122 replies to this topic

[TheUraharaShop]

With the official release of RO2 LOTS next week, I wanted to get a chance to release my findings for Anti Aliasing Injections which should sharpen the Graphics of the game dramatically.

For the most part the Game looks beautiful... until you really begin to look at it... and realize its not polished as you would see other leading AAA MMO's. Using an injection is the perfect way to sharpen the look of the game. These are only a list of some of the most recommended Injections that you could use. All of these would need extensive testing by the community and feed back on which would work best, which will be starting next week.

So for the community, what is the honest feed back on the game performance in terms of the visual presentation and where can it be improved? Will you try out the mods on RO2? Is it even worth the hassle? Any feed back is good feed back.

In the Next few weeks I should have some head way on creating better textures in the PPD files, lighting and physics in the Nvidia or use of a 3rd party engine similar to the Anti Aliasing Injections.


When should anti-aliasing injection mods be used?

Anti-aliasing injection mods (also known as AA Injectors) can be useful in the following scenarios

· Games that do not support multisampling/transparency anti-aliasing (such as games that use deferred shading)

· Games that offer unsatisfactory or non-configurable built-in anti-aliasing

· Situations where multisampling or supersampling causes too much of a performance hit

· Combining with other anti-aliasing methods to achieve better results or performance

· Adjusting and improving a game's visual factors such as colors, sharpness and lighting, using post processing filters (Ex: Sharpening and desaturating a blurry, colorful game)

Tech Quickie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqi0114mwtY&feature=share&list=UU0vBXGSyV14uvJ4hECDOl0Q


Before Continuing please run Windows Updates and your respective Driver Updates for your Integrated GPU from AMD Radeon or Nvidia.

Click Below for Nvidia


Click Below for Radeon



If you are unsure of which you have or you do not have a discreet GPU please visit your Laptop Manufactures Driver Support Page.

Please make sure all of your GPU's Drivers are CORRECT and up to date before Continuing.


-Edited steps on how to run the mods soon to Come-

Edited by TheUraharaShop, 22 May 2013 - 06:40 PM.

[Vashh]

I Never heard about this programs. When i need to improve the quality of some games who doesn't even use at least DX 11 i just "play" with the nvidia panel ( i'm using a Geforce 560 Ti - Overglocked by default).

I'll upload some screenshots of my RO2 using Multisampling x8 , CSSA x32,AA x16 ,etc.

[TheUraharaShop]

I'm going to be coughing up some dough to get an Nvidia card to do more testing. I tried using my Catalysis Engine from Radeon... and it didn't do jack.

However they just said that in order to do mods, they want for us to contact them...

So Heim, permission to start a community mod please?

[ODKN]

Runnnig things like that will probably make Hackshield go nuts, also, it's not true AA. ATI Catalyst AA doesn't work because it *Requires* the game to have an AA engine first.

[NeoSakura]

There's still RadeonPro for those with AMD cards. What's great about it is the option to integrate SweetFX without having it in any game directories (any location works as long as you specify it in the settings). Being an AMD card user myself (Sapphire HD6850 currently, Asus HD7950 in the near future) I had some good fun with this tool so far, so I'll just throw this in as a recommendation.

As with any third-party tools, use it at your own risk. It is possible you'll have to run this as admin (although the tool complains about it), or else the changes wouldn't show up. At least it's been that way for me.

http://www.radeonpro.info/

Edited by NeoSakura, 26 April 2013 - 02:08 PM.

[Viney]

Everything this OP suggests is against the Terms of Service.. I'm sorry to be 'that guy', but you should really stop posting ways to breach the Terms of Service. >.> *SIGH*

[Rozelle]

This is nice but yeah it's technically against the Terms of Service, and HackShield really doesn't take kindly to third party programs. :c

I'm limited anyway in what I can do, because I have a laptop. It's a gaming laptop, but still, lol.

[TheUraharaShop]

Everything this OP suggests is against the Terms of Service.. I'm sorry to be 'that guy', but you should really stop posting ways to breach the Terms of Service. >.> *SIGH*

This does not violate any known Terms of Service for any video game. The Anti Aliasing Injections would be no different than using your own GPU to render using it's on board AA. The difference here that instead of the GPU having to render it, it uses CPU resources to do the calculations instead.

