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[viveks86]

you mean from last years e3? i mean current media

August 2014. But yeah, we haven't seen it enabled since, even though it exists.

From those settings I can see sharpening is still in.

Since the Sword of Destiny trailer have we seen any footage or screens with sharpening turned on?

Nope. Sharpening as a feature is in, but they seem to have manually disabled it. It is supposed to be on by default on high post processing preset, though it has been switched off as seen in the IGN stream.

 

[Daverid]

God, Ciri looks so fucking weird. It's like they put a 20-something-year-old's face onto the body of a 10-year-old.

Aside from the hair colour she looks REALLY similar to a chick I used to work with who was 14 (Ciri in the Prologue would be somewhere around 12-13), and both of them look very appropriate for their age, so I very much disagree with your assessment, but opinions.

As for the topic of graphics, I am legitimately shocked at how great the PS4 version looks in those videos. It's nice to see it with a decent capture card quality, and Kaer Morhen looks stunning. Not just aesthetically, but graphically too.
We know that the PC Version has graphical notches higher than what we're seeing there on the PS4 and there's all the extra little dongles that PC has (HBAO+, Higher Resolutions/AA/AF etc).

I think abso-fucking-lutely the game has been downgraded since the VGX Trailer (Debut has some utterly horrid scenes, and there was a huge lighting shift even from Debut > VGX), even if some aspects have been improved, on the whole it has been downgraded.
However I still think Sword of Destiny, and all the subsequent 2014 footage, is very much achievable, even if it takes 4K downsampling and everything actually on Max.

I think everyone should be more wary of CDPR in the future, and this is coming from someone who's a huge fan. I think they've still achieved something aesthetically and graphically gorgeous with The Witcher 3, but it's obvious they aren't above PR fluff and rubbish, and the way I see it they really failed to just be honest and down to earth with their fans, which is a big no-no no matter what developer and how much you might love them. I know I'll be approaching Cyberpunk2077 with way more skepticism then I have Witcher 3, and I certainly won't be pre-ordering.
However, I'd say they will have learnt some lessons from Witcher 3, they now know the state of consoles and what they're capable of, and frankly I don't think we will see the same issue when it comes to Cyberpunk, but everyone should definitely still be cautious.

(This is of course disregarding any other aspects of the game and talking purely about graphics. I still think in every other aspect the game is going to be fucking fantastic).

 

[LookAtMeGo]

I don't know if it's been posted here, but some Arab YouTuber has been playing the PS4 version with a decent capture card, and posted some videos.

Those videos look great. Better than I was expecting. Watching him play was a pain in the ass though, like he doesnt normally play with a controller often or something. Not too many hiccups performance wise, noticed some flickering shadows, overall it looks fantastic. Bring on next week. I was getting lost in the world just watching. Goodbye real world when I get muh hands on this.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Developer Insider: The Witcher 3 Was Downgraded From 2013 List of All Features Taken Out &Why

http://whatifgaming.com/developer-i...-from-2013-list-of-all-features-taken-out-why

So basically as expected, seemed like the obvious answer/reason to me.

 

[CyberPunked]

The only one I've seen is the 35 minute gameplay video. Even the little stones on the road cast shadows in that video. The grass foliage has a shadow at the base as well, which isn't even seen in most official screenshots (pre and post downgrade). My conclusion is they've only rarely had HBAO on.

Is the HBAO HBAO+ do you know?

 

[Fbh]

In my uninformed opinion, companies are trying to maximize prerelease hype. Since most games sales are front loaded, window at or near release.

Yeah. I asume that's the reason for most stuff like these.

But I don't know. It's not like the Witcher 3 is an ugly game, I've been watching some gameplay videos and even on Ps4 it looks pretty damn amazing. They could easily make trailers with real footage an still get a lot of hype.

 

[viveks86]

Is the HBAO HBAO+ do you know?

I can't tell from the ini, but Nvidia's website lists the game for supporting HBAO+.

