Basic RadLinker Guide

Originally Posted by iLLestOne

Maybe I'm stupid, but is there anywhere that acually tells you what all the settings in radlinker are? i know there was one for rage3d tweak, but I forgot where that was too....

Also, could someone post a SS of the "advanced options" on default w/ omega 4.12 drivers. I can't remember if I changed anything, but would like to have it how he intened

Originally Posted by ChrisW

I've added an option for you to choose which layout you want in the latest version.

Originally Posted by shadowcatcher

In 2.030, in a separate view, all things are set to default concerning DX and OGL - if i switch to unified, in 3d tab, antialiasing is set to 4x or 2x after default install - it seems to me that radlinker takes default custom settings from some tabs ... Not sure. Geometry instancing works when set from unified view, people are reporting problems when switching it from separate view.

Just did a two day testing on a clean install. I can not get Cats 5.1 to work O.K. here, 4.12 and down are doing no problems. BTW, Chriss, what does Collorfill do?

Originally Posted by HoT-BR

This is the detailed "Options" Tab of Radlinker 2.030.

DIRECTX


Alpha Dither Method : You can select three Dither modes here, which determine the type of dithering method applied when Alpha Blending is being used. Alpha blending is a technique used to create the illusion of transparency such as water or glass, while dithering affects how alpha blended images appear. Experiment to find what looks best to you, as each mode results in different image quality and performance. The default and recommended mode is 'Error Diffusion' dithering. Ordered and Disabled dithering modes are the other available options.
Alternate Pixel Center : This option can be left disable unless you find an application displaying vertical & horizontal lines around textures or display text incorrectly, in which case try enable this to resolve the issue. When not using the affected title be sure to disable this however.

Colorfill : this feature can have the effect of making the display appear more vibrant, this shouldn’t haven’t an effect on performance either. Disable this option if your are happy with the current colour levels in Direct3D applications.

Compressed Textures : It should be enabled for optimal performance by compressing textures to save memory space.

Geometry Instancing : This new feature provides assistance when a game has to render many objects where the geometry is highly similar. Geometry Instancing allows the VPU to create multiple objects from a single geometric model, rather than passing an entire new model for each item on the screen. This increases the rendering speed of images such as leaves, or grass. It should be enabled.

Hierarchical Z : This setting is relate to the Z-Buffer, this technique generally improve performance by making more efficient use of the Z Buffer. If you disable this option it disable this method, and may result in a performance loss. Only disable this option if you are experiencing flickering textures in the distance and/or you want to see if you get better performance with this feature disabled. For most people I recommend leaving them enabled.

Pixel Shader Version : If your ATI graphics card supports an advanced graphical technique called 'Pixel Shading', and most recent Radeons do, then using this setting allows you to select the supported Pixel Shader versions. The available versions are 'Driver Default', 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, and 2.0, however your graphics card may not support all modes. Driver Default is the normal setting, and allows games to determine which version they used based on the game code and the highest mode supported by your graphics card. However if you manually choose a lower mode than your maximum supported version, you can improve performance with a slight drop in image quality. For example, if you have a Radeon 9600 graphics card, it supports Pixel Shaders up to and including Version 2.0. In a game like Far Cry, by forcing a lower Pixel Shader version here (e.g. 1.4), you can gain performance at the cost of some visual quality degradation. Note that forcing a lower pixel shader version can result in graphical anomalies.

Table Fog : Should a particular game require Table Fog support, tick this option to enable it. However you will likely see graphical anomalies with this option enable, so normally it is recommended it be left disable for best performance and image quality.

TCL : This options uses your graphics card hardware to perform Transformation, Clipping and Lighting (TCL) calculations. You should always have this option enable for maximum performance and visual quality.

Vertex Shader Version : This setting is identical to the 'Force Pixel Shader Version' above, except it relates to the Vertex Shader function. Forcing a lower Vertex Shader version will provide a performance boost with a slight image quality drop, though once again can result in graphical anomalies if set too low.

W Buffer : The W Buffer is an alternative to the Z-Buffer method of displaying depth in 3D games. If a game supports the W Buffer, and you are having problems in games with flickering textures and objects showing through others in games enable this option. Otherwise you can leave this disabled.

W Fog : This is another method of rendering fog effects, similar to Table Fog and Z Fog. If enabled it can improve performance and/or visual quality on certain games - if supported by the game. Usually though I recommend leaving this disabled for optimal performance and image quality.

Z Buffer Depth : Ticking this option enables the use of a 32-Bit Z-buffer depth where specifically requested by an application. When Unticked the Z-Buffer depth will be determined as normal, i.e. 24-Bit for 32-Bit colour depth & 16-Bit for 16-Bit colour depth. The use of a 32-Bit Z-Buffer provides greatest Z-Buffer precision for performing depth calculations & will minimize rendering errors as a result - even more so than 24-Bit does. Performance is however be further reduced as compared with a 24-Bit Z-Buffer depth.