What kind of GPU do you have? Because this feature of Catalyst from AMD and Nvidia Phyx do exactly the same thing...

Spoiler

Quite frankly even more if the game had better AMD support I could tell Catalyst to render all the graphics rather than use the in game control panel. And god forbid you're using the on board Intel HD 2000/3000/4000, because it does exactly the same thing. It doesn't violate any Terms of Service from any developer or publisher.

Next you'll be telling me the updates and over clocking for AMD cards to better render Nvidia designed games will violate Terms of Service.

In addition (still verifying) all the mods have had no known issues with HackShield, only false positives with anti virus, like any standard game file. And if there are issues, they can be resolved.

@NeoSakura You might as well shell out for a 7970 for 100 bucks more, It's a better buy to future proof your system. The XX50's have a tendency only to be good once you OC them. While the 70's have a longer shelf life since the stock speeds are greater than what the 50 can reach with OC on average...

[Heimdallr]

At some point hackshield will be an issue.  It is better to give this information over and we can be sure it works well, and then try to make it part of the game, rather than a work around that players have to figure out.
I do appreciate the thread, is there any more to it than this, or would this be as package complete as a player could get short of having it part of the game client?

[KhayotiK]

From what I gather it's a dll with a config, just needs to be located in the same directory as the DirectX files for the game, might be easy to package in, but I haven't used it personally so I could be off.

*EDIT* Looks like SweetFX's main page would be located here at guru3d: http://www.guru3d.co...e_download.html where the main developer officially posts his updates, although reading the readme I didn't notice anything about whether it was gpl or not.

Edited by KhayotiK, 26 April 2013 - 05:05 PM.

[NeoSakura]

@TheUraharaShop: Hm yeah... I did consider taking the HD7970 instead. Sometime between now and summer I'm putting together my first gaming rig that's above mid-range for another MMO (while keeping RO2 as a fun alternative / change) and I'm pretty much sure about all the parts. I never did overclocking, and I wasn't planning to start now. Considering the Asus model of the HD7950 is overclocked a little I thought this would be enough, but if you say the HD7970 is better with stock values compared to active overclocking I may reconsider my decision. Thankies! ^-^

Also a big thanks for bringing up this whole subject. Now of course RO2 doesn't blow you away with its visual quality, but it's cute and charming and reminds me of the days when RO was the absolute best game in the world for me (started in very late 2001 and fell in love on the spot). Only I always thought something was missing, and that's AA. I enjoy the art style which reminds one of cell shading a little, and AA makes it so much more charming (not only that, but it's what mostly stands out when not in place).

I'm glad we're able to discuss this matter openly without being thrown into the abyss, and I hope there will be solutions in place acceptable for both ends of the table. If I had a say I'd wish for actual in-game AA and such, and sometimes I wonder what game companies are thinking when leaving out aspects I'd expect from any and every game by now, but that's not likely to happen so I hope alternatives will be allowed / supported.

[TheUraharaShop]

...we can be sure it works well, and then try to make it part of the game, rather than a work around that players have to figure out.
... is there any more to it than this, or would this be as package complete as a player could get short of having it part of the game client?

Sorry for the delay,

I feel a bit confused about the question of packaging

The AA Injection can be and should be apart of the game rather than a work around. This can be packaged with the game download after testing to clear up the stair casing. Or could be offered as a separate download as a choice for the user to enhance the immersiveness of game play depending on the system resources they have to allocate.

[AmiiMii]

Opinion:
Not to be negative, i love graphics enhancements as much as anyone, but theirs risks with such programs to come as well, (For example the custom DLL files that come with it could be modified by people, this is what could cause problems, (E.G Injection programs can work as negatives and positives, but when people figure out how to reprogram it for malicious purposes, that's where things will seem to cause problems i actually read at a website that is why these programs/Injection files could cause potential malicious execution, and if it comes to it, people can lurch at whatever thing/code is used to bypass the anti-hack system)

Thoughts:
Alot of hackers will Attempt to use Custom DLL Files to their advantage, and usually those custom ones are what they aim at to make a normal DLL file seem safe, but can actually be harmful.

Injections actually started on the main bit of malicious code in the first place, that's why they have anti-virus alerts, and this is what i'm worried about, if people got hold of content that could be literally used to cause malicious intent, malicious code could be used by malicious people.

