[LTT] Assassin's Creed Black Flag benchmarked

[boxleitnerb]

TXAA looks good. You cannot compare SMAA with TXAA on still images alone. It is much less blurry than in previous games and I hardly notice any aliasing at all - contrary to SMAA which absolutely looks horrible in motion.
Regarding the performance, I doubt you can compare Crysis 3 with AC:BF. Does Crysis 3 have this extensive foliage? AC:BF looks gorgeous and I'm glad that we didn't get an ugly looking console port that runs with 150 fps. My only gripe with this game is that godrays use too much performance. Turn them to medium and you gain like 20% fps. But a patch is incoming that will fix that according to Nvidia.

 

[futurefields]

But, I can't miss the differences in textures, shadows and clarity between PC and PS4.

DICE is one company that does care about PC performance. It's quite clear also with them being more than willing to work with AMD Mantle. They are one of the good guys IMO despite their overpriced gaming model but that is probably more to do with EA than DICE.

I just don't think Ubisoft shares the same sentiment. Assassin's Creed 2 looked god awful on PC, so much texture and geometry pop in. AC Brotherhood looks marginally better. I have heard AC3 runs like crap and this game looks similar. Although one thing to note as well this is still not a real "next-gen" title as the game had to be developed with PS3 and Xbox 360 in mind, which in my opinion makes it a current gen title through and through. You're just getting better looking versions on PS4, Xbone, and PC.

 

[Sable]

?

I've not benchmarked it but it seems to run fine on my system with everything on max. Think I'm using 4x TXAA. God rays on. Is there anyway to benchmark other than frapsing it?

 

[Spidre]

?

I've not benchmarked it but it seems to run fine on my system with everything on max. Think I'm using 4x TXAA. God rays on. Is there anyway to benchmark other than frapsing it?

Can you take a screen shot of your settings? I don't know why but I have mine on even lower with choppy play.

 

[Carfax83]

BF4 also plays at a super high framerate on the PS4 @ 1080p. That said, I also played BF4 on the XB1 and it looked much worse than the PS4 version - the difference was not subtle either. Clearly the PS4 is much more capable than the XB1.

BF4 runs at 900p on the PS4, and judging by the Eurogamer comparison, the Xbox One output looks sharper and crisper..

 

[Carfax83]

TXAA looks good. You cannot compare SMAA with TXAA on still images alone. It is much less blurry than in previous games and I hardly notice any aliasing at all - contrary to SMAA which absolutely looks horrible in motion

This times 100! :thumbsup:

I used to be against TXAA because of the blur, but honestly, the blur is really unnoticeable in these latest games that use it. The only way for me to detect the blur is to see it in comparison shots.

But using still images to judge the merits of TXAA is foolhardy to say the least, because after playing with TXAA in AC IV, I can honestly say the game look MUCH better with it on.

It's FAR superior to SMAA and MSAA.. It's difficult to appreciate it until you see what you're missing by turning it off.. With TXAA, the game looks so clean, as to be film like..

 

[StrangerGuy]

That's the point I am making. You can add ABCDE features you mentioned but the game doesn't look next generation and runs like an unpolished turd. To hit a minimum 30 fps you need an HD7970GE/770 and FX-4300 3.8ghz but a PS4 with a weak 1.6ghz Jaguar CPU and a GPU slightly faster than HD7850 2GB is locked at 30 fps at 1080P.

You need an $800-1000 290s/780s to hit 60 fps at 1600P in this game. This is just insane. This is a straight up current generation title, not next generation PC game and it's owning $500 GPUs. This is not a knock against this title per say but a general trend lately. Games like AC:BF and COD Ghosts are horribly unoptimized on GPU hardware 3-4x faster than PS4. Next gen console games should be made on the PC and then ported back to PS4/XB1. This will allow better PC game code optimization. Clearly, the awful performance of these 2 titles reflects that they were made primarily for consoles first, and for PS360 ones too.

