Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion [2020]

[Flappy Pannus]

Yeah that is a bit weird. There was a performance mode on the original game, right? With unlocked frame rate at 1080p on Pro?
That should be 60 but they should also unlock rez slime SuckerPunch did with GOT.
Patches are needed! GOW too!

No, Horizon in performance mode on ps4 pro still has a cap of 30fps. Performance mode just dropped it down to 1080p(?), there was little point to it except some later Cauldron levels which could chug pretty hard on the Pro in resolution mode.

Also, I can see a Horizon 'remastered' coming with Horizon: Forbidden West, rather than a free patch.

 

[arhra]

Really is nice to seeing Sony going back patching old titles, even if it's just fps, although shame not resolution also.

I don't think they're patching anything for those two games - Killzone always had an unlocked-framerate mode (or it was patched in shortly after launch).

 

[Jay]

I don't think they're patching anything for those two games - Killzone always had an unlocked-framerate mode (or it was patched in shortly after launch).

Think games like days gone got patched.
Assumed killzone never had unlocked mode due to way Richard was daying it would be nice seeing it at 60fps. Probably me misinterpreting what he said then.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Think games like days gone got patched.

HZD is from 2017, Days Gone (2019) has been patched but they've not yet patched God of War, nor The Last of Us Part II.

Even if Sony devs are working on more meaty patches to support PS5 more meaningfully, why not do a quick and dirty patch to unlock frame rates? It would give Digital Foundry something to do.

 

[Deleted member 7537]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1327158533247348736

 

[Dictator]

HZD is from 2017, Days Gone (2019) has been patched but they've not yet patched God of War, nor The Last of Us Part II.

Even if Sony devs are working on more meaty patches to support PS5 more meaningfully, why not do a quick and dirty patch to unlock frame rates? It would give Digital Foundry something to do.

we already have enough to do!

 

[Karamazov]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1327158533247348736

just watched the NX video, PS5 does not outperform XsX ? they're almost identical, even the load times

 

[goonergaz]

Welcome to the party of Backwards Compatibility, Sony PS5 gamers... Now maybe some viewpoints of BC being worthless will change.

I don’t think anyone said it was useless, just not a deal breaker (ie won’t ‘switch sides’) because console of choice doesn’t do it.

Dint forget PS4 is the only PS console that didn’t have BC from day one. I think things have changed somewhat with the shift to digital games and these days there are quite a lot of massive online games and communities where people will appreciate a seamless transition and both MS/Sony want to keep gamers in their ecosystem.

 

[pjbliverpool]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1327158533247348736

I didn't take that away from the NXGamer video. In fact at one point he specifically said the XSX has a very slight performance advantage.

That said, I'm sure DF have done their own testing so if they're saying it's true then I'm inclined to believe it.

On the other hand, Ubi themselves described the XSX version as native 4k and the PS5 as upscaled 4k so hopefully DF will be checking carefully for CB and other upscaling techniques.

 

[Dictator]

I didn't take that away from the NXGamer video. In fact at one point he specifically said the XSX has a very slight performance advantage.

That said, I'm sure DF have done their own testing so if they're saying it's true then I'm inclined to believe it.

On the other hand, Ubi themselves described the XSX version as native 4k and the PS5 as upscaled 4k so hopefully DF will be checking carefully for CB and other upscaling techniques.

I am working on this video and have yet to even play the games as I just finished my Watch Dogs Legion work. So John is just saying that there from his minor experience between the two consoles and a subjective one. I will see how it performs with the tools, perhaps it is that way. Perhaps not.

 

[goonergaz]

Maybe another example of the expected gap not being easily noticeable.

 

[dskneo]

just watched the NX video, PS5 does not outperform XsX ? they're almost identical, even the load times

He says the dynamic resolution drops lower on XSX.

 

[N2O]

I am working on this video and have yet to even play the games as I just finished my Watch Dogs Legion work. So John is just saying that there from his minor experience between the two consoles and a subjective one. I will see how it performs with the tools, perhaps it is that way. Perhaps not.

Thanks for the hard work, btw will WDL's video come out today?

 

[Karamazov]

He says the dynamic resolution drops lower on XSX.

yeah but he just tested the first region though. wait and see !

 

[Globalisateur]

Sure we need to wait for more framerate tests for AC Valhalla. Based on what NX Gamer showed XSX seems to have an incredibly minor advantage in cutscenes (like 1% or so) and PS5 has a slight advantage in gameplay.

But some people who have both versions recommend the PS5 version only because of the screen tearing on XSX. I believe John already said there was plenty of (or some) tearing on Xbox.

 

[Arwin]

After the first two comparisons I am really curious about what work needs to be done with regards to memory use on the Series X. Memory scaled up the least of all hardware factors so you need all of it all the time. That means that everything above the fast ram barrier needs to be managed. You saw in DMC5 that the Series X, when it dipped framerate, it could seriously plummet. I’m guessing developers will eventually iron this out but as we have seen in the past with split pools it is something to deal with, that is more straightforward on PS5. I also have a hunch it is comparatively easier to save on memory use in PS5 with more efficient texture streaming straight from SSD to the GPU cache - even if Xbox and PS5 have the exact same efficient pipeline for that, the PS5s SSD faster speed should mean you need to keep less in memory.

It remains to be seen how much of the possible optimizations on either side will end up in multi platform games however, but at least it will just mean that the Xbox won’t be winning cross platform comparisons hands down easily - it will take a year for that to be more common. In the best case scenario the extra CUs and bandwidth will show up to a 20-25% performance gain, but I am thinking that the relatively low amount of RAM will mean there frequently won’t be a benefit. Considering how fast you can get things off the SSD you will typically use the RAM for everything that actually requires as fast as possible memory, and then the average speed for both is quite similar for the total memory pool if you average out the speeds.

The extra TFs from the CUs and clock will show up the most frequently in comparisons once the software stack is more stable. So ideal circumstances for a clear Xbox Series X win are a fast game that uses relatively little RAM (like parts of DMC I’m guessing) combined with a lot of graphical effects. And that will then translate either to higher framerates or fewer dynamic resolution drops (obviously).

On the PS5 side I think there is potential for better textures, maybe sometimes also better sound, and in general a more predictable performance level from the get go, allowing the hardware to keep up relatively with the Series X initially with fever drops especially in the beginning of the generation.

With these differences, DF videos will remain very interesting, but the choice of console will more than ever be made based on all the other stuff like what do my friends have, gamepass like services, controller etc.

 

[N2O]

XSX isn't split pool.

 

[London Geezer]

So what's the verdict so far? PS5 punching above its weight? Could it be the clock speeds that make these cross gen games run faster than we would expect? Jury is still out of course but what's the feeling here?

 

[Arwin]

XSX isn't split pool.

To a programmer it is. You have one memory range that has a ~40% lower bandwidth than the other. So you have to consider where you put your stuff to make the best use of that, think about which stuff needs to be reread and reused the most intensively etc. That’s typically been what split pools have always looked like for programmers, or I must have missed something.

 

[Globalisateur]

To a programmer it is. You have one memory range that has a ~40% lower bandwidth than the other. So you have to consider where you put your stuff to make the best use of that, think about which stuff needs to be reread and reused the most intensively etc. That’s typically been what split pools have always looked like for programmers, or I must have missed something.

For this game the 'split' pool is probably not even being used as everything should fit in 10GB (XBX has 9GB and I think this is the Pro/XBX game with simply the framerate uncapped).