Planetside 2 runs an Anti Aliasing method called TXAA which is implemented as Shader AA in this game.

TXAA is an AA method that causes BLURiness, Loss in detail of 3D objects, textures, basically anything drawn on your screen is degraded by this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ blur.

• The game already has textures that aren't of very high quality and TXAA ruins them further (I run on ultra, some textures are still low quality if you look at them up close)
  
• Far-away objects are a lot more difficult to make shapes out of due to blurring them out. Ever had that *Metal helmet cracking noise* and insta death? You probably had to spam Q to find out the sneaky bastard, while you could already see him if the game looked sharper.
  
• Causes loss of detail, as if you are running the game on a lower render quality although you're on default 100%.

1. Your game will be so much SHARPER that it'll feel like you are running on a higher resolution.
   
2. NO NOTICEABLE PERFORMANCE LOSS compared to going over 100% Render quality or any other downsampling methods.
   
3. You will have sharper, more natural-looking TEXTURES.
   
4. Far-away objects and people, will be EASIER TO SEE.They'll be an actual shape rather than a colored blurry dot.
   
5. You'll notice detail especially on player models, that you haven't even seen before. I can say this about Fabulous VS models (*cough* spandex) where a lot of detailed modelling is put in place, I didn't notice half those details before tweaking my settings.Scerenshots below for comparison.

▶▶ First off, we're gonna Change a setting in Useroptions.ini Located in /Steam/Steamapps/common/Planetside 2/Useroptions.ini
➨ You can also go to your steam Library > Right click on PS2 > Properties > Local files > Open containing folder
Now to the actual tweak.FIND Uselod0a and make sure it is 0.

From Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/4jpzn2/what_does_uselod0a_mean_in_the_useroptions/)

Originally posted by RoyAwesome:

Hey. We figured this out.

There are two lod0 models for each object in the game files. It selects which one to use, either Lod0Auto or LodAuto.

The difference between the two models is minimal for most of the objects, but for some it is a huge reduction in level of detail.

I don't think either is 'better', it's just different patterns. I'm guessing SOE left it in when testing something.

There already is a Level Of Detail management in the game.BUT setting UseLod0a to 1 uses a more "dynamic" AND agressive LOD management, which looks so ♥♥♥♥, especially wih player models, that I'd rather run the game at 70% render quality and UseLod0a=0.

▶▶ARE YOU USING AMD? SKIP TO THE NEXT HEADLINE, DIFFERENT BRAND DIFFERENT INSTRUCTIONS.

Quote from (http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_7.html)

Originally posted by Tweakguides:

Note: For details of how to manually adjust the LOD Bias value in some games, particularly useful in counteracting certain forms of Antialiasing which introduce blurriness to the image, see the Nvidia Inspector utility covered under the Advanced Tweaking section of the guide.

Pretty much verifies how using Negative LOD on a game like planetside 2 that uses TXAA, can be useful.

▶▶ First off, download Nvidia PROFILE Inspector from here https://ci.appveyor.com/project/Orbmu2k/nvidiaprofileinspector/build/artifacts
➨ Nvidia control panel doesn't allow negative LOD values, so you need nvidia PROFILE inspector for it.

Install Nvidia inspector, then :
STEP - 1_) Extract the ZIP file and Run Nvidia profile inspector.exe

STEP - 2_)
Either under global options or Planetside 2 profile options (you can type Planetside 2 on top left of the window where it says _GLOBAL_DRIVER_PROFILE (Base Profile) )
^^ MAKE SURE IT LOOKS LIKE THIS! EXACTLY LIKE THIS OTHERWISE IT WON'T WORK!
STEP - 3_) DONE! You might notice very little Shimmering in textures (usually far away, you probably won't even notice without looking carefully for it.), you can increase the LOD from -1 to like -0.5 in that case, BUT I use -1.5 myself and I'm pretty happy with the results and shimmering is barely even noticeable for me.You can even go down to -2 but that introduced some shimmering for me.

NOT SURE OF THE RESULTS? INSPECT PLAYER MODELS IN CLASS SELECTION.You should notice a lot of new detail that you missed before.
SCREENSHOTS DOWN BELOW..
(thanks @ Viruboo for assistance with Nvidia inspector)

Quote from (http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_7.html)

Originally posted by Tweakguides:

Note: For details of how to manually adjust the LOD Bias value in some games, particularly useful in counteracting certain forms of Antialiasing which introduce blurriness to the image, see the Nvidia Inspector utility covered under the Advanced Tweaking section of the guide.

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/amd-registry-editor-download.html
Download, extract and launch Radeonmod.exe

➨ AMD crimson or CCC doesn't allow LOD adjustment, neither Radeonpro (yes it has the slider but it doesn't work on some newer cards as it is outdated.) SO that is why we use radeonmod.