 

[Two Words]

I think anybody who intended to play this on consoles should have expected a downgrade of some form. Maybe that's why this bugs me less. While watching the trailers, I never expected it to look like that on PS4.

 

[III-V]

I don't know if it's been posted here, but some Arab YouTuber has been playing the PS4 version with a decent capture card, and posted some videos that look clean as fuck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mDR3osVfQ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzxsWVcUI04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bieqvO1Kg-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZKHRBRQmw0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G6pEaTDeEg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9hcctt8qus

There's more in his profile.



If this article is legit, it's basically an admission that the reason CDPR had to go for parity was lack of manpower. After all is said and done, it is still a relatively small Eastern European dev and doesn't have the same resources as an EA or Ubisoft to devote full-size teams to each individual version.

These videos (I did not watch all) look quite good. I think this game will deliver.

 

[Fbh]

These videos (I did not watch all) look quite good. I think this game will deliver.

Most downgrade threads will make you think the game is now hideous. But it still looks awesome.

Just not 2013 levels of awesome

 

[III-V]

Most downgrade threads will make you think the game is now hideous. But it still looks awesome.

Just not 2013 levels of awesome

I agree that it is not 2013 levels of awesome. Additionally, I never expected the PS4 version to look that good. At this point, I do think it looks a step above DA:I in terms of IQ, but a far cry from W3 2013. No matter that, I still think this game is delivering.

 

[Einchy]

Most downgrade threads will make you think the game is now hideous. But it still looks awesome.

Just not 2013 levels of awesome

A lot of people keep saying this in defense of the downgrade but I've only seen maybe 5 people so far say that The Witcher 3 looks bad. I think pretty much everyone here will agree that The Witcher 3 still looks awesome.

Also, interesting how no one is claiming that there were no downgrades anymore. People were arguing that tooth and nail the other day.

 

[viveks86]

Also, interesting how no one is claiming that there were no downgrades anymore. People were arguing that tooth and nail the other day.

I think many of them have simply left the thread. lol. We are 74 pages in after all.

 

[drotahorror]

So basically as expected, seemed like the obvious answer/reason to me.

But there is tessellated water. So that post is debunked.

 

[0.1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55]

So wait, advertisement is illusion/fantasy?

So, that car I just bought isn't going to slide the way it does unless its on a test track with a professional driver behind the wheel? And when I drink a bud lite... It won't be at a rave with a bunch of gorgeous tight bodied women with loose sexual behavior? Or the second I buy Axe bodyspray, coeds won't swarm me? Or that Harly Fatboy I just bought isn't going to make me a tough guy and add 2 inches to my dick?

Shit, I though all that was real!

But no, the Witcher 3 is the final straw that broke the camels back. I just can't take it. The lies run too deep. I was promised one thing, and what I'm finally about to get, is so so so so disappointing and far from the truth, that I just.... Can't..... believe I was dumb enough to embrace the original reveal/advertisement. I mean, there is literally no precedent for this behavior. Its like they wanted to sell me on a dream that couldn't be lived up to.

Shame on them. Their marketing department should be fired. I'm surprised this travesty hasn't dragged down the review scores. CD Projekt Red must be bribing all the outlets... Well except for Gerstmann.

 

[red36]

But there is tessellated water. So that post is debunked.

Flexible water simulation/ tesselation. Physics based water isn't the same thing as tesselation.

 

[Momentary]

So wait, advertisement is illusion/fantasy?

So, that car I just bought isn't going to slide the way it does unless its on a test track with a professional driver behind the wheel? And when I drink a bud lite... It won't be at a rave with a bunch of gorgeous tight bodied women with loose sexual behavior? Or the second I buy Axe bodyspray, coeds won't swarm me? Or that Harly Fatboy I just bought isn't going to make me a tough guy and add 2 inches to my dick?

Shit, I though all that was real!

