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[Digital Foundry] Silent Hill 2 Remake on PS5 Pro: A Mixed Bag of an Update... And PSSR Has Issues

Kangx

Member from Brazile
ok, i stand corrected. they didnt use PSSR for their 8k mode or the Performance mode but did use PSSR for their RT mode. thats where i got confused.
Yea. We exclusive talked about RT mode here. The other mode is kinda irrelevant.
 

Tqaulity

Member
Much of this will always be on the devs. You’re given a set of tools to play with and how you choose to use those tools is on you. Sony cannot control 3rd party devs. PSSR has already proven its competence, so the devs either needn’t sort out what they’re doing with PSSR, or ignore it and use the Pro in other ways that make sense.

So, while PSSR isn’t perfect (which can pertain to any of these AI solutions), that 3rd party devs are the main ones having issues has to attest to something here, particularly if they’re using UE and/or raytracing (but more so UE4/5).
Exactly. People don't realize how difficult it is to get DLSS integration correct even now 6 years in! It's not just a blind plug n play type of thing. PSSR is still in it's infancy but has already shown to be transformative when used correctly. Much of the problems are a result of developers not taking the time to optimize, not updating to the latest version of PSSR, and not doing simple QA checks before release. If a game has shipped in the past on an older SDK version, it is not a trivial update to move to a newer SDK version with the latest PSSR version. Some changes may be required and another testing/QA pass as well.

Obviously, Sony's 1st party devs did this and PSSR works wonders in many of their titles. Some optimization and QA time would go a long way for some of these 3rd parties. BTW, this is why it's a GOOD thing that some other titles are taking their time with a PRO patch (i.e. Space marine 2, Black Myth Wukong, Fortnite, Helldivers 2 etc)
 

bundylove

Gold Member
lIAjKgO.jpeg
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Yes. It is.





It's another form of real time illumination. It also includes indirect baked lighting and shadows, but even "RTGI" acronym usage games still use indirect baked lighting and shadows. We are not talking about complete ray traced lighting which most of those games don't use either.

I dont think the Dynamic GI in GT7 is the same as what Nvidia is talking about here. I liken it to what Drive Club, RDR2 and HFW use. Realtime time of day changes as they switch between bakes on the fly. But Im not a 100% certain so not going to pursue this further.

No one is saying they shouldn't cover these games,at least not me.
I thought thats exactly what you were saying. If not, fine.
Just that a good coverage is a coverage that conveys the right idea about what's going on in a balanced way.
I dont think they can invent good news in patches for games that are simply bad. Jedi Survivor is the worst PC port ever and every single video they did for that game had that title. Should they have been balanced about it?

Bloober ruining an otherwise great looking game by needlessly adding an upscaling technique that doesnt work just yet deserves the same criticism.

the actual review is very well done. They give you comparisons between the previous modes, and even go out of their way to install the disc version to do comparisons with non-PSSR modes on the pro hardware. It's balanced enough. Sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade.
 

Fbh

Member
Some people were waiting to play this until they got a Pro lol

Hey, they'll get a better experience!!.......as long as they also buy the disc drive and a physical copy of the game and then run the unpatched 1.0 version

I agree with both of your takes. Great that issues get flagged and then worked on. But I also want to see the good stuff too.

Their review focused on a bunch of games that see big improvements: Elden Ring, Stellar Blade, 7 Rebirth, Demon Souls and more.
Prior to release they had a bunch of dedicated videos with positive coverage looking at games that see good upgrades: They had whole standalone videos about 7 Rebirth, Ratchet and F1 24.

Now, after launch and with the complete freedom to test anything they want it makes sense for them to focus on the newest graphically demanding games and games that notoriously struggled on base Ps5. I don't think it's a conspiracy to shit on the pro as much as "Hey remember this big game that looked/ran like shit on the base console? how does it look/run on the pro?" being an inherently more interesting topic for a video than "hey rember this game that looked and ran great on the base Ps5? how does it run on the pro?"
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Much of this will always be on the devs. You’re given a set of tools to play with and how you choose to use those tools is on you. Sony cannot control 3rd party devs. PSSR has already proven its competence, so the devs either needn’t sort out what they’re doing with PSSR, or ignore it and use the Pro in other ways that make sense.

So, while PSSR isn’t perfect (which can pertain to any of these AI solutions), that 3rd party devs are the main ones having issues has to attest to something here, particularly if they’re using UE and/or raytracing (but more so UE4/5).

