Do PMDG pilots use Nhancer

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

There is lots of talk on the forums, including here at Avsim about nHancer and how it is able to control FSX graphics far better than Nvidia's own drivers for nVidia graphics cards. It supposedly improves performance and graphics quality. I tried it out using that chap Nick's setting guidelines and could honestly not see any difference. I even suspected it masy be worse but I cannot quantify that, just a suspicion.So, do you you guys that fly PMDG aircraft use this program and if so, do you rate it as worthwhile, or am I just clogging up system recources with yet another gimmick? Or perhaps, this program works better with lower spec machines?Will really appreciate input as I have uninstalled this but info on the web is quite compelling at how great this thing is so I am in ntwo inds whether I should try again!?Cheers,

[Tabs 2,790]

Greg,Yes, you have to use it if you want anything other than the default levels of AA and AF that FS lets you use inside the sim. The reason you don't see a difference is probably because you don't have "Allow override of predefined settings" checked in the Options menu. If that's not checked, you won't get any effect from settings made in it. You also need to make sure "Enhance in-game AA setting" is disabled within the FSX profile too. Nick's guide is not very clear on those two settings. Once you have the correct settings, the profile for FSX should show up in Blue and it will say "Shadow Profile" in the description. This means it's overriding Nvidia's preset that stops you from controlling AA normally. If the profile shows up in teal or black, it's not configured correctly.It's important to understand what nHancer is - it's simply a front end for editing a file called nvapps.xml that stores your game profile settings. Normally the driver control panel edits this file. nHancer does absolutely nothing that isn't already there in the driver - it's just a way to change the default profiles that Nvidia sets up for games. A lot of people think it's controlling the card ala apps like Rivatuner, that is not what it does at all. There's no "gimmick" here because all it's doing is giving you full access to what's already there in the Nvidia drivers. Certain AA modes like the famous 8XS that everyone uses in FS aren't available in the Nvidia control panel, you also can't override Nvidia's predefined profiles for games in the control panel either. So, in short, nHancer is necessary to get the most out of an Nvidia card in FS.I was originally the one who figured all this out back in mid 2007 when AA stopped working in FS (that was when Nvidia implemented the predefined profile system) - Nick did not credit me for it in his guide and as a result everyone seems to think he invented this method of getting better image quality in FSX... http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=38921 - here's the proof. (Note that nHancer has changed since this, disregard the actual instructions there, just pointing out that I was doing this before anyone else...)

[Chock 17,769]

Since I use ATI graphics, the answer would have to be, nope.Al

[realpilotsimpilot 11]

Certain AA modes like the famous 8XS that everyone uses in FS aren't available in the Nvidia control panel, you also can't override Nvidia's predefined profiles for games in the control panel either. So, in short, nHancer is necessary to get the most out of an Nvidia card in FS.

Ryan, I guess this is all news to me: can someone give me a 30 second definition, or point me to thread that describes what AA, AF and 8XS are? Apparently I'm the only long time simmer who uses the stock Nvidia settings.

[ukflight 11]

Have a look at Nick Needham's post at http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_post...=29041&PN=1

[Gary A 8]

Greg,I was originally the one who figured all this out back in mid 2007 when AA stopped working in FS (that was when Nvidia implemented the predefined profile system) - Nick did not credit me for it in his guide and as a result everyone seems to think he invented this method of getting better image quality in FSX... http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=38921 - here's the proof. (Note that nHancer has changed since this, disregard the actual instructions there, just pointing out that I was doing this before anyone else...)

I don

[ukflight 11]

The reason you don't see a difference is probably because you don't have "Allow override of predefined settings" checked in the Options menu. If that's not checked, you won't get any effect from settings made in it.

Are you sure that is correct ? That is not how I read the online help in that you only need to use that option if you change something that nVidia has predefined.

Predefined profilesIn some profiles provided by nVidia, if you try to change a setting in the profile, you might get the message that "This option has been predefined by nVidia".That means that nVidia added a mark to that setting, so that the user shouldn't be able to change it. If you're using the standard control panel provided by nVidia, you won't be able to change that setting at all in such a case (it will be greyed out in that profile).In nHancer you can still change such an option. You just have to activate the option Allow override of predefined options in the Options menu.