Sure, they improved a lot compared to AC3 but that's not saying much since that port was utter trash. There should not be a single cross-platform title not made for the PC first out right now that needs GTX780 SLI/R9 290s to hit 60 fps at 1600P. We are talking about launch PS4/XB1 games. If this level of PC console port optimization continues, can you imagine what would happen with 2015 PS4 console ports on a card like 780? What are we talking 25-30 fps at 1080P?

This is what I has been saying over here for the past year. But too bad most just close their eyes to the atrocious IQ/hardware ratio but instead only focus about their precious FPS and Green vs Red while letting the game devs teaming up with the GPU makers to rape their wallets.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

?

I've not benchmarked it but it seems to run fine on my system with everything on max. Think I'm using 4x TXAA. God rays on. Is there anyway to benchmark other than frapsing it?

Same. I have a gtx780TI and at 1200P its smooth as silk with every option maxed (even if I use SMAAx8. Wasn;t that way originally but Ubisoft released a patch which improved performance and forcing vsync through the driver helped immensely.

 

[krumme]

Looks good to me.

So scraps with lipstick looks good to you?

The dynamics of COD is an exploding gaz station and fish in water

High quality textures with no substance. The easy and cheap way, but stupid and ineffective way, and thats why performance is bad for no experience in return.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

BF4 runs at 900p on the PS4, and judging by the Eurogamer comparison, the Xbox One output looks sharper and crisper..

I don't think you read that article. They said the Xbox one was worse.

 

[Big Boss]

What saddens me most about this is that it likely means that Watch Dogs will suffer a similar fate and be unplayable on my system... I'm never buying an Ubisoft game again if that happens.

I was about to post the exact same thing. The positive is that they delayed it for optimization purposes so there's that but the final result remains to be seen. Put me in the skeptics category.

Right now I'm running at the Nvidia experience recommended settings, which is awful FXAA, and it seems very choppy. I am used to 120fps, so it might not be as bad as I'm making it out to be, but I also had to turn on V-sync to get rid of an awful amount of screen tearing. In just about every other game I run with v-sync off and don't notice tearing at all.

It may not be horribly optimized 'for a port', but is that really saying much? I really don't think this game should be used for benchmarking at all unless both video drivers and game drivers can greatly improve performance.

How does V-sync makes the game run for you ? Because it makes things feel very sluggish here. It's much more smooth without it but then it's tearing paradise...

 

[OCNewbie]

I got this game with a GTX 780 I purchased. I was thinking about selling it, but I've been seeing mostly good reviews of it, so I may just keep it.

 

[Carfax83]

I don't think you read that article. They said the Xbox one was worse.

Actually I did read it:

However, this doesn't tell the whole story. As you may notice in our screengrabs, the actual results on PS4 lack the corresponding level of crystal clarity we'd expect of such a significant resolution boost. This should surely be a home run for Sony's console, but what is likely to be a software-based upscale to 1080p delivers less-than-stellar returns, and for better or worse leaves the Xbox One with an often crisper looking, albeit much more aliased image.

 

[Carfax83]

How does V-sync makes the game run for you ? Because it makes things feel very sluggish here. It's much more smooth without it but then it's tearing paradise...

In game V-sync is bugged, and locks the frame rate to 30.

Disable it and use the driver control panel option instead.

 

[Pandora's Box]

Running smooth at 1440P max'd out with 2xTXAA. Can't wait for that second 780 Ti to come in though. frame rate is hovering around 50fps, would prefer 60 so I can turn on vsync and crank the TXAA to 4x.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Actually I did read it:

Why do reviewers do that crap. Countless times saying ps4 looks better and then one sentence at the end that goes against what they said throughout the article....

 

[MrK6]

How do graphics that suck that much run so poorly? It's pathetic.

 

[boxleitnerb]

How do graphics that suck that much run so poorly? It's pathetic.

Please point out where the graphics of AC4 suck. The lighting, the vegetation, the water, the animations are all gorgeous.

 

[Spidre]

How does V-sync makes the game run for you ? Because it makes things feel very sluggish here. It's much more smooth without it but then it's tearing paradise...

The delay is a little noticeable, but it still feels choppy with the in-game V-sync turned on. I'll try out the control panel V-sync, but I feel like with my 780ti I should be running higher settings at 1080p...

