Digital Foundry: Days Gone PC: a quality conversion that elevates the console experience

[jroc74]

Wow, they made improvements to the loading on PC. I hope Days Gone gets a proper PS5 patch, upgrade then.

Unless a native PS5 version materializes, the distinction is just semantics. This is the only version available on PS5.

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Eh, there are literally separate sku's for a PS4 and PS5 version tho.

Its a lil more then semantics. BC on PS5 literally use the clock speeds of the PS4 or the Pro.

One could say a PS4 game with a BC or PS5 patch or a PS5 version.

But... it isn't? It's the PS4 Pro version that's semi-PS5 aware. I wouldn't call Ratchet & Clank or God of War PS5 versions just because they received a patch to uncap the framerate.

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Thank you.

We have BC patches, next gen patches and next gen versions.

Seems simple enough to me.

 

[Manac0r]

So this hitching issue or perceived stutter is an engine issue which means a patch won't resolve it? Or am I misunderstanding the situation?

 

[Pakesaker]

Thanks for the great video Alex!

I've seen a few people complaining about the mouse controls when using a lower effective DPI. Did you encounter that at all or do you play at a higher sens?

 

[Deleted member 10629]

So this hitching issue or perceived stutter is an engine issue which means a patch won't resolve it? Or am I misunderstanding the situation?

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A bug since the game on a PS5 seems to do fine.

 

[daninthemix]

Thanks for the video Alex. I've played through the opening section at max settings, native 4k and it looks lovely, and I didn't see any weird game-time stutters that you noted (yet). Now I'm wondering if I should bump up the FOV though.

 

[TSM]

I enjoy DF's videos, but it's always really weird when a PC technical breakdown focuses on 60fps so much.

 

[RedHeat]

noooo you cant call the heckin ps5 aware ps4 pro version simply the ps5 version aaaaaaa now people think less of my plastic box

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Are you okay?

 

[EagleClaw]

I hope they release a PS5 patch so that the game really can be called PS5 version.
Somehow i still find it weird that there is still no patch for HZD after the PC version had really gone "gold".

I would have thought the PC versions would get PS5 owners the benefit of a free PS5 patch.
Maybe it just still needs some time.

 

[litebrite]

I hope they release a PS5 patch so that the game really can be called PS5 version.
Somehow i still find it weird that there is still no patch for HZD after the PC version had really gone "gold".

I would have thought the PC versions would get PS5 owners the benefit of a free PS5 patch.
Maybe it just still needs some time.

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A PS5 version would be a completely different sku and not a patch.

 

[Alexandros]

Eh, there are literally separate sku's for a PS4 and PS5 version tho.

Its a lil more then semantics. BC on PS5 literally use the clock speeds of the PS4 or the Pro.

One could say a PS4 game with a BC or PS5 patch or a PS5 version.

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I don't think it matters in practical terms since there is no native PS5 version. This is the only version you can play on PS5 so if you want to decide between playing the game on PC or PS5, this is the only version to take into account.

 

[Manac0r]

A bug since the game on a PS5 seems to do fine.

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To clarify this is a bug introduced with PS5 version which has been resolved? Sorry I don't fully understand..

 

[flyinj]

Wow that "game speed warping" sounds incredibly annoying.

Does that happen on the PS5 as well?

 

[dreamfall]

Amazing as always DF & Alex! Played an hour and was blown away by the performance, spent a solid 50ish hours on console and it feels so good to shoot with Kb/m. Switching to a controller to navigate on the bike is seamless, and I love it. Incredible effort on the port this go around! And now bring BLOODBORNE!

 

[pswii60]

Looks like a great port of a (IMHO) painfully by-the-numbers game. That said, I think it'll find an audience on PC where survival-mechanic games are very popular.

Again, there's no native PS5 version he is referring to in the video. This is PS4 Pro version via BC. As I said in their Twitter post it's extremely irritating in otherwise good analysis. In addition, the PS4 Pro version uses a much older version of UE4 (it is 4.21 or 4.22 I think), which does not support SSGI at all. SSGI is still in beta in UE4.26.

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Alex says it's via BC though in the analysis. So why are you extremely irritated?!

 

[EagleClaw]

A PS5 version would be a completely different sku and not a patch.

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Well, then make the "patch" a new SKU free of charge.
I have no problem with that.

 

[litebrite]

Well, then make the "patch" a new SKU free of charge.
I have no problem with that.

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People would love that but unfortunately I don't think it's going to happen. I think we're lucky we even got a 60fps framerate patch tbh.

 

[EagleClaw]

People would love that but unfortunately I don't think it's going to happen. I think we're lucky we even got a 60fps framerate patch tbh.

