DF on Zelda Switch: Docked has major frame drops, portable doesn't (no score talk)

This is profoundly disappointing. I'm extremely sensitive to this stuff, and I just won't play a game in this state. I've still barely touched FF15 because of issues with the Pro mode that don't come close to this game's problems.

Holding out hope for Cemu, I guess.
 
I see nothing wrong with their comment. What they mean is that with technology nowadays - as it's obvious better each year - we shouldn't be dipping that low.

But games on all consoles dipping that low in 2017. It's common for games in 2017, but such frame dips are uncommon for Nintendo games, but common for Zelda games ;)
 
Drops seem to be completely random. Remember the issue in the gamexplain video, with the prolonged drop at the beginning near the old man's location? Didn't happen to me. It dropped for literally one second near a tree before that "road" and then nothing. Happened again during a fight (only when using the axe for some reason) and then again in the forest near a bokoblin camp. That's it, it dropped 3 times in almost 2 hours of gameplay. Tried to go in these places in handheld mode and absolutely nothing happened, frame rate is perfect when played on the Switch itself.

I still think they had troubles finding workarounds for these dips with the increased resolution due to the different ram subsystem, so i hope that they go back on it and try to fix these issues because no, they don't ruin the game, but there doesn't seem to be any reason for them to happen, especially in 900p. MK8D is 1080p locked 60fps, and 1080p is quite a bit higher than 900p in terms of bandwidth requirements. Another reason can be os related. I had to try 10 times before the game decided to start instead of giving me an error as soon as i launched it, and i suspect it's some nasty os big. Who knows what's going on, the system was released in beta.

On a side note, if Nintendo went with the 3GB sticks (6GB total) and 128 bit bus they probably wouldn't have had any issue "bruteforcing" it with 51.2GB/s for the main pool, but hey, they had to save those 5 bucks :p
 
You have no idea what you are really talking about.

Those numbers are directly quoted from the digital foundry article, so I guess they don't know what they are talking about either?

"docking increases pixel count from 720p to 900p, a 56 per cent in resolution. However, memory bandwidth only rises by 20 per cent, from 1331MHz to 1600MHz."
 
I have played 90% docked. There are some frame drops. Not anything as big as in plateau and not nearly as constant. I can understand some people being more sensitive to drops than me but I can't understand someone saying it isn't improved arter the plateau. It isn't nearly as bad as plateau and to me pretty much non issue.

It is improved, but once you get into the more densely populated areas performance takes an even bigger hit than what you'd experience at the beginning of the game. Idk, it might just be me but other gaffers playing the Switch version have also reported the same thing.
 
If you don't mind playing at 720p on your tv, you can change it in the settings. to make botw run at a constant 30fps. still unacceptable though
 
It is improved, but once you get into the more densely populated areas performance takes an even bigger hit than what you'd experience at the beginning of the game. Idk, it might just be me but other gaffers playing the Switch version have also reported the same thing.

Well, I haven't been nearly everywhere yet so it might be that.
 
If you don't mind playing at 720p on your tv, you can change it in the settings. to make botw run at a constant 30fps. still unacceptable though

Does that actually change the internal rendering resolution though? Wouldn't it just downsample from 900p to 720p?
 
As someone wouldn't buy the switch right now , are we expecting a fix in few updates ??

or the switch can not handle 900p :(

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe renders at 1080p/60fps so the Switch can definitely do 900p. Mario Kart isn't a massive sprawling open world, though.
 
Well, I haven't been nearly everywhere yet so it might be that.

It's a massive game, you'll know it when you reach those areas cause they perform significantly worse than everywhere else :P

6XpRsg3.jpg

I took this photo last night before the day 1 update hit. 42 hours (well, 60 if I count the hours spent today) and I've barely explored a third of the entire map. Nintendo really went ham on the open-world concept goddamn.
 
Based on everyone's experience, it does seem that the framerate problems when docked are due to issues with the game itself as much as the Switch's hardware capability. Given that this is a streaming engine designed for a large open world, perhaps the engine's origin for the Wii U is the culprit - it was optimized for 720p at best.

Regardless, it's not a good look for the one and only flagship launch title to run badly and make the hardware look weak on day one. Yes, it runs fine in portable mode, but Nintendo insists on advertising the Switch as a home console, not a portable. Many people are going to be hooking this up to the TV first. Nintendo does need to address this ASAP.
 
If you don't mind playing at 720p on your tv, you can change it in the settings. to make botw run at a constant 30fps. still unacceptable though

That would be counter to everything I have read so far. Every indication is that it renders at 900p docked regardless of output resolution.
 
Like what other reviewers/people have been saying, once you get off the Great Plateau, there isn't as many framedrops. Also by that point, you would have gotten used to it.

That's like having a friend that's an asshole and saying, "he's cool once you get used to him."
 
Seems kind of shocking this went mostly unmentioned in a bunch of reviews I read

A significant part of the reviews did mention it. I'm sure that others didn't but that is always the case with framerate in reviews. Glitches are much more noticeable for example.

