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Digital Foundry vs. AC4 PS3/360/WiiU/PS4/XB1/PC (Take shelter)

I imagine this is how Albert and Larry sleep at night after these DF comparisons
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Im sure they sleep just fine in their mansions.

Its not like they didnt knew this before even launching the Xbone. They just lie to up their product as much as they can, thats their job anyway.
 
Definitely think the Wii U & Xbox One versions didnt get enough love as they should have.

with more dev time they could have gotten the Xbox One version to 1080p and Wii U versions on par or better than the PS3 / Xbox 360 versions... it just wasn't the focus when the user base isn't there for the Wii U and the PS4 being a preferred platform. Considering there was a day one PS4 patch to bump things up on PS4... it's clear that the PS4 had more love and care than the other versions.

I disagree. The specs of these consoles predicts this sort of outcome:
XboxOne: Halved ROPS, 2/3 compute, low texture fill = issues with resolution
PS4: Balanced mid range PC parts + console optimizations = 1080p at High settings @ 30 fps
PC: Strongest, but not optimized yet, so marginal improvements over PS4 when it should be much better.
WiiU: Like last gen consoles with weak CPU. The AC3 engine was very CPU limited as any PC gamer can tell you. Seems AC4 improved for many x86 CPU cores which Wii U does not have. IPC*Clockspeed in WiiU's CPU I believe is even worse than 360.

Let's not get hung up on debates over generation. Tech is tech. A brand new iPad Air is going to be lapped in circles by a Surface Pro 2 because the specs in the Surface is simply in an entirely different class of computing hardware.
 
IDK why people were whining about the PC port on the internet. Game runs flawlessly at 60fps/1080p maxed out on my pretty modest rig.
 
They play with the RGB Limited default crap,
Cant believe these comparisons sites dont go to the menu and put RGB Full.

PS4 on my TV looks like the XB1 screen, with better resolution and extreme clearness textures, so sharp I even see flickering but lowering sharpness fixes that.

Joke post?
 
Genuinely shocked at how similar the PS4 looks in comparison to the PC.

The X1 version....smh, I don't even need to say it. I am probably one of the biggest Xbox fanboys on this site, but even I can't defend that sharpening filter.
 
I mean the sharping filter just looks horrible. Like it or not according to Microsoft they've always said they did not try to target the highest end graphics with the XB1:

"We purposefully did not target the highest-end graphics. We targeted more as a broad entertainment play" Greg Williams General Manager of Silicon Development Microsoft Xbox Division.

I think we can safely expect that all multiplat games (unless heavily optimized for XB1) will generally look better on PS4 since Sony targeted having the most powerful gaming system this generation.
 
I mean the sharping filter just looks horrible. Like it or not according to Microsoft they've always said they did not try to target the highest end graphics with the XB1:

"We purposefully did not target the highest-end graphics. We targeted more as a broad entertainment play" Greg Williams General Manager of Silicon Development Microsoft Xbox Division.

I think we can safely expect that all multiplat games (unless heavily optimized for XB1) will generally look better on PS4 since Sony targeted having the most powerful gaming system this generation.

No, they only said that at first when they tried competing with DRM and multimedia. They've since backtracked horribly and have been spreading misinformation about the power of their hardware. "You think we'd give up a 30% power advantage?", "We invented DirectX!", etc.
 
Honestly, personally, I am probably picking up the PC version whenever it goes on steam sale since I am building a new PC later this month. I just think based on my experience of observing the Wii U version it is perfectly fine. The frame rate dips are far exaggerated and not that frequent or bad. People saying it's unplayable or awful are flat out wrong.

It already went 50% off
 
I mean the sharping filter just looks horrible. Like it or not according to Microsoft they've always said they did not try to target the highest end graphics with the XB1:

"We purposefully did not target the highest-end graphics. We targeted more as a broad entertainment play" Greg Williams General Manager of Silicon Development Microsoft Xbox Division.

I think we can safely expect that all multiplat games (unless heavily optimized for XB1) will generally look better on PS4 since Sony targeted having the most powerful gaming system this generation.

I just don't understand the thought process....

"Hey guys, so our consoles quite a bit weaker than the PS4, most multiplats will probably run in a lower resolution"

"Don't worry about that, I've got a good idea! Let's compensate for our worse IQ by applying an upscaling filter which makes aliasing even MORE visible! We can even make the filter crush the blacks in each and every frame, because that'll make our games look edgy and cool right!"
 
Joke post?

