Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackMamba
all we really need is a CONSISTENT framerate above 24fps.
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CoD isnt consistent 60fps
Our Take on the 30 FPS / 720p on Consoles Debate
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The latest information that has come to light about the disparity between the PC and console versions (PS3, Xbox 360) of Battlefield 3 with respect to graphics has stirred quite a bit of discussion and in some cases misguided anger across the internet. DICE graphics programmer Johan “repi” Andersson recently revealed on his Twitter that BF3 will run at 30 FPS (frames per second) on consoles, saying it’s “not possible to fit in vehicles, fx, scale and all players otherwise”. He also confirmed that the game will run in 720p resolution on Xbox 360 and PS3.
See for yourself how the PS3 version shapes up (Andersson also tweeted that the 360 and PS3 versions have comparable graphics to one another) in this side-by-side comparison of the PS3 footage from the Jimmy Fallon appearance last week with PC footage. It’s best to watch it in fullscreen:
DICE and Andersson have taken some flak from misinformed console players who are displeased that the game will run at 30 FPS and 720p as opposed to 60 FPS and 1080p. Andersson retorted that “huge levels, lots of players, great fx, destruction, vehicles and varied gameplay is more important than 1080p”. He also points out that the vast majority of console titles are in 720p or lower. This is true – most graphically impressive games like Crysis 2 run in a maximum of 720p on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. In fact, very few games use 1080p – this list of the native resolutions of 360 and PS3 titles shows that 95% if not more of games run natively at 720p or lower. For example, Halo 3 and every Call of Duty game on both consoles runs natively at even less than 720p.
Many games, including Crysis 2 and Halo 3, run on consoles with locked 30 FPS. It’s also important to note that a locked framerate of 30 FPS is often preferable to a variable framerate (for example, a game like Call of Duty that might run at 60 FPS but dip to as low as or even beneath 30 FPS in high-load performance situations) where the variation in framerate in different situations is noticeable and sometimes distracting due to screen tearing and other issues.
To give an idea of what 30 FPS as opposed to 60 FPS means, consider this. Movies you see at the theater are 24 frames per second, which is the most common industry standard for film. Humans generally cannot easily detecte differences in excess of 30 FPS (although this is something of a complex question to address), particularly when post-processing effects like motion blur are applied. You can use this nifty javascript applet to play with various FPS settings to illustrate how negligible the difference in human perception of 25 FPS vs 60 FPS. 30 FPS will do just fine for Battlefield 3, like it does for the majority of other graphically impressive console titles. Here’s another way to visualize the very minor difference perceived between 30 FPS and 60 FPS (thanks commenter Derppyderp).
What it essentially comes down to – and this is what many console players and even members of the press fail to properly understand – is that
the decision to make the game run at 30 FPS and 720p is because to do otherwise would come at extreme expense to the quality of the graphics and even gameplay. Console hardware, both PS3 and 360 alike, is quite dated by now. Battlefield 3 is a truly next-generation first-person shooter, and its unparalleled graphical and technological capabilities require PC hardware to be fully realized, which is half a decade more advanced and powerful than console hardware. Even at 30 FPS and 720p, BF3 pushes console graphics and technology to the absolute visual limit of the console hardware’s ability without compromising the gameplay. It is impressive that the only gameplay compromise that DICE was forced to make for the console versions of BF3 is dropping the player limit from 64 to 24 players. There are even platform-specific optimizations in the rendering components of the Frostbite 2 like SPU-based deferred shading on the PS3 and an unannounced “special lighting solution” on the Xbox 360.
The fact of the matter is that the extreme visual fidelity in screenshots like the one above can only come from an adequately equipped PC. The debate between 30 FPS / 720p and 60 FPS / 1080p is silly not only because of the unrealistic demands gamers have for the aging hardware of the current console generation, but also because even at 30 FPS and 720p resolution, Battlefield 3 is arguably the most graphically impressive and technologically advanced game ever seen on a console, pushing the hardware to its absolute limits with platform-specific optimizations and state of the art rendering techniques.
Of course the Frostbite 2 engine can scale to graphical extremes like that above given modern PC gaming hardware – PC capabilities are vastly superior (and more expensive!) these days in terms of rendering and performance. That’s no secret and only an idiot would contend the truth of it. But the bottom line is simple: Battlefield 3 runs at 30 FPS and 720p because that’s all console hardware can handle while maintaining high player counts, massive-scale maps and vehicles, and the outrageously impressive graphics we’ve all seen in the trailers and gameplay videos. As Andersson himself succinctly summarizes:
“To reaffirm, we are optimizing BF3 for all platforms to take advantage of their respective strengths and create an awesome shooter experience.”
Just to clarify – PC system requirements for Battlefield 3 have not been officially confirmed, but we do know that it will require DirectX 10 and thus will not run on DX9 or Windows XP. Andersson also tweeted several months ago that “you don’t need to worry if you can play BC2 perfectly, [because] BF3 will scale up to even higher detail for eyecandy, but not required.” All we know so far is that the live gameplay demonstrations at PAX and GDC were on a rig using a single GTX 580 graphics card.
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Crysis 2's sub-720p and FR regularly drops in the teens during any heavy action. I guess they mean it's max capped at 30fps. Find a nice quiet corridor and you might get there.
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