Dragon Age Inquisition - 3DMigoto DX11 3D Vision Fix: Beta v5

**UPDATE 12/29/14 to v5
- Fixed more "fog" issues
- Fixed more magic/decal issues
- Corrected a decal issue introduced in v4 from v3
- Fixed more Glyph issues
- Provide precompiled ".bin" files from a known good compilation to remove the risk of random decompile errors on first running the game

**UPDATE 12/24/14 to v4
- Fixed more "fog" issues
- Fixed more magic/decal issues
- Fixed a Glyph issue
- Removed (in some areas) the "edge border"
- Extended Uninstall.bat to make sure all files are removes, but that the d3d compiler that comes with the games is not
- Simplified the setup of the Flawless Widescreen Fixer installation by including a link in the release.
- Provide precompiled ".bin" files from a known good compilation to remove the risk of random decompile errors on first running the game

**UPDATE 12/22/14 to v3
- Fixed a couple of "fog" issues
- Fixed a "glare" issue
- Added Uninstall.bat into the release files

Fixed

1. Shadows.
2. Lights.
3. Fog.
4. Smoke.
5. Fire.
7. Special effects.
8. HUD.
9. Skybox.

Introduction

This is a 3D Vision fix for Dragon Age Inquisition.  At the time of the release of this fix, the game has many stability and performance problems running even in 2D, and particular problems in SLI.  In stereo 3D the problems are even worse, not even counting the fact that game does not render correctly.

This fix thus contains several "parts", only one of which is the actual shader fix for 3D rendering:
1. Driver settings
2. Game config settings
3. In-game graphics settings
4. 3DMigoto fix installation
5. Stability patch developed for widescreen gaming, which also helps with general game stability
6. SLI and profile settings

Screenshots

We think that the game looks 3DVision ready.

Setup

I. Game Settings
- Set the resolution and refresh rate to 60Hz and fullscreen.
- Disable V-Sync in game.  This *may not* be necessary, but is the best starting point.
- Set Post-Process AA to OFF.  This improves stability.
- TURN OFF MSAA.  This causes a gray foggy effect.
- Set Post Process to Low.  This corrects a number of rendering issues.

II. Windows Settings
- Set the Desktop resolution and refresh rate to the EXACT same size you are using to play the game, but use 120Hz refresh rate.

III. Nvidia Drivers
- Go to http://www.wagnardmobile.com/DDU/ and get the latest version of DDU.
- Run it and completely PURGE the system of nvidia drivers. (Use option 1. The PC
will go to SAFE-MODE and uninstall from there).
- Once the above is done restart in normal mode.
- Get the latest Beta Drivers 347.09 and run the wizard
- DO NOT INSTALL GEFORCE EXPERIENCE and the AUDIO DRIVER.
- If want to use and optimize the game(s) with Geforce Experience install it,
optimize the game and then UNINSTALL IT! Failing to do so will result in
DirectX Errors.
- Open NVPANEL -> Manage 3D Settings -> Program Settings and select the game.
Use these settings:
- Max pre-rendered frames: 3
- Power Mngmt : Maximum performance
- Shader Cache: OFF
- Rest leave default.

IV. Other Fixes required for stability
The following is REQUIRED for widescreen gaming, but we believe it helps with 1080p as well.
- In the download link provided below is a shortcut called "Launch FWS.lnk"
- Run the shortcut
- Enable the plugin and leave the App running. (Do not close it.)
- ** Remember to start this application each time you want to play DAI **
- This fix has 2 effects:
[SURROUND] - Gets rid of the pillarbox effect in cinematics, so now they render
on 3 screens.
[3D VISION] - Every time the game switches from Normal game to Cinematic
Mode a fixed Aspect Ratio and FOV is being applied. In doing this the engine also
deletes and creates new surfaces/buffers. By doing this the engine basically
changes RENDERING MODES. In turn it forces the 3D Vision driver to disable and
re-enable. Deleting/Creating buffers on the fly is probably one of the location
where the memory leak comes from.
[FIX]- The fix prevents this from happening by maintaining the same Aspect Ratio
and surfaces/buffers. So the Rendering context change doesn't take place and
thus preventing the engine from crashing.

V. 3DMigoto Options
- Once you have installed the patch as explained below open the d3dx.ini file:
- Look for :
[Constants]
x = 0.3// HUD depth, positve [0 < x <=1] =in screen, 0=screen depth, negative [-1 <= x <0]=popout
y = 0// Unused
z = 0.0// SLI WHITE FOG correction! If set to 1.0 SLI correction is enabled!
w = 0.0// Surround!!! If set to 1.0 Surround correction is enabled!

- Set z = 1.0 if you are using [SLI/SURROUND] to fix the WHITE FOG, if you experience it.
- Set w = 1.0 for Surround UI corrections [SURROUND]. (The UI is centered in
Surround and requires different corrections).
- Set x = value - to adjust the WHOLE UI depth. (use low values)


VI. SLI and Profile Selection
During development, we found almost no consistency in how the game behaved with SLI enabled.  We suggest the following steps:
1. Disable SLI in control panel while you first setup and install the fix.
2. Get the game running and be sure the fix is kicking in (shadows fixed etc)
3. Re-enable SLI
4. Re start the game and look at what you see.  It will either be just the same as the non-SLI case, or it will look like crap.  There is no middle ground.
5. If the game looks like crap, exit the game and then, using nvidia inspector remove DragonAgeInquisition.exe from the Dragon Age Inquisition profile, and then add it to the Battlefield 4 profile.  Save the changes and exit.
6. Make the appropriate changes the BF4 profile as mentioned above for the DAI profile in Nvidia control panel
7. Restart the game and it should all work perfectly.
8. If it does not, either (a) play in non-SLI (sorry, we can't do everything), or (b) experiment with different profiles and report in the Comments section if you have any luck

In testing, we also found that the AC4 profile works as long as you copy the BF4 DX10 SLI bits across.  So if you have issues with BF4, try that one, remembering to make the same control panel settings for AC4 (ie. shader cache off etc)

Installation

1. Download the v5 fix here
2. Unzip it into the games .exe directory e.g. for me this is "E:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Dragon Age Inquisition"
3. Go through all the steps described above in Setup.
4. Start the Flawless Widescreen link (it will put a little icon in the tray)
5. Start game

Known Issues

Aside from all the known performance and stability issues with the game, the following are important when playing with this fix:
- DO NOT Alt-Tab out of the game.  This is one of the known game issues, but at the very least it might disconnect 3DMigoto so the game fix does not kick in, though more likely the game will crash.
- We have not played the full game yet, and there will most probably be parts of the game that need fixing still, the odd light shader or decal, and possibly some "fog" errors.
- [NOW PARTIALLY ADDRESSED] The skybox when outside has a visible border at the edges.  We will try and find a different way to fix this but for now it is what it is.
- Windows 8.1 has lots of issues, and we can't feasibly spend any time working it out since none of us use Win 8.1

SLI: If the game runs but sometimes does not seem to load all the shaders, go into the shaderfixes folder and delete all the .bin files.  Then restart the game and they will be regenerated (this will take between 2-5 minutes, so be patient).

Drivers: Whereas 347.09 seems to have better performance, we have found that 344.65 has less issues with the "not loading all shaders" problem, so we recommend you try this if you have trouble.