Support NeoGAF

[RagnarokIV]

We've mentioned before that Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is a crucial port for the PC platform, primarily because the game is built from the ground up around the concept of exploiting a games machine with access to a state of the art storage solution, the low-level APIs to get the most out of it, along with dedicated silicon to decompress assets on the fly without needing to bother the CPU. Now the game is here and while developer Nixxes has done the heavy lifting and basically solved the storage challenge, a number of issues remain that we hope to see cleaned up via patches in the coming days and weeks.

We received code for this relatively late, so our deep dive review coverage is still work-in-progress, but we have put together a detailed 'let's play' video that shows three members of the Digital Foundry team playing the game on three very different pieces of hardware. I played on a max spec PC, featuring a Core i9 12900K paired with an RTX 4090 and 32GB of fast DDR5, while Rich Leadbetter enjoyed the min spec experience: a Ryzen 3 3100 working in concert with 8GB of DDR4, while an RX 570 4GB is essentially the min spec RX 470 4GB with a circa 100MHz overclock. Meanwhile, John Linneman defined the baseline experience, running on PlayStation 5 in performance RT mode - our preferred way to play.

I'm not going to spoil too much of the video, but one of the prime takeaways is that some stutter issues apart (which may be down to the Radeon driver, but looks more like a CPU bottleneck), the minimum spec system works fairly well. Despite running at 720p on 'very low' settings, the game is still recognisably Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, just with a significant detail haircut and very, very low resolution textures. Performance varies between 30fps and 60fps, but again, it does seem like running the RX 570 at 720p causes CPU bottlenecks. The issue we found with this card is that the 4GB of framebuffer memory proved unstable in the build we first had - and crashes were possible simply by moving from the very low to low preset.

All of which leads us onto one of the more inane discussion points we've seen: the fact that the game runs on slower machines with no SSD when Insomniac claimed that the SSD was essential for the game they'd created. First of all, the difference between the console experience and the 'very low' setting is frankly immense in terms of data transfer. Secondly, the comment was likely made in relation to the other development platform available to them, the PlayStation 4. In the video you'll witness the carnage of what happens when you try to run Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart on a launch PS4 512GB HDD - even the very low setting doesn't work and the game eventually crashes. The point is that to make the game work across as many PCs as possible, Nixxes did what Insomniac did not need to: necessarily, they scaled the game by introducing quality presets and in common with Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, that includes increasing fidelity for higher-end systems and reducing it where needed.

Nixxes uses the GPU-accelerated DirectStorage 1.2 as its API of choice for handling the task of replicating PlayStation 5's storage strengths, but there has been some confusion about how it is deployed in the wake of reported comments describing how it's only used on higher graphical settings, the implication being that lower settings use the CPU instead. Having talked to Nixxes about it, the reality is that both CPU and GPU decompression are used on different classes of assets.

So, larger assets such as textures are in the GDeflate format and they all decompressed using the GPU, without exception. Smaller assets, like some models and very small textures (at the end of the mip chain) are compressed with LZ4 and decompress on the CPU instead. The end result is a scalable system that works across a range of PC set-ups and can even operate on a hard drive too - albeit with notable pauses on the portal jumps.

Can Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart on PC match - and exceed - the PS5 experience?

Digital Foundry shares first impressions on an eagerly awaited port.

www.eurogamer.net

DF article is up! Let's go!

EDIT:
re: running on HDD

 

[Gaiff]

That was fast...

Edit: 1 hour, come on, DF.

 

[RagnarokIV]

adamsapple my first time to tag you!

 

[adamsapple]

adamsapple my first time to tag you!

I appreciate the tag but its an hour long video lol. I'm respectfully gonna bow out.

The article has a good summary of some areas the Pc version lacks in.

Maxed out, there are a number of inexplicable graphical regressions you'll see in the video. There are missing transparency effects present on PS5, but absent on the maxed PC experience. We also noted incorrect opacity levels, non-working texture filtering on some surfaces and even texture loading issues, where the PS5-grade asset simply never loaded on the PC game. There are ray tracing consistency problems where the maxed experience can have some areas that are of a lower quality than PS5, while driver issues have seen Nixxes completely remove RT support for AMD owners - for now. I've even had issues with my gamepad where X and Y axes invert on their own for no reason. I'd also expect to see some improvement in streaming performance: right now, the portal transition process does indeed complete more quickly on PlayStation 5 than it does on the most high-end PC around.

All of these issues give the impression that - once again - a PC port has launched when it's not in a fully polished state.

 

[Topher]

"The end result is a scalable system that works across a range of PC set-ups and can even operate on a hard drive too - albeit with notable pauses on the portal jumps."

 

[Warnen]

 

[Gaiff]

All of these issues give the impression that - once again - a PC port has launched when it's not in a fully polished state.

 

[Catphish]

Was looking forward to playing this until BG3 next week. Looks like I might be waiting for a sale instead.

 

[genesisblock]

"The end result is a scalable system that works across a range of PC set-ups and can even operate on a hard drive too - albeit with notable pauses on the portal jumps."

Alright boys, that's a wrap. Anyone expecting magic DirectStorage to compensate for SSD speed is fooling themselves.

 

[Kilau]

So the PS5 version (settings) really isn’t possible on a mechanical drive?

 

[Gaiff]

So the PS5 version (settings) really isn’t possible on a mechanical drive?

With stutters and hiccups, as anyone with even a modicum of knowledge would have guessed.

 

[mansoor1980]

sata ssd stutters at the rift sequence at 720p min settings on low spec PC

the power of the ps5 SSD is real

 

[RagnarokIV]

I appreciate the tag but its an hour long video lol. I'm respectfully gonna bow out.

The article has a good summary of some areas the Pc version lacks in.

