Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion Archive [2011]

[GuestLV]

In short, then, Xbox 360 benefits from a 12.5 per cent resolution boost

?
1024 vs 1152 in my calculation I get only 11.2 %

 

[AlNom]

It's a 12.5 % increase from 1024, but of course 1024 is an 11.2% decrease from 1152.

 

[GuestLV]

It's a 12.5 % increase from 1024, but of course 1024 is an 11.2% decrease from 1152.

Can you explain a little bit more?
Please

 

[Scott_Arm]

Can you explain a little bit more?
Please

100 is a 30% decrease from 150, but 150 is a 50% increase from 100.

 

[nightshade]

About the shadow offset, I noticed something...its not an issue with the offset, but rather the shadow cascade itself.

For example in this comparison:
http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles//a/1/3/4/2/7/9/3/new_ps3.bmp.jpg
http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles//a/1/3/4/2/7/9/3/filtering_360.bmp.jpg

The sandbags on the left don't have shadows on the PS3 shot, now this was mentioned to be an issue related to the offset, but when I played through that portion I noticed that the shadows did show up on the PS3 version in that specific area, its just that you need to be considerably close to those bags for the shadow to appear onscreen.

 

[GuestLV]

100 is a 30% decrease from 150, but 150 is a 50% increase from 100

Thanks for explanation

 

[Neb]

Interesting info about Crysis 2 features in this PDF.

http://crytek.com/sites/default/files/c2_ce3_key_rendering_features_final_2.pdf

This effort made our lowest specification equal in many aspects and even superior to CryENGINE 2 High specs. The biggest differences from Crysis 1 to Crysis 2 are the vastly improved dynamic lighting and shadowing and highly improved image quality. For this reason, the lowest available spec on PC in Crysis 2 is “High Spec” and the highest spec is “Extreme”.

The lowest PC spec, “High”, is almost the same as the spec used on consoles, besides per-platform differences, such as different texture formats for render targets and different normal map formats on PS3 due to lack of 3Dc support. PC specs also feature improved texture quality, since we do not use streaming for PC due to the vast memory resources available. Anisotropic filtering is enabled for all specs, while on PS3 it is dynamically adjusted and goes up to 16x anisotropic, and on Xbox 360 it is limited to 4x anisotropic in order to reduce the performance cost.

Such a technique is quite a novelty in the video game industry and it’s very likely Crytek will release improved versions as it has potential to also be merged with different techniques - for example, it’s currently also combined with Nvidia’s FXAA in “Extreme” spec, in order to improve quality further with sub-pixel accuracy results from post MSAA.

Such an approach works by accumulating sub-samples over frames and reprojecting them to the current frame. It should not be confused with “temporal antialiasing” commonly used on 60 fps games that simply do a linear blending and hence have ghosting for every pixel. The Post MSAA approach is very general and allows for a sub-pixel accuracy solution on all platforms at a cost of just 1ms on consoles, and less than 0.2 ms on PCs at 1080p resolutions.

Our GPU based occlusion buffer and conditional rendering allow us to significantly reduce the amount of drawcalls on consoles, thanks to a lower GPU and CPU overhead.

Although it is common practice for multiplatform engines to disable certain rendering features depending on hardware strengths or weaknesses, in CryENGINE3 most rendering code is designed to be general, shared and optimal for consoles. For example, all post processes use exactly the same code path. We also scale the quality up for higher PC specs.

To ensure a correct set-up, the user can follow these simple steps:
1. If the TV supports HDMI 1.3 or higher:
 360: pick “Expanded” in console dashboard display setup, in reference levels
 Ps3: enable “RGB full range” in console display setup
 If incorrect settings are used, the brightness calibration icon might be always visible (too bright), resulting in a lack of contrast (insufficient darks) and visible (color) banding. This very likely also means the TV does NOT support HDMI 1.3 and higher, or is not properly detected by hardware.

2. If the TV does not support HDMI 1.3 or higher:
a. 360: pick “Standard” on console dashboard display setup, in reference levels
b. Ps3: disable “RGB Full range” in console display setup
c. If the user has the wrong setting, the brightness calibration icon will always not be visible, or almost invisible, resulting in crushed darks.
3. Another common mistake from users is not picking the correct resolution to match the display's native resolution, resulting in an additional image upsample from the TV. If the display monitor's native resolution is 1080p, the user should pick it as default on either XBox 360 or PS3.

Shadows are fully dynamic on all specs. A large view distance is used for the sun cascaded shadowmap. Shadows are updated every frame on PC and are amortized over frames on consoles. On PC high specs, almost every single light projector or main light source casts shadows. On consoles, the amount of lights casting shadows is limited for performance reasons.

 

[kagemaru]

Haven't had a chance to read the article yet, but do they go into detail on the quality of different buffers in the game? Basically if they aren't using a low res alpha buffer, then I wonder why they didn't just lower the resolution of certain effects to help minimize performance spikes. Most people don't notice them on other games, so I wouldn't see the harm.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

100 is a 30% decrease from 150

33.3%, but who is counting

Good article again from DF, seems like the console versions are much closer to each other than many thought at first.

