Nvidia HBAO & HBAO+ - Do you need it?

Silent_Scone · 11 Apr 2014 at 23:49

Hi guys, it seems to me that some of the recent NV technologies come under fire for being a little on the pointless side. TXAA is very marmite and I can see why some people much prefer MSAA.

Assassins Creed 4 you can see if you look closely where it is adding ambient light to areas that otherwise would remain completely untouched, giving the game a subtle but much more realistic look. Blacklist due to the shadowy nature would have been more appropriate, but we'll start here.

Frankly, there isn't much of a difference in this game. In fact it's arguably pointless. I'm all for additional settings, and in fairness the performance hit is marginal. If anyone else has HBAO screenshots, post them up

SSAO

HBAO+

SSAO

HBAO+

James J · 11 Apr 2014 at 23:57

Better off comparing night time shots as the differences start to become more apparent.

Silent_Scone · 12 Apr 2014 at 00:16

I did think that, but the cycle in that game is long. Others feel free to post up some in the mean time if they want.

Gregster · 12 Apr 2014 at 00:16

I will have a play at 4K and crop part of the image to show how it differs.

PhysicsMan94 · 12 Apr 2014 at 00:20

At 1440p, HBAO+ makes a big difference to IQ in Black Flag for me - it is apparent in the gaps in the wooden slats, around door frame edges and other areas which without it would receive no extra lighting and shadows. I'll post some pics up tomorrow if I go on ACIV

Rofflay · 12 Apr 2014 at 00:30

Show some steps SSAO was always great on them, Hell before it we could not even do them properly. Made a world of difference in wow but i always thought HBAO looked the same.

LtMatt · 12 Apr 2014 at 06:58

Probably not the best example screenshots frosty, can't tell a noticeable difference between them.

eyetrip · 12 Apr 2014 at 07:44

Can't see diff myself.

Am trying to remember what game it was, but there was one game in particular (one of the first I had the choice between SSAO and HBAO) and I opted for SSAO, because HBAO gave this strange halo effect around guns - think it may have been one of the Battlefield games.

Even now with BF4, I don't mind leaving it on SSAO, because I feel HBAO just seems to go overboard with the shadowing effect.

Furyus · 12 Apr 2014 at 08:10

LtMatt said:
Probably not the best example screenshots frosty, can't tell a noticeable difference between them.

Kinda agree

Silent_Scone · 12 Apr 2014 at 08:40

That was kind of my point. Although you can if you look at the wood.

Will do some more this morning at night. (Weird thing to be said)

Final8y · 12 Apr 2014 at 10:13

Nvidia HBAO & HBAO+ - Do you need it?

Having them and not having them is quite noticeable, but the difference between them all including HDAO and SSAO can be extremely subtle to the point that its not worth worrying about and use the one with the least hit.

Personally up until this point i only liked having any of them on in Dirt3 and single player BF3.

LegendaryDread · 12 Apr 2014 at 10:47

I can't tell SSAO is on in the first shot, but no difference? :rolleyes:

Gregster · 12 Apr 2014 at 10:55

Well done LD. That makes it simpler to see the differences and you can

Geeman1979 · 12 Apr 2014 at 11:08

Yeah you clearly can. The darker shaded shot looks a lot better.

bee · 12 Apr 2014 at 11:22

you don't need it but hbao+ is the best implementation of ambient occlusion currently available, pretty sure it works on amd cards too? besides it's actually faster than most in game types, looks better and can be forced through drivers (on nvidia)

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=387114

Gregster · 12 Apr 2014 at 11:30

HBAO+ is nVidia only. In AC4 it can be selected but it doesn't work for AMD owners.

It sure does give a better image and the benefits are clear.

LegendaryDread · 12 Apr 2014 at 12:08

You sure Greg? I was under the impression it wasn't locked.

http://www.techspot.com/review/706-splinter-cell-blacklist-benchmarks/page2.html

Seems like it works in Blacklist? On the next page HBAO is disabled and suddenly the 7970ghz zooms past the stock 680.

Gregster · 12 Apr 2014 at 12:18

I did some looking last night and found these, which I assumed was correct.

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/864976837837594611/

But then further looking now, I found this, so I assume it does work on AMD cards but as it is optimised for nVidia, it works better for their users.

Well at least it works, so that is a good thing.

http://www.techspot.com/review/706-splinter-cell-blacklist-benchmarks/page3.html

Edit: Doh!! You found the same thing

Silent_Scone · 12 Apr 2014 at 12:22

Nice idea with the Gifs LD.

And another full size one.

SSAO

HBAO

murah · 12 Apr 2014 at 23:59

depends on the game more, and lighting of that map your on.