you're right. just tested for a bit. locked at 60fps in 1440p on my 970, maxed settings (except blur and aa). global illumination really is very taxing.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Nier: Automata PC performance thread
- Thread starter JaseC
- Start date
you're right. just tested for a bit. locked at 60fps in 1440p on my 970, maxed settings (except blur and aa). global illumination really is very taxing.
electroflame
Member
After some very, very quick testing -- this fix is the real deal.
However, this fix ships with GI turned completely off (set to 0). Playing around with it in-game, I wouldn't recommend this, as GI does do something (surprising, given that I had no idea it was even in the game until everyone found out it was tanking performance).
Leaving it set to 16 (i.e. the lowest setting that's non-zero) seems to work the best. You still get GI, but it won't demolish the framerate (and, honestly, at 16 it looks about the same as the default 128).
To test this yourself, head to a grassy field (like where you start after the prologue/tutorial level). Turning GI off removes most of the lighting on the grass, making it appear dark and partially unlit. Setting GI to 16 restores the "proper" lighting, while still giving you better performance.
On my 1080, setting the GI to 16 rather than default 128 saves me about 15-20% GPU utilization at 1080p. Pretty nuts.
However, this fix ships with GI turned completely off (set to 0). Playing around with it in-game, I wouldn't recommend this, as GI does do something (surprising, given that I had no idea it was even in the game until everyone found out it was tanking performance).
Leaving it set to 16 (i.e. the lowest setting that's non-zero) seems to work the best. You still get GI, but it won't demolish the framerate (and, honestly, at 16 it looks about the same as the default 128).
To test this yourself, head to a grassy field (like where you start after the prologue/tutorial level). Turning GI off removes most of the lighting on the grass, making it appear dark and partially unlit. Setting GI to 16 restores the "proper" lighting, while still giving you better performance.
On my 1080, setting the GI to 16 rather than default 128 saves me about 15-20% GPU utilization at 1080p. Pretty nuts.
QisTopTier
XisBannedTier
How the hell did they even fuck that up, wonder if that's the issue with ps4 version too
The same fix that lets you customize the global illumination to get a huge FPS boost also fixes any problem with the Fullscreen bug.
So with the test branch, I can now play at 1440p with everything on/High except AA at off at 60 fps with the GI setting turned down to 16. Past 32 which I assume automatically sets it to 48, it performs just as before. At 32 or lower, grass, trees, and certain objects lose some shadows/become full bright though which is kind of a bummer. It can be seen on the truck in the second image that DrDaxxy posted:
I'm on a 4690k @4.5, 16 GB RAM, 970 with a minor OC. Game is installed to an SSD. Gonna keep testing other areas and see if there's any issues.
So far, I'm personally fine with taking a hit to the lighting for a smooth 60 at native res on my primary monitor.
I'm on a 4690k @4.5, 16 GB RAM, 970 with a minor OC. Game is installed to an SSD. Gonna keep testing other areas and see if there's any issues.
So far, I'm personally fine with taking a hit to the lighting for a smooth 60 at native res on my primary monitor.
GhostRidah
Member
Yeah I came to the same conclusion on 16 being the setting best used, I just can't tell much of a difference when putting that up higher.
It is pretty great though and I have had no crashes within the short period of time I used it.
Personally I don't notice any difference really. I have mine set to the lowest ON, which is 16. Some are saying it makes some things Fullbright but everything looks fine on my end so IDK what we're seeing differently.
replace When=Early with When=PlugIn
Zenaku
Member
Is anyone here playing the game in 3d? Got a WIP fix (3dmigoto) that fixes most of the shadow problems, but whenever I have it installed none of my controllers work properly. Steam controller, xbone, switch pro controller, all of them get their inputs messed up, but work fine when I uninstall 3dmigoto.
I can't sign up to the geforce forums atm to ask what might be causing it. Tried another game with a 3dmigoto fix and that wasn't working right either.
I can't sign up to the geforce forums atm to ask what might be causing it. Tried another game with a 3dmigoto fix and that wasn't working right either.
electroflame
Member
Yeah, I just did some more testing and 16 definitely seems to be the best in terms of performance/impact.
