Oh my god, another port review from Durante! Woohoo
I can’t wait to play Horizon finally on PC.
Edit: Here it is:
Edit 2:
Unlike many recent games, there is a non-negligible performance difference between exclusive fullscreen and borderless windowed mode. I measured roughly 10% better performance in exclusive fullscreen.
I was under the impression that DirectX 12 didn’t really have “exclusive” fullscreen mode any longer, and it was all borderless modes nowadays?
Edit 3: Preloading is up on Steam for those that uses that.
I think D3D12 does exclusive full-screen although borderless is the preferred mode, Vulkan also does it though it takes a extension approach for it as of the 1.1 spec I believe.
Unsure if there’s some reason behind the performance difference if it’s the same between AMD and NVIDIA and what tomorrows(?) 1.01 something pre-release update could do for the game since a larger part of the D3D12 and Vulkan implementation shifts it over to the developers.
(For AMD here I suppose that means leveraging async compute and the low-level API support for a more multi-threaded rendered workload and also utilizing those 6+ core processors more to their full possibility.)
Vulkan makes it a bit easier to poke into the AMD_ and NV_ extensions references and what might be going on unless the developers outright discuss the partnership but it’s generally along the lines of multi-threading and asynchronous compute and shader performance.
Maybe a bit of CAS and FidelityFX for sharpening but 20.8.1 actually seems to lack a blacklist entry if the game has the implementation for this directly (Avoids issues like crashes if it’s also enabled in the driver.) but it could either be missing or it’s a newer approach no longer reliant on driver profile maintenance for this sort of thing.
EDIT: As to Gundam the only thing that comes to mind unless this is something more on moderation would be licensing woes and problems which is what has hampered some other works.
Fan translations and emulation is a thing though for when you want to overkill like nothing else in over the top ridiculous awesomeness.
…Generally though impractical but awesome rule of trope apply and it’s better to go with what works even when it’s less flashy.
(Tales and Trails series, Ys and more it just works ha ha.)
I am fairly certain the reason for this behavior is the number of backbuffers in the swapchain. I noticed the very same problem with Death Stranding – where most software using flip model presentation uses 3 backbuffers, this engine only uses 2.
With the DWM compositor locking one of the backbuffers, frame pacing will destabilize unless the swapchain is made waitable or an additional backbuffer is added, ( or fullscreen exclusive removes the compositor from the equation entirely ).
My goto solution would be to add an additional backbuffer and disable presentation sequencing (FIFO queue) to implement V-Sync + Late Frame Skip (i.e. NVIDIA “FastSync”).
I’ll be able to confirm my suspicions when the game launches.
Interesting, DXVK lets you configure the back buffer count come to think of it although I don’t know if that’s as easily overriden for D3D12 but that sounds like a good theory for what is going on.
EDIT: Well that’s a wrapper with some extras so it’s setting D3D11 (And D3D9) overrides but it shouldn’t be impossible to alter for DX12 far as I’m thinking although it might be more cumbersome than D3D11 depending on implementation and what’s going on with the API and game engine.
EDIT: Actually if it’s DXGI it might work already come to think of it, shared bit for D3D10 - D3D12 after all though that’s simplifying it.
Added country flags to make things more interesting I was really surprised by how multi-national Special K is for the brief period of time that I was getting survey data from Steam.
Here’s how you can setup your flag, it’s buried a little in the config UI.
What I say to people that complain about optimization is that they should’ve stopped buying games and instead saved for hardware and build a system just compensates for any game optimization downfalls. I learned over a period of 10 years nearly that it’s not worth getting a system that can “just” meet sys req specs but instead dominate each game it comes across.
What’s you talkin’ about?! My Windows 98 Pentium 3 should be more than capable of playing Horizon Zero Dawn! C’mon it is a PC, not some crappy console. Kwahaha.
