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Bish's Official GTA IV Thread of Comparisons and Ignoring the OP at One's Peril

Slayer-33 said:
Considering that the whole game will always look sharper and better most of the time because of the sharpness, 360 version for me.

I don't care about a few extra fluffs from the PS3 version explosions, I hate blurrier textures and darker washed out colors.

:lol

Cant wait for the DL content as well, I do kinda wish I had a dualshock though (just for this game).. but oh well.

Those shouldn't really be a problem as the majority of texture assets are essentially the same resolution detail (texture resolution doesn't equal game render resolution) with less dithering noise and PS3 doesn't have darker washed out colors, quite positive since it's a consensus of fuller deeper color than it's 360 counterpart.
 

Bizzyb

Banned
WTF?? Am I the only who saw the Get Life building pop out of thin air??

I mean that was disgusting.

Not to mention the last shots of the helicopter having MUCH better draw distance on the 360 version

Also the framerate is smoother on 360.

While both games do look great I cannot give the nod to the PS3 when it has such glaring issues. Everything else imo, is minor quibbles, but A fucking building appearing out of thin air, weaker draw distance and a slower framaterate are deal sealers in my book and what I just saw did NOT favor the PS3
 
They both have "issues". Im sure they ironed out as much as they could.

The game came out great. Who knows what types of gameplay they left out. Thats whats most important.
 
If your concern over pop-up is vast....that's not going to quashed with either version as they are random and can happen at anytime and the HDD install is said to have less induced pop-up.
 

Awntawn

Member
One place where I spotted significant pop-in is fairly early when you
kill vlad
at the dock, during the cutscene there you can clearly see the cityline popping in to the background. Maybe someone could check out and do a comparison for both versions of that scene ;o I'm on PS3 ver for the record.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
nm, I better stay away from this comparisons. I'll pick my version on sat, now 100% convinced I am getting the best.
 

Lince

Banned
that very last helicopter shot in the video showed amazing draw distance in the 360 version, maybe it was early morning the PS3 version? the difference was huge IMO.
 

SpokkX

Member
is the framerate much better on 360?

I mean: is it really noticable?

It peaks higher or doesn´t drop as low?
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Bizzyb said:
WTF?? Am I the only who saw the Get Life building pop out of thin air??

I mean that was disgusting.

Not to mention the last shots of the helicopter having MUCH better draw distance on the 360 version
No, that's just not true.

That video is highly misleading with the appearance of that Get Life building. The same thing can and does occur on both versions. In fact, it is more common on XBOX360, from what we can tell (but similar on both). The game is very dynamic and it can become difficult to reproduce certain strange occurances.

That situation could have EASILY been reversed. The 360 video has them flying directly at the building without ever changing directions. The PS3 segments, however, shows that they were turning somewhat to the left before snapping back. I believe this somewhat confused the game engine. It could have occured on 360, no doubt.

That's why I feel that segment was misleading. To the casual viewer, it makes it seem as if a pop-up problem exists on PS3 while there is no issue on 360. That is absolutely false.

that very last helicopter shot in the video showed amazing draw distance in the 360 version, maybe it was early morning the PS3 version? the difference was huge IMO.
It has to do with the time of day and weather. The PS3 version draws out every bit as far.

Everything else imo, is minor quibbles, but A fucking building appearing out of thin air, weaker draw distance
Again, the draw distance is the same between the two games and pop-in (such as that building) can (and does) occur in BOTH VERSIONS. This is why I feel the video is somewhat irresponsible.
 

nib95

Banned
nib95 said:
From that vid, what I can gather is.

360 version is the teeniest bit sharper, PS3 version has slightly less jaggies and looks smoother over-all, PS3 version has better shadows with less dithering, many more shadows too. The colour palette in the PS3 version imo is much better. Warmer more realistic skin tones and hues, closer to D65. 360 looks like it's running on what most TV's have as a "cool" setting, where as the PS3 version is running "Normal" to "Slightly Warm" (which you will find is the setting 90% of TV's are set to after professional calibration).