STEP - 1_) WAIT DON'T TOUCH IT! First off, launch radeonmod.exe if you already didn't after extracting it;

STEP - 2_) Click on UMD tab.Scroll down to [Anisotropic Filtering & Texture]
➨ You click on the value to type in e.g. -1.5 , then you click okay, to change it.

STEP - 3_)

MAKE SURE IT LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THIS, OTHERWISE IT WON'T WORK!

STEP - 4_)

DONE! You might notice very little Shimmering in textures (usually far away, you probably won't even notice without looking carefully for it.), you can increase the LOD from -1 to like -0.5 in that case, BUT I use -1.5 myself and I'm pretty happy with the results and shimmering is barely even noticeable for me.You can even go down to -2 but that introduced some shimmering for me.



NOT SURE OF THE RESULTS? INSPECT PLAYER MODELS IN CLASS SELECTION.You should notice a lot of new detail that you missed before.

SCREENSHOTS DOWN BELOW..

PS : I might also make an in-depth optimization guide with AMD, I've had pretty good results tweaking some stuff around in radeonmod without losing any noticeable graphic quality BUT DO NOT play with the settings as it is easier to screw things up than to push an useful button.Wheter I make a guide or not depends on the demand

NOTE : I took the screenshots using the game's own SS system, as steam compresses them so much it would be difficult to compare. I used -1.5 LOD on AMD's settings, REMEMBER different brand/gpu model/driver version will produce different results. these screens are half a decade old!

Esamir VS eastern WG, NOTICE the textures at the gloves, the thumb finger.The texture of the glove is much more defined, sharper and less eye-raping without the constant shifts in its looks (Makes up for TXAA)
FIRST ONE WITHOUT TWEAK

SECOND ONE AFTER TWEAKING LOD SETTINGS.



Everything is so much more defined.


VS Light Assault Notice the gain in detail after tweaking.
FIRST ONE WITHOUT TWEAK

SECOND ONE AFTER TWEAKING LOD SETTINGS.


LETS TAKE A CLOSER LOOK:
BEFORE

AFTER


NC Infiltrator. Notice how textures are blurry, look like lower of resolution without LOD tweak.
FIRST ONE WITHOUT TWEAK

SECOND ONE AFTER TWEAKING LOD SETTINGS.




SOURCES : (Won't include the sources that I quoted from as they are already above)
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/05/26/grand_theft_auto_v_image_quality_comparison_part_5/2 TXAA effect on textures
Rest above as I said and from personal testing, comparison and articles I read over the years (When TXAA was released, I read its side effects, as well as FXAA etc. which was a long time ago.)

WARNING : Your GPU might not be supported, check this before wasting your time.As of writing this, polaris and above supported for AMD, Nvidia should have wider support.

Nvidia and AMD has added their driver controlled sharpening filters and improved on them for a while, as a final update to this guide; Remember this complements the rest of the guide, it is NOT a replacement for LOD tweaking.

Quick explanation on what this guide already does and what filters do to benefit
This guide tells the game to use higher quality textures at longer distances than before, but in effect this also improves short range textures because the AA ruins them.


CAS/Nvidia sharpening:
Screen filters. Tweaking these can net you great visual gains ONTOP OF what you already accomplished. I cant' stress this enough, if you don't tweak your LOD aswell before using these, PS2 will still look like minecraft. If you use both, you'll have better visual clarity and it'll be easier to pick distant targets/cloaked infils.

They essentially selectively sharpen your screen. AMD aims to sharpen low-contrast details as to prevent jaggies/oversharpening. Nvidia aims to sharpen as much as possible without causing noise.


Ok how do I use this tho?
AMD : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTh_O9BZlGc

Most people find 50% doesn't do much, I'd start with 80% and work from there.

Nvidia-only steps below, shoo AMD users
Sharpening+ , the chad of sharpening : Nvidia recently added Sharpening+, which can be tuned to only sharpen textures and causes no artifacts other than holo/white blur around high contrast textures. I personally prefer this and I tried every filter out there. It brings out more detail with far fewer artifacts.

To use this, you need to update nvidia driver+geforce experience. Then in an geforce supported game, Alt + F3 in-game and add Sharpening+ .

First slider goes 0%, texture slider goes 100% and tweak down from there to your taste. Don't use the first slider ever, it looks really bad you should use "Sharpening" filter with it if you need more sharpies, while keeping "Sharpening+ "' to texture slider only. If you mix them, be conservative with "Sharpening " to minimize artifacts.


If you don't care for "Sharpening+ " or geforce experience, you can use "Sharpening " through control panel. I REALLY recommend "Sharpening+ " however, as it directly sharpens textures instead of whole screen, resulting in far fewer artifacts.

"Sharpening " only steps:
Right click on desktop, nvidia control panel, 3d settings, scroll to find option (global OR program settings)

Generaly speaking, Nvidia's sharpening works best at 50% sharpening and about 0.25 noise floor, it sounds good for PS2 aswell.