By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Gaming Discussion - Making Final Fantasy 15 for PC is '100 times' easier than console version

 

The game is still terrible tho

Uh huh 39 52.70%
 
Nuh uh 35 47.30%
 
Total:74
Shaunodon on 13 October 2017
potato_hamster said:
vivster said:

He says they had to tweak the game and engine for console a lot more than for the PC version. So the PC version isn't a straight port from the console version but rather a separate port from the base engine. They probably took some knowledge they gained from the console version but it sounds like massive tweaks weren't necessary anyway.

Or in short, the console version was not the source of the PC version.

I'm sorry vivster but that's not what they're saying at all.  That's not how video games work. THere's no "base engine version" of a game. They might have used a more stock, non-console optimized version of their engine, and modified modified that to to work on PC and added some PC-specific enhancements, instead of removing console-specific enhancements from a console-specific engine.  But that's it.

The game itself? They 100% did port the console version, because there's no reason no to. The game interacts with the game engine which translates the game commands into hardware instructions to process those game commands. Because of this, the console game itself would only require slight tweaks in terms of things like controls, networking and graphics to be able to run well on PC.  The engine itself though in terms of how it takes those game commands and feeds it to the hardware, that's where the real work lies, and fortunately since console hardware is so similar to PCs, making these modifications have been easier than ever..

TL;DR: Console game port, yes. Console engine port, no.

I'm pretty sure I remember from earlier interviews that the base version of the game was initially designed for PC architecture, since it was supposedly easy for them to port it from there to PS4/Xbone because of how similar they were. But the original version they were using was running on a high spec PC and I'm not sure how outdated it would be.

I don't know as much about the subject as you obviously, but I do remember reading those sorts of things.

I believe the problem after that was trying to downgrade and optimise the game enough so that they could run it, and I think it was harder than they expected. Luminous Engine being a whopper to run on console didn't help (probably why they abandoned it).



Around the Network
CrazyGamer2017 on 13 October 2017
vivster said:

The PC version of Final Fantasy 15 is set to become the definitive edition of the game. It will boast improved graphics, a new first-person mode and support for 8K resolutions. You'd think those add-ons would make development difficult—not so, according to game director Hajime Tabata. In fact, he says it was "more than 100 times" easier crafting the PC edition than the console version before it.

Yay, 8K resolution. PC Gamers are going to be able to brag about a level of resolution no one can actually see for the simple reason there are no 8K screens on the market. But hey it can do 8K, give me a second, I'm opening my window and I'm throwing my PS4 out of it, time to go to the store to buy an ultra high end PC so that I can enjoy this game in 8K. cause 1080p, what a horror, totally unplayable with such low level of details. My eyes have been opened.



Johnw1104 on 13 October 2017

It seems to me that it's akin to being given some assignment that requires explaining and justifying your stance on a matter quite complex, but while some teachers might require you refine it down to a rather small, coherent, and difficult-to-achieve word limit, one teacher just lets you be as inefficient and ambitious as you like with no word limit whatsoever. That last one is the easiest, though the end result is often something that could have been accomplished with far greater efficiency were stricter limits imposed.



potato_hamster on 13 October 2017
Shaunodon said:
potato_hamster said:

I'm sorry vivster but that's not what they're saying at all.  That's not how video games work. THere's no "base engine version" of a game. They might have used a more stock, non-console optimized version of their engine, and modified modified that to to work on PC and added some PC-specific enhancements, instead of removing console-specific enhancements from a console-specific engine.  But that's it.

The game itself? They 100% did port the console version, because there's no reason no to. The game interacts with the game engine which translates the game commands into hardware instructions to process those game commands. Because of this, the console game itself would only require slight tweaks in terms of things like controls, networking and graphics to be able to run well on PC.  The engine itself though in terms of how it takes those game commands and feeds it to the hardware, that's where the real work lies, and fortunately since console hardware is so similar to PCs, making these modifications have been easier than ever..

TL;DR: Console game port, yes. Console engine port, no.

I'm pretty sure I remember from earlier interviews that the base version of the game was initially designed for PC architecture, since it was supposedly easy for them to port it from there to PS4/Xbone because of how similar they were. But the original version they were using was running on a high spec PC and I'm not sure how outdated it would be.

I don't know as much about the subject as you obviously, but I do remember reading those sorts of things.

I believe the problem after that was trying to downgrade and optimise the game enough so that they could run it, and I think it was harder than they expected. Luminous Engine being a whopper to run on console didn't help (probably why they abandoned it).