Digital Foundry also pointed out that this is evolving tech. Some folks need to keep this in mind before throwing it all out the window. Imagine if Nvidia gave up with DLSS 1.0

"We need to take a closer look at PSSR across more games, but one thing to bear in mind is that similar to FSR and DLSS, this is an evolving technology and we should expect improvements to roll out as the generation progresses. "

 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Digital Foundry also pointed out that this is evolving tech. Some folks need to keep this in mind before throwing it all out the window. Imagine if Nvidia gave up with DLSS 1.0

"We need to take a closer look at PSSR across more games, but one thing to bear in mind is that similar to FSR and DLSS, this is an evolving technology and we should expect improvements to roll out as the generation progresses. "

But we need to war!
War Mcr GIF by My Chemical Romance
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
This is so silly. Again this is the very first area in the game. Use your brain. You cant get to 60 fps locked because you added an expensive upscaling solution, MORE RT effects, even after reducing the base resolution to just 900p. Instead of the variable 864p-1152p. What should this tell you? Take out the extra RT effects, remove the expensive reconstruction solution and just stick with what you have. This way you can use more than just the extra 12% GPU to get a locked 60 fps. And at that point the rest would automatically, literally automatically go towards rendering at a higher resolution. So dumb.

NENXyuD.jpeg
f77uyjc.jpeg


When will devs realize that PSSR has a cost not just on the GPU but also vram bandwidth AND vram size. Just keep using TSR which is perfectly fine at higher resolutions. The quality mode runs at 1620p on the unpatched disc version which should be better than 4k fsr quality. Just use that.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
When will devs realize that PSSR has a cost not just on the GPU but also vram bandwidth AND vram size. Just keep using TSR which is perfectly fine at higher resolutions. The quality mode runs at 1620p on the unpatched disc version which should be better than 4k fsr quality. Just use that.
Doesn't that just reek of telling them to take the lazy route? You do not have the Pro all figured out. None of us do, and we have plenty of test cases from a myriad of games and engines to show capabilities can be done in capable hands.
 

Kangx

Member from Brazile
Get the DRS back in or stick with the base ps5 version and refine it. I rather take those occasionally dip than stuck with the lower bound of the resolution. People prefer clarity/sharpness and image stability over this.

Beside, the frame still drop in some sections anyway, it might be cpu bounded there, so low res won't help much. Most of performance will go waste if they still stucked to this fixed resolution. Most indoor section would look much sharper if DRS implement back in again.
 

Klosshufvud

Member
This is so silly. Again this is the very first area in the game. Use your brain. You cant get to 60 fps locked because you added an expensive upscaling solution, MORE RT effects, even after reducing the base resolution to just 900p. Instead of the variable 864p-1152p. What should this tell you? Take out the extra RT effects, remove the expensive reconstruction solution and just stick with what you have. This way you can use more than just the extra 12% GPU to get a locked 60 fps. And at that point the rest would automatically, literally automatically go towards rendering at a higher resolution. So dumb.

NENXyuD.jpeg
f77uyjc.jpeg


When will devs realize that PSSR has a cost not just on the GPU but also vram bandwidth AND vram size. Just keep using TSR which is perfectly fine at higher resolutions. The quality mode runs at 1620p on the unpatched disc version which should be better than 4k fsr quality. Just use that.
It's amazing to me how time after time after time, dev priorities are completely misguided. I can bet they were told that PSSR was some sort of DLSS-like solution but in truth is more akin to a very demanding FSR solution. Maybe they were pressured to use this fancy new tech without knowing its apparent limitations? I think in general it's absolutely stupid when devs enable RT in games that aren't even 1080p. That shit won't matter when the game is a pixelated mess anyways. That stuff is added once you achieve that stable native resolution and frame rate. It seems like devs are getting a bit lost in the age of the countless upscalers. I believe they vastly overestimated the capabilities of PSSR, not prioritizing a high enough native resolution.

You’re not a dev

They likely could make the best looking and performant version using PSSR
Eh we've seen devs commit far greater blunders than this. They're not impeccable just because they worked on the game. A lot of this is completely new to them aswell. We don't know how extensive or rather non-extensive their testing was. And we don't know what confounders there were to include certain graphical features.
 
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Kangx

Member from Brazile
It does use PSSR, but not in its 120Hz or 8K mode. It discards it for TAAU in those modes.
We know all of this and i am clearly aware of this. DF has gone over it many times. We talked about F1, it is all about the main fidelity mode. It is also what people listed and refering here as it has RT issue with PSSR.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Doesn't that just reek of telling them to take the lazy route? You do not have the Pro all figured out. None of us do, and we have plenty of test cases from a myriad of games and engines to show capabilities can be done in capable hands.
It does.

