{"id":84389,"date":"2015-12-10T15:30:42","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T13:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=84389"},"modified":"2015-12-15T10:40:12","modified_gmt":"2015-12-15T08:40:12","slug":"fallout-4-patch-1-2-performs-visual-downgrade-to-improve-frame-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/84389-fallout-4-patch-1-2-performs-visual-downgrade-to-improve-frame-rate","title":{"rendered":"Fallout 4 Patch 1.2 performs visual downgrade to improve frame rate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Visually, we\u2019re talking general aesthetics here, <em>Fallout 4<\/em> is absolutely fantastic \u2013 it exudes atmosphere, portraying a world you\u2019re immediately sucked into.<\/p>\n<p>Technically, however, it\u2019s really rather dated. The Creation Engine simply cannot manage the sort of graphical effects that engines like, say, the Unreal Engine 4, CryEngine 3 or the Frostbyte 3 engine can.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also poorly optimised, causing a number of performance hits in scenarios that really shouldn\u2019t be all that taxing.<\/p>\n<p>Shadows, particularly around bodies; alpha effects; high particle counts \u2013 it\u2019s all a bit of a problem for the Creation Engine and <em>Fallout 4<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>To address that, Bethesda has released Patch 1.2 for all three platforms. The patch promises improved frame rates, especially in areas like the Corvega Assembly Plant.<\/p>\n<p>Sure enough, as Digital Foundry\u2019s initial testing shows, it does just that.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oL5-nYt2Rvw\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, rather than optimising the engine, it looks like Bethesda has simply removed some of the more advanced visual effects in those areas, improving frame rates but at the cost of visuals.<\/p>\n<p>The best example we found can be seen at 1:15 in the video above \u2013 look at the shadows cast on the wall and floor.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, we\u2019ve pulled the image to show you exactly what we mean.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Fallout-4-Patch-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-84391\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-84391\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Fallout-4-Patch-1.jpg\" alt=\"Fallout 4 - Patch 1.2 - visual downgrade\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Fallout-4-Patch-1.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Fallout-4-Patch-1-230x130.jpg 230w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Fallout-4-Patch-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Fallout-4-Patch-1-640x360.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>What we don\u2019t quite understand is why a pre-baked, non-dynamic shadow is causing all of the fuss and bother?<\/p>\n<p>And does that mean that Bethesda is going to have to painstakingly tinker with each and every area that demonstrates a poor frame rate?<\/p>\n<p>And how will this ultimately affect a game that really can\u2019t afford to tank in the visuals department.<\/p>\n<p>At least us PC gamers have mods to fix what Bethesda is in the process of breaking, so our sympathies are with the console gamers.<\/p>\n<p>Of course this may just be a glitch associated with the new patch, and not an intentional downgrade on Bethesda\u2019s part.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re not the only ones to have noticed the apparent downgrade. You can see a number of users over at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.neogaf.com\/forum\/showthread.php?t=1153634\" target=\"_blank\">NeoGAF<\/a> reiterating our concern \u2013 many of whom are suggesting a number of additional areas where shadows have been removed entirely.<\/p>\n<p>Come one Bethesda; you can do better than this.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>In other news<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/news\/84375-new-bethesda-studio-opening-in-montreal.html\">New Bethesda studio opening in Montreal<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/news\/84309-first-screenshots-from-the-witcher-3s-blood-and-wine-expansion.html\">First screenshots from The Witcher 3\u2019s Blood and Wine expansion<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/news\/84203-half-life-3-listed-in-steam-database.html\">Half-Life 3 listed in Steam Database<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just spend more time and optimise the engine properly Bethesda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":84393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[165,6316,16671,16667,15397,1239,1853,16669,10065],"class_list":["post-84389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bethesda","tag-fallout-4","tag-graphics-downgrade","tag-patch-1-02","tag-pc","tag-playstation-4","tag-playstation4","tag-visual-downgrade","tag-xbox-one"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}