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[DF] Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart - PC Review - Cutting Edge Tech But Lacking In Polish

RoadHazard

Gold Member
And DirectStorage doesn't degrade performance, otherwise, AMD would exhibit the same behavior and we'd see tangible differences with RTX IO off when it comes to NVIDIA cards.

Isn't this because AMD cards don't even support it in hardware (like RTX IO)?
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Isn't this because AMD cards don't even support it in hardware (like RTX IO)?
Hence my point. RTX IO only works on NVIDIA cards. DirectStorage works both on AMD and NVIDIA. They both use DirectStorage for this game (presumably). AMD sees no major degradation in performance while NVIDIA does when Direct Storage (and RTX IO for NVIDIA) is on.

min-fps-1920-1080.png


Here, look at how bad the 1% lows are on NVIDIA cards. Yet, they don't seem to load any faster than AMD cards or do anything special. So what is RTX IO even doing to justify this performance degradation?
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Hence my point. RTX IO only works on NVIDIA cards. DirectStorage works both on AMD and NVIDIA. They both use DirectStorage for this game (presumably). AMD sees no major degradation in performance while NVIDIA does when Direct Storage (and RTX IO for NVIDIA) is on.

min-fps-1920-1080.png


Here, look at how bad the 1% lows are on NVIDIA cards. Yet, they don't seem to load any faster than AMD cards or do anything special. So what is RTX IO even doing to justify this performance degradation?

Yeah, but isn't DirectStorage then actually using the CPU if you have an AMD GPU?
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Yeah, but isn't DirectStorage then actually using the CPU if you have an AMD GPU?
Not necessarily. DirectStorage still has GPU decompression as long as it's 1.3. (or 1.1, forgot which version). NVIDIA didn't come up with that. RTX IO is simply NVIDIA's own spin on GPU decompression.

There are a few things we need to know:

  1. Do AMD GPUs use GPU decompression at all and if yes, why doesn't their fps drop like with NVIDIA?
  2. If AMD doesn't use GPU decompression but NVIDIA does, then what is RTX IO's GPU decompression even doing to justify the performance hit considering we see no tangible benefits when running the games side by side?
 

winjer

Gold Member
Yes, AMD GPUs support Direct Storage 1.2
The reason for NVidia's lower minimum frame rates is probably the usual: driver overhead
Or maybe because of AMD's better support for SAM, aka ReBar.
 
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Topher

Gold Member
So did you all forget the part where this only happens on NVIDIA cards? What separates AMD from NVIDIA in this instance? RTX IO, not DirectStorage.

And according to some tests, disabling DirectStorage on NVIDIA cards also makes no difference when it comes to load times or how quickly the rift sequences come to pass. One tester said he may have spotted some slight texture fade-in but isn't sure. RTX IO seems to do a whole lot of nothing. Further testing will need to be conducted to know if it's intended behavior or if things aren't working as they should.

You think that might be why I put a question mark at the end of my sentence?

Will Smith Reaction GIF
 

ChiefDada

Gold Member
That sounds like regular loading.

How so? The blueprint dev says 3gb of data is streaming off the ssd as the player turns a corner. That would be over twice as much data that was analyzed with ratchet portals. In fact, that's closer to figures mark cerny mentioned that everyone is quick to call bs on. My guess is DS is the most i/o intensive game on PS5 to date. It's just that it's not represented as such since implementation isn't front and center like the Ratchet portals are.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Yes, AMD GPUs support Direct Storage 1.2
The reason for NVidia's lower minimum frame rates is probably the usual: driver overhead
Or maybe because of AMD's better support for SAM, aka ReBar.
We know AMD supports GPU decompression. The question is, do they use it in that game?

The second question is, NVIDIA presumably uses it yet disabling it doesn't seem to make any difference. Then WTF is RTX IO doing? I mean, if disabling it suddenly caused longer loads, awful texture pop-ins or other glaring issues, we'd have a better understanding. As things stands, RTX IO takes precious performance but gives nothing back.
 

SolidQ

Member
Here, look at how bad the 1% lows are on NVIDIA cards. Yet, they don't seem to load any faster than AMD cards or do anything special. So what is RTX IO even doing to justify this performance degradation?
Here some theory from TPU forum
4031a5fc734482746fe8644806495e94.png
 
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winjer

Gold Member
We know AMD supports GPU decompression. The question is, do they use it in that game?

The second question is, NVIDIA presumably uses it yet disabling it doesn't seem to make any difference. Then WTF is RTX IO doing? I mean, if disabling it suddenly caused longer loads, awful texture pop-ins or other glaring issues, we'd have a better understanding. As things stands, RTX IO takes precious performance but gives nothing back.

