Digital Foundry is reporting that the perceived frame-rate drops in Call of Duty Ghosts on PlayStation 4 are actually skipped frames.
They have discovered the game “runs at higher frame-rates than 60fps on a fairly frequent basis, despite the video output being limited to 60Hz.” This causes juddering and skipped frames which are “far more noticeable than the drops down to 50fps found in the 360 version of the game.”
The new patch which renders the game in 1080P has reduced – but not completely eliminated – the times when the PS4 manages to output over 60fps. However, the trade-off for 1080p is the game now drops the frame rate slightly more than when it was running in a lower resolution. Digital Foundry say “at worst we’re looking at a drop down to 40fps when the engine is more heavily stressed.”
It seems like the PS4 is rather more of a beast than we had thought, if CoD can get the PlayStation 4 running over 60FPS in 1080P at a launch, heavens knows what that PS4 will be doing in a few years’ time.
Source: Digital Foundry
djhsecondnature
Headline: “PS4 is too powerful for CoD: Ghosts”.
Tuffcub
Indeed, an interesting and very unexpected twist.
beeje13
An option to go say, 900p at 120Hz, for those who can. I’ve never seen a game running at that speed but people who have the (expensive) monitors and (even more expensive) graphics cards to play at that swear by it.
Deathbrin
You’ve got to remember 120Hz is the only way you’re going to have 60fps in 3D.
warrior-of-Prey
A motherboard that supports dual graphic cards, a fast monitor and the actual graphic cards themselves would set anyone back. Not many can afford to splurge like that.
lambchop
Makes the performance of Xbone even more worrying. I was thinking of getting one down the road a bit but I don’t think I`ll be bothering.
wonkey-willy
relax brother..early days..
the phoenix will rise..
3shirts
Quite a ‘good’ problem to have I suppose
Alex C
Most games hover at over 60 if they’re 60. It’s just that on this occasion, for some reason, the game wasn’t V-Synced.
Vallon
Surely they can just patch it then :)
Alex C
Yup.
Bilbo_bobbins
blimey. Shows how outdated the COD engine is then really doesn’t it?
wonkey-willy
yes it does!
bring on the new unreal engine…
then we can enjoy a new rainbow six or even a new unreal tournament
ohhhhh yeaaaa..
TheShepanator
if anything, an old outdated engine will game a game run worse!
As they keep building on the old engine there is likely thousands of lines of code, written years ago, that they have no idea what it does!
They really should start fresh!
boeboe
These next gen console launches have been an absolute joy so far. I don’t want it to end : (
Starman
If its so powerful whys it dropping to 40fps at the hectic bits? And if you’re playing it and its juddering then its going to be annoying whatever the reasons.
Kennykazey
Ghost is a mess in terms of optimisation on most platforms by the sound of things. So it could be partially the engine that’s struggling with some things.
OneShotWook
Same reason as the pc by the sound of it.The reused assets from earlier cod games have been uncompressed and therefore unoptimized to gain better looks.
I’m not really sure why anyone expects the Cod team to be tech lead but neither Treyarch or the new IW have ever been.
No amount of hardware can fix that.
justerthought
That’s the point of the article. The initial test result were wrong. The frame rate was not dropping to 40fps. The frames were running regularly at 60fps, but the frame content was not sequential. In order to see smooth movement, the content of each frame must be a smooth advance from the previous frame. If you have made too many animation frames and dump some steps, you have a jerk even though it’s running at 60fps. The human eye is ultra sensitive to missing animation frames because our sight is based on spotting movement when hunting animals. PS4 was making too many animation frames because it was running at too low a resolution. The hardware was being under used in a gimped attempt at port parity, but the consoles are too far apart in terms of power. PS4 is a beast.
KittDJW
Wow.. The PS4 is starting to sound like a beast. I’m getting more and more excited by by the day.
Moonpie
You and me both buddy but I’m still thinking BF4 over COD
beeje13
No Shadow fall love? :P
KittDJW
Oh.. I’m really liking the look of Shadowfall as well.. so a little from me ;)
tomtom789
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justerthought
OK this is what I think really happened. Infinity Ward wanted to keep MS happy with lowest common denominator port parity. They lowered PS4 to 720p. But a side effect merged. The PS4 had surplus power and started rendering far more than 60fps, overshooting the 60HZ refresh rate of the hardware. This caused severe judder as completed frames had to be dumped in the trash. Missing frame judder is far more noticeable than a frame rate drop with all frames in tact.
The PS4 and XB1 are too far apart in terms of power for port parity.
Rather than admit they had deliberately gimped the PS4 and had to u-turn the abortion, they claimed it was an error that got past the quality control. I know COD is always full of bugs but the quality control are not that bad to miss a resolution drop from 1080p to 720p. Shame on you Infinity Ward, for sucking up to MS, gimping PS4 and then lying to cover it up. Unforgivable.