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Unreal Engine 5 is swiftly become the middleware engine of choice for the generation - but there's no denying that its cutting-edge feature set can be highly demanding... so where does that leave Switch 2? In this video, Oliver Mackenzie and Alex Battaglia tackle a trio of UE5 titles, from Bloober Studios' Cronos: The New Dawn through to Hazelight Studios' Split Fiction. And of course, Epic itself has delivered a Switch 2 port of Fortnite at 60fps - surely the standard bearer for the engine?

00:00 Overview
00:48 Cronos: what features does Switch 2 use?
06:39 Cronos: Switch 2 vs Series S
14:51 Fortnite
23:00 Split Fiction
29:05 Final thoughts

 

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Cronos:

Visuals:
- Switch 2 version seems to be similar to "Very Low" preset on the PC version
- Virtual Shadow Maps are forced off. Nanite shows lower quality models than PC's lowest
- Pop-in and LoD shows it's not using Nanite
- Also doesn't seem to be using Lumen GI
- PC's Very Low is so similar to Switch 2 that DF thinks that mode was derived directly from Switch 2's preset
- Despite not using Lumen etc, the dark nature of the game lets it 'get away' without using those features on NS2
- Comparing to Series S, things like GI leaking, clarity of VSM shadows and Nanite set it apart on Series S and looks a lot better there.
- Overall, doesn't look that different in terms of IQ but Series S can look less aliased
- Series S is using TSR and Switch 2 seems to be using a 'cheaper' DLSS, breaking up some more but doesn't show typical TSR deficiencies.
- Portable seems to run the sam config as docked, even the same resolution per DF (540p)

Performance:
- NS2 vs Series 2 both target 30fps
- Series S has a couple of drops above and below 30fps (can go to 29fps or 32fps) where Switch 2 seems to be pretty steady at 30 in DF's tested areas.
- One of the more intense UE5 games on NS2 but also doesn't seem to make use of any of UE5's unique features.


Fortnite:

- Uses a version of Fortnite without the UE5 features added to it.
- No Lumen, Nanite, VSM in the Switch 2 version
- Textures also worse than Series S version
- Nanite vegetation was added to other current gen versions via updates, which NS2 does not have
- "Basically it's the last gen version"
- DF are surprised that Epic themselves have chosen not to highlight any UE5 features in an in-house game
- The one area Switch 2 has an advantage over Series S is resolution, Series S runs at 720p and Switch 2 targets a bit higher than 1080p
- NS2 is generally locked at 60fps with some minor drops here and there
- Portable seems to run the game at 900p with similar performance


Split Fiction:

- This game did not use the UE5 features like Nanite, Lumen on any console
- Switch 2 is very similar to Series S here, visually
- Though it runs at 30fps on Switch 2, where it targets 60fps on Series S
- Neither version uses TSR, they use the older TAAU and aim for 1080p
- Though hair are more aliased on Switch 2 compared to Series S
- Switch also strips out things like Depth of Field in cut-scenes
- Both Switch and Series S use SSR while NS2 uses lower resolution shadow maps
- DF are surprised NS2 needed to reduce things like shadow maps considering it has more memory than Series S and is basically a UE4 title in all but name.

 

[Kataploom]

I think the problem is mostly unreal since we already have proof of Switch 2 using better tech than Lumen and Nanite running well. Also these are launch titles with everything it carries.

 

[FalconPunch]

On again, we see that switch 2 is very far away from Series S. Obviously we knew that but, man the switch 2 is a huge disappointment. If only Nintendo had used tsmc 5nm, we could have had a really good chip. Cheap bastards….

 

[Zuzu]

I think Lumen is possible to get running in docked mode one day, but handheld mode will be the biggest challenge. Handheld mode (and docked mode) is running at an internal resolution of 540p in Cronos without Lumen. A future game might have to drop to 360p and reconstruct up to 720p. Maybe further work will be done on Lumen to enable a more optimised and less performance intensive version to run on Switch 2 in the future.

 

[Nvzman]

On again, we see that switch 2 is very far away from Series S. Obviously we knew that but, man the switch 2 is a huge disappointment. If only Nintendo had used tsmc 5nm, we could have had a really good chip. Cheap bastards….

... And it would've been easily $600+ which would have been way too expensive

 

[LordOcidax]

On again, we see that switch 2 is very far away from Series S. Obviously we knew that but, man the switch 2 is a huge disappointment. If only Nintendo had used tsmc 5nm, we could have had a really good chip. Cheap bastards….

