Uncharted : Drake's Fortune*

[ninzel]

Embarrassing to say, but normal provides just the right challenge for me it seems.

Anyway, the texture pop-in thing is interesting. When do you start noticing it? I have had none so far (Chapter 13). The Spanish ruins level has been the least smooth so far, as it did have a fair bit of tearing and maybe even a bit of slowdown.

I'm starting to wonder whether texture pop-in is dependent on some external factors. I have a European launch PS3 and have only 720p enabled at the moment. Maybe the speed of the harddrive is a factor? Or newer revisions of the BluRay disc have better datarates? Or dirty lense or disc or something? Maybe it happens more in the second half of the game?

I notice pop in at various times throughout the entire game. After loads usually and after cut scenes or entering new areas. Sometimes it's just a crate or a stone monument or it can be an entire rock surface. It can last varying amounts of time as well. It's something that has been noted by various reviewers,so I wasn't very surprised.
I have a 20 GB with an upgraded HDD and the game is running at 720p according to my TV.

 

[patsu]

ninzel, just curious, what XMB optional settings did you turn on ? (e.g., 24fps, PS2 game scaling, RGB full/limited, media server option, ...).

 

[Arwin]

I notice pop in at various times throughout the entire game. After loads usually and after cut scenes or entering new areas. Sometimes it's just a crate or a stone monument or it can be an entire rock surface. It can last varying amounts of time as well. It's something that has been noted by various reviewers,so I wasn't very surprised.
I have a 20 GB with an upgraded HDD and the game is running at 720p according to my TV.

Interesting ... what kind of HDD did you put in there?

 

[manux]

I have europian launch ps3 60GB and noticed 3-4 times during the game serious texture popup. In worst case it took something like 2-3 seconds for the game to actually stream some textures in. I think this is not settings related but rather something inherent to the dynamic texture streaming in the engine.

Easiest way to get some noticable texture popup is to skip some fmv sequence and get to the actual game before level loading is done. I suppose the engine streams textures for next level when fmv is being played back.

 

[ninzel]

ninzel, just curious, what XMB optional settings did you turn on ? (e.g., 24fps, PS2 game scaling, RGB full/limited, media server option, ...).

I leave things to default. I played around with some optional settings but saw no difference in IQ so I just reset to default.

 

[ninzel]

Interesting ... what kind of HDD did you put in there?

The Seagate Momentus 5400rpm 80GB.
Are you surprised, I thought pop in in this game was common knowledge.
Edit: Just rechecked to make sure I'm not crazy. At least Gamespy and IGN reviews make note of this.

 

[ninzel]

Easiest way to get some noticable texture popup is to skip some fmv sequence and get to the actual game before level loading is done. I suppose the engine streams textures for next level when fmv is being played back.

That could be what's happening to me. On my second time through I'm just skipping through the movies.

 

[joker454]

Embarrassing to say, but normal provides just the right challenge for me it seems.

Me too, I'm getting old I guess. I can't believe that back in the day I was able to finish games like Ghosts 'n Goblins. My gamer skills have definitely atrophied

Anyway, the texture pop-in thing is interesting. When do you start noticing it? I have had none so far (Chapter 13). The Spanish ruins level has been the least smooth so far, as it did have a fair bit of tearing and maybe even a bit of slowdown.

I saw some texture pop as well but fairly rarely, maybe 4 or 5 times total when it was very noticeable. I don't remember seeing any until much later in the game though, past the half way point for sure. Like ninzel I also have a modded 20gb PS3, it has a 160gb which I believe is 5400rpm. All my PS3 system settings are tailored to optimal blu-ray movie output. I think perhaps the game can get into a streaming state where it has fallen behind a bit. For example, when you find a secret item normally it puts up that screen, theres maybe a 2 second pause while it loads the artifact you found, then displays it. One time it took it about 15 seconds to load and display that artifact! That only happened once the entire game, but the pause was so long that I actually thought the game soft locked. So perhaps a persons play style will affect how often they see texture pop. I didn't usually tear through the levels that quickly, I would run a bit, stop and look around, etc, so in my case it usually had ample time to stream in what it needed. Just a guess though.

