the big question, to use or not use mipmaps

[airboatr]

since the recent two post on using mipmaps as come up within a day of each other

http://www.cbfsim.org/cbfsim/cbfsBB/vie ... =9&t=15737

http://www.cbfsim.org/cbfsim/cbfsBB/vie ... =9&t=15737


I would like to ask the million dollar question:

what do Mips do?

Do they give the model a more realistic looking appearance.
or rather the paint job on the model....

can using them hurt the frame rates

are there tips to using them that won't hurt the frame rates.
?
And how do they affect the scenery.
I remember Mac doing a thread on that aspect of how they cause blurries.

Joe

Thanks for your input ( and I thank you for keeping any food fights to the minimum... )

[SkippyBing]

As I understand it mip maps are multiple resolution versions of the same texture contained in the same file. FS uses lower resolution versions the further away an object is to speed up rendering.
One problem with mip maps that the first thread addressed was knowing how to set up the DDS exporter to export mip maps that wouldn't cause blurring close up. On the Wyvern we got around that by turning mip maps off which made the textures crisp close up but probably increased the rendering time over what it would have been the further away it got.

[airboatr]

thanks James
so in the end, it's , "what kinda hardware you running"
which I had already thought was the final answer, but there are ways to
get a happy medium, ... which is quite a conundrum becasue there is no set standard on hardware..

[tinkicker]

dont hold me to this but i read somewhere that Nvidia GPUs cant handle mipmaps where ATi can. The problems i get with mips is if you are not looking at them square on they are out of focus. and i use a Nvidia card.

[TSR2]

ATI's have been in the past anyway, better at coping with Mips, but the Nvida cards are definately the card of choice, especially these days.

[airboatr]

have the Nvidia card Ben
so any advice how to process the mips so they are kinder to the frame rates?

[TSR2]

To be honest mate... no. If its a fairly current Nvida card (I've the 8800GTX) I've stripped the mips off all the 32bit textures, as when I'm flying something like the Trident / 1-11 / VC10 etc, its the only aircraft in view and it looks great. The problem comes with AI. You really need the MIPS to keep FPS high, but they look crap on the Nvidia card. So its a bit of a trade off. If your not overly bothered about how good AI look, then strip the mips off the 32bit textures... If you are bothered about how your AI looks.... umm... let me know if you can get it working. Sorry I wasn't more help mate.