PS4 Ubisoft: 'We Want Watch Dogs to Use All of the Capabilities of the PS4'

[David Sanchez]

In a recent developer diary with Sony, Watch Dogs developer Ubisoft Montreal stated that the upcoming espionage-themed game will feature a highly populated and dense city environment. According to the studio, this sense of world immersion and natural frenzy will be amplified on the PlayStation 4 thanks to the platform's higher capabilities.

Connectivity is also a major factor in Watch Dogs, and as such Ubisoft wants players to get a great sense of connection with not only the game's world, but also to other individuals.

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[Trigun]

i'd just be happy with near elimination of any LOD systems and good AA and textures hah..


I hope the PC version is equivalent to the PS4 version though.

 

[slicer4ever]

i'd just be happy with near elimination of any LOD systems and good AA and textures hah..


I hope the PC version is equivalent to the PS4 version though.

LOD is never going to disappear. don't get me wrong, better gpus mean better LOD models, but there's no point in sending millions of polygons to be drawn, that's only going to make up a handful of pixels.

 

[Trigun]

I don't mind LOD sometimes(Eg: where it's done so well that it's almost impossible to notice) But a lot of times it looks like ASS. And the transitions are fucking awful. Shadow map LOD's are the worst example. Because not only do they look terrible, a lot of times at obtuse angles at very low LoDs in the distance you end up with a screen full of flickering shadows and pixel crawl. (Best example of this: Earth Defense Force Insect Armageddon )

Crysis 1/warhead allowed you to completely disable object LOD via E_lods=0. It pushed the triangle count way up. But if you have a good card the performance hit isn't too bad at all and it looks amazing.




Also: there is a different between occluding and LoD. You can still run back face culling and other culling (EG faces of objects you'll never see during such as environments) and not have crazy aggressive LoDs and have high quality.


Ideally it'd be nice if someone could develop a LOD transitioning system where it's impossible to tell when they change. But I don't see that happening. Because not even the best LOD systems are unnoticeable.

At the very least it'd be nice if developers allowed you to turn off LODs completely via Console commands in PC versions(Ala Crysis) Syndicate had one like this but it was slightly broken and had to be done on a per level basis (Once you get in that level. Otherwise the LoD system is awful. You see jarring transitions from low detail models to high detail models at very small distances). At least like this the games remain built with the future in mind in certain areas if current cards can't handle it.

 

[LocutusEstBorg]

I don't notice any LOD in other open world games like Arkham City. It has tessellation too.

 

[Trigun]

I haven't played that personally so I can't say anything about that. If you didn't notice anything out of the ordinary they probably did a good job with it. (Which some games do)


An example of a UE3 game that has very noticeable LOD though is DmC. In the first area of the game, LOD/drawing of certain specular elements on the floorboards has some really weird issue where it draws them as it's supposed to but then at the bottom behind the character instead of smooth transitioning out of it there is just a flat line where it ends that is omnipresent in that area while moving.

As well reflections change between one detail mode and [do not render] at all and the transition is just a *pop* (where as a Fade-in/out smoothed/blurred transition would be less jarring)

LoD between low/high detail models on the environment is noticeable as well if you are walking slow trying to enjoy the beauty of the art put into the world.

Another example is Binary Domain. Things pop instead of a smooth transition.
https://i7.minus.com/iAs3D5x6B3ZuY.png low LOD
https://i7.minus.com/ibsP3gDYIOiDuY.png high LOD (look at Big Bo. The non-Player Character)

Dragon's Dogma does the same thing. Lots of stuff just pops in with no transition.


It'd be nice though just to see an improvement to most LOD systems this generation at the very least. (like I said in my OP. Just "near elimination of any LOD systems" I completely understand that they have to manage a budget on consoles. And just want to see their beautiful art presented in the best possible way without destroying performance)