nHancer Utility For Nvidia Card Users,

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Greetings All,

 

I've been out of town for the week and got back Friday night, at which point my good lady wife had to leave and help out with her mother for the weekend, which meant I was suddenly given a couple of open days. After taking care of a few chores around the old family manse I decided to update the drivers for my nVidia GTX9800+ video card as I was running on a two-year old version. So, I downloaded version 196.21 which was the newest set I could locate for my 64-bit OS, and I made the install. After I rebooted and before I began the tweaking process, I downloaded and installed a little utility called nHancer, which no doubt some of you are already using. For those of you who are not, I can't recommend it too highly. I wish I had been using it long before this! It allows for a far greater amount of fine tuning than the stock nVidia control panel does, (and of particular note to us OFF flyers, it allows you to really tweak the anti-aliasing settings). I run a Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0ghz Wolfdale, (with Arctic Cooler), oc'd to 3.95 with 8gb of DDR2 PC2-6400 800 memory oc'd to 890 at 2.1 volts on an ASUS P5QL mobo along with the aforementioned Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ card, and even with the old video drivers and settigns this sytem was pushing OFF very, very well. However, with the new drivers and, more importantly, the nHancer utility, I have eliminated all the little annoyances I had from time-to-time in the past. For instance, when at or near ground level in the winter, when there is a mixture of snow and open fields, I would get a small bit of "shimmer", a typical nVidia issue with certain sims and not something that can always be eliminated with the adjustments in the stock control panel. But with the nHancer utility I was able to get rid of this because of the in-depth AA adjustments now at my disposal. I was also able to eliminate the occasional object that would "pop" into view at the edge of the screen when I turned my head very quickly. And as an added bonus, Track IR is now smoother than it's ever been, (and it was quite smooth before). I have flown about twenty different sorties over all the various regions of the front in summer and winter, in storms and clear skies, and performance and graphics are better across the board. My current config settings are 5-3-3-5-3, with overrides and terrain ticks per uncleal's list in his "OFF Tips and Cheats" post in the Knowledge Base forum.

 

I recommend you give nHancer a try. Here is the link to the free download: nHancer Utility

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

[Tamper 9]

Hi Lou,

 

Thanks for sharing this bit of info. I've used NHancer before with decent results; perhaps the only problem being *too many* options to set (and the ton of trial-and-error that goes with). 'Course, one *could* just leave things at default - especially where "if you don't know what it does, don't mess with it" applies *lol* But that wouldn't be in the true idiom of a graphics junky, would it?

 

Having re-loaded my machine not long ago - which is very similar to yours - I hadn't gotten around to putting NHancer back on yet, but find I'm able to get things running smoothly without it. And, since I think it's possible to cause problems with some settings particularly, I've left it be.

 

But, having someone else's successful experience to bolster confidence in things like this has helped improve many a system, and solve many a problem. I wonder if you might share your nHancer settings here - as well as any thoughts you have on what *not* to use (if you had any problems with yours before settling on current).

 

Thanks

[+Winder 32]

.

 

Greetings All,

 

I've been out of town for the week and got back Friday night, at which point my good lady wife had to leave and help out with her mother for the weekend, which meant I was suddenly given a couple of open days. After taking care of a few chores around the old family manse I decided to update the drivers for my nVidia GTX9800+ video card as I was running on a two-year old version. So, I downloaded version 196.21 which was the newest set I could locate for my 64-bit OS, and I made the install. After I rebooted and before I began the tweaking process, I downloaded and installed a little utility called nHancer, which no doubt some of you are already using. For those of you who are not, I can't recommend it too highly. I wish I had been using it long before this! It allows for a far greater amount of fine tuning than the stock nVidia control panel does, (and of particular note to us OFF flyers, it allows you to really tweak the anti-aliasing settings). I run a Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0ghz Wolfdale, (with Arctic Cooler), oc'd to 3.95 with 8gb of DDR2 PC2-6400 800 memory oc'd to 890 at 2.1 volts on an ASUS P5QL mobo along with the aforementioned Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ card, and even with the old video drivers and settigns this sytem was pushing OFF very, very well. However, with the new drivers and, more importantly, the nHancer utility, I have eliminated all the little annoyances I had from time-to-time in the past. For instance, when at or near ground level in the winter, when there is a mixture of snow and open fields, I would get a small bit of "shimmer", a typical nVidia issue with certain sims and not something that can always be eliminated with the adjustments in the stock control panel. But with the nHancer utility I was able to get rid of this because of the in-depth AA adjustments now at my disposal. I was also able to eliminate the occasional object that would "pop" into view at the edge of the screen when I turned my head very quickly. And as an added bonus, Track IR is now smoother than it's ever been, (and it was quite smooth before). I have flown about twenty different sorties over all the various regions of the front in summer and winter, in storms and clear skies, and performance and graphics are better across the board. My current config settings are 5-3-3-5-3, with overrides and terrain ticks per uncleal's list in his "OFF Tips and Cheats" post in the Knowledge Base forum.