Ya, if you want to do PC gaming, you are much better off over compensating, rather than trying to skate by with the bare minimum. Unfortunately that isn’t viable for everyone. They might not have the budget for such a PC, or maybe in their country PC hardware is just incredibly expensive. However, if their hardware is that limited, they need to learn to temper their expectations. I found that a small, very vocal, part of the PC gaming community just has unrealistic expectations. Then you have the weirdo diehards, like the people still clinging to Windows 7. Demanding that developers still support them, even though Microsoft has even stopped doing so (at least for free). But nooooo, they are still a “significant” number of people, i.e. 6% of the Steam Hardware Survey KEKW.
True in a lot of cases, for this particular one even a 2080Ti seem to be hitting dips but if there are issues with the sleep command again and other inconsistencies any hardware would encounter framerate dips regardless.
From further info provided by Durante the update at least improve on the frame-time inconsistency issues so that’s a good improvement and then one of the other articles linked the porting effort as handled by third party trough Virtuous.
Not much about them for PC, user comment remarked they had issues porting Arkham Asylum to PS4 / Xbox One with consistent framerates but that’s not Batman Arkham Asylum that’s a re-make of the game under UE4 which isn’t comparable. (Ethan Carter and a few others for a more extreme example where it’s the same game different engine and now much higher system requirements just from that.)
Heard good things about the Spyro games at least and Final Fantasy X and X-2 have some rough spots but is also a step up from many of the earlier PC versions of Final Fantasy as well, same with FF12 on that list.
From the two performance oriented articles and commentary from Dictator of Digital Foundry (~Which sounds like a title written out like that.) the port has it’s issues but hopefully the more major problems can be smoothed over.
Sounds like the cloud quality setting does a number on performance but a 2080Ti variant, Intel 9900k, SSD and RAM of some kind and the dynamic resolution scaling was still kicking in at up to a 60% reduction to maintain 60 FPS from 3840x2160 although there were also the problems on the framerate limiter being off by a bit possibly due to that sleep issue and who knows what more in the engine could be problematic. (Like what Durante mentioned in the IGN article on how there was a more noticeable performance impact between full screen and borderless or windowed than usual.)
Comparisons do show that it scales up pretty well from close to the baseline PS4 quality levels but seeing screenshots of the game it’s still not that visually remarkable so having to scale the game down to 1920x1080 (A 50% from 3840x2160) in some situations or more sounds like a issue.
Though from what Dictator said the game also runs pretty well at 2560x1440 most of the time so I wonder where some of this was tested and what sort of performance issues were encountered unless it was just those clouds which have come up in I think all three of these articles (Well two articles and one soon to be posted video.) small visual impact but a noticeable reduction in performance.
Well the game unlocks tomorrow and then there will be a much larger sample base as the Steam reviews will be … all over the place as usual although there’s at least some info to be gleaned from the more informative one that isn’t ASCII art or a one-liner or two with a thumbup or thumbdown added on ha ha.
(Sometimes that’s enough but it’s pretty limited on describing the actual issues too.)
Hmm suppose there’s the Windows 7 user base too but I don’t think the game implemented D3D12onWin7 although there might be some posts on how they should have done that or went with Vulkan as a result ha ha.
EDIT: The game doesn’t look bad or anything though but it’s age shows even with the scaled up settings doing a good job such as the increased LOD’s and some of the others though less impactful perhaps than that setting is on it’s own.
Going to be really interesting to see how that re-release of Crysis holds up too whenever they actually release it after the initial negative reception and just launching it on Switch. That’s going to be some heated discussions I’d imagine speaking of other upcoming games.
Always the best approach if you the consumer want a smooth experience.
99% of the case a 2080ti should be capable of getting 60fps @ 4K with max settings
same for 1080ti but at 1080p instead of 4K - I would consider these standard expectations for consumers for the majority of games but; circling back to the above thing about expectations, I see so many people complain they cant run games smooth at 4K using their 1080ti. Expectations is such a key aspect in all this.
KojimaProductions seemed to do wonders in the Decima engine, if Death Stranding is the better port it definitely must come down to the commitment of the developer at the end of the day. Seeing as this is the Sony published title it’s gonna be funny and I kind of expect a mess of a launch – plus a dogpile of people complaining about performance for justified and unjustified reasons.
