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[Kaze2212]

Was happy with what I was getting until I stumbled upon this thread

I think the screen I posted looks great and way better than most of the other PC footage shown so far. The weird thing is that screen is 2 1/2 weeks old and supposedly from the PC version not maxed out. That's what I don't get.

Edit: got it mixed up. A month old screenshot.

 

[viveks86]

Looks like here is the first example I have seen of near final code, HBAO+ On, Off.


As I pointed out here, it seems to be disabled or glitched in many screens and footage....Including the comparison video we are now looking at.


http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=164165602&postcount=803

It's not the only problem, not even close… but I'm going to keep quiet as the judgments and shit flinging are going to start hard and fast.

By the looks of it, I'm going to have nothing contribute to the thread till Monday. Thanks, CDPR. You fucked this up real bad.

 

[Derp]

You are candidate number 2 as well. Congrats, once again!

A winner is me!

And then the magic of a patch on release day happens .

Spoiler

Well, most-likely nothing on release day will be able to change that... But the possibility exists, so still a LITTLE too early to draw conclusions

Damn you are so optimistic!

 

[skonvolt]

SURPRISE SURPRISE!!

And what was the comparison I posted in the page before this?

See any difference between the screenshot on the left (PC) in the first comparison, and the screenshot on the bottom (PS4)?

Who was right...?
I was right...

well my most important question is: who is the gardener in CD Project that grow a tree in 8 months? and the second one is? does he know that the tree cover the directions sign?, i'll go to the Major I want answers.......................

 

[Pop]

new comparison, german

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UIS5WHx4xDk

edit beaten.

Different time of day

Also that old trailer had pop-ins, that's more distracting then how much grass is in one spot vs the other.

 

[Horp]

The downgrades are real. The fire looks especially bad. Like last-generation quality when compared to the early trailers.

At this point I wonder why developers even downgrade the PC versions of their games. Like, what's the reason for not keeping all of the cut effects in the PC version? I just never get it.

And before someone else replies:
Yes, CDPR didn't have the time or the money to create super high quality assets that only 5% of all players will experience; but that logic doesn't apply for many of the effects that have been cut. Shader effects or particle effects can in many cases easily be turned on or off.

Let's break this whole matter down into 4 steps:
1. If there is a really nice water shader, for example that one in the swamp which reacts to Geralt, it should be enabled in the PC version.
2. Or, if there never was such a shader that worked well enough in real gameplay, it shouldn't have been shown in a video that was labeled "gameplay footage".
3. Oooor, if the quality just couldn't be maintained through development and things had to be cut to be able to make the deadline; they certainly shouldn't insist on "there's no downgrades, wait for ultra pc footage " in interviews 3 months before release.
4. OOOOOOR, if that interview was some weird mistake or someone was just misinformed, they really, really shouldn't have stated in an interview specifically regarding the downgrades that there really isn't any downgrades and that the fans are at fault for not appreciating the difficulty of game development.

Stop the trainwreck, admit your lies or you will lose your precious goodwill.

 

[cripterion]

When I am loading up a PC game, I always think about how lucky I am that it runs at the res of my monitor as well as how it syncs to my native refresh rate. These guys just treat me so right and know which buttons to it. Damn, "best port ever" I whisper under my heavy panting as the first level loads.

I slowly but steadily climax as I realize that it was made specially, for me, by an entirely different team.

 

[BigTnaples]

Nothing of that comes even close to this in general. I don't get it:

Yeah, that is odd. Since technically, there is not a huge difference, it just looks so much better.

Could be just SSAO. We know something was wrong with the PC builds graphically, and it may account for most of the screens having HBAO+/SSAO disabled.


Or it really could be a case of cherry picked screens in a VAST open world game, maybe when the lighting/tod/weather is just right, the grass looks fantastic like that, and it doesn't fair as well in sunlight. Wouldn't be the first time a game varies in graphical impressiveness depending on situation.

We will know tomorrow for certain.