I just noticed one other notable difference. The PS3's explosions are imo better and more realistic than the 360's. Many more variations of smoke plume thickness and more debree as well. Looks like they made use of the Cell's advantages where need be. They took advantage of the 360's strength (GPU) with the 720p, and the PS3's advantages (Cell, Blu-ray and HDD standard) with the more complex post process filtering, better shadows, better explosion physics, better anti-aliasing filter technique, HDD streaming etc.


Direct explosion comparison.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/nchoudhury/ExplosionComp.jpg

360 Explosions.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/nchoudhury/XboxExplosions.jpg

PS3 Explosions.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/nchoudhury/PS3Explosions.jpg

Bumping in case anyone missed it.
 

p3tran

Banned
dark10x said:
No, that's just not true.

That video is highly misleading with the appearance of that Get Life building. The same thing can and does occur on both versions. In fact, it is more common on XBOX360, from what we can tell (but similar on both). The game is very dynamic and it can become difficult to reproduce certain strange occurances.

That situation could have EASILY been reversed. The 360 video has them flying directly at the building without ever changing directions. The PS3 segments, however, shows that they were turning somewhat to the left before snapping back. I believe this somewhat confused the game engine. It could have occured on 360, no doubt.

That's why I feel that segment was misleading. To the casual viewer, it makes it seem as if a pop-up problem exists on PS3 while there is no issue on 360. That is absolutely false.

sorry, no!


I was sure before, but I tested 10 mins ago by stealing a chopper and doing all sorts of stupid stuff.

no matter how I turned, from what altitude, all the big buildings where always visible to me, and from distances that are a multitude of what was shown in that comparative video.
and that specific building that caught my eye on the video, its one of the big ones in the game, that SHOULD remain visible from a long distance.
for example, that building was visible to me since I took the heli from
fishmarket south
and remained visible until I got there.

the weather in my test was night + fog/rain, and to make sure I would not do the machine any favors,
I caused a small mayhem driving on the road right before stealing the chopper.

even pausing the game having my back turned on the building for a couple of minutes (by going to the map),
then un-pausing and turn as quickly as possible, did not produce the disappear trick.


so if I can't reproduce that "GetaLife disappearance" trick by trying my best for more than five minutes,
how can I accept your post as correct?

I guess anybody with a working 360 can easily reproduce my "test" and have the same conclusion..


its no big deal of course, but I had to test for sure since it caught my eye on the first place...
 

kbear

Member
m0dus said:
Again--you can use the in-game saturation slider for EITHER version and make it practically bleed color. Therefore, this as a basis for comparison is really quite irrelevant, IMO. (like most of the issues people are arguing at this point)
Yeah, I'm not even sure the colors thing is an advantage for PS3. I just upped the saturation in the options menu and the 360 colors were vibrant.
 

belvedere

Junior Butler
p3tran said:
so if I can't reproduce that "GetaLife disappearance" trick by trying my best for more than five minutes,

Are people conveniently overlooking the fact that there are buildings much further in the distance that don't pop in, pretty much debunking the thought that this is a pop in issue in the first place? If it were a true draw distance symptom, the building in question and all buildings behind it would have popped in in the same manor.

It seems pretty obvious that this is more of a glitch or bug than an overall draw distance problem.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
so if I can't reproduce that "GetaLife disappearance" trick by trying my best for more than five minutes,
how can I accept your post as correct?
You can accept it as correct simply because I attempted to recreate it last night on PS3 after seeing this video and failed. There was no such pop-in no matter how much I turned around. It was a fluke.

I've NEVER seen anything like that during my extensive playtime. That doesn't mean it can't occur, however. We saw similar videos showcasing severe pop-up in the 360 game prior to release and most people were unable to duplicate this themselves.

This is a very dynamic game and the way data is handled can occasionally result in such glitches.
 

Jim

Member
Lince said:
that very last helicopter shot in the video showed amazing draw distance in the 360 version, maybe it was early morning the PS3 version? the difference was huge IMO.

