Console gamers, do you like options?

[SvennoJ]

rolltide101x said:

SvennoJ said:

Ah the mythical sliders. It doesn't work that easily. You don't get stable performance by adjusting a few sliders on PC. You get a range between min and max fps and you try to find a minimum point that's acceptable while leaving some overhead unused. Console games usually get optimized to take advatage of all available resources. Not every effect nor every scene scales the same with sliders, far from it. Different groups of geometry, textures and effects react differently to adjusting some sliders.

The resources that get divided is those of the developers trying to optimize for 3 different modes, instead of concentrating their efforts on getting the most out of a single mode. Having 2 different sku's already adds more work, with extra modes the workload keeps growing. Or you gould get the same situation as on PC where your hardware is never really used to its optimal potential. Which is what we're currently seeing with a lot of pro patches, simple accross the board resolution upgrades to a point where hopefully it still runs as good as in the optimized base version.

You really think it is that big of a deal moving sliders around so they can hit their optimal FPS target?.... Just saying it is such a small amount added to their workload making a game.

Yes, because it's a lot more than moving sliders around. If you look at all those DF comparisons over the year there were always extra differences with a bit more detail here, bit more grass in some scenes, bit less transparency effects in other scenes, different shadow resolutions for different objects, differences in reflections and dynamic lighting updates.

You think it's a slider to reduce the trackside detail in DC VR version? They probably removed a lot more than necessary as it is a lot of work to test every section of every track of the game with 8 cars in view, sparks and dust flying to make sure it never dips below 60fps no matter what. To make a proper optimized version would take a lot of effort. Fine tuning each area takes time, at least if you don't want it to look as basic as DC VR does.


Case in point for Tombraider:

Another Pro title that needs a bit of work, but shows huge promise. The base PS4 title is absolutely beautiful, and developer Nixxes has a stunning checkerboard 4K mode that demonstrates just how effective this technique can be. Unfortunately, larger 'hub' areas like the Geothermal Valley and the Soviet Installation can see frame-rate drops beneath the 30fps target.

The unlocked frame-rate mode sees performance touch 60fps in the more linear levels, dropping to around 40fps in the hub areas.

The enriched visual mode retains 1080p image quality (complete with ropey anti-aliasing) but adds improved PureHair tech, better texture filtering, more realistic reflections, higher LODs, sun soft shadows and more dynamic foliage.

Unfortunately, patch 1.05 has nerfed proper frame-pacing on both Pro and base PS4 hardware, giving a jittery presentation that is a huge downgrade compared to the silky smooth consistency we experienced at the Pro's launch with the title in its 1.04 iteration.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-playstation-4-pro-game-upgrade-guide

So we have 3 modes, none of them work optimally. Perhaps if they had concetrated on a single mode, that mode could have had a locked frame rate with proper frame pacing.