Support NeoGAF

[Skyzard]

does the PC version use this tech?

Definitely not. I think it's something for future games (I hope anyway).

Grass can look really good and very thick in FC4 but when you get close to the ground and look down at a single patch, it's not as dense as that video! Noway.

Sometimes you can see small patches like how Skyrim does it too, not very nice.

Usually it looks great though, and lovely colours. Especially while moving, no issues and very thick in most hills.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

I'll definitely pick up FC4 on sale to see if there is a big leap over FC3. It looks good.

 

[sobaka770]

Tech is all good and stuff and I love it as any other engineer should, but the first rule of any good technology is that it should serve a purpose.

Crysis was a good game, but the tech they used didn't serve much to gameplay (which was rather dull to be honest) and was mostly used for benchmarking. This is problematic for me, since they've created an okay game (which was a primary purpose) and a great benchmarking tool, since even now 60 FPS in Crysis in some levels is all but impossible.

AC:U though... damn... maybe it doesn't have dynamic lighting or nights, but the game looks phenomenal. Ubisoft went for this blurry smokey look, and the prebaked lighting gives the game a very unique color palette which is not realistic, but warmer, like a retro-photography red-orange hue. Tech reinforces the artistic design and concept art - and that's how it's supposed to be.

AC in general games play a lot with the lighting to create the environments which are unique (compare AC Acre, Jerusalem and Damascus, first thing that pops out is different lighting which defines the city).

As to comparing it to DC... it's impossible. The tech in Driveclub serves a different purpose. In terms of final picture output, though, I think that AC:U is a success because it captures so well the artistic design for the game, while DC looks good and global GI does provide it with a solid realism-angle, but it's not quite there in my opinion. It's much better than prebaked constant dusk of Forza 5 but, for me, T6 is the only game which, even on older gen, really gets the lighting and image just right.

 

[DOWN]

[IG]http://i.minus.com/iqsj6a7QaFB9P.jpg[/IMG]

[IG]http://i.minus.com/imGVK9oac7N5I.jpg[/IMG]

[IG]http://i.minus.com/ibnQAMlnUycq4i.jpg[/IMG]



Oh really, which one?

[IG]http://i3.minus.com/ibylFklWCKnnt1.jpg[/IMG]

[IG]http://i.minus.com/ikkCGck860afn.jpg[/IMG]

Sometimes the surface can look a bit rigid with the patterns and what it is reflecting and look weird. Still lakes can do that irl too, though not as obvious in real life of course.



The water could be a lot better at times but can we slow down the crazy train already guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEMZmoSaAws
^ crysis

I think the water stuff is CPU dependent as well. I wish consoles CPUs were a bit more powerful.

Is this Far Cry 4?

 

[icecold1983]

Uncharted 4 gameplay footage graphics were very underwhelming. boo

 

[VFX_Veteran]

A few things:

1) Foilage was the big graphics point in this demo. Everything else looks like an upgrade from UC3 -- sharper textures, more frames per animation, more on screen.

2) Framerate is NOT going to be a locked 60fps from the looks of it. The game seemed to have unlocked the framerate but you can clearly see it struggling in alot of the scenes based on camera view.

3) I love the transition animations.. They looked great!

4) Nothing high tech can be seen in this video.. no realtime GI, no volume lighting, no volume smoke, no tessellation, no POM, SSR are non-existant, etc.

5) Good particles though for explosions. Nice 2D smoke effects.

Overall, I expected more based on the hype.

 

[icecold1983]

Wonder what went wrong, perhaps their engine was so tuned to such a radically different architecture(cell), and its a massive undertaking to get the engine better mapped to ps4. it doesnt look better than launch ps4/xbone titles like killzone and ryse.

 

[Kezen]

Uncharted 4 gameplay footage graphics were very underwhelming. boo

Can't say I was blown away but it's still impressive for a console given that it will run at 60fps.

 

[KKRT00]

Wonder what went wrong, perhaps their engine was so tuned to such a radically different architecture(cell), and its a massive undertaking to get the engine better mapped to ps4. it doesnt look better than launch ps4/xbone titles like killzone and ryse.