Again, its the very first scene in the game. You dont need to be a genius to see that the image quality is completely broken.

You’re not a dev

They likely could make the best looking and performant version using PSSR
Then release it then when you have it all figured out. Meanwhile keep the current version running on TSR. There were plenty of people in the SH2 threads who were waiting to play this on the Pro. Now they have an even worse version.

They literally couldve done nothing and the PS5 Pro with its 45% faster GPU wouldve run it at a higher resolution cleaning up the image and locking it to 60 fps in areas where it does drop.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
its not up to bloober to fix pssr algorithm tough for sure they should had check it how broken it is in their game before releasing update
It's up to Bloober to train the algorithm to their game and optimize it. Just as game devs and nVidia does with DLSS.

You are literally speaking out of both sides with the comment I quoted.
 

Mister Wolf

Member
Digital Foundry also pointed out that this is evolving tech. Some folks need to keep this in mind before throwing it all out the window. Imagine if Nvidia gave up with DLSS 1.0

"We need to take a closer look at PSSR across more games, but one thing to bear in mind is that similar to FSR and DLSS, this is an evolving technology and we should expect improvements to roll out as the generation progresses. "


I used to get pissed watching Hardware Unboxed rip into DLSS. Especially when Metro Exodus released. Everyone across the web was like "just lower the resolution lmao".
 
Then release it then when you have it all figured out. Meanwhile keep the current version running on TSR. There were plenty of people in the SH2 threads who were waiting to play this on the Pro. Now they have an even worse version.

They literally couldve done nothing and the PS5 Pro with its 45% faster GPU wouldve run it at a higher resolution cleaning up the image and locking it to 60 fps in areas where it does drop.

Don’t disagree with any of that!
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
It does.

Again, its the very first scene in the game. You dont need to be a genius to see that the image quality is completely broken.
So lets have them do better, which they acknowledged yesterday on X that there is an issue and they're working on it. This game might be where they iron out their optimization issues for their next new IP they're working on. And it should be.
 
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gerth666

Member
I sincerely have to wonder what purpose you serve in here when you obviously have no Pro and a history riddled with trolling.

Even Little Chicken Little Chicken and adamsapple adamsapple bring some form of entertainment (sincere, I know they’re Xbox guys, but still). You? About as funny as cancer. At least up your tactics! 😀
I was going to say the same thing. I just don't understand the point of posts like this. They should be banned simple as that
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
It doesnt work as that since dlss 2 (april 2020)
What do you mean? Game devs literally patch their game optimized for DLSS and nVidia will have game specific DLSS patches in their drivers around game launches. It's not a set it and forget it system. It gets easier to optimize over time and it's far more mature, but games will still run into issues where they need patches and driver updates.
 
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Kangx

Member from Brazile
It does.

Again, its the very first scene in the game. You dont need to be a genius to see that the image quality is completely broken.


Then release it then when you have it all figured out. Meanwhile keep the current version running on TSR. There were plenty of people in the SH2 threads who were waiting to play this on the Pro. Now they have an even worse version.

They literally couldve done nothing and the PS5 Pro with its 45% faster GPU wouldve run it at a higher resolution cleaning up the image and locking it to 60 fps in areas where it does drop.
Agree with you here. If you can't make it look and run substantially better then what is the point if using this version of PSSR. stick with the base ps5 version and refine it.

The pro disc version practically stay flat 60fps in the down hill section. It is 10 to 15 frame faster and most likely stay at a higher resolution too when it is hitting 60fps there.
 

sncvsrtoip

Member
What do you mean? Game devs literally patch their game optimized for DLSS and nVidia will have game specific DLSS patches in their drivers around game launces. It's not a set it and forget it system.
They do some tweaks but training algorithm per game was pre dlss 2.0 version era, 4.5 years ago
 

Lysandros

Member
Much of this will always be on the devs. You’re given a set of tools to play with and how you choose to use those tools is on you. Sony cannot control 3rd party devs. PSSR has already proven its competence, so the devs either need to sort out what they’re doing with PSSR, or ignore it and use the Pro in other ways that make sense.