Just need to set it in FAR.ini, otherwise the game will initialize to 0 every time you boot it.
EDIT: Actually, it looks like FAR.ini is being reset as well. Looks like a bug. Can probably stop it from being reset to zero by locking the file in Windows.
Thanks. I figured it out a bit before you and was going to post about it, but you beat me to the punch!
SunBroDave
Member
That causes it not to crash on start, but ReShade still isn't working in game.
electroflame
Member
Works fine here -- did you rename both the DLL and the INI file that comes with Reshade?
Unfortunately, the GI fix is flawed right now. The INI file doesn't actually work, so it resets to zero every time the game's booted. Sounds like it won't be fixed until tomorrow.
Still -- this is pretty amazing. Having to set it to 16 every time it's booted is a small price to pay for the performance gains.
It might mess up some indirect lighting in some areas, but if anything it'll make bright areas less bright (i.e. less indirect light being applied). I don't think it'll cause any major lighting issues like you described, but the fix is too new to say for certain. Global Illumination is about how light reflects and bounces off of surfaces, contributing to indirect lighting. Lowering the quality of it might make it less precise, but as long as the fix isn't set to zero you'll still have some (if not all) of the indirect lighting applied.
I think the fix is affecting the quality (resolution) of the GI, not the amount of GI applied (or, possibly the workload "budget" of the GI processing). I can't say for certain, but it likely applies to the overall quality and possibly the number of bounces. I don't believe setting it to anything lower than 128 means you'll have areas that should be lit not having any light at all.
This is insane. If you're right, then Platinum should take notice and patch the PS4 version as well. It's possible it'll be at least locked 60 at 900p.
Dragon1893
Member
Oh wow, what a breakthrough, gonna try this right away.
electroflame
Member
Well, I mean, it has some effect (higher values seem to slightly alter the GI simulation, likely due to the quality or number of the light bounces), it's just a matter of the performance loss vs the visual impact. 16 or 32 seem to be the sweet spot, in my opinion.
It's entirely possible that the PS4 versions already have a lower GI setting. (Although, to be honest, I kind of doubt it)
I'm looking forward to seeing some more comparisons, really curious about what exactly it affects.
(My guess is still light propagation distance or bounces)
(My guess is still light propagation distance or bounces)
I think it's unlikely, at least on PS4 Pro, since that seems to track 1:1 in GPU performance at the same settings with comparable AMD cards.
There's not really any saying that the GI in the console versions is locked to 128 same as PC right? Could be they already made a compromise on those versions.
It's also possible that 128 is the optimal value for the PS4/Pro GPU and they just didn't consider that they had to adjust the value for various PC GPUs.
The Thnikkaman
Neo Member
How do I set up the FAR thing? I can't find the post.
Dragon1893
Member
I'm wondering the same thing.
I've downloaded both the install manager and the FAR folder but I don't see any instructions, would really appreciate some help.
SunBroDave
Member
What order did you install them in? I installed ReShade, then renamed dxgi.dll and dxgi.ini to ReShade64.dll and ReShade64.ini respectively. Then installed FAR 0.1.0 and added
Code:
[Import.ReShade]
Architecture=x64
Filename=ReShade64.dll
Role=Plugin
When=PluginHmm, that seems just barely not enough to be worth it for me with my 1440p monitor and GTX 1080.
At native res with the standard 128 elements I get locked 60 -- I'd consider downsampling with a 16 element array if I could get a locked 60 at 4k.
It looks slightly different, but effectively I don't think it looks worse. Maybe if the game had more detailed geometry lower settings would look worse?
The Thnikkaman
Neo Member
OK I think I got it,
I took the link here:
https://github.com/Kaldaien/FAR/releases/tag/far_010
Dropped that in my N:A root folder.
Ran N:A, Special K will ask to update.