 

I recommend you give nHancer a try. Here is the link to the free download: nHancer Utility

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

 

Thanks Lou,

 

This is the dogs bollox!

 

Works damn well - I have always been disappointed in the shimmies in the distance that no AA or Aniso tweaking could ever seem to sort.

No Longer

 

I am now running nHancer in combined AA mode (Multi and Super) 16xS and its great FPS wise but most importantly clean all the way to the horizon with very little shimmer at all.

 

Excellent!

 

I did try 32xS but found the FPS hit a bit much (GTX280) but wow 16xS combined mode is the dogs bollox.

 

BTW If you open up the Nvidia control panel after using nHancer is shows the AA and aniso settings as "custom setting"....

 

Again an Excellent thread thanks.

 

Ta

 

WM

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Winder and Tamper, my pleasure Sirs. Winder, good to know someone else has been using this in OFF for a while with great results. Tamper, here are my current nHancer settings:

 

On the Enhancements Tab:

 

Anti-Aliasing check "Combined" and "8xS"

 

1x2 SS + 4x MS check "Enhance in-game AA setting", "Gamma correction" and "Multi-"

 

Anisotropic Filtering check "8x"

 

Vertical Sync check "Application" and "Force Open GL Triple-Buffer"

 

Ambient Occlusion set at "00000000: Not compatible" and do not check the box.

 

On the Optimizations Tab:

 

Texture filtering check "High Performance"

 

Trilinear optimization check "On"

 

Aniso. sample optimization check "Off"

 

Negative LOD Bias check "Clamp"

 

Adjust LOD Bias set at "0.000"

 

Force DXT3 (Open GL) check "Off"

 

Prerender Limit set at "1"

 

Power management mode check "Adaptive"

 

 

On the Compatibility Tab:

 

Set Anti-Aliasing compatibility, Anti-Aliasing compatibility DX10, and Direct3D 9 compatibility at "00000000: general compatibility"

 

Force mip maps check "Bilinear"

 

High Dynamic Range (HDR) check "Enable"

 

Dynamic Tiling set at "1"

 

CPU Multi Core support check "Multi core"

 

 

I initially had AA and Anisotropic settings at 16x but saw absolutely no difference between that and the current 8x settings.

 

Hope this info is useful.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

 

 

[Tamper 9]

Thanks...I'll tell you, I haven't played OFF (or anything else) much at all in the past few months, because I had a project I was trying to finish (I built a home theater in my basement). But I do still check in here, and today I saw your post. Having re-installed NHancer I needed to test, of course . I flew a couple QC's (twin-gun Tripe v. Albs). I must say again what a fascinating sim this is. Never ceases to engage - even though I haven't played in quite some time...right from the moment I start, I am immersed all over again. Truly remarkable.

 

The settings you posted seem to run OK, even though I think a couple of my sliders are a bit higher; I'm using a GTX260/216. All in all, good balance, beautiful graphics, frame rate goo (if I recall, capped at 32, via MaxFPS config) and no discernable stuttering.

 

Thanks again for the info.

 

As an aside, here's a before-and-after look at my basement...I can't wait to get the PC for this room running...should be great playing OFF on a 100" screen !

