Joe:

Just caught your reply to mine, a few posts back up the thread.

I think you're right. I've tried both of the most recent NVidia drivers sets (43.45 and 44.03, from memory), and my impression is 2X FSAA is doing nothing much all round. Doesn't matter what I do with RviaTuner, either. I had thought this was game-specific.

So yes, it may be no-gridlines because no AA.

The posts below from the thread at http://oldsite.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=32;t=007530 may be of some help:

I'm bumping this, as it seems people are still missing it.

I have added the info about Radlinker to the top post.

Ok, who gave Joe the opener for this can of worms?? hehe! :p

Excellent FAQ Joe. Your timming for this is great since my PC is being made and soon to be had.. So, if I was to get win 98, 30.xx drivers from http://www.guru3d.com for my ti4600, Run DirectX version 8.1, turn off AA, the sim should work good? Have a 20" monitor and fresnels lens and plan to run 1600 x 1200. Anything else I should know? Getting a seperate HD for F-18 since my main use for it will be the Hornet. Thanks for the detailed F.A.Q.

It should be noted that if you use DirectX 8.1 (or any DirectX less than 9.0b), you have certain security vulnerabilities that need to be corrected with the appropriate MS patch, which is discussed and is available at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-030.asp and which is discussed in more detail and is also available at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=819696 .

Sounds good. It's been a while, but I beleive you can even enable AA with those drivers without any negative effects. It might blur your fonts enough that they will not be legible enough, since they will already be small at 16x12.

For ATI Radeon (9700 Pro and possibly other 9X00) users (Catalyst 4.1 and possibly other versions):

Joe, Giff and others have mentioned all this earlier in the thread. I'm just trying to consolidate the info and links a little.

1) If you are experiencing gridelines, you can use Radlinker to get rid of them; (here is a link to instructions that may help you download and use it).

2) While AntiAliasing does a beautiful job of getting rid of the "jaggies" (and ocean gridlines), its use, IMO, is much less important if you use one of the higher resolutions available with the TSH v1.0 addon (and Radlinker). While a resolution of 1600x1200 is available, I humbly recommend using 1024x768 or 1280x960 as this eliminates much of the "jaggies" while still allowing the HUD to be of a readable size, IF you use the Large HUD Font Fix, (downloadable here )

OK, lots of tweaks and stuff here that is supposed to "FIX" poor graphics. BUT, just changing to Nvidia GeForce4 TI4200 from ATI 9000 Pro fixed EVERYTHING for me. OK again, here is my system:

P4 2.4 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive, Win XP Home, Nvidia GeForce4 TI4200 128 MB. Works perfectly. Substitute ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128 MB, works like crap.

AND my Sony laptop with P4M 2.8 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive, Win XP Home, Nvidia GeForce4 420 Go. Works perfectly.

Tell me what I am missing. ATI is crap.

hawk

Since I wrote this FAQ, I have upgraded from Win98 to WinXP (with a new system), and then I moved from a nVidia Ti 4200 to a Radeon 9800 Pro.

In a few weeks (hopefully by late May) I will go through the FAQ steps with both brands of cards to verify everything myself. Until then, things will have to wait. They tell me I'm graduating in a few weeks (imagine that), so I'm a little busy until school is over.