It's impossible to compare stuff like this, because there are way, way too many factors that apparently affect the game's performance (hardware revisions, HDD speed/cache, traffic patterns, time of day, stuff going on in the background you don't see).

http://www.gamesradar.com/video/v-20080429115433544062
Their comparison shows more draw-in on the 360 version for example.
 

WrikaWrek

Banned
nib95 said:
Bumping in case anyone missed it.

Wow, that was pathetic.

dark10x said:
You can accept it as correct simply because I attempted to recreate it last night on PS3 after seeing this video and failed. There was no such pop-in no matter how much I turned around. It was a fluke.

I've NEVER seen anything like that during my extensive playtime. That doesn't mean it can't occur, however. We saw similar videos showcasing severe pop-up in the 360 game prior to release and most people were unable to duplicate this themselves.

This is a very dynamic game and the way data is handled can occasionally result in such glitches.

Yeah. Things aren't systematic in GTAIV.
 

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
nib95 said:
From that vid, what I can gather is.

360 version is the teeniest bit sharper, PS3 version has slightly less jaggies and looks smoother over-all, PS3 version has better shadows with less dithering, many more shadows too. The colour palette in the PS3 version imo is much better. Warmer more realistic skin tones and hues, closer to D65. 360 looks like it's running on what most TV's have as a "cool" setting, where as the PS3 version is running "Normal" to "Slightly Warm" (which you will find is the setting 90% of TV's are set to after professional calibration).

I just noticed one other notable difference. The PS3's explosions are imo better and more realistic than the 360's. Many more variations of smoke plume thickness and more debree as well. Looks like they made use of the Cell's advantages where need be. They took advantage of the 360's strength (GPU) with the 720p, and the PS3's advantages (Cell, Blu-ray and HDD standard) with the more complex post process filtering, better shadows, better explosion physics, better anti-aliasing filter technique, HDD streaming etc.


Direct explosion comparison.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...losionComp.jpg

360 Explosions.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...Explosions.jpg

PS3 Explosions.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...Explosions.jpg

holy h...thanks dude , best comparison in this thread so far , but why links instead of screens ?


Uncharted 2 should have something like this .
 

p3tran

Banned
hey belvedere, I dont care if its a glitch or a bug, I called it a "difference".

and I refute that things like that are "more common on 360" as it was stated above. from what I tested, they arent.

:)
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
p3tran said:
hey belvedere, I dont care if its a glitch or a bug, I called it a "difference".

and I refute that things like that are "more common on 360" as it was stated above. from what I tested, they arent.

:)
Things like buildings flashing in and out is not common in EITHER version.

That's why I believe this comparison isn't accurate. It does not represent typical behavoir of the game. They are comparing a glitchy exception in one version (which we know also can occur on 360, as there have been plenty of videos showcasing such things) to normal operation of another.
 

belvedere

Junior Butler
p3tran said:
hey belvedere, I dont care if its a glitch or a bug, I called it a "difference".

Very well.

p3tran said:
and I refute that things like that are "more common on 360" as it was stated above. from what I tested, they arent.

:)

That's the problem. You listed a single thing, hardly proving that there aren't any other draw distance problems plaguing the 360 version.
 

lowrider007

Licorice-flavoured booze?
p3tran said:
hey belvedere, I dont care if its a glitch or a bug, I called it a "difference".

and I refute that things like that are "more common on 360" as it was stated above. from what I tested, they arent.

:)


Then your living in a fantasy world, it's obvious that was a glitch, and it's called a glitch for a reason, usually because its an uncommon occurrence, I've also tried to recreate it on my PS3 version and what do you know, I can't.

What do you say about the numerous gifs/videos of the glitch's/pop-ins on the 360 version ?, I don't see you throwing your toys out in the pram in regards to those videos, funny that isn't, oh sorry, there not glitch's, they are differences lol ;-).
 

mintylurb

Member
lowrider007 said:
Then your living in a fantasy world, it's obvious that was a glitch, and it's called a glitch for a reason, usually because its an uncommon occurrence, I've also tried to recreate it on my PS3 version and what do you know, I can't.