CryEngine 2 will forever be the real Crysis experience for me… I don’t really see myself getting the remake on the newer engine unless they add something that adds value to the game other than the engine change.
From the info so far it’s actually moving in the direction of the later games so it might have reduced a few things like the way the suit powers worked.
Those early tech videos and comparison images were spectacular back in the day even if the game might have had the usual marketing and media prettying up the final game actually delivered and held it’s own for probably longer than almost any other game had even pioneering some of the later popular visual techniques.
Xbox port on Cry-Engine 3 improved on a few aspects although the hardware required scaling it down a bit in others and who knows what this attempt will end up being on the current console hardware and PC.
Suppose it’s the usual problem with time and budget and if the criticism hadn’t been that strong they’d have shipped that out although I don’t think a delay less than a quarter if not half a year is enough to completely improve on some of those complaints from rough remade asset quality to poor material quality and lighting inconsistencies never-mind what the optimization concerns may be or gameplay changes.
EDIT: The original Crysis also wasn’t just visuals but it also attempted a very free-form open level design and how’s it called emergent gameplay as players can approach and deal with many of the objectives in a number of ways with few actual hindrances other than leaving the map boundaries.
Also from the Switch version this is possibly made from that console port and code to start with and there’s a good chance that flight level is getting cut but we’ll see.
(It’s a fair bit different than the rest of the game and it had performance issues as well but that’s still removed content.)
EDIT: Well it sort-of worked as I was thinking it would, no mass embedding of the URL’s within a quote from the source article.
Should be in the credits once the game actually unlocks to get some final confirmation, probably right at the end of however lengthy those things are nowadays for any additional elements such as the studio and team behind the PC port.
EDIT: Url’s should be fixed now, caveat being these are “gaming journalists” and the usual online competition for “click bait” headers and whatever else gives clicks/ad dollars so it’s hard to trace the origin and then everyone copies from everywhere else.
(Well with exceptions but there’s been studios on it and it’s a pretty common thing.)
Meta Council is pretty useful too but has a lower amount of users and less activity as a result, Era well the first year was solid but some news can still be informative mostly from the still very large user base even if a lot of it is console focused which can be useful too but this here is particular to the PC port.
Don’t have too many sources nowadays, Gematsu is good for some genres otherwise it’s pretty limited.
Digital Foundry perhaps for videos though PC content seems to be more infrequent although occasionally they do a good and more in-depth job on these or at least tech wise comparably against other reviews.
(HZD as a older port the game itself hasn’t changed so it’s more of the port quality and potential issues for what I’m looking for over the PS4 version initial release.)
Meta’s good, Era’s a bit more casual and I have little in the way of general review or tech websites let alone video sites or how it’s called. (Channels or streams I guess.)
Current status of the game and some info such as shader compilation and that anisotropic filtering is currently non-functional along with some animations being tuned at 30 FPS.
EDIT: Hopefully the shader cache at least has validation in it so there’s no breaking problems from OS or driver updates without manually deleting the older cache first.
(Some games seem to forget that, Red Dead Redemption 2 I believe was patched to resolve the issue but hopefully it’s a non-issue to begin with here.)
EDIT: And it seems the Digital Foundry video is up now too.
I am impressed that the Reddit mob has stayed off the forums despite them being linked directly. That never happened when I was still using Steam, I would have at least 1-2 people following me around making themselves a nuisance any time something with my name in it went onto Reddit. It’s generally how I learned some crazy new Reddit conspiracy theory was afoot.
I really miss being close to the community buying the actual games, I wish users would not have to venture off of the Steam forums and into an obscure third-party site. I had much more potential to help people when I was on Steam, but the moderation situation there is insufferable.
If I mod Horizon: Zero Dawn’s swapchain to fix its framepacing issues, I fear maybe 4 or 5 people will know about it because I’m stuck here, whereas thousands of people would if I were on the Steam forums. That really sucks :-\
I was really surprised by how multi-national Special K is for the brief period of time that I was getting survey data from Steam.