 

[Kinthalis]

Oh please. I won't deny there's a chance for some improvements, but my money is on this being just a PR tactic.

But the shirt ripping, I was told this would come to pass, and I have faith!

 

[sgs2008]

With the gamestar vid there isnt much of a debate anymore. A professional pc gaming website doing a 1:1 comparison of their final build states that there is indeed a downgrade. Game still looks good but downgrade is there. My only hope is that somehow they fix the hBAO ont he bland loookign grass atleast with the day one patch. Other than that it would have to be a huge patch to put back in what they take dout since e3 2014

 

[Easy_D]

well my most important question is: who is the gardener in CD Project that grow a tree in 8 months? and the second one is? does he know that the tree cover the directions sign?, i'll go to the Major I want answers.......................

And who the hell do I have to talk to about getting paved roads? Cant deal with all this dirt, having to clean my horse's hooves! He's an inside horse dammit!

 

[Kaze2212]

.

Sorry for quoting you, but I wanted to ask something:

When you do the comparison shots of the retail version, can you include one shot from the opening where Geralt and Ciri are talking to Vesemir? Some gaffer already posted a PS4 screen of that scene there already. I would be really interested how the PC version holds up to that PS4 screen and the released PC screen from half a year ago.

 

[napata]

Looks like here is the first example I have seen of near final code, HBAO+ On, Off. Or at least SSAO.


As I pointed out here, it seems to be disabled or glitched in many screens and footage....Including the comparison video we are now looking at.


http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=164165602&postcount=803

These screenshots look so bad. DA:I looked way better. The draw distance on vegetation looks so small and the LOD in general is horrible. Look at those trees.

 

[Totobeni]

It's not advertising, so it can't be false advertising. You can't false advertise a game 2 years before it releases, you can only talk about what kind of game you envision. If they continued to misrepresent the game features after they do a feature lock then you may have a point.

2013 trailer was E3, they didn't say that not how the game will look, they also keep keep insisting there is no downgrade (mean they say the 2013 footages is still real), two years of bullshit they used that for marketing the game all that time so it's false advertising.

Dark Souls 2 was probably the worst downgrade.

The DS2 vertical slice had a massive amount of art assets, environmental detail, and an entire dynamic lighting system that didn't make it into the final game. Not to mention that lighting affected a torch system that ended up being useless in the final game. By comparison, The Witcher 3 in 2015 seems to have maintained virtually all the environmental detail and textures it had in 2013, with the grass being the only big exception. Dark Souls 2 has environments that were completely redesigned to look significantly less detailed.

Look at this shit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykbT03r_9Zo

Witcher 2013, Watch Dog and Dark Souls 2 are all bad, CDPR is just as bad as Ubi and From here. only thing worse than them is CGI marketed as actual gameplay (like the original KZ2 one) but almost no one do that anymore.


This shady business and false advertising of vertical slices should stop.

 

[viveks86]

Sorry for quoting you, but I wanted to ask something:

When you do the comparison shots of the retail version, can you include one shot from the opening where Geralt and Ciri are talking to Vesemir? Some gaffer already posted a PS4 screen of that scene there already. I would be really interested how the PC version holds up to that PS4 screen and the released PC screen from half a year ago.

Yup. Already on my list. Will compare it with the Dec 2014 shot.

 

[BigTnaples]

I think the screen I posted looks great and way better than most of the other PC footage shown so far. The weird thing is that screen is 2 1/2 weeks old and supposedly from the PC version not maxed out. That's what I don't get.

Edit: got it mixed up. A month old screenshot.

Indeed. I have a feeling some .ini setting tweaking or something will get us here. No chance they changed the rendering that drastically in the last couple months of development.

It's obviously some sort of difference in the SSAO/HBAO+ settings, but what we can't say for sure. But I have a feeling if anything gets fixed in the patch, it will be this.

This looks okay, again, different lighting.

Notice in the middle picture, how much the lightshaft changes the look of the grass?

 

[kharak]

Who was right...?
I was right...

