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[Digital Foundry] Sackboy A Big Adventure : PS5 vs PS4 vs PS4 Pro

Allandor

Member
Always funny, that now, that we have the fast SSDs in the consoles, we get games with fast loading on the last gen ....
Like I wrote a few times, it really seems that load times were never a priority before.
 
Looks like the game was held back by the ps4 development. So much for new generation 🤦‍♂️

^^
When a fanboy doesn't pay attention to the video posted in the OP

At 5:44 "The resolution boost between each machine is significant and suggests that this was perhaps a PS5 targeted game first and foremost but the flexibility of Unreal allows it to work well across all platforms."
 
What the... Why on earth is a game with such basic, NSW-level graphics running in 720p on base PS4?Something's not right here, should've easily been 1080p, and 4K on PS5.
The PS4's CPU is shit, so it needs a big sacrifice in resolution to make up for it, and native 4K is more resource intensive than it's worth.

You should give the video in the XSX hot chips thread a watch, as it has a section (with some lovely graphs) going into why native 4K is just too expensive to justify, as well as information on methods, almost certainly similar, if not identical, to what Playstation will be using, that give the same image quality and clarity with a lower resolution image.
 
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Mr Moose

Member
it's not tho. it of course is more demanding if you look at it as a total, but if you keep in mind the hardware level we are talking about, comparatively it isn't.

3D World was a decent looking game for the hardware level it ran on.

and Sackboy is a decent looking game for the hardware it is running on.

the Wii U had 1 GB of available RAM, the PS4 has 5GB of available RAM and the Pro has 5.5GB available.

the PS5 has about 13GB available (most likely)

so comparatively the jump in asset quality also came with a jump in available Memory, and the reason 3D World loaded as fast was because the most important assets were pre loaded into RAM.
it was clever size management on Nintendo's part. something that wasn't done for Sackboy as it is way bigger (the day 1 patch wqs 30+GB after all lol)
the question is, was it simply not possible to get the size down to do something similar or was the PS4 version simply not at all a focus. my guess is a mix of both.

I just think it is fascinating what Nintendo did with Mario 3D World and how they used the hardware to effectively have a 100% seamless experienced on a piece of hardware like the Wii U
Flash memory loads in a flash.
giphy.gif
 
Sad desperate fanboys rushing into this thread to make sure everyone knows the game isn't in 4k, because we couldn't possibly have that on the underpowered PS5, only the 12TF monster eater is capable of such things! Pathetic behaviour.

Anyway, this game is gorgeous and looks so fun; can't wait to get my hands on it once I'm done with the other stuff I'm playing now.
tenor.gif
 

longdi

Banned
a pity this game bombed. :messenger_weary:

looks like a well made platformer which are so rare now. which is strange, i know many plays platformy mobile games, but when it comes to console, they always bomb unless it is mario.

imo it will be good if sony reduces the price and get more onboard for a start.
 

ZywyPL

Banned
Alot of games are not easily 4K on these consoles though.

Yeah but c'mon, this is Nintendo level of graphics, on orders of magnitude more powerful hardware, there are do many 60FPS titles on PS4 that are way more visually intensive and are still 1080p, or even 4K on Pro, so this game should be like a walk in the park.
 
Yeah but c'mon, this is Nintendo level of graphics, on orders of magnitude more powerful hardware, there are do many 60FPS titles on PS4 that are way more visually intensive and are still 1080p, or even 4K on Pro, so this game should be like a walk in the park.

I'm guessing they didn't lock it at 4K due to peformance issues. If they had a 30FPs option I should definitely be possible. But even so the game spends most of it's time at 75% of 4K so It should be fine for most people.
 
a pity this game bombed. :messenger_weary:

looks like a well made platformer which are so rare now. which is strange, i know many plays platformy mobile games, but when it comes to console, they always bomb unless it is mario.

imo it will be good if sony reduces the price and get more onboard for a start.
Bombed? It has an 80 for critic and 92 for user score on Metacritic.
https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-5/sackboy-a-big-adventure
Pretty damn good for a lunch game.
 