So, while PSSR isn’t perfect (which can pertain to any of these AI solutions), that 3rd party devs are the main ones having issues has to attest to something here, particularly if they’re using UE and/or raytracing (but more so UE4/5).
The majority of the problematic enhancements are related to developers using a less mature version of PSSR tied to older versions of SDK. Results will improve with time.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
It's amazing to me how time after time after time, dev priorities are completely misguided. I can bet they were told that PSSR was some sort of DLSS-like solution but in truth is more akin to a very demanding FSR solution. Maybe they were pressured to use this fancy new tech without knowing its apparent limitations? I think in general it's absolutely stupid when devs enable RT in games that aren't even 1080p. That shit won't matter when the game is a pixelated mess anyways. That stuff is added once you achieve that stable native resolution and frame rate. It seems like devs are getting a bit lost in the age of the countless upscalers. I believe they vastly overestimated the capabilities of PSSR, not prioritizing a high enough native resolution.
I agree. Anything below 1080p should not be using Ray tracing. Problem is that UE5 defaults software lumen so it cant be disabled. I think devs need to just stop releasing 60 fps modes. They dont look good. 75% of ps5 owners are playing these terrible looking modes with half of the settings disabled or paired back.

Also, I wont blame devs for thinking that the PS5 Pro had extended RT capabilities. The Sony leaked docs said that they saw a 2-4x increase in RT performance. The devs probably saw that and added RT in performance modes thinking they have a 100% minimum. We now know its 30-45% at best, and PSSR seems to be heavier than the 2ms Sony said in the docs. It's not that the overestimated the Pro's RT capabilities, it's more they were told. They probably still shouldve used the brains when they saw the final results but these respawn and bloober devs arent exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.
Eh we've seen devs commit far greater blunders than this. They're not impeccable just because they worked on the game. A lot of this is completely new to them aswell. We don't know how extensive or rather non-extensive their testing was. And we don't know what confounders there were to include certain graphical features.
Every PC gamer who can choose between TSR, FSR, XeSS, DLSS and just traditional Tv upscalers couldve taken one look at how PSSR was performing here and switched it out. you dont need to be a dev to see how poor it looks and literally switch out the plugin. we put devs on a pedestal because we think these are some incredibly difficult things to do. In UE5 projects, ive literally enabled DLSS by checking a box in some of the UE5 demos. It might not be that easy to plug-in PSSR since its new but i wouldnt be surprised if Sony worked with Epic to get this inserted as a plugin in the UE5 editor.

I remember when the PS5 first launched, i was asking for 60 fps modes that wouldve required some config file changes to the framerate caps. or resolution caps. I got so much shit from people here who thought it was some difficult process to literally change the resolution of these games from 1080p to 4k. In the end it took devs 6-12 months to get those patches out, but people just dont realize that its literally as simple as that.
 

sncvsrtoip

Member
nVidia literally driver updates every new big DLSS game launch with it in the patch notes. The point is, it's not set it and forget it.

This will improve over time, as all others did.
Well lets hope it will as sony doesnt need good reprojection from 1440p as games already looks good from that res. They need good reconstruction in most demanding titles from low res as they are usualy looks very poor on base ps5.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
It's amazing to me how time after time after time, dev priorities are completely misguided. I can bet they were told that PSSR was some sort of DLSS-like solution but in truth is more akin to a very demanding FSR solution. Maybe they were pressured to use this fancy new tech without knowing its apparent limitations? I think in general it's absolutely stupid when devs enable RT in games that aren't even 1080p. That shit won't matter when the game is a pixelated mess anyways. That stuff is added once you achieve that stable native resolution and frame rate. It seems like devs are getting a bit lost in the age of the countless upscalers. I believe they vastly overestimated the capabilities of PSSR, not prioritizing a high enough native resolution.

That's the crux of it. Prioritize resolution over other settings like RT. Get to that baseline with something PSSR can actually work with. But stop releasing a Pro patch before it is ready. As I've said before, this isn't unknown to the devs. They don't have to have DF tell them where the problems are or how bad it looks with all this shimmering.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
What do you mean? Game devs literally patch their game optimized for DLSS and nVidia will have game specific DLSS patches in their drivers around game launches. It's not a set it and forget it system. It gets easier to optimize over time and it's far more mature, but games will still run into issues where they need patches and driver updates.
It's up to Bloober to train the algorithm to their game and optimize it. Just as game devs and nVidia does with DLSS.

You are literally speaking out of both sides with the comment I quoted.
I think what snc is trying to say is that the training doesnt work on a game by game basis anymore. Devs dont train the algorithm before their game comes out. It's solely nvidia's responsibility.

DLSS, FSR, TSR and i guess now PSSR are simple plugins you can enable in UE5 projects. Everything is simply supposed to work after you enable it. The devs are not required or obligated or even have the tools to go in an manually update the alogirthm. thats nvidia's domain.