So the Safety of these files are a major concern.

The Safety of people, and community/consumers alike have to be thought upon,

So the main points that I've summed up:
Files that could potentially be modified For Malicious Intent.
Safety Of the Consumers who play the product (When they download it, will they modify their file codes then give other people their files?)

Perspective:
Look, from my view i don't think graphical enhancements are a bad idea, just the risks that come with these potential programs or custom modifications, from a legal standpoint for a official game company, you have to think of these risks that could be imposed, because one potential risk to security could end up with multiple problems.
Potential Legal Tendencies:
Graphical Modifications could end up being swapped (if the File that allows graphical enhancements to be used) gets swapped for some other file that could cause potential harm or illegal damage/data

Edited by AmiiMii, 30 April 2013 - 09:22 AM.

[TheUraharaShop]

Injections actually started on the main bit of malicious code in the first place, that's why they have anti-virus alerts, and this is what i'm worried about, if people got ahold of content that could be literally used to cause malicious intent, malicious code could be used by malicious people.

Paranoia usally starts to look more reasonable when you have twevel stitches in your side.


You bring up a good point, but even with other applications used by RO players including a mirror site to download RO1 and RO2 respectively, majority of them you can download from a verified source. There should be action taken to reduce the likely hood of this happening, but it has nothing to do with never launching AA Injections, but telling users not to download source material or updates from unknown sources. And all of the AA Injections are used by, supported by many of the video games enthusiast community.

It's no ones fault that a person in question downloaded the AA injections from passingoutcomputeraids.com.

As for the hackers modding any DLL so it can pose as a way to by pass security... it's harder than you think to do this with an DLL that isn't created with that purpose in mind. It's easier for them to write their own application than it is to mod existing DLL files which often is spotted by Hackshield.


edit:
So moving forward if this is something the community wants, then there should be a safe source for people to get the download from.

As for the modding, if the DLL is created to better comminute processes between your CPU and GPU at most it could be designed to do with out throwing up any red flags is to create a situation to put undue stress on those components, ie Bench Marking like it was Prime 95.

So risk is low, concern should still be there so we're not gullible to believe that any attack isn't possible, because it still is.

Edited by TheUraharaShop, 30 April 2013 - 09:52 AM.

[Eves]

i actually like to see how the ro2 graphics would improve, if anyone has pics.

[TheUraharaShop]

Tomorrow will be the day we can start to see some progression.

[AmiiMii]

If RO2 Was Graphical Injected, i can imagine this would probably how it would look (and yes i photoshopped a screenshot, to have a likeness of Graphical modification), though meh (Without the pixely-edges)

Edited by AmiiMii, 30 April 2013 - 10:47 AM.

[Oda]

Tested and verified using SweetFX and the SweetFX configurator tool. The SweetFX files have to be copied to the RO2 root folder and the SHIPPING folder, when used with the configurator tool I see definite results. You can't download from the links in the OP, go here:

http://www.guru3d.co...e_download.html

The configurator can be found here: http://sweetfx.thelazy.net/


shrunken down for the forums, but this is with split screen on. Far fewer jaggies on the right with FX on.

[Jells]

I tried an injector and it was detected as hack...
Is there a way to get rid of that?

Edited by Jells, 04 May 2013 - 04:13 PM.

[MasterKnshn]

It would be nice if I could enable Shadows and Sunnlight and other effects without seeing through half the world as a blue blob...

[SwiftEdge]

This just instantly makes my game exit.

[AmiiMii]

Not sure but some people are just having the problem with the client closing or hackshield erroring. go figure.

i actually tried to use it, my client didn't take fondly to it

[Cleffy]

I have always found injectors to be pretty worthless. When the base is not designed for the graphical settings, it has the possibility to make things look bad. I also avoid Anti-Aliasing in any form because I like looking at sharp images. Considering most of the game is wrapped up in .vdk's modifying the elements to work with graphical updates probably will be limited.

[KhayotiK]

can validate that it's throwing up a hackshield error. (0x10000037)

[Reaa]

can validate that it's throwing up a hackshield error. (0x10000037)

Same here. I get kicked off after about 5 minutes of launching into the game.
I got it to work and it looks a lot better with the SweetFX modifications that Oda has provided.

Here's a comparison (warning: large image size):
Without SweetFX
With SweetFX