Radeon 9x00 Series FSAA artifacts?

[Tillin9]

Howdy, I read the reviews of the new ATI drivers and decided to take them for a spin. Unfortunately, I get black lines between textures sometimes when I enable FSAA. I have this problem on two seperate machines:

CPU: PIII 650 Mhz
Motherboard: Abit BH6
GPU: Radeon 9500 np

CPU: P4 3.2 Ghz C
Motherboard: ASUS P4P800
GPU: Radeon 9700 Pro

and have tried the following:
OS: Debian GNU/ Linux Sarge and Etch
Kernel: 2.4.27/ 2.6.9/ 2.6.15
X.org: 6.9, 7.0.22

All with the latest ATI driver 8.27.10 and I tried a number of the previous releases as well.

I was wondering if anyone out there was running a similar card 9500 np/ 9700 Pro and was having similar problems. I only found one other forum post about this on the unofficial ATI driver wiki, but it was for a driver that came out a long time ago.

My next step is to try the experimental open source r300_dri drivers or try another distro. However, I was hoping that I might be able to get 3D on my linux machines this time around without buying new hardware.

[Michael]

Tilin9,

Welcome to the forums. I haven't tried FSAA recently on any R200/R300 components, so I haven't seen this problem first hand. However, I can try to get a response from ATI on the matter. In the mean time can you post your X log and xorg.conf (or post your atigetsysteminfo output)? Thanks.

[Tillin9]

Thanks for the quick reply.

My P4 currently has a Radeon 9500 np in it with Sarge installed:
kernel: 2.6.8-2-386 (generic Debian stock)
XFree86: 4.3.0.dfsg.1-1 X (Debian stable package)

XF86Config-4:

# XF86Config-4 (XFree86 X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the XF86Config-4 manual page.
# (Type "man XF86Config-4" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xfree86 package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xfree86
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following commands as root:
#
# cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.custom
# md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 >/var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum
# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "aticonfig-Screen[0]" 0 0
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# local font server
# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
FontPath "unix/:7100"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "bitmap"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "record"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"
Option "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
Option "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
Option "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "aticonfig-Device[0]"
Driver "fglrx"
Option "FSAAEnable" "on"
Option "FSAAScale" "4"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]"
Device "aticonfig-Device[0]"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

[Michael]

Though I highly doubt this would be the case, do the black lines go away if using 2 or 6 FSAA samples per pixel as opposed to 4?

[Tillin9]

XFree86.0.log is too long to fit in a post.

I hope this link works: http://www.emutalk.net/attachment.ph...4&d=1155611024

[Tillin9]

Surprisingly, yes...on the P4.

Setting FSAA = 2 removes the problem (maybe it doesn't, but the framerate makes it impossible to see? I seem to remember it not helping on my PIII)
Setting FSAA = 4 produces the artifacts.
Setting FSAA = 6 produces fewer artifacts. (my guess is the problem is still there but the 6x FSAA hides it slightly better, 6x FSAA is not an option on the PIII, the ATI driver says I can't use 6x and reverts to 4x, in the X.log)

I will try the same on my PIII, and post logs and such.

Also, you mentioned an atigetsysteminfo tool. I do not seem to have this. Is it part of the driver download (ie. I'm missing/ not installing something right) or is it an extra tool? I checked Debian's archives and nothing similar popped up.

[Tillin9]

Okay, well retesting 2x FSAA on the PIII, it goes away also.

This is great, and means that my video card is usable!!!
Thanks so much, I feel silly that I missed this.

Of course fixing the whole problem would be nice as well...

My PIII currently has another Radeon 9500 np (I put my 9700 Pro back in my windows machine but they're both R300), with Etch installed:
kernel: 2.6.15-1-686 (generic Debian stock)
X.org 7.0.22 (Debian testing package)

Note: This machine has dual monitors and thus a completely different config than the P4.

xorg.conf:

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "aticonfig-Screen[0]" 0 0
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"
Option "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
Option "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
Option "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "aticonfig-Monitor[1]"
Option "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
Option "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
Option "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "aticonfig-Device[0]"
Driver "fglrx"
Option "FSAAEnable" "on"
Option "FSAAScale" "2"
Option "DesktopSetup" "horizontal"
Option "FSAADisableGamma" "off"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "aticonfig-Device[1]"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]"
Device "aticonfig-Device[0]"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[1]"
Device "aticonfig-Device[1]"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[1]"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

Part of X.0.log where 6x FSAA drops to 4x:

(II) fglrx(0): [agp] graphics chipset has AGP v2.0
(II) fglrx(0): [drm] ringbuffer size = 0x00100000 bytes
(II) fglrx(0): [drm] DRM buffer queue setup: nbufs = 100 bufsize = 65536
(II) fglrx(0): [drm] texture shared area handle = 0x00008000
(EE) fglrx(0): Failed to allocate 6 sample depthMultiSampleBuffer buffer.
(EE) fglrx(0): Attempting to drop back to a 4 sample multisampling.
(II) fglrx(0): shared FSAAScale=4
(II) fglrx(0): DRI initialization successfull!
(II) fglrx(0): FBADPhys: 0xd0000000 FBMappedSize: 0x00c01000
(II) fglrx(0): FBMM initialized for area (0,0)-(2560,1229)
(II) fglrx(0): FBMM auto alloc for area (0,0)-(2560,1024) (front color buffer -