I guess in the final version will not be anything like this, shame


Edit: I just rewatch the debut trailer of The Witcher 2. It was a nice time, when the final game looks better than the early trailers.

 

[Derp]

Looks like here is the first example I have seen of near final code, HBAO+ On, Off. Or at least SSAO.


As I pointed out here, it seems to be disabled or glitched in many screens and footage....Including the comparison video we are now looking at.


http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=164165602&postcount=803

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Game doesn't look overly impressive for a 2015 max details PC game at all. It's nothing like the earlier trailers.

 

[IcyBlueStrawberry]

I think the lighting difference is the most noticeable. The LOD and vegetation density are fixable, so I can handle those not being where they were, but the object detail and lighting aren't. It's sad that we're probably never going to play the game we saw a few years ago.

This thread also reminded me of these posts from a few months ago.

it looks like many gaffers are painting CDP as some magical dev studio with only the best of interests of the gamers in mind. Trust me they are not. The bullshitting with the Witcher 3 started from day 1. PR is creating an overblown vision of a game that doesn't exist while the team is in crazy crunch time for over a year now. There's some bad shit going on that if GAF knew GAF would not like.

Well in the end it's my words vs CDP PR. I mean why should You belive my if I have no solid evidence to show? But that's kind of my point, CDP build a very good realationship with gamers and now it's paying off as oppose to say EA. I do have inside knowledge, I did have contact with the game but again NDA and such plus I'm just a dude on the internet. my only point is that GAF should take everything CDP says with a grain of salt.

EDIT: Just to some up my messy line of thinking - don't preorder tha game (especially on consols) wait for the reviews, then decide or don't pay attention to a random dude on the internet and do what you want with your money.

 

[Black Hat]

SURPRISE SURPRISE!!

Those are some compressed ass screenshots.

 

[ISee]

Those are some compressed ass screenshots.

Yep both are shitty compressed screenshots (from the same compressed video) and still the differences are visible.

 

[skonvolt]

And who the hell do I have to talk to about getting paved roads? Cant deal with all this dirt, having to clean my horse's hooves! He's an inside horse dammit!

i think the biggest monster of Vizima will be the burocracy of my class action against the major and his crew, and the streets are to thin for horses

 

[tuxfool]

The most striking difference was definitely the interior scene. The lighting was just not good there. But yea, the change in grass remains still questionable though.

I think they stated early on, that interior lighting would suffer if they wanted to keep indoor and outdoors a contiguous environment. They opted for the contiguous environment.

 

[Totobeni]

I think the lighting difference is the most noticeable. The LOD and vegetation density are fixable, so I can handle those not being where they were, but the object detail and lighting aren't. It's sad that we're probably never going to play the game we saw a few years ago.

This thread also reminded me of these posts from a few months ago.

CDPR reply to what Anaxymenes was just like how they are handling it right now. (saying there is no downgrade and ask people to watch videos)
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/witcher-3-studio-responds-to-crunch-accusations/1100-6422841/

in the end it turn that Anaxymenes was saying the truth and CDPR is still bullshiting.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Ultra vs. PS4 plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Low vs. Ultra plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

those are new as far as I can tell.

 

[universalmind]

Everything is just so bright green and yellow. So ugly.

 

[sgs2008]

What I don't understand is that did they rly think no one would notice or no one would care . Like seriously/

 

[Yasae]

The game never used tesselation for micro detail though. It is using frostbite like tesselation for terrain generation... not for mesh displacement. IF we are going to admit there was a downgrade, we might as well be accurate as to what actually happened.

Be our guest.

 

[Cerity]

I guess in the final version will not be anything like this, shame


Edit: I just rewatch the debut trailer of The Witcher 2. It was a nice time, when the final game looks better than the early trailers.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127773964@N03/sets/72157652536729480

They've gotten pretty close with the more dramatic scenery (dawn/dusk).

 

[Black_Stride]

Will i still need to upgrade my PC to play this game at a reasonable level.