But no, the Witcher 3 is the final straw that broke the camels back. I just can't take it. The lies run too deep. I was promised one thing, and what I'm finally about to get, is so so so so disappointing and far from the truth, that I just.... Can't..... believe I was dumb enough to embrace the original reveal/advertisement. I mean, there is literally no precedent for this behavior. Its like they wanted to sell me on a dream that couldn't be lived up to.

Shame on them. Their marketing department should be fired. I'm surprised this travesty hasn't dragged down the review scores. CD Projekt Red must be bribing all the outlets... Well except for Gerstmann.

Translation:

I see there is a degradation of graphical fidelity, but it's okay. Other advertisement agencies in other industries have been misrepresenting their products for decades. I'm actually fine with this.

 

[0.1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55]

Translation:

I see there is a degradation of graphical fidelity, but it's okay. Other advertisement agencies in other industries have been misrepresenting their products for decades.

Translation: Business is business. Nothing new to see here.

 

[tuxfool]

Flexible water simulation/ tesselation. Physics based water isn't the same thing as tesselation.

Given that you can configure the tessellation factor of water in the ini files, there is reason to believe it is still there.

 

[DonasaurusRex]

I bought a GTX 980 and overclocked it precisely to MAX this game out at 1080p/60fps and now they act like turnig on those effects would reduce performance...between downgrade and this my hype for the game is going down

hmmm sounds like the same thing that happened with Crysis 1 -> 2 , game still looked good but it was made more lean...so it could be on consoles and run on lower hardware requirements well. That wasn't very well received either by fans or enthusiasts that loved the idea of a game pushing graphics boundaries. However it may mean more people can play the game.

Is this an open gl or DX12 game? maybe it will get patched then even more performance can be gotten out of the engine.

 

[BigTnaples]

Given that you can configure the tessellation factor of water in the ini files, there is reason to believe it is still there.

He is saying that the water tesselation and the fluid physics simulation are two completely separate things.


The .ini supports there being tesslation still, but there are no settings for water simulation.

 

[III-V]

Translation: Business is business. Nothing new to see here.

That is not really a fair representation of what happens in a downgrade.

People get pissed when things are presented as 'gameplay' when in actuality gameplay visuals/whatever never make it to those heights.

That would be like a company showing a pack of baseball cards with 100 cards in it, but when you purchased months later when it finally released, it has 80. It is not meant as an advertisement, it's a product description that gets whittled away over time until you have what is eventually sold to the public.

Everyone knows what an advertisement entails, no real insight provided on that.

 

[ufo8mycat]

That's Watch Dogs all over again, the assets they shown in the first demo/trailer were too much for consoles, so they had to remake them and use same assets for all the versions adding just few more effects, texture quality and better resolution on PC

Welcome to 99% of multiplatform games. This isn't anything new.

Same assets on PC but with just higher resolution/texture detail/ AA/AF, more foliage etc and thats it

It's been like this for the whole 360/PS3 generation and will continue.

It's too costly to create a whole set of higher quality assets for High-end PC and another set for consoles/mid-range PCs

This has been going on for more then 8 years, this isn't anything new.

 

[ryanthelion123]

So wait, advertisement is illusion/fantasy?

So, that car I just bought isn't going to slide the way it does unless its on a test track with a professional driver behind the wheel? And when I drink a bud lite... It won't be at a rave with a bunch of gorgeous tight bodied women with loose sexual behavior? Or the second I buy Axe bodyspray, coeds won't swarm me? Or that Harly Fatboy I just bought isn't going to make me a tough guy and add 2 inches to my dick?

Shit, I though all that was real!

But no, the Witcher 3 is the final straw that broke the camels back. I just can't take it. The lies run too deep. I was promised one thing, and what I'm finally about to get, is so so so so disappointing and far from the truth, that I just.... Can't..... believe I was dumb enough to embrace the original reveal/advertisement. I mean, there is literally no precedent for this behavior. Its like they wanted to sell me on a dream that couldn't be lived up to.