What do you say about the numerous gifs/videos of the glitch's/pop-ins on the 360 version ?, I don't see you throwing your toys out in the pram in regards to those videos, funny that isn't, oh sorry, there not glitch's, they are differences lol ;-).
So, another misleading comparison video from gametrailers.com? What a shocka.
 
I have a suspection, If the 360 ver reduces its resolution to 640P with no AA, should it be more stable FPS than now? If it is, should we have a petition together to let Cockstar do this, maybe we would get a superior version than now.
 

Mash

Member
mintylurb said:
So, another misleading comparison video from gametrailers.com? What a shocka.

Some of you guys lol. That Gametrailers video didn't seem unfair at all to me.

To me, it seems the soft image the PS3 produces works well on the shadows and characters, but does take away some detail, on the other hand the 360 version seems to have narrowly better draw distance (in the helicopter at least) and a sharper image but those crappy, dithery shadows that Oblivion on the PC used for self shadowing. That's the only really notable differences I could see.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
on the other hand the 360 version seems to have narrowly better draw distance (in the helicopter at least)
That's precisely why the video was misleading. People who watch this video are likely to walk away believing that the 360 version offers a better draw distance, but that is not the case.

It would be akin to presenting a video of the Doom Tree on 360 while showing that it appears properly on PS3. In both versions, it is possible to cause such an occurance, but in most cases, it will not happen.

Basically, GT is presenting a scenario that is uncommon, but could occur in both versions. They even had the gall to compare it with footage taken from a more attractive time of the day on 360.

The comparison is pretty solid overall, but that really seems like quite an error on their part.
 

Klocker

Member
nib95 said:

I had a cab explode after a traffic accident yesterday (360) and I'm here to tell you the flames and fireball that ensued looked much more like the PS3 pics shown. It was an insane amount of destruction (I even died trying to get to the money that the dead cabby left. :lol )

I think it is dependent on the circumstances for the type of explosion.
 

Mash

Member
dark10x said:
That's precisely why the video was misleading. People who watch this video are likely to walk away believing that the 360 version offers a better draw distance, but that is not the case.

It would be akin to presenting a video of the Doom Tree on 360 while showing that it appears properly on PS3. In both versions, it is possible to cause such an occurance, but in most cases, it will not happen.

Basically, GT is presenting a scenario that is uncommon, but could occur in both versions. They even had the gall to compare it with footage taken from a more attractive time of the day on 360.

The comparison is pretty solid overall, but that really seems like quite an error on their part.

I think you're struggling a bit here lol, the video was almost identically set up, in fact the PS3's helicopter seems to be a little ahead and I highly doubt GT has some hidden agenda to make the PS3 come off worse.
 
m0dus said:
Again--you can use the in-game saturation slider for EITHER version and make it practically bleed color. Therefore, this as a basis for comparison is really quite irrelevant, IMO. (like most of the issues people are arguing at this point)

That still basically adheres to the what I'm saying when he called the PS3 version darker washed out colors, when it's far from it.
 

DeadGzuz

Banned
danwarb said:
Draw distance did seem a little better on 360 throughout the helicopter bit.

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1156262&postcount=204

Umm, WTF was even circled? Someone is trying to hard to spin. There are two on/off ramps and something between them. One has a solid object, the other looks broken into two. I doubt this has anything to do with draw distance if things much further away are drawn in both. I suspect it's just a angle difference and both are so compressed/low res the brain is playing tricks on you.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Mash said:
I think you're struggling a bit here lol, the video was almost identically set up, in fact the PS3's helicopter seems to be a little ahead and I highly doubt GT has some hidden agenda to make the PS3 come off worse.
I'm not suggesting that they have an agenda here, but I do believe they should have noticed this occurance and realized that they had captured something that is very rare in occurance. There have been many such videos demonstrating objects popping up on XBOX360, you know.

Draw distance did seem a little better on 360 throughout the helicopter bit.
What is even being circled?

There were already other videos making similar comparisons (in the helicopter) that suggested the opposite. It varies from video to video meaing that it is a dynamic process.
 

