Season 1 - PS5: Graphical downgrades still not fixed!
Product: Battlefield 2042
Platform:PlayStation 5
Please specify your platform model. Sony PlayStation 5
Are you using any software with an overlay? No
Which part of the game is the issue happening in? Multiplayer
Which part of the mode? Conquest
Please select your region Europe
On which server did this happen?
When did this happen? (dd.mm.yy hh:mm)
Summarize your bug Since launch, the tree, foliage and shadow LOD has been silently downgraded on next-gen consoles after every update iteration (PS5 and Series X specifically) and still not fixed in Season 1 update.
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Try the game for yourself on PS5 and find out that shadows pop-in within 10 meter range and foliage pops-in within 15m range (see provided pictures). There is an insane amount of pop-in in this game on PS5 and Series X, which make the graphics look very bad on the systems. This wasn’t a problem during the BETA as the graphical setting were equivalent to PC High/Ultra. Now the shadows and foliage and terrain are set to Medium/Low while there is still lots of overhead for the hardware.
What happens when the bug occurs? Graphics are set too low on PS5, and there is still plenty of hardware overhead (for all game modes and and maps) This was not an issue during the BETA. Yet, foliage and shadow LOD are GPU bound graphical features, while performance on the PS5 and Series X are mostly CPU bound. As a result the lower LOD did not improve performance in Orbital when compared to the BETA. (Avg FPS 20 min: 59.12 FPS (BETA) vs 59.83 FPS (Launch)
What should be happening instead? Solution: To allow players to enjoy the best of both world, stuttering problems can be solved by introducing a "performance mode" that slightly drops the internal resolution and guarantees 60fps. (All other settings can remain as it is now). The currently available mode can then be called "balanced mode" which aims something in between performance and graphics. (Nothing has to be changed here as it is now on the PS5 and Series X. Based on our testing, a PC equivalent of High, Medium and Low settings are currently used on the PS5 and Series X). For those who love graphics, a "Fidelity mode" can be used that targets a very slightly higher internal resolution and graphical fidelity targeting 45-60fps. Here some graphical settings such as shadow draw distance, terrain and undergrowth quality can set to PC equivalent to ULTRA (as the performance hit between High and ULTRA is roughly around 10% on PC) (All test have been done on a PS5, Series X and PC (12700K, 3080)
Here are the screen shots taken on PS5:
Shadow quality:
Before:
After:
Shadow pop-in within 10m range when player walks forward:
Foliage and terrain quality:
Foliage pop-in with 15m range when player moves forward:
More BETA vs Launch pictures on PS5: