This is the one for http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/332396-15-6950-issues-skyrim-possible-solution-inside

logically, I tried the same with nVidia Inspector, since the standard control panel does not allow for any AA editing. First I disabled AA and AF in the Skyrim Launhcher.
Using the latest drivers, I set the AA mode to either Override or Enhance application setting, and then AA to 8x Multisampling.

the lag did disappear, but now I have a doubt: what if I simply disable the AA and the new AA (the one forced) is not applied?
those are pics with the results. the game still looks very pretty, so I can't really determine whether AA is on or not.

http://www.darkcreations.org/forums/gallery/album/35-technical-pics/

beware, the last one is a spoiler.

EDIT: pictures require registration. hold on.
EDIT2: made public album.

bump.

Also, would be good to use injectSMAA. I use it and it is much better than FXAA for Skyrim for sure, doesn't blur image. Make sure to check inject.ini for steamoverlay hack and quality settings of aa.

I wanted to do that, but I don't know how to actually inject SMAA in the game.

but do you believe that forcing AA though Inspector works?

I think you are correct in your assumption that forcing AA does not work, and by turning off AA in the Skyrim.ini disables the Catalyst's ability as well as the Nvidia control panel's ability to apply AA. With that in mind, it seems the only way to obtain any other form of AA (TRSAA, SSAA, etc) is to have AA set in the Skyrim.ini, and also enhancing or forcing in AMD's or Nvidia's control panel. However, this may not be the case for forms of post-processing AA.

Anyway, this has been what I have found after having tested several different graphics cards from both AMD and Nvidia alongside many of the different drivers.

Also, having taken a look at your pictures, it appears that the cauldron in picture 2 has jaggies on it, so it may be that AA is not actually working at all, which would explain the massive boost in performance.

yep, nvidia locked AA and CSAA usage in their latest drivers. I only have to hope for new ones where I can use that. or someone could tell how to use SMAA with skyrim.

Download it from http://mrhaandi.blogspot.com/p/injectsmaa.html
unpack it and put everythig into skyrim folder where TESV.exe is located. That mean you should see TESV.exe, smaa.fx, smaa.h, d3d9.dll and injector.ini files in same folder.
Open injector.ini and change "weird_steam_hack = 0" to "weird_steam_hack = 1" (no quotes). This enables steam overlay. However any other overlay (like fraps, msi afterburner, etc) will not work.
Before launching Skyrim make sure to disable any AA setting (both drivers and launcher settings).
To see difference (to toggle SMAA off and on) press PauseBreak button on keyboard. Default setting for smaa is "high", you can change that to ultra (preset = SMAA_PRESET_ULTRA). That works for me, almost no performance loss.

Set AA to anything in Launcher except Off and go into inspector and choose the AA you want while setting Override Any Application Setting and any AA will work.

You must have some AA in the launcher for inspector to work, if you turn if off inspector won't work. You can measure the results with msi afterburner in terms of vram usage.

i dont understand, so with ati, i should use super sampling aa, at 8x edge detect, and this increases performence, does anyone know why?? seems backwards

Did you disable MSAA (iMultiSample=0) in your SkyrimPrefs?

thank you. I discovered the author is actually working on a new injector version, so I'm very pleased to see it working even now.

can any1 explain whats going on here? I have an ATI card and i would like to know whats happening here. I didnt notice FPS drop but i did notice that the 4x MSAA will bug out skyrim.

this is only for ATI
apparently, zeroing AA in the skyrim launcher and enabling it forced in catalysy should help performance,

does anyone know if the new BETA nvidia drivers re-allow FXAA forcing with skyrim, when using nvidia nspector?

Its helping the performance because theres no AA then. You cant force aa (atleast with the ati). every time i try it theres no actual aliasing going on. AA has to be on in the game! now with that said you can switch between MSAA and SSAA. AF can be forced but I saw no real improvements, fps or visual.

As above, you can't force AA from CCC by turning off AA in the launcher. The reason such performance gains are made is because AA is not on at all.

hope it is not the same with the new nvidia drivers, and that they allow either:
to force nvidia's FXAA rather than skyrim's;
that they enable CSAA again

we already know they introduced adaptive vsync, in order to "supposedly" prevent some stuttering, and it should increase performance as well. it's still in beta tho, so I did not download it.

Installed Fraps. My framerates hardly ever drop below 58. Walked throughout Markarth, 60FPS steady. Settings: Ultra, Reflect sky off (don't like the effect), 2xAA overridden by CCC. Xfire disabled.

told you it would work,
new nvidia beta drivers 301.24 allow for forcing fxaa, but only if you use nvidia nspector.

Um, are you talking at me? I use AMD, not Nvidia.

first line is for you. the second one, however, is not.

new WHQL drivers are out. with nvidia inspector, one can force nvidia's propietary FXAA rather than skyrim's one. it's much better and it has less blur, in my opinion.