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Rail Sim Routes UK - BVE Help and Information (Page 3)
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BVE Help and Information |
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BVE Help and Information |
Information and help for installing Mackoy's BVE Trainsim,
with instructions for installing routes from this site, and setting common options
within BVE.
 Revised
11th December 2007 (updated Cross-City South installation notes; BVE v4.2 installation
in Vista; enabling new higher resolutions)
[If you require assistance with using the older BVE v2.6.3,
please click here]
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Graphics Card Display Quality |
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Introduction
This part of the BVE Help Guide explains how to enable two features found with modern
3D graphics cards which increase the quality of the visuals you see in 3D games,
namely 'Anti-aliasing' and 'Anisotropic
Filtering'.
The guide assumes that you are using a graphics card in either the nVIDIA
GeForce or ATi Radeon product
ranges, both of which include popular 3D hardware accelerators generally designed
for more serious gaming performance on the PC. If you are using another type of
graphics card, please consult your user guide or instruction manual for details
on how to adjust it's equivalent display driver properties - not all graphics cards
and drivers will enable you to alter such advanced settings however.
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Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering
Anti-aliasing is a technique for smoothing
out the jagged edges of lines or hard edges in a 3D view, often referred to as 'jaggies',
and most noticeable in lower display resolutions. In BVE, enabling anti-aliasing
means that such details as overhead wires or the edges of buildings are rendered
in a smooth way, without any unsightly stepping effects or jagged edges to be seen.
Anisotropic filtering is a technique for
reducing or removing the shimmering and 'swimming pixel' effects on textures visible
in the distance, when viewed from a low angle - for example distant terrain or track
textures as they get further away. In BVE, enabling anisotropic filtering significantly
enhances the appearance of the graphics, especially because BVE itself doesn't support
mip-mapped textures which is another technique which can reduce the effects of shimmering
pixels in distant textures.
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Important Note: While both Anti-aliasing
and Anisotropic Filtering significantly enhance the look of BVE's 3D views, they
have an impact on performance as well. If you have a recent 3D hardware accelerator,
e.g. an nVIDIA GeForce 5700 or later, or for example an ATi Radeon 9600 or later,
then such hardware is capable of using anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering with
less impact on performance. If you have an older 3D graphics card which supports
anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, you may find framerates decrease unacceptably
with high levels of anti-aliasing or anisotropy - do experiment to see what results
you can get from your hardware. |
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Graphics Card Configuration |
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Enabling Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering in the nVIDIA ForceWare
Drivers
If you use an nVIDIA GeForce graphics card, then you're probably using the ForceWare
drivers which are nVIDIA's driver set for all cards in the GeForce range (you may
also be using the ForeWare's predecessor, the Detonator drivers).
Note: One thing you should check is whether
you are using nVIDIA's drivers, or the default drivers included with Windows XP
- the default drivers do not allow you to adjust advanced graphics card properties
like anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering, and may also reduce your framerates
and performance. If upon following these instructions, you don't see any nVIDIA
branding on the Advanced Display Properties tab (explained below), you should download
and install the latest ForceWare drivers from the nVIDIA website if you want to use the advanced driver features
explained on this page.
Important: Don't install new
drivers on your system unless are sure you know what you are doing. Please ensure
that you can undo any changes you make to your graphics card drivers before installing
new drivers - see the Windows XP Help and Support Centre for details about the 'System
Restore' feature, which can roll back to the previously installed display driver
should any problems occur.
Setting the Anti-aliasing
and Anisotropic Filtering levels
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First, right-click your desktop and select Properties
- the Display Properties dialog will appear... |
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On the Display Properties dialog, click the Advanced
button... |
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Now, on the pop-out panel on the left, select 'Performance
& Quality Settings'.
Under 'Global Driver Settings', click
'Anti-aliasing Settings', and then clear the 'Application Controlled' checkbox.
Now drag the Anti-aliasing Settings slider
to any setting other than 'Off'. The more powerful your GeForce graphics card, the
higher this setting can be without the performance penalty being too great - you
may wish to experiment with the settings once you've seen how BVE runs with the
selected level of anti-aliasing. |
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Still under 'Global Driver Settings',
this time click 'Anisotropic Filtering',
and then clear the 'Application Controlled' checkbox.
Then, drag the Anisotropic Filtering slider
to any setting other than 'Off'. The more powerful your GeForce graphics card, the
higher this setting can be without the performance penalty being too great - you
may wish to experiment with the settings once you've seen how BVE runs with the
selected level of anisotropy.