Because its 60fps. I said many times that they wont have level of consistency of a teaser in the whole game, but people didnt believe me.
Crappy level of AF is very, very disappointing. Also next game without PoM

Btw cave section looked worse than cave section in Crysis 3.

 

[kinggroin]

Because its 60fps. I said many times that they wont have level of consistency of a teaser in the whole game, but people didnt believe me.
Crappy level of AF is very, very disappointing. Also next game without PoM

Btw cave section looked worse than cave section in Crysis 3.

And parts of Tomb Raider

 

[VFX_Veteran]

Can't say I was blown away but it's still impressive for a console given that it will run at 60fps.

I don't think so. Just because they want to "target" 60fps don't mean it'll happen. I think it's going to run at an unlocked framerate similar to ISS.

And addressing the disappointment in graphics, it has to do with the fact that console warriors are struggling to find some reason to have a graphical beast of a game that can make them proud of owning a PS4.

My logic has always been that if we haven't seen anything mind-blowing games from several hundred developers yet running a game at 60fps (and we are 1 year in with pretty universally spec'd hardware -- it's not like old gen), then it's probably not going to happen in the next-gen consoles lifetime. I really believe these consoles are underpowered for what people are expecting.

 

[Kezen]

I don't think so. Just because they want to "target" 60fps don't mean it'll happen. I think it's going to run at an unlocked framerate similar to ISS.

And addressing the disappointment in graphics, it has to do with the fact that console warriors are struggling to find some reason to have a graphical beast of a game that can make them proud of owning a PS4.

My logic has always been that if we haven't seen anything mind-blowing games from several hundred developers yet running a game at 60fps (and we are 1 year in with pretty universally spec'd hardware -- it's not like old gen), then it's probably not going to happen in the next-gen consoles lifetime. I really believe these consoles are underpowered for what people are expecting.

I trust ND not to mislead people, they can't backtrack now after having announced a 60fps target. And I believe this is the level of fidelity they're aiming for at 60fps (even though it apparently ran at 30fps). They will most likely improve graphics by launch.
I don't think any console is underpowered so to speak, they're still x8 more powerful than previous ones and UC4 looks like a very significant step up from last gen ND efforts.

 

[KKRT00]

Oh and i didnt like painted textures. I thought that they will end with those on current gen, but i guess not.

 

[icecold1983]

Because its 60fps. I said many times that they wont have level of consistency of a teaser in the whole game, but people didnt believe me.
Crappy level of AF is very, very disappointing. Also next game without PoM

Btw cave section looked worse than cave section in Crysis 3.

this wasnt even 60 fps, and killzone, a rushed launch title, ran at 45 fps with graphics a solid step above this. something definitely went wrong with the development of this game.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2014/12/06/uncharted-4-a-thiefs-end-first-gameplay/

30 fps confirmed. would love to see a post mortem on this game

 

[Dictator93]

this wasnt even 60 fps, and killzone, a rushed launch title, ran at 45 fps with graphics a solid step above this. something definitely went wrong with the development of this game.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2014/12/06/uncharted-4-a-thiefs-end-first-gameplay/

30 fps confirmed. would love to see a post mortem on this game

Wait a minute, kz did not run at an average of 45 when unlocked.

 

[TheDarkTriforce]

Can someone please tell me if this game is now fixed on XBox One and playable now? I would like to play it, but I don't want to spend money on a broken game

 

[VFX_Veteran]

I trust ND not to mislead people, they can't backtrack now after having announced a 60fps target. And I believe this is the level of fidelity they're aiming for at 60fps (even though it apparently ran at 30fps). They will most likely improve graphics by launch.

Just because they have a target of 60fps doesn't mean they have to keep it. We'll see.

I don't think any console is underpowered so to speak, they're still x8 more powerful than previous ones and UC4 looks like a very significant step up from last gen ND efforts.

They are underpowered with regards to the PC equivalent. Everyone was expecting the nextgen consoles to have games of the same quality as PC games. Let's not try to avoid that hidden truth.

