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PS4's AF issue we need answers!

Javin98

Banned
Ram can only improve performance if you didn't have enough before. Ram doesn't compute in any way. More ram just means you can store more data, this is not related to resolution.
Dude, I never said display resolution anywhere. I was referring to texture resolution which is dependent on VRAM and not performance.
 
if AF was actually "OVERLOOKED" by developers then I have no more faith in the industry.
aka I cannot see how something so noticeable could be overlooked.

I thought the same in an earlier thread. I wouldn't be surprised if some publishers are using the extra power of PS4 as a way to save money by reducing optimization time.
 
I thought the same in an earlier thread. I wouldn't be surprised if some publishers are using the extra power of PS4 as a way to save money by reducing optimization time.
I'm not sure this entirely makes sense. Optimisation isn't some bit-coin-mining like process that simply puts time vs performance improvements. Once the actual scenes have been cleaned up, it's a constant series of compromises to achieve the best visuals at the defined acceptable performance level. Choosing a level of AF isn't a choice to "not optimise" - it *is* optimisation.
 
I'm not sure this entirely makes sense. Optimisation isn't some bit-coin-mining like process that simply puts time vs performance improvements. Once the actual scenes have been cleaned up, it's a constant series of compromises to achieve the best visuals at the defined acceptable performance level. Choosing a level of AF isn't a choice to "not optimise" - it *is* optimisation.

The examples where AF is missing totally, there are theories it's due to transferring code from one API to another. The savings intime and money would come from not checking or making changes to that code.
 

Javin98

Banned
Then I read it wrong, “dude“. It could be read in both ways so I wanted to make it clear.
Just so we're clear, I meant that more RAM means textures can be higher res and more varied. And don't take "dude" as an insult. I never meant for it to.
 

SeanTSC

Member
I'm not sure this entirely makes sense. Optimisation isn't some bit-coin-mining like process that simply puts time vs performance improvements. Once the actual scenes have been cleaned up, it's a constant series of compromises to achieve the best visuals at the defined acceptable performance level. Choosing a level of AF isn't a choice to "not optimise" - it *is* optimisation.

While you could make a case to say that turning off AF is an optimization in some things to save frames, it makes *absolutely* no sense in some of the titles missing AF like Strider. There's just no logical reason why that game would need to turn off AF to save perfomance and really must be a bug, oversight, or problem in the pipeline. Same with some of the other games like Unfinished Swan, which has it on the PS3 but not the PS4.

Considering the low resource demanding games that are missing it, that it was patched into Dying Light, and now Sony's Devnet thing I'm just inclined to think that there must be some mistake being made rather than leaving AF purposely off on any of these games.
 

scrambles

Neo Member
I'm not sure this entirely makes sense. Optimisation isn't some bit-coin-mining like process that simply puts time vs performance improvements. Once the actual scenes have been cleaned up, it's a constant series of compromises to achieve the best visuals at the defined acceptable performance level. Choosing a level of AF isn't a choice to "not optimise" - it *is* optimisation.

Optimisation of their bottom line you mean. Or maybe optimization of their shirking :D

The fact is, Sony came out with a press release saying that some devs are simply not coding "correctly" (their actual wording), and will release a patch that will make it easier for them to do so.

All of the games affected are powered by Unreal 3 engine.

Given the information available, it would be reasonable to say that devs are using the Unreal 3 engine and porting from another source to ps4, not reviewing the code, and the implementation is going by the wayside, which would explain the lack of AF.

You can continue thinking that devs are doing their very best to optimize their games to fit within the power constraints, but keep in mind that this isn't the simplest explanation, nor the most scientific, as it occludes smaller games with plenty of room overhead.
 

Slaythe

Member
df0791fea0a86cbe76f50fd31a3d70eb.png


Proving once and for all it wasn't on AT ALL.

No performance hit noted in the game so far.
 

Marlenus

Member
df0791fea0a86cbe76f50fd31a3d70eb.png


Proving once and for all it wasn't on AT ALL.

No performance hit noted in the game so far.

So pretty much as I and others said. AF has barely any impact on performance and it's exclusion was due to an oversight or mistake rather than for performance reasons.
 

Slaythe

Member
Wow, that's kinda amateurish.

Let's not hate on people that actually Fixed the issue.

Let's get mad at those who let the games ship and left them in that state forever instead.

