Update - November 3: On the heels of a wave of complaints from PC players, Genshin Impact developer Hoyoverse has confirmed that a future update will restore the game's anti-aliasing options, which were recently replaced with AMD's FSR 2.
"In order to accommodate the configuration needs of different Travelers, we will restore the PC version's SMAA anti-aliasing option in a later update. After the update, the anti-aliasing options of the PC version will be adjusted to: 'None,' 'FSR 2,' and 'SMAA.'"
Original story follows...
Genshin Impact update 3.2 quietly changed the anti-aliasing options available to PC players, and many say the result is a strict downgrade.
In addition to general anti-aliasing optimizations for all platforms, the patch notes for update 3.2 note that, on PC, "after optimizing the Anti-Aliasing function, it will be possible to choose between 'None' or 'FSR 2,'" with the latter being the latest version of AMD's Fidelity Super Resolution tech.
Ordinarily, FSR and upscaling tools like it, not unlike Nvidia's DLSS (which does notably use different, deep-learning tech, but work with me here), are available alongside traditional anti-aliasing settings like TAA and SMAA because some PC games look better with a combination of the two on some systems. These are fundamentally two different types of tools, though they do serve a similar purpose: making games look smoother.
However, as of update 3.2, Genshin Impact offers PC users FSR 2 or no anti-aliasing at all, and disabling it outright can lead to noticeably jagged edges on characters and environments. The old TAA and SMAA options have been removed entirely, plus there aren't any granular settings to dial in FSR, and many users say the mandatory change has worsened their visuals and performance.
The Genshin Impact subreddit has already seen several red-hot posts ripping into the game's now-mandated FSR. "FSR is not a proper Anti Aliasing technique and should not be used as such," argues Yaver7 in a post with over 2,000 upvotes. "There is no reason to remove the previous AA techniques that were working perfectly while both could be kept. I'd like to reiterate that I'm not against FSR, since it can help lower end machines. I'm against the removal of perfectly fine AA techniques."
Isaac730 laments that, while they never had any technical issues before update 3.2, Genshin is now "a jaggy, pixely mess" for them that actually results in lower FPS and/or higher GPU load, which generally isn't what you want from an optimization patch. There are countless comments on both of these posts from other users experiencing similar issues.
"It looks weird for me who's been playing with medium for a while," says one user. "Like up close, characters look smooth and nice but when from slightly afar, and especially when moving, they look so blurred."
"Noticed the downgrade instantly, Ayaka looks awful with pixel lines and out of focus detail," says another.
"I'm getting worse graphics for no increase in performance whatsoever since it's locked to 60," another user says.
"I play in 1440p, and pre-update, I could get a solid 60 FPS with max settings and SMAA," one player reports. "However, with FSR, it barely chugs 55 FPS."
To be fair, some PC players have actually benefited from the update, so it's certainly not all bad. The impact of the change seems to vary depending on what processors you're using and what resolution you're playing at, not to mention which render resolution you have selected in-game (running from 0.6 to 1.5). Anecdotally, I haven't noticed any visual issues playing Genshin at max settings at 1440p (at 1.5 render resolution) on a 2080 Super and i7-9700k, but I haven't noticed any improvements either.
For the time being, you may be able to improve your image clarity by lowering the overall graphics quality but pushing render resolution further above 1.0. In theory, this should give FSR more of a cushion to smooth over rough edges, but again your mileage may vary. For those without a workable compromise, here's hoping developer Hoyoverse is able to optimize its optimizations in the near future.
The good news is update 3.2 also introduced Nahida, a tiny god that Genshin fans have welcomed with open arms.
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