 

[dex3108]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Ultra vs. PS4 plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Low vs. Ultra plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

those are new as far as I can tell.

There is no or barley noticeable difference for some of those options.

 

[Dictator93]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Ultra vs. PS4 plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Low vs. Ultra plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

those are new as far as I can tell.

Hey, at least we have AF, guys, right? right?

Be our guest.

Gonna need the game on my system before I make exacting conclusions.

 

[tuxfool]

And before someone else replies:
Yes, CDPR didn't have the time or the money to create super high quality assets that only 5% of all players will experience; but that logic doesn't apply for many of the effects that have been cut. Shader effects or particle effects can in many cases easily be turned on or off.

Let's break this whole matter down into 4 steps:
1. If there is a really nice water shader, for example that one in the swamp which reacts to Geralt, it should be enabled in the PC version.
2. Or, if there never was such a shader that worked well enough in real gameplay, it shouldn't have been shown in a video that was labeled "gameplay footage".
3. Oooor, if the quality just couldn't be maintained through development and things had to be cut to be able to make the deadline; they certainly shouldn't insist on "there's no downgrades, wait for ultra pc footage " in interviews 3 months before release.
4. OOOOOOR, if that interview was some weird mistake or someone was just misinformed, they really, really shouldn't have stated in an interview specifically regarding the downgrades that there really isn't any downgrades and that the fans are at fault for not appreciating the difficulty of game development.

Stop the trainwreck, admit your lies or you will lose your precious goodwill.

Look, developing it is one thing, but debugging and maintaining it is another thing entirely. Anybody that has written any non trivial amount of code can attest what a bitch debugging can be at times. Having two separate code paths becomes harder to justify if you have limited resources and one of the paths will only be used by a small subset.

I won't defend their insistence on this issue, but their communication on this game has been highly erratic all over the place, not just graphics. For a recent example in a live stream one of the developers said respeccing would make you lose ability points from places of power, a few weeks later they said it didn't.

Personally I'm willing to shrug it off as I prefer it when devs can speak freely without layers of pr filtering. I don't think everyone is as willing to go with this route.

 

[Easy_D]

Will i still need to upgrade my PC to play this game at a reasonable level.

What are your specs? If you find yourself playing PC versions of games out on Xbone and PS4 at nice framerates and graphics this shouldn't be any different

 

[Zaru]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Ultra vs. PS4 plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Low vs. Ultra plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

those are new as far as I can tell.

Why do Shadow Quality and Terrain Detail basically not change a thing?

 

[BigTnaples]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Ultra vs. PS4 plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Low vs. Ultra plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

those are new as far as I can tell.

Damn. That is by far the best comparison video of PS4 and PC I have seen.


Still something seems off about the SSAO/HBAO+ in the comparison on PC. But I really think it could have to do with the way sunlight interacts with foliage. I think direct sunlight, glitch or no, causes the effects of HBAO+ to disappear.

Edit:
Which seems to be corroborated with eyes that have much more training and experience in the matter than mine...

The first shot you posted uses their SSAO implementation, not HBAO+ (it has the telltale artifacts).
The differnce between the first set and the second set seems to come down to ToD/weather affecting lighting and that the first two have a different and more varied set of prevalent grass/foliage textures.

Also, I can discern that the 4th shot features a bear.

Luckily, HBAO+ is generally not that expensive considering how good it looks compared to other AO tech.

 

[Derp]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Ultra vs. PS4 plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Low vs. Ultra plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

those are new as far as I can tell.

I think PC has a couple extra patches of grass in certain areas.

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

Be our guest.

The PCGH guys said that the game uses terrain tesselaation, for example for mountains, and its 18-24x tessellation (I don't know what the correct way to express this is in english, hope you understand), while the game theoretically supports up to 64x tessellation.
It sounded like there will be a lot of things to tweak beyond the uber settings for PC gamers.

 

[Easy_D]

At least they've learned to crank down the bloom levels from nuclear explosion levels.

