Support NeoGAF

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

00:00 Overview
00:42 Image quality differences
03:41 Anti-aliasing and sharpening options
05:08 Performance differences
08:31 Analysis and conclusion

Eurogamer Article available here.

Summary via AI:

• Helldivers 2, despite no official announcement, has received a stealth PS5 Pro upgrade, enhancing its visual fidelity and performance.
• In performance mode, the PS5 Pro version boasts a resolution upgrade from 1080p to 1440p, resulting in sharper textures, clearer text, and improved detail, although it utilizes a less-than-optimal anti-aliasing technique.
• The PS5 Pro's quality mode offers a native 4K resolution, surpassing the PS5's upscaled 1728p output, although some depth-of-field and geometry rendering issues persist.
• While the Pro version shows a noticeable improvement in image quality, frame-pacing issues from the original release remain, with performance still dipping below 60fps in demanding gameplay scenarios, even on the Pro.
• Despite the performance improvements, the game still lacks modern upscaling technologies like DLSS and FSR, and network connectivity problems from launch haven't been fully resolved.
• The PS5 Pro upgrade provides a more visually appealing and slightly smoother experience compared to the base PS5 version, but it doesn't entirely eliminate the game's technical shortcomings.
• Overall, Helldivers 2 on PS5 Pro offers a better visual experience and slightly improved performance, making it a worthwhile upgrade for players seeking enhanced image quality and a more stable frame rate, but it's not a transformative upgrade.

 

[onQ123]

00:00 Overview
00:42 Image quality differences
03:41 Anti-aliasing and sharpening options
05:08 Performance differences
08:31 Analysis and conclusion

Eurogamer Article available here.

Summary via AI:

• Helldivers 2, despite no official announcement, has received a stealth PS5 Pro upgrade, enhancing its visual fidelity and performance.
• In performance mode, the PS5 Pro version boasts a resolution upgrade from 1080p to 1440p, resulting in sharper textures, clearer text, and improved detail, although it utilizes a less-than-optimal anti-aliasing technique.
• The PS5 Pro's quality mode offers a native 4K resolution, surpassing the PS5's upscaled 1728p output, although some depth-of-field and geometry rendering issues persist.
• While the Pro version shows a noticeable improvement in image quality, frame-pacing issues from the original release remain, with performance still dipping below 60fps in demanding gameplay scenarios, even on the Pro.
• Despite the performance improvements, the game still lacks modern upscaling technologies like DLSS and FSR, and network connectivity problems from launch haven't been fully resolved.
• The PS5 Pro upgrade provides a more visually appealing and slightly smoother experience compared to the base PS5 version, but it doesn't entirely eliminate the game's technical shortcomings.
• Overall, Helldivers 2 on PS5 Pro offers a better visual experience and slightly improved performance, making it a worthwhile upgrade for players seeking enhanced image quality and a more stable frame rate, but it's not a transformative upgrade.

You're out of line for replacing adamsapple with AI

 

[mckmas8808]

Sounds good to me!

 

[adamsapple]

You're out of line for replacing adamsapple with AI

No, it's ok. This also saves me the trouble of answering the "hurr durr adm didn't make the topic so xbox version must be the suckzzzz" kind of posts

 

[Ainem Enamas]

But will it cook you a toast?

 

[onQ123]

No, it's ok. This also saves me the trouble of answering the "hurr durr adm didn't make the topic so xbox version must be the suckzzzz" kind of posts

But will you make the thread when the Xbox version is released?

 

[adamsapple]

But will you make the thread when the Xbox version is released?

I'm not about to pass all shit-stirring opportunities now

 

[Killer8]

If we're using Discord posts then the CEO of Arrowhead said the following:

I'd expect a more official Pro patch using PSSR in the future.

 

[Skifi28]

It's very interesting how they can increase resolution by nearly 80% and still get better performance on a ~40% better GPU. One would assume the game is CPU limited, but I'm not convinced by the provided footage that seems more explosion-heavy than anything. And it's not like the pro has a significant CPU upgrade.

 

[Omnipunctual Godot]

I don't know why, but when you look at your character in menus and gear selection the graphics become godawful.

 

[Zathalus]

75% resolution bump, pretty impressive.

 

[bitbydeath]

Is this out now or coming soon?
My game had an update two days ago but nothing today, unless that was it?

 

[Topher]

Is this out now or coming soon?
My game had an update two days ago but nothing today, unless that was it?

Doesn't really look like much has changed in the game to me. Patch notes form Feb 4 don't say anything about Pro upgrade. I'm guessing we don't have it yet

Helldivers 2 February 4 2025 Patch Notes - Helldivers 2 Guide - IGN

The February 4th, 2025 Patch for Helldivers 2 has arrived, bringing with it a number of balance updates, and various

www.ign.com

 

[bitbydeath]

Doesn't really look like much has changed in the game to me. Patch notes form Feb 4 don't say anything about Pro upgrade. I'm guessing we don't have it yet

Helldivers 2 February 4 2025 Patch Notes - Helldivers 2 Guide - IGN

The February 4th, 2025 Patch for Helldivers 2 has arrived, bringing with it a number of balance updates, and various

www.ign.com

Yeah, I’m not seeing the Pro stamp on the store yet either. DF must have gotten it early.

