Changing the graphics to improve the look of the game?

[Darth_Mavet]

Is there anyway to increase the graphics of the game to make it look better? Is there any options availble for this?

[SaltDaFries]

.....

[Amarinth]

The two main things I know of to improve the graphics beyond what's available by maxing the graphics settings ingame (and if you can't max those on your setup, I don't suggest trying the tweaks below because they will not be kind to your performance) are:

 

1. forcing Anisotropic Filtering (8x or 16x for the best results) on swtor.exe through your graphics drivers (nvidia/ati control panel)

 

2. adding AntiAliasingLevel = x (where x = 4 or 8 for best results) to the client_settings.ini file located in C:/users/<username>/appdata/local/swtor/swtor/settings

 

There is also an improved lighting option ini tweak from beta, but I don't know if that's still useful since they seem to have changed the shadow/lighting since then.

 

Short of better textures for the game itself that's about it for know, at least that I'm aware of.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Amarinth

[Darth_Mavet]

Thanks for the reply but have not found any options ingame to change anything yet. Although at the moment I am just doing a little dry fun to try the game out.

 

Can you change much of the graphics ingame via the game itself? I used the way you described about forcing change when I played warhammer online since I couldnt stand the jagged edges of everything.

[count_dingo]

Is there anyway to increase the graphics of the game to make it look better? Is there any options availble for this?

 

DirectX 9 currently. This is from an interview posted August 27, 2010 [click for source article]:

 

Bioware: For the largest compatibility base for our consumers, Direct X9 is the way to go. We are considering plans for DX11 in the future. That’s all we can say at this time.

 

So until they upgrade the API with DX10/11/OpenGL(lollin'), you're gonna be looking at the same graphics quality.

 

ETA: by the way, I'll just go ahead and assume that "largest consumer base" = windows XP in this case

Edited December 15, 2011 by count_dingo

[Restepor]

Thanks for the reply but have not found any options ingame to change anything yet. Although at the moment I am just doing a little dry fun to try the game out.

 

Can you change much of the graphics ingame via the game itself? I used the way you described about forcing change when I played warhammer online since I couldnt stand the jagged edges of everything.

This may sound stupid, but you did check the options right? They have the some graphic options there. I'm not trying to sound sarcastic, just in case you didn't see them.

[Recktion]

DirectX 9 currently. This is from an interview posted August 27, 2010 [click for source article]:

 

 

 

So until they upgrade the API with DX10/11/OpenGL(lollin'), you're gonna be looking at the same graphics quality.

 

ETA: by the way, I'll just go ahead and assume that "largest consumer base" = windows XP in this case

 

upgrading to DX11 is still only gonna provide a minor improvement to the look of the game. They made it so that people on the weakest hardware can run it fine and it shows.

[Darth_Mavet]

This may sound stupid, but you did check the options right? They have the some graphic options there. I'm not trying to sound sarcastic, just in case you didn't see them.

 

Yeah I found it but not many options to make the game look better. No offence taken btw

 

I do before I think sometimes but thanks for all the responds!

Edited December 16, 2011 by Darth_Mavet

[WakeXT]

I just read there is no difference if you change the overall settings from medium to high in the options - you have to custom set every option to high to effect the image quality.

[Guttsy]

If you are running on a nVidia setup... preferably a 4xx/4xx sli setup *cough* ... then use nvidia INSPECTOR tool ... just google it... and you should be able to edit all the invisible stuff from nvidia controllpanel (nvidia employees use this tool to tweak/create their SLI profiles for us so it is a safe tool, and it has all kinds of "undo" options)

 

I personally add antialiasinglevel = X (something) and anisotropiclevel = AND TextureAnisotropy = 16 (+ allso a lot of other stuff found in a thread here but i think it don't have any effect.) Most importantly get antialiasing and anisotropicfiltering up and running via the "client_settings.ini found in userprofile/appdata/local/SWTOR/swtor/settings folder".

 

THEN you can use nvidia inspector, (click on the "tool" button... the first screen looks like gpu-z or something) , search up THIS GAME ; ... "Star Wars: The Old Republic" and then just play around. My two 580's just manage high quality, enabled.. duh..., ambient occlusion, 8xSQ (4xSUPERSAMPLING + 2xMultisampling) ... enormous performance hit but you wont see a pixel..eh.. you know what i mean... after enabling supersampling! (not supported on newer nvidia drivers WITHOUT this tool because it's such a large hit and they need the juice for 3d vision and dx11 ... so then we have worse aa than before...8xQ NOW is actually just 8xmultisampling ... wiki antialiasing and read up on it..

 

at last i force vsync or else the game tries to vsync for 110fps for some reason? ... maby this 3d vision stuff again ... (my experience just enabling vsync ingame with no tweaks i got steady 110fps...)

 

oh and at LAST i enable 16x anisotropic filtering and "enhance" the Antialiasing... my two 580's in sli runs around 80-90% per card with these settings, with a "moderate" OC (875mhz core, 2100mhz ram) but my game looks like the cutscenes... oh i forgot just put some supersampling on TRAA ... transparency antialiasing... i use 2x ... more than enough when running supersampling on the rest

 

hope this rubbish written early morning post shed some light on things...

 

----------------------

 

Just read up some and tried it out:

1. Add THESE LINES to client_settings.ini

AntiAliasingLevel = 16

enableadvenvirolighting = true

DebugAdvEnviroLighting = true

(aa lvl lower ...from 2 ... according to your specs... and again this is NVIDIA TWEAKS)

2. Use Nvidia Inspector (http://downloads.guru3d.com/NVIDIA-Inspector-1.94-download-2612.html)

"tool picture button".

- set "Antialiasing compatibility" (not the dx10 one) but the one under to STALKER CALL OF PIRYPRIAT ++++ (you WILL understand... just press the drop down box next to antialiasing compatibility.) .. or just TYPPE IN "0x0000F0C1"

- set "antialiasing mode" to "enhance....."

- set "antialiasing setting" to ".... I use (8xS" ... but go lower if you dont have 570-580 sli ....

- I put "Transparency antialiasing" to "2x supersampling" .. not THAT big hit .. but looks reeeeally nice through fencess and transparent textures.

- Now i set the Antialiasing filtering mode to "user-defined"/off and the anisotropic setting right under to 16x

- i turn off all optimizations, AND USE clamp on negative LOD.

- finally i put Ambient Occlusion settings to "high quality" and Ambient occlusion usage to "enabled" right under the settings.

 

This gives VERY GOOD QUALITY but at the cost of lots of gpu power but allmost none cpu.

 

Finally. In the game gfx settings there is a BUG. the texture detail level is bugged and you can not go higher then medium. try low-medium, screen goes black for a sec, try medium to high... nothing... go back.... nothing... ... it IS a known bug, i just read about it in a new post .... and the texture looks went up i can promise u.. if you dont believe me try it , or else... to bad ... sorry i'm tired of this writing i just wanted to clarify these findings to someone.... maby someone will get a wow like me!... eh not wow... more like YEAH!

 

merry christmas

Edited December 21, 2011 by Guttsy