[Tabs 2,790]

Gary,Phil's post talked about using nHancer to fix distance blurring problems (which is what Negative LoD Clamp does). I do believe Nick took the idea from my post for multiple reasons, several of which go back to private conversations that I had with him - he has a history of doing this and I'm just sick of him being seen as the only person in the community who has any knowledge on hardware or settings for FS.I've used nHancer since it came out because I've been a gamer in the general sense for many many years, not just an FS simmer - I knew about it through nHancer's creator Martin Kornd

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

Thanks for the info Ryan - you may be right, I don't recall changing an Allow Overide of Predefined Settings. Will install and try again...

[AlphaInfinity 13]

Thanks for the info Ryan - you may be right, I don't recall changing an Allow Overide of Predefined Settings. Will install and try again...

In Nick's guide, he has you match the profile settings with Global settings. Do these global settings override custom profile settings and impact other games as well?

[ukflight 11]

No disrespect to anyone on these forums but you may be better asking the question at http://forum.nhancer.com/ - very helpful people there (as there are here of course).

[Gary A 8]

In Nick's guide, he has you match the profile settings with Global settings. Do these global settings override custom profile settings and impact other games as well?

Yes and no. The global setting will apply to any game that does not have a profile defined. So in your nhancer GUI under profiles, if the game is not listed then yes global setting takes over. If the game is in the profile then no Global will not affect that game, the games profile will take over. You would have to click on the game profile in Nhancer and modify it the same way you modified FSX in order for Nhancer to take over.Good advice from William above.

[Tabs 2,790]

The global and profile settings work like this:Global is what's going to get applied for a particular option IF no change is made in a profile for a particular game/app.In general I leave Global set to the defaults (Application Preference on AA and AF etc), because most other games I play besides FS correctly manage those settings from inside the game. If you change things in Global, it's going to be applied automatically to anything you run, regardless of whether you actually want it or not. I do not recommend making the Global setting match the FSX Profile for that reason. It defeats the whole purpose of the individual profile system in the first place. Part of the reason you can run such high AA levels like 8XS or 8XSQ in FSX is because the sim barely uses the card - if you set Global to that and try running a modern GPU limited game like say, Bad Company 2 or Crysis you're going to get a slideshow.

[Guest waka172rg]

Greg,Yes, you have to use it if you want anything other than the default levels of AA and AF that FS lets you use inside the sim. The reason you don't see a difference is probably because you don't have "Allow override of predefined settings" checked in the Options menu. If that's not checked, you won't get any effect from settings made in it. You also need to make sure "Enhance in-game AA setting" is disabled within the FSX profile too. Nick's guide is not very clear on those two settings. Once you have the correct settings, the profile for FSX should show up in Blue and it will say "Shadow Profile" in the description. This means it's overriding Nvidia's preset that stops you from controlling AA normally. If the profile shows up in teal or black, it's not configured correctly.It's important to understand what nHancer is - it's simply a front end for editing a file called nvapps.xml that stores your game profile settings. Normally the driver control panel edits this file. nHancer does absolutely nothing that isn't already there in the driver - it's just a way to change the default profiles that Nvidia sets up for games. A lot of people think it's controlling the card ala apps like Rivatuner, that is not what it does at all. There's no "gimmick" here because all it's doing is giving you full access to what's already there in the Nvidia drivers. Certain AA modes like the famous 8XS that everyone uses in FS aren't available in the Nvidia control panel, you also can't override Nvidia's predefined profiles for games in the control panel either. So, in short, nHancer is necessary to get the most out of an Nvidia card in FS.I was originally the one who figured all this out back in mid 2007 when AA stopped working in FS (that was when Nvidia implemented the predefined profile system) - Nick did not credit me for it in his guide and as a result everyone seems to think he invented this method of getting better image quality in FSX... http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=38921 - here's the proof. (Note that nHancer has changed since this, disregard the actual instructions there, just pointing out that I was doing this before anyone else...)

hello Ryan i am just installing this today and great to see this post i went into fsx and seen no difference so just now i have checked "Allow override of predefined settings" now i need to disable "Enhance in-game AA setting" but don't no how to do this can you help?also my ms flight simulator in the nHancer menu is not blue it orange and doesn't have the "Shadow Profile".RegardsBlake Gilmour

[Tabs 2,790]

Blake,Are you sure you have the latest version of nHancer? (2.5.7)