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Digital Foundry: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Switch Remake - Absolutely Unmissable
- Thread starter chandoog
- Start date
Can't watch now, but do they talk about how to make it run a tad faster, like brainchild?
Internal Download seems the way to go.
Internal Download seems the way to go.
OP
OP
Most of the video is a comparison between the new and old, and all the technical refinements from 2019. Highly recommend a watch.
Some salient point
Dynamic resolution:
- Docked: 1080p to 720p. Indoors mostly 972p, outdoors 720p.
- Portable: 720p indoors, 576p outdoors.
Performance:
- Final game has improved over E3 build, but still has drops. Runs similar to GamesCom build.
- Normal gameplay shows large drops from 60 to 30 FPS.
- The swamp area seems to drop the most. Other areas run much better.
- The game utilizes a double buffered V-Sync, so drops from 60 go down all the way to 30
- Transitioning areas also causes drops, which John theorizes maybe CPU related.
- Portable performance is the same as docked.
Some salient point
Dynamic resolution:
- Docked: 1080p to 720p. Indoors mostly 972p, outdoors 720p.
- Portable: 720p indoors, 576p outdoors.
Performance:
- Final game has improved over E3 build, but still has drops. Runs similar to GamesCom build.
- Normal gameplay shows large drops from 60 to 30 FPS.
- The swamp area seems to drop the most. Other areas run much better.
- The game utilizes a double buffered V-Sync, so drops from 60 go down all the way to 30
- Transitioning areas also causes drops, which John theorizes maybe CPU related.
- Portable performance is the same as docked.
OP
OP
Constant streaming of data into new areas has got to be CPU and bandwidth related. The Switch blows a bit at both, and stuff like this irrespective of the perceived simplicity causes problems. Single area drops and constant resolution changes are interesting though. Sounds like the game is really pushing the CPU hard. Wouldn't be surprised if the DOF is being sampled at a high rate or something beyond what the poor little Switch GPU can handle at 60fps.
Thanks for the runner up I'll see it when I get home but so far I think I'll wait for a patch.
I'd rather have them lock at 30fps and up the res a bit in outdoor areas..
posted in the other thread... the hue change is so gross 🤢
reminds me of the worst parts of dark souls
reminds me of the worst parts of dark souls
Switches biggest issues are the ARM based CPU and the measly 64 bit memory bus. While the GPU improvements on next gen Switch will be nice, they *really* need to up the CPU power and memory bandwidth substantionally.
This game seems to show these 2 shortcomings pretty well, unfortunately. Still looks amazing though!
This game seems to show these 2 shortcomings pretty well, unfortunately. Still looks amazing though!
I disagree.. for this specific Zelda port, don't think occasional frame rate drop is a big deal.
looks great. seems like aside from the swamp framerate issues only pop up during transitions so that's nice. reading all the framerate concerns on here I expected it to be worse but I haven't been keeping up with the game.
The frame drops did not hinder me to enjoy it.
Played it docked and undocked. This game had me hooked even with those small hickups.
Played it docked and undocked. This game had me hooked even with those small hickups.
Really wish this had a 30fps caps. Seems like it would be a lock at 30 and probably higher average res.
In the millions of units already sold?
In the millions of units already sold?
Maybe I just don't have an eye for it, but it's interesting seeing the commentator discuss the severity of the drops vs me actually seeing the video of them. I barely notice them?
Then again I played Xenoblade 2 undocked at times so maybe I'm a glutton for punishment.
Then again I played Xenoblade 2 undocked at times so maybe I'm a glutton for punishment.
hoping for some patches to improve performance, but i wouldn't miss out on this game even if it was 15 fps.
B-but I thought this is a cynical cash-grab with unacceptable performance issues.
'unmissable'.
Duly noted. Can't wait to watch the full analysis later. My copy should be arriving in the mail tomorrow.
Duly noted. Can't wait to watch the full analysis later. My copy should be arriving in the mail tomorrow.
- The game utilizes a double buffered V-Sync, so drops from 60 go down all the way to 30
So what does this mean, what is doubble buffered V-sync and what does it provide?
So what does this mean, what is doubble buffered V-sync and what does it provide?
Does anyone know if this is something that's "patchable"? Or are they pushing the Switch to its limits already?
Great analysis as always, Dark1x
During our tests, the biggest bottlenecks seem to be the RAM/bandwidth.
I have two reasons for believing this:
1. Memory leaks that we've been able to reliable reproduce
2. The render target/framebuffer resetting during loading
It seems that the RAM is unable to handle loading new data without resetting the render target to its resolution before DRS, and that stalls the GPU. That GPU stall is then exacerbated by the double-buffered v-sync. The DRS notices this and comes to the rescue by lowering the resolution of the render target and freeing up memory resources, but that isn't enough to help until storage is done loading into to memory, which is why internal storage helps the issue since loading is faster on internal storage and DRS can recover the framerate sooner.
That's the situation in a nutshell.
During our tests, the biggest bottlenecks seem to be the RAM/bandwidth.
I have two reasons for believing this:
1. Memory leaks that we've been able to reliable reproduce
2. The render target/framebuffer resetting during loading
It seems that the RAM is unable to handle loading new data without resetting the render target to its resolution before DRS, and that stalls the GPU. That GPU stall is then exacerbated by the double-buffered v-sync. The DRS notices this and comes to the rescue by lowering the resolution of the render target and freeing up memory resources, but that isn't enough to help until storage is done loading into to memory, which is why internal storage helps the issue since loading is faster on internal storage and DRS can recover the framerate sooner.
That's the situation in a nutshell.
Thank you! I wonder how much of this is fixable with patches.
Should be 100% fixable because you can simply scale the render target for DRS instead of re-allocating a new render target into memory for DRS which can be less efficient if not handled properly.
Nah, with double-buffering / 60 to 30 drops, pretty missable to me.
At least a 30fps lock should've been added.
At least a 30fps lock should've been added.
Is it UE4?
I'm going to delete this and redownload it on internal memory since that seems to help.
Seems like a logical conclusion, for sure. Almost makes me wish I didn't buy the physical copy.
For real, every fucking game drops fps. I stop noticing after like 5 min