 

[Scott_Arm]

33%, but who is counting

Yes, I can't believe I typed that. 33.333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333%

 

[KKRT]

Interesting info about Crysis 2 features in this PDF.

http://crytek.com/sites/default/files/c2_ce3_key_rendering_features_final_2.pdf

Wow, this one doc just offload many work needed for checking tweaks and describing them and what a great read.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Now that is quite the feature list if I may say so.

 

[assurdum]

Jeez... the post AA it's even worsen of QAA on the ps3... I almost prefer there wasn't at this point...

 

[Ruskie]

Crytek was always pioneer at lighting/post processing and it is really good to see that their post processing effects such as SSAO,motion blur and actual bokeh each take merely 1ms.Now...if thats not optimized nothing is

EDIT.
Or does their post processing actually takes 1ms for all?
"All post processes are done in HDR, before tone mapping. This allows us to retain bright streaks, which are not commonly used in current-gen games, besides Crysis 1. This is performed on everyplatform and implemented for optimal performance by batching all techniques in one, costing around 1ms on console platforms""

 

[djskribbles]

About the shadow offset, I noticed something...its not an issue with the offset, but rather the shadow cascade itself.

For example in this comparison:
http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles//a/1/3/4/2/7/9/3/new_ps3.bmp.jpg
http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles//a/1/3/4/2/7/9/3/filtering_360.bmp.jpg

The sandbags on the left don't have shadows on the PS3 shot, now this was mentioned to be an issue related to the offset, but when I played through that portion I noticed that the shadows did show up on the PS3 version in that specific area, its just that you need to be considerably close to those bags for the shadow to appear onscreen.

I noticed the same thing.

 

[KKRT]

Jeez... the post AA it's even worsen of QAA on the ps3... I almost prefer there wasn't at this point...

I agree PostMSAA is actually the weakest point of this presentation. And they wrote that it covers subpixel aliasing that actually is still there and quite evident.

 

[ultragpu]

TAA can be very horrendous at times especially in that chopper battle level both indoor and outdoor. What's worse is the rough shadows and the in your face constant update, really reminds me of the annoying shadow updating in Assassin's creed games.

 

[Ruskie]

TAA can be very horrendous at times especially in that chopper battle level both indoor and outdoor. What's worse is the rough shadows and the in your face constant update, really reminds me of the annoying shadow updating in Assassin's creed games.

Its not TAA.It seems like its Post MSAA.

 

[ultragpu]

OK, post MSAA or whatever Crytek used is way too inconsistent for quality results.

 

[Cyan]

Digital Foundry; "Crysis 2 doesn't run at 720p until we say it does!". I will gladly get my Crysowned.

Well, I've been playing the initial stages of the campaign...

First things first. I am not going to deny that the game has pop in sometimes and other graphical issues. This game is way too ambitious for consoles. Crytek tried to cram in all kind of effects on consoles' hardware and they managed to make it possible.

Awesome, the 2005-2006 greatness is back for consoles! Yay to them!

However, it comes at a price -later-. Playing Crysis 2 feels to me like I am playing a game in 2005, when I was thrilled just thinking about how old and useless the GC, Xbox and PS2 were to me back then. The game emanates next next generation graphics through all its pores.

As for the aforementioned price... Well, there is popping, as I said, AA works really well sometimes but not 100% of the time, and I also noticed that, in the distance -using the Nanosuit's Visor helps- things like the distance shadows update their framerate very slowly, and it looks pretty odd. And this is unfortunate. There isn't that much that can be done about it . Or, better put, I don't think that much can be done, really.

but that's what you have to endure in order to play a game with current technology in half a decade old consoles.

But then... I get the hype back. When I first opened the door to leave the first building, and then I wandered around just to see the scenery. What can I say, the first time I watched the walls of the building so defined, plus the GI bathed in light.., I wanted to cry. This game is what I was wanting to see in a console since time ago. Crysis 2 has something special about the lighting, I have to admit. The use of colour and the lighting techniques along with HDR create a very particular look that you don't see in any other game.

All in all, Crysis 3 is in my favourites games list this generation, in the graphics department.

It reached the top through sheer force of personality.

Anyway, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here there are two:

http://oi52.tinypic.com/s0x7d4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/goLF5.jpg

It gives me the creeps just thinking about when they activate DX11 mode. If they achieved this on consoles, I can't wait to see it running on a powerful PC using DirectX 11 API.

Looking at the screenshots, it looks like consoles are missing some of the really, IMO, jawdropping effects from the PC version. The flying birds, for example, don't cast dynamic shadow rays in the hazy air of the first level. Shame as I sat there just watching the birds fly around for like 10 minutes.

Regards,
SB

:smile: I am the same dot about it. But in different situations, I simply tend to look for and visit every spot of the map. I have a thing about that since a lot of time ago. Even so, I wouldn't look at those birds for about 10 minutes, but maybe it would clear my mind for awhile, as I sort of think too much.

By the way, these are some stunning god rays you can see in the initial stage of the game.

http://s16.radikal.ru/i191/1103/fc/d7ead241cfd7.gif

EDIT: (I am wondering this after reading the new PDF document related to Crysis. I set up my HDTV, a 22" Samsung to Just Scan, since the console's frame always fits the width and height of the TV screen, no matter what.. On the contrary, if I use 16:9 or Wide format I lose information on both sides of the TV frame. I am wondering if in this situation it's the console who is doing all the upscaling -which I greatly prefer- or it is the TV -a very average one-, so I think it's an important question regarding image quality.