Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion Archive [2015]

[dobwal]

moved

 

[function]

How does the XB1 CPU have lower latency memory access?.

To do with the memory controller, probably developed with different things in mind (PS4 based on GPU tech, X1 based on APU tech?). Minimum latency on Xbox one is lower in ns, and also fractionally in terms of CPU cycles iirc. How things stack up when the buses are saturated I dunno.

Probably doesn't make a lot of difference though. I expect frequency is more important, and even that won't make a big difference.

 

[steveOrino]

So, its "OK" for poor performance, random crashes, missing shadows, stuttering, clipping and so-forth to exists, because Bethesda makes wandering/gathering/puzzle solving enjoyable?

Mind you, I'm not bashing Fallout 4 (specifically the PC edition), I'm bashing Bethesda for the obvious shoehorned ports. As a PC gamer, I wouldn't stand for, nor pay for, a rotten console port *cough* Batman: Arkham Knight *cough*. To each his own, I guess...

Maybe Boris will help out the FO4 PC version like he did with Skyrim.

 

[nightshade]

Maybe Boris will help out the FO4 PC version like he did with Skyrim.

He works with DX11 now?

 

[djskribbles]

There is a much closer console parity than I expected from Fallout 4.
Both consoles aim for 1080p/30fps and both suffer from frame dips. There is no distinctive performance advantage on the PS4 in this case

I wonder who was the lead platform for FO4 though. Seems like many games where MS has marketing rights, the XB1 version is the more solid version, at least at release. AC:U was like-for-like on console, but XB1 ran considerably smoother. The PS4 version was later patched to make performance very close though. Witcher 3, while 900p on XB1 vs 1080p on PS4, XB1 ran at a considerably smoother framerate than PS4 in demanding areas. Witcher 3 was later patched on PS4 to the point where it runs smoother than the XB1 version. Now Fallout 4... again, identical on consoles but very rough performance, and nothing about it looks like it would stress the PS4. I wonder if PC/XB1 were the lead platforms and it was ported to PS4.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I don't think any of those games are "ported" to PS4. I'd be curious to know if "lead platform" is even a relevant concept anymore. Most of the big studios have a dedicated team for renderers now. My expectation, with the hardware being basically the same (GCN, x86), that the renderer for each platform would be developed in parallel, and all of the other tools for asset/game creation would be platform agnostic.

Now, if one version were to come out months ahead of the other, that might be a more convincing argument.

 

[forumaccount]

I don't think any of those games are "ported" to PS4. I'd be curious to know if "lead platform" is even a relevant concept anymore. Most of the big studios have a dedicated team for renderers now. My expectation, with the hardware being basically the same (GCN, x86), that the renderer for each platform would be developed in parallel, and all of the other tools for asset/game creation would be platform agnostic.

Now, if one version were to come out months ahead of the other, that might be a more convincing argument.

It's very relevant, the platforms have significant differences in performance and content teams will often be working/testing on at most one.

Also all this CPU bound discussion always assumes that we never see more compute heavy stuff being handled by async compute, which the PS4 has more of and may make small CPU differences very irrelevant.

"More" async compute would be interesting if it wasn't so easy to cap a GPU with just a handful of things in flight.

 

[steveOrino]

He works with DX11 now?

I am sure he will at some point.

ENBoost/ENBpatch for FO4 is on his website atm.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Why was this game even released on XB1/PS4 with all the performance issues, crashes and bugs thats being exhibited? EA, UBISOFT and WB, would of had their heads cut-off across the internet gaming boards for this garbage. What a cluster fuck....

Wow, that's some eastman level hyperbole there. I've sunk more than 60 hours into Fallout 4 on PS4 and yes, there are some issues that effect visuals in a few areas. I posted about the Corvega plant over in the Consoles Games thread (before the DF article). It does seem to be a demanding area and I guess this is down to it being a huge interior with lots of paths, that is generally poorly lit (dark) but with roaming spotlights, lots of enemies and a lot of flammable and explosive items that tend to go boom.

However contrary to DF's experience I've not had encountered a single crash or freeze which beats the pants of Oblivion, Fallout 3, New Vegas and Skyrim. I've also not had any quest (or game) breaking bugs and looking through the Bethesda forums there is about a 100th of the thread and post counts that there was for Skyrim.

Visually the game is a damn sight more stable than the Witcher 3 was at a launch and thinking about that, CDPR introduced that abysmal 20 frame rate issue on PS4 a few patches in and didn't fully fix that until the tenth patch. The Xbox One version does seem to have more prevalent issues due to the pauses when switching weapons (not sure how they didn't pick that up during QA) which will impact what you're doing wherever you are. I'm interested to see what the second patch will fix.

 

[nightshade]

I disagree when you say it is more stable than Witcher 3 at launch, it's not.
The game dives and runs at 20 often, even in tiny areas with 2-3 enemies. Then there is the fact that sometimes it will dip to single digit because the game's been running for a while.

The game hasn't crashed on me but it's the only game I have played this year where I feel like I am fighting the framerate..

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I disagree when you say it is more stable than Witcher 3 at launch, it's not. The game dives and runs at 20 often, even in tiny areas with 2-3 enemies. Then there is the fact that sometimes it will dip to single digit because the game's been running for a while.

It is for me, PS4 for both games. Which tiny areas are you suffering drops to 20 in and what platform?

 

[Clukos]

Face-Off: Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox 360

God damn that's impressive on 360, Nixxes even managed to remove the input lag from the X1 version. If i had a 360 i would definitely give it a try, although i am still holding on for the PC version. I also think Digital Foundry have improved these last few months, these video presentations are great imo.

 

[orangpelupa]

I keep wondering why df did not give the input lag number in ms.

Btw the comparison when saw from phone screen, looks almost identical

 

[Metal_Spirit]

I´m a bit shocked about this comparison. The results on 360 are amazing and the level of optimization on both consoles is shockingly diferent! I just wait that present gen consoles can one day be this well optimized!
At times, just by looking at what's on screen I even forget that thay are compating hardware with 8 years diference!

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Nice to see the old war horse still punching the heavy bag

 

[Clukos]

Seems like Dice managed to hit solid 60 on the Ps4 version of Battlefront after all

 

[djskribbles]

Beat me to it. Very nice improvements to the engine. Good job Dice...game looks amazing.

 

[Clukos]

Yeah, now 900p is actually justified. Very solid performer overall and a really good looking game even if it was running at half the refresh rate.

 

[DJ12]

I wonder how far away from 1080p60 they are because that's a rock solid 60fps. Must be a good margin faster with vsync disabled.

 

[Globalisateur]

Apparently they use a better post AA too, very stable in motion. It's looking good!