Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion [2022]

[Deleted member 11852]

Surprised link hadn't actually been posted.
Explains delay, but also actually decent read in general.

The burst of patches for Spider-Man on PC is really damn weird.

The array of options on PC is great though, Nixxes have done a tremendous job. I really liked Spider-Man on PS4 and my only complaint was the lack of stealth as an option, which they remedied in Miles Morales. I would actually consider buying Spider-Man on PC if somebody mods in stealth options.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

If it is indeed native 4k, very good showing. The PS5 is pretty much a locked 60, with just slightly lower shadows from PC's Ultra but even higher draw distance that the PC can't match. Sucks though that the PS Plus version will not get this upgrade.

For comparison in that opening wooded area, my 3060 at 4k with everything at Ultra but shadows on high, can only manage in the 40's. This puts the PS5 around 3070 territory...but there are settings such as Effects and Post-Processing when dropped down to high/medium which can give a significant perf boost to the PC and gets me closer to 60 at 4k. Those really weren't covered in the scope of the video and it's not immediately clear what the visual downgrade is when lowering those, so hard to compare. If the PS+ version got the upgrade I'd compare myself, but alas.

Still a surprising patch after all this time.

 

[JPT]

I wonder why the game is coming in so hot on PC, like why it's so close to the wire with multiple patches.

Spiderman 60th anniversary, tie-in?

 

[chris1515]

 

[BRiT]

DF Article @ https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2022-marvels-spider-man-pc-tech-review

Marvel's Spider-Man PC - a patch or two away from perfection​

The DF tech review, including those all-important optimised settings.

Developer Nixxes patched Marvel's Spider-Man a couple of hours before embargo on Wednesday, setting back our PC tech review, but the update was worth it and while a little more polish is required to get the game fully into shape, the release you'll be playing today definitely hits the spot. We've already covered the PC version in broad brush strokes, but today we can get a little more granular and offer up our optimised settings for delivering the best balance between performance and fidelity.

Let's quickly recap on what we've already discussed - and it's mostly great stuff. First of all, I like the graphics configuration menu that appears before you run the game - it's a Nixxes (and IO Interactive!) hallmark that gives you an instant 'at a glance' look at the options available and allows for friction-free settings changes outside of the game. Those settings include fully realised support for practically any aspect ratio, plus configurable field of view. Not only that, but the game's full-screen support includes actual exclusive full-screen, allowing for resolutions and refresh rates outside of the desktop options - a rare thing in PC gaming today.

...

 

[BRiT]

A bit of a shame that you can't get settings to be identical.

Optimised settings are on the page in an easy-to-digest table, but ultimately, we're looking at a variation of PlayStation 5's performance RT mode. It's not possible to match settings precisely, however, and I do wish that console equivalent presets were available to tweak from. Let's put it this way: the crowd LOD setting in the performance RT mode does not correspond to any of PC's offerings. Clearly, Insomniac made its selections carefully with a view to balancing cost vs fidelity, so why not offer PC users that setting?

 

[snc]

Gotta love those ps5 load times.

 

[davis.anthony]

If Spiderman, which is nothing but a glorified PS4 game is this CPU limited due to RT and decompression imagine Ratchet & Clank

 

[BRiT]

Gotta love those ps5 load times.

Not bad considering they're not using Direct Storage at all on the PC.

 

[snc]

Not bad considering they're not using Direct Storage at all on the PC.

yeah, 2 years after ps5 still not available

 

[BRiT]

yeah, 2 years after ps5 still not available

I thought it was available but requires Windows 11.

DirectStorage now available for Windows 11, bringing faster load times for games

The speedy load times of the Xbox Series X and Series S are now making their way to PCs.

www.windowscentral.com

EDIT: Oh, looks like it can work on Windows 10 too. From the above linked article:

• Game developers can now ship PC games with support for DirectStorage.
• DirectStorage allows systems to fully utilize the speeds of fast storage devices.
• The Xbox Series X and Series S already support DirectStorage, and the feature is now available for Windows 11 and Windows 10.