 

[RBK]

How much better does the PC version of Unity look. Playing on XB1 right now and everything is pretty impressive since it's all in game engine, cinematics and all. And I haven't had any major frame rate issues either so far.

Makes me want to get Far Cry 4 ASAP too.

 

[Yoda]

Marginally better for an extreme performance tradeoff

http://zippy.gfycat.com/ScornfulNeedyGalah.webm

 

[icecold1983]

How much better does the PC version of Unity look. Playing on XB1 right now and everything is pretty impressive since it's all in game engine, cinematics and all. And I haven't had any major frame rate issues either so far.

Makes me want to get Far Cry 4 ASAP too.

the biggest difference is the better framerate. graphically you have better shadows and AO, but thats about as big as it gets. msaa and txaa are both broken in this title so what should be a huge improvement to IQ is just not.

 

[Fantastical]

the biggest difference is the better framerate. graphically you have better shadows and AO, but thats about as big as it gets. msaa and txaa are both broken in this title so what should be a huge improvement to IQ is just not.

So they're broken? I enabled TXAA and scratched my head as I saw the visual quality get worse and my frame rate drop simultaneously.

 

[icecold1983]

So they're broken? I enabled TXAA and scratched my head as I saw the visual quality get worse and my frame rate drop simultaneously.

yes, txaa is actually broken in all 3 of ubisofts titles this holiday season. unity, far cry 4 and the crew

 

[Fantastical]

yes, txaa is actually broken in all 3 of ubisofts titles this holiday season. unity, far cry 4 and the crew

Lol that's so weird that they would even include it. I would think NVidia would want them to remove it since it's a pretty bad showcase for their tech.

 

[icecold1983]

Lol that's so weird that they would even include it. I would think NVidia would want them to remove it since it's a pretty bad showcase for their tech.

after all the advertising they did, that probably wasnt an option. the worst part is, in the "nvidia tech" trailers for all 3 titles, the part that focuses on txaa shows the type of super solid image you would expect. so either they are using some custom made scene they jimmy rigged to get txaa to work, or are just brute forcing downsampling to give the illusion of txaa. either way its just blatant false advertising by ubisoft marketing scum.

 

[Pakoe]

Is this Far Cry 4?

No, the first pic is a fully modded Skyrim.

Spoiler

Not serious ofc.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

Wait a minute! Hold the presses!

I just got Ryse for the PC today.. wtf? Why didn't people tell me this game looks better than AC:Unity? I can't believe no one insisted that I buy Ryse!

It is clearly the best looking game to date. Damn.. it's a shame the combat doesn't give you much control at all. I will still play it just to see all of what the CryEngine can do.

I'm playing at 4k.. my god the game is on another level compared to most games.

 

[icecold1983]

Wait a minute! Hold the presses!

I just got Ryse for the PC today.. wtf? Why didn't people tell me this game looks better than AC:Unity? I can't believe no one insisted that I buy Ryse!

It is clearly the best looking game to date. Damn.. it's a shame the combat doesn't give you much control at all. I will still play it just to see all of what the CryEngine can do.

I'm playing at 4k.. my god the game is on another level compared to most games.

i told you ryse looked better? at least i think it was you. doesnt beat driveclub tho

 

[VFX_Veteran]

i told you ryse looked better? at least i think it was you. doesnt beat driveclub tho

There isn't much to see in DriveClub though. These other games have way more content. I'll pick up DC this weekend to see what all the fuss is.

It's not really fair to compare a game that can't go any higher than 1080p to a 4k game though. It's just in another league IMO.

 

[icecold1983]

There isn't much to see in DriveClub though. These other games have way more content. I'll pick up DC this weekend to see what all the fuss is.

