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DF on Zelda Switch: Docked has major frame drops, portable doesn't (no score talk)

I

Instro

Member
Ricerocket said:
Just res difference from 720 to 900 docked. Filtering line increased slightly for docked.

But huge framerate issues to pay for it. Should have just stayed on 720p docked because it's solid 30 there.
Click to expand...

It's rather confusing though, docked mode should have more than enough power to handle that res bump.
 
O

OrbitalBeard

Member
Instro said:
It's rather confusing though, docked mode should have more than enough power to handle that res bump.
Click to expand...

This game was likely rushed to meet launch, giving Nintendo little time for proper optimization. If this weren't a launch game, it probably would have received a few months of technical polish. It's why I have some hope for a performance patch.
 
S

ScaryShark

Banned
That's so disappointing because I'd much prefer to play it docked. I'll still be playing it because it sounds like it's a can't miss and I've been looking forward to it but man that sucks.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Zombie James said:
Holy shit, didn't expect those performance drops in docked mode. Not being able to maintain 30fps at 900p (with no AA or motion blur) for a Wii U port doesn't bode well at all...
Click to expand...

Considering it was the target hardware for the longest time, I imagine docked/900p will continue to be the performance outlier.
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
JimJamJones said:
I made it through Bloodborne's awful framerates, I can make it through this.
Click to expand...
Bloodborne's framerate was actually quite stable especially for FS standards, it was the framepacing that was an issue. This is straight up the framerate experiencing large unexpected drops.
 
S

Summer Haze

Banned
Likelihood that the docked performance/resolution will be patched? Not really familiar with Nintendo devs these days so I have no idea if something like this would be addressed like it most of the time would be on PS4/XB1.
 
V

Vampirolol

Member
Well, 98 is not 100 you know.
Every review talked about the framedrops when docked, it all comes down to what gamers prioritize.
 
C

ckaneo

Member
I blame digital foundry for making people think the docked mode would run better when it was stating that there is no power in the dock.

Resolution increase means worse framerate everytime. And yes, I'm well aware about the clock speed and scaling rumors that were proven to be not entirely true.
 
N

NHale

Member
Vampirolol said:
Especially from the company that normally puts a lot of effort in performance. Here's hoping for a patch, just like that one that made Witcher 3 playable.
Click to expand...

This is what surprises me the most. Nintendo has always chosed performance over graphics, so there must be a reason why they shipped the game in this condition.

I'm sure they will patch it as soon as possible but I can't help but feel they rushed the game to meet the Switch launch.
 
M

Mashing

Member
Why bother upping the resolution if the system can't handle it? This is probably going to be an issue for a lot of games that will run at 900p in docked mode (if the developer chooses to do so).
 
I

Instro

Member
OrbitalBeard said:
This game was likely rushed to meet launch, giving Nintendo little time for proper optimization. It's why I have some hope for a performance patch.
Click to expand...

Possibly, but even that is very strange. Judging from the amount of time they've likely had with the Switch hardware, it shouldn't be a rushed port at all.
 
M

mrklaw

MrArseFace
any breakdown of increased draw distance, increased detail/shadows - anything? Because even if portable mode is using the rumoured increased clocks, 900p is only 50% more pixels and docked mode should be minimum 2x GPU clock speed.

It just doesn't make sense.
 
G

Generate

Banned
Framerate chugged really badly at times during games like Last guardian too. I dont care much about framerate if it isnt affecting a battle particularly, which I havent dealt with yet.
It has definitely been noticeable though.
 
S

Sami+

Member
Definitely felt it chug last night in the first few minutes. I chopped down a tree and the framers immediately plummeted for a second.
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
This seems to be an issue with their vsync method. 900p isn't hitting a perfect 30 fps on dock, and any time it dips it drops to 20 fps because of double buffering.

In portable 720p. Portable mode they aren't getting any dips, and thus double buffering isn't causing a huge drop.
 
RoadHazard

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Game Analyst said:
20 fps in 2017 is a bummer.

17098274_10210942378369435_8670639736504454731_n.jpg
Click to expand...

The fuck. There is no acceptable reason for this to happen. Docked mode should run this at fucking 1080p at the same framerate as portable mode. Is the memory bandwidth really such a bottleneck in this system? Can't think of any other reason.

Anyway, give us a docked 720p mode for this, Nintendo, please.
 
Lucent

Lucent

Member
JimJamJones said:
I made it through Bloodborne's awful framerates, I can make it through this.
Click to expand...

This is true. And it never actually bothered me that much. I actually didn't notice the frame pacing issue. I mean I can see the difference between 30fps and 60fps. And notice slowdown/lag. But Bloodborne never did anything that bothered me.
 
J

jett

D-Member
Double-buffered vsync.

Br00TCn.gif


Means if the game drops a single frame, it will actually drop all the way to 20fps no matter what.

And I have no idea why only docked mode gets the framedrops. It doesn't seem to be GPU related since the framedrops are almost random in their occurrence.
 
S

shadowsdarknes

Member
OrbitalBeard said:
This type of comment is so obnoxious.

20 fps has ALWAYS been a bummer. Why do people always feel the need to say "in 2017", like a smooth framerate is some modern thing?

We REALLY need a performance patch for the docked mode. Playing in portable mode seems great.
Click to expand...

Nah. Smooth frame rates have always been appreciated, but we also tend to hope that new hardware grants developers the capability to run their vision as planned.

While the 90's featured crummy frame rates for 3d games, it's also not particularly surprising that those games did run poorly.
Flash forward to brand new hardware in 2017, we would ideally hope that developers have enough flexibility within the hardware to make the proper trade offs to achieve a stable frame rate.
 
O

OrbitalBeard

Member
Instro said:
Possibly, but even that is very strange. Judging from the amount of time they've likely had with the Switch hardware, it shouldn't be a rushed port at all.
Click to expand...

Apparently the devs have only been working on the Switch build for nine month or so. Aonuma stated development started last spring.
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
mrklaw said:
any breakdown of increased draw distance, increased detail/shadows - anything? Because even if portable mode is using the rumoured increased clocks, 900p is only 50% more pixels and docked mode should be minimum 2x GPU clock speed.

It just doesn't make sense.
Click to expand...
Draw distances are exactly the same. This is pretty much a straight port.
 
G

Griss

Member
It's massively disappointing that Nintendo's 'new home console' (their words) can't run a Wii U port at 1080p 30fps. The compromise to make it portable appears to be a considerable one. And unlike most Nintendo games, for once underpowered hardware is hurting the actual game experience and responsiveness of controls.

What I'm more interested in is how Swtich Docked mode compares to the Wii U mode, as that's the one I played. Wii U had some of the worst frame rate issues I've seen in a game for years and years. Way worse than most games that have recently had frame rate controversies, like Witcher 3's swamp.
 
V

Volotaire

Member
Interesting that quick camera changes can drop the framerate rapidly down to 20fps, the locked and smooth undocked performance and the hypothesis that there may be headroom to improve the performance of the docked version.
 
RoadHazard

RoadHazard

Gold Member
This device simply isn't gonna work as a home console. It's a portable that can't run at home console resolutions without shitting its pants.
 
T

Truant

Member
jett said:
Double-buffered vsync.

Br00TCn.gif


Means if the game drops a single frame, it will actually drop all the way to 20fps no matter what.

And I have no idea why only docked mode gets the framedrops. It doesn't seem to be GPU related since the framedrops are almost random in their occurrence.
Click to expand...

To my untrained mind this seems like a fairly simple thing to fix.
 
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