What, you never heard of 'extreme clearness textures'? Dude is probably 15 :)

Just so all the kids know: RGB Limited and Full basically look the EXACT same when you calibrate correctly. There is hardly a difference. And Bluray content is always limited with super whites and blacks option.

I don't mind the Xbox, but gotDAMN if they didn't seriously fuck up and harm calibration standards last gen. They basically created a whole legion of tweens, possibly now adults shudder, that think crushed blacks are the right way to view an image. And yes there is a right way. People somehow think that their poopy low grade LCD is supposed to output CRT blacks and when that doesn't happen they look to the knobs to get their POP. I really wish that whole RGB Full never happened.

And going by this generation M doesn't have a damn clue. They are still fucking with their audience as far as correct calibration standards. It really is pretty disgusting.
 
This must be some new definition of modest I wasn't previously aware of, unless you're just trolling.

The 670 is now a midrange GPU (recently got rebranded to the 760). If you intend on gaming on your PC at 1080p or above, you owe it to yourself to at least have a mid range gpu.

Its a $250 gpu for crying out loud.
 
These are some screens neoenigma took in the Screenshot thread in case people haven't being blown away yet.

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I dunno... everything's really high res, but does it really look that mindblowing apart from that? It seems very artificial to me. Stock Crysis looks better IMO even after 5 years.

crytek2.jpg.jpg
 
I dunno... everything's really high res, but does it really look that mindblowing apart from that? It seems very artificial to me. Stock Crysis looks better IMO even after 5 years.

crytek2.jpg.jpg

I think Crysis looks better too, but got damn do I love me a clean image and that is clean.
 
Well thats bigger than i thought gap between ps4 and xb1, we have non native, more framedrops worse aa method and a super dog shit scaler adding to the shit pile. Its been a bit of a first round knock out so far for ps4 with these vs df tests, in some cases way above any differences found last gen. Ms need to fix that scaler, i simply wont buy a non native res title unless its using its own scaling method like ryse, ms you don fucked up.
 
IDK why people were whining about the PC port on the internet. Game runs flawlessly at 60fps/1080p maxed out on my pretty modest rig.

I'd like to see this "pretty modest" rig too.

I have a GTX 670 (4GB), i5 3570k, and 8GB RAM. This is not exactly a modest PC... it did cost a pretty penny albeit last year. I can assure you it cannot run AC4 "maxed out" at a locked 60fps/1080p. If I turn down a couple of things which don't really make it significantly worse, AND I use 3rd party utility to force triple-buffering, THEN I can get it into the 50-60fps range without tearing.

Hardly "60fps/1080p maxed out on my pretty modest rig."

4770k and a gtx670, 16 gig ram.

Never noticed the framerate dipping at all, but admittedly I'm not that sensitive to it.

Oh, you answered.

(1) That is not modest.

(2) I don't believe for one second that this was running at 60fps locked with everything maxed out. Soft shadows on high? God rays on high? Env quality on very high? Yeah, no.
 
I remember when some Wii U owner tried to convince me the performance was notable smoother of the ps3 version & I have had some doubt without to see it. How expected, brand loyalty is a terrible beast.
 
I remember when some Wii U owner tried to convince me the performance was notable smoother of the ps3 version & I have had some doubt without to see it. How expected, brand loyalty is a terrible beast.

Do yourself a favor and never look at your post history.
 
Uncompressed PS4 shots, I think. The kind Sony won't allow us normals to take with our PS4 yet. Gotta have capture equipment to do it.

Those are downsampled on teh PC version from 3840x1620 with either 4xMSAA or 8xMSAA.

And herein lies the beauty of the PC version. With hardware powerful enough, supersampling will lead to a much better looking game than any of the console versions. However, don't underestimate the amount of hardware needed to run AC4 with that kind of IQ at an acceptable framerate.

Just to give you an idea... here are my specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770k @ 4.4 GHz
GPU: 2x-SLI EVGA GTX 680 4GB
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance @ 1866 MHz

I get around 10-15 FPS with those settings :P

I dunno... everything's really high res, but does it really look that mindblowing apart from that? It seems very artificial to me. Stock Crysis looks better IMO even after 5 years.

The game's appeal (at least for me) comes from the aesthetics (the colors and atmosphere that come from the setting) and the fact that it's a pretty large open world. The weather system and the way things blow in the wind.... not to mention the water... are also pretty amazing to see in motion.

Jebus. Serious question: How much would someone have to spend on a PC (in $) to play the game looking like that locked at 30fps? That looks unbelievably good.

