BouncyFrag
Member
Will the next patch address the stuttering? PS4 here.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Digital Foundry Face-Off: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PC/PS4/XB1)
- Thread starter ScepticMatt
- Start date
Don't see this happening at all. Will Xbox One games be at 720p then? No way.
Not really. The pc version at 1080p has the same problem in any scene where you have some view distance, blurry ass foliage, even with qualify set to ultra. Since the foliage detail is done with textures and not geometry, it suffers under low resolution situations. I could run this on my pc at 60fps at 1080p, but instead chose 30fps at 1440, foliage is a mess otherwise.
Bluekaveli
Member
Yeah, I played the 2nd one on PC so that's the route I'll go for the 3rd one.
popsicle_sundays
Member
Here I was playing the PS4 version thinking how damn fine it looks, lol.
Backfoggen
Banned
Play a little longer and you'll see what people are talking about.
GodParticle
Member
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing until I got out of the starter area. Framerate took a nose dive in spots
I'm at the point where I have to find
the Baron's wife and daughter
BlackNinja
Banned
Past generations are different from now. The tricks that developers are talking about would only take you but so far. For example, increasing shadow draw distance as in that comparison screenshot. Do you honestly think there will be leaps with regard to this on consoles (i.e will they suddenly be able to render shadows from every foliage displayed on screen with the same hardware)? Better yet, ask yourself if you think somehow by the end of this generation that W4 on consoles will have all the features the PC has on W3 (including Hairworks) and still maintain a target 30 FPS?
AgentOtaku
Member
So yeah, only played the starting area as well on PS4 which indeed felt pretty good.
Later on get's bad huh?
BlackNinja
Banned
I agree with this. But I think a lot of folks think that they'll see "leaps" over what is already shown. In other words, high end PC level graphics by the end of this generation. I can see some tricks to get more out of the hardware, but only in a limited scope. I don't see suddenly very large textures being used (i.e. 2k or 4k) along with higher filtering, with dynamic GI and fully furred characters running at 30fps on consoles.
Also, you really have to take a devs words with a grain of salt these days. They have shown to do anything or say anything to keep their marketing hype up for sales. I love CDPR, but I can't trust what any dev says anymore because of what's been released compared to initial footage.
Chiggs
Member
Yep, once you're past White Orchid, get ready for some massive frame drops.
AgentOtaku
Member
That bad on Xbox One version too? (I ask as that's the version I own now, just waiting fo the patch)
I expect the same visual leap we've always had on previous generations. Developers, as always, will optimize their engines and techniques, and will learn more ways to use the hardware efficiently.
BLUElightCory
Member
Haha same. It really does look excellent most of the time. If they can iron out the frame rate I'll be completely happy with it.
For some odd reason though the drops aren't pissing me of like unity was. Not sure if it's just the scope of the game, frame rate is massively better than unity or just because it's the most engaging RPG I've played in years. It's been very noticeable but not distracting from the overall experience
GodParticle
Member
It was mostly when the rain/environment effects kicked in. Not sure why, but the starter area wasn't too bad when those things happened, but it was a lot worse in the next area I went to. Still an awesome game, so maybe they can fix those issues
It's a shame because the game is so fun. I wish I could see it running at 60 frames *drools*
I have a GTX970 and can run the fame 60fps no probs. But I'm always chatting with my buddies and having a good time. Plus I can't lug my 60 pound computer everywhere as easily as my PS4
BlackNinja
Banned
Yea, but you didn't really answer my question specifically...
Ah, sorry.
Then yes, possibly The Witcher 4 could incorporate those effects into the console version. I don't know, probably. Maybe the developers can still optimize those effects.
Only really had big ones in the bog and during storms. Been fine other than that.
I agree.
Also lots of pseudo game developers telling us that there's no way that coding/developing visual technologies on consoles can get better.
AZ Greg
Member
Can you point out where anyone said there will be no improvement from here?
JumPeRJumPzZ
Banned
Optimization in most cases with this consoles means turning off graphical effects...
Sry but its hyperbole to me to expect a jump in graphical quality like that we got last generation.
Its not the same anymore.
Sakura
Member
Well, I mean for some things that isn't really realistic. Textures sure, you can have a higher resolution base that is usable on the PC version, but just scaled down on the console version. But you aren't going to have for example 2 sets of geometry for everything, more complex on PC and less complex on console. Just would be too much extra work and time.
We must be playing two different games then. Raining in the city? Game chugs. In the bogs? Same story, and that's without it even raining, where it starts to get worse. Like I said earlier in the thread, I fought a boss the other day and the game was literally in the single digits for a portion of the fight, no joke. 1 on 1 fight. It shouldn't run like shit.
Is it an ugly game? No. Is it cool when the wind is blowing and the trees are swaying? Yes.
But it's not visually impressive. When I got Halo on the original Xbox, I would stand there and look at the grass because it just looked so damn good.
This game? It looks OK. And it doesn't run that well.
I don't think I'm being unreasonable saying I expected a bit better, or at least a solid framerate.
I don't know about that.
If most PS4 games weren't 1080p, then most XBO games would probably be 720p, and I just don't really see that happening.
