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2013 PC Bullshot thread of "1 FPS? That's 1 screenshot per second"

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
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Now you're probably thinking "We already have a screenshot thread, what's the point of this one?". Both myself and Sethos have been working with this idea for quite some time and feel we need a branching out from the High-res thread, to suit a more specific purpose. This thread is going to be a dedicated 'High Quality' thread where there's a no holds barred attitude for achieving the highest image quality possible in-game. We're talking about downsampling, lots of anti-aliasing, Nvidia Inspector bits, the whole nine yards. We have no interest in frame-rate or what's deemed playable, this is just about a feast for the eyes, nothing else.

In a time where the tools needed for reaching "bullshot" levels of image quality is ready at hand to the average pc-gamer, we feel like it would be nice with a dedicated thread for people who enjoy dabbling in that. This is the thread for people who start up games at extreme settings for the sole purpose of taking screenshots of games, to find those amazing areas that aren't just the mandatory 5 set-pieces from the games, it's about taking pictures of a toilet stall and be in awe at the quality, how the reflection falls and how clean the image is. With that said, we still encourage 'normal game shots' with the rule of clean IQ and striving towards removing the HUD.

This thread isn't meant to replace the regular High-Res as much as it's supposed to complement it, it's meant to form a symbiotic relationship where the focus of this thread is purely based on visuals derived from, more often than not, totally unplayable circumstances. Unless explicitly mentioned you can probably take for granted that the ingame settings are all cranked to their max.

To make it perfectly clear however, we look for the beauty in all games, new and old. So it doesn't have to be the prettiest games released in the last year. That's one of the great benefits of pc-gaming, the scalability and moddability of games, use it, show it.

So make sure you read the rules please, understand them and if something isn't clear feel free to PM me or Sethos.

Welcome to the bullshot thread.







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  • Format: 1920 pixel width, set in stone. Now whether you use a 16:9, 16:10 or 2.35:1 aspect ratio is up to you but we want the width to remain the same throughout all pictures. You can also link to the original non-resized picture if you feel like it.

  • Quality: The thread is meant for high-quality shots, downsampled, LOTS of AA or what you deem required to make a clean image. So no compression, no lossy formats of any kind or 'blurry' AA-methods ( e.g FXAA : unless the given AA solution cannot be turned off or circumvented ). It's all about making the game look as beautiful as it gets before your pc crashes. As mentioned earlier, performance is a non-issue.

  • No HUD: As we're here to behold the beauty of games, we require HUD-less screenshots or screenshots with minimal on-screen effects outside the game itself. Some games feature non-intrusive minimal HUDs which we also allow, however you should still strive to remove even that if possible.

  • Limits: 1 Screenshot per post and NO consecutive posts. In other words cherry pick your shots AND game carefully and wait until others have had their turn. This is not the thread where you quickly dump your picture folder and the second someone posts, you are ready with a new one. Just settle down, find that magical screenshot and then share it with the people. And please don't just post pictures from a single game, try to change it up, which leads us to...

  • Variation: Variety is the spice of life, this isn't a thread where flavor-of-the-month games is to be dumped. This is the thread where we look across the entire spectrum, try to find amazing quality in every game. So just because a game is new doesn't mean we need 3 pages of it. If you see one game being posted often, be creative and find something new. If you see a certain scene that has already been posted in a slight variation of yours? Don't post it.

  • Include Information: Every post is to be labelled with the details of shot; that's the name of the game, resolution and any IQ enchancing effects ( Type of AA, how much, nvidia inspector bits, how the image is resized etc. ) also which mods have been used. Use the 'title' box to fill out any info that is pertinent, as much as you can possibly fit that is. While it might be annoying to fill out info every time you post a screen the information at hand will help others taking high quality 'bullshots' of their own. This goes for general SweetFX settings as well.

  • Mods: Mods that enhance the look of the game are allowed, high-resolution textures, high-resolution characters etc.

  • Injectors: ENBs and SweetFX are allowed with moderation. Feel free to use them but refrain from going overboard with sharpening, blurring and redundant color tweaking making the image resemble something that has been slapped with a bizarre photoshop filter.