Now click OK, and OK again on the Display Properties dialog. |
The anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering levels are now set, and you can start
BVE and see if the quality of your graphics has improved! If there is any performance
hit and you find it unacceptable, repeat the above steps and select lower levels
of anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, and then try BVE again.
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Graphics Card Configuration |
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Enabling Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering in the ATi Catalyst
Drivers
If you use an ATi Radeon graphics card, then you're probably using the Catalyst
drivers which are ATi's driver set for all cards in the Radeon range. This part
of the guide first explains changing the settings using the more traditional ATi Catalyst Control Panel, and
later on explains the same procedure for the newer
Catalyst Control Centre.
Note: One thing you should check is whether
you are using ATi's drivers, or the default drivers included with Windows XP - the
default drivers do not allow you to adjust advanced graphics card properties like
anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering, and may also reduce your framerates and
performance. If upon following these instructions, you don't see any ATi branding
on the Advanced Display Properties tab (explained below), you should download and
install the latest Catalyst drivers from the
ATi website if you want to use the advanced driver features explained on this
page. Personally I'd recommend the Control Panel version of the driver download,
as it requires less memory than the Control Centre.
Important: Don't install new drivers
on your system unless are sure you know what you are doing. Please ensure that you
can undo any changes you make to your graphics card drivers before installing new
drivers - see the Windows XP Help and Support Centre for details about the 'System
Restore' feature, which can roll back to the previously installed display driver
should any problems occur.
Setting the Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic
Filtering levels using the Catalyst Control Panel
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First, right-click your desktop and select 'Properties'
- the Display Properties dialog will appear... |
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On the Display Properties dialog, click the Advanced
button... |
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Now, on the 'ATi 3D' tab of the Advanced
Display Properties dialog, check the 'Direct3D'
radio button, place a tick in 'Use Custom Settings'
checkbox, and then click the 'Custom'
button. |
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On the resulting Direct3D tab, un-tick the 'Application
Preference' checkbox next to 'Anti-Aliasing:',
and drag the Samples slider to one of
the available multipliers. The more powerful your Radeon graphics card, the higher
this setting can be without the performance penalty being too great - you may wish
to experiment with the settings once you've seen how BVE runs with the selected
level of anti-aliasing.
Next, un-tick the 'Application Preference' checkbox
next to 'Anisotropic Filtering:', and
drag the Samples slider to one of the
available multipliers. The more powerful your Radeon graphics card, the higher this
setting can be without the performance penalty being too great - you may wish to
experiment with the settings once you've seen how BVE runs with the selected level
of anisotropy.
Now click OK, and OK again on the Display Properties dialog. |
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Setting the Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering levels using the Catalyst Control Centre
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First, right-click your desktop and select 'ATI
CATALYST(tm) Control Centre' - the Catalyst Control Centre will appear... |
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Now, click the 'View' button in the top
left of the Catalyst Control Centre, and select the 'Advanced
View'. |
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When Advanced View is selected, a tree list containing options appears on the left
- navigate to '3D' > 'No
Preview'.
Now, under 'SMOOTHVISION 2.1:Anti-Aliasing',
un-tick the 'Let the application decide' checkbox,
and drag the 'Per-pixel samples:' slider to one of the available multipliers.
The more powerful your Radeon graphics card, the higher this setting can be without
the performance penalty being too great - you may wish to experiment with the settings
once you've seen how BVE runs with the selected level of anti-aliasing.
Now, under 'SMOOTHVISION 2.1:Anisotropic Filtering',
again un-tick the 'Let the application decide'
checkbox, and drag the 'Per-pixel samples:'
slider to one of the available multipliers.
The more powerful your Radeon graphics card, the higher this setting can be without
the performance penalty being too great - you may wish to experiment with the settings
once you've seen how BVE runs with the selected level of anisotropy.
Now click the 'Done' button. |
The anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering levels are now set, and you can start
BVE and see if the quality of your graphics has improved! If there is any performance
hit and you find it unacceptable, repeat the above steps and select lower levels
of anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, and then try BVE again.
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Other Useful Resources |
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Useful websites and sources of information be other members of the
BVE community
Robert Glass has written an excellent set of help
and information pages in the 'About' section of his superb Scottish Rail Sim Files website. This very useful resource
includes information about common BVE tools which developers and users alike might
wish to use (such as the Track Viewer, Train Editor and Structure Viewer), as well
as guidelines concerning the correct use of bitmap textures within BVE, and also
recommendations on what software to use for developing BVE add-ons.
You can find an alternative guide to downloading and installing BVE over at Steve
Green's Train Sim Central
website. Steve's guide also includes useful information about error messages you
might see whilst using BVE.
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