Probably because the issue is not Direct Storage or RTX IO.
But it's nvidia's driver overhead. Or lack of ReBar. (Is it on for this game?)
Have you tried using NVInspector to force Rebar in this game?
 

Skifi28

Member
How so? The blueprint dev says 3gb of data is streaming off the ssd as the player turns a corner. That would be over twice as much data that was analyzed with ratchet portals. In fact, that's closer to figures mark cerny mentioned that everyone is quick to call bs on. My guess is DS is the most i/o intensive game on PS5 to date. It's just that it's not represented as such since implementation isn't front and center like the Ratchet portals are.
My bad, I read traversal and had fast traveling in my mind.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Probably because the issue is not Direct Storage or RTX IO.
But it's nvidia's driver overhead. Or lack of ReBar. (Is it on for this game?)
Have you tried using NVInspector to force Rebar in this game?
Yes, I have tried forcing ReBar through NVIDIA Inspector. It gives me a 10fps boost but crashed my entire system upon quitting the game. This was fixed with the latest hotfix but I haven't tried it yet.

If it were a driver overhead issue, why would it suddenly go away after deleting the DirectStorage dlls? Even without them, the game from what we've seen loads just as fast and the rift sequences remain unaffected.
 
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winjer

Gold Member
Yes, I have tried forcing ReBar through NVIDIA Inspector. It gives me a 10fps boost but crashed my entire system upon quitting the game. This was fixed with the latest hotfix but I haven't tried it yet.

If it were a driver overhead issue, why would it suddenly go away after deleting the DirectStorage dlls? Even without them, the game from what we've seen loads just as fast and the rift sequences remain unaffected.

I understood that disabling DS in your PC did nothing.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
I understood that disabling DS in your PC did nothing.


All tests were performed after a fresh reboot to clear out the memory cache.

DirectStorage was disabled by deleting the dstorage.dll and dstoragecore.dll files in the game folder.

And according to CapFrameX and another prominent tester, they experience the same thing.

I'll try it myself later today.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Hence my point. RTX IO only works on NVIDIA cards. DirectStorage works both on AMD and NVIDIA. They both use DirectStorage for this game (presumably). AMD sees no major degradation in performance while NVIDIA does when Direct Storage (and RTX IO for NVIDIA) is on.

min-fps-1920-1080.png


Here, look at how bad the 1% lows are on NVIDIA cards. Yet, they don't seem to load any faster than AMD cards or do anything special. So what is RTX IO even doing to justify this performance degradation?
Max settings for Nvidia would be with RT ON while AMD can't use it yet. Is that the case there or they disabled every RT for Nvidia cards?
 
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Rubim

Member
"DirectStorage was disabled by deleting the dstorage.dll and dstoragecore.dll files in the game folder."

That seems like a really bizarre way of "disabling" a feature.
It is. But the speeds being lower and GPU utilisation being higher seems to confirm it.
 

Gamerguy84

Member
Yea anything RTX is Nvidia. I have two RTX cards. Ray tracing texel extreme. Not a 4xxx series though. Dropped out of those prices for just the GPU.

Not curious enough to double dip since I own it on PS5 and it's gorgeous.
 
Decided to take the plunge because I really love ratchet and clank.

First off, full price for an old port is not a recipe for numbers success even more when it requires a beefy PC

Second of all, the "resistance" makes me cringe and is amongst my least favorite tropes of all time. It wasn't always that way, but it is now.
 

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
I'm sorry to bump this thread up but.... just WTF is going on with Direct Storage in this game on NVIDIA GPUs? We all tested this shit waaaaay back when there was only a demo of it and it was clear as day - Direct Storage had a massive advantage over traditional workloads. So why the hell does it perform so horribly in Ratchet & Clank... or probably the most important question right now should be - if it's so bad in R&C, how bad will it be in Horizon next week since it's still not fixed and probably won't be fixed in R&C?

I mean, honestly, the first time I launched the game and saw horrendous performance drops for no reason, I thought that maybe it was a shader compilation thing and I should just wait a bit in the main menu for the process to finish and then play the game. But hell no, the CPU literally did nothing while I waited and utilization was extremely low - which is not a good sign. I also know that it's not a GPU problem at all cuz 3080Ti is more than capable of running this game with over 100FPS in 1440p almost completely maxed out with all RT features and no upscaling.

So, imagine my surprise when after checking PCGamingWiki and deleting direct storage .dll files, I saw the game running almost flawlessly even during intense firefights with lots of explosions, particles etc., it also loads words during portal transitions very fast and CPU utilization is absolutely superb - PCGamingWiki has a note that you need to have beefy CPU to run the game without Direct storage but 8700K is like 4+ years old. There's a few dips in the prologue section to 56FPS but they're very brief and barely noticeable since they happen outside of gameplay.

What the hell happened?
 
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