Fallout 4 Patch 1.3 New Image Quality Features @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Fallout 4 Patch 1.3 New Image Quality Features - A new patch, version 1.3.47 is out for Fallout 4 and with it brings a couple of big image quality improvements. HBAO+ Ambient Occlusion is added as well as hardware driven Particle Weapon Debris. We will compare these new image quality features and see how they help improve the gameplay experience of Fallout 4.
 
Great write up, going to have to try this out later today. With HBAO+ on it almost made the textures in the game look a bit higher resolution than they are. Definitely added a bit of depth to them if nothing else.
 
Fantastic results with HBAO+ and I like the added particle effects.

Thanks for taking the time to test them out and write the article!
 
HBAO+ is one of my favorite features. it adds so much to a game, i love it, i just wish it didn't have such a huge performance hit in most of the games it's featured in. BF4 is the only one i can think of where turning it on doesn't annihilate performance.

edit: although, i guess BF4 doesn't use HBAO+, just HBAO, whatever the difference is... i assume amount of samples.
 
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Think of how awesome it would be if they hadn't used a "simple" gpu as they said they did.
The horizontal based occlusion definitely makes things darker overall at the edges.
I am confused why they always link image quality with game play experience. To me they are very different things and one does not always bring the other with it.
For example some of the best game play experiences I have had in games were some games with really poor graphic image quality, and I have had some very poor game play experiences in games that had top of the line state of the art graphic image quality.
 
Technical_Advisor said:
Think of how awesome it would be if they hadn't used a "simple" gpu as they said they did.
The horizontal based occlusion definitely makes things darker overall at the edges.
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Please tell me in detail exactly "how awesome it would be."
 
Put in a few hours yesterday with the new patch and effects. Didn't notice much with the weapon effects, but I wasn't really paying attention. HBAO+ looked nice though.
 
why didn't the game ship with these enhanced effects??...it's a big improvement...penalizing people who play on Day 1 or forcing people to replay is dumb...I bought the game on Day 1 but have waited to play and it looks like the right move
 
polonyc2 said:
why didn't the game ship with these enhanced effects??...it's a big improvement...penalizing people who play on Day 1 or forcing people to replay is dumb...I bought the game on Day 1 but have waited to play and it looks like the right move
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Launch day came and these things were not ready to ship.
 
Big improvement visually ,didn't expect it ,could do with a little more AA control but otherwise no complaints. Hope the DLC's aren't too far off either.
 
Just played for a couple hours. I don't know why, but colors seen better. Aliasing seems to be more prevalent.

Also, if anyone cares to shed some light- I have vsync disabled via .ini and using adaptive vsync in nVcp. When it's toggling between using vsync and not, there is a stutter that happens. Anyone know what thats all about?
 
I like the new system or Skylake 6700K OC being used. I think that is best cpu/system to test with at this time for games.

Awesome job on showing clearly HBAO+ benefits. From original game SSAO to HBAO+ is a very big improvement.

The particle effects, as done before, look cheap to me. Looks like rocks coming out of steel with some being almost a perfect cubes :D. Lack of colors and textures, unrealistic shapes, heaps of debris while the original object is barely touched. Just my opinion, reminds me of Mafia 2.

These are great articles by the way and keeps the flow of what can be done with the new hardware available.
 
I'm still sore that there were so many bugs in the game that I stopped playing about a week or two after it came out. (Elevators that just didn't work, not being able to do a quest because the elevator would literally eject you out of the map into limbo)

Patch looks like a nice improvement though. I still feel bad about not putting any time into Just Cause 3... stupid job, and lack of money, and mortgage payment.... hate everyone, damn having to wear pants too.
 
I don't play FO4 but that was a very useful comparison of SSAO and HBAO.
 
HBAO+ makes a huge difference, I love it.

Now if only they would add an anti-aliasing method that isn't awful. SMAA would be a huge improvement over the FXAA implementation they use.
 
"It is a shame however that it only works on NVIDIA GPUs. This overall limits the gameplay experience for AMD GPU users playing this game. NVIDIA has been able to keep features like HBAO+ agnostic, we wish it would have done the same with FlexFX particles."

It's a shame that HardOCP does not boycott the nVIDIA attempt to divide the PC game space and transform it in a console like space... we don't need a "nVIDIA-PC-Console" and a "AMD-PC-Console"...

I'm not disappointed with nVIDIA (I don't give a damn about them)... but I'm disappointed with game studios/game publishers and online sites that don't boycott these nVIDIA only features.

:mad:
 
Ronin said:
"It is a shame however that it only works on NVIDIA GPUs. This overall limits the gameplay experience for AMD GPU users playing this game. NVIDIA has been able to keep features like HBAO+ agnostic, we wish it would have done the same with FlexFX particles."

It's a shame that HardOCP does not boycott the nVIDIA attempt to divide the PC game space and transform it in a console like space... we don't need a "nVIDIA-PC-Console" and a "AMD-PC-Console"...