I'm just teasing you haha.

 

[Gaiff]

Trying it and it runs flawlessly so far. It's smooth as butter. Not a single hitch or shader compilation problem.

 

[RagnarokIV]

So the PS5 version (settings) really isn’t possible on a mechanical drive?

If you appreciate a playable, smooth game then no.

 

[TheRedRiders]

Curious to see how the "It can play fine on a HDD" group are going to spin this.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

 

[Kilau]

Curious to see how "It can play fine on a HDD" group are going to spin this.

At about 7200rpm.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Another one worthy waiting for patches and discounts.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I’m in the process of watching this, but the fact that this can run on a 2GB GPU is staggering. Just incredible.

 

[mansoor1980]

textures look slightly worse on PC , even on a 4090 with a fast CPU and SSD

much worse if you zoom in

there it is folks, ps5 SSD myth is real

 

[M.W.]

 

[64bitmodels]

So it can run on an HDD.... but it only runs. Just not well

It is a launch PS4 HDD, though. My question is how it will fare on PCIE Gen3 SSDs as that's what i use.

 

[Zones]

 

[ChiefDada]

I'm only ~25% in the video but I have got to say their methodology for comparisons is so ridiculous. Why not compare PS5 in the fidelity mode if you're using max presets on PC? These guys can be so weird sometimes.

 

[ssringo]

That's cool. Kinda interested in how the Deck performs since they got it verified.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

All the MFs that said Insomniac were lying when they said that an SSD was required to get this game running at an acceptable level have eggs on their faces now. It's a 720p stuttry mess without an SSD. I don't know about you guys but that's unplayable for me.

I haven't bought it for PC but eventually I will since it's one of my favorite games on my PS5. I wanna see how it runs on my 4090 PC. Insomniac are one of the best devs in the industry and the people who keep doubting when they make statements always end up with eggs on their faces

 

[Gaiff]

The port isn't perfect but it's pretty damn good so far. Performance is solid but most importantly, smooth. Though that's on a 13900K/4090 system which also ran TLOUII acceptably lol.

 

[Hudo]

What if I install it on my ramdisk?

 

[ShakenG]

Can see this thread being good reading material for days to come.

 

[GreatnessRD]

Curious to see how the "It can play fine on a HDD" group are going to spin this.

Really odd that they would allow this to be ran on a HDD. Sounds like it would be an insanely horrible time in 2023.

 

[gooner4life_uk]

No, PS5 the GOAT

 

[TheRedRiders]

Really odd that they would allow this to be ran on a HDD. Sounds like it would be an insanely horrible time in 2023.

4D chess move by Jim Ryan and Mark Cerny to shut up the SSD naysayers.

 

[Black_Stride]

Ryzen 3 3100.......4 cores.....45 dollars.
RX 570..........4GB VRAM.......50 dollars.

And his name is Nixxes.

 

[Anchovie123]

HDD rifts oof

 

[MikeM]

Well… there it is.

I'm only ~25% in the video but I have got to say their methodology for comparisons is so ridiculous. Why not compare PS5 in the fidelity mode if you're using max presets on PC? These guys can be so weird sometimes.

Maybe an Alex video.

 

[Three]

"In the video you'll witness the carnage of what happens when you try to run Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart on a launch PS4 512GB HDD - even the very low setting doesn't work and the game eventually crashes."

Well at least we can shut up about that now.

 

[64bitmodels]

All the MFs that said Insomniac were lying when they said that an SSD was required to get this game running at an acceptable level have eggs on their faces now.

Consider me egged because i was wrong

 

[Midn1ght]

Didn't watch the whole thing yet but didn't like what I saw on the short 2070 Super clip they've shown (From 13:47 to 14:37).

At 1080p on medium with DLSS Dynamic, the game runs at 60 but has dips when going through portals and had a huge dip/stutter when entering the new world (No idea if the framerate takes a short dive on PS5 as well when going through portals). To be fair, he went through many portals during that sequence and the big dip/stutter only happened once so it might be rare. Will keep watching but I'll need to see more test on mid range systems.

 

[Gaiff]

Consider me egged because i was wrong

You were expecting it to run fine on an HDD?

 

[Rentahamster]

Oof, those PS4 HDD framerates. I'm curious to see how it runs with an HDD on a decent spec PC.

Fake edit: Seems like John already tested that.

 

[64bitmodels]

You were expecting it to run fine on an HDD?

Yeah. Assumed the whole thing was all marketing

 

[Kataploom]

Alright boys, that's a wrap. Anyone expecting magic DirectStorage to compensate for SSD speed is fooling themselves.

The second fastest SSD in the market which isn't even expensive is like 40% faster than ps5 SSD. The fastest is almost 300% faster, what are you talking about? Ps5 SSD alone isn't even too fast, people actually get off the shelf SSD to put it in the console

 

[Gaiff]

Yeah. Assumed the whole thing was all marketing

It probably runs fine on a basic bitch SATA SSD but even this is like 10x the speed of a regular HDD.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Me

Medium settings strikes again.

 

[twilo99]

Curious to see how the "It can play fine on a HDD" group are going to spin this.

How do we know the devs didn’t do a poor job with the HDD implementation?

 

[Black_Stride]

Yeah. Assumed the whole thing was all marketing

With 16 or more GB of VRAM and a decent CPU an HDD gets the job done.

8GB of RAM and a 50 dollar 4 core CPU from a million years ago.....the experience isnt great obviously.

 

[Pedro Motta]

I hope this puts this SSD shit to rest, and all the morons that didn't believe it.

 

[Senua]

15 mins in and zoning out already. These videos are just nowhere near the level of their properly produced analysis pieces. Them going off script is just awkward, especially Alex lol. Dysarthria up the tuccus

 

[tmlDan]