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[elektrixx]

You'd think they would've actually improved the graphics since 2012.

 

[SpookyFries]

The first thing I noticed about Watch_Dogs was the lack of shadows from car headlights. Its really noticeable for some reason.

Especially when your character in Saints Row casted a shadow from headlights back in 2006

 

[John Caboose]

I would just like to extend this gif to the conspiracy theorists in the thread talking about "not embarrassing the consoles" / "console parity" as being why these effects were not in the final release.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

You'd think they would've actually improved the graphics since 2012.

something something consoles something something expectations of power versus reality something something

 

[mnannola]

Pathetic practice. I hope this stops and publishers don't fool us at E3 anymore, but people probably don't care.

Nothing makes publishers stop more than 4 million in sales right off the bat.

 

[Betta Lines]

Are you serious...

Oh mah gawd...

Pathetic practice. I hope this stops and publishers don't fool us at E3 anymore, but people probably don't care.

I don't see the problem here. If you need to show off a game that has so many dynamic effects in a short presentation, it is completely understandable that you'd create some presets to have more control over how the game looked during a demo. It was no accident that the initial reveal had the sun at a perfect angle in front of him as he walked down the street, or that when he left the club it was darkness and raining.

 

[omonimo]

Disappointing Ubi couldn't be assed to fix this.

Or maybe they were worried that the PC version could look too good........

I can't believe even you presume something like this. They have an exclusive deal with nvidia, sound like totally absurd to me.

 

[elektrixx]

What would Ubisoft gain from this?

 

[Jibbed]

Nothing makes publishes stop more than 4 million in sales right off the bat.

I wonder how many of those 4 million were actually preorders put through based on E3 2013 and 2013 showings?

Imagine if every game you saw running before release was doing so in some sort of 'E3 mode', and the actual final product was nowhere near that.

 

[omonimo]

What would Ubisoft gain from this?

Nothing. Probably not have the time to fix some assets just in time for the launch.

 

[Phazon]

Nothing makes publishes stop more than 4 million in sales right off the bat.

I know, and that's the saddest thing of it all. People actually buy it. To each his or her own of course, but I'm pretty bummed about it.

 

[scitek]

I have to ask again, will this influence the online component? I know that some games don't allow for modding during online play, but I'm not sure whether Watch Dogs/Uplay will lose its shit if they notice you're playing online with modded files.

I don't think they have a system in place to ban you for using modded files, but I don't think there's anything stopping people from cheating, either. I would expect Ubi to nullify this mod in their patch specifically for this reason.

It should also be pointed out TheWorse has also found other things, like anamorphic lens flares:

 

[Dennis]

I can't believe even you presume something like this. They have an exclusive deal with nvidia, sound like totally absurd to me.

So why didn't they fix the DOF etc before launch? Nvidia could have helped them I am sure.

If a modder can tweak existing code to get good results you would think it a breeze for Ubi.

 

[Derp]

I don't see the problem here. If you need to show off a game that has so many dynamic effects in a short presentation, it is completely understandable that you'd create some presets to have more control over how the game looked during a demo. It was no accident that the initial reveal had the sun at a perfect angle in front of him as he walked down the street, or that when he left the club it was darkness and raining.

I thought about that immediately after i commented. You are right. I commented before i looked over what was written after "E3". After i read it i realised it's simply setting presets to control weather conditions.

My bad.

 

[elektrixx]

Imagine if every game you saw running before release was doing so in some sort of 'E3 mode', and the actual final product was nowhere near that.

I'd be pissed if my microwave cooked faster in demo mode.

 

[omonimo]

So why didn't they fix the DOF etc before launch? Nvidia could have helped them I am sure.

If a modder can tweak existing code to get good results you would think it a breeze for Ubi.

Probably are more interested to polish the console version over the pc version. But downgrade the pc version intentionally... come on now.

 

[VibratingDonkey]

I think there is no "conspiracy" at heart, it's just about prioritizing. Probably they hit some issues with these effects and optimizing the console versions in time for the release had better priority. Probably they are/were also planning already a patch for PC. What's stupid about this is the way Ubisoft communicates. But it doesn't seem to influence the sales, so they will keep on doing it.

Their priorities seem weird then, considering having textures on the recommended setting makes it an unplayable, stuttering mess.