What's the basis for this? Graphical performance on consoles has always improved over time based on a clear historical trend. This occurs by targeting a single spec and learning its ins and outs.
I could see huge gains this gen purely from better multithreading without having to get into async compute and huma.
BlackNinja
Banned
Where do you see that? I specifically said it's very unlikely to see a game engine have coding tricks for consoles to get visuals that rival highend PCs.. and specifically the next Witcher game. Case in point, CDPR had to choose between two engines. They chose the less-demanding route for the console's sake. Will they suddenly choose the more demanding route with the W4? What would have changed coding wise to warrant such a gigantic leap? It just doesn't make sense to assume that kind of fidelity change with the hardware we have.
blastprocessor
The Amiga Brotherhood
Don't agree with this one bit. We'll see the best of PS4 with first party titles that optimise specific to this platform and in particular compute optimisations.
BlackNinja
Banned
Multithreading has it's limits. I also don't think every developer has yet to master the advancements of multithreading. We are talking companies that's been around for several generations here. Not startup companies where there are programmers just out of college.
What makes you think it's not possible? As Sony and Microsoft reduce the RAM overhead for OS, there will be more RAM available for higher res textures, for instance. I also expect AF to get better as the gen progresses. As for AO, HBAO may not be the standard AO solution for these consoles, but developers may develop new AO solutions that are cheap but look great. Take SSBC in FC4 for example. It looks much better than SSAO but costs about the same (according to the Nvidia tweak guide). Draw distance will definitely be improved as the gen progresses. Dying Light on PS4 did this via a patch with no performance hit.
Did you miss the Borderlands Handsome Collection DF updated thread? The game got a performance boost of 15-20 FPS from a patch without a visual downgrade.
The game was pushed out the door unfinished to meet the fiscal year end. It was finally fixed to the condition it should have been on release, given the hardware. Man this is going to be a rough generation for a lot of folks
Who said anything about high end PC graphics or 4K textures? You're exaggerating my point. There will be performance improvements like last generation. That's it. Games out now for PS3 and 360 look significantly better than games from 2005/6.
Yes developers will say anything for marketing and hype, but in this case we have past history to look at as proof to see this is what naturally happens. What everybody else is doing who doubts this is just making assumptions based of the hardware being "easier to code on" than before.
ninjablade
Banned
lets be honest ps4 exclusives like the order, drive club, kill zone, and SS look impressive even by PC standards because they are tailored to make the best use of the ps4. witcher 3 if different though, it's a huge open world mutiplatform game thats very demanding, with more detail then of those games, as well a dynamic day/night and weather cycle, with dynamic lighting and shadows, now of course the game looks nice in pics, but while playing it looks downright amazing to me, the scale the lighting the detail, and beautiful world, along with great looking charcter models really shine. its still very early this gen adn the witcher 3 is clearly nextgen when compared to lastgen consoles open world games
the game looks really nice in pics, but the pics don't even do it justice cause in motion it looks much better.
credit goes to TGO for the nice pics from the ps4 version.
My point is performance can be improved through more efficient codes and techniques, not just through visual downgrades. And thanks for the last statement, but I'm loving this gen so far and can't wait to get on board. It's much more enjoyable if you don't live in platform wars.
Sakura
Member
But, this doesn't look good at all. The buildings, the ground, it looks terrible.
Sure it's cool that there are a bunch of trees or whatever, but in terms of graphics I don't see what is so good about these pics.
Beerman462
Member
What looks better, but isn't a corridor with baked lighting?
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Have you played the game?
I mean I see your point from a "still capture" prospective but when in motion it's a different story and makes a big difference, shadows moving as the trees sway, light beams cutting through the smallest cracks of the forest as the fog slowly shifts across the landscape, it's a generational leap difference that is not represented in captures.
And those captures don't really do it justice though tbh, they both softer and kinda compressed to how it actually looks.
DirgeExtinction
Member
Would you mind taking a PC screenshot of the same spot? Just to compare.
UnrealEck
Member
If you tell people where that spot is. Or just go into the PC screenshot thread. There's plenty of screens of the PC version there.
DirgeExtinction
Member
I don't have the game, though interested in it. I mean, if someone is saying a certain screenshot is horrible, they should at least have something available to prove it.
Sakura
Member
?
Do I need to find another open world game with dynamic lighting on the PS4 in order to say I don't think Witcher 3 looks that good visually?
I don't care if it's the biggest open world game known to man. I'm not going to look at the ground and go, actually this ground looks amazing, because the game is open world. No, it doesn't look that great. I might excuse poor visuals of course, depending on the nature of the game, but I am not going to think something looks great when it doesn't just because it's open world.
The interior areas look poor. Insides of some houses look like they could be in Skyrim. The ground all around looks poor. Some building structures look pretty simple in geometry. I like that there is a lot of foliage, and that the character models look alright, but that's it.
Poor performance on top of that, just doesn't seem very impressive.
Yes I'm 40 hours into the game.
Yes the lighting looks nice some times. Yes it is cool when trees sway. But there are also lots of times when it looks really really plain.
I'm playing on PS4.