 

[f1sherman]

Anyone feels that the combat is less fluid? Almost to a point that it seems unresponsive sometimes?
Is that because it's more difficult and more prone to timing errors; less streamlined?

As for TXAA - Town/Jungle setting makes this game almost a perfect poster child. Because of huge amount of horizontal/vertical lines + lush animated vegetation.
My only gripe with graphics is occasional AO flickering. Nothing on Far Cry 3 level, but still noticeable.

Xbox One vs PC video:
Download (493MB)

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/spiele/2013/assassins-creed-4-black-flag-im-test/4/

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/assassins-creed-iv-black-flag-graphics-and-performance-guide

 

[Aithos]

This is not true at all. Every AC game i've played ran well, but AMD tends to have issues in AC games since they're generally TWIMTBP games. Specifically, I remember CFX never really working properly in AC 2 or AC: Brotherhood, but this was long ago with 7970s. Not sure if that changed. Heck, no AC game prior to AC III had any DX11 features, so have you really played all of the AC games? I mean, most of those games could be run on low end cards with no problem. I can't think of any older AC game that didn't play really well with great framerates so your statement "AC games have always run terribly" is a non factual one, because every AC game has in fact run really well. AC3 and AC4 were the first games to introduce high end GPU features, but those are scalable features which you can turn off for better performance.

Of course if you want to tank your framerate with TXAA or 8X MSAA, you have that option. But any reasonable person will just use FXAA and happily play at a solid 60 fps through the entire game(s). Again -the game is scalable. If you want good performance, that isnt' a problem. If you want to tank your performance or if you have SLI 780ti's, use 4x TXAA. As far as these benchmarks, they've more or less maxed the game out - when you use realistic AA settings it runs fantastic. Pretty much I never dip below 60 fps in AC IV, and that's with a single card.

Hmm, I *do* have SLI 780ti's and I was running 4x TXAA just fine

 

[f1sherman]

AC games have always run terribly on PC relative to hardware.

Wow that's crazy. Original AC is among the best optimized games. Ever!
After that AC graphics has stagnated somewhat.

Brotherhood has raised CPU req., which commonly causes masses to go OMG LOW FPS MY PC PLAYS CRYSIS 60FPS

AC4 brings top-notch graphics/animation albeit with a price.
AC graphics was never about "modern" eye-bleeding shaders. If that's your thing you might want to stick with Crysis/BF.

 

[Stuka87]

Actually I did read it:

No AA often does make things look sharper. Since the point of AA is to remove aliasing.

The Xbox runs at 720P with no AA. It is not going to look better than 900P with AA.

Although most people only notice the color pallet differences as they just don't know what to look for.

Screen shots really show the difference when you look at text written on signs and such, or any wires and the like that typically need AA to look decent.

 

[MrK6]

Please point out where the graphics of AC4 suck. The lighting, the vegetation, the water, the animations are all gorgeous.

Are you serious are trolling? ...I can't even tell. The shaders are flat, look circa ~2007-2008, the models are low polygon, and the draw distance is pathetic. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a game that had fog that close to the player. Also the textures look good on the models but are very low res in other areas. It's a console port, I realize, but it runs very poorly, especially compared to other games in the series besides AC3.

EDIT: Straight for the source: http://www.videogamer.com/pc/assass..._ac4_pc_optimisation_proud_of_pc_version.html

 

[Sable]

Can you take a screen shot of your settings? I don't know why but I have mine on even lower with choppy play.

I;ve done a fraps. Not great frame rate it seems but it plays fine, no chop.

Frames	 Time (ms)	 Min	 Max	 Avg
15833	320504	         27	 64	 49.4

edit:

Okay, I don;t think god rays were on high for that bench. Just tried it again and the average dropped to 40.

Just to check I dropped a few settings to see what sort of frame rate I'd get.

With these settings I get much better lows, same max and vaguely better average. I'm not entirely sure vsync off is working.

Frames	 Time (ms)	 Min	 Max	 Avg
18523	335074	          42	  64	55.28

edit2:

And the game looks like ass with those settings.