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Digital Foundry - [4K] Horizon Zero Dawn In-Depth Tech Analysis

Wouldn't having no global illumination mean that shadowed would be pitch black? Also wouldn't metals be pitch black in areas where there is no direct lighting without some form of global illumination (indirect specular).

Well, this could just not have 'localised' global illumination. So it probably does use some very rough world capture to make it so shadows are not black and the shadowed face of specular objects are properly lit with the generic world colour at a specific time of day. But what it does not have, as what John was probably hinting at, would be a localised GI with directionality. So for example with local light directionality, you have a light coming into a dark hut, this would then cause local bounce from the opening, close to it and following the direction of the bounce light. Or you have light hitting the bottom of an overhang rock face, and the bottom of this rock face would have localised light reflected up to it from below. I would imagine that the way it is done in this title is a lot coarser and lacks directionality, so you would not get large effects like light bouncing around a corner or indirect shadows, and objects in shadow have a rather uniform indirect light affecting them.
.......
One thing that is super awesome about the global volumetric lighting in this game is that it actually is done, seemingly at least, via medium. That means there is no global value that applies everywhere and volumetric light shafts are uniform accross the game scape. Rather the volumetrics apply in different density and pockets: so stuff like low valley fog will have volumetric light shafts, while other world areas will scarcely have any (as there is less dense atmosphere to scatter through).

Take a look at this screenshot (if someone had a better screen of the effect, I would be grateful):
volumetric_valleyfog81kgg.png


Notice how the area above the valley fog, yet below the mountains has very diffuse fog shadows (scarcely any from the moon behind the mountain). Yet the fog in the valley in the tree line (bottom left) has localised and very obvious fog shadows, due to increased atmospheric density there.

I am a big fan of this!
 
I just wanted to know if the enhanced shadow maps and better anisotropic filtering are exclusive to the 1080p which has increased FPS or are general on PS4 PRO.
 

Gurish

Member
So is there a huge gap here between the Pro version and OG?

DF seems really focused on the Pro version and it gives me that feeling like OG is not the "real" one and that I'm missing out on how the game is supposed to look :(
 
All the tech analyses don't mention HDR part of the game. HDR is treated differently across games while some shine in it while the others don't use it correctly. Horizon is released when HDR is no longer an early adoption tech and I presume its implementation surpasses those of previously released games which didn't integrate it in their source code before their launch but just after the feature was added on PS4. I hope more tech analyses will talk about this feature in the future.
 

Carn82

Member
Seems there is a 1.02 patch?

Patch 1.01

Added options to switch graphics mode and HDR rendering
Multiple crash and progression fixes
Various performance improvements

Patch 1.02

Multiple crash and progression fixes
Various fixes to avoid player getting stuck
Updated visual settings
Performance improvements
 
Seems there is a 1.02 patch?

Patch 1.01

Added options to switch graphics mode and HDR rendering
Multiple crash and progression fixes
Various performance improvements

Patch 1.02

Multiple crash and progression fixes
Various fixes to avoid player getting stuck
Updated visual settings
Performance improvements

I see: the other mode will even pack even better visuals.
To 1080p with better graphics and increased FPS or to 2160p (checkerboard) for better IQ. Tough choice to make.

What will PRO owners choose? Your decisions?
 

tci

Member
Judge lip sync is weird because original audio isn't English.
I always find it strange that lip sync have not been following Half Life 2's example with Source. They did lip sync based on the wave file present. So it would sync no matter what languages used.
 

Luigiv

Member
Wouldn't having no global illumination mean that shadowed would be pitch black? Also wouldn't metals be pitch black in areas where there is no direct lighting without some form of global illumination (indirect specular).

In real life or a 100% scientifically accurate lighting simulation, yes. In a video game, no. Lighting models used in games aren't even remotely that complex. This sort of very basic "indirect light" is achieved through much simpler means (such as a uniform ambient lighting value that effects all surfaces evenly until modified).
 

i-Lo

Member
So there's a new 20 minutes long in depth video which I want to watch but am unsure as to amount is spoiler there is. Anyone got any input pertaining to that?

Thanks.
 

danowat

Banned
So there's a new 20 minutes long in depth video which I want to watch but am unsure as to amount is spoiler there is. Anyone got any input pertaining to that?

Thanks.

None, as far as I could make out.

Failing that, just listen to it?
 
So there's a new 20 minutes long in depth video which I want to watch but am unsure as to amount is spoiler there is. Anyone got any input pertaining to that?

Thanks.

I watched a little bit. Personally, I would leave it until after you have played the game. No story spoilers obviously, but a lot of exposure for the environments. It is so close now.
 
Game in its pre-release form on Pro already looks absolutely amazing. I was actually about to sacrifice Horizon and pass it over until a sale later, but the positive reviews and some in-depth looks at the game like this actually paint it as a game that more strongly aligns with my preferences. I say that specifically as someone who has never really been impressed with Guerrilla Games titles at a gameplay level before -- Horizon, like all the Killzone games before, looked great technically from the get-go, but I held a long standing worry that it would be really bland in its narrative and extremely forgettable in its gameplay... But, I like the recent Far Cry games and the Tomb Raider reboot games and it seems like this game has a good amount in common with those as a basic point of reference, but I'm glad a few trusted sources like Giant Bomb are weighing in positively with the story, too.