 

[Smokey]

I honestly think that these assets were purposely left in by the devs hoping they would be found and the game modded.

There were articles written when the downgrade was shown saying they were gutted with the reaction from the gamers and they knew that the game could be better than the product that was shipping.

When you look at the story of the game, it definitely is possible that they wanted the true game to get out there as a 'fuck you' to Ubisoft. Who wouldn't, after putting years of your time/creativity/work into it?

Interesting. Have a link to any of these articles?

This is pretty shameful on UBIs part. And isnit confirmed that this addresses stuttering? If so wtf

 

[LiK]

Why not allow people on PC to turn them on if they want? Stupid.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

So not only does the game look better by comparison, it also runs better than the vanilla retail version?

That is a new level of buttfumbling by Ubisoft. Gonna be interesting to see what their PR spun bullshit response will be if we're given any at all.

And to think I was considering that I needed to get 16 gigs or ram and i7 to be safe on my next upgrade because of this game's recommended specs.

 

[Confidence Man]

That's pretty awesome, especially the rain being lit up. That other guy must be pissed though haha. If you've been following the WD threads at guru3d you'll know what I mean.

 

[BigDug13]

Ubisoft seems to be into forcing parity at launch and then patching the differences later. See: AC4 1080p patch.

Wouldn't surprise me if this stuff was waiting for the initial launch sales period to finish then this magical PC performance and graphics patch comes out of nowhere.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Probably are more interested to polish the console version over the pc version. But downgrade the pc version intentionally... come on now.

Who gives a shit? It's the same outcome for people who buy the game on PC, the lack of power on consoles is directly responsible for the PC version looking worse.

 

[Jibbed]

Ubisoft seems to be into forcing parity at launch and then patching the differences later. See: AC4 1080p patch.

Wouldn't surprise me if this stuff was waiting for the initial launch sales period to finish then this magical PC performance and graphics patch comes out of nowhere.

I think their teams are just spanked to meet deadlines. Even with WD's delay, the PC version of the game in particular seems to have suffered.

 

[red731]

I am back home from work and must ask - is this bringing guru3d forums down?

 

[Dennis]

I honestly think that these assets were purposely left in by the devs hoping they would be found and the game modded.

There were articles written when the downgrade was shown saying they were gutted with the reaction from the gamers and they knew that the game could be better than the product that was shipping.

When you look at the story of the game, it definitely is possible that they wanted the true game to get out there as a 'fuck you' to Ubisoft. Who wouldn't, after putting years of your time/creativity/work into it?

This is scandalous.

What are we calling this outrage? Ubi-gate? Watchergate?

 

[Jibbed]

I am back home from work and must ask - is this bringing guru3d forums down?

58,000 thread views on here says yes.

 

[omonimo]

Who gives a shit? It's the same outcome for people who buy the game on PC, the lack of power on consoles is directly responsible for the PC version looking worse.

Wut

 

[HariKari]

I honestly think that these assets were purposely left in by the devs hoping they would be found and the game modded.

Well those devs should feel free to anonymously contribute to the community mod that's going right now to fix this shit.

 

[elektrixx]

So now they should add DLC where Aiden gets out of the animus and his real life is E3 graphics.

The mod should be called "CTOP".

 

[chickdigger802]

I honestly think that these assets were purposely left in by the devs hoping they would be found and the game modded.

There were articles written when the downgrade was shown saying they were gutted with the reaction from the gamers and they knew that the game could be better than the product that was shipping.

When you look at the story of the game, it definitely is possible that they wanted the true game to get out there as a 'fuck you' to Ubisoft. Who wouldn't, after putting years of your time/creativity/work into it?

its most likely way less romantic that your imaginations lol. Game Engines are fickle things, its way safer practices to just disable certain stuff than outright remove them (also they could be utilized in future products that use this engine).

It's like taking a piece out of a jenga tower.

 

[SparkTR]

I am back home from work and must ask - is this bringing guru3d forums down?

It's nearing the front page of Reddit, so I assume that's why.

 

[Robert J. Sullivan]

all part of ubisoft's plan for the best version; hacking the game in real life to make the game run better. props to them, this is truly next gen gaming.
/s

must have been fc3's writer idea
so meta
almost seems like a shyalamandingdong movie

 

[kitsuneyo]

That is... incredible, including the part about actually reducing stuttering. What kind of a circus are they running over at Ubisoft?

