Serious improvement of the graphics of the game

bongo · #1 May 1st, 2019, 01:06 PM

I discovered a trick that can greatly improve the quality of graphics rendering on both games (WinSPMBT and WinSPWW2).
For that, I use the capabilities of my 27-inch 4K screen, the advanced NVidia graphics card properties, the Windows 10 tips, and a small anti-aliasing software.

First, I went into the configuration panel of my NVidia GeForce GTX 460 (it's an old graphics card but it is powerful) and I selected the activation of DSR factors (4x for my optimal setting).

Dynamic Super Resolution technology produces smoother images by artificially increasing the resolution and then downscalling the image displayed on the screen.
Then I adjusted the DSR smoothing to 50% (that's what suits me best).

I then went on to "change resolution" still in the NVidia configuration panel and chose the resolution "3840 x 2160 pixels" in the DSR resolutions available.
Once your choices are validated, your screen is now 4x larger than the original (mine was set in Ultra HD - 1920 x 1080 pixels).

Normally, Windows 10 has automatically increased the size of the menus and icons (150% on my computer). You have to go to the display settings and choose 100% for the scaling to have the most stunning results.
Start WinSPWW2 (or WinSPMBT) in "Windowed" "Desktop" mode and admire the result ...

For even more finesse, I use the software "Lossless Scaling" (scale adjustment on 1 and anti-aliasing checked) and I start it with the Hotkey once the game is launched. Even better and it allows to have the game in full screen (without the taskbar of Windows).

Here it is.
As I know that many here think that the graphic quality of the game is absolutely not a factor for their pleasure to play these games, I do not know if this tricks will be useful to someone. But for me it is a real improvement (we are almost at the graphic level of some Close Combat in my opinion). No more pixels and this old twentieth century look ...

Kritkeen · #2 May 1st, 2019, 02:40 PM

Thank you Bongo,

I use an ultra-wide monitor with 3440x1440 resolution. I'll try what you suggest as soon as possible. It would be nice to see smoother graphics when I zoom in all the way.

DRG · #3 May 1st, 2019, 03:50 PM

A screen shot before and after would be nice.

I have found as long as players stay with 100% then the graphic in Z4, Z6, Z7 and Z8 are as sharp as they are in the graphics program I used to create them but when people set up the game a something like 125% to get bigger text then the graphics will look terrible and the text, while larger, is no sharper but it's impossible to post a screen shot of what it should look like because the people who push the graphics past 100% will never see it.

If players are not seeing razor sharp unit Icons zoomed in all the way with the new changes that is why but if you have found a way to increase the size but not degrade the images I'm interested to hear more

Kritkeen · #4 May 1st, 2019, 05:29 PM

I'm sorry to say that in my case, it didn't work out. I use windowed mode with desktop resolution setting together with borderless gaming software.

When I apply similar settings (I tried a few different levels of DSR), It looks better because in the highest zoom level your view area is also increased, meaning that you get the impression of better graphics which is nice. But side effect is that the text becomes very hard to read.

It is still possible that it works better on regular screen ratios but not worth it on 21:9 imho.

RVPERTVS · #5 January 6th, 2020, 08:30 PM

I believe this is OT but I didn't want to start a new thread:

I installed the game on a different computer running Win10. Everything seems to be fine but I just noticed that if I have "Show Unit Detail" selected (in windowed mode) the text over the "0" unit of that formation changes tone (different tones of orange/red). Is this a feature or a hardware issue on my end? Thanks in advance.

scorpio_rocks · #6 January 6th, 2020, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVPERTVS

the text over the "0" unit of that formation changes tone (different tones of orange/red). Is this a feature or a hardware issue on my end?

It's a feature! allowing you to quickly see the levels of command. Search for "Show/Hide Formation ID's" in the game guide:

scorpio_rocks · #7 May 1st, 2019, 05:27 PM

I am surprised the 460 can drive 4K at all!

My understanding is that a 960/970 card is the MINIMUM specification to run a 4K monitor. Perhaps you are managing to make the visuals better with your tricks but I wonder if they look less good to start because the GPU is working too hard?

Screenshots would be nice.