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Digital Foundry Face-Off: Child of Light

N

nbnt

is responsible for the well-being of this island.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-child-of-light-face-off
The topic of resolution is particularly interesting where PS4 and Xbox One are concerned. Child of Light provides us with a crisp 1080p presentation, but some evidence suggests that elements of the presentation are derived from rendering at a much higher resolution and then down-sampling - a process known as super-sampling. The lack of long straight edges makes pixel counting difficult, but our analysis throws up two separate numbers for horizontal resolution - 2304 and 2112 were both extracted from the same scene - while vertical resolution is consistent at 1440. This isn't entirely confirmed, then - it may well be the case that a form of multi-sampling is in effect, but the edge-smoothing is quite unlike any other form of MSAA we've seen before.
Click to expand...
It's with the PS3, Wii U and Xbox 360 games that we see significant differences. Unlike the Rayman games, 1080p resolution is dropped in favour of a native 720p presentation that gives the game a softer appearance compared to the current generation and PC releases. The form of anti-aliasing is more difficult to pin down here, but we wouldn't be surprised to see super-sampling of some description utilised, bearing in mind that we know that the UbiArt engine is more than capable of sustaining 1080p60 on last-gen platforms. We're a little surprised that Ubisoft elected to use this technique instead of the native 1080p approach found in Rayman Legends that worked so well.
Click to expand...
For the most part the same high standards are also in place on the Xbox One release, but there are moments where the engine falters, resulting in brief drops in smoothness and some mild - but noticeable - stuttering. The relative rarity of these inconsistencies mean they have no adverse impact on gameplay throughout most of the experience - at worse we looking at drops down to around the 52fps mark, but usually the impact on performance is much smaller and often goes by undetected when immersed in exploring the beautiful watercolour world on offer.
Click to expand...
The last-generation versions put in a slightly more stable performance compared to the Xbox One where frame-rates are concerned, although all three platforms narrowly miss out on a solid 60fps update by one or two frames from time to time. Due to the small nature of these drops the impact on gameplay is non-existent, and for the most part they go by undetected.
Click to expand...
Overall, this is a fascinating game with a unique charm that manages to work its magic across all platforms, but for stability and consistency the PS4 version gets the nod on console, while the PC version is certainly worthy of consideration if you don't own Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo hardware.
Click to expand...
 
GribbleGrunger

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
I'm really surprised by this. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be exactly the same on both the XB1 and the PS4.
 
Ein Bear

Ein Bear

Member
Kind of surprised to see any differences between platforms whatsoever, after how flawlessly the Rayman games performed on everything they released on
except 3DS.
 
T

travisbickle

Member
The last-generation versions put in a slightly more stable performance compared to the Xbox One where frame-rates are concerned
Click to expand...

Am I reading this right? Better frame rates on last gen? Should have gone for 900p on the One.
 
ValeYard

ValeYard

Member
Infinite Xero said:
I believe that is an on-going joke since some PS4 titles do not have (or limited) anisotropic filtering. IIRC this was an issue with Strider.
Click to expand...

Oh no, I fell for it. I recall that filtering discussion now, lol.

I have this game on Xbox One and really haven't noticed framerate hitches, but even the hint of problems in a 2D game makes me look forward to my impending pc build even more.

Their super-sampling method is interesting though, I didn't even know that was a thing and the game does look amazing.
 
JordanN

JordanN

Banned
Guymelef said:
Strange that past gen-Wii U version are 720p when Rayman Legends is 1080p.
Click to expand...
The game seems to have more varied background art and dynamic light sources than Rayman Legends. Maybe it's the lighting in particular (since that doesn't come cheap in terms of rendering).
 
G

Guerrillas in the Mist

Member
bombshell said:
Benny is trolling. If you wanted to find a reason for why the PS4 versions of Strider and Thief didn't have any AF, that reason would certainly not be the PS4 itself.
Click to expand...

My sarcasm detector was broken, although the absence of AF in those titles is still baffling. I can imagine someone forgetting to toggle a switch.
 
O

OdysseusVA

Banned
The last-generation versions put in a slightly more stable performance compared to the Xbox One where frame-rates are concerned
Click to expand...

Wv8Bzigl.jpg
 
C

Canis lupus

Member
"Child of Light hands in a solid 60fps experience on PS4, with minor drops on Xbox One. The 720p last-gen versions actually run marginally smoother."