  • Emulators: Are not allowed, as we feel the majority of emulator shots end up going against the grain of the thread.

  • Spoilers: Do not spoil a newly released games! This doesn't just refer to "that one twist in the end of the game" rather think of it as a grace period, let people be at least a couple of days LTTP before showing every nook and cranny of the game.

  • Composition: With all said and done, the thread is still a game screenshot thread. There's no requirement of being a professional photographer and down-to-earth shots are what we want. HOWEVER, the entire point of the thread is to bring the best out in the games. We don't want to see a shot where 80% of the textures are 12x12 resolution stretches, some close up of a paper cutouts face or a bunch of cryptic garble.








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Downsampling for Nvidia

Downsampling for AMD

2013 High-res thread

Have hardware/performance questions? The 'I need a PC thread'

The NeoGAF Screenshotter's Compendium Thread





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To increase the incentive for members to post some high-quality shots, we decided to make a little monthly competition: Screenshot of the month.
At the end of every month, Sethos and me put our heads together and we pick a screenshot posted in the thread over the last month, which then gets posted underneath and stays there until the next winner is picked.




 

Sethos

Banned
Ribbed, you should ditch TXAA as it's creating some really intense blurring in your image. Game has normal 16xAA which creates a nice sharp image.

Resizing method is entirely a personal choice, as long as it doesn't destroy the IQ. ( Not sure what the difference is, outside of Bicubic Sharper you can add in Photoshop )
 
Ribbed, you should ditch TXAA as it's creating some really intense blurring in your image.

Resizing method is entirely a personal choice, as long as it doesn't destroy the IQ.

Ah, that's what's causing it. I thought it was just BOII being an ugly game. Will change ASAP.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
Ribbed, you should ditch TXAA as it's creating some really intense blurring in your image. Game has normal 16xAA which creates a nice sharp image.

Resizing method is entirely a personal choice, as long as it doesn't destroy the IQ.

If you have access to photoshop you should definitely use the bicubic resizing option since that's as good as it gets and as far as I know the different filters in Irfan View only apply to enlarging an image and not shrinking it.
 
Awesome, my kind of thread.

Just a shame I'm stuck with a 1680x1050 resolution and a really old ATI cold :p But I shall enjoy the pictures that people post here.
 

Sethos

Banned
Just wanted to provide an example of how 'crisp' the game can actually look. Textures can't really keep up though.

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epmode

Member
Were people really using the other thread to see screens with playable framerates? When you consider the platform's scalability, I don't see the point. Even if your computer can't handle the image quality now, it's only a matter of time.

Enough thread-whining. I still really love those Dota shots. Those models are incredible.
 

Sethos

Banned
Were people really using the other thread to see screens with playable framerates? When you consider the platform's scalability, I don't see the point. Even if your computer can't handle the image quality now, it's only a matter of time.

Enough thread-whining. I still really love those Dota shots. Those models are incredible.

Let's just say, we've had numerous discussions in the other thread regarding the 'morals' of posting unplayable / low FPS shots.
 

Spazznid

Member
Wonderful Idea for a thread, hopefully it flourishes. I love me some Bullshots.

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Is DoF allowed? or any type of blurring for that matter?
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
Good idea for a thread :D

Bitching screen Brer, but please keep in mind the 1920x width rule, I'm taking it you misunderstood and went 1080x height instead.

see you fixed that already :D

Wonderful Idea for a thread, hopefully it flourishes. I love me some Bullshots.


Is DoF allowed? or any type of blurring for that matter?

Welcome Spazz, sure if it's ingame then knock yourself out. The spirit of the thread doesn't go against motion blur but rather blur from anti-aliasing which defeats the purpose of a good looking image.
 

Spazznid

Member
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This blur is when you go into ADS without a gun model. I'm pretty sure it's just simple screenblur, but I don't know how acceptable that is. I have a replacement shot if it's not acceptable, though.
 

Lime

Member
Cool idea, but I could imagine there'll be some challenges in demarcating what is proper for this thread.

Unfortunately I only think my 8x tiledshots of UE3 games will be applicable to this thread.
 

Spazznid

Member
Cool idea, but I could imagine there'll be some challenges in demarcating what is proper for this thread.

