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Digital Foundry: Ratchet and Clank PS5 Patch - A Practically Flawless 60FPS Upgrade
- Thread starter chandoog
- Start date
OP
OP
TL;DW
- Ratchet PS2 ran at 60 FPS. The original PS2 game also got a PS3 remaster at higher resolution and also 60 FPS.
- PS4 reboot was 30 FPS with very minor drops. PS4 Pro ran at 1440p + Temporal Injection at 30 FPS.
- Outside of very infrequent 1 frame drops, the game is pretty much locked 60 FPS.
Some context on DF's comment on deriving info from the patch:
it's definitely a newly developed patch, but the patch itself was compiled on a much older SDK version, years older than what the developers have access to now. Implies the games can be upgraded via patches without being on the latest system development builds.
DF does say how it works exactly is a mystery, but that's what they theorize.
- Ratchet PS2 ran at 60 FPS. The original PS2 game also got a PS3 remaster at higher resolution and also 60 FPS.
- PS4 reboot was 30 FPS with very minor drops. PS4 Pro ran at 1440p + Temporal Injection at 30 FPS.
- Outside of very infrequent 1 frame drops, the game is pretty much locked 60 FPS.
Some context on DF's comment on deriving info from the patch:
it's definitely a newly developed patch, but the patch itself was compiled on a much older SDK version, years older than what the developers have access to now. Implies the games can be upgraded via patches without being on the latest system development builds.
DF does say how it works exactly is a mystery, but that's what they theorize.
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i thought it was more of a recreation of the film in game form.
So the system is already cracked? They mentioned they even had a dev kit in the bloodborne video.
I started playing after this patch. This is my first time ever playing any Ratchet & Clank game, but I wanted to try it because Rift Apart looked good.
I was not expecting to be enjoying it this damn much tho. I cannot wait for the next game now.
I was not expecting to be enjoying it this damn much tho. I cannot wait for the next game now.
You're gonna love Rift Apart then cuz IMO Ratchet PS4 is the worst game in the series. And it's still pretty damn good! Has some nagging flaws as a result of trying to remake an old game and tie in to a movie under a tight schedule, but it still looks and plays beautifully.
I held off so long on getting the Platinum for this but now I'm glad I did.
I played probably 75% of the 2016 game before the patch came out on my PS5 and while I enjoyed it greatly the 30 FPS was slightly jarring everytime I would jump from a 60 FPS game like Destiny 2 over to it and took a couple of minutes for my brain to adapt. Playing it post-patch and it's a thing of beauty.
Insomniac are some amazing folks. Day 1 for R&C Rift Apart and I can't wait to see what they're working on next.
Insomniac are some amazing folks. Day 1 for R&C Rift Apart and I can't wait to see what they're working on next.
So this wasn't an Insomniac patch after all? Just a BC hack like Prey etc received on XS?
Loving this. Playing through a new run on Challenge mode and going for the platinum trophy. I plays so well.
They've been an impressive studio for many, many years. It's nice to see them get more widespread recognition after Spider-Man though.
What's crazy is how excellent Insomniac implemented 30fps on the PS4Pro version.
I started playing Ratchet and Clank about a week before the 60fps patch was announced. One of the things that stuck out to me was how smooth it felt at 30fps. Then the 60fps was announced so I decided to run it back for the platinum trophy.
60fps definitely is smoother, but it lacked the wow factor of other games like Demon's Souls.
I started playing Ratchet and Clank about a week before the 60fps patch was announced. One of the things that stuck out to me was how smooth it felt at 30fps. Then the 60fps was announced so I decided to run it back for the platinum trophy.
60fps definitely is smoother, but it lacked the wow factor of other games like Demon's Souls.
I would add platformers to racing games, shooters, sports games and fighting games that should all be 60fps from the get go in design.
It's great to see when they do actually take the time to improve history but it still sucks to see all those other games locked to one platform and also stuck at 30fps.
It's great to see when they do actually take the time to improve history but it still sucks to see all those other games locked to one platform and also stuck at 30fps.
It's a game based on the movie that's loosely based on the original game. It's not a very faithful remake of the original game.
Game this frantic is dreadful at 30fps, too much stuff flying around the screen. Makes my eyes ache.
I didnt understand why he thought games needed to be patched or updated to work on the newer SDK. What devs seem to be doing is unlocking the frame rate for 60hz, whether its on a new SDK or older its doesn't make a difference, since the only upgrade here is the frame rate. BC games dont use the extra power or features of the console, so it doesn't make sense for a patch to be built on a SDK specifically for the PS5.
