Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion Archive [2016 - 2017]

[Rangers]

Achieving this level of stability on Xbox One doesn't come for free - but it's a compromise we've seen before that doesn't have an unduly negative impact on gameplay. A 900p native resolution is deployed compared to a full HD framebuffer on PlayStation 4

Oops. Where is Globalisateur when you need him.

Maybe OT but in fairness to DF they write a lot of content these days, and I think we all should appreciate it, even if I will bash them for "phoning it in" as much as the next guy. That also means farming it out to various, likely less technically proficient (no knock on them) editors.

 

[nightshade]

Resolution counting is a relatively slow process unlike framerate counting which can be automated, this makes it difficult in cases of games with dynamic resolution. Especially games where the resolution doesn't drop as often....you have to go through 10s and 100 of screenshot and pixel count each and every one of them to figure out if if and how much it drops.

 

[chris1515]

The worst framerate performance on a Digital Foundry tests since they began to do it in 2008: average 1080p 15 fps with Vsynch on PS4 and 1080p and average 15 fps on Xbox One with Vsynch off..

And 2 to 3 minutes by loading screen... Problem of luminosity on Xbox One...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...mage-is-the-worst-performing-game-weve-tested

 

[London Geezer]

OUCH

 

[chris1515]

How can Sony and Microsoft QA let this game release in this shitty state?

 

[upnorthsox]

How can Sony and Microsoft QA let this game release in this shitty state?

Yes, this is the real question. Sometimes you just have to say no.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It's a style thing - they're going for the stop-frame-animation look.

 

[I.S.T.]

I don't get how it was released this way. It's not a super duper hyped up NFL Call of Duty Creed Elder Scrolls Fallout New Vegas Far Cry release

So how in the fuck

 

[Clukos]

Must be the Ps4k port

 

[London Geezer]

Must be the Ps4k port

I just know, this will never get old

 

[Globalisateur]

Yes, this is the real question. Sometimes you just have to say no.

Maybe they did. Could be a simple misunderstanding.

Them - Can we release the game?
Sony - Noooooooooooooo
Them - Now? OK.

 

[Strange]

It's a style thing - they're going for the stop-frame-animation look.

The ~15 fps is from a early silent film cinema look.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

then they forgot the black-and-white filter!

 

[Riddlewire]

The ~15 fps is from a early silent film cinema look.

Getting OT, but early silent films were shot at a minimum of 16fps. However, they were projected back for viewing at 20fps+. So Lichdom doesn't even meet D.W. Griffith standards.

 

[tuna]

Getting OT, but early silent films were shot at a minimum of 16fps. However, they were projected back for viewing at 20fps+. So Lichdom doesn't even meet D.W. Griffith standards.

That depends on the projectionist. And we are seriously off topic.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Hitting a new low, here is a DF article with a top 10 list of games they'd like to see improved with Neo. Next week's Saturday article: which celebs panties have the best shaders.

Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Anybody remember when DF did respected insightful analysis?

 

[Shortbread]

Hitting a new low, here is a DF article with a top 10 list of games they'd like to see improved with Neo. Next week's Saturday article: which celebs panties have the best shaders.

Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Anybody remember when DF did respected insightful analysis?

PS4 is now the new redhead stepchild... while XB1 got committed to a nice white padded room.

Oh the fun these refreshes will bring...

 

[Shortbread]

In Theory: Will future consoles share identical tech specs?

The situation actually looks fairly moribund on the CPU side. With its upcoming Zen CPU chips seemingly aimed at the server market first with no sign of any low-power variant, it seems that the only viable x86 architecture available for a console is an upclocked version of the relatively weak Jaguar CPU we already have - exactly what Neo has. This makes things tricky for Microsoft. The move to x86 architecture in the current generation effectively rules out access to any other more powerful parts from other manufacturers. Other than AMD, only Intel can produce x86 processors - and moving to ARM for an Nvidia SoC would introduce more problems than it would solve. The only advance here would be to move to a 12-core Jaguar or Puma solution - possible, but may cause issues for the existing interconnect fabric.

In effect, unless Microsoft sinks a vast amount of money into a fully custom AMD design, or reverts to CPU and GPU cores from different manufacturers (highly unlikely), the best it can do is to produce a machine with a similar hardware spec to the Neo, or else sit back and wait a couple of years for more advanced hardware to come along. This does not seem likely.

Of course, the question is to what extent a commonality in hardware is actually a bad thing. After all, a level playing field in spec means an easier time for developers, while the platform holders can concentrate elsewhere on services and features that make their consoles distinct and unique. And that's why it's the NX that we're particularly eager to see. Assuming Nintendo has chosen similar parts to Sony (not a foregone conclusion - remember that the smaller, less capable Polaris 11 should still handily outperform PS4), criticisms of under-powered tech will be a thing of the past. But perhaps more importantly, Nintendo has a proven track record of handing in distinctive hardware designs where the concept trumps the importance of the raw horsepower available.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

In Theory: Will future consoles share identical tech specs?

If there is only one commercially viable choice then yes. This is how things have ended up this generation. To go any route other than AMD's APU would have resulted in one console being significantly more expensive. It's the same hardware economics of mobile phones and why most are based on a few variations of SoCs with screen tech, flavour of OS (and skin) and bundled cloud services being the differentiators.

 

[Cjail]

Another naive article from DF.