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DF: Dishonored 2: PS4/Pro/Xbox One/PC Graphics Comparison + Analysis

G

GinoFelino

Member
Digital Foundry just uploaded their Dishonored 2 video analysis.

Dave stacks up three console versions of Dishonored 2 - plus the highly underwhelming PC build, which still can't hold 1080p60 on a Titan X Pascal, despite the arrival of a new patch.
Click to expand...

Overall: PS4 better than XB1 but not perfect. Both platforms suffer FPS drops during opening mission cutscene and some battles, and XB1 has a lower resolution than PS4 throughout. Both platforms employ a dynamic resolution, details of which can be found below.

PS4 Pro version is at 1440p, but no visual enhancements for 1080p TV owners whatsoever. Locked 30fps for the most part, though.

The weirdest thing about the PS4 Pro version is that the only way to get 1440 downsampled to 1080p is to start the game in 4K and switch to 1080p with the game still running. No downsampling will occur at all for 1080p TV owners. This is likely a bug.

PC version optimisation still underwhelming, even on high-end graphics cards. It does feature better shadows and AO, plus improved textures in cutscenes.

EDIT:

XBO: 1280x900 - 1600x900 TAA

PS4: 1700x1080 - 1920x1080 TAA (dynamic resolution drops rarely observed)

PS4 Pro: 2560x1440 TAA with 2160p output selected, otherwise 1080p native

Thanks Shin-Ra


EDIT 2:

The written analysis has just been posted.

Conclusion below.

Overall, Dishonored 2 works out nicely enough for PS4 and Xbox One owners. There's no argument that this is a beautiful-looking game with a highly distinct visual style, and that the idTech underpinnings work out nicely in scaling resolution while not impacting image quality to a noticeably distracting degree. The PC version offers the best visual feature set and perhaps in time, it will overcome its profound performance issues, but right now, at least the console versions don't present too many issues that distract you from a phenomenal experience.

With that said though, the performance level is questionable at times - it's easier to forgive 20fps frame-rate drops during non-interactive cut-scenes, but the situation gets fraught when careful traversal through an enemy-infested area goes horribly wrong. The more enemies that rush to attack you, the more dire your peril, and the worse the game reacts to user input. Meanwhile, the collapsing frame-rate gives you less visual feedback, making it even harder to handle the situation. Some might say that it's as good a reason as any to play the game 'properly', using stealth and taking down targets only when required and preferably in one-on-one scenarios, but 20fps gameplay isn't really acceptable under any circumstances.

Perhaps inevitably bearing in mind the additional horsepower on offer, it's PlayStation 4 Pro that offers up the best console experience - there's a resolution boost for those with 4K displays and performance is generally smoother overall. However, we would hope to see super-sampling instated for users with full HD screens - there's no performance penalty that we could see and it would make a beautiful game look even better.
Click to expand...
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
The PS4 pro version was downsampled when I had a 1080p TV so that's a benefit. Now tho I have 4K

Really sharp on 1080p tv. PS4 pro is the end of jaggies for 1080p owners.
 
B

belvedere

Junior Butler
Y2Kev said:
The PS4 pro version was downsampled when I had a 1080p TV so that's a benefit. Now tho I have 4K

Really sharp on 1080p tv. PS4 pro is the end of jaggies for 1080p owners.
Click to expand...

This is what I'm still getting used to. It feels like I have my gaming rig hooked up. Worth the upgrade cost alone, IMO.
 
B

brainzelda

Member
The PC performance issues killed all enthusiasm I had for this game. It had a perfect window before Thanksgiving, but now I'll be coming home to the chain of FF15, TLG, Gravity Rush, and Nier.

I may just return it and rebuy it at bomba prices in 3 months.
 
G

GinoFelino

Member
Y2Kev said:
The PS4 pro version was downsampled when I had a 1080p TV so that's a benefit. Now tho I have 4K

Really sharp on 1080p tv. PS4 pro is the end of jaggies for 1080p owners.
Click to expand...

Are you sure?

The weirdest thing about the PS4 Pro version is that the only way to get 1440 downsampled to 1080p is to start the game in 4K and switch to 1080p with the game still running. (???)
Click to expand...

As said in OP. I can't imagine I understood this right. Extremely strange if true.

Mentioned around 2:20 in the video.
 
C

Crimsonclaw111

Member
brainzelda said:
The PC performance issues killed all enthusiasm I had for this game. It had a perfect window before Thanksgiving, but now I'll be coming home to the chain of FF15, TLG, Gravity Rush, and Nier.

I may just return it and rebuy it at bomba prices in 3 months.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm gonna get it for $5 as well. You done fucked up Arkane.
 
