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MS: "Improving a game on Xbox One X helps boost One S performance"

MauroNL

Member
Part of a bigger Gamasutra Q&A session with Microsoft' Albert Penello.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...hing_the_Xbox_One_X_to_devs_and_consumers.php
In a recent Q&A about the Xbox One X, Microsoft's Albert Penello assured Gamasutra that this isn’t the case for the Xbox One's mid-generational hardware update. Rather, Penello says that game developers should expect to see their Xbox One X-led engine improvements reflected in better performance on the Xbox One S as well.

“An interesting thing is happening, people ask this question, ‘Is Xbox One X held back by the One S or vice-versa?’ And in fact, the tweaks you make to your engine, every tool improvement that we make to development makes Xbox One S and Xbox One X development better,” Penello told Gamasutra.

He cites Turn 10’s work with Forza Motorsport 7 and an example of this in action, saying that changes focused around Xbox One X performance actually helped make dynamic weather possible on the Xbox One S.

“Every tweak you make to your engine to get a little bit more performance out of your engine makes your Xbox One S engine better.”
 
Isn't he just saying ootimizing an engine optimizes it for your old hardware too? Isn't that fairly obvious?
 
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So the One X helps the One S, which then helps the One, but in all reality, it's the One X and One S that are the true Ones going forward, not the One.
 
What about Xbox One?

I think this is due to the increased GPU power in the One S. Per Digital Foundry:

The bottom line is this: Xbox One S has a GPU clock-speed of 914MHz, up from 853MHz in the older unit. That's a 7.1 per cent increase and ESRAM bandwidth increases in line, taking that up to 218GB/s effective. Some games see no difference - others run noticeably faster.

It appears that the One S was really the start of a new platform. If anything this really brings home the fact that MS was out of touch and possibly rushed the OG Xbox One at launch.
 
I think this is due to the increased GPU power in the One S. Per Digital Foundry:



It appears that the One S was really the start of a new platform. If anything this really brings home the fact that MS was out of touch and possibly rushed the OG Xbox One at launch.
The OG Xbox was definitely rushed. Among other mistakes.
 
This seems nearly hypothetical to me.
Aiming to touch the tallest ceiling will help you realize that there's room for growth in the middle, sure. So devs realize they don't have to dial their settings back so much for lesser console versions?

This quote is almost Phil-esque. And Phil's my homey. Just sayin' the quote sounds more meaningful and duplicatable than it actually is.
 
The more games with dynamic things (like resolution) the more it will benefit the 1s due to the very slight hardware change to the OG xbone.
 
Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. This is huge

Not downplaying it but I would keep expectations in check. It's going to come down to engine performance and devs implementing some type of dynamic scaling. Forza is an in house title so this is expected.

I would like to see DF compare performance of patched One X titles on One S vs OG One and then we will be able to tell.
 
This is a fluff answer. Its fairly obvious that working on stronger hardware lays the groundwork for certain technologies, just like PC lays the groundwork for upcoming technologies on console(every DX11 PC effect used on PC last gen that was impossible for consoles has been used this gen with regularity), but that doesn't make it any less true that XB1S is holding back what the Scorpio could do without a doubt.

A 7% upclock in GPU and bandwidth doesn't make any difference in what the OG Xbox 1 can do and the XB1S can do outside of a few frames.
 
Isn't he just saying ootimizing an engine optimizes it for your old hardware too? Isn't that fairly obvious?

That's my take.

MS only has two XBox SKUs going forward: XBox One S and Xbox One X, so that's what they talk about. OG XBox One is implicit when they say "XBox One S", IMO.
 
I think this is due to the increased GPU power in the One S. Per Digital Foundry:



It appears that the One S was really the start of a new platform. If anything this really brings home the fact that MS was out of touch and possibly rushed the OG Xbox One at launch.


I think you summed it up perfectly. The XBOX One S is what the XBOX One should have been with Scorpio being the competitor to PS4 Pro.
 
Isn't he just saying ootimizing an engine optimizes it for your old hardware too? Isn't that fairly obvious?

Of course he is. It's a small segment of a larger Q&A. Not sure how this is thread worthy.

Edit: Ohhhh right. It's threadworthy because people need another reason to shit on xbox haha

Ohhhhh Albert, you just can't help yourself can you?!? He knew what he was saying & he knew what this "could" be interpreted as. Remember when he was on GAF saying before the XBOX ONE released?? Lol
 
He cites Turn 10’s work with Forza Motorsport 7 and an example of this in action, saying that changes focused around Xbox One X performance actually helped make dynamic weather possible on the Xbox One S.

Wait... so FM7 has no dynamic weather on the plebs Xbox One???
 
I think you summed it up perfectly. The XBOX One S is what the XBOX One should have been with Scorpio being the competitor to PS4 Pro.

Xbox 1 S is just 1.4tflops(compared to XB1's 1.31), compared to PS4's 1.84. I dunno what the big difference is to say XB1S was what MS should have launched with?

Original XBox One will have all the perks of the other machines and they could have optimized for XB1 in this manner if they wanted to. Its just a different way of working as a development workflow
 
Wait... so FM7 has no dynamic weather on the plebs Xbox One???

