Nvidia new drivers that enables Ambient Occlusion for non-natively supported games

[drmagnumwolf]

Nvidia release a new set of drivers(I'm installing it at the moment, will report back with results once I finish testing) which adds HBAO+, or ambient occlusion for non-supported games.

 

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/nvidia-geforce-331-40-beta-drivers-released

 

I'll quote Nvidia on this:

331.40 beta also includes a major update to our NVIDIA Control Panel Ambient Occlusion feature, which allows you to apply fidelity-enhancing, realistic shading and shadowing to games that do not natively support Ambient Occlusion. With a few simple clicks, you can greatly increase the image quality of your favorite games, and now, with 331.40 beta, the quality of the Ambient Occlusion shading will be significantly higher thanks to the introduction of HBAO+.

 

Direct download link: http://www.geforce.com/drivers

 

 

Read more about it on this thread too: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=90613&highlight=ambient+occlusion

Edited October 4, 2013 by drmagnumwolf

[drmagnumwolf]

UPDATE 1:

It seems it is not "enabled" for DCS yet. You must enable it using the Nvidia Inspector

 

UPDATE 2:

It seems it improves performance on normal ambient occlusion usage, but if you enable "HIGH QUALITY" in Nvidia Inspector it will use HBAO+

Mental note: When taking screenshots, verify that you are not using HDR warm color or you will have to re do it again to post any screenies to compare with the old "ambient occlusion" trick... Back to DCS.

 

UPDATE 3:

 

Noticed no FPS loss with or without Ambient Occlusion on. In fact, before this driver, my card would overheat so much that it would shut down. So, if anyone is willing to give it a go, I suggest you do, the only downside I saw is this

 

 

I've got to say, with that enabled, and a few other options enabled in Nvidia Inspector(Lod bias for instance).. ED's art department is awesome! Cudos for the attention to detail! :thumbup:

 

few random screenies with Ambient Occlusion enabled at High Quality

 

 

Edited September 30, 2013 by drmagnumwolf

[Davis0079]

this post has to do with AO in DCS also...perhaps you should try with this mod and see if you get different results

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=90613&highlight=Ambient+Occlusion

[BTTW-DratsaB]

Nice! I love this effect. My problem with it before though, was the way it flickered on and off. Does it still do this?

[drmagnumwolf]

Nice! I love this effect. My problem with it before though, was the way it flickered on and off. Does it still do this?

 

 

Yes, it still does. Maybe it is me, but I noticed it a lot less. It seems only to happen on certain angles and close to the ground. I haven't used AO a lot before this beta driver update, because of the overheating and FPS loss, so I can't really say if it really improved or is just me. Without AO HBAO+ I was getting 30 to 60 FPS, (100 if looking at the sky) and the FPS stayed the same, or I did not notice anything slowing it down. I have a GTX 480(Noisy and hot)

 

Here is a screenshot I got whilst it was flickering or changing...or something! (check shading lines on the left engine)

 

[jay43]

Wouldn't work for me must still be a WIP as its a beta, i could not get my 3 screens to go back into surround mode, so i had to roll back for now.

[Mainstay]

Works for me but it turns on and off if you move the camera. Have to wait till its stays permanent on because it looks nice but the stability is not there yet i guess

[Devrim]

Hi...

 

I updated nVidia drivers and downloaded Inspector v1.9.7.2B. DCS works normal as usual, didn't see any difference.

 

Inspector just looks an information and overclocking software. How can I enable A.O. via Inspector?

 

Thank you.

 

Edit #1: Oh ok, I think I've found it in Profile Settings. I got error message first. Later somehow I managed to get the profile and edited A.O. option...

Edit #2: No way. Doesn't work. :(

Edited October 3, 2013 by Devrim

[coolts]

I cant get it to work with NV inspector either. Do you have to set the options in NV inspector every tie you launch the game?

 

<drmagnumwolf> Can you post your NV inspector settings and any other tweaks you made to get it to work?

[TimeKilla]

Should really state in topic line its a beta driver, I always run to these topics and find that out and feel cheated lol

 

Anyway will check it out once its in the stable release.

[drmagnumwolf]

I cant get it to work with NV inspector either. Do you have to set the options in NV inspector every tie you launch the game?

 

<drmagnumwolf> Can you post your NV inspector settings and any other tweaks you made to get it to work?

 

Just follow these instructions.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=90613&highlight=ambient+occlusion

 

:)

 

Also, I was plying CA yesterday, and sadly, the ambient occlusion does make the gameplay a tad more difficult and does slow down.

 

Perhaps because of me being close to the ground and the graphics having to generate more shadows due to grass and other things.

[drmagnumwolf]

Should really state in topic line its a beta driver, I always run to these topics and find that out and feel cheated lol

 

Anyway will check it out once its in the stable release.

 

 

I... forgot! :music_whistling: When I went to try and edit it I realized I couldn't anymore. Sowwyyyy

 

Oh myyy... I feel ridiculously stupid now! I just needed to click in "Go Advanced" ...

 

Let's pretend this never happened!

Edited October 4, 2013 by drmagnumwolf
whoops

[coolts]

Cheers. I tried sweetFX after this trick and i think it breaks the ambient occlusion effect. I will try with sweetFX off at the weekend. I had it working last week.