Unfortunately I only think my tiledshots of UE3 games will be applicable to this thread.

I'd like to think they will...
 

Sethos

Banned
Cool idea, but I could imagine there'll be some challenges in demarcating what is proper for this thread.

Unfortunately I only think my 8x tiledshots of UE3 games will be applicable to this thread.

Hopefully people will understand that it's not just the High-res thread with hudless pictures. This is where you bring out the best quality possible with no regard to framerates. Might have some starting teething issues but if you just nip the problems in the butt early, it should be smooth sailing.
 
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This blur is when you go into ADS without a gun model. I'm pretty sure it's just simple screenblur, but I don't know how acceptable that is. I have a replacement shot if it's not acceptable, though.

I would replace this one with an upped render quality. In planetside 2 you can tweak the games renderer to Downsample for you. It is the renderquality option in the .ini.

Go up to 2.0 or above and then take that screen again. I can see some jaggies!

It basically is the perfec toption in the game. More games should have it.
 

Spazznid

Member
can we agree with no Pixelated games? Drawn art and vectors can be ok, but Pixel games don't really seem to Downsample effectively...
 

Spazznid

Member
I would replace this one with an upped render quality. In planetside 2 you can tweak the games renderer to Downsample for you. It is the renderquality option in the .ini.

Go up to 2.0 or above and then take that screen again. I can see some jaggies!

It basically is the perfec toption in the game. More games should have it.

Will do.
 

Jac_Solar

Member
Screenshot threads are awesome, but how come (Well, seemingly at least.) none of the other screenshot threads make it a rule to post the name of the game in the accompanying post?

It's easy to quickly type the name of the game (Well, most titles at least.) in the post, which would likely also prevent people from randomly asking what game the screenshot is from.

Corky said:
Include Information: Every post is to be labelled with the details of shot; that's the name of the game

The name of the game, as in the title of the video game in the screenshot, or are you referring to the activity of posting a screenshot with several details as "the game" here?
 

scitek

Member
Doubt I'll be posting in here much as my shots all come from playable settings, and I can't get 4k working for some reason, but cool idea.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Screenshot threads are awesome, but how come (Well, seemingly at least.) none of the other screenshot threads make it a rule to post the name of the game in the accompanying post?

It's easy to quickly type the name of the game (Well, most titles at least.) in the post, which would likely also prevent people from randomly asking what game the screenshot is from.

It's in the title of every single post.

Doubt I'll be posting in here much as my shots all come from playable settings, and I can't get 4k working for some reason, but cool idea.

Yea I'm not a bullshot guy, but I'll take a gander in here from time to time.
 

Sethos

Banned
Screenshot threads are awesome, but how come (Well, seemingly at least.) none of the other screenshot threads make it a rule to post the name of the game in the accompanying post?

It's easy to quickly type the name of the game (Well, most titles at least.) in the post, which would likely also prevent people from randomly asking what game the screenshot is from.

it's in the rules and on the title boxes above everyone's shots ...
 

BraXzy

Member
Love the idea of this thread, liking that people post what the settings they used were. Keep posting settings it's interesting to know! I'll have to dabble with this when I get the time!
 

Jac_Solar

Member
it's in the rules and on the title boxes above everyone's shots ...

Yeah, I wasn't certain if that was a rule in this thread, but I was specifically wondering why it isn't a rule to post the name of the game title in general, since it's really helpful.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Yeah, I wasn't certain if that was a rule in this thread, but I was specifically wondering why it isn't a rule to post the name of the game title in general.

The game title is in the title of every. single. post. not just here but in the other thread as well.

What are you talking about?
 

Vitor711

Member
You could probably sample Dota 2 to 90k and it would still run at 60 frames. The game was built to be run on a Pentium 3 it appears.

Apart from on my 680m and i7-3630qm.

Game never goes above 50FPS and GPU utilization is at a consistent 40% with the game maxed out.

Maybe more driver updates will remedy that but, for now, it's a tad frustrating.

Damn if the game doesn't look incredible in all of Corky's shots though. I keep going back to the 'other' screenshot thread just to see the newest ones.
 
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