Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion [2019]

Amen.

Plans, scripting, rewrites, "editor's block", timing, etc. As an amateur Youtuber, I know it well.

DF videos used to be performance and/or comparison only, with no commentary or corresponding voice over. Once they started actually talking and reporting their findings, it added a whole new dimension, making DF content immensely enjoyable. Personally I love the DF Retro videos the most. They are awesome.

 

Interestingly PS4 Pro dips below 1080p, do dynamic dips get around the minimum 1080p requirements, and if so how much sub 1080 would be allowable.

I would have liked them to test the impact of higher FOV settings given this game allows it, and warns of performance impacts

 

Read the full Article here -- https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-apex-legends-tech-analysis

Apex Legends: the Titanfall 2 engine evolved?
PC and console versions under the microscope.

Just over 11 years ago, Infinity Ward revolutionised online multiplayer gaming with the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. This past week, Respawn Entertainment, featuring many of the core team responsible for 2007's game-changing title released its take on the battle royale shooter: Apex Legends. Set in the same world as Titanfall 2, it lacks the technological edge that Modern Warfare had in its day, but the quality of the action shines through in ways that its competitors struggle to match.

Commonalities with Titanfall 2 extend beyond the setting - the highly modified Source engine used in Respawn's last title is rolled out once more for Apex Legends, with a number of tweaks - essentially, the inclusion of necessary modifications required in order to deliver a large, expansive map with extensive draw distances. The same visual feature set we saw in Titanfall 2 remains in place then, but Respawn is perhaps a little less extravagant in how it is deployed, presumably in the interests of clarity and readability - essential elements in a multiplayer shooter.

However, the PC version in particular demonstrates how closely Apex Legends is built on Titanfall's tech: system requirements are very similar and the options menu is mostly the same. Curiously though, Apex Legends' tweakables are a sub-set of Titanfall 2's: HBAO+ ambient occlusion is replaced with an SSAO variant, while multi-sampling anti-aliasing (MSAA) is gone. Temporal super-sampling AA was Respawn's 'go to' choice for Titanfall 2 on console, and so it is on PC, where this technology in combination with dynamic resolution scaling is key to getting as close as possible to a 60fps lock. This is Respawn's signature - a dedication to the fastest possible visual feedback and lower input latency. It's all part of getting the 'feel' of the game right. Again, Apex Legends does feel very much like Titanfall 2, and this is no bad thing.

What is evident, however, is that Apex Legends pushes harder and so compromises need to be made. Primarily, this comes down to the dynamic resolution 'window'. Establishing the upper and lower bounds for DRS is challenging, but taking PlayStation 4 Pro as an example, Titanfall 2 seemed to operate mostly in a 1080p to 1440p range. We think that the upper bounds is similar for Apex Legends, but resolution tends spend more time in the 1080p area and we've even seen the 'supercharged PS4' hit 900p too. Xbox One X follows the same principles but offers a step up, spending more time in 1296p territory, while also delivering extended draw distance. As expected, the base consoles take a further hit, to the point where we've even noted resolutions as low as 720p on the PlayStation 4 and 648p on Xbox One.

 

720p, we need next gen.

 

Only if you're not on One X. Still, not hitting 1440p is rough. Poor little cpus.

 

Just the CPU's fault? Dont lower resolutions limit cpu performance, and higher rest means lower cpu useage?

 

Not even 2080 ti can maintain 4k/60fps (drops to 50) and next gen consoles won't be anywhere close to that power. It's a grandpa engine, game looks as butt ugly as they come and certainly doesn't warrant the resolution hit.

 

How many play at that resolution, where do most play this apex game?
Thats a base console or pc question, i have no idea what the split is, depending on game type it could be more popular on console or vice versa.

 

Is this current gen failings or last gen game engine failings?

The scope of the visuals and performance target is ambitious. I wonder if a newer engine with more recent tweaks such as temporal injection may allow that value to be increased. I wonder what the effect on input lag would be tho.

Seems fine to me, the technology does not seem to affect the fun, and I could counter my own suggestion with UE4 and pubg I guess

 

Is the renderer really that old though? I'd assume it's been pretty overhauled by now. T1 had a ground up new renderer too allegedly and also looked dated back then. Maybe it's just infinity Ward doesn't prioritize cutting edge graphics as much. This game does look reasonably good, but it's full of severe cutbacks in many areas...

 

Indeed. There's also no telling what they would have to cut back for hitting a stable 60fps anyway even if the renderer weren't a complete overhaul. My limited time with it doesn't seem to point to it being catastrophically different from or behind other large scale shooters @ 60fps.

I could see the streaming/overdraw being a tougher issue for them aside from networking tricks.

 

I don't think performance, visuals are massively out of line with other battle royale games.

 

i got lit up on a popular twtich streamer. Looks like 70-80 fps is not enough to compete. He's brought graphics options all the way down. Going to see if i can get up to 144 fps.

 

I think best battle royal in tech is Fortnite, good graphics, 60 fps on almost all platforms, highest possible resolution on each platform. Game is also available on almost all platforms. Also this game very good shows how good engine UE4 realy is.

 

I played Fortnite and Apex on Pro and for me Apex is technically much more impressive. Fortnite does look like a Switch (or XB360) game running at higher res and 60fps on Pro.

 

Yesterdays patch gave me a nice performance increase. I can hover above 100 fps a lot of the time with everything set low.

 

oooooooooooooooooo... gonna try it now

 

Mind you, I did install nvidia's new drivers yesterday. No notes about Apex in it, but there could be some performance from the new drivers as well.

 

Il get the PC version eventually when its cheaper, should be a next gen console game imo. Base PS4 dipping down to 16fps with a 30fps baseline it mostly cant hold when things happen, screen tearing, and low-med settings.