LOD, alpha texture issues

Belgium · 12-25-2011, 10:17 AM

Is anyone else getting bad LOD (level of detail) in regards to trees/grass becomeing very pixelated and blurry? I had a retail version of Psychonauts and from memory (a few years ago and on a different computer) it didn't have this issue. Also turning off anti-aliasing seems to reduce performance and cause the LOD to switch to lower detail at even shorter distances.

DFNathan · 01-03-2012, 12:14 AM

Belgium, those are all very strange symptoms. There is one known graphical corruption bug on certain systems, but it's pretty severe - entire textures and meshes go missing.

Can you post a screenshot of what you're seeing? Will see if we can help.

closer1000 · 01-03-2012, 09:59 AM

While I didn't start the topic, I am having what sounds to be a similar problem. In the picture below, you can see the grass in the distance is blurry/fuzzy. I'm currently having this problem on Windows 7 64-bit with an ATI Radeon HD 5570. I played the game years ago with an Nvidia card and didn't have this problem. I've played around with all sorts of video card settings and I can't seem to fix this.

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1103/93435352.png

DFNathan · 01-03-2012, 11:02 AM

My guess is that you are forcing MSAA/FSAA in your gfx card settings. Can you check that out? The pattern looks quite a bit like an MSAA filter pattern.

closer1000 · 01-03-2012, 12:30 PM

Just went and played around with the video settings. Tried a bunch of different things and got the same result. Here's another image:

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/859/58888718.png

You can see the grass in the distance, but also Dogen. I originally thought it was only things like grass, but apparently it's the characters, too.

I thought I'd see if I'd have this problem on my 2011 iMac. It also has an ATI Radeon (Radeon HD 6770M) and it turns out that I do in fact have the same issue there:

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/4...20103at322.png

Belgium · 01-03-2012, 05:24 PM

Hi Nathan, thanks for the reply.

I'm having the same issues as closer1000, the same kind of blurring/pixelation is happening on my system: http://i.imgur.com/zhTEm.jpg. Also the leaves in the tree above right of the red car in the background have the same problems.

My system specs are:
Intel i7 2630QM
Nvidia GTX 460M (285.62 driver, all settings default - besides turning on triple buffering)
8GB RAM
Windows 7 64-bit

Also here is a comparison of performance between turning the in-game FSAA settings On and Off. The game usually runs at 60fps, but there are areas where there is sustained slowdown. Turning off vsync somewhat evens out the differences between AA off and on, but performance is still around the 45fps mark in these areas.

Back to the blurring of certain objects, the same pixelation happens to Raz when the invisibility power is used. I still have the retail PC version of Psychonauts lying around somewhere, so I'll see if I can do a comparison with that. Although installing two copies of the same program might not be such a good idea

closer1000 · 01-03-2012, 05:51 PM

Wow, I would have bet everything that it was an ATI driver problem, but clearly it's happening on Nvidia, too. I can't be 100% sure, but I thought I played Psychonauts about a year ago with the same configuration and I didn't have this issue. Could one of the more recent updates be the cause? I'm stumped.

-Alligator- · 01-04-2012, 06:13 AM

I have the same problem, my graphics card is Nvidia 8800 GTS and i'm on win XP SP3 32bit.

Edit: I tested this thing a bit more, and now I'm pretty sure this is not a bug, but a feature to optimize the game. You can see, that some objects have the property that when you get to a certain distance from them, they become blurry and when you get a bit further, they disappear completely. I doubt that this is a bug, however, it would be great if DF could make this distance a bit longer, I think the game would look much better.

closer1000 · 01-05-2012, 02:07 PM

If it's intentional, it's something that was added in one of the more recent patches because it definitely wasn't like that originally. I find it distracting to the point that I can't really play the game.

DFNathan · 01-05-2012, 11:55 PM

FYI that we think it is a bug, more specifically one that appeared when we changed some shader plumbing during the big steam update earlier this year. We are currently discussing possible fixes and will post more info in the next week or two.

-Alligator- · 01-06-2012, 03:52 AM

Thanks for clearing that up, I hope you fix it then.

-Alligator- · 01-20-2012, 03:10 AM

So, any news when this issue might be fixed?

DFNathan · 01-20-2012, 07:51 AM

No updates, sorry. You can try disabling vsync as it may make the issue less common. I'm hopeful that we can dig into this issue again not next week but the week after. Sorry for the delay, but we have a ton on our plates :P

closer1000 · 04-09-2012, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFNathan

No updates, sorry. You can try disabling vsync as it may make the issue less common. I'm hopeful that we can dig into this issue again not next week but the week after. Sorry for the delay, but we have a ton on our plates :P

any updates on this?

calcface · 03-23-2012, 10:49 AM

I'm having the same problems, the pixelation affects most objects that LOD at a distance, not only grass or trees, but also the floating rings and platforms in milla's party or the stuff on the lakebed:
http://i.imgur.com/BkOJq.jpg

It also seems to affect Raz's powers, when he turns invisible, his shield and even his punches:
http://i.imgur.com/xVT0c.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/dxLR8.jpg

P.S. Disabling vsync didn't seem to help.
Thanks for an awesome game, by the way.

12-25-2011, 10:17 AM	#1
Belgium Join Date: Dec 2011 Reputation: 5 Posts: 42	LOD, alpha texture issues Is anyone else getting bad LOD (level of detail) in regards to trees/grass becomeing very pixelated and blurry? I had a retail version of Psychonauts and from memory (a few years ago and on a different computer) it didn't have this issue. Also turning off anti-aliasing seems to reduce performance and cause the LOD to switch to lower detail at even shorter distances.