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As i said, i thought it would be the console owner benefit of those PC releases.
I'm not saying "remasters" should be free of charge, but i thought the PC release would open the door to a free PS5 version.
But it seems that was not the idea.

 

[daninthemix]

As i said, i thought it would be the console owner benefit of those PC releases.
I'm not saying "remasters" should be free of charge, but i thought the PC release would open the door to a free PS5 version.
But it seems that was not the idea.

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The idea was to make money by selling the game to PC gamers.

 

[EagleClaw]

The idea was to make money by selling the game to PC gamers.

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Thanks for this clarification.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

Its a lil more then semantics. BC on PS5 literally use the clock speeds of the PS4 or the Pro.

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Are you sure about that? This came up in a recent thread on Beyond 3D:

The aforementioned titles were all released before July 13 2020. Any title released after July 13th must run PS5 BC Native, meaning it has to support the boost clocks that are determined by the OS that should not apply to a title that is released 10 months after that deadline. And for obvious reasons, it's pretty clear running 4Pro clocks is incapable of hitting 4K60.

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Sony has been somewhat opaque on this so the confusion is understandable, but the point about the performance is a good one, there is simply no way you're going to be able to get the performance you get with some PS4 Pro titles running on the PS5 if they had to run at the 733mhz GPU clocks of the Pro - that's almost a third of the clock speed of the PS5 GPU. You wouldn't get a doubling of frame rate if that were the case - hell, you barely would get any.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

As i said, i thought it would be the console owner benefit of those PC releases.
I'm not saying "remasters" should be free of charge, but i thought the PC release would open the door to a free PS5 version.
But it seems that was not the idea.

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We got a free PS5 'version' of the game, in total - not a patch - but the entire game free. It's not the best version of the game that could have been made given more time yes, but it is a PS5 'version' - it has a specific PS5 patch that enabled a mode that is not accessible on the PS4 Pro and greatly enhanced the game, and was available 6 months before this.

Also the best way I can experience it now, as I sure as fuck am not going to be able to get my hands on a PC GPU that can actually run it better regardless.

 

[Serious Sam]

To clarify this is a bug introduced with PS5 version which has been resolved? Sorry I don't fully understand..

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PS4, PS4 Pro, PS5 doesn't have speed warping issue.
PC does have it.

Was this clear enough? :)

 

[Cjdamon042]

I really enjoy it when you love a graphical settings menu, Dictator! It's something that a lot of games simply don't think about, but this one looks excellent. I appreciate the ones that show screenshots, but sometimes they're still not immediately obvious as to what is changing. This looks to be the best way to do it. And praise the lord that nothing requires a restart; that's the bane of optimising settings!

Really glad to see that the port is good. After Horizon I was worried that there might be a bad trend of PS games having suboptimal PC versions, so I'm happy this isn't the case.

 

[Koralsky]

Looks like a great port of a (IMHO) painfully by-the-numbers game. That said, I think it'll find an audience on PC where survival-mechanic games are very popular.

Alex says it's via BC though in the analysis. So why are you extremely irritated?!

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Yeah, it happens to non-native speakers such myself - odd wording, etc. Nothing personal against Alex as you can see in my other reply.

 

[Loudninja]

I really enjoy it when you love a graphical settings menu, Dictator! It's something that a lot of games simply don't think about, but this one looks excellent. I appreciate the ones that show screenshots, but sometimes they're still not immediately obvious as to what is changing. This looks to be the best way to do it. And praise the lord that nothing requires a restart; that's the bane of optimising settings!

Really glad to see that the port is good. After Horizon I was worried that there might be a bad trend of PS games having suboptimal PC versions, so I'm happy this isn't the case.

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This port was done by Bend themselves atleast.

 

[defaltoption]

The only benefits of playing it on PS5 are resolution and 60fps. Literally everything else (texture, lighting, shadows, etc.) is PS4 territory. Constantly hearing "PS5 version" and "PS5 settings" was annoying, semantics or not. Sorry, Alex.

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Its the version of the game you can only play on ps5, is it a game built for only for ps5 hardware no but it is the ps5 version because you cannot play it on ps4 or ps4 pro and the pc version is different too but it wasnt made specifically for pc.

 

[2Blackcats]

Still bummed that these PC ports aren't resulting in a proper PS5 patch as part of the process.

 

[Cjdamon042]

This port was done by Bend themselves atleast.

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This is true, that probably lends itself to having a smoother transition between platforms.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

The slowdown they're talking about was something that also happened on my PS4 Pro from what i remember.

