

[CP5670]

I have always preferred the HDR in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. The colors look more vibrant without being washed out or unrealistically bright, and the dynamic blooming effect is fairly subtle. It looks somewhat overdone in all the other games I've seen.

 

[Ulfhednar]

Originally posted by: MechaSheeba
Personally I think HDR looks fvcking stupid, and I never use it, in any game.

Did HDR shoot your dog or something?

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: Ulfhednar

Originally posted by: MechaSheeba
Personally I think HDR looks fvcking stupid, and I never use it, in any game.

Did HDR shoot your dog or something?

No, it just slept with his video card

 

[MrWizzard]

Ulfhednar

Well suddenly I am a lot happier about not being able to afford a 7950GX2, or it would've been money well wasted (especially since my X1900XT is actually at X1900XT-X clock frequencies, which seems to shorten the gap even more.)

Thanks a lot Ackmed and Frackal.

Those benches are unfortunately not a full picture as Ackmed hinted, yes ATI does well but those are very specific setting that they are running.

It also tends to vary game to game, see Anands Bench of fear for example.

LINK

It all really depends on what you want, either way the X1900XT, 7950GX2, 7900GTX, X1950XTX are all good cards. You should be happy with any of them.

I personally choose resolution over the ability to have AA. In 5 years I wonder if AA will even matter when we game at 20000x15000.

 

[Ulfhednar]

Originally posted by: MrWizzard
Those benches are unfortunately not a full picture as Ackmed hinted, yes ATI does well but those are very specific setting that they are running.

It also tends to vary game to game, see Anands Bench of fear for example.

I agree but I pretty much only play Battlefield 2, Oblivion and some Call Of Duty 2 at the moment and the GX2 doesn't seem as fast in those games either. I've looked at those AT benchmarks before too but I can't really rely on 2048x1536 benchmarks as the native resolution of my monitor is 1440x900, which also seems to be a detriment to the GX2 from what I have seen.

Originally posted by: MrWizzard
I personally choose resolution over the ability to have AA. In 5 years I wonder if AA will even matter when we game at 20000x15000.

Aye, I think I will stop caring so much about AA once we get to play at insane resolutions, but for now, and with being at 1440x900 for the time being (which is more than enough for me), AA is really close to my heart.