The Technology of GTA IV/RDR *Rage Engine*

[Cheezdoodles]

Why would there be a difference between LCD and Plasma

I dunno why, but atleast with my own experience, the plasma tv in the livingroom has less AA at the same resolution than my LCD it seems, just like CRT tv's get "natural" AA because the "pixels" are round and not squared, i think Plasmas have some build in natural advantage.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I dunno why, but atleast with my own experience, the plasma tv in the livingroom has less AA...

You mean less visible aliasing, I presume. AA is the process of removing jaggies; what you're saying is you see less jaggyness on plasma than LCD. I don't know about plasmas but your right about CRT - they do a special job of reducing aliasing that just doesn't seem reproducible on LCDs.

 

[babcat]

How difficult is it to adjust the LOD and filters in a PC game? Do you think that it will be possible to adjust the LOD and filters in the PC version of this game?

 

[Galduta]

Latest screens. Maybe in video looks better. This same Web have very good videos in HD, the first 10 minutes of the games and ingame.

http://www.gamersyde.com/gallery_8179_en.html

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Considering that it's an entire frakkin' city, I'd say the game looks amazing. Try to compare it to Saint's Row to see what I'm talking about.

 

[-tkf-]

Latest screens. Maybe in video looks better. This same Web have very good videos in HD, the first 10 minutes of the games and ingame.

http://www.gamersyde.com/gallery_8179_en.html

Do you have a link or maybe the video? looks like they took it down

 

[Galduta]

TKf , sorry for my english . Gamersyde will have ingame videos before the launch GTA 4, like is normal in others games . Those only are screens of the game , not are screens of a video

 

[Betanumerical]

They also likely did not use even the full capabilities(6 spes + 1ppe) of the downclocked cell and weaker gpu at that time.

Sorry for going off topic, but say what?, I thought the getaway was running on the release hardware (RSX + 3.2Ghz 6 SPE usable Cell?).

 

[-tkf-]

Gamersyde posted a gameplay video without spoilers, it´s from the 360 version.

http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6396.html

 

[Raqia]

PS3 and 360

There seems to be some difference between the native resolutions on each console. According to Kotaku PS3 runs GTA at 630p:

http://kotaku.com/385237/gta-iv-runs-at-630p-on-playstation-3-so-whats-that-mean

Here's an HD comparison vid:

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/18625

There's some difference in the scene where he's on the beach, the ferris wheel shows signficant aliasing on the PS3 version. Though that could be due to post processing rather than the native resolution.

 

[betan]

There seems to be some difference between the native resolutions on each console. According to Kotaku PS3 runs GTA at 630p:

Good find Kotaku,

 

[ninzel]

I think the only thing that could graphically ruin this game for me would be crappy animations and lip synching.

 

[joker454]

Dunno if this has been posted, but here's another comparison vid for those interested:

http://www.videogamer.com/features/article/29-04-2008-389.html

The sharpness difference between the two versions is fairly obvious from that video, but I'd still recommended doing an a/b in person to really be able to see the difference.

One of the best use of LOD in recent game was definately in the MLB 08 THE SHOW

The game certainly has far denser crowd than MLB 2K8, yet frame rate is so fluid.

It seems almost nonesense to see MLB 2K8's frame rate suffers terribly whenever camera shows its rather scattered crowd.

This actually reminded me of nAo saying about LOD being so important, that as long as you do proper LOD, RSX's vertex performance is sufficient enough.

THE SHOW's LOD is work of art as it's almost impossible to notice when the 3D crowd turn to 2D. (however it's easily detected at forced 1080P mode, due to higher res with shorter LOD distance :smile

The slowdown in 2K8 has nothing to do with the crowd. I know because I wrote the crowd system. It could render twice that much crowd and still be at 60fps easy. I would send you a Pix grab if I still worked there to prove it. It has nothing to do with LOD either. Most of those crowd are pre backface culled at art level as well, and lod'd. There were other issues at play that hit frame rate, most notably the company imploding, which hindered us hitting our frame rate at ship. GPU wise, we hit 60fps+ on 360 no problem.

 

[ihamoitc2005]

Pop-in

Dunno if this has been posted, but here's another comparison vid for those interested:

http://www.videogamer.com/features/article/29-04-2008-389.html

The sharpness difference between the two versions is fairly obvious from that video, but I'd still recommended doing an a/b in person to really be able to see the difference.

Hi Joker, do you believe that 640P is a bad resolution for nextgen game?

Also, do you feel that noticable geometry and texture pop-in on Xbox360 version is because of 720P resolution?

Thanks.

 

[ihamoitc2005]

Resolution

I dunno why, but atleast with my own experience, the plasma tv in the livingroom has less AA at the same resolution than my LCD it seems, just like CRT tv's get "natural" AA because the "pixels" are round and not squared, i think Plasmas have some build in natural advantage.

Maybe the living room plasma has lower resolution? Even at same resolution, plasma and CRT have lower sharpness than LCD.

 

[joker454]

Hi Joker, do you believe that 640P is a bad resolution for nextgen game?

I'd prefer 720p but 640p can be ok, especially if it means improved lighting. I think there's two issues here that are magnifying the problem on the PS3 version. The big problem of course is that there is another version of the same game running at 720p, so comparisons are inevitable and unfavorable. If there was nothing to compare it to this wouldn't be as big of an issue. The bigger problem to me is the quincux/post process/Vaseline filter they are using on the PS3 version. Whatever they are doing, it seems to blur the whole screen, which then immediately leads people to think the blurriness is due to 640p, which may not be the case here. You will always notice more aliasing at 640p, but I argue that given the typical tv size today, there are cases where 640p + 2xmsaa is a good option.

Also, do you feel that noticable geometry and texture pop-in on Xbox360 version is because of 720P resolution?

Nopers, resolution has no bearing on pop in.

 

[2real4tv]

I don't agree I think the game has horrible IQ...the slight difference in textures don't bother me its the jaggies and how everything looks at a distance...is the 360 version different other than the slightly blurrier textures?

 

[Raqia]

Haha whoops. I'm a dumbass! I should know that everything flows out from here by now heh...

Good find Kotaku,

 

[ihamoitc2005]

Thank you for your explanation my friend.

Many say GTAIV has amazing graphics. I feel that no, it is not amazing textures or amazing polygons (compare with Unreal 3, Gears 2, Uncharted). AM I correct? I think what is great is large environments and free-motion travel and also lighting is realistic even though detail is missing.

 

[Pugger]

If I'm being honest I'm really dissapointed with the graphical quality of the game. Yep the scale is great, but so was Crackdown. The IQ is really poor for me. Theres no getting away from it, the picture is blurry and messy. The 360 version is slightly better but both are difficult on the eyes.