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The slowdown in the PS4 Pro though seemed to be GPU/CPU limited, this looks to be a persistent stutter which the Pro version doesn't have - and it definitely wasn't carried over to the PS5 version (uh oh, PATCH, I mean PS5 PATCH). So it's not something inherent to the engine.

 

[8byte]

Seems a little silly to use PS5 as a "baseline" for any of what they're doing. Like, it's incredibly misleading to those who might not be well versed and don't know that Days Gone is a *PS4 game* that never got a proper PS5 upgrade, just running in BC mode with a frame rate boost. Seems a little careless coming from DF, who usually take good care to make proper comparisons.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

This is true, that probably lends itself to having a smoother transition between platforms.

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Also done with a modern engine (UE4). Horizon was done with the first iteration heavily tailored around the PS4's architecture. Albeit with the work Guerilla did on the the patch, having them do it from the start would have no doubt still delivered a far better outcome.

 

[Firefly]

Seems a little silly to use PS5 as a "baseline" for any of what they're doing. Like, it's incredibly misleading to those who might not be well versed and don't know that Days Gone is a *PS4 game* that never got a proper PS5 upgrade, just running in BC mode with a frame rate boost. Seems a little careless coming from DF, who usually take good care to make proper comparisons.

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That is the best available version of the game on the consoles at the moment. Seems reasonable to compare it to that.

 

[8byte]

That is the best available version of the game on the consoles at the moment. Seems reasonable to compare it to that.

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There's a huge caveat there though, in that it is absolutely still a PS4 game, so comparing things like textures or lighting...is pointless, because you're not getting "PS5 settings" as he says, but PS4 settings. It muddies the waters on this comparison and, again, is misleading to the layman, because they may not understand that it is absolutely still a PS4 game being compared to a newer PC build with significant improvements.

The words "PS5 version" shouldn't leave anyones mouth about this game, because there is no PS5 version. There is a patch for the PS4 version that allows it to recognize it is running on a PS5 and moves the frame rate cap to 60. That's it.

 

[Zips]

I haven't had time to watch the video yet. I will do so later when I have time for sure.

However, I've been playing this for a while now since I was reviewing the PC release. I did notice one glaring visual issue: Shadow or SSAO ghosting behind the bike when you're moving at speed.

Look behind Deacon's feet, behind the tire, and really just around the whole back of the bike. Was this talked about in the video at all?

Edit: It really is the only issue I noticed in my time playing. The PC release of this game is super solid otherwise.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

Seems a little silly to use PS5 as a "baseline" for any of what they're doing. Like, it's incredibly misleading to those who might not be well versed and don't know that Days Gone is a *PS4 game* that never got a proper PS5 upgrade, just running in BC mode with a frame rate boost. Seems a little careless coming from DF, who usually take good care to make proper comparisons.

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Alex literally mentions in the video when comparing load times that the reason the PS5 isn't faster is because this is a backwards compatibility title. The video is showing PS5/PC because those are the platforms being compared.

This is running a version of the game specifically patched for the PS5, a version that can only run on the PS5. Because it doesn't go as far as a version of the game released 6 months later doesn't change that it's the best console version of the game available, and that's why he's using it and why it's entitled PS5 in the video.

If that doesn't matter, then if Alex released this video with "PS4 Pro" in the video title, and only compared the PC version to the 30fps PS4 Pro version, you guys would have no problem with that? Or would you respond with "Why didn't you test it against the PS5 Patched version!?!" - of course you would, because they're not the same.

I think part of this ire stems from this misnomer another poster had that games being run in compatibility mode are heavily neutered from accessing PS5 hardware, that they must run at PS4 Pro clocks - I don't think this is true. There is simply no way you would see the performance of some BC titles on the PS5 if this were the case.

 

[8byte]

God this is so ridiculous. Alex literally mentions in the video when comparing load times that the reason the PS5 isn't faster is because this is a backwards compatibility title. The video is showing PS5/PC because those are the platforms being compared.

This is running a version of the game specifically patched for the PS5, a version that can only run on the PS5. Because it doesn't go as far as a version of the game released 6 months later doesn't change that it's the best console version of the game available, and that's why he's using it and why it's entitled PS5 in the video.

If that doesn't matter, then in Alex released this video with "PS4 Pro" title, and only compared the PC version to the 30fps PS4 Pro version, you guys would have no problem with that? Or would you respond with "Why didn't you test it against the PS5 Patched version!?!" - of course you would, because they're not the same.

I think part of this ire stems from this misnomer another poster had that games being run in compatibility mode are heavily neutered from accessing PS5 hardware, that they must run at PS4 Pro clocks - I don't think this is true. There is simply no way you would see the performance of some BC titles on the PS5 if this were the case.