See above. Right now you can get the equivelant video cards for $700 - $750. Either with 2 770s (basically rebranded 680s that I have) or even a single 780 Ti. But that's not even enough for 30 FPS with that IQ. You'd probably need 2x 780 Tis, assuming 3GB VRAM is enough. I would imagine a pair of titans would also get you close. It's no surprise that nvidia is preventing EVGA from slapping 6GB on their custom 780 Tis. They really want people to get their damn titans :(

The reason I'm only mentioning nvidia cards is because I'm pretty sure AMD still can't downsample from resolutions that high (not possible in the drivers). If you have a 4K monitor though, you might be able to go the AMD route...
 
I think the Xbone holds up well, the sharpening does pronounce the detail in some places while making jaggies much worse in other places. One thing that is very bad is pixel crawl on Xbox One, and the slow frame rate in the comparisons hides this a little bit, it would otherwise be more noticable as pixels would flicker a lot compared to playing it slow.
 
Those are downsampled on teh PC version from 3840x1620 with either 4xMSAA or 8xMSAA.



Just to give you an idea... here are my specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770k @ 4.4 GHz
GPU: 2x-SLI EVGA GTX 680 4GB
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance @ 1866 MHz

I get around 10-15 FPS with those settings :P

Haha, yeah I figured. I wonder...would it look nearly as good if you dropped the AA? I wonder how much performance increase that would give you.
 
It really doesn't.

The two middle images show a nice and fairly detailed background vegetation, with a solid rendering of the boat's ropes.

I think it does, I always feel like these tiny, compressed images that are supposed to be showing what is largely a war of image quality are a bit senseless.
 
Haha, yeah I figured. I wonder...would it look nearly as good if you dropped the AA? I wonder how much performance increase that would give you.

There are certain places in the game that inexplicably run smoother than others and I can manage 30 FPS @ 4K with just SMAA. But any MSAA on top of 4K will drop frames like mad.

When I'm playing for reals, I drop my resolution to 2560x1440 with 4xMSAA. I actually hit 60 FPS at places but my average is more like 40. And ship battles can drop my FPS to 25. Even at that resolution. I think there are some optimizations they could do there....

One thing is for certain. I can not go back to 1080p (the cute baby resolution for babies)
 
I played through the game on 360, and while the vegetation etc doesn't come anywhere close to PS4/Xbone levels, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the performance of the game was, especially after the really inconsistent AC3.

They did a good job imo.
 
Well I played AC5 WiiU version for around four hours last night and it looks/runs great.
My pc version does look better but Uplay...

My brother in law has the game on 360 and although smooth it looks blocky and seems to lack some detail.

I'm not a pixel counter tech head but even I can see the Xbone version looks to sharp. Don't see any reason to buy an Xbone when PS4 is cheaper and better so Sony will get my money.
 
One thing is for certain. I can not go back to 1080p
That's kind of silly.

Hitting your displays native resolution is most important.

Downscaling is interesting but, at least in my setup, it introduces slight image quality artifacts. You're better off using the native resolution of your display with more AA.

Of course, I have a 1440p LCD monitor, but I play on a 1080p plasma. Image quality is much better despite the lower resolution. Resolution is far from everything.

My brother in law has the game on 360 and although smooth it looks blocky and seems to lack some detail.
Probably there display. There is no additional detail present on Wii U.
 
Downscaling is interesting but, at least in my setup, it introduces slight image quality artifacts. You're better off using the native resolution of your display with more AA.

You must be setting it up wrong or something...downscaling looks absurdly good in terms of IQ compared to native. Dark Souls at 4K resolution on my 1080p screen was a revelation. Especially in motion were the changes noticeable...no more shimmering or sub-pixel aliasing.
 
You must be setting it up wrong or something...downscaling looks absurdly good in terms of IQ compared to native. Dark Souls at 4K resolution on my 1080p screen was a revelation. Especially in motion were the changes noticeable...no more shimmering or sub-pixel aliasing.
Maybe so. In Windows, there is slight artifacting with certain colors not unlike video compression. I haven't been able to eliminate those issues on any monitor thus far.

In game, it's not so obvious, but I still think using ssaa or TXAA at native res looks cleaner.
 
I think the hardware is capable of playing games like Assassins Creed 4 at 1080p at 30fps. It's just the development tools, maturity of the XDK and deep knowledge required to squeeze out that level of performance isn't there yet.

Likewise the PS4 version at 50-60fps with HBAO enabled (If Ubisoft came back to patch the game at the end of the generation with what they'd learned)
 
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