Finally resolved "shimmering" and bad anti-aliasing on AMD video cards

I have an AMD Radeon 7900 XTX and it's been bugging me since this game was released that I've had grainy and shimmering graphics particularly on characters and around the edges of things. Basically, the anti-aliasing has felt terrible, despite all my graphics settings being maxed out.

I just figured out why. You need to select Upscale Mode and set it to FSR. Then select No Upscale (Native AA).

If you then up the Sharpness to about 75-80 the game will look sharp and nice with smooth edges and without getting that grainy look. Previously, when the upscaler was set to NIS or Off, then I would set Sharpness to like 1-2% or the game would be a grainy mess. Not so with FSR set to No Upscale because now you want to up that Sharpness level.

Maybe this has been obvious to some people but I didn't realize the game wouldn't utilize anti-aliasing properly unless this was done. My game would default to NIS and stuff would shimmer and be grainy.

The only downside I've noticed is that you will lose some FPS. It's not a big drop, but perhaps an 8-10% drop (at least with my CPU: Ryzen 9800X3D). But with 0.4 coming out CPU performance will improve.

Additionally, if you use Image Sharpening in the AMD Adrenaline Software and set it to 50 or 60, things will look even a little bit better.

Suddenly the detail in characters such as their tattoos pop out sharp and nice, and jewelry, equipment and weapons they wear won't have that annoying shimmer and jaggedness anymore. The game really looks so much better.

I'm also using Vulkan as the Renderer in the game. DX12 seems to give pretty much the same performance. At least I can't really notice any difference. I haven't tried this with DX11 though.

Also, don't set Shadow + GI quality on Ultra along with Global Illumination because that performance cost is enormous. It nearly halves my FPS, so don't use it.

Finally, make sure you turn off Dynamic Resolution unless you need it. Otherwise the game will scale down to a lower resolution to keep up the frame rate. Try without it and only turn it on if you really need it.

I don't know if this results in any change, but have you tried running the card without the adrenalin software? On windows setup I usually only install the driver for my card in device manager and run msi afterburner + rivatuner.

The adrenalin software's always caused problems for me.

I run the same gpu+cpu at 4k with no upscaling and 15% sharpness and everything but the shadows maxed out. I haven't had this shimmering problem on neither linux nor windows.

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AlvinL_#4492 wrote:

I don't know if this results in any change, but have you tried running the card without the adrenalin software? On windows setup I usually only install the driver for my card in device manager and run msi afterburner + rivatuner.

The adrenalin software's always caused problems for me.

I run the same gpu+cpu at 4k with no upscaling and 15% sharpness and everything but the shadows maxed out. I haven't had this shimmering problem on neither linux nor windows.

It could be because you play at 4k. It's going to be less noticeable the higher your DPI. I have a 34" ultrawide at 3440x1440 resolution. Also, are you sure your upscale mode isn't set to FSR already?

Anyway, turning off the Adrenaline Software doesn't change anything for me.

Does this also address the obscene blurriness you get during actions while using FSR?

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karsey#2995 wrote:

Does this also address the obscene blurriness you get during actions while using FSR?

It should since no actual upscaling is being done. I haven't noticed any blurriness.

Also make sure you don't use dynamic resolution since that could cause blurriness if your hardware can't keep up the frame rates.

WoW!

That made a huge difference. Didn't really feel it was bad before even, it's just so much better after. Thanks

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Resand#5831 wrote:

WoW!

That made a huge difference. Didn't really feel it was bad before even, it's just so much better after. Thanks

Glad to hear it helped someone else too.

For reference I have a 7800x3d and a 7900xtx, playing at 3440x1440 at native AA, no Adrenaline software running.

I have the exact same issue. This "glittering" or "shimmering", whatever its supposed to be called, is very reactive to areas where lights are reflecting off a surface and the more reflective the surface the harsher it is. You see it a lot on gold and silver metal, liquids like little puddles of water on the ground, blood effects. A lot MTX are riddled with it because they have a lot of the above features.

