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Watch_Dogs original graphical effects (E3 2012/13) found in game files [PC]

Kimppis

Member
I don't know if you realize this or not, but mocking the people who criticize the crap CPUs in the XB1 and PS4 doesn't magically make them powerful processors.

How was I mocking anyone? Neither did I say that the CPUs are 'powerful'. Take it easy. I guess the truth is that they are not crap either, though. If I have understood correctly, the "magical closed box optimization" (CPU usage etc.) actually is a thing with CPUs. So you can't compare them directly to PCs, so the 8 core Jaguar does its job.

You need a high end GPU to run WD with all the bells and whistles at a playable framerate.

I thought the post I quoted was about running the mod. However, I'm not 100% sure. So do you need a high-end PC to run these "new" effects? If that's the case, then I got it wrong and I understand why they "downgraded" the game. But even then, high-end gaming PCs are pretty rare, so only a small minority would benefit from this.

But if I understood the quote I posted correctly, then you can run the mod just fine with a mid-range rig (a 7850). Right? That was my original point: if mid-range PCs are capable of running this and the game's performance is actually more stable with these improvements, why did the downgrade happen? Then current-gen consoles should be just fine, more or less.

Beats me, my CPU is a i5-2500k slightly overclocked so I'm sure that has something to do with it, but the game actually runs better for me with the mod which is just crazy if you think about it. This whole situation is just weird lol.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering too. Just feels odd to me that some people are only accusing "terribly weak current/next-gen consoles" for all of this, even though the "mod" runs on PCs that are roughly comparable to these consoles. Maybe Ubisoft really thought that the game looks better without the effects lol. Didn't their PR have that explanation or something?
 

Corpekata

Banned
Yeah, that's what I'm wondering too. Just feels odd to me that some people are only accusing "terribly weak current/next-gen consoles" for all of this, even though the "mod" runs on PCs that are roughly comparable to these consoles. Maybe Ubisoft really thought that the game looks better without the effects lol. Didn't their PR have that explanation or something?

Do they also think the game looks better at 900p? Because it runs at 30+ fps on that card at 1080p, but can't manage the same on PS4. Perhaps it's not a 1:1 translation. Or perhaps you're not giving enough credit to CPU differences. Ubi's games have always been pretty CPU reliant.
 

GHG

Gold Member
Oh there's more as well. Not only did they put in graphics settings just for E3 and then forget to delete them from the final game, there are also animations:

4dbff9f11b356893aed1c4f5f9ccd139.png


http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=390244

Thats the "hands up" animation from aiden before he does the blackout.

This is a joke that keeps on giving.

But its great for us because it means we will be able to actually play the game as it was originally shown. Great work by TheWorse and all the other guys who are digging into this. This is a more significant breakthrough than the graphics settings IMO as it means there will be huge modding potential for the game now provided Ubi doesn't stop it happening with their next patch. But there are always ways around these things as there was with GTA IV
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Oh there's more as well. Not only did they put in graphics settings just for E3 and then forget to delete them from the final game, there are also animations:

4dbff9f11b356893aed1c4f5f9ccd139.png


http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=390244

Thats the "hands up" animation from aiden before he does the blackout.

This is a joke that keeps on giving.

But its great for us because it means we will be able to actually play the game as it was originally shown. Great work by TheWorse and all the other guys who are digging into this. This is a more significant breakthrough than the graphics settings IMO as it means there will be huge modding potential for the game now provided Ubi doesn't stop it happening with their next patch. But there are always ways around these things as there was with GTA IV
That animation is still in the actual game. -__-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-tutKYDeFY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWf8QalPP7w#t=36
 
Fuuucccck

All graphics settings maxed and MSAA 4x at 1080 I'm getting around 50ish fps with stutters GREATLY reduced. I don't hate car chases anymore.
 

Rafterman

Banned
Yeah, that's what I'm wondering too. Just feels odd to me that some people are only accusing "terribly weak current/next-gen consoles" for all of this, even though the "mod" runs on PCs that are roughly comparable to these consoles. Maybe Ubisoft really thought that the game looks better without the effects lol. Didn't their PR have that explanation or something?