Shame on them. Their marketing department should be fired. I'm surprised this travesty hasn't dragged down the review scores. CD Projekt Red must be bribing all the outlets... Well except for Gerstmann.

Those products are shown what they are capable of doing. That car has total potential to slide into a test track, you drinking a bud light around hot girls is plausible, and the Harley fatboy might help add to the illusion your tough as nails.

These products are being shown in the best light possible. Video games do this too in commercials, when they choose pretty scenery or show gamers having ridiculous fun on the couch. But when you remove the fluff in these commercials, the product is the same that you could buy for yourself. It is misadvertisement when you show your game/product with graphics/features it is nowhere near producing.

 

[lukeskymac]

So wait, advertisement is illusion/fantasy?

So, that car I just bought isn't going to slide the way it does unless its on a test track with a professional driver behind the wheel? And when I drink a bud lite... It won't be at a rave with a bunch of gorgeous tight bodied women with loose sexual behavior? Or the second I buy Axe bodyspray, coeds won't swarm me? Or that Harly Fatboy I just bought isn't going to make me a tough guy and add 2 inches to my dick.

I don't think I can come up with a falser equivalency.

 

[Virdix]

Glad people are still comparing that PS4 gif to PC

 

[Carlius]

developer insider the witcher 3 was downgraded from 2013 list of all features taken out why

edit: BEATEN!

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Well at least at this stage in the current gen life cycle I'd like to think going forwards there will be less instances of these over produced vertical slices happening. Maybe they should make these preview builds run on actual console hardware. Oh who am I kidding this will probably continue :/

 

[mbmonk]

So wait, advertisement is illusion/fantasy?

So, that car I just bought isn't going to slide the way it does unless its on a test track with a professional driver behind the wheel? And when I drink a bud lite... It won't be at a rave with a bunch of gorgeous tight bodied women with loose sexual behavior? Or the second I buy Axe bodyspray, coeds won't swarm me? Or that Harly Fatboy I just bought isn't going to make me a tough guy and add 2 inches to my dick?

Shit, I though all that was real!

But no, the Witcher 3 is the final straw that broke the camels back. I just can't take it. The lies run too deep. I was promised one thing, and what I'm finally about to get, is so so so so disappointing and far from the truth, that I just.... Can't..... believe I was dumb enough to embrace the original reveal/advertisement. I mean, there is literally no precedent for this behavior. Its like they wanted to sell me on a dream that couldn't be lived up to.

Shame on them. Their marketing department should be fired. I'm surprised this travesty hasn't dragged down the review scores. CD Projekt Red must be bribing all the outlets... Well except for Gerstmann.

Appeal to common practice fallacy. Still a crappy practice despite the number of parties that do it.

 

[Skyzard]

They were expecting next gen consoles to have the power of tri sli titans.

 

[Head.spawn]

Even if the game was downgraded to maximize performance and get it out the door as soon as possible with minimal casualty; I feel like CDPR will eventually make it right via patching and eventual upgrade to DX12 down the line.

...either them or modders.

 

[0.1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55]

I don't think I can come up with a falser equivalency.

Really. I can, but I'll spare you. Just let me leave this parting thought.

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.

How many times has this whole downgrade'agedon happened?

 

[red36]

Given that you can configure the tessellation factor of water in the ini files, there is reason to believe it is still there.

The presence of tesselation doesn't mean that there is physics based water.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Really. I can, but I'll spare you. Just let me leave this parting thought.

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.

How many times has this whole downgrade'agedon happened?

I really don't think people wanted to think cdpr was going to pull this of all devs. They were like one of the last pc centric AAA devs around with a high emphasis on tech in their games. People didn't want to think they were gonna pull an Ubi plain and simple. I'm not as grossly offended as some but I'm still surprised they really towed the nothing was downgraded line as long as they have. It just sucks.

 

[viveks86]

He is saying that the water tesselation and the fluid physics simulation are two completely separate things.


