If you have been dithering about which version of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag to purchase than this video may convince you to go next gen.
One of the many improvements is that each individual rain drop is a particle and is individually lit. The series now also boasts dynamic foilage, making it much easier to see where your character is when sneaking about.
Looks pretty awesome, don’t you think?
Source: YouTube
Bilbo_bobbins
amazing. Love the dynamic foliage, pretty cool with the rain individually moving each leaf.
bmg_123
Looks nice, but you hardly need next-gen for nice weather, look at Red Dead Redemption.
Amphlett
Wow, there’s some real hard core processing going on there. I like it. The current PS+ free copy of AC is getting me in the mood for this new version on a shiny new PS4.
double-o-dave
Individual raindrops… Best it doesn’t piss it down or it’s bound to crash whatever system you’re playing!
JR.
Wow this looks incredible. So hyped for this game.
BryOnRye
But does it do all that at 1080p60?
beeje13
1080p30. With all the stuff going on, I would be astounded if they managed 60.
Kennykazey
Might actually be 900p, as the multiplayer dev said it runs at a significantly higher resolution than current gen. Why not just say 1080p or full HD ig you’re doing it? Perhaps MP renders at a lower res, but it would be a bit odd.
beeje13
I’m guessing they don’t know exactly what tradeoffs they’re going to make until the very last, it could be lower resolution/framerate or less effects.
yiddo
Hopefully this sets them up for the AC after this to go to goddamn feudal Japan or ancient China.
I’m still adamant that this is where they should go at some point. Concept art by fans has also got me really warmed to the idea.
AC4 looks set to be good though, I love pirates, and this looks set to make up for the dissappointment that is AC3.
beeje13
I’d be willing to bet many of the calculations involved in those foliage effects and raindrops are done on the GPU.
Stefan L
This is very likely, yes, since GPUs are very good a physics calculations.
DJ Judas
It depends on how their load is spread (ooh er). It’s actually likely that most of the intensive computations detailed in the video are being run on the CPU despite the GPU having the potential to vastly outperform it at such tasks.
While the GPU would chew the CPU up and spit it out in terms of raw performance, it’s likely that the GPU is already maxxed out with the typically GPU-only tasks, especially at 1080p, while the CPU still has some head-room.
beeje13
Mark Cerny says that the PS4 gpu has been designed to do both at the same time, so while a frame is being rendered, some parts of the gpu go unused, this is what he hopes will be unlocked.
A good from Mark explains it better:
“If you look at the portion of the GPU available to compute throughout the frame, it varies dramatically from instant to instant. For example, something like opaque shadow map rendering doesn’t even use a pixel shader, it’s entirely done by vertex shaders and the rasterization hardware — so graphics aren’t using most of the 1.8 teraflops of ALU available in the CUs. Times like that during the game frame are an opportunity to say, ‘Okay, all that compute you wanted to do, turn it up to 11 now.'”
tactical20
Wow! It takes a lot to impress me, and I thought that was amazing. Watch Dogs, FIFA & this are my launch games.
CR8ZYH0RSE
Meh.
Kovacs
I remember back in the day when a comment like this would get you banned. Or at least an angry bear would come after you with ill thoughts in his head.