Massive hype all of a sudden. This is shaping up to be yet another title that comes out and kind of goes against my negative expectations -- most recently, The Last Guardian and Resident Evil VII both qualified for the same thing, and I loved both of those.
 

nOoblet16

Member
I always find it strange that lip sync have not been following Half Life 2's example with Source. They did lip sync based on the wave file present. So it would sync no matter what languages used.
Uh isnt that what most games use anyway. For cutscenes they would often also fine tune it just like face expression captured from an actor needs refiNing. I don't know how that works across different languages though.
 

nOoblet16

Member
Wouldn't having no global illumination mean that shadowed would be pitch black? Also wouldn't metals be pitch black in areas where there is no direct lighting without some form of global illumination (indirect specular).
The game probably does use some form of global GI perhaps using precomputed lightprobes as seen in Farcry, Watch Dogs and a lot of other games. It's not strictly real time as how the light should bounce is already computed offline but what part receives this bounce is done in real time as the probes adjust and move across in real time according to ToD...if that makes sense. Quantum Break is kind of more advanced than this and is so far the most advanced example of "real time GI" we have in a game so far.

The other option is going fully offline for local and global GI like AC Unity but it also means no dynamic ToD.
 

Ahasverus

Member
The game probably does use some form of global GI perhaps using precomputed lightprobes as seen in Farcry, Watch Dogs and a lot of other games. It's not strictly real time as how the light should bounce is already computed offline but what part receives this bounce is done in real time as the probes adjust and move across in real time according to ToD...if that makes sense. Quantum Break is kind of more advanced than this and is so far the most advanced example of "real time GI" we have in a game so far.

The other option is going fully offline for local and global GI like AC Unity but it also means no dynamic ToD.
AC Unity still has the best lightning this gen imo. Don't know why it hasben't been implemented more.
 

Wollan

Member
That patch is just a bone for the curious. Why would anyone want to play it in unlocked mode on a fixed 30/60 screen ugh.

edit: Though the patch does detail a performance improvement. And bug fixes are always welcome.
 

Blackthorn

"hello?" "this is vagina"
That patch is just a bone for the curious. Why would anyone want to play it in unlocked mode on a fixed 30/60 screen ugh.
Oh I didn't know that's all it was. I was hoping for a 1080p + extras mode like ROTR.

Unlocked will be great for future proofing if the PS5 is backwards compatible though.
 

YawZah

Neo Member
Overall, though, there really isn't that much to complain about here, this is a very polished game and Horizon is an remarkable title not only for continuing to uphold Guerilla's tradition of producing technical astounding games but also for delivering big time on the game part. This is without a doubt the best game Guerilla has crafted to date. It plays like a dream, the narrative and world design are engaging, and it looks incredible. A real triumph all around. We may not be in the business of actually reviewing games here at Digital Foundry, but I have to recommend this one.

Pretty big praise from DF. Kojima and Guerilla working together could produce something really special going forward.
 

Tyaren

Member
It wasn't yet specified what that additional Pro mode is, right? Probably a 1080p mode with higher framerate and some additional visual enhancements?

I just got confirmation that my Limited Edition will arrive tomorrow by the way, so I'll know soon. :)
 

PaulLFC

Member
Looks absolutely fantastic. Hopefully there's a quick fix for the surround sound speech bug, that sounds like it'd be distracting.
 

dr guildo

Member
Apc34v2.gif


DF's Time lapse and this video have confirmed a purchase for me, I can't pass up a game this beautiful and detailed.

Indeed, DF's Timelapse convinced me that HZD is the best visual showcase that the PS4 has to offer, over UC4.
I felt off my chair when I saw their timeplapse, it was mesmerizing !
 

danowat

Banned
I'll be honest, I am just looking forward to see the tech work in person, technicalities, especially the GPU proc gen thing fascinate me.

The fact that it's a good gameplay experience is a nice bonus!
 
Can we get some gifs of the robot close ups mah god they look so damn good, they really have that stylized industrial design that Guerilla is known for.
 

Carn82

Member
Patch is out or not? Where are these patch notes from?

Got them from here:
http://www.psx-sense.nl/267328/horizon-zero-dawn-day-one-patch-is-live-hier-de-changelog/

translated:

Today Guerrilla Games released the day one patch for Horizon: Zero Dawn. It's a combination of patch 1.01 & patch 1.02. The total downloadsize is around 227.3MB which will be downloaded and installed as a single file.

The game's update history mentions the following changes:

Patch 1.01

Added options to switch graphics mode and HDR rendering
Multiple crash and progression fixes
Various performance improvements

Patch 1.02

Multiple crash and progression fixes
Various fixes to avoid player getting stuck
Updated visual settings
Performance improvements
 
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