GSdx: native resolution

[antipunt]

hey guys, just a quick question. Next to the d3d internal res option in GsDx graphic configuration, there is a 'native' checkbox option.

I'm trying to confirm what that does, because in my IMAGINATION, when I check that box, my game starts looking like crap. It's because I was following someone else's config and I suddenly wondered why things looked crappier. But unchecked, it feels more 'sharp'. Though I'm confused why, because my resolution is set at 1680x1050 always, but my D3D internal res is set at 1024-1024 (i assume that's default).

just wondering if someone could clarify this for me; oh yea, the FPS also decreases after having it unchecked, so i'm pretty sure it's not just my imagination after all

PS: while I'm at it, does anyone know if NLOOP hack should be checked or not? As long as I can remember, I've had it on, but the person who I was imitating had it clicked off.

thx in advance

[Bositman]

Your monitor resolution has no impact on what resolution PCSX2 will render the gfx,unlike PC games.So even if you have a monitor resolution of 3000x2800,it will make no difference in PCSX2.
Native,custom resolution and Nloop hack are ALL described in the guide,gfx plugin section,which you should have read already:
http://forums.pcsx2.net/thread-2298.html#Gfx

[Jlagreen]

I understand how the internal D3D resolution works but what I wonder about is what are reasonable values for it? Because it is not a selection box I can put any values there even stupid ones like 1024/0.

Anyway what I am unsure of is if I should put rather my monitors screen resolution there (like 1920x1200 for my 24" TFT) or a multiple value of the native resolution?
Actually what is native resolution? Is it the value you can see at the top left like 512x448? Or is any PS2 Game rendered in 512x512?
Performance is not an issue for me as I run PCSX2 on a C2D 4.4Ghz with 260GTX+. For example I use 1920x1200 internal D3D in FFXII and it usally get 100+ FPS (of course I play with Limit). So now I want to increase graphics quality a little more but I don't have a clue to what I should increase...

In the guide the option is explained but I miss an explanation about reasonable values for best results. Not only peformance but also quality of display. So I don't want to have fat heads or anything like that...

[Bositman]

Any resolution will do,since the data is converted to the resolution you set in the box then stretched down (or up) depending on your monitor's resolution.So you can simply keep increasing it until your gfx card craps out (you'll see about 90% usage in the gsdx window)
Yes native resolution of each game is the one reported in GSdx status bar

[Jlagreen]

ah now I get it, so it is rendered and then stretched. Fine then I will test a little.

Thank You

[VeaaC]

Quality wise it is nice to use 4x your normal resolution e.g. 3360x2100 instead of 1680x1050. This gives you kind of 4x Anti Aliasing.

A multiple of the native resolution is often not necessary. All games I tested either worked with arbitrary resolutions or native resolution only. So use a multiple of your screen's resolution, that avoids ugly up/down scaling.

[Jlagreen]

wow 4x? Well I guess this should break performance for me with 7680x4800. But I am going to test that now as really my hope was to get an AA effect out of it.

EDIT:
Alright I found a limit as 4096x4096 is the limit if you put a higher value the plugin causes PCSX2 to crash. Well I thought some thing like that might happen .

But 4096x4096 is too much anyway as I get only 35-50FPS in FFXII right now, with overclocking my GFX to 700/1450/1250 I can squeeze out 40-60FPS but for me that is unplayable. But the graphic quality is insane all edges gone . Anyway will test with 3840x2400 for 2xAA .

[VeaaC]

7680x4800 is 16 times the original resolution, 4 times the width and 4 times the height -> 16 times as many pixels.
So 3840x2400 is 4xAA for you and beautiful enough ( though 2D games like Odin sphere sadly look the same as on the PS2, hoping for some hd4x upscaling renderer )

About the crashing at resolutions higher than 4096x4096: Most graphics card can only handle up to 2048x2048 or 4096x4096 as texture sizes. GSDX seems not to check for this and thus crashes.

[Jlagreen]

I see so I overlooked the square.

Anyway 3840x2400 is too much but strangely in the inventory menu. So I now changed to 2720x1700 which is rougly 2xAA for me and it works fine. In most places I get still 90-100 FPS and at least 67 in inventory. Also the graphics quality has improved visibly as no edges are hardly seen.

Thank you for explaining

[antipunt]

thx for the tip, yes, I found all the info I needed in that link *slaps forehead

but hey this is interesting (the OTHER conversation that started here). I learned a lot about what values you should actually put in the D3d Option. this is very cool, I never actually knew about this. That means the graphics can potentially look very nice; think I'm going to crap out my video card for a while xP

Edit: Holy crap, look at that FPS PLUMMET! (but it looks hella nice)