Forcing antialiasing on with the options.cfg file

Note: manually editing your .cfg files is not officially supported. Please do not expect Tech Support to save you if you screw up your install of the game, your computer, or your life by editing .cfg files. Attempt at your own risk.

As you may know, we have a UI bug where the "Antialias" graphics option always reverts to off (unchecked) when you start the game back up.

There's a file called "options.cfg" in your main MXO game directory (where launcher.exe is located). This file stores many of your options settings, and is handled automatically by the game. However, you can edit it manually to force the Antialias option to stay on. You can also set the AA level for smoother lines (at the cost of slower performance).

Options.cfg can be opened in a text editor. There are three AA settings in the file:

AntiAlias_Level
AntiAliasFSOverSample
AntiAliasFSQuality

In general, these default to

AntiAlias_Level = 1
AntiAliasFSOverSample = 0
AntiAliasFSQuality = 0

To get AA to stay on, you need to set the last two to an even, positive integer. I think they're twice the standard AA value (so for 4x AA you would use . I have a pretty nice video card, and set mine to 12, ie:

AntiAlias_Level = 1
AntiAliasFSOverSample = 12
AntiAliasFSQuality = 12

Please note that results will vary depending on your hardware. You should start low, and work your way up very slowly. And again, if messing with the .cfg file makes your computer explode, that's your own fault.

These settings will reset in memory if you open your Advanced video options panel. So if for instance you open the Advanced video panel, change a setting, then change your game resolution, you will probably be back to normal icky 2x AA until you quit the game and restart.

Been using that for close to a year now. Makes the game look super-purty on high-end machines. :robothappy:

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Symmetric wrote:
Been using that for close to a year now. Makes the game look super-purty on high-end machines. :robothappy:

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You sneaky! I didn't figure it out until today! (I'd been doing it the hard way through admin console commands. :p)

I remember that, but that's useropts. I think options.cfg overrides it--it does for me, anyway.

Hm. What does your options.cfg look like? Are all three of those lines in there?

Or you can just use these commands in your own useropts.cfg file:



AntiAliasFSOverSample = 2

AntiAliasFSQuality = 2

Another option that you can use if you want to use less text (and don't need fancy 4x or 16x) is this:

AdvVideo_Check_Fill_AntiAliasing = 1

It sets the Anti-Aliasing box in Advanced Options to checked, so the game always displays anti-aliasing

*EDIT* OOOh yeah, If you're playing with Options.cfg, definetely throw this in there!!!!!!!

CmpChar_HackView_Enable = 1
CmpChar_HackView_MinLvl_Float = 50
CmpChar_HackView_MaxLvl = 700

Er, jk.

There's another useropts that changes the amount of blur that the overbright filter uses - I'll try to find it again, reducing the blur while keeping the dodge effects on makes pictures seem so much better, aside from anti-aliasing


Oh, and make sure to have your video card control panel to display anti-aliasing maxed if you want best performance - ATI Catalyst defaults in "Average," which sacrifices quality for performance - if you max AA to 16x and aren't seeing the results, that might be why.

Message Edited by Bayamo on 05-01-2006 09:12 PM

Here is my UserOpt for review

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# Disable the various intro/splash screens
Splash0 = ""
SplashDelay0 = 1
Splash1 = ""
SplashDelay1 = 1
Splash2 = ""
SplashDelay2 = 1
Splash3 = ""
SplashDelay3 = 1
Splash4 = ""
SplashDelay4 = 1
Splash5 = ""
SplashDelay5 = 1

# Experimental camera settings...makes interlock look much better.
CameraChaseDuration = 0.1
ILCameraMode = 2
CameraMinDist = 0
CameraMaxDist = 2000
CameraHeightOffset = 0.70
CameraHeightOffsetSitGrnd = 0.025
CameraMaxSpeed = 500
AllowBulletTimeCamera = 0


# Sky
wr_rezevents = bluesky1

# Picture Quality
ScreenShot_JPG_Quality = 100

# Chair Bug Fix
CameraHeightOffsetSitChair = 0.35

# Anti-Helicopters
Richworld_HeliDensity = 0

# Code Glow
ScreenFilters_HackerView_Value_1 = 1
CmpChar_HackView_Enable = 1
CmpChar_HackView_MinLvl_Float = 50
CmpChar_HackView_MaxLvl = 700

# AntiAliasing
AntiAlias_Level = 1
AdvVideo_Check_Fill_AntiAliasing = 1
AntiAliasFSOverSample = 8
AntiAliasFSQuality = 8

# NightTime Light
PlayerFX_LightPool_Proj_Angle = 1.8
PlayerFX_LightPool_Radius = 5
PlayerFX_LightPool_Bright_Scale = 0.915

# Screenshots
ScreenShot_Filename_Base = "./screenshot"

# Duel Timer
ChallengeMaxConsiderTime = 60

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Code that doesnt work
HackView
Duel Timer
Screenshots
Blue Sky

Message Edited by Warboy090 on 05-01-2006 09:20 PM

do any of you happen to know of a useropt to force a specified resolution?

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Symmetric wrote:

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Rarebit wrote:
Hm. What does your options.cfg look like? Are all three of those lines in there?

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I haven't touched my options.cfg file at all. My useropts.cfg file looks exactly like the one in that old thread I linked ya to. :robothappy:

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Yeah, I think part of it has to do with specific video cards. Mine doesn't seem to have settings that let me force AA in MXO through my computer's System Display Properties, for instance. So maybe that's why useropts.cfg was dodgy for me. All I know is that on my system, the settings in options.cfg are definitely overriding those in useropts.cfg. And this: if you go in the game and check the Antialias box in Advanced Video Options, or if already have AA on and open that Advanced window at all, it resets you down to AntiAliasFSOversample = 2 and AntiAliasFSQuality = 2 when you close the window (I'm checking their values in the admin console).

Now, if your video card is nice and lets you force AA at a certain level in D3D games, maybe what you set in the game itself doesn't really matter. But when I tried setting those AA values in useropts, and then checked what I was actually getting in-game when I switched AA on, it was always at 2. And Bayamo's "AdvVideo_Check_Fill_AntiAliasing" does nothing for me, either. I'd be interested to see if you get different results with the two different methods, though (useropts.cfg vs options.cfg). Like try each and take bmp screenshots of the same scene with each one, and compare them. Because I haven't noticed any screenshots posted in the forums, besides my own that I was forcing to high AA levels with the admin console, that looked like they were better than 2x AA.

Message Edited by Rarebit on 05-01-2006 07:25 PM