Even if thats the case its tough to say it "bombed" when its only been out for about a week or two and the install base for the PS5 is something like 2 million including scalpers

Maybe he was looking at the top 10 charts in some countries?

Other than that we really don't have an indication of the sales. He certainly can't be talking about the reviews otherwise that would definitely be trolling.

Is that more or less correct longdi longdi ?
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
what is so taxing on this to make in not full 4k on PS5? not trolling just a genuine question. game doesn't look overly complicated graphically compared to other games, yeah it looks great though
 

Gamerguy84

Member
So at this point, we have a PlayStation 5 launch title that looks terrific, but let's not forget that this game runs on PS4 consoles - Pro and Amateur alike - so seeing how Sumo scales between the consoles is a fascinating exercise. Let's start with the traditional metric: resolution. Through testing, I found that the average resolution settled around 75% of 4K - 1620p, with the potential for dynamic resolution scaling. Unreal's temporal anti-aliasing and super-sampling combines with this to create a mostly smooth looking game. As you might expect, there are big cuts as we transition to the current-gen platforms - PS4 Pro seems to settle at 1080p, with the vanilla PS4 seemingly operating closer to 720p. If this sounds really low, remember that this is a game where PS5 is the showcase target, and we should also factor in that the needs of Unreal Engine 4. With so many of its features exercised, something has to give - a state of affairs we've seen on many current-gen UE4-based titles.

What we have here is an example of a game neatly scaling over seven years and three renditions of PlayStation hardware, but it's important to stress that resolution alone is not the only point of differentiation - far from it. Sumo has strategically nipped and tucked at the presentation. The game still looks good on PS4 platforms, it still targets 60 frames per second, but head-to-head comparisons show a raft of changes - shading quality is significantly reduced, the abundance of screen-space reflections Is pared back, sun rays are removed resulting in dramatically different lighting in some places and even the materials work is tweaked.

Its very demanding. The quote is from the written eurogamer article. I'd link the source but Google will find it just as quick.
 

Elcid

Banned
What the... Why on earth is a game with such basic, NSW-level graphics running in 720p on base PS4?Something's not right here, should've easily been 1080p, and 4K on PS5.
why is this game so taxing
Umm you should play the game before making the assumptions above. The game is not basic at all when you play through the levels. Just look at the Britney Spears level and it's pretty insane what they do with the visuals.
 

Kuranghi

Member
Through testing, I found that the average resolution settled around 75% of 4K - 1620p, with the potential for dynamic resolution scaling

It's average 1620p, which is 75% of 4k.

By what measure is 1620p, "75% of 4K"? I'm not trying to be shitty, I want to know how you are calculating that.
 

mansoor1980

Member
Umm you should play the game before making the assumptions above. The game is not basic at all when you play through the levels. Just look at the Britney Spears level and it's pretty insane what they do with the visuals.
saw the video of that level u mentioned and it looks nice but y isnt it 4k native on ps5
 

FrankWza

Member
saw the video of that level u mentioned and it looks nice but y isnt it 4k native on ps5

It needed to be built for PS5 while still being able to be playable at much lesser specs on the last gen consoles. Like Msoft has to do with series s but better. ;)
 

Kuranghi

Member
1620p = 2880x1620 = 4,655,600 pixels, around 77% of total 4K pixel count to be precise.

But 2160p is 3840x2160, which is 8,294,400 pixels, so I don't see how 4,655,600 is 77% of that. Isn't it 56%?

2880 and 1620 are both 75% of 3840 and 2160 respectively. Maybe thats what they mean? Pretty strange way to measure it imo since GPU usage to resolution won't increase linearly.
 

-Arcadia-

Banned
From what I understand UE4 + 60 FPS + sampling the full buffet of it’s effects and such is absolutely punishing to any hardware, let alone seven year old consoles, and four year old consoles based on them.