Except they aren't roughly comparable. Even if the video cards are the same the CPU in the current gen consoles would be a low end desktop chip. You probably aren't finding people on the PC who are running this mod on a 7850 and a low end CPU.
 

Kimppis

Member
Do they also think the game looks better at 900p? Because it runs at 30+ fps on that card at 1080p, but can't manage the same on PS4. Perhaps it's not a 1:1 translation. Or perhaps you're not giving enough credit to CPU differences. Ubi's games have always been pretty CPU reliant.

I guess that could be the explanation? I don't know.

Except they aren't roughly comparable. Even if the video cards are the same the CPU in the current gen consoles would be a low end desktop chip. You probably aren't finding people on the PC who are running this mod on a 7850 and a low end CPU.

Except the CPUs are not directly comparable. Not saying that the console CPUs are powerful or anything, but still. Maybe they developed the game PC CPUs in mind? That way, 1:1 compared in CPU raw power the consoles would... melt, you are right at that. (It's needless to say that I don't know shit about PC vs. Console CPUs in game development, just throwing it out there. However, what I do know is that that they indeed don't directly compare, as mentioned in the Uncharted 4 thread, for instance, or otherwise consoles would've already been fucked.)

And as The Dear Leader said, it's still weird:
Beats me, my CPU is a i5-2500k slightly overclocked so I'm sure that has something to do with it, but the game actually runs better for me with the mod which is just crazy if you think about it. This whole situation is just weird lol.

His game runs better with the new mod. And, CPU aside, his GPU is still comparable to the PS4. However, those effects are totally non-existent on the PS4 version. Just feels strange to me that the PS4 would somehow be totally incapable of pulling them off (again: when mid-range rigs are doing fine on 1080p, high! setting) and that way this whole issue would simply be the console's fault, so to speak. On the other hand - it's true - that is also a pretty logical explanation. But as I have pointed out: it's still a bit odd. Oh well...
 
Oh there's more as well. Not only did they put in graphics settings just for E3 and then forget to delete them from the final game, there are also animations:

4dbff9f11b356893aed1c4f5f9ccd139.png


http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=390244

Thats the "hands up" animation from aiden before he does the blackout.

This is a joke that keeps on giving.

But its great for us because it means we will be able to actually play the game as it was originally shown. Great work by TheWorse and all the other guys who are digging into this. This is a more significant breakthrough than the graphics settings IMO as it means there will be huge modding potential for the game now provided Ubi doesn't stop it happening with their next patch. But there are always ways around these things as there was with GTA IV

Wait, can you not do the "hands up" thing in the final game?
 

M.Steiner

Member
I created a guide for the Cheat Engine table I use.

Features
FOV • Free cam • Time stop • Time of Day
Bookmarked!
When I can finally get back to my game (due to the 90% loading bug...) I'll be sure to try this out. Thanks so much for sharing and writing up the guide, man. Tis much appreciated ;)

(Loving your screenshots as well btw (in general that is, not just Watch Dogs). I used to follow the screenshot threads well before I had an account to post on and yours have always jumped out at me. Awesome job.)
 

Nessus

Member
Tried this out, it addresses my two biggest graphical complains (lack of DOF and shadows from car headlights).

Not noticing a huge difference in the fog/smoke yet.

And looking forward to them getting the explosions working.

Game already ran fine on my computer, still runs fine with this.
 

Nephtis

Member
From HardOCP forums:

kahless n00bie, 6 Months

Status: kahless is offline

My source who works at Ubisoft on Watch Dogs says that the development team has written off the PC version saying that its a huge failure and one of the main reasons the PC version was released so broken is because they were over budget on it and had to say good enough. They also don't intend to offer much support for the PC version. That we can expect one or two patches to help address some of these current issues but that will be all as their is no additional money in the Watch Dogs PC budget to continues supporting it. He says part of the issue with Ubisoft PC games is too many components of the game are built in various studios around the world. When they start mashing up all these different elements it introduces problems.
 

red731

Member
From HardOCP forums:

h25CCD37A


Freaking Ubisoft and its 12343212311231 studios with 1234687987632132465751 employees.