Both what you're saying and I'm saying can both be correct. They could very well have had this up and running on a PC well before they started to dig deep into console development. I know of many console exclusive games that technically have running PC builds for this very reason.

So yeah, this "100x easier" bit could very well be grafting the final console build of the game to work with a PC compatible version of the engine they already had developed, revising the engine based on what they learned during the development and then making PC-specific tweaks and enhancements. That would be much much easier than the initial development of the game itself. My main point was they didn't just abandon the work they did on consoles and re-do it for PC, they repurposed the console build for a PC compatible engine (ie - ported it).



TruckOSaurus on 13 October 2017

If it still features the slowest car in the universe, I'm not interested.



Signature goes here!

Around the Network
CladInShadows on 13 October 2017
AngryLittleAlchemist said:

...PC was the best version...

Unless a game is a shitty port, this is almost universally the case.  Even in the case of some shitty ports (Dark Souls, for one), it's still the best version.



Leadified on 13 October 2017
CrazyGamer2017 said:
vivster said:

The PC version of Final Fantasy 15 is set to become the definitive edition of the game. It will boast improved graphics, a new first-person mode and support for 8K resolutions. You'd think those add-ons would make development difficult—not so, according to game director Hajime Tabata. In fact, he says it was "more than 100 times" easier crafting the PC edition than the console version before it.

Yay, 8K resolution. PC Gamers are going to be able to brag about a level of resolution no one can actually see for the simple reason there are no 8K screens on the market. But hey it can do 8K, give me a second, I'm opening my window and I'm throwing my PS4 out of it, time to go to the store to buy an ultra high end PC so that I can enjoy this game in 8K. cause 1080p, what a horror, totally unplayable with such low level of details. My eyes have been opened.

Aren't you the same guy who said they will not play BotW because the Switch is too weak? Shouldn't you be thrilled that a game is offering future-proof settings?



CrazyGamer2017 on 13 October 2017
Leadified said:

Aren't you the same guy who said they will not play BotW because the Switch is too weak? Shouldn't you be thrilled that a game is offering future-proof settings?

I'm the guy that wants a level of processing power not too weak that the quality of the game is limited and not so powerful that you can't use the settings for many many MANY years, 4K TV's are barely starting to emerge, 8K screens are not going to be around for a very long time yet.

So while the Switch yields IMO too little power at a time (2017) where more power is totally needed with 2K and 4K televisions, a game with 8K settings that would require a super beast of a computer if you wanna play it at 60fps (cause at 10fps, who's gonna care?) means even if you rob a bank to pay for such a computer capable of rendering that game at 8K 60fps, you still can't really enjoy it cause you don't have an 8K screen. Instead of making such a PC version for obviously nobody, why didn't they keep their promise of patching the game to make it playable on PS4 at 60fps instead of the current 30fps? How's working on an 8K version no one can actually see take priority over a 1080p 60fps version on PS4 everyone can totally see?



Shaunodon on 13 October 2017
CrazyGamer2017 said:
Leadified said:

Aren't you the same guy who said they will not play BotW because the Switch is too weak? Shouldn't you be thrilled that a game is offering future-proof settings?

I'm the guy that wants a level of processing power not too weak that the quality of the game is limited and not so powerful that you can't use the settings for many many MANY years, 4K TV's are barely starting to emerge, 8K screens are not going to be around for a very long time yet.

So while the Switch yields too little power at a time (2017) where more power is totally needed with 2K and 4K televisions, a game with 8K settings that would require a super beast of a computer if you wanna play that at 60fps (cause at 10fps, who's gonna care?) means even if you rob a bank to pay for such a computer capable of rendering that game at 8K 60fps, you still can't really enjoy it cause you don't have an 8K screen. Instead of putting such a PC version for obviously nobody, why didn't they keep their promise of patching the game to make it playable on PS4 at 60fps instead of the current 30fps? How's working on an 8K version no one can actually see take priority over a 1080p 60fps version on PS4 everyone can totally see?

If they had to downgrade and remove enough elements from the PS4 version so it could run at a stable 60fps, you wouldn't be able to see anything anyway.



CladInShadows on 13 October 2017
CrazyGamer2017 said:How's working on an 8K version no one can actually see take priority over a 1080p 60fps version on PS4 everyone can totally see?

Supersampling.  It's a thing.  And it looks gorgeous.  I'm not rushing out to buy a PC that can handle it or anything, but for those who have a beastly computer in a few years, this will be a very nice looking game.