Enhancing Your Gaming Experiences with NHancerhttp://www.nhancer.com/If you\'re experiencing great framerates on the highest detail settings that your games have to offer, good for you! But if you REALLY want to get the most out of your system, then this program will let you squeeze every last drop of detail out of them.
What You Need:* Latest version of NHancer found at
http://www.nhancer.com/* A system capable of handling high performance graphics, or one that struggles a bit but is capable of it nonetheless.
* The very latest graphics drivers for your card (
crucial).
* Hands (minimum of one finger required).
* Cash amount: 0. This software is completely FREE.
What Exactly is NHancer?NHancer can best be described as a graphics profile manager. With this tool you\'re able to create a custom settings profile for any application you choose (games, obviously) and forcibly apply many enhancments and optimisations to them. This works for both D3D and OpenGL games, meaning pretty much any game you can think of.
So How Do I Use It?The application is mindlessly simple to use, yet incredibly powerful. Simply create a new profile for your game if the default isn\'t already on the list.
Then, in the \"Executables\" box below, click Add and browse to the .exe of the game- in this case, Black and White 2. You\'re already halfway there.
Now look to the right of the window. The first tab you\'ll see is Enhancements, allowing you to apply varying levels of Multi/Supersampling, Anisotropic Filtering, and Vertical Sync. To allow the profile to override the game\'s default settings, click the Override checkbox.
Here\'s a useful tip: Choosing \"Combined\" in the Anti-Aliasing box produces a slightly better performance than having a maximum of either Supersampling or Multisampling alone.VSync forces the rendering of frames to match the speed of your monitor\'s refresh rate. The upside to this is that it can help eliminate graphical \'tearing\', but the downside is, the framerate is limited to this number, so if your monitor is running at 60Hz, that will be the limit of your FPS regardless of how much more your system may be capable of.
The Optimisations tab lists options that you can force on the application to try and improve your framerate and overall performance, at the cost of quality. All options in all tabs, when clicked, will show detailed information on their uses and any warnings that come with them.
How Do I Apply These Settings?NHancer writes these profiles directly into the registry, thus the information is saved every time you change a setting. No need to apply, no need to reboot- infact, in many cases, there\'s no need to even exit your game! Changes often take effect immediately, but it is always better to quit your game and re-load it to be sure you\'re experiencing the full benefits of your tweakings.
Does it Really Work?It all sounds good in theory, right? Well then, let\'s put it to the test with some sample screenshots.
The first is taken with maximum game detail settings applied (with high Anti-Aliasing) before any enhancements are applied.
Then I created an NHancer profile and applied the following:
*8xS Anti-Aliasing (1x2 Supersampling and 4x Multisampling Combined)
*Transparency (Supersampling) checked
*16x Anisotropic FilteringThe image below is the same view with this profile active.
The images speak for themselves, no?
Note the beautiful sky, the massively increased LOD distance, the particle effects visible as if they were right up close. As for my framerate, I -can- notice a slight decrease in performance. But the difference is so minute that it can easily be ignored; if I had to guess, I\'d say it still runs steadily in the region of 40-50fps.
FootnoteNHancer is completely free software. Experiment with your game and find the right settings for you. If you experience problems, double check that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card installed, and if all else fails, simply delete the game\'s profile and everything will be back to normal. Above all, enjoy the all new Nhanced experience!
