Blurry textures?

[Nilrem]

Hello everyone,

I've been observing that with the change to dds format, some textures appear more blurry, it seems that the texture quality degrades with distance, so it goes getting progressively more blurry as you increase the distance from the object you're looking at.

It seems, though, that not everyone's seeing things the same way.
A place had to be chosen to perform a test, and compare views.
I chosed the Arch near the north gates of Hydlaa, it's a easy place to go to, and its effects can be noticed. Looking at the arch close to it, you see the bricks that form it, with defined horizontal, as well as vertical lines.

At some distance, this is what I see:

http://img306.imageshack.us/img306/9641/worse4hv.png

As you can see, the arch details are lost, and the texture quality has degradated a big deal.
I think I'm running default PS settings in my PSsetup, that being:

Vertex Buffer off
Stencil Threshold 50
Antialiasing 0
Anisotropic 1
Multisample for quality checked
Texture downsampling 1/1

OS: Windows XP SP2
Graphics Card: Nvidia 6600 GT

But other persons, using also default configuration, see this:

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4426/better9vw.png

OS: Linux
Graphics Card: Nvidia 5600

The images couldn't be done with the same lighting and resolution, but anyway, the difference on the tested texture are clearly noticeable.

So the question is... which of those two reflects closer what you see in that area, with default settings?
and also... is there any explanation for why this is happening?

Edit: added more info regarding Laragorn suggestion.

[LARAGORN]

First thing that comes to mind is the video cards, Are they the same ?
The exact settings on two systems will display varrying results. The only way to get an exact comparison is with two identical systems.

[Karyuu]

I kinda like the blur, myself :} Things do smooth/blur out at a distance.

[Denerynn]

I kinda like the blur, myself :} Things do smooth/blur out at a distance.

She has a point, although in this case, it isn't exactly a nice kind of blur

[Karyuu]

Ah, it looks rather nice on my machine.

[Denerynn]

Ah, it looks rather nice on my machine.

Ah well I haven't logged in for a few days, and I can't now because I can't login to the server. I tried looking for a way to fix this, but everyone says different things, and now I'm confused about what should and shouldn't be done. I suppose I won't play for a while...

[Nilrem]

I kinda like the blur, myself :} Things do smooth/blur out at a distance.

Noone's saying that details should be kept at infinitum distance

I merely ask, to anyone reading this, to perform that little test, and state which of the captures reflexes better what can be seen on game.
Personally, I think in the first capture I give, things get blurred way too fast, while in the second one, the loss of detail is more gradual, and more realistic, imo.

So my only request is that one. Try to test in that location, and point which screenshot reflects better how the arch texture downgrades at the given distance.

[LARAGORN]

Just one more question that may give diferent results, What did you use to capture the shot?
If i use /screenshot my screenies are not as clear as they are when i use the AnalogX capture proggie.

I will get a screenie and post it here a little later


EDIT:

* LARAGORN looks down thanks dave

here are a couple shots from that location
close
same distance
heres a nice shot with AnalogX
I like this one

Dont know what to tell ya 

[DaveG]

There are 2 optional /screenshot parameters:
lossless = save to PNG instead of JPG, with no artifacts
nogui = ignore the GUI in the shot

Use the first one to make them as clear as possible.

[Ahriman]

I also have a Nvidia 5600, FX if it makes any difference, but I am getting the worse effect...

[Nilrem]

Everyone gets the "worse" effect with default settings, Ahriman.

It obviously can be improved touching certain settings such as aliasing (second screenshot has anisotropic filtering at 2x) but my main purpose with this is reflect that quality loss.

The texture degradation, as I've discussed very well today with a person in game, may be well suited as it is now, for landscapes, to prevent lag, and allow a smooth gaming experience. But, with chars, or inner city structures, that degradation shouldn't be as big as they're now. That is, the quality should be kept a longer distance from the object.

To my eyes, running the .15 version with the default settings gives less texture quality, when it comes to building structures or characters (at a certain distance) than .14 did.

Edit: And a warm thanks for having tested this, Ahriman, and have reported which screen was more close to the one you got in game. 

Edit2:  to you too Laragorn, I didn't notice your edit of the post... weren't the forums bumping threads before when there was an edit? Perhaps it's how it should be to notice things like these. Thanks for testing!

Edit3: It was anisotropic filtering, not antialiasing, sorry.