Z Fog : Similar to W Fog and Table Fog, this is another rendering method which may help you improve performance in certain games, but more importantly may fix graphical anomalies. Normally it is recommended you leave this option disabled for optimal image quality.


OPENGL


AGP Textures : If enabled, and you are using an AGP graphics card - which is the majority of graphics cards - then this option allows your OpenGL games to use system RAM as an additional place to store texture information (See also AGP Aperture Size in BIOS section for more information). I recommend that you enable this option for optimal performance, as there should be no reason why it should be disabled.
Alpha Dither Method : You can select three Dither modes here, which determine the type of dithering method applied when Alpha Blending is being used. Alpha blending is a technique used to create the illusion of transparency such as water or glass, while dithering affects how alpha blended images appear. Experiment to find what looks best to you, as each mode results in different image quality and performance. The default and recommended mode is 'Error Diffusion' dithering. Ordered and Disabled dithering modes are the other available options.

Fast Z Clear : This option increases performance by clearing the Z-Buffer more quickly. As such it should always be enabled. Only disable this option if you experience Z-Buffer-related problems and want to experiment to see if this is the cause of it. Disabling Fast Z Clear will reduce performance noticeably.

Hierarchical Z : This setting is relate to the Z-Buffer, this technique generally improve performance by making more efficient use of the Z Buffer. If you disable this option it disable this method, and may result in a performance loss. Only disable this option if you are experiencing flickering textures in the distance and/or you want to see if you get better performance with this feature disabled. For most people I recommend leaving them enabled.

Hyper Z : Same as Hierarchical Z. For most people I recommend leaving them enabled.

KTX Buffer Region : Enabling this setting enables support for an OpenGL extension which is primarily used by 3D modeling applications, not games. However leaving this option enabled should see no performance hit, so I recommend you leave it enable just in case the game/application you use requires driver support for this method.

Micro Tile : When enabled, these options use a different form of memory tiling. You will have to experiment to determine whether enabling this setting provides any performance benefits on your system.

Multitexture : When enabled, this option allows multitexturing under OpenGL. This can improve performance, since multiple textures can be applied at once to an object. Enable multitexturing, and if you experience any problems disable it.

TCL : This options uses your graphics card hardware to perform Transformation, Clipping and Lighting (TCL) calculations. You should always have this option enabled for maximum performance and visual quality.

Texture Compression : It should be enabled for optimal performance by compressing textures to save memory space.

Triple Buffering : Triple buffering is very similar to double buffering, except that it adds (surprise!) a third buffer; like v-sync, it’s been around a while. This third buffer acts like a second back buffer (for relevance here, another buffer to store a frame). This yields an important advantage: if the card finishes a frame before the monitor is ready for it, it can go ahead and start working on another frame. The result of this, running with v-sync, is the denial of a FPS divider. With v-sync on it should be enabled.

Video Memory Textures : When enabled, this option attempts to store all texture information in your Video RAM, and not transfer it to your system RAM when necessary. This can speed up graphics performance if you have a large amount of Video RAM (i.e. 128MB or more), however if you experience stuttering or freezes during games with this enabled, it is clear you will need to disable this option for optimal performance.

Z Buffer Depth : This setting allows you to force a specific Z-Buffer depth to be used regardless of the colour depth an application is running at. Selecting App. Pref. Will allow the Z-buffer depth to be determined based on the colour depth being used by the application, i.e. 24-Bit for 32-Bit colour depth & 16-Bit for 16-Bit colour depth. Generally speaking this shouldn’t need to be adjusted, though you might wish to force a particular depth for should you find your application exhibiting strange clipping (or similar) rendering errors, in which case try toggling between Force 24bit & Force 16bit to resolve the issue. Selecting Force 16bit can also provide a slight frame rate improvement, though at the cost of Z-buffer accuracy (Which may introduce some rendering artefacts as a result). Conversely Force 24bit will ensure that the most accurate Z-buffer depth is used regardless, which provides greatest Z-buffer precision for performing depth calculations & should yield minimal rendering errors as a result.

Z Compression : This setting controls the compression of the information held in the Z-Buffer. By enabling higher levels of compression (such as 'High'), you will see a performance improvement, but you may also see graphical anomalies. 'Driver Default' is the normal and recommended option, as it already provides some level of compression without image quality loss.

Credits go to me and the guides above

Most of the information I took from:

Tweak Guides HP
- http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_9.html
TechSpot ATI Radeon 9x00 series tweak guide
- http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/radeon/index.shtml
If someone found any better information then I got or anything wrong please correct me. Thanks.