Date:
Monday , December 08, 2008
Author:
Brent Justice
Editor:
Kyle Bennett
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FarCry 2 DX9 vs. DX10 Image Quality

The trilogy is complete; our in-depth coverage of FarCry 2 is concluded with this look at DX9 versus DX10 image quality. Is there a noticeable difference between DX9 and DX10 in FarCry 2? We will answer this plus show you some of the cool features like Fire, Blood, and Real Tree quality differences.

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DX9 vs. DX10 – Shadows

We wanted to start off looking at how the shadows compare in FarCry 2 because they were one of the effects that had the most noticeable difference in image quality. In FarCry 2 you can set the shadow quality from the in-game video menu. The highest setting available is “Ultra High” and it is available in both DX9 and DX10. Below that, there is “Very High” and “High.” There is in fact a lower setting going as far as turning them off, but we didn’t see the need to compare these lower levels. Shadow performance is quite good in FarCry 2 and they don’t really cause a burden on graphics even at “Ultra High.” As we mentioned, we did notice image quality differences between DX9 and DX10 even at the same “Ultra” setting.

All images below are being compared at 1680x1050 with the highest in-game settings, the only difference is selecting either DX9 or DX10.

DX9 vs. DX10

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In the first screenshot above we have several trees casting shadows onto the ground and grass and rock face to the left. If you look you will notice in the DX10 screenshot the shadows edges are softened, while the DX9 image has a hard edge to the shadows. This is very noticeable on the rock face and on the ground. It may appear blurry at first, but this is actually a softening of the edge on the shadow.

In the second screenshot we have a similar scenario, only now we are looking more closely at shadows on the grass. One thing we notice right off the bat in our gameplay is that with DX10 enabled there appears to be a reduction in shadow aliasing on grass such as this. It is harder to tell from the screenshot, but in motion we actually noticed less aliasing through the grass in DX10. This is because the edges of the shadows are softened, reducing aliasing.

In the third screenshot once again we have tree shadows on the ground. This time we are looking much closer at it. We specifically wanted to show you this up-close shot because there is a bit of level of detail issue with this game. As you can see, you can clearly see the transition from the higher quality shadow to the lower quality shadow in this scene in the DX10 screenshot. The difference is also there in the DX9 screenshot, but it is harder to see. It is harder to see because the distance shadows do not receive the softening that the DX10 distance shadows receive. Therefore this difference is more noticeable in DX10. This noticeable transition seems to be a game issue, and not a difference between DX9 and DX10.

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In the first screenshot above we have some shadows lying across the water. It is very easy in this screenshot to see the softening of the shadows with DX10.

Now, in the second screenshot above there is an interesting artifact that happens with DX10 shadows. You can first see that on the sand bags the shadows are less aliased in DX10, appearing much better. However, look what is introduced on the cement divider. There appears to be some kind of “shadow banding?” I don’t know what word best describes that. This appeared on both AMD and NVIDIA hardware, so it is not a video card issue. Rather, it seems to have been introduced via enabling DX10. Perhaps it is supposed to happen, maybe to provide better shading, but it comes off as appearing banded.

In the third screenshot above we have more shadows on the water and rocks. You can once again see the softening which makes it look very good on the water.

The last shot here is very interesting. We have shadows far in the distance in this shot. In the DX10 screenshot the shadows are so softened that they are hard to make out any detail in it. Which one looks better is subjective.

Shadow Quality Levels

Now that we’ve looked at the shadow differences between DX9 and DX10 let’s look at what the different quality levels do. Note that we saw the same quality differences between DX9 and DX10 here, so we used DX10 to show these differences.

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In the first screenshot the main thing to notice here is the shadows in the foreground, on the ground. As we increase the shadow quality the level of detail increases further out in the distance.

The second screenshot shows this even better. As you look into the distance the quality just simply gets better with “Ultra High” shadows.