Patch 6.1: New anti-aliasing and lighting options

Blizzard just posted a preview of some upcoming graphical improvements for patch 6.1. These include new anti-aliasing options, a new SSAO (screen space ambient occlusion) option, and a new point lighting option. I’m probably most excited for the return of MSAA (it was removed in patch 6.0) as I find it looks a lot smoother in motion compared to the CMAA and FXAA options we have now. I was one of the vocal minority who went out of my way to leave feedback for the return of high quality AA, and I’m glad Blizzard listened to us. Here is a summary of what’s coming.

• A new SSAO option: HBAO+ (horizon based ambient occlusion), listed as “Ultra” in the video options. In simplest terms, ambient occlusion adds more depth to the image by enhancing shadows around objects. The new HBAO+ is much more aggressive than the previous SSAO options, but it will result in a performance hit. My impressions of HBAO are that it creates a much smoother but darker overall image.
• New per-pixel deferred point lights. Whoa, what the heck does that mean? Well, the image above shows you what it can do. Essentially, it’s going to give you better lighting around camp fires, torches, and other light sources. This can be set to Low, Good, or High in the video options (Low means the new point lights are off and it will look the same as it does in 6.0.3).
• New antialiasing options: MSAA 2x/4x/8x, SSAA 2x, and SSAA 2x + CMAA. That is a lot of A’s, eh? Anti-aliasing smooths out jagged edges in the game. The higher the option, the better job it does. Currently the game supports only FXAA and CMAA which are efficient but lower quality AA modes. Those of you with powerful video cards will be able to take advantage of MSAA once again, and if your PC costs as much as most people’s cars, you can turn on SSAA 2x + CMAA for the best image possible. If you’re running the game on a PC closer to the recommended specs, you’ll probably want to stick with CMAA for performance reasons.

Check out Blizzard’s Engineering Workshop for more comparison images and details about this new technology.