Yap ! That's the Piranesi level (aka Goonies level).

Yeah that was a very Goonie level, I think I'm gonna play that one one more time. You reminded me of that early 80's Goonies game on the Atari 800 which had coop play to solve puzzle levels. The Piranesi level of Uncharted tweaked with coop play support would be a really fun puzzle level.

 

[patsu]

That could be what's happening to me. On my second time through I'm just skipping through the movies.

Ah I see. Didn't skip any movie during my playthrough. May be that's why I didn't notice any pop-ins. I should try that just for kicks.

 

[Kryton]

Ah I see. Didn't skip any movie during my playthrough. May be that's why I didn't notice any pop-ins. I should try that just for kicks.

I noticed one or two, but over the course of the game I was willing to forgive it (this is a tech. forum, so I won't ). They also seemed to occur after movies, which is strange when you consider Ninja Theory using cutscenes to explicitly hide load times. I was a bit disappointed with the final one too, such a shame they switched to a blatantly pre-baked effect - in the others, the OTT lighting was believable.

 

[djskribbles]

regarding texture pop-in, i usually noticed it when i jumped to a chapter. so i guess, for me anyway, it usually happens at the beginning of chapters. i have a seagate momentus 80GB 5400rpm 8mb HDD that i put in myself (replacing the 20GB seagate it came with).

regarding difficulty, i agree with Arwin and that i think normal is the perfect starting difficulty setting as well.

 

[Arwin]

That could be what's happening to me. On my second time through I'm just skipping through the movies.

Ah, yes indeed. I haven't skipped through a movie once yet. So that makes a lot of sense.

 

[gokickrocks]

texture popping happens often later in the game, but maybe im more sensitive to it

most texture popping that i saw occured in the leaves of the trees,... one that stood out like a sore thumb to me was when you first get the jet ski, it will take awhile to load the detailed texture for it

the occurences may have been at the beginning of the chapters as well, but i do not recall

 

[ninzel]

Ah I see. Didn't skip any movie during my playthrough. May be that's why I didn't notice any pop-ins. I should try that just for kicks.

It happens even when you don't skip movies,it may just be more pronounced. It's no big deal,maybe if they had chosen to install some game data on the HDD it would go away. Hopefully next time.

 

[patsu]

You guys are making me replay the game (I'm fudging with UT3 and Folklore now). This begins to feel like work.

 

[deepbrown]

It happens even when you don't skip movies,it may just be more pronounced. It's no big deal,maybe if they had chosen to install some game data on the HDD it would go away. Hopefully next time.

I noticed texture pop-in twice...the first jungle level, and the level after the parachuting. That's it. Rest sounds like over-exaggeration.

 

[inefficient]

I get some pop in. l wonder if you can actually improve perfomance with a faster HD. Or is the bottle neck elsewhere?

 

[ninzel]

I noticed texture pop-in twice...the first jungle level, and the level after the parachuting. That's it. Rest sounds like over-exaggeration.

Why would I exxagerate,I have no grudge at all against Sony or Naughty Dog? It sounds like your taking it a bit of criticism too personal for some reason and are on the defensive.
Edit: Just an FYI I'm replaying the game now on crushing and I'm just at Plane wrecked and have already experienced it three times.
Right at the beginning of Search for El Derado(rock ands jungle floor textures),right after the cutscence when you meet back up with the female character after Sully "get's shot"(Stone pillar right on front of you)and at the beginning of Plane wrecked(monument right in front of you).I could go through the entire game if you would like and document every instance but I'm really enjoying the game far too much to want to bother.
Now can we put this texture pop in subject to bed?

 

[deepbrown]

Why would I exxagerate,I have no grudge at all against Sony or Naughty Dog? It sounds like your taking it a bit of criticism too personal for some reason and are on the defensive.

Nope, just saying that texture popin of leaves being a problem is a bit of an over-exaggeration. There isn't much texture pop-in that is jarring.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I haven't actually noticed any 'pop in'... Maybe I've just been too busy playing the game? I'm on my third time round now, getting all the treasures.