I'm not disappointed with nVIDIA (I don't give a damn about them)... but I'm disappointed with game studios/game publishers and online sites that don't boycott these nVIDIA only features.

:mad:
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If they provide the tools and support for said tools for free, some free advertising, and the tools are easy to implement, why would they not use them?
I didn't hear anyime crying about Mantle and the boost it gave AMD cards with BF4.

It doesn't break the game, and doesn't keep other brand owners from enjoying the game. So what if there are a few better frames and some extra useless shinnies? This is how the market and innovation works.
 
Ronin said:
It's a shame that HardOCP does not boycott the nVIDIA attempt to divide the PC game space and transform it in a console like space... we don't need a "nVIDIA-PC-Console" and a "AMD-PC-Console"...

I'm not disappointed with nVIDIA (I don't give a damn about them)... but I'm disappointed with game studios/game publishers and online sites that don't boycott these nVIDIA only features.

:mad:
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That is pretty funny, [H] boycott NVIDIA. So you mean intentionally not cover the biggest GPU maker in the business because you have a personal issue with its business model?

I think the boycott you are looking for lies with the people that BUY NVIDIA products.
 
alxlwson said:
If they provide the tools and support for said tools for free, some free advertising, and the tools are easy to implement, why would they not use them?
I didn't hear anyime crying about Mantle and the boost it gave AMD cards with BF4.

It doesn't break the game, and doesn't keep other brand owners from enjoying the game. So what if there are a few better frames and some extra useless shinnies? This is how the market and innovation works.
Click to expand...


:confused: Mantle DID NOT changed the game in ANY WAY, it is just a different way of rendering the SAME EXACT game.

The "nVIDIA only features" change the game (what you see on screen) and sometimes change the gameplay (how you play it).
 
Ronin said:
Boycott the "exclusive" features... not nVIDIA hardware...

And yes, I boycott nVIDIA :D
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First and foremost we are journalists when it comes to writing reviews. We are not going to ignore features on certain hardware just because you are not fans of those technologies or business practices.
 
I turned on the particle debris feature and I didn't even notice a difference until I looked at the [H] screenshots that show exactly what it does. This is a non-issue.
 
noko said:
I like the new system or Skylake 6700K OC being used. I think that is best cpu/system to test with at this time for games. -snip-
Click to expand...

While I agree with this, since this IS an enthusiast forum, it'd also be nice to see similar tests using mid-rage hardware (i5's, GTX970/R9 280/whatev), just to get a broader spectrum of results. That said, I know [H] is only human, can't fault them for that!

collegeboy69us said:
...stupid job, and lack of money, and mortgage payment.... hate everyone, damn having to wear pants too.
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I know that feel bro.
 
I don't understand why there are those in the gaming community who become hardcore communists when it comes to Red vs Green (and Blue). If AMD wants to do their own thing let them do it. If they can't or won't, too bad.
 
it auto installs the latest patch then opts you out of the beta.

I literally watched it happen in my library.
 
Hey looks pretty good. good article by [H] love the sliders on the photos. guess this game is coming out of beta now.
 
AMD users have nothing really to complain about as HBAO+ is the way more noticeable effect and it's available for everyone...as others have noted, you only notice the Nvidia debris effects when you go looking for it...maybe Nvidia will add in PCSS+ and other exclusive features later but for now it's a non-issue
 
got is for PS4 but I may get the PC version for the next playthrough now that it's getting fine tuned.
 
Parja said:
A feature exists, so the [H] reviews it. Why wouldn't they? Why would they completely ignore it if only one brand or the other can utilize it? That's just ignorant and a bias in itself. I mean, they even comment that it would be nice if it could be an agnostic feature.
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Exactly, I voiced my opinion on the feature and covered the fact that I'd like to see it work on both GPUs, and as a journalist it is our job to evaluate all sides of the coin, all features. We cannot pick and chose, that would be biased. Patch 1.3 introduced HBAO+ and Weapon Particle Debris, so we evaluated it, those where the two new graphics features introduced. It's a very logical process.
 
Rizen said:
HBAO+ makes a huge difference, I love it.

Now if only they would add an anti-aliasing method that isn't awful. SMAA would be a huge improvement over the FXAA implementation they use.
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TAA is good.
 
Looks like I'll be waiting for the "complete" edition. Fallout games only get better with age.
 
Rizen said:
TAA adds additional blur to the textures which really bothers me though :( SMAA isn't as bad at that.
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TAA is SOOOOO much better at removing the jaggies than any other post-processing method, though. Which, considering the number of swaying dead trees there are in this game, is sorely needed.

You can also use SweetFx's LUMASHARPEN filter on top of it to get almost all of the texture detail back.
 
Parja said:
TAA is SOOOOO much better at removing the jaggies than any other post-processing method, though. Which, considering the number of swaying dead trees there are in this game, is sorely needed.

You can also use SweetFx's LUMASHARPEN filter on top of it to get almost all of the texture detail back.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't use TAA without the LUMASHARPEN filter. TAA does do a great job at removing jaggies, especially in alpha textures, but the texture quality itself greatly suffers.
 
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