A really, really big one.

 

[squarealex]

The DOF is horrible...

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Wut

You said they spent time polishing the console versions over PC, which is why they didn't bother fixing advanced effects on the PC version; that implies that consoles couldn't handle those effects because they lacked the power to pull them off, which means that maliciously or not the PC version still got screwed because of the console versions.

 

[air jordans for dogs]

Once again a modder has to clean up the mess. I'm looking forward to seeing how ubisoft is going to explain this shit.

 

[danmaku]

I think their teams are just spanked to meet deadlines. Even with WD's delay, the PC version of the game in particular seems to have suffered.

This. The game is a technical mess right now, imagine if they shipped it with untested effects/features.

 

[GavinUK86]

So how are we getting this mod now? The Guru3D forums are still down.

 

[sflufan]

I considered this news important enough to share with the major PC gaming related sites like RPS, DSO, and IncGames.

I can't find the news contact information for PC Gamer, but when I do I'll share it with them as well.

 

[mnannola]

I wonder how many of those 4 million were actually preorders put through based on E3 2013 and 2013 showings?

Imagine if every game you saw running before release was doing so in some sort of 'E3 mode', and the actual final product was nowhere near that.

I have no clue, but my gut tells me this game received a majority of it's hype based on it's "Next Gen" graphics compared to everything else out there. If they would have shown the PS4 version of the game in 2012, I don't think it gets near the levels of hype it originally received.

How much would that have affected sales? I'm just gonna pull a number out my ass and say that they got 500,000 sales based on hype from their bullshit they pulled in 2012.

 

[Jibbed]

So how are we getting this mod now? The Guru3D forums are still down.

LOL.

 

[scitek]

Hopefully with more people aware of this mod, more people will jump in and help out. It would be awesome if a sizeable modding community formed around it. I've already seen a guy replacing sign textures with real world signs in the game. Some GTA level support would be awesome.

 

[elektrixx]

This. The game is a technical mess right now, imagine if they shipped it with untested effects/features.

What doesn't make sense is that this mod improves performance. They could've at least done that without changing graphics.

 

[Dennis]

I considered this news important enough to share with the major PC gaming related sites like RPS, DSO, and IncGames.

I can't find the news contact information for PC Gamer, but when I do I'll share it with them as well.

Aren't their journalists browsing this GAF thread as we speak?

 

[riflen]

Interesting. Have a link to any of these articles?

This is pretty shameful on UBIs part. And isnit confirmed that this addresses stuttering? If so wtf

It addresses stutter, yes. MaLDo posted earlier saying that the way the game approaches textures is really odd, loading textures twice and some algorithms altering fidelity based on the screen resolution you're playing at.

The game uses a very surreal texture implementation. For every texture, there is a basic texture with mipmaps and a higher resolution texture without mipmaps. Lower texture quality uses the medium mip of the regular texture as max. Medium texture quality uses the regular texture and high texture quality (called ultra ingame) uses regular texture BUT blend to higher texture for close ups. Close up distance depends of screen resolution. So it's a pixel/texel ratio in the end.

The problem is that I think gpu drivers are not optimized to load in memory every texture twice. They are optimized to mess with mipmaps to avoid shimmering and to save memory. Walking or driving in watch dogs implies you need to load a new big texture every time a material is near the camera. It's not the same that showing the big mip of the texture already loaded.

In one hand, using tweaks as always loading the big mip, can fix stuttering. But you will have shimmering here and there. I'm testing now with using ultra textures with or without mips as medium textures. So the game don't mess with double number of files, with good results.

 

[rager]

Wow, its looks awesome on my pc. Ubi really sucks

 

[Jibbed]

Aren't their journalists browsing this GAF thread as we speak?

We could literally say anything right now knowing there are (potentially) thousands of people who will read it. Nearly on the front page of Reddit now too haha.

Well, I wanted them to go directly to the source at Guru3D

It seems we've killed it for the moment, and by extension the ability to download the mod.

 

[sflufan]

Aren't their journalists browsing this GAF thread as we speak?

Well, I wanted them to go directly to the source at Guru3D

 

[GavinUK86]

LOL.

What? Did I misunderstand something or are you laughing at the forums still being down?