 

[blastprocessor]

Surprising that in this day and age an engine doesn't use a quality TAA as a minimum.

 

[delishcaek]

Doesn't really look like much has changed in the game to me. Patch notes form Feb 4 don't say anything about Pro upgrade. I'm guessing we don't have it yet

Helldivers 2 February 4 2025 Patch Notes - Helldivers 2 Guide - IGN

The February 4th, 2025 Patch for Helldivers 2 has arrived, bringing with it a number of balance updates, and various

www.ign.com

Yeah, I’m not seeing the Pro stamp on the store yet either. DF must have gotten it early.

Have either of you bothered watching the video? Oliver also questions why this has no PS5 Pro support label on the store (starts at the 3:20 minute mark). Apparently this update has been live for quite some time now and was confirmed by an AH dev on their discord.

 

[Topher]

Have either of you bothered watching the video? Oliver also questions why this has no PS5 Pro support label on the store (starts at the 3:20 minute mark). Apparently this update has been live for quite some time now and was confirmed by an AH dev on their discord.

No....have not "bothered" to watch the video. I'm actually playing the game right now and was just noting what I see my man. They really need to implement upscaling.

 

[Puscifer]

It's very interesting how they can increase resolution by nearly 80% and still get better performance on a ~40% better GPU. One would assume the game is CPU limited, but I'm not convinced by the provided footage that seems more explosion-heavy than anything. And it's not like the pro has a significant CPU upgrade.

Fwiw CPU limitations start to disappear at higher resolutions and the GPU starts to kick into higher gear. Especially with engines that eat up every core and thread possible.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Only thing I can think of is that the devs wanted to port in a quick update that takes advantage of Pro.....before releasing a better version with their intended changes

who knows though

 

[YCoCg]

Quality mode just needs something like FSR Native to handle the AA and get rid of the blur, similar to how Red Dead Redemption 1 does in the new port, as for Performance mode though, either FSR2+ or PSSR going from 1440p to 4k is going to look fine, that's more than enough for either of those to reconstruct in a satisfying way.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

this happened around month ago and was mentioned in the Pro games list thread on how to activate it for performance mode.

 

[Topher]

this happened around month ago and was mentioned in the Pro games list thread on how to activate it for performance mode.

The problem is this "upgrade" doesn't look like an upgrade. I did the "activation" thing and it sill looked rough. Frankly, this doesn't look patched at all coming from Space Marine 2 where the Pro upgrade was night and day difference from before. I'd expect more from Sony's biggest release of 2024.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

The problem is this "upgrade" doesn't look like an upgrade. I did the "activation" thing and it sill looked rough. Frankly, this doesn't look patched at all coming from Space Marine 2 where the Pro upgrade was night and day difference from before. I'd expect more from Sony's biggest release of 2024.

It seemed to me to be substantial enough. It’s absolutely clearer. But yeah it’s not using pssr so you aren’t getting as large a jump as sm2 did. SM2 was a lower resolution on average in Performance so you were going to get a more noticeable jump.

 

[Topher]

It seemed to me to be substantial enough. It’s absolutely clearer. But yeah it’s not using pssr so you aren’t getting as large a jump as sm2 did. SM2 was a lower resolution on average in Performance so you were going to get a more noticeable jump.

True. Hopefully they will get PSSR in at some point. Definitely think it will help.

 

[Complistic]

I think it's clear this is basically a pro upgrade beta and theyre just looking for feedback on it before making it official.

 

[Shifty1897]

The problem is this "upgrade" doesn't look like an upgrade. I did the "activation" thing and it sill looked rough. Frankly, this doesn't look patched at all coming from Space Marine 2 where the Pro upgrade was night and day difference from before. I'd expect more from Sony's biggest release of 2024.

My guess is them using a dead, unsupported engine (Stingray) is what is keeping them from doing much with the Pro. PSSR is probably has built in extensions for Unreal Engine, Unity, and Decima that make enabling it much easier.

 

[nowhat]

PSSR is probably has built in extensions for Unreal Engine, Unity, and Decima that make enabling it much easier.

Apparently Zero Dawn Remastered/Forbidden West does not use PSSR, at least per DF (they still lauded FW for the best Pro enhancement during launch). We'll see if this will be different with DS2.

 

[DirtInUrEye]

It's very interesting how they can increase resolution by nearly 80% and still get better performance on a ~40% better GPU. One would assume the game is CPU limited, but I'm not convinced by the provided footage that seems more explosion-heavy than anything. And it's not like the pro has a significant CPU upgrade.

This game is extremely heavy on the CPU, I've done a lot of testing with it. The older zen 2 architecture can't cope; you need a 5600 upwards to maintain 60fps on higher difficulties>many more enemies. Those explosions all have physical interactions and a lot of destructibility.