Edit: Hairworks continues to look about as bad as TressFX. Except it would make a tiny bit of sense for Lara to have conditioned hair with super shampoo levels of hair, less so Geralt and his horse :lol
Also didn't know that bath scene was a reference, reminds me of Slither :lol

 

[Cabbagehead]

What I don't understand is that did they rly think no one would notice or no one would care . Like seriously/

Jumping in....

I'm pretty sure it was nothing as sinister or naive as that mindset. Especially with how the internet rules...its more a take it or leave it situation (for the most part) rather a "We will do better take time" or "Its not as bad some are making out to be" outlook. But for me i'm not apart of the "Downgrade" bandwagon it looks great to me and not so great in other parts. An a lot will and can happen in 3 years, which is did good or bad. But i think the game is and will be really good and the scores prove that point. Yeah the graphics aren't face melting but come on now...The Order anyone.

--------------------------------------------

Though i will say collision (With objects, fences and other things) , animations, the horse and combat feels a little wacky/wonky and uneven some times. Which effects the flow and overall the fluidity is not how i thought or would have liked it to be in some cases.


Characters (Hair as well) going through solid objects and trees or brushes will always bug the hell out of me. Where are the physics.

 

[viveks86]

Damn. That is by far the best comparison video of PS4 and PC I have seen.


Still something seems off about the SSAO/HBAO+ in the comparison on PC. But I really think it could have to do with the way sunlight interacts with foliage. I think direct sunlight, glitch or no, causes the effects of HBAO+ to disappear.

What you are seeing is standard shadowing. There is no HBAO+ there. Just SSAO

 

[Kenzodielocke]

The embargo for the PC version should've lifted on friday, but it did today.

The said that in the gamestar stream.

 

[Horp]

Look, developing it is one thing, but debugging and maintaining it is another thing entirely. Anybody that has written any non trivial amount of code can attest what a bitch debugging can be at times. Having two separate code paths becomes harder to justify if you have limited resources and one of the paths will only be used by a small subset.

I won't defend their insistence on this issue, but their communication on this game has been highly erratic all over the place, not just graphics. For a recent example in a live stream one of the developers said respeccing would make you lose ability points from places of power, a few weeks later they said it didn't.

Personally I'm willing to shrug it off as I prefer it when devs can speak freely without layers of pr filtering. I don't think everyone is as willing to go with this route.

They however clearly stated the other day that they DO have separate teams (implying separate code branches).

(And, not that it really matters but since you are talking about it, I'm a senior programmer, or actually CTO, that has been in the game industry but are working in the B2B-visualization industry since a few years back.)

 

[Sanctuary]

At least they've learned to crank down the bloom levels from nuclear explosion levels.

Maybe, but they also clowned up the color saturation, so in some ways it's just as bad if not worse.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

PC version at max details looks almost the exact same. That is pretty staggering honestly. Hell, I don't think the game is visually appealing with its downgrade along with the oversaturated colors.

 

[tuxfool]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Ultra vs. PS4 plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PC Low vs. Ultra plus Details Graphics Comparison [60fps][FullHD|1080p]

those are new as far as I can tell.

Is it just me, or is the AO much better on the ps4?

 

[Derp]

The embargo for the PC version should've lifted on friday, but it today.

The said that in the gamestar stream.

Totally not suspicious at all!

 

[tuxfool]

They however clearly stated the other day that they DO have separate teams (implying separate code branches).

(And, not that it really matters but since you are talking about it, I'm a senior programmer, or actually CTO, that has been in the game industry but are working in the B2B-visualization industry since a few years back.)

They have also said they have one main branch of the game. It is totally unclear what granularity each of the teams have (my interpretation is that most shaders will fall under under the main branch). As I said erratic.

 

[Vuze]

Probably very late to the party, but I just heard that the PC version only has an On/Off toggle for AA (GameStar video) and it's apparently just FXAA? wtf were they thinking. It's not really apparent in the videos but I can only imagine what this will look like... ReShade to the rescue.