 

Edited February 7, 2010 by Tamper

[Guest British_eh]

Hi there:

 

THanks for the heads up, and then the settings! How many FPS did you gain, or just clarity? I have the Nvidia GTX 8800 and used to fly 54355 and get 30 -50 FPS. With HITR and lost 20 FPS and had to cut back the Sliders on Terrain and Scenery, and in workshops in Terrain to Low, to get my FPS back up to the previous.

 

Cheers,

 

British_eh

 

 

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Wow Tamper, that's sweet!

 

British_eh, I picked up another 5 to 7 FPS which is very nice, but it is the fact that the shimmer is now gone that I am most pleased with, along with smoother tracking and such. Hope you have as much good luck with it as I have.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Word of Caution about using Nhancer (a seasoned veteran here)

 

If you uninstall OFF...and then reinstall it WITHOUT readjusting Nhancer... graphics problems can occur!...and, if you have forgotten Nhancer...it can be very frustrating trying to sort it out

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Roger that WM. I had the same thing happen with the nVidia settings when I was using the stock control panel and reinstalled OFF several months ago. I also noticed that I had to redo all my CFS3/OFF config settings from the defaults after updating the nVidia drivers.

 

.

[Siggi 10]

I tried buggering about with this a fair bit last night and this morning, turned out it wasn't having the slightest effect in the game. Went back into the regular NV CP and set stuff up in there and bingo, nice smooth image again.

 

Is one supposed to SAVE the profile in Nhancer? If so, where? I've looked and can find no save function. Or is Nhancer supposed to be left open while playing the game (I've been closing it)?

 

Not that it really matters for me, in testing I'm getting 60fps almost all of the time with no jaggies or shimmering. The ONLY issue I have right now is those bloody blue triangles when I pan too fast, though they do settle down a bit once I've scanned in all directions. I'm on the latest drivers, did an auto-update via W7.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Every system is different Siggi, so we won't all have the same results I imagine. As to saving the profile, you don't need to as it seems nHancer will remember your settings and override the stock nVidia CP, at least it does for me. About those blue jaggies; I solved that by cranking up the speed of my memory sticks a touch. What are you running for these Siggi, and do you have an OC utility in your system? With my Asus mobo I have their very sweet little OC control panel that allows me to tweak to my heart's content, and I was able to lose the triangles by turning up the speed and voltage on my memory sticks from 800/1.8 to 890/2.1, and they vanished, (the triangles, not my memory sticks).

 

.

[Siggi 10]

.

 

Every system is different Siggi, so we won't all have the same results I imagine. As to saving the profile, you don't need to as it seems nHancer will remember your settings and override the stock nVidia CP, at least it does for me. About those blue jaggies; I solved that by cranking up the speed of my memory sticks a touch. What are you running for these Siggi, and do you have an OC utility in your system? With my Asus mobo I have their very sweet little OC control panel that allows me to tweak to my heart's content, and I was able to lose the triangles by turning up the speed and voltage on my memory sticks from 800/1.8 to 890/2.1, and they vanished, (the triangles, not my memory sticks).

 

.

 

My system is OC'd pretty good, and I have the RAM (Corsair Dominator) synced to the CPU. Off the top of my head I think my RAM is 1066 stuff, running at 800 and something, 2.2v. I'd have thought the graphic-card's gig of RAM should be doing away with the jaggies.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

I'd have thought that too Siggi, but I know with my system what finally made them go away was cranking up the RAM. I have a 512mb vid card which, according to those in the know, is a bit small on the memory side. With my CPU OC'd to 3.95 and running a 64bit OS, I still found that the only way to elude the dreaded jaggies was to set my 8gigs of 800 memory to 890 and push the voltage up to 2.1. Once I had done that the triangles were gone, so I assume my system simply could not fill in the screen areas quickly enough until I ramped up the memory. But as I noted earlier, every system is different. BTW, what boxes do you have ticked in the config overrides and such? That can make a difference as well.

 

.

[Siggi 10]

.