Take Yoshi’s Crafted World on Switch. Very similar visual design to this. It’s a first party exclusive, essentially no excuse not to run optimally, and it’s well sub-HD in handheld, and if I recall right, makes it to ‘whopping’ 720p in Docked, and maybe not all the time.
 

thelastword

Banned
What the... Why on earth is a game with such basic, NSW-level graphics running in 720p on base PS4?Something's not right here, should've easily been 1080p, and 4K on PS5.
Maybe they wanted to lock 60fps.....Don't sleep on Sackboy, it's a very impressive looking game and plays like a dream. PS5 is absolutely hitting the platformer genre out the park this launch.....Astro and
Sackboy are two excellent games.
 

Kuranghi

Member
From what I understand UE4 + 60 FPS + sampling the full buffet of it’s effects and such is absolutely punishing to any hardware, let alone seven year old consoles, and four year old consoles based on them.

Take Yoshi’s Crafted World on Switch. Very similar visual design to this. It’s a first party exclusive, essentially no excuse not to run optimally, and it’s well sub-HD in handheld, and if I recall right, makes it to ‘whopping’ 720p in Docked, and maybe not all the time.

I think both games use a lot of alpha effects, like the little sacky/wooly "fluff" thats all over everything, its quite a strain on HW generaly so that + 60fps + native 4K is too much the machines. I assumed Yoshi is at 60 because its Nintendo first party, haven't played it, just seen playthroughs of it.
 

Kuranghi

Member
Maybe they wanted to lock 60fps.....Don't sleep on Sackboy, it's a very impressive looking game and plays like a dream. PS5 is absolutely hitting the platformer genre out the park this launch.....Astro and
Sackboy are two excellent games.

I can't wait to grab it on my Birthday next month, really loved Astro's Playroom. I actually think its more impressive graphically than AP as well. The IQ is pristine and sharp as hell in Sackboy.

The materials are super duper good too, makes it feel like a diorama. I dislike some things about SM3DW and I'm hoping it does things a bit differently from that game.
 

-Arcadia-

Banned
The value of this video was to me, to mostly see a long-form look at what they’ve done, from visuals to gameplay to it all. I was really impressed.

It looks like something out of first-party Nintendo, perhaps to a bit too much of an extent (it essentially is 3D World), but considering 3D World is a seven year old title (does time really fly this fast?) that Nintendo never followed up on, I consider it fair game.

This style of game is delightful, and I’m glad to see it return, especially with a developer that seems to so thoroughly understand what makes it good. In general, and this is the same compliment I paid Astro, it’s heartening to see other developers take aim at Nintendo’s style of pure fun. I don’t think that’s something that should be limited to one company.
 

-Arcadia-

Banned
Maybe give it some time to pick up word of mouth, too. There were a lot of big games this month that people were busy with. With this game constantly looking great, plus people on the hunt for new experiences, I could see it picking up.
 

-Arcadia-

Banned
What's with DF 720p30 videos lately? How am I supposed to see the 4k60?

YouTube. Each video has a disclaimer in the comments that Google is fucking everyone around on higher quality videos. Nobody knows why, just that it’s happening.
 
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TLZ

Banned
YouTube. Each video has a disclaimer in the comments that Google is fucking everyone around on higher quality videos. Nobody knows why, just that it’s happening.
What the hell is this? I just checked a few other 4k60 videos uploaded in the last few hours and they're all at 720p30 too. That's all on my TV. On my phone they're 1080p60. What the!
 

longdi

Banned
Maybe he was looking at the top 10 charts in some countries?

Other than that we really don't have an indication of the sales. He certainly can't be talking about the reviews otherwise that would definitely be trolling.

Is that more or less correct longdi longdi ?
Yes sales. Imo Sony deserves pundits for giving sumo digital support and releasing a high quality platformer and deserve better :messenger_ok:
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Not really about the video but as an aside, this game is really fun. About half way through it right now and totally worth it if you want a platformer for your PS5.
I just downloaded it.

I think Insomniac made Activity Cards and loading better for Spider-Man Remastered. Curious to see how they work for Sack Boy.

Sadly I dont think we will see amazing loading speeds in 3d party games.

And another game game thats smaller than the PS4 version, by about 5GB.
 
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