I don't know, some of those scenes were faithful recreations. Like that bridge in one scene had two holes at the same location like the original.
But I guess it's just some scenes, then.
OP
OP
No it's definitely a newly developed patch, but the patch itself was compiled on a much older SDK version, years older than what the developers have access to now. Implies the games can be upgraded via patches without being on the latest system development builds.
DF does say how it works exactly is a mystery, but that's what they theorize.
That FPS boost possibility is huge news. Hopefully Sony actually capitalizes on it.
There's some story differences which doesn't quite align with how the original trilogy played out with a bunch of new characters and story beats added, some planets removed and added etc, but seeing as the narrative is structured as a retelling of the original by Captain Qwark there's at least a justification for fudging things a bit. As far as gameplay goes many of the levels play out very similarly and lot of them have pretty much identical layouts, but with the gunplay of modern R&C (strafing, levelling system etc) and some weapons from later games.
Not exactly. They still had to patch it in, but basically rather than port it over to work with the current SDK available, it looks to still be using the SDK from back in 2016/2017 and they're potentially performing other methods/checks to work out if the game is running on a PS5 and therefore run at 60fps.
But it means that perhaps other older games could also do the same sort of thing without requiring the time and work to get it working with the current SDK.
This doesn't seem anything like an accurate interpretation of what DF said.
What Richard is saying is that up until now, the assumption (unclear whose assumption) was that PS4 titles getting PS5 patches were either originally built in newer SDKs or were being rebuilt for those newer SDKs, to allow the games to detect that they were running on PS5 and unlock PS5-specific performance modes.
However, Ratchet & Clank was built using an SDK and the patch was created within that same SDK, meaning that there is a method of patching a PS4 game to recognise that it's running on PS5 without rebuilding it for a newer SDK.
No, this is an Insomniac patch.
Nearly half of the original levels are gone and a couple of the ones that remained were changed significantly. Not to mention changes to the story, characters, weapons, etc.
Man, I want so badly to see MS and Sony getting into a war where they try to outdo each other improving last gen's games.
This seems like an incorrect assumption from Rich.
The Series X style FPS Boost is done entirely inside the Direct X layer without touching the underlying code, no dev involvement required. This looks more like the ability to drop in an additional identifier to the older build of the SDK and then remove/change the framecap based on the identifier, which isn't any different from any of the other PS4 frame rate unlocks we've gotten so far.
It'd be nice but what we really need are third parties to get involved (more than they are now). Microsoft's FPS Boost solution is great as an improvement that can happen purely on Microsoft's side, but clearly there's a lot further that those older games can be pushed in terms of performance. Like we have the weird situation where Watch Dogs 2 (to pick one example from the limited set of FPS Boost games) runs at 1800p (reconstructed) at 30FPS on PS5 and 900p at 60FPS on Xbox Series X, when clearly both of those consoles could be running it at 1440p or higher and 60FPS if Ubisoft stepped in.
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They are one of the best. I could argue they are Sony's best. I know I know, Naughty Dog, but compared to the output that Insomniac have, its like no contest. Insomniac are always coming out with something it seems like. I know they may not have a game every single year, but with updates, DLC, patches, etc, it seems like they always keep their name and their IPs in the spotlight. And YES! I agree about Insomniac making a PSVR2 launch or launch window title. They already have made a couple of VR Games for PC and Rift and they are great! They are just so so talented.
Sony got an absolute steal when you look at what they got with Insomniac and add to that the seemingly fantastic price they got them for!
That's what happens when you cut the input lag in half, gameplay is king.
Insomniac have always released games at an incredible pace. It's crazy looking back at their PS3 output. Even the PS4 generation has been great: Ratchet and Clank, Spider Man as well as Miles Morales, Sunset Overdrive, Song of the deep, and a couple vr games just to name a few. They will already have released two games in the first year of the PS5 in a few months. Insanity.
I think Mike's comment about 30fps vs. 60fps as far as sales go was right in the grand scheme of things. With the exception of GTSport, all of Sony's major FP games last-gen ran at 30fps and they were breaking sales record after sales record. R&C2016 is the best selling Ratchet game and Spidey is Insomniac's best selling game ever.
Parts of the design definitely feel dated, but I'm still having a blast. I really misunderstood what this series was. For some reason I had the impression it was an "edgy" kids game. Like Shadow the Hedgehog.