 

I'd have thought that too Siggi, but I know with my system what finally made them go away was cranking up the RAM. I have a 512mb vid card which, according to those in the know, is a bit small on the memory side. With my CPU OC'd to 3.95 and running a 64bit OS, I still found that the only way to elude the dreaded jaggies was to set my 8gigs of 800 memory to 890 and push the voltage up to 2.1. Once I had done that the triangles were gone, so I assume my system simply could not fill in the screen areas quickly enough until I ramped up the memory. But as I noted earlier, every system is different. BTW, what boxes do you have ticked in the config overrides and such? That can make a difference as well.

 

.

 

My overrides are default, apart from in-game functions disabled (TAC etc). I don't have a clue what any of the others do, so I leave them alone.

 

My RAM must be in the same ball-park as yours so far as speed is concerned. I'll go into the BIOS and double-check it though, I have a vague memory I might have set it to auto.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Siggi, as per uncleal's entry in the "OFF Tips and Cheats" post in the Knowledge Base Forum:

 

 

TWEEKS in OFF Configs

 

Overrides settings:

 

Disable Intro Movie ( after a few views, it gets tired ) Personal Opinion of mine

High Resolution Z Buffer ( deselect Dual Pass Render )

 

 

Terrian Detail Texture:

 

Disable Validate Device

Disable Write-Only Vertex Buffers

Disable Write-Only Index Buffers

 

 

Texture Info:

 

Composite Terrian Texture Usage ....... Render Target

Composite Terrian Texture Pool .......... Managed

 

Composite Aircraft Texture Usage ....... Render Target

Composite Aircraft Texture Pool .......... Managed

 

 

The afore mentioned Tweeks are for Nvidia Cards ONLY.

 

 

I run with these set as noted, and it makes a difference.

 

.

[Siggi 10]

Thanks Lou, I'll dial those in.

[Siggi 10]

Hmm. My RAM was already at 891, I've bumped it to 1069. Thing is I've not always had the blue triangles, it seems to come and go with various drivers. I think these most recent drivers are crap.

 

Anyway, I'll give OFF another whirl. I suspect there'll be no difference. But my RAM might pop.

[Siggi 10]

Nope, not a whit of difference.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Hmmm, must be something that can be tweaked to get you past those triangles. What are your sliders set at Siggi? Also, what exactly are the specs on your CPU, mobo, RAM, and vid card?

 

.

[Siggi 10]

.

 

Hmmm, must be something that can be tweaked to get you past those triangles. What are your sliders set at Siggi? Also, what exactly are the specs on your CPU, mobo, RAM, and vid card?

 

.

 

My sliders are at 5 for everything bar the terrain, which is at 4. I've had triangle-free performance at those settings before.

 

My specs:

 

Asus Maximus Formula mobo.

E8400 Intel CPU at 4ghz.

Corsair Dominator 1066 RAM at 891.

GTX 285 Graphics.

Fatality Gamer sound.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Well if everything was working fine before Siggi and you had no triangles then I would look to something else. Have you added any large programs lately? When was the last time you used a really good cache and registry cleaner and defrag'd your hard drive? I run CCleaner at the end of every day and defrag once a week. Keeps my PC bright and zippy...and no triangles. And I've noticed a pronounced decline in performance and a return of the jaggies and other graphics anomalies if I do not do this as described. Remember, a clean 'puter is a happy 'puter.

 

.

[Siggi 10]

I'm pretty sure it's down to these drivers Lou. Defrag runs automatically every night and I've not had this OS long enough, or loaded enough programs, to screw the registry. What driver version are you running? I'll go back to that.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Siggi, I just this weekend updated to 196.21 for my 64 bit XP Pro OS. I believe these are the newest drivers out there for nVidia.

 

.

[Siggi 10]

.

 

Siggi, I just this weekend updated to 196.21 for my 64 bit XP Pro OS. I believe these are the newest drivers out there for nVidia.

 

.

 

 

Bollocks, they're the ones I'm using.

 

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to live with the triangles.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Or back up to the earlier version if they were working better for you. That's what I'd do. I hate triangles when I'm flying, unless I'm eating Doritos.

 

.