Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion Archive [2010]

IIRC patches are also game updates hence the bigger size (new maps etc) that you have to have even if you don't buy.

 

It does notify you, but it's a generic message. Such as "Content for Mod Nations Racers has been downloaded", or something like that. Like the video editor feature it also only seems to apply to games you've played since the 3.4 firmware update, even if the game data is on your system. I rather like this feature. I find myself popping in a game, seeing that it needs an update, exiting and playing another game that doesn't need an update knowing it will be patched tomorrow when I log back in.

Unchartered's "Updating Live Data" also through me off. I just recently started playing online again and it was at that point for a very long time before it let me in. This process should be a bit more transparent with a more accurate progress indicator.

 

I have not noticed any messages saying stuff has been updated.

I put the Uncharted 2 disc in over the weekend and had to download 6 updates.

I am wondering if Playstation plus is working as it should at present.

 

The thing is the patch itself should not exceed 5MB (which is considerably less imo).
Most of the time the PS3 patch will include the additional contents...like in the last BFBC2 patch there were these extra stuff which were available for free but on 360 you needed to download them separately from marketplace...if you didn't then you'd be unable to use those features which require those contents.

 

That I believe was for the installation of the update, I've been able to use the NXE enabled original Xbox 360 (which only has 16 MB of flash NAND) without the hard drive.

 

The NXE update itself required at least 128mb of free storage space. Once it is updated you can use it without a hard drive or memory card, but you won't be able to use avatars since it needs storage space for that.

Tommy McClain

 

LucasArts' 60FPS Force Unleashed II tech demo

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-force-unleashed-60fps-tech-article

 

Great article and very interesting!

 

Read this in the article, very interesting. Though results are quite bad. Aside from artifacts it looks like running in fastforward mode. Like watching a movie made in 30fps at 60fps, everything just moves to fast. Might be good in selective type of games like say arcade racers or such.

 

very interesting article, maybe i missed it but did they mention how they would clean up the character portion of that interpolated image?

on another note, dont know why that crytek/sony comparison was thrown in there, "better than sony's" mlaa was not the context i got reading that crytek presentation, especially when comparing their close distance edge blur portion to mlaa

Didnt they just say they didnt want to spend the computing resources for a process that didnt cover all aliasing, specifically sub pixel aliasing issues? and that they went with a process that was less compute intensive and comparable (in their opinion)?

 

Wow...very impressive indeed.Here is site with his slides and videos.
http://and.intercon.ru/releases/talks/rtfrucvg/

 

It's probably unavoidable to compare since people need a reference. As long as the same people keep their cool, and understand the context, it might not be a bad thing.

In the article, it is unclear what "better" means. Speed, quality, versatility (best/average/worst cases) and compatibility with the rest of the engine are all important. I like a good spread of tech covering all attributes since we may need the resources for something else sometimes.

 

Nice that's someone's trying this. I was suggesting as much a few years back, although I was think the before-and-after interpolation adding a (sub)frame of lag. And again, this is one of the reasons why I like the idea of a software-renderer architecture. It's the programmability of the hardware that enables tricks like this, where static hardware would just have to render more stuff. More programmability = more options. We also see how deferred rendering looks like being the way forward. The more buffers you have describing aspects of the scene, the more you can repurpose them to better effect

Regards CryTek's AA approach, I don't see anything there that precludes the use of MLAA in addition, if you have cycles to spare. MLAA edge on each framebuffer prior to the interpolated blend from last frame, and you'll have the best of both worlds.

 

One thing I know about devs, especially this gen is, never say its impossible.

 

It depends. Impossible to do what ?

Shifty, there are assorted MLAA variants to use, so I think they can experiment with some to see how they complement the existing stack. They don't have to stick with the same GoWAA code since they have access to the source as part of the SDK provision ? I want to know what KZ3 does with it too since a few people said the AA there is not quite done yet (Got jaggies).

 

I love the fact that the lack of GPU power in both consoles is forcing developers to find ingenious solutions like this, since I despise the fact that modern GPU's are just too many power hogging/heat generating transistors clumped together. I eagerly await 720p 60fps MLAA+Temporal AA titles...since after watching the Crysis 2 demo, I clearly see that MLAA is better than edge blur, but temporal AA via reprojection can be nicely added to both and actually helps with subpixel detail.

 

Well, I wouldn't call it a lack of power that's forcing their hand, but a closed box where you know exactly what hardware you have to play with, plus a massive install base and a long shelf-life, giving lots of opportunity to explore and innovate. That's the upside of consoles.

 

anyone remember LP1 use motion blur to fake 60 fps?

http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20070926/lp21.htm

 

having watched the video, its a very impressive technique but it makes you wonder whether or not this is a viable technique for developers out there, especially those who are concerned with image quality

playing the game full speed with the interpolation without knowing what had been done to achieve the framerate beforehand you would probably never know anything was wrong or what was going in regards to all the "cleaning up" thats being done

but for those concerned with image quality, you have issues like this

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/7251/vlcsnap2010082811h52m01.png

but who knows, maybe the benefits of a 60fps feeling with more detail than actual 60fps rendering far outweigh little things like that

not to nitpick but for those just interested in a little laugh

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/849/vlcsnap2010082811h52m52.png

 

I remember some people with 120hz TV sets claiming a few months back about how their 30FPS tittles "feel" as if its running at 60FPS on their TV. I donno if its true but if its indeed the case then I assume its nothing more than duplicating the frames ? And doesn't this obviously means an increased perception to input lag experienced by the observer/user, since the game will still respond like a 30FPS title. ?