MIP Mapping

[C']

Got Final Fantasy XI running but one of the options on the Config tool is Enable/Disable Mip Mapping. The description is a bit vague about whether I should use it oor not. It says something about improving performance by using low-res textures on distant objects.

Now I have a pretty high-spec machine I reckon (3ghz P4 and ATI RADEON 9800 Pro). Should I use MIP Mapping or not?

[Commander Marklar]

basically, stuff in the distance will look nicer 'cos it'll do some stuff to scale or select/create a good texture for stuff some distance away. you got the horse power, do it man....

[Vaipon]

As a rule, mip-mapping is a very good idea. If you're just after a yes/no answer, then I would say enable it regardless of your CPU/GPU speed. Sorry to go a bit techy here. It saves a lot of gpu time by lowering the number of texels that have to be drawn in a frame. The offshoot is that it needs slightly more video memory because you are using multiple "versions" of textures rather than just the original. The only reason you would normally disable it is for compatibility reasons, and on modern PCs all mip-mapping is of the trilinear variety so you can hardly tell when a texture map changes from one mip-level to another as they are blended from one to another gradually based on distance (z value).

The short answer... Enable it. If it looks ****, you probably have a compatibility issue, as mip-mapping is pretty much a standard technology on all formats now.