The .ini supports there being tesslation still, but there are no settings for water simulation.

But that already dispels half of the claim (tessellation). The other half doesn't even make any sense and we've seen enough evidence that contradicts it. There is no way they are pulling off those water effects with a boat traveling on top of it that responds accurately to the waves without physics simulation. It will clip through like crazy (as seen in the earlier Angry Joe preview, where they acknowledged that they were still fixing bugs with the simulation). IGN stream is a good example, where it seems to be fixed. Sure it's not as exaggerated as a stormy ocean, but that's the missing part that remains to be seen.

 

[Szeth]

Really. I can, but I'll spare you. Just let me leave this parting thought.

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.

How many times has this whole downgrade'agedon happened?

I think it happened again for a couple of reasons.

1) People expected better from cdprojekt red, who have shown themselves in the past to be a consumer friendly, PC first developer.

2) They then outright denied any downgrade when it was blatantly obvious there was one.

I really think there wouldn't have been such a big backlash if they just explained that the first trailer was a target render they weren't able to reach given the hardware limitations.

 

[ryanthelion123]

Really. I can, but I'll spare you. Just let me leave this parting thought.

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.

How many times has this whole downgrade'agedon happened?

Wow, you're trying way too hard to be deep and insightful.

So you're saying its our fault for believing multiple trailers from a developer that hasn't lied about this kind of stuff before. Just because other games have been downgraded?

You're right since we keep falling for it we should just forget about putting any responibility on game developers.....

 

[Coflash]

Most downgrade threads will make you think the game is now hideous. But it still looks awesome.

Just not 2013 levels of awesome

For me, it's not about what the game looks like. It still looks fine. It's about the lies and contradictions from a company that most people thought was above all of this.

 

[BigTnaples]

But that already dispels half of the claim (tessellation). The other half doesn't even make any sense and we've seen enough evidence that contradicts it. There is no way they are pulling off those water effects with a boat traveling on top of it that responds accurately to the waves without physics simulation. It will clip through like crazy (as seen in the earlier Angry Joe preview, where they acknowledged that they were still fixing bugs with the simulation). IGN stream is a good example, where it seems to be fixed. Sure it's not as exaggerated as a stormy ocean, but that's the missing part that remains to be seen.

I certainly hope it's in. And I'm not buying the rumor, as I could have written that with just the knowledge from this very thread. But I guess we will see.

Have there been any videos or streams where the water simulation seems to be in place? I haven't seen the IGN stream.

 

[CHC]

Wow, you're trying way too hard to be deep and insightful.

So you're saying its our fault for believing multiple trailers from a developer that hasn't lied about this kind of stuff before. Just because other games have been downgraded?

You're right since we keep falling for it we should just forget about putting any responibility on game developers.....

I think the point is more that tags like "pre-release footage" cut both ways.... sometimes the real game might look better, sometimes it might look worse.

But never forget that if a developer is showing a short, non-playable section of a game running on whatever the best hardware of the day is, it should be obvious that they're going to do everything in their power to make that little piece of the game look as good as it possibly can. It's just like how McDonald's doesn't take a cellphone photo of their burger in a cardboard box... they go through about 2000 burgers in a professional photo studio to find "the one".

The game still looks great, but why people take early footage (in this case 2+ years prior to release) as some solemn promise of how the game will look, I don't understand.

 

[viveks86]

I certainly hope it's in. And I'm not buying the rumor, as I could have written that with just the knowledge from this very thread. But I guess we will see.

Have there been any videos or streams where the water simulation seems to be in place? I haven't seen the IGN stream.

It's on youtube now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6OWhB6Zaiww#t=418

Look for subtle boat movements and sway, how that varies with the water and how the water itself varies throughout. Without physics based fluid simulation, that becomes a formidable task.

 

[ryanthelion123]

I think the point is more that tags like "pre-release footage" cut both ways.... sometimes the real game might look better, sometimes it might look worse.

