Nvidia and AMD Anti-Aliasing, HBAO+ (NV only), and SweetFX Guide
SGSSAA/MSAA Guide
Before going any further, please note that you need a mid to high-end Nvidia GPU to use SGSSAA. It isn't all bad for AMD users however, you can still use SweetFX which is detailed below. If you play at 720p-ish resolutions (most likely laptop users), you will need roughly a GTX 650m (slightly weaker than a gtx 550 ti). If you play at 1080p, you will need around a 660 ti in performance.
Compatibility bit: 0x004010C5
AA fix should be turned ON.
Native screenshots (No AA what-so-ever)
4xMSAA + 4xSGSSAA - LOD Bias -1.000
For good performance AA, I recommend skipping to the SweetFX section and using SMAA.
This is how Nvidia Inspector should look when setting it up. (Only pay attention to the anti-aliasing and LOD parts for SGSSAA)
HBAO+ Setup
Navigate to the PSO2 profile in Nvidia Inspector and place 0x00000034 in the "Ambient Occlusion compatibility" field. Go down to the sub-heading called "Common" and change "Ambient Occlusion setting" to your desired quality level and change "Ambient Occlusion usage" to enabled.
Without HBAO+:
With HBAO+:
(pre-baked ambient occlusion makes this one not as noticeable, but there is still a difference for the better)
(I spent 30 minutes trying to get this version of caves again for a screenshot. It wasn't happening, so this is just with HBAO+)
SweetFX and/or SMAA for both Nvidia and AMD
Things you will need:
PSO2 (obviously)
RadeonPro, even if you have an Nvidia card!
SweetFX 1.4 (Since SweetFX 1.5 is out, it is difficult to find a download for 1.4, so I uploaded my original download of SweetFX 1.4 to dropbox, which is where that link will take you. It is provided in the exact same format as I downloaded it and none of the files have been changed)
1.) Let's start with installing RadeonPro. It is a typical install, so I won't walk you through it.
2.) Download and Extract SweetFX 1.4 to a location you will remember. I recommend creating a separate folder for SweetFX. You will need to tell RadeonPro where you have the files located.
3.) Open up RadeonPro. For Nvidia users, a pop-up will show letting you know you don't have AMD drivers (SHOCKER!) Ignore it, it doesn't matter for what we are going to use RadeonPro for.
4.) Now we are going to create the PSO2 profile and configure the launch settings.
a.) Click the file with the green "+" sign on it. then navigate to where you have PSO2 installed and select pso2. Note that it is not pso2launcher, just plain pso2.
The default location is C:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\PHANTASYSTARONLINE2\pso2_bin
b.)Now select your added profile and navigate to the "Launcher" tab in RadeonPro. Select Custom from the drop down menu. In the Launcher details section, browse for the launcher that you use. If you use the regular launcher for PSO2, it will be pso2launcher in the same directory as the normal .exe. You can select PSO2 Tweaker as your game launcher as well.
5.) Now we are going to setup SweetFX in RadeonPro. In RadeonPro, go to settings and select "SweetFX settings" from the left side menu. Enable SweetFX integration and click "Change..." to navigate to where you extracted SweetFX. You can also change your SweetFX toggle key, which I recommend doing if you play with a mouse and keyboard since the default (scroll lock) will toggle direct chat as well. I play with a gamepad, so I left mine on Scroll Lock.
Don't forget to click Save!
6.) Now we can configure SweetFX! Navigate to the SweetFX tab, click "Enable SweetFX" and you can try out some effects if you'd like.
I do want to warn some people about LumaSharpen. It is a filter that goes over the game. Many people make the mistake of thinking it will magically sharpen everything, when in reality it makes things appear sharper. The reason this difference matters is that when people turn up sharpening too high, you can actually see the sharpening pattern. LumaSharpen is a nice filter only when used at low values.
I will post some screenshots of my game followed by my SweetFX settings below.
When you are done and ready to play the game, you must launch the game within RadeonPro if you want these settings to work. Right click on the PSO2 profile and select play.
OPTIONAL 7.) If you want to use SMAA, navigate to the "Visual" tab in RadeonPro. There is a checkbox on the page for SMAA. Under "Quality", select the quality you want to use, or choose custom. Nvidia users must select custom. If you don't want to customize the values yourself, you can select the quality you want and then select custom. The values from the preset you picked will remain the same. For maximum quality, use these values
Important information: There are key toggles for multiple things in RadeonPro. If you use SMAA, you will probably want to change it from the default key of "-" on the numpad. That key has a binding in PSO2 already. Go into settings -> Advanced to change the keybinds for SMAA, FXAA, and the OSD (on screen display which shows your framerate).
It should also be mentioned that taking a screenshot using PSO2's built in screenshot system will not show SweetFX or SMAA. You must take the screenshot using RadeonPro. You can configure the screenshot settings in the settings menu of RadeonPro.
My SweetFX Screenshots and Settings
With SMAA, Without SweetFX
With SMAA + SweetFX
With SweetFX, No SMAA
I will list the effects I am using, followed by a image of the values I am using. Any effects I don't mention aren't being used. If you want to use my settings, below is a link to download my settings.
SweetFX settings
Bloom:
HDR:
LumaSharpen:
Vibrance:
Hope this helps a lot of people trying to improve their game! :D
FAQ
Q. "Can I run this?"
A. Any machine that plays PSO2 at an acceptable framerate can use SweetFX. The performance hit is generally very small. In order to use SGSSAA, you need an Nvidia card and it needs to be very powerful.
Q. "How can I make my game look like Sizustar's? (aka: using SSAO)"
A. You have to downgrade your driver to the version before HBAO+ was introduced. If you play games other than PSO2, I highly recommend you use the latest drivers instead. If you really want your game to look like Sizustar's, download a driver before version 331.40. Make sure your graphics card is compatible with the drivers!
UPDATE: I found an HBAO+ flag which is added to the guide. It isn't as strong as SSAO, but it is still very visible. It looks very nice!
Q. "SweetFX isn't working. How do I fix it?"
A. This is a tricky one, but here we go:
First, make sure you went through all the steps correctly. Please do so before asking for help.
- If your game is crashing right at startup, try closing overlay software such as FRAPS, MSI Afterburner, etc.
- If you are getting permission errors, make sure you are running RadeonPro as administrator (for the sake of making it easy, do so for both 32bit and 64bit executables), PSO2.exe, and your launcher of choice. If that doesn't solve the permission problems, I'm honestly not sure what else you can try.
- If the game is running fine, but RadeonPro isn't hooking (meaning it isn't doing anything), open up the settings in RadeonPro and check the box for "Disable advanced D3D9 hooking". (This is what fixed it for me). You can also try getting RadeonPro to hook to the Character Creator for PSO2. If you can get that to work, you will know the issue is with GameGuard.
If the above doesn't work or your issue isn't listed, feel free to ask for help.