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There is no PS5 version. Lord this shouldn't be so complicated, lol. There is only a PS4 version that was patched so that it can recognize it is running on a PS5 and alter the frame rate cap. It is 100% still a PS4 game. The patch didn't alter textures, shadows, lighting, etc. Just frame rate (and a locked resolution, IIRC).

In the video he regularly says "PS5 version".

Digital Foundry are known for harping on specifics and being as dead accurate as they can, so this misstep feels amateurish in comparison, because again, there's no truth to it. It's not accurate. The better approach would have been to simply note at the beginning that the frame rate is higher on PS5, but for all intents and purposes, this is a comparison of the PS4 version and the PC version...because that's what it is.

Again, there is no PS5 version. It doesn't exist. There is only a PS4 version of this title and a PC version of this title.

 

[Firefly]

There's a huge caveat there though, in that it is absolutely still a PS4 game, so comparing things like textures or lighting...is pointless, because you're not getting "PS5 settings" as he says, but PS4 settings. It muddies the waters on this comparison and, again, is misleading to the layman, because they may not understand that it is absolutely still a PS4 game being compared to a newer PC build with significant improvements.

The words "PS5 version" shouldn't leave anyones mouth about this game, because there is no PS5 version. There is a patch for the PS4 version that allows it to recognize it is running on a PS5 and moves the frame rate cap to 60. That's it.

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Its not misleading at all. For all intents and purposes, the BC version on PS5 is the version you get on PS5. And it is an upgrade over the PS4 and PS4 Pro versions. What else should they compare it with? There needs to be a point of reference to see how well the game translates over to PC. Focusing on semantics is being a little bit too nit picky here.

 

[Andromeda]

Beyond the realm of visuals, the PC game now spends a lot less time loading than it does on consoles - even on PlayStation 5. For game loading in general, a 9.5 second load time on a fast NVMe PC SSD takes PS5 33.5 seconds by comparison, so I assume that this is an area where backwards compatibility isn't leveraging all of the storage potential or CPU power of the new console

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They should learn the native I/O path on PS5 completely bypasses the CPU.

 

[8byte]

Its not misleading at all. For all intents and purposes, the BC version on PS5 is the version you get on PS5. And it is an upgrade over the PS4 and PS4 Pro versions. What else should they compare it with? There needs to be a point of reference to see how well the game translates over to PC. Focusing on semantics is being a little bit too nit picky here.

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It's still a PS4 game. "PS5 version" absolutely suggests it is a PS5 game. It is not. That is an important piece of information to clarify when you're making technical comparisons between two builds of software.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

There is no PS5 version. Lord this shouldn't be so complicated, lol.

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It shouldn't be, but you're having difficulty. There is a separate SKU for the PS5. You can only get the performance you get on the PS5.

Again, there is no PS5 version. It doesn't exist. There is only a PS4 version of this title and a PC version of this title.

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There is a seperate version that specifically hooks into the PS5 hardware to enable a mode that does not exist on the PS4 Pro/5.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

They should learn the native I/O path on PS5 completely bypasses the CPU.

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That would be "leveraging the storage potential" then.

 

[8byte]

It shouldn't be, but you're having difficulty. There is a separate SKU for the PS5. You can only get the performance you get on the PS5.

There is a seperate version that specifically hooks into the PS5 hardware to enable a mode that does not exist on the PS4 Pro/5.

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There is not. There is a patch (that was released on both the PS4 and the PS5) that allows the PS4 software to see it is running on PS5 hardware, and enables use of the extra clock speed to improve the frame rate and provide a more consistent resolutions. The PS5 has 3 BC modes. Running in any of these BC modes does not alter the "version" of the game. It is still a PS4 game, not a separate version, not a separate build, not a separate SKU, nothing. It is the exact same build you would be playing on a PS4, with the same version number, etc. The software can simply identify which console is is playing on, and enables specific features depending on that read out.

 

[Firefly]

It's still a PS4 game. "PS5 version" absolutely suggests it is a PS5 game. It is not. That is an important piece of information to clarify when you're making technical comparisons between two builds of software.

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The PS5 version right now IS the BC version which enables it to run at 60FPS that the PS4 consoles do not. You assume that "PS5 version" means a native running game when DF states its a BC version so it is not misleading in any way. If there was no mention of the game running in BC mode, it could be considered inaccurate.

This is a very strange thing to hold onto.

 

[Koralsky]

Still bummed that these PC ports aren't resulting in a proper PS5 patch as part of the process.