Outlaws already showed what the Switch 2 is capable, this is more on the Unreal Engine 5 side. Obviously if you want FPS parity with the Series S, some cuts are going to happen like almost everybody with brain expected.

 

[FireFly]

I think the problem is mostly unreal arrive we already have proof of Switch 2 using better tech than Lumen and Nanite running well. Also these are launch with everything it carries.

Lumen leverages general compute where the Switch 2 is more lacking relative to the Series S, whereas Outlaws can take advantage of the Switch 2's RT units.

On again, we see that switch 2 is very far away from Series S. Obviously we knew that but, man the switch 2 is a huge disappointment. If only Nintendo had used tsmc 5nm, we could have had a really good chip. Cheap bastards….

It's about half as powerful as the S, but going with 5nm would only have provided up to around a 50% boost, that Nintendo may have clawed back anyway to improve battery life. But 5nm wafers are in more demand, while going with 8nm allowed Nintendo to flood the market with units. So it was likely a much better business decision. Also, a future 5nm model will be able to double battery life, which wouldn't have been available had they already started on 5nm.

 

[LordOcidax]

Lumen leverages general compute where the Switch 2 is more lacking relative to the Series S, whereas Outlaws can take advantage of the Switch 2's RT units.

So Lumen is basically software based RT? CPU based?

 

[Mister Wolf]

That's too bad Lumen isn't hardware based RTGI like in Snowdrop, Anvil, and Id Tech engines. That is a glaring oversight by Epic.

 

[Kataploom]

On again, we see that switch 2 is very far away from Series S. Obviously we knew that but, man the switch 2 is a huge disappointment. If only Nintendo had used tsmc 5nm, we could have had a really good chip. Cheap bastards….

Star Wars Outlaws says it isn't, more like they trade blows, one is better than the other in different areas

 

[Bojji]

So Lumen is basically software based RT? CPU based?

Runs on shader cores.

That's too bad Lumen isn't hardware based RTGI like in Snowdrop, Anvil, and Id Tech engines. That is a glaring oversight by Epic.

Yep, it would be faster with hardware acceleration. Using the same quality, hardware lumen uses higher quality in that's why it performs worse in games that have it.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Switch 2 is low spec hardware for a portable running at max 15W power draw but it does support DLSS

So there are benefits and tradeoffs compared to the home consoles which run at 150W+ power draw but don't support DLSS

DLSS is basically black magic for upscaling but low spec hardware for portables is what it is

 

[SlimySnake]

That's too bad Lumen isn't hardware based RTGI like in Snowdrop, Anvil, and Id Tech engines. That is a glaring oversight by Epic.

Hardware lumen is hardware based and uses rt hardware on the consoles and gpus. It's still around 20% more expensive.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Hardware lumen is hardware based and uses rt hardware on the consoles and gpus. It's still around 20% more expensive.

Why is it so much more taxing than what Id Tech and Ubisoft are doing with their Hardware RTGI? Is it more accurate?

 

[LordOcidax]

Why is it so much more taxing than what Id Tech and Ubisoft are doing with their Hardware RTGI? Is it more accurate?

Shader cores are not as efficients as RT Cores for Ray Tracing probably.

 

[SlimySnake]

Why is it so much more taxing than what Id Tech and Ubisoft are doing with their Hardware RTGI? Is it more accurate?

different engines. different games. hard to compare.

i did play silent hill 2, avowed and mgs3 with hardware lumen on PC, and the performance was more or less on par with avatar, star wars outlaws, and ac shadows. My guess is that pre UE5.4, the CPU bottlenecks were too high and thats why we didnt see any hardware lumen games on consoles. Aside from fortnite which did get a hardware lumen patch after UE5.4 released. With UE5.6, they have made hardware lumen perform even better and have further reduced cpu bottlenecks thanks to CDPR's work and they are now able to run witcher 4 with hardware lumen at 800-1080p.

RTGI in doom and indy is not as good. and they are not really pushing any other tech like nanite or virtualized geometry or mesh shaders. which lets them target higher framerates.

 

[SlimySnake]

Shader cores are not as efficients as RT Cores for Ray Tracing probably.

Hardware lumen runs on rt cores.

 

[LordOcidax]

Hardware lumen runs on rt cores.

Runs on shader cores.

 

[SlimySnake]

Software lumen runs on shader cores.

Hardware lumen runs on rt cores.

 

[Ozriel]

Star Wars Outlaws says it isn't, more like they trade blows, one is better than the other in different areas

'trade blows' is serious hyperbole

But that's no shade on the Switch 2. It's performing very well indeed, and should really be able to run the vast majority of stuff that's on the flagship consoles.