Jesus guys.. why would anyone seriously believe this is the case? Xbox One S isn't THAT much more powerful than the regular Xbox One. You think they would dare release dynamic weather on xbox one s and x and it also not be fully possible on the original xbox one? Please let us not entertain the silly, or even outright stupid.
 
Ohhhhh Albert, you just can't help yourself can you?!? He knew what he was saying & he knew what this "could" be interpreted as. Remember what he was on GAF saying before the XBOX ONE released?? Lol
 
The OG Xbox was definitely rushed. Among other mistakes.
I don't think the OG XB1 was rushed. It did exactly was it was supposed to do. Microsoft traded gaming performance for multimedia and multitasking capability. It turned out people actually valued playing games on their gaming consoles and didn't want to pay extra so they could be shown more effective ads. Who knew?
 
Tbh I'm glad that Microsoft is treating the original console as if it doesn't exist. It's a terrible system.

Of course I'm biased because mine soft bricked many times now and caused lots of frustration.
 
Seems like this should be commonsense:

Before a lot of devs would take the simple path of using the same settings as PS4 while using a lower resolution like 900P but with Xbox One X in the picture devs have more of a reason to optimize a Xbox One game to reach 4K on Xbox One X which will also make the game run better on Xbox One.

I expect to see more 1080P & Dynamic 1080P Xbox One games once Xbox One X is out.
 
Ohhhhh Albert, you just can't help yourself can you?!? He knew what he was saying & he knew what this "could" be interpreted as. Remember what he was on GAF saying before the XBOX ONE released?? Lol

Seems to me like you're searching for something that isn't actually there. :)
 
"An interesting thing is happening, people ask this question, ‘Is Xbox One X held back by the One S or vice-versa?’ And in fact, the tweaks you make to your engine, every tool improvement that we make to development makes Xbox One S and Xbox One X development better,” Penello told Gamasutra.

So, he answers a question to a topic a lot of people bring up in regards to weaker consoles holding back the more powerful one and he gets shitted on because...?

To those that go "of course! Duhhhh" If it was fairly damn obvious this was the case then the question would not have been asked now would it?
 
So, he answers a question to a topic a lot of people bring up in regards to weaker consoles holding back the more powerful one and he gets shitted on because...?

To those that go "of course! Duhhhh" If it was fairly damn obvious this was the case then the question would not have been asked now would it?

People say duh because the interviewer is asking whether or not Xbox One S is holding back X, which it definitely is, and Spencer responds with a dodge about how X is improving S, when those improvements could have been made with or without X in the picture.

The response is shining a light on their current workflow instead of actually answering the question
 
People say duh because the interviewer is asking whether or not Xbox One S is holding back X, which it definitely is, and Spencer responds with a dodge about how X is improving S, when those improvements could have been made with or without X in the picture.

The response is shining a light on their current workflow instead of actually answering the question

It definitely is, in your opinion. You can't proof it so there's no reason to state it as a fact.
 
With regards to optimization on the X helps the S, well no shit optimization helps both consoles. One aspect to where that may make sense, and this goes for the Pro too, is devs may try things they wouldn't before (like dynamic weather) if there was just the S because you get into this mindset of what is or isn't possible. Shooting for a higher spec may shake this mindset up. I recall a developer saying this on a forum in relation to the PS2 and Xbox back in the day, but I'm not sure if that still applies today since there is more overlapping technology today.

Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. This is huge

No it's not that huge really. We're not going to be seeing next gen graphics or effects on the S because of this. I actually expect developers to have effects on the X that won't be on the S. As long as the core game is the same, that should be allowed.

The OG Xbox was definitely rushed. Among other mistakes.

I wonder how much of the last minute shift from always online to not played a part in that. I would think that doing a 180 on your OS so late in the game, requiring your software engineers to alter priorities after things have been established for so long would have created some additional hurdles early on.
 
People say duh because the interviewer is asking whether or not Xbox One S is holding back X, which it definitely is, and Spencer responds with a dodge about how X is improving S, when those improvements could have been made with or without X in the picture.

The response is shining a light on their current workflow instead of actually answering the question
I wouldn't say that.
 
So, he answers a question to a topic a lot of people bring up in regards to weaker consoles holding back the more powerful one and he gets shitted on because...?

To those that go "of course! Duhhhh" If it was fairly damn obvious this was the case then the question would not have been asked now would it?

But he didn't answer that question. At all. Not even one bit. Nobody is really shitting on anyone even well maybe one or two people are but that has nothing to do with those saying the quote is 'damn obvious' because it is and it doesn't answer the question you think he answered.
 
So, he answers a question to a topic a lot of people bring up in regards to weaker consoles holding back the more powerful one and he gets shitted on because...?

To those that go "of course! Duhhhh" If it was fairly damn obvious this was the case then the question would not have been asked now would it?

Exactly. People always searching for that next overblown nothing of a controversy.
 
Isn't he just saying ootimizing an engine optimizes it for your old hardware too? Isn't that fairly obvious?

It's a bit obvious, but he means that since development for both are so close and require little changes, and that they have great tools for profiling that the extra power on xbonex allows developers to experiment with more effects and etc, and then find a way to scale back to xbone, where otherwise they just wouldn't do that effect.
 
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