And Ninja Theory wasn't the ones who made that version but they asked for the fix, so really we can only praise them for this, especially while being produced by capcom.
 

Slaythe

Member
So it really wasn't a "ps4 can't handle it issue"?

How about Digital Foundry updates their article ?

But yeah basically the AF was never activated at all. It was not doing worse than xbox it just was missing entirely.

We have two instances now where adding the AF didn't alter a single FPS in the games.

DmC looks great now.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
Just read the post on Facebook. It'd be nice to see some before and after comparisons from those who have the game.
I'm at work for a long time still but I'll do some after I get home. Have a lot of screens already that I think I could make a good comparison with.
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
How about Digital Foundry updates their article ?

But yeah basically the AF was never activated at all. It was not doing worse than xbox it just was missing entirely.

We have two instances now where adding the AF didn't alter a single FPS in the games.

DmC looks great now.

That's more or less how it works on PC, so I would be surprised if it was hugely different on consoles with such a PCish architecture.
 

iceatcs

Junior Member
Nice to see Sony doing something about their API.

That's why 3rd party engine can be dodgy (not blame because they have multi-devices to deal with), and they might not bother to something about it just because it isn't completely broke.
 
It depends on how much bandwidth is available, correct? So since the CPU and GPU share bandwidth on consoles the limit is stricter which in turn leads to performance loss if it's broken.

Does anyone know if and when tiled resources will become commonplace? I'm assuming it could be a massive boon to both consoles. Are there any games currently using it?
 

Elandyll

Banned
Nice to see Sony doing something about their API.

That's why 3rd party engine can be dodgy (not blame because they have multi-devices to deal with), and they might not bother to something about it just because it isn't completely broke.

As far as we know, Sony's API was not involved -at all-.

Right now, it looks like a case of either

- "Somewhat esoteric" way to enable AF on the PS4 SDK, which means some Devs overlook it (and I say "somewhat esoteric" as in that it seems that recently a dev in this very thread mentionned that it was neither hard or taxing to activate). It possibly differs quite a bit from DX 11 and so I guess it is possible that some devs just don't take the time to Q&A it or if they do they have deadlines which impy they decide to ship anyway with AF not activated.

or

- It's purely on the Dev side, either for lack of knowledge, privileging another platform (PC/ XB/ Mac ...) as lead and not taking the time to do what they might consider "minor adjustments" or ... who knows?

That's all I got atm :shrug:
 
Nice to see Sony doing something about their API.

That's why 3rd party engine can be dodgy (not blame because they have multi-devices to deal with), and they might not bother to something about it just because it isn't completely broke.


From what I gather it has nothing to do with the API or the console hardware. This is completely on the developers to implement or know how to implement. I would imagine this was overlooked simply because it doesn't stand out.
 

Teletraan1

Banned
I am glad these types of threads exist. Getting people talking about this kind of thing instead of it being some fodder for a console war or being shot down for not being a dev whenever this subject was brought up in any thread was a breath of fresh air. Hope they can go in and patch the old games if it is a simple enough fix and we don't see any more of it in the future. It always seemed so strange to me. I can't even remember the year it has been so long since I did anything below x16 on my pc for almost zero performance.
 

Slaythe

Member
Looks like I'm buying DmC

A lot of people said "if they fix AF i'll buy it on ps4" .

Hope they stick to their word =) .

Game and Ninja Theory deserves it. Not many devs actually took the time to fix the game after release. Especially for a game without online component.
 

Jomjom

Banned
df0791fea0a86cbe76f50fd31a3d70eb.png


Proving once and for all it wasn't on AT ALL.

No performance hit noted in the game so far.

Sony really needs to investigate what the hell is wrong with their SDK that AF wouldn't be on by default or whatever. I don't know how it all works, but they need to do something that makes it a no-brainer for devs, who might be mired in crunch and forget little, but important things like this, to enable it without a second thought.

Nice to see Sony doing something about their API.

That's why 3rd party engine can be dodgy (not blame because they have multi-devices to deal with), and they might not bother to something about it just because it isn't completely broke.

Have they said something about fixing their API? I missed it. What did they say? Ah nevermind, went to the previous page and saw the post. Good for Sony!
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
what kind of annoys me is that this kind of stuff is getting through QA all the time and the sad part is that your average consumer would never notice nor would the people reviewing a game
 
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