01-04-2012, 06:13 AM	#8
-Alligator- Join Date: Dec 2008 Reputation: 0 Posts: 50	I have the same problem, my graphics card is Nvidia 8800 GTS and i'm on win XP SP3 32bit. Edit: I tested this thing a bit more, and now I'm pretty sure this is not a bug, but a feature to optimize the game. You can see, that some objects have the property that when you get to a certain distance from them, they become blurry and when you get a bit further, they disappear completely. I doubt that this is a bug, however, it would be great if DF could make this distance a bit longer, I think the game would look much better. Last edited by -Alligator-: 01-05-2012 at 02:38 AM.

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01-03-2012, 12:14 AM	#2
DFNathan Double Fine Productions Join Date: Dec 2011 Reputation: 169 Posts: 830	Belgium, those are all very strange symptoms. There is one known graphical corruption bug on certain systems, but it's pretty severe - entire textures and meshes go missing. Can you post a screenshot of what you're seeing? Will see if we can help.

01-03-2012, 09:59 AM	#3
closer1000 Join Date: Dec 2010 Reputation: 0 Posts: 10	While I didn't start the topic, I am having what sounds to be a similar problem. In the picture below, you can see the grass in the distance is blurry/fuzzy. I'm currently having this problem on Windows 7 64-bit with an ATI Radeon HD 5570. I played the game years ago with an Nvidia card and didn't have this problem. I've played around with all sorts of video card settings and I can't seem to fix this. http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1103/93435352.png

01-03-2012, 11:02 AM	#4
DFNathan Double Fine Productions Join Date: Dec 2011 Reputation: 169 Posts: 830	My guess is that you are forcing MSAA/FSAA in your gfx card settings. Can you check that out? The pattern looks quite a bit like an MSAA filter pattern.

01-03-2012, 12:30 PM	#5
closer1000 Join Date: Dec 2010 Reputation: 0 Posts: 10	Just went and played around with the video settings. Tried a bunch of different things and got the same result. Here's another image: http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/859/58888718.png You can see the grass in the distance, but also Dogen. I originally thought it was only things like grass, but apparently it's the characters, too. I thought I'd see if I'd have this problem on my 2011 iMac. It also has an ATI Radeon (Radeon HD 6770M) and it turns out that I do in fact have the same issue there: http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/4...20103at322.png

01-03-2012, 05:24 PM	#6
Belgium Join Date: Dec 2011 Reputation: 5 Posts: 42	Hi Nathan, thanks for the reply. I'm having the same issues as closer1000, the same kind of blurring/pixelation is happening on my system: http://i.imgur.com/zhTEm.jpg. Also the leaves in the tree above right of the red car in the background have the same problems. My system specs are: Intel i7 2630QM Nvidia GTX 460M (285.62 driver, all settings default - besides turning on triple buffering) 8GB RAM Windows 7 64-bit Also here is a comparison of performance between turning the in-game FSAA settings On and Off. The game usually runs at 60fps, but there are areas where there is sustained slowdown. Turning off vsync somewhat evens out the differences between AA off and on, but performance is still around the 45fps mark in these areas. Back to the blurring of certain objects, the same pixelation happens to Raz when the invisibility power is used. I still have the retail PC version of Psychonauts lying around somewhere, so I'll see if I can do a comparison with that. Although installing two copies of the same program might not be such a good idea

01-03-2012, 05:51 PM	#7
closer1000 Join Date: Dec 2010 Reputation: 0 Posts: 10	Wow, I would have bet everything that it was an ATI driver problem, but clearly it's happening on Nvidia, too. I can't be 100% sure, but I thought I played Psychonauts about a year ago with the same configuration and I didn't have this issue. Could one of the more recent updates be the cause? I'm stumped.

01-05-2012, 02:07 PM	#9
closer1000 Join Date: Dec 2010 Reputation: 0 Posts: 10	If it's intentional, it's something that was added in one of the more recent patches because it definitely wasn't like that originally. I find it distracting to the point that I can't really play the game.

01-05-2012, 11:55 PM	#10
DFNathan Double Fine Productions Join Date: Dec 2011 Reputation: 169 Posts: 830	FYI that we think it is a bug, more specifically one that appeared when we changed some shader plumbing during the big steam update earlier this year. We are currently discussing possible fixes and will post more info in the next week or two.

01-06-2012, 03:52 AM	#11
-Alligator- Join Date: Dec 2008 Reputation: 0 Posts: 50	Thanks for clearing that up, I hope you fix it then.

01-20-2012, 03:10 AM	#12
-Alligator- Join Date: Dec 2008 Reputation: 0 Posts: 50	So, any news when this issue might be fixed?

01-20-2012, 07:51 AM	#13
DFNathan Double Fine Productions Join Date: Dec 2011 Reputation: 169 Posts: 830	No updates, sorry. You can try disabling vsync as it may make the issue less common. I'm hopeful that we can dig into this issue again not next week but the week after. Sorry for the delay, but we have a ton on our plates :P

03-23-2012, 10:49 AM	#15
calcface Join Date: Aug 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 3	I'm having the same problems, the pixelation affects most objects that LOD at a distance, not only grass or trees, but also the floating rings and platforms in milla's party or the stuff on the lakebed: http://i.imgur.com/BkOJq.jpg It also seems to affect Raz's powers, when he turns invisible, his shield and even his punches: http://i.imgur.com/xVT0c.jpg http://i.imgur.com/dxLR8.jpg P.S. Disabling vsync didn't seem to help. Thanks for an awesome game, by the way.