But never forget that if a developer is showing a short, non-playable section of a game running on whatever the best hardware of the day is, it should be obvious that they're going to do everything in their power to make that little piece of the game look as good as it possibly can. It's just like how McDonald's doesn't take a cellphone photo of their burger in a cardboard box... they go through about 2000 burgers in a professional photo studio to find "the one".

The game still looks great, but why people take early footage (in this case 2+ years prior to release) as some solemn promise of how the game will look, I don't understand.

I still think the game looks good too.

But the thing about the burger analogy is that it has potential to look like that. (I still think this practice is wrong.) But games can be produced is mass quantities and be are all virtually identical.

 

[red36]

But that already dispels half of the claim (tessellation). The other half doesn't even make any sense and we've seen enough evidence that contradicts it. There is no way they are pulling off those water effects with a boat traveling on top of it that responds accurately to the waves without physics simulation. It will clip through like crazy (as seen in the earlier Angry Joe preview, where they acknowledged that they were still fixing bugs with the simulation). IGN stream is a good example, where it seems to be fixed. Sure it's not as exaggerated as a stormy ocean, but that's the missing part that remains to be seen.

Tesselation afaik is a plugin. Sure it requires points for insertion, but the yield is large since the program just injects into the game.

No there is not physics based water. It's a system for water I've seen a number of times in different games. As previously shown in a big in this thread, water doesn't oscillate without cause irl, but in w3 it does. It oscillates even when the character remains still.

 

[CHC]

I still think the game looks good too.

But the thing about the burger analogy is that it has potential to look like that. (I still think this practice is wrong.) But games can be produced is mass quantities and be are all virtually identical.

It's not a 1:1 analogy, but that's the way people really need to look at "vertical slice" demos - they're dolled up to make the game look as appealing as possible because they're not really "demos", they're ads. And the last thing they are is a binding contract for the game's final quality....

 

[nib95]

Reposting:

2013

2014

2015

Compression, time of day, weather, seasons and all that, but I think it's safe to say there are a lot of details that have been removed/reduced.

I still think it looks great and I think they did a great job. While it still isn't entirely impossible the PC-version will look like the gameplay from 2013 (like CDPR are saying), it's very unlikely.

Holy crap, compression and all that aside, there does appear to have been a massive downgrade. Most disappointing is that CDP essentially lied about it...

 

[BigTnaples]

Tesselation afaik is a plugin. Sure it requires points for insertion, but the yield is large since the program just injects into the game.

No there is not physics based water. It's a system for water I've seen a number of times in different games. As previously shown in a big in this thread, water doesn't oscillate without cause irl, but in w3 it does. It oscillates even when the character remains still.

That's the PS4 version.(assuming you're referring to him standing still in the water) Have we seen it do this in the PC version as well?

 

[DOWN]

According to the insider anyway.

According to people with eyes and critical thinking ability.

 

[viveks86]

No there is not physics based water. It's a system for water I've seen a number of times in different games. As previously shown in a big in this thread, water doesn't oscillate without cause irl, but in w3 it does. It oscillates even when the character remains still.

Hmmm…. Do you happen to have the source of that GIF?

That's the PS4 version.(assuming you're referring to him standing still in the water) Have we seen it do this in the PC version as well?

That's what I thought. Also the GIF iirc did not show how the ripple originated and kept looping. I'd like to see the full video to understand if such ripples happen all the time if you are standing in it, no matter what.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

The game still looks great, but why people take early footage (in this case 2+ years prior to release) as some solemn promise of how the game will look, I don't understand.

The community manager said it hadn't been downgraded

 

[Tovarisc]

Hmmm…. Do you happen to have the source of that GIF?

That's what I thought. Also the GIF iirc did not show how the ripple originated and kept looping. I'd like to see the full video to understand if such ripples happen all the time no matter what.

Here is example of Geralt standing still in water, PS4; https://youtu.be/qEjGAbAUYBY?t=365