It's not really fair to compare a game that can't go any higher than 1080p to a 4k game though. It's just in another league IMO.

well it might seem kind of arbitrary, but i use what i can achieve on my 980 gtx @ 1.5 ghz for comparison as i think thats a pretty high end level of pc already. that said, given how good the AA in ryse is, 4k has VERY little benefit over 1080p and doesnt change anything IMO. Nothing beats driveclub ATM. the AA isnt on ryse level(altho its still far far above the pc version of unity) but the overall fidelity is just mind boggling.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

well it might seem kind of arbitrary, but i use what i can achieve on my 980 gtx @ 1.5 ghz for comparison as i think thats a pretty high end level of pc already. that said, given how good the AA in ryse is, 4k has VERY little benefit over 1080p and doesnt change anything IMO. Nothing beats driveclub ATM. the AA isnt on ryse level(altho its still far far above the pc version of unity) but the overall fidelity is just mind boggling.

I don't use AA in Ryse. 4k isn't just used for AA. All the framebuffers (i.e. lighting, normals, etc..) are using 4k as well. The textures appear sharper and crisp.

As I said, there is more content (cups, statues, NPCs, props, buildings, interiors, etc..) in Ryse/AC:Unity than Driveclub. So I can't really compare them.

I went back to look at AC:Unity's Arno in game @ 4k (from now on, I will only judge gameplay footage) and he's a significant step down from Marius. I'm extremely surprised that people weren't shouting that Ryse is the game to beat graphically. AC:Unity seems to have superior lighting but the artwork seems matched in Ryse to AC:Unity.. Everything else just defeats Unity though.. foliage is unmatched, the reflections are actually using SSR, the fire is the best I've ever seen. Hmm.. gotta play some more.

 

[icecold1983]

I don't use AA in Ryse. 4k isn't just used for AA. All the framebuffers (i.e. lighting, normals, etc..) are using 4k as well. The textures appear sharper and crisp.

As I said, there is more content (cups, statues, NPCs, props, buildings, interiors, etc..) in Ryse/AC:Unity than Driveclub. So I can't really compare them.

I went back to look at AC:Unity's Arno in game @ 4k (from now on, I will only judge gameplay footage) and he's a significant step down from Marius. I'm extremely surprised that people weren't shouting that Ryse is the game to beat graphically. AC:Unity seems to have superior lighting but the artwork seems matched in Ryse to AC:Unity.. Everything else just defeats Unity though.. foliage is unmatched, the reflections are actually using SSR, the fire is the best I've ever seen. Hmm.. gotta play some more.

If unity had ryse level of aa it might beat it imo. As it stands tho the iq i can achieve in unity is just shockingly bad.

 

[R0C]

The really impressive thing about AC Unity is that it uses all these state-of-the-art rendering techniques, not in a cinematic corridor action game but rather in a huge open world setting.

I mean, these downsampled shots (courtesy of the good people in the PC screenshots thread) are just some of the best realtime graphics I've seen in a game:

Do we have uncompressed gameplay video at that quality ? Youtube is destroying the quality

 

[R0C]

Some 4K Screens and some at 1080p

 

[pottuvoi]

Sometimes the surface can look a bit rigid with the patterns and what it is reflecting and look weird. Still lakes can do that irl too, though not as obvious in real life of course.

Yes, water is actually very reflective and small waves usually create patterns.
The look of water is hard to get right due to fact that in addition to having good 'roughness' estimation, the look is very dependant of motion blur. (surface and it's normals can change hugely within a single frame.)

Basically one would need an anisotropic normal/roughness map of water surface each frame which includes the changing of surface normals within a frame. (Roughness term similar to what valve presented a while back.)

Certainly interesting problem to solve, especially if one wants it to be able to handle variable length motion blur.

I think the water stuff is CPU dependent as well. I wish consoles CPUs were a bit more powerful.

Main simulation can be made with CPU, but everything else is GPU driven. (Pretty sure that in current gen it's more feasible to just use GPU.)

 

[Consumer]

Playing through AC:U now (PS4) and I'm constantly finding myself blown away by the visuals. Synchronizing viewpoints was one of my favourite things to do, just admiring the city in awe. It's too bad I finished all the viewpoints in <2 hours...

 

[DOWN]

Some 4K Screens and some at 1080p

Y'all had to go and complain about the most immaculate open world lighting (still to date) so we ended up with Syndicate and a useless day cycle that looks graphically worse than Unity 95% of the time, and artistically worse visual work causing deeper stress in half those cases