Last gen versions run smoother than Xbone version what.
 
A

AnthonypUK

Member
When you cant get parity with your competitor on a game like Child of Light that really says something about your hardware.

cloud compute, hidden GPU and new dev tools are on the way though!
 
M

mattp

Member
Shin Johnpv said:
Some one in the press should be calling them out on this. Ask why RL is 1080p while this is randomly not.
Click to expand...

im pretty sure ubisoft has already addressed this and said it was because of the main character's hair being 3d and having some kind of physics that use up too much resources so they dropped to 720p
 
K

Kysen

Member
Maybe there's a reason why nvidia/amd don't include ESRAM on their gpus. This is quickly approaching the levels of architectural blunders as the ps3s split ram. This is a 2d game...
 
F

Feindflug

Member
Kysen said:
Maybe there's a reason why nvidia/amd don't include ESRAM on their gpus. This is quickly approaching the levels of architectural blunders as the ps3s split ram. This is a 2d game...
Click to expand...

Do you have any theories on how the 32mb of esram was a bottleneck for this game?
 
T

travisbickle

Member
Feindflug said:
Do you have any theories on how the 32mb of esram was a bottleneck for this game?
Click to expand...

Relative to the performance of last gen hardware, I think it's safe to say the GPU/CPU setup on the Xbox One should be outputting a 1080p stable 60 version of this game. It has to be the unorthodox memory setup causing these issues.
 
Shin-Ra

Shin-Ra

Junior Member
benny_a said:
PS4 version has no anisotropic filtering.
Click to expand...
robertdenirowavingfinger.gif

For the most part the same high standards are also in place on the Xbox One release, but there are moments where the engine falters, resulting in brief drops in smoothness and some mild - but noticeable - stuttering. The relative rarity of these inconsistencies mean they have no adverse impact on gameplay throughout most of the experience - at worse we looking at drops down to around the 52fps mark, but usually the impact on performance is much smaller and often goes by undetected when immersed in exploring the beautiful watercolour world on offer.
Click to expand...
ibmyPr7g4wiii3.gif
 
geordiemp

geordiemp

Member
Guerrillas in the Mist said:
My sarcasm detector was broken, although the absence of AF in those titles is still baffling. I can imagine someone forgetting to toggle a switch.
Click to expand...

Read the article - they used super sampling (bigger than 1080p image) to get rid of jaggies. There are many ways to improve IQ other than MSAA you know.

Those four letters in upper case are easy to recognise though...

So, GAF poster was trying to catch the 'sony cant do MSAA' brigade out with a fun troll post.

And it worked, he got 2 or 3 victims...

oh boy he caught even more...
 
geordiemp

geordiemp

Member
Feindflug said:
Do you have any theories on how the 32mb of esram was a bottleneck for this game?
Click to expand...

Does it really matter, a next gen console on a simple 2D sprite game cant maintain 60 fps is just laughable...

32 MB ESRAM / DRR3 / 3 virtual OS / sun in the sky - it keeps happening and its shameful.
 
P

ps3ud0

Member
Wouldn't have been better to not have supersampling on the XO version if they were getting frame drops? Most likely it would have ensured a solid 60fps

ps3ud0 8)
 
S

shandy706

Member
Pretty cool that they're rendering things on the X1/PS4 at a higher res and down-sampling. I didn't expect any of that on the PS4 or X1 really.

They should be able to patch the hiccups. A drop to 52 isn't much for a game like this, and it seems that it could be remedied. (hardly a reason to skip it or anything).

Perhaps drop off some of the down-sampling to native res.

geordiemp said:
Does it really matter, a next gen console on a simple 2D sprite game cant maintain 60 fps is just laughable...
Click to expand...

The system is trying to do the exact same downsampling as the more powerful PS4 ...derrrrrrr. If you don't understand what's going on, and what potentially causes the problem...then don't blow that hot air in here.

The fact that they went with downsampling on the X1 and managed to hold an average of 60fps suprises me.

"a simple 2D sprite game" - This tells me you don't have a clue what you're talking about in relation to what they have attempted.
 
P

pixlexic

Banned
ps3ud0 said:
Wouldn't have been better to not have supersampling on the XO version if they were getting frame drops? Most likely it would have ensured a solid 60fps

ps3ud0 8)
Click to expand...

It would be if it was a constant thing but like the article says it rarely happens.
 
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