J-Rzez

Member
Blimblim said:
I don't see the point of your screens. We all know that HDMI captures will always look better than component. But as long as you are capturing both 360 and PS3 footage with component, the comparison itself is still valid.
And it's not like you can't adjust the colors from the captured footage afterwards. Personally I use avisynth to postprocess the video and adjust the luminance to what it should be.

To be honest, perhaps it's just me, but the 360 seems to produce a better image via component vs the PS3, but when both are hooked up via HDMI, the PS3 benefits greatly and produces the better image.

And these comparison video's that I've seen so far don't do any justice to either version of the game. I'm not sure what's going on in those vids, but it looks better when you play it on your machines at your house. People using those vids for stuff outside of explosions, maybe the shadows, and pop in really shouldn't be. They both have their stuttering moments while playing, and the 360 does have the edge on framerate, although it's not really dramatic. Only those with eyes for detail will pick it up. Color palettes on both, along with the "artistic filter" used on the PS3 version look really different (for the better) on your own calibrated sets.
 

Kolgar

Member
This thread makes me smile and shake my head at the same time.

Really, now. Given the vast architectural differences between the two machines, is it really that difficult to accept some minor differences, or to understand that said differences are not necessarily evidence of one console's superiority over the other?

I'd imagine it took a Herculean effort to create this amazing game world, let alone get the code running so well on two wildly different hardware designs. Any quibbles we have are more likely idiosyncracies of each version than proof positive that any console warrior could hang his hat on.

Kudos to Rockstar for a job well done. Hope everyone is enjoying playing the game as much as I am!
 

sprocket

Banned
I don't care which version you are playing if you are not impressed with this games graphics when its raining , riding in the back of a cab watching the people of the city battle against the wind and rain out your side window ... you need your graphics whore license removed!
 

tribal24

Banned
Mash said:
I think you're struggling a bit here lol, the video was almost identically set up, in fact the PS3's helicopter seems to be a little ahead and I highly doubt GT has some hidden agenda to make the PS3 come off worse.

im sorry im with dark on this one it is misleading becuase, any version can have pop-ins at any times if they redid that scene again they would both come out different
 

Dunlop

Member
Kolgar said:
This thread makes me smile and shake my head at the same time.

Really, now. Given the vast architectural differences between the two machines, is it really that difficult to accept some minor differences, or to understand that said differences are not necessarily evidence of one console's superiority over the other?

I'd imagine it took a Herculean effort to create this amazing game world, let alone get the code running so well on two wildly different hardware designs. Any quibbles we have are more likely idiosyncracies of each version than proof positive that any console warrior could hang his hat on.

Kudos to Rockstar for a job well done. Hope everyone is enjoying playing the game as much as I am!

Look, we don't need you and your common sense derailing this thread into something resembling polite debate :D

Actually this has to be one of the calmest cross console topics I have ever seen on Gaf, we just need mod's to start all topics like this........
 
After watching the video, I see that both version have their strengths and weaknesses but I don't see how anyone would watch that video and declare a definitive superior version. I guess it depends on your personal tastes.

I'm sure the GetaLife building visual glitch wasn't platform specific. Like dark10x said, it likely could have happened with either version. As for the explosion comparisons nib95 posted, I've destroyed several vehicles in the Xbox360 version and the explosion looked very similar to those PS3 images. The smoke and debris look just as impressive.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
mouseguard said:
I have a suspection, If the 360 ver reduces its resolution to 640P with no AA, should it be more stable FPS than now? If it is, should we have a petition together to let Cockstar do this, maybe we would get a superior version than now.

There are other differences beyond just the resolution and AA, and it would be impossible to speculate whether or not the 360 could apply those features simply due to what you are talking about.

It would seem that R* played to the strengths of each system, at least to some degree.
 

urk

butthole fishhooking yes
Kolgar said:
This thread makes me smile and shake my head at the same time.

Really, now. Given the vast architectural differences between the two machines, is it really that difficult to accept some minor differences, or to understand that said differences are not necessarily evidence of one console's superiority over the other?

I'd imagine it took a Herculean effort to create this amazing game world, let alone get the code running so well on two wildly different hardware designs. Any quibbles we have are more likely idiosyncracies of each version than proof positive that any console warrior could hang his hat on.