S

S1kkZ

Member
its a mess on a standard ps4. the drops to the low 20s in the second level (shown in the video) made me quit the game.
 
E

EmiPrime

Member
The game is gorgeous on my 4K TV, I knew the image quality was a bit too good to be 1080p! This was the first game I played from start to finish on my PS4 Pro, I loved every minute of it. The boat ride into Karnaca is the only time I noticed any frame rate dips so 1 minute in a game I have spent close to 20 hours on so far.
 
Bog

Bog

Junior Ace
Little bummed I paid $27 for this yesterday. I thought there'd be better Pro enhancements.
 
M

Maximo

Member
Yeah glad ill buy picking this up on a extreme sale in a year or two whenever it drops to $5..or forget about it and not bother, Denuvo AND piss poor performance means its a low priority for me.
 
G

GinoFelino

Member
Bog said:
Little bummed I paid $27 for this yesterday. I thought there'd be better Pro enhancements.
Click to expand...
OrbitalBeard said:
Not sure why you'd be bummed about paying $27 for one of 2016's best games, regardless of its lack of Pro enhancements.
Click to expand...

Paid full price on day one and couldn't happier. It's a masterpiece.

Such a shame they didn't have the time/funds to better optimise PC. It's lost them a lot of goodwill judging from all the harsh words itt.

EmiPrime said:
1440p, locked 30fps and no screen tearing is a pretty big improvement on the PS4/XB1 versions IMO.
Click to expand...

Well, if Bog's on a 1080p TV, apparently the 1440p won't do you any good. Still worth it, though.
 
A

Atolm

Member
Not buying this if I can't get locked 60 at 1440p with a 1080. Which is a shame because the first game is among the GOAT.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Wow if true. Or rather just wow since df is always right. Could the game just be that clean overall?
 
Bl@de

Bl@de

Member
brainzelda said:
The PC performance issues killed all enthusiasm I had for this game.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Loved the first game. But this went from Most Wanted to bargain bin. Will pick it up in 1-2 years (something like a GOTY edition in the Steam Christmas Sale 2017 for 7,49€^^). The game itself should be good. But ports like this are something I don't accept.
 
M

Mr. Tibbs

Member
GinoFelino said:
It's a tremendous shame. The game itself is absolutely incredible. GOTY contender for sure..
Click to expand...

There are a number of baffling missteps that hold it back from being on par with Dishonored 1, but it's worth playing.

The stand out level was the Karnaca port. What a marvel! Clockwork Mansion and Stilton's estate were very good, too. Unfortunately, the rest of the levels are inconsistent and don't stack up. The pre-mission exploration hubs tended to detract from the pacing. The Dreadful Wale is such a step down from the Houndpits Pub, offering few moments for eavesdropping, environmental storytelling, or player-motivated discovery.

The story was easily the weakest aspect of the game. Not only is it boring and presented in an entirely unconvincing way, it's a retread of the first game's dlc. The setup is one of the worst in recent memory, failing to establish or maintain any kind of emotional bond between the characters. The Thief-like animated cutscenes look cheap and feel unnecessary. The VO for the leads is wooden (being generous you could call it hammy) at the best of times, with Emily, Corvo and the Outsider feeling far less developed in the sequel than they did in the first game. It really detracts from all the amazing world-building they pull off with the environment. The Art direction is top-notch, and the new powers, especially domino, are really great to experiment with.
 
S

Sotha_Sil

Member
PC performance has killed my interest in this game for the time being, which is a shame because it was my most anticipated title since The Witness (and the foreseeable future).

Beth Soft should have let them stick it out with Unreal for one more game, and then had them switch over to Id Tech 6. There would be some royalty fees for use of the engine, but this disastrous debut of the Void Engine may have killed off plenty of good will for Arkane Lyon's future works.

I love Bethesda Softwork's output, but their engines are a joke. They've released games on 5 different engines this generation:

-Creation (garbage) - Fallout 4
-Id Tech 5 (garbage on PC, good on console) - Wolfenstein, Evil Within (though Tango butchered the Engine)
-Void (garbage) - Dishonored 2
-Whatever runs TESO (don't know anything about it)
-Id Tech 6 (great on console and awesome on PC) - DOOM

Curiously, Arkane Austin is using CryEngine for Prey. I hope to god MachineGames and Tango are working with Id Tech 6 on their next games.
 
R

razgriz417

Member
Was hoping the patch would fix the issues on pc, guess I'll be returning the $27 copy I ordered from BB when it arrives and wait another 6-12 months for them to optimize and reach bargain bin steam sale prices
 
Aceofspades

Aceofspades

Banned
PRO is brute forcing the shit out of this unoptimized mess.

1440p/ relatively stable 30fps + no tearing.

