Gaf port: Massive's Snowdrop Engine: The Division (Delivers?)

[the-pi-guy]

NeoGAF - View Single Post -  Massive's Snowdrop Engine: The Division

 

(Not Mine/Shots from Flikr, everything below are mine, hence they are much shittier) So there have been a ton of arguments about The Division and it's technical prowess. Everything from, "It looks Amazing" to "It looks good but huge downgrade from 13", to "It looks like a PS3 game, I am not joking. No hyperbole, PS3 game." Much of the talk of downgrades stems from the fact that The Division is a Ubisoft published game, and they are known these days for such shenanigans.  However, Ubisoft is merely publishing and supporting the dev team they purchased in 08, Massive Entertainment, who were responsible for the great, and also technically impressive RTS games, Ground Control, and World in Conflict. To start out, there was a Target Video/Vertical Slice/Early WiP, whatever you want to call the announcement video in 2013. That video did set a graphical expectation. However, after 3 years, much had changed. And understandably so, 3 years is as long or longer than the entire development cycle of many games, from scratch paper to gold. We now have the beta in our hands, and have had some time to mess around in the alternate Manhattan Massive has created.  And it is bloody amazing. Right off the bat, there is one Key "Downgrade" from the early demos. And that is global illumination. This effect, is beautiful, grounding, and very expensive. (If you remember it was stripped from UE4 for this reason. )  Note it's absence here.

 

However, most not all of both graphical, and game-play elements from the 2013 video, are still here in the beta. That shows amazing sense of vision, and adherence to what Massive wanted the game to be.

• Volumetric Smoke/Fog? Check.

• Night/Day Cycle with fully Dynamic weather and lighting? Check.

• Bokeh DoF? Check.

• One of the most comprehensive destruction models to date? Check.

• Subsurface Scattering? Check.

• No loading? Check.

• Volumetric Lighting? Check.

• Screen Space Reflections Everywhere? Check.

I could go on. This actually began when I was comparing The 2014 Gameplay Demo. , to the beta, since we actually have the exact same playable area of the game (though 2 years apart in time) to compare.  So I went frame by frame of the 2014 gameplay trailer. And while some assets have obviously changed, or moved around. They are not downgrades. Just changes. In fact again, aside from Global Illumination, (paint buckets?) And possibly the fidelity of the Flamethrower stream, EVERYTHING from the 2014 demo is retained.  Keep in mind, things are moved, altered, and ToD/Weather are not the same. Also, the left are youtube captures. Working with what I have got.High Quality Version of 2014 Demo

 

Again, there are definitely differences. But most are changes, not upgrades or downgrades. So, enough about downgrades or no downgrades. What does the engine do? Including but not limited to!!! SnowDrop Engines Destruction: Amazing.

 

Reflections: Everywhere!

 

Yes, the player is reflected in that ornament, that dryer, and that mirror, and hundreds of other objects/materials in the world. Volumetric Lighting/Lit Particles and Fog I mean. Holy shame.

 

Environmental Detail/Clutter/Environmental Storytelling:

 

Keep in mind, I took all of these shots in around an hour, for the express purpose of this thread, and as such, my screenshots are only a small fraction of the examples I have seen during my playtime with the Beta. These screens were all taken on my gaming PC, 3770k, SLI 970's, 16GB, W10. Max Settings. Most of my playtime with the beta however was with the PS4 version, while not quite up to par with PC obviously, it still looks damned amazing.  Hats off to Massive for making one of the most detailed and technically impressive games of all time up to this point. Really can't wait to see what more we will get to see in the final game. What are small details you noticed in the beta? Such as Dogs being on tires, NPC's interacting in multitudes of ways? Snow building up and melting throughout the day, etc...
 

[Legend]

[DD_Bwest]

hmm hope it turns out to be good

[the-pi-guy]

Haha.
Looks really good I think, though it does have some rough edges.  

[kitler53]

don't get me wrong,.. looks great but still looks worse than the original trailer.

[ethomaz]

Not just that Ubi choose parity again... the game won't even make my PS4 get hot.

[DerNebel]

Not just that Ubi choose parity again... the game won't even make my PS4 get hot.

Pretty sure MS' marketing money made them choose parity again.

[BananaKing]

Ubisoft really really iced up the marketing of this one. this game visually and technically looks amazing. but when ever its shown, one question pops up. "how does it hold up against the original reveal?"

They announced it way to early, its almost been 3 fudgy years since it was announced. (E3 2013). if ubisoft announced The Division, this past E3 with the way it looks now, and nobody saw those 2013 and 2014 graphics, then people would be losing their shame over this game. but as it stands now, this is just another "downgraded" game.  

[darkknightkryta]

I really wanna know what Ubisoft was thinking.  They're the only ones who over shot what they thought the consoles were capable of.  But I guess information gets lost between their hundreds of development studios holding 1000 plus developers.

[Legend]

I really wanna know what Ubisoft was thinking.  They're the only ones who over shot what they thought the consoles were capable of.  But I guess information gets lost between their hundreds of development studios holding 1000 plus developers.

A lot of it seems to be the XBOX One if Etho is correct on console parity.

[BananaKing]

Pretty sure MS' marketing money made them choose parity again.

yeah no... XB1 uses dynamic resolution to keep up with the PS4

The Division on Xbox One uses dynamic resolution scaling • Eurogamer.net

while it isnt as severe as it is in Halo 5, it still shows that they are benefiting more from the PS4. (even though it might not be up to its full potential).

based on the Beta, PS4 has a better resulotiuon and sturdier frame rate. (though both consoles have a pretty steady frame rate, the XB1 does drop slightly sometimes)

[ethomaz]

yeah no... XB1 uses dynamic resolution to keep up with the PS4

The Division on Xbox One uses dynamic resolution scaling • Eurogamer.net

while it isnt as severe as it is in Halo 5, it still shows that they are benefiting more from the PS4. (even though it might not be up to its full potential).

based on the Beta, PS4 has a better resulotiuon and sturdier frame rate. (though both consoles have a pretty steady frame rate, the XB1 does drop slightly sometimes)

It is interesting due how that was showed...

- EG says it is 1080p on both consoles.
- GAF shows pictures with blurry images on Xbox One when compared with PS4... some you can't even read some letters from long distances on Xbox One.
- EG publish a article saying there are dynamic resolution.

[BananaKing]

It is interesting due how that was showed...

- EG says it is 1080p on both consoles.
- GAF shows pictures with blurry images on Xbox One when compared with PS4... some you can't even read some letters from long distances on Xbox One.
- EG publish a article saying there are dynamic resolution.

nothing interesting about it. they made a mistake. and its a beta analysis, not a full analysis.

[ethomaz]

[DD_Bwest]

Been busy for a while so i havent kept up on this.  How are the reviews so far for the beta?