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Bend's patch is excellent for PS5 - they can't do much more under PS4 Pro shell restrictions - they can't use more ram as the game is built is PS4 SDK so they can't update the texture quality (which is not bad on PS5 played on a TV - logically the textures are just better on PC as there aren't any PS4 Pro ram restrictions). They cannot load or stream faster as there are huge IO limitations in BC mode. Based on what Alex mention regarding the source version of the UE4 Bend is using, maybe they can add SSGI to the PS5 through a patch - but that is all they can do in BC mode.

In my opinion, the differences with the PC version are not big enough to justify a native PS5 port - if the game was still 30FPS on PS5 then yes, the native port is a must. But a PS4 Pro IQ with 60FPS is a great way to play the game on a console.

As a fan of the game, I hope it finds a (large) PC audience.

 

[8byte]

The PS5 version right now IS the BC version which enables it to run at 60FPS that the PS4 consoles do not. You assume that "PS5 version" means a native running game when DF states its a BC version so it is not misleading in any way. If there was no mention of the game running in BC mode, it could be considered inaccurate.

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It is still misleading. I'm going to bow out of this conversation, because CLEARLY no one wants to concede that "version" is a very explicit word with very explicit meaning, and you're all pretending it isn't.

There are only two versions of the game, and the comparison here is misleading, again, because they say it is a "PS5 version" and it is not. It is the PS4 version.

 

[Dennis8K]

Great video.

I have been waiting a long time for this PC port.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

There is not. There is a patch (that was released on both the PS4 and the PS5) that allows the PS4 software to see it is running on PS5 hardware, and enables use of the extra clock speed to improve the frame rate and provide a more consistent resolutions. The PS5 has 3 BC modes. Running in any of these BC modes does not alter the "version" of the game.

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Again with this - I literally mentioned in my first reply as I thought it was part of the reason for the response, which you're basically confirmed now. This is a misnomer:

I think part of this ire stems from this misnomer another poster had that games being run in compatibility mode are heavily neutered from accessing PS5 hardware, that they must run at PS4 Pro clocks - I don't think this is true. There is simply no way you would see the performance of some BC titles on the PS5 if this were the case.

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Again, there is no way PS4 titles on the PS5 are restricted to the Pro's 733mhz GPU speed vs the 2133mhz of the PS5, you simply would not be able to get the performance of these games which have received PS5 patches (but not full PS5 versions) if that was the case. That would also mean that native PS5 versions would have their GPU performance almost tripled, I mean the average PS5 title would have rasterization performance at a 3090 if that were the case!

If you're not saying (like one poster did) that it's actually restricted to the Pro's maximum clocks and merely can't 'boost' as high as the PS5 GPU can depending on overall APU thermal/power load with a native title fine - but that does not provide a transformative performance uplift that would make the comparison with this version wholly irrelevant.

It is still a PS4 game, not a separate version, not a separate build, nothing.

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It literally is a separate SKU. You cannot install this version on a PS4 or Pro.
*My bad, it's the same SKU.

 

[Serious Sam]

Video title: Days Gone PC Tech Review: PS5 Comparisons, Settings Analysis + More
Liberal use of "PS5 version" and first mention of backwards compatibility around 7 minute 30 second mark.

I agree with some people here, DF definitely should have done a better job explaining this is a BC title. First half of the video I thought Alex was confused and he actually believe this was native PS5 game. Also some sentences were weird, when talking about graphical setting almost implying that PS5 BC version has improved settings, when it's just PS4 Pro version running at 2x FPS.

 

[McFly]

It literally is a separate SKU. You cannot install this version on a PS4 or Pro.

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Its not a separate sku. It is still the same sku with a bit of code that lets the game know it is running on x hardware and tell the game to increase resolution to x and enable features like unlock framerate when running on PS4, PS4 Pro or PS5 in BC mode.

A separate sku would be a game like Sackboy Adventure and Mile Morales that has 2 separate sku. One for PS4/Pro and another for PS5.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

In my opinion, the differences with the PC version are not big enough to justify a native PS5 port - if the game was still 30FPS on PS5 then yes, the native port is a must. But a PS4 Pro IQ with 60FPS is a great way to play the game on a console.

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I would like to see the GI lighting on the PS5 version sure, but these improvements are all pretty minimal (the textures really have to be zoomed in to see the difference imo, I thought the PS5 patch looked very sharp) the biggest advantage of the PC version (IMO) is one aspect that wasn't covered, which is being able to run at 120+fps. I would have liked to see how consistent that was say, on a 1440p res with a 3090 to see if there are engine/streaming bottlenecks.