Originally Posted by TheWorse View Post
Headlight shadows should not flicker anymore, unless you are rendering too many lights on screen. Also maybe it depends on the shadow settings you are using.

MalDo told me that he can make a configurator for the mod, I have to send him the values and do other stuff to make this possible. I'm pretty exited about this, I really appreciate MalDo and his work so I'm sure he'll do awesome stuff as always!

Due to the values being coded in binhex I'll have to make only 3 or four presets for the dof like (low, medium, high distances or off)
Bloom settings should be added to the configurator too.

Don't hate the effects because you don't like them, you still have dof and bloom in real life. And that can't be tweaked sorry.
 

belmonkey

Member
Joke or not:



I'm just a console peasant, but I thought that PS4's GPU is basically a 7850-7870. As I wrote earlier: Until mid-range PCs clearly outpace the PS4, it doesn't make any sense (to me) that average/medium PC graphics settings on a popular third-party games need massive downgrades. Or does it?
B-bbb-but dat tablet CPU?

Can someone explain? If PS4 is really so horribly weak, why are those effects (this "mod") totally running decently on a 7850? They don't require a high-end rig at all, right?

When it comes to games that need a lot of CPU power, the PS4 GPU doesn't seem to get used to its fullest, and can perform like a PC with a decent CPU combined with a GPU weaker than 7850. In the case of Watch Dogs, I think a GTX 750, with less than half the shaders of that in the PS4's GPU, could offer a similar experience in Watch Dogs (aside from VRAM problems). There are CPU intensive games where a 7770-7790 can come close to what PS4 is doing, but less CPU-demanding games might need a 7850 to match.
 

Dennis

Banned
I have it on good authority that Ubisoft likes to make money and their continued release of AAA games on PC indicates they make money on PC games.
 
This mod keeps getting better and better. To be honest, I like the bloom the way it is.


Also, people who have stuttering - make sure your cards have 3Gbs of VRAM for Ultra textures and good AA, there is no way around that requirement. The mod fixes stutter for people like me, who have powerful GPUs, but still have that problem.
 

arcoN

Neo Member
ive tried to make screenshots - but theyre all Dark as hell.

Is there any possibility to lighten it up - as raw screens
(i know i could lighten them with photoshop but thats not the real deal.)
 
wondering if they could patch the PS4 version to look better. The more time they get with consoles the easier it should get to patch the graphics.

The Pc Version vs. this mod is the best example. They could do better but somehow didnt care at the end.
 
Wow, that is some very impressive lighting... It's really a shame that you have to "mod" the game to get to see it

It looks nice but it's not realistic at all.

Proof is that daylight still looks like pure shit.

There WAS a downgrade and as nice as these findings are, they have not activated what was taken out from E3 sadly.

ive tried to make screenshots - but theyre all Dark as hell.

Is there any possibility to lighten it up - as raw screens
(i know i could lighten them with photoshop but thats not the real deal.)

If you are downsampling, you're likely getting the RGB/Ycbcr problem. Whatever your system is using, swap it. That darkness will be fixed.
 
I wonder why turning on this content fixes stuttering.

There's not only content in this mod. A whole rendering configuration is there. Technically, this guy could play with some values that tell the game which textures to load and on what level of detail, so it loads high-res only when you're really close, not all the time you're riding on your car.
 

Dmax3901

Member
This is all great, but how does one remove the hud for screenshots?

EDIT: To clarify, is there a mod that lets you toggle between hud and no hud?
 
There's not only content in this mod. A whole rendering configuration is there. Technically, this guy could play with some values that tell the game which textures to load and on what level of detail, so it loads high-res only when you're really close, not all the time you're riding on your car.
Thanks, that's neat.
 

LAUGHTREY

Modesty becomes a woman
Not everyone brah. I and other people are still suffering.

But it happening for some people, which is weird even if its not everyone.

Is it conjecture? or are people actually running fraps or doing benchmarks?

Does the Dof possibly reduce the draw distance?
 

ShadyJ

Member
So you cannot change the settings in game or it resets the xml to default?

My in game settings went to high after applying his patch
 
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