rFactor screenshots look terrible!

[Rich Lee]

Why is it that my rFactor screenshots look horrible? I have my graphics settings all the way up, and the images during the replay look fine, but when I look at the GRAB_???.JPG they look awful . All grainy & jagged . Am I doing it wrong or is this just rFactor?

[davidan]

Can you post a sample?

[Rich Lee]

I'm not sure. Let's give it a try.

[TimCollier]

Rich,

First of all, what resolution are you using, and are you using any anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering to improve the image quality?

Let me back up...what video card are you using, and which DX mode do you have chosen in the rFactor Config?

For the best quality images, there is one thing you need to change in your .PLR file. Look under the section titled [Graphic Options] and the last line is shown as:

Screenshot File Type="3" // 0=default (jpg), 1=bmp, 2=jpg, 3=png, 4=dds

Make sure you're using type "3" for the best shots without having the huge .bmp files. That's what I do.

But, my settings are at Full in rFactor, at 1680x1050 resolution and DirectX 9 mode. In my video card's settings I have AA set at 6X and AF set at 8X.

[Rich Lee]

Tim,

Thanks a lot! I didn't know about rFactor Config . Anyway, I'm now set to DX9, 2xAA, 2xAF (nVidia 6800 XT, 256MB, AGP), Screenshot File Type set to 3, 1280x1024, and the screenies look much better!

[TimCollier]

Glad to hear it helped Rich....another thing to consider, when you take screenshots and crop or resize them, what paint program do you use?

I primarily use Paint Shop Pro for most work I do...and when I resize images in PSP, I'm sure to have the setting for Resample on "Smart Size" to get better results.

Also, keep your final images in PNG format, as it's better than JPG which has a tendency to drop some colors after compressing.

[davidan]

So Tim, do you definitely recommend PNG file format over JPG? I have mine set at JPG, but sounds like I should change it.

[TimCollier]

Absolutely David!