PS4 is better than xbox one as expected but the shocker here is Titan X performance, damn Bethesda! Optimize this game for God's sake
 
K

kanuuna

Member
Good to see them call out the optimization on PC. Runs like trash unless you enable the dynamic resolution option.
 
Shin-Ra

Shin-Ra

Junior Member
I wonder if those higher resolution textures are actually missing or they're taking a stupid-long time to stream in like some other id Tech games. What's showing on that character model closeup looks very.. placeholder low LoD.

KainXVIII said:
Not really true, IQ is so much better on PS4 (even more on Pro)
Click to expand...
XBO: 1280x900 - 1600x900 TAA

PS4: 1700x1080 - 1920x1080 TAA (dynamic resolution drops rarely observed)

PS4 Pro: 2560x1440 TAA with 2160p output selected, otherwise 1080p native (no mention of dynamic resolution)
 
L

LelouchZero

Member
The game appears to be CPU bound in various areas which is why it has trouble staying above 60 in some areas regardless of the GPU you're using, its pretty surprising that very powerful CPUs are having trouble maintaining 60 fps in this game.
 
V

Vinc

Member
Jesus. No supersampling for 1080p users? Please patch this. I'm not starting it until that's fixed. There's no reason it should be native 1080 on a TV when the game can render higher and downsample.
 
T

thumb

Banned
I thought that DF mentioned a frame pacing issue in Dishonored 2 in the Hitman analysis thread? It's possible I missed it in the video, but I didn't hear them talk about it here.
 
dealer-

dealer-

Member
Surprised at no downsampling. I've been switching between two screens next to each other and can see a difference. Maybe I'm hallucinating.
 
Frozone

Frozone

Member
I bought it. I think I'll enjoy it. I'll try 4k @ 30fps lock on my Titan X (Maxwell) and see if it's solid.

This game reminds me of Shadow Warrior 2's FPS. It's all over the place there too on Ultra settings but locking the FPS to 30 seems to make the experience smooth enough and consistent.
 
B

BradleyLove

Member
I thought it looked really clean on my 1080p panel running on Pro. I am surprised.

Only thing bugging me is it's feels slightly janky, and in all honesty it's not a looker. Considering how Battlefront looks at 60fps, D2 is really disappointing. It looks very much like a last gen game.
 
thelastword

thelastword

Banned
How is the Pro version a mixed bag when it performs better at 1080p and 1440p over the PS4 and XB1 version? I understand the narrator may have wanted downsampling, but even he said it works in certain instances so maybe it is a bug.

1080p users get a more stable framerate anyway......


Overall, seems like this game is CPU bound or heavily unoptimized, this game is running on TitanX Pascal with a smoking CPU and it can't maintain 60fps at 1080P Ultra, this is bananas........

The pro patch does not seem all that hot though, you would expect Ultra settings on Pro at 30fps, some of the shadows still look low resolution and jagged on the Pro amongst other things.....
 
NXGamer

NXGamer

Member
brawly said:
Yeah, not picking this up until 1080p gets downsampling.
Click to expand...

Vinc said:
Jesus. No supersampling for 1080p users? Please patch this. I'm not starting it until that's fixed. There's no reason it should be native 1080 on a TV when the game can render higher and downsample.
Click to expand...

thumb said:
I thought that DF mentioned a frame pacing issue in Dishonored 2 in the Hitman analysis thread? It's possible I missed it in the video, but I didn't hear them talk about it here.
Click to expand...

Mula said:
Why the hell no downsampling on pro? This makes no Sense.
Click to expand...

Datsuki said:
Surprised at no downsampling. I've been switching between two screens next to each other and can see a difference. Maybe I'm hallucinating.
Click to expand...

ReddishGUI said:
The image is REALLY clean on my 1080p tv so I'm kinda surprised too....
Click to expand...

BradleyLove said:
I thought it looked really clean on my 1080p panel running on Pro. I am surprised.

Only thing bugging me is it's feels slightly janky, and in all honesty it's not a looker. Considering how Battlefront looks at 60fps, D2 is really disappointing. It looks very much like a last gen game.
Click to expand...
I did cover this in my analysis, Iq on a 1080 set was not a standout at all, the heavy Taa in use hides frequency well which is why I think many thought more of it. Odd issue with the forced 4K to get downsampling to work, I have rearranged my entire set-up now with 2 4k and 2 1080 sets to make dual tests like this easier to check.

Holds is framerate pretty well but gets worse earlier on, I never had any pacing issues from my tests or play.

These new consoles are making this job much harder, good video for a lacking title in many ways sadly.
 
E

Elios83

Member
Yep the game on PS4 Pro looks incredibly clean and runs pretty well.
With PC version having performance issues the Pro is probably the best place to play it right now.
 
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