Anyway, even if the reviews do mention the framerate issues, you can't know the extent of it until someone shows numbers.
 
This is fucking stupid. The whole point of the switch is that it doubles as a home and portable console but who's gonna play tv mode if it has frame rate drops? Who's gonna bother with tv mode if it gives them an inferior experience?

In my mind, the switch is now a portable console only. Tv mode does not exist.
 
Those numbers are directly quoted from the digital foundry article, so I guess they don't know what they are talking about either?

"docking increases pixel count from 720p to 900p, a 56 per cent in resolution. However, memory bandwidth only rises by 20 per cent, from 1331MHz to 1600MHz."

This has me less optimistic that Splatoon 2 will get a resolution bump when docked. Especially if this would affect the framerate in anyway. The right choice of course but would still suck to be stuck at 720p. Will be interesting to see how the two modes compare.
 
This is fucking stupid. The whole point of the switch is that it doubles as a home and portable console but who's gonna play tv mode if it has frame rate drops? Who's gonna bother with tv mode if it gives them an inferior experience?

In my mind, the switch is now a portable console only. Tv mode does not exist.

This is the only game with this issue.
 
It's a massive game, you'll know it when you reach those areas cause they perform significantly worse than everywhere else :P



I took this photo last night before the day 1 update hit. 42 hours (well, 60 if I count the hours spent today) and I've barely explored a third of the entire map. Nintendo really went ham on the open-world concept goddamn.
One of the reviewers said they beat the game over 50 hours in the didn't explore like three areas of the map. Geez.
 
Not noticed any game affecting drops. Happens when it's initially docked and in a few random places but that's it.

And I've been playing 60fps games for 30 years.
 
This type of comment is so obnoxious.

20 fps has ALWAYS been a bummer. Why do people always feel the need to say "in 2017", like a smooth framerate is some modern thing?

We REALLY need a performance patch for the docked mode. Playing in portable mode seems great.
We been 60fps since the PS2 days and still go backwards on the 360/PS3 generation,i think we can give this one a pass due to Nintendo mostly focusing on smooth gameplay on the weak Wii U.

Hopefully BoTW performance is not a sign of things to come due to its unique position,Mario Odyssey is going to run beautifully for example
 
The more critical reviews mentioned (and showed) it like Easy Allies and Gamexplain

A significant part of the reviews did mention it. I'm sure that others didn't but that is always the case with framerate in reviews. Glitches are much more noticeable for example.

Anyway, even if the reviews do mention the framerate issues, you can't know the extent of it until someone shows numbers.

i guess i need to read different places for reviews then :(
 
It's also the only game with AAA production values currently on the system.

Honestly Nintendo should just target a 720p spec no matter what. This is dumb.

But he was suggesting the system is now solely a handheld.

Fast RMX runs at 1080p 60fps in docked mode and looks fantastic for example.
 
If you thought 20fps is bad, wait till DF does WiiU performance analysis and runs around in one of the villages, you'll be surprised.
 
Honestly can't understand what the fuss is about... have been playing the Switch version of Zelda since 11am today when was all delivered and I'm 7 shrines in and past the great Plataue and haven't had any frame rate drops or for that matter, any issues what so ever.

Game is really fantastic. Last Zelda I played was Twilight on Wii almost 11 years ago. This reminds me a lot of a mix between ocarina and majora. Brings back good memories!


I'm playing on console only mode so far on an OLED LG Curved TV if that makes any difference. Couldn't see why it would.


Do wish the home screen was in 1080p... makes everything look at but fuzzy in 720.
 
Honestly can't understand what the fuss is about... have been playing the Switch version of Zelda since 11am today when was all delivered and I'm 7 shrines in and past the great Plataue and haven't had any frame rate drops or for that matter, any issues what so ever.

Game is really fantastic. Last Zelda I played was Twilight on Wii almost 11 years ago. This reminds me a lot of a mix between ocarina and majora. Brings back good memories!

There is zero chance you haven't had any frame drops.
 
It is jarring at times, but usually lasts no longer than a second. It seems to happen most often when you climb to the top of a tree, or look at certain busy areas when moving your character and the camera through tall grass.

Having played it for a few hours, now, it seems to drop very rarely and only in those situations. That said, it did slow down once when confronting a group of 5 or so enemies around a campfire by a river. I dashed out of the way and met a second-long bout of low framerate.

Overall, I hope they do something to improve it, but it's not ruining my gameplay experience at all.
 
Pretty much unplayable in docked mode. I think that double buffering is to blame here. The way the frame rate just suddenly tank to 20 FPS is a behavior we have seen on other games. Anyhow, I think Wii u owners should definitely hold off buying the Switch for now. they can still play this game, and it will be a while until the game library is worth it.
 
There is zero chance you haven't had any frame drops.


I mean I just haven't... I wouldn't make this up. I'm staring st my TV playing as I type this and I just haven't noticed any slow down, frame dips or any issues at all.

One issue I have noticed is my pro controller left stick is a bit weird and makes link walk to the left sometimes. I think it's an issue with the stick. May get it replaced.

Gameplay wise, I've noticed nothing wrong.
 
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