Sony WILL improve the PSSR alogirthm. The only problem is that we are seeing the same issues we saw pre-DLSS2.0 that were fixed 4 years ago. Sony shouldve learned from those mistakes and improved the alogirthm.

Go watch the original HFW performance mode footage. Same shimmering issues especially on foliage because HFW is one Sony first party game that really pushed the hardware and foliage beyond last gen levels. It completely broke their checkerboarding solution which had worked fine on HZD, Death Stranding, Days Gone and GoT. GG then spent the next 4-5 months improving the algorithm feeding it more data and i believe thats what you want Bloober to do with PSSR but I honestly dont think they can because thats a Sony product trained on Sony AI servers whereas GG has their own checkerboarding implementation exclusive to Decima.

the only thing the devs can do is increase the base resolution. we've seen PSSR look virtually identical to native 4k in games like Demon Souls, TLOU1 and TLOU2 thanks to the 1440p base resolution. However, those games are not using RT effects that might still cause issues. For example, AW2 and FF7 are rendering on the same base resolution but because AW2 has RT reflections being applied to almost every surface, it breaks far more than FF7.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I think what snc is trying to say is that the training doesnt work on a game by game basis anymore. Devs dont train the algorithm before their game comes out. It's solely nvidia's responsibility.

DLSS, FSR, TSR and i guess now PSSR are simple plugins you can enable in UE5 projects. Everything is simply supposed to work after you enable it. The devs are not required or obligated or even have the tools to go in an manually update the alogirthm. thats nvidia's domain.

Sony WILL improve the PSSR alogirthm. The only problem is that we are seeing the same issues we saw pre-DLSS2.0 that were fixed 4 years ago. Sony shouldve learned from those mistakes and improved the alogirthm.

Go watch the original HFW performance mode footage. Same shimmering issues especially on foliage because HFW is one Sony first party game that really pushed the hardware and foliage beyond last gen levels. It completely broke their checkerboarding solution which had worked fine on HZD, Death Stranding, Days Gone and GoT. GG then spent the next 4-5 months improving the algorithm feeding it more data and i believe thats what you want Bloober to do with PSSR but I honestly dont think they can because thats a Sony product trained on Sony AI servers whereas GG has their own checkerboarding implementation exclusive to Decima.

the only thing the devs can do is increase the base resolution. we've seen PSSR look virtually identical to native 4k in games like Demon Souls, TLOU1 and TLOU2 thanks to the 1440p base resolution. However, those games are not using RT effects that might still cause issues. For example, AW2 and FF7 are rendering on the same base resolution but because AW2 has RT reflections being applied to almost every surface, it breaks far more than FF7.
I've always been in the camp where RT should be a toggle or a separate mode. Not forced.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
You clearly haven't been in a corp meeting before. Brains are optional, consensus is compulsory.
ive been in meetings where good ideas are shot down and yes, you are supposed to just shut up and fall in line.

i guess its unfair to blame this on the dev or QA who probably saw this and voiced concerns that fell on deaf ears on managers and execs who likely got money from sony for implementing PSSR.
 

Kangx

Member from Brazile
Wait so the pro can push to 1620p on the disc performance mode and it stay mostly in the upper range with DRS from 1080p to 1620p with rare drop to 864p, I am guessing the down hill section here.

The base version never seen this high resolution before. The highest was 1220p or something close to that. So the DRS range was there and the base couldn't hit hit. Interesting.
 

Lorianus

Member
All these PRO patches are probably contract work made 3rd party in india or china, no way are they using their main dev teams for a patch.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Eh. Why am I on page 3 without adamsapple adamsapple doing his recap?

Slacking you.


It's nothing really noteworthy, the crux of the video is the shimmering issue we've already seen covered in multiple other topics.

The only other thing of note is that the game doesn't use DRS in either modes on Pro now instead opting to use a fixed resolution with PSSR up-scaling on top and ditching Unreal's TSR.

Now Performance runs with fixed 900p + PSSR and Quality 1080p + PSSR.
 
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Kangx

Member from Brazile
The crazy thing is the clarity and sharpness is there. It is pretty much comparable or looks a bit sharper to the base version running at a much higher resolution especially the fidelity mode.

The issue here is that the increase in sharpness is not substantial and image stability take a gigantic hit with this version of PSSR.

So the solution here is either implement a new PSSR version with DRS or stay with the base ps5 version and upgrade it from there. I like to see the new PSSR version with DRS back in though if the stability issue can be solve.
 
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