 

[snc]

I thought it was available but requires Windows 11.

DirectStorage now available for Windows 11, bringing faster load times for games

The speedy load times of the Xbox Series X and Series S are now making their way to PCs.

www.windowscentral.com

to be honest not specialist here ;d tough remember forspoken was advertised as first game to use it tough now in 2023

 

[BRiT]

to be honest not specialist here ;d tough remember forspoken was advertised as first game to use it tough now in 2023

Yeah, I hadn't been keeping track of it either, so was surprised it was on Windows 10 too, since nearly all the headlines only mention Windows 11.

I'd be surprised if we see any cross-platform titles make use of it before 2024. Everyone is so time limited that they're focusing on more pressing matters than adopting a new I/O subsystem.

 

[davis.anthony]

to be honest not specialist here ;d tough remember forspoken was advertised as first game to use it tough now in 2023

And from what I remember from an article on the game, even with Direct Storage it still doesn't load as fast as the PS5 version.

Direct Storage only addresses the software side of the problem, PS5 still has additional hardware to support faster loading.

 

[function]

Yeah, I hadn't been keeping track of it either, so was surprised it was on Windows 10 too, since nearly all the headlines only mention Windows 11.

I'd be surprised if we see any cross-platform titles make use of it before 2024. Everyone is so time limited that they're focusing on more pressing matters than adopting a new I/O subsystem.

I get the feeling that the Win 10 version of Direct Storage will will have the interface and be compatible (write once, run anywhere kind of thing), but that the underlying OS gubbins that allows it work at full speed / minimum overhead will be exclusive to Win 11.

At least, that's what I thought. Can't find anything that states that atm tho.

 

[Remij]

If Spiderman, which is nothing but a glorified PS4 game is this CPU limited due to RT and decompression imagine Ratchet & Clank

Likely background shader/PSO compilation as well. CPU has much more work to do here.

This is why I actually prefer an upfront compilation process upon boot rather than during gameplay.

But we'll see what Nixxes can do with a few more patches. The feeling I get is that it came in quite hot.

 

[pjbliverpool]

If Spiderman, which is nothing but a glorified PS4 game is this CPU limited due to RT and decompression imagine Ratchet & Clank

Why would you assume Ratchet and Clank would be any worse? Being on PS4 is irrelevant as RT was not on the PS4, and it's the BVH updates that are making this such a CPU hog. The game has clearly been scaled to the capabilities of the (roughly speaking) underclocked 3700x in the PS5. The PS5 didn't get a better CPU to run R&C so there's no reason to expect it to be more CPU heavy. If anything with its reflections everywhere and fast world traversal, Spiderman is more likely to put more pressure on the CPU in terms of BVH updates.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Direct Storage only addresses the software side of the problem, PS5 still has additional hardware to support faster loading.

DS will address the hardware side as well through GPU decompression. It's just not implemented yet in the current release.

 

[davis.anthony]

Why would you assume Ratchet and Clank would be any worse? Being on PS4 is irrelevant as RT was not on the PS4, and it's the BVH updates that are making this such a CPU hog. The game has clearly been scaled to the capabilities of the (roughly speaking) underclocked 3700x in the PS5. The PS5 didn't get a better CPU to run R&C so there's no reason to expect it to be more CPU heavy. If anything with its reflections everywhere and fast world traversal, Spiderman is more likely to put more pressure on the CPU in terms of BVH updates.

Decompression happening on the CPU is also a reason for the performance as mentioned by Alex in his analysis video.

Spidermans 'PS4 level' asset streaming needs are nothing compared R&C's.

So good luck decompressing the data required for those portal transitions and building/updating the BVH on a PC CPU when it can barely handle Spiderman.

 

[davis.anthony]

DS will address the hardware side as well through GPU decompression. It's just not implemented yet in the current release.

And it's the current release I'm referring too.

Although with 3 years to get a single game out the gate I dread to think how long it will take for the GPU decompression to be implemented.