What is it tied to? If I swap from NIS Upscaler to FSR it removes the effect entirely but at a cost of max fps and the odd "ghosting" or "trailing" you can get with whatever version of FSR this game uses?

My knowledge of how all this works is limited and I'm curious why it shows in the first place? Why does it change when you swap off NIS? Is this tied higher up to what GPU (Nvidia, Amd, Intel) you are using and how it interacts with the game?

The feedback I would give is that it bothers me enough that I prefer to swap off NIS upscaler and use FSR. It would be nice to either see the effect reduced or removed while using NIS (because NIS performance is better) or to have performance improved while using FSR.

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NapalmGrandma#6912 wrote:

I have the exact same issue. This "glittering" or "shimmering", whatever its supposed to be called, is very reactive to areas where lights are reflecting off a surface and the more reflective the surface the harsher it is. You see it a lot on gold and silver metal, liquids like little puddles of water on the ground, blood effects. A lot MTX are riddled with it because they have a lot of the above features.

We have the same video card, monitor resolution and almost CPU. The "shimmering" is due to a lack of anti-aliasing or because you are using upscaling techniques.

Regarding the Upscaler, are you absolutely sure you set it to "No Upscale (Native AA)" after selecting FSR? That makes a huge difference from using upscaling and the "Native AA" means you should have anti-aliasing. Yes, you will lose some FPS (8-10%), which is what usually comes with any graphic setting that improves quality, but that will also be remedied a lot in this patch with the performance optimizations.

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NapalmGrandma#6912 wrote:

What is it tied to? If I swap from NIS Upscaler to FSR it removes the effect entirely but at a cost of max fps and the odd "ghosting" or "trailing" you can get with whatever version of FSR this game uses?

Sounds to me as if you're using Dynamic Resolution which will affect rendering to keep FPS up. I don't have any ghosting or trailing at all. Unless, like I said before, that you are using some form of upscaling.

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NapalmGrandma#6912 wrote:

My knowledge of how all this works is limited and I'm curious why it shows in the first place? Why does it change when you swap off NIS? Is this tied higher up to what GPU (Nvidia, Amd, Intel) you are using and how it interacts with the game?

Well, yes, kind of. It's about different rendering techniques that may or may not also utilize anti-aliasing and different techniques for that too. NIS is supposedly made for Nvidia which may mean it doesn't look as good on AMD.

The whole shimmering issue exists just because no anti-aliasing is being used. Toggling on FSR and then No Upscale ensures that anti-aliasing gets activated in the first place, and doing so without the need for upscaling, since upscaling just doesn't look good with this FSR version at least.

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Mortac#4968 wrote:

Regarding the Upscaler, are you absolutely sure you set it to "No Upscale (Native AA)" after selecting FSR? That makes a huge difference from using upscaling and the "Native AA" means you should have anti-aliasing. Yes, you will lose some FPS (8-10%), which is what usually comes with any graphic setting that improves quality, but that will also be remedied a lot in this patch with the performance optimizations.

Sounds to me as if you're using Dynamic Resolution which will affect rendering to keep FPS up. I don't have any ghosting or trailing at all. Unless, like I said before, that you are using some form of upscaling.

Well, yes, kind of. It's about different rendering techniques that may or may not also utilize anti-aliasing and different techniques for that too. NIS is supposedly made for Nvidia which may mean it doesn't look as good on AMD.

The whole shimmering issue exists just because no anti-aliasing is being used. Toggling on FSR and then No Upscale ensures that anti-aliasing gets activated in the first place, and doing so without the need for upscaling, since upscaling just doesn't look good with this FSR version at least.

Yes I am running it as "No Upscale (Native AA)". Sorry, to be clear, when I use FSR I get the same result as you, that is, no more "shimmering" and it's my preference despite the performance loss. The "ghosting/trailing" I'm referring to can be best noticed when you are cursed and the icon floats above your head.

Thank you for the explanation regarding rendering techniques and anti-aliasing in regards to different hardware. I wonder if there is a noticeable difference using an Nvidia card in regards to this.