Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion Archive [2015]

[function]

The fact that there are first party games that have varying levels of aniso (e.g Forza Horizon and DriveClub) prove that aniso isn't automatically crippling, but also that it can have a performance impact.

If PS4Bone couldn't do aniso, these games wouldn't have it, and wouldn't have game modes with high levels of it, but if it was fast enough to have an insignificant hit then the games wouldn't scale it back in performance critical sections.

Edit: also, for 6 looks the business. 60 fps based god.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

NVidia is claiming that mipmaps improve performance*, not AF. AF requires takings more samples from larger mip levels, so it should require more work on basically all parts of the texturing system.

My reading was that the use of mipmaps can aid the performance of AF but you're right, it doesn't actually say that, they just leap into mipmaps in their overview of AF.

 

[HTupolev]

My reading was that the use of mipmaps can aid the performance of AF

This is a true statement.

but you're right, it doesn't actually say that

No, it says that.

It just doesn't also say that AF with mipmaps is cheaper than non-AF with mipmaps. Mipmaps improve the performance of texture filtering in general, aside from taking up a bit more space in memory than a non-mipmapped texture.

 

[function]

Bilinear with dithered mip-map transitions and low aniso was one of the options that was sometimes chosen above trilinear (0 AF) last gen.

Of course, this was normally a mistake as it made it look like you were chasing a line of crawling ants across the gameworld whenever you moved.

(Edit: not that this really relates to the above, just dropping it in there)

 

[Clukos]

Performance Analysis: Mad Max

Destiny like situation for Mad Max, 1080p for both consoles. Same draw distance, same effects. Ps4 curiously dropping frames more frequently. Maybe JC3 will be 1080p on both consoles as well?

Compared to PC (although without CPU limitations in place):

Both 260x and 750 ti don't drop below 30 (and that is at maxed PC settings which i don't think Ps4/X1 are running on this port).

 

[Nesh]

Another game that narrows the gap. Either the game is too unoptimized for the PS4 or the performance advantage isnt that big to begin with anymore. it is surprising that the XB1 manages 1080p with stable performance this time around.

 

[Ike Turner]

Maybe Humus can shed some light here. Either way the game is fucking awesome IMO!

 

[Clukos]

Another game that narrows the gap. Either the game is too unoptimized for the PS4 or the performance advantage isnt that big to begin with anymore. it is surprising that the XB1 manages 1080p with stable performance this time around.

If anything the game is better optimized for PC than consoles (hello, Alien Isolation ), some users on neogaf report single digit fps even in the X1 version:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=177645890&postcount=11

I trust DF, but the frame rate on X1 drops to what feels like single digits during a convey attack to get a story progression item.

I'd be interested to see them put that section through their frame-rate analyser on both consoles.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=177648389&postcount=86

I was seeing 22(very lowest) on both PS4 and Xbox One and other low FPS at various times across 4 different systems for my review. It was rare but it did happen especially when coming up out of a ravine, and turning right or left opening up the drawdistance quickly.

Considering that most mid end PCs can run it at a near locked 60 maxed i wouldn't recommend picking up the console version if you have a half decent PC. The PC version is also being sold at 1/4 of the price of console retail versions.

Edit: Apparently missing effects on PC and X1 version @ 1:24

Spoiler

And it actually tanks the fps on Ps4. Weird thing to include on Ps4 and omit from PC

 

[djskribbles]

Another game that narrows the gap. Either the game is too unoptimized for the PS4 or the performance advantage isnt that big to begin with anymore. it is surprising that the XB1 manages 1080p with stable performance this time around.

They probably targeted a locked 30fps on both consoles, and for the most part, they achieved that so they probably felt nothing else had to be done.

 

[Clukos]

Gif of the difference in lighting:

This persists even after the recent patch, both X1 and PC seem to be missing what seems to be volumetric shadows.

 

[Starx]

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/141437/picture:0

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/141437/picture:1

 

[Ike Turner]

Gif of the difference in lighting:

This persists even after the recent patch, both X1 and PC seem to be missing what seems to be volumetric shadows.

It's the PS4 version that's actuality lacking a "layer" of dust/sand/fume which is present on PC and Xbox.

 

[Clukos]

That wouldn't hide the volumetric shadows though. It's clearly something missing from the other versions, and seeing how the framerate drops because of it i'd say the ps4 is the least optimized out of all three versions.

 

[iroboto]

man this makes me want to buy the Blu-Ray.
Back on topic: that being said, both versions look fine - the dust cloud just might be poor timing on the screen shot, or has some minor random timing for it to arrive.

 

[Clukos]

man this makes me want to buy the Blu-Ray

It's def worth it, really good movie imo

And according to Blu-ray.com picture and sound are reference quality One of the first blu-rays with Dolby atmos mix iirc

 

[Nesh]

It's def worth it, really good movie imo

And according to Blu-ray.com picture and sound are reference quality One of the first blu-rays with Dolby atmos mix iirc

You have to be very rich to own atmos speakers!

 

[Clukos]

You have to be very rich to own atmos speakers!

It still has a very nice THD mix as a base, the atmos mix just rewards you if you are crazy enough to have speakers installed on you ceiling

 

[Clukos]

On the topic of Mad Max the game here you can see the missing shadows in the PC version, i got this capture today:

But overall, you really have to applaud Avalanche for their PC port, it runs flawlessly and looks quite good

Oh, and native Dualshock 4 support! Key prompts, touchpad and all. Always nice to see that.

 

[Davros]

It still has a very nice THD mix as a base

THX ?

 

[Clukos]

THX ?

Dolby True HD lossless mix, if you don't have atmos compatible receiver/speakers it'll run just that.