The update is what added far.ini for me. Then just edit FAR.ini to 16 for lowest without turning it off.
irfaanator
Banned
http://steamcommunity.com/app/524220/discussions/0/135512104777399045/
I downloaded the automatic installer and ran it w/o any issues. It'll auto download the files in to your nier automata folder, which you can check to see yourself. When you run nier itll have an on screen display w/ info that you can turn off w/ ctrl+shift+o. You can change settings w/ ctrl+shift+backspace
To get the GI fix use the testing branch instead of main. The GI fix is under the settings menu
With GI off I can run it at 4K on a 1070 with aa and ao off 60 fps in the city ruins. with dips to 40-50 in battles. Game world looks flatter though with GI off. Maybe i'll make a custom res between 1440p and 4k to with GI at 16 to get the sweet spot.
Try 1620p.
yeah, personally I wouldn't do 4k either (I kind of don't need to on a 1080p display), I might stick it at something like 1800p just to get the benefits of cleaner edges.
electroflame
Member
Oh, no, I agree with you. Unless there's some currently-unknown reason for running it at max quality, I think it's a setting that was chosen and then never updated. Maybe they didn't know that GI was chewing everything up, or maybe they didn't have time to change it?
At the very least, a setting of 32 seems to be as close to 128 as you can get without the performance overhead. I'm curious if all of the GI is running in real-time, or if it's baked. If it's real-time, that'd explain a lot, as Enlighten is dreadfully slow at real-time GI. It's much better for mostly-static, baked GI.
Looks like your Role is incorrect. Try this:
Code:
[Import.ReShade]
Architecture=x64
Filename=ReShade64.dll
Role=ThirdParty
When=PlugInEclectic Sk3ptic
Member
It'd be great if Platinum could include a GI toggle with the patch. Off (0), low (1-16), medium (17-32) and high (33-128). They could also bring it down a notch or two on PS4 if they haven't done so already. 
Here's the visual difference between 16 and 128 that I'm getting: http://imgur.com/a/TzLn1
EDIT: Oh, forgot to mention, there doesn't appear to be any difference for the values in-between 16 and 128 but I'm no expert so someone with a more discerning eye can probably post a better comparison, I'm just gonna play now and see if there's any serious issues.
EDIT: Oh, forgot to mention, there doesn't appear to be any difference for the values in-between 16 and 128 but I'm no expert so someone with a more discerning eye can probably post a better comparison, I'm just gonna play now and see if there's any serious issues.
Given that some random person on the internet seemingly with no knowledge of graphics programming was able to profile the game and find a single array consuming 40% of gpu time, I would have hoped that somebody at Platinum would notice this.
hmm, Interesting. Seems like 128 is definitely more accurate. Still, I think many people would trade accuracy for better performance. The weird thing is that I don't remember any locations in the ruined city ever being that dark in my game.
Dictator93
Member
This is really confusing. The grass lighting makes no sense in the "low quality version", yet it has more darkening / large scale AO under the overhang in the low quality verison.
Also, where on earth is this relighting coming from in the image in general? Isnt that a back alley? Where is the yellowed secondary lighting even bouncing from? In both images!
Exentryk
Member
Did you do one for 32 and 128?
Dragon1893
Member
Edit: Nevermind, got it.
Ok, I'm confused now, someone else post a screenshot comparison using 0, 16, and higher please because at 0 that alleyway looks the same as the 128 screenshot minus the massive performance drain. That alleyway is located right outside the Resistance HQ to the left as you leave. I'd just like to confirm if it's just something on my end or if the 16 setting is just bugged. Anything else results in the game's default appearance.
Cannon Goose
Member
Just so everyone knows, the mouse visibility toggle in Borderless Gaming is global, so it should work even if you're not making a game Borderless.
Pretty insane that they managed to bump the FPS up this much with the fix. Unfortunately the FAR fix crashed on me one evening and I haven't gotten it to launch again while it feeds me the same error. Clean install of both nier and the program. Guess I have to wait for an official patch and pray it helps the fps as much as this lod fix.
Zomba13
Member
I've checked. With me at 0 or 16 I get what you had at 16, the grass in the ally being bright but at 32 and up (32, 48, etc) I get it being dark like it should. At 32 it also runs better. I'm going to just leave it there as it seems to run better but look more or less the same.
EDIT: I mean 32 runs better than 48 and higher, not better than 16 (or 0). I meant it in a "it runs better but looks closer to default" way but wrote it poorly.