What does scaling do in ETS2?

[J van E]

Up to know I used the Ultra preset which uses scaling at 125%. Now I don't really know what scaling does but on another forum someone said it may be worth to try higher settings. The problem is that with higher settings you still see large pixels moving in the distance (specially with TrackIR) but things DO look a bit more sharp at higher settings! I made a screenshot with scaling at 125 and one at 400 and in the 400 screenshot I see a lot more detail in trees, trailers, everything: it's all a bit sharper! The odd thing is that the overall look still has that low res feeling due to the moving pixels in the distance...

Anyway, it sure helps using a higher scaling setting, although of course the PC must be able to handle it... Mine seems to handle 200 okay but 400 is clearly too heavy.

All in all the difference isn't staggering (I had to compare screenshots to actually notice the difference) but higher scaling DOES look better nonetheless!

I just wish they could fix overall FSAA... it's my main 'problem' with the game. With good FSAA this game would be perfect.

 

[Dave Stephenson]

Scaling appears from my testing to be Detail Distance. If you set it to 400% for instance the fog etc is moved very far away and objects are drawn in full detail for about as far as you can see apart from a little haze on the horizon.

At 50% the whole things is really low detail and very blurry. I think maybe Scaling although technically makes sense once you know what it does doesn't explain what it changes very well.

Im running at 400% and the game looks epic!

 

[J van E]

Ah, detail distance.... that might be it! I only tested it on a parking spot where I couldn't see too far in the distance. Anyway, I will see how high I can set scaling without losing performance.

When you say the game looks epic, don't you have any FSAA problems? In other games objects look steady: in ETS2 objects (specially fences, light posts but really everything) look as they are made of fluid: they constantly move due to bad FSAA...

 

[Dave Stephenson]

I get a little of it on some objects, and different depths of field. Really not very bad, doesn't seem as bad as many are reporting to me.

Currently I have my FSAA and other filtering options forced on through an nVidia driver profile.

 

[J van E]

Currently I have my FSAA and other filtering options forced on through an nVidia driver profile.

I tried that with no luck. Would you mind sharing the settings of that profile? FSAA is REALLY bad on my PC...!

 

[Dave Stephenson]

I tried that with no luck. Would you mind sharing the settings of that profile? FSAA is REALLY bad on my PC...!

 

[J van E]

Thanks! Gave them a try but it doesn't have any effect at all in my game... Odd. And a pity...

Still, the game looks great apart from that FSAA. I really like the light and bloom in ETS2! The sun really SHINES in this game (something I always missed in FSX...) I am driving towards Aberdeen now: great scenes, beautiful country, awesome mood. Love the game!