Kudos to Rockstar for a job well done. Hope everyone is enjoying playing the game as much as I am!

:)
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
Mash said:
I think you're struggling a bit here lol, the video was almost identically set up, in fact the PS3's helicopter seems to be a little ahead and I highly doubt GT has some hidden agenda to make the PS3 come off worse.

I'm not sure I see where dark10x implied a hidden agenda.
 

HokieJoe

Member
CrushDance said:
Personally I don't really care about these comparisons anyway and GT is still my favourite site for reviews, but they don't really compare properly. That's why there was that debacle a while back with people asking why PS3 games looked so light.

Gametrailers said:
As for using RGB or adjusting the white levels on the PS3, that completely defeats the point of these videos. We play both systems on default settings with the same cabling. If we were to adjust the settings on the PS3 to make it look better then we'd be sacrificing the integrity of the video. It's not the other way around.


Technically, they should calibrate the same display to each console on different component TV inputs shouldn't they (I assume there are no HDMI capture cards available)? That way, the comparison is standardized per ISF standards for each platform. So it would go something like this:

Input 1 calibrated to 360 (via component) --> capture/encode game play
Input 2 calibrated to PS3 (via component) --> capture/encode game play

Obviously, you capture/encoder settings would have to be standardized across platforms.
 

Mash

Member
Onix said:
I'm not sure I see where dark10x implied a hidden agenda.

I wasn't implying that, I was just ruling that out as a reason for the video showing the 360 having better draw distance. Some people are getting really touchy lol.
 

HokieJoe

Member
andrewfee said:
About the explosions – whether or not they're better on the PS3, I don't think there's much to complain about with them on the 360. The effect also seems to vary depending on what/how much is blowing up at once. Of course they all ended up looking quite similar here, which is typical when trying to show something off.

Technically this is from late on in the game, but I don't know if I'd consider it a spoiler – it's just me blowing up some cars:

http://sr-388.net/videos/DSCF0392.MP4

(note: it was kind-of awkward trying to see what I was doing from the angle I was at, which is why my aiming was pretty slow)


Those explosions do look more impressive than the direct comparison offered by nib95, but I'd still give the edge to the PS3 explosion. The PS3 version's smoke looks more voluminous and there appear to be more particles flying about.
 

3rdman

Member
nib95 said:
FThe colour palette in the PS3 version imo is much better. Warmer more realistic skin tones and hues, closer to D65. 360 looks like it's running on what most TV's have as a "cool" setting, where as the PS3 version is running "Normal" to "Slightly Warm" (which you will find is the setting 90% of TV's are set to after professional calibration).
Not to be argumentative but that "cool" setting that you are referring to was (I think) a deliberate choice by the developers. It doesn't seem to be a deficiency as you imply...Indoor environments are generally illuminated with standard filaments (tungsten colored lamps) and they are tuned to 3200 degrees kelvin...the color given off is generally considered "warm" or "orange" but its simply the color temperature of the light.

Exteriors, illuminated by the sun, is 5200 degrees kelvin. This temperature of color is "white" but if you've spent a lot of time stuck inside a room without sunlight, it would appear "blue" to your eye until you've had a chance to adjust to the different color temperature.

I really noticed it as I was playing last night...I was in the apartment where the colors are bright, vivid, and at times, almost neon-like. Until I walked outside and everything turned "blue". I work in lighting so I understood what they were going for but others might not. It's a nice and subtle touch to give it a bit more realism as it also gives the slow shift back to 3200K during sunset more impact.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
sprocket said:
I don't care which version you are playing if you are not impressed with this games graphics when its raining , riding in the back of a cab watching the people of the city battle against the wind and rain out your side window ... you need your graphics whore license removed!

:)

The first time I saw something like that, I nearly shat myself. Regardless of technical competency and IQ, the art/design direction and scope of this game is simply in a league beyond anything prior. The feeling that you're in a living, breathing world (even if it would seem there is a disproportionately high incidence of down's :p), is just astounding.
 
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