Sony Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PC port from Nixxes) - Digital Foundry technical analysis posted

[best3444]

Man, I played for a few more hours today and this is a wonderful videogame. It never gets monotonous or boring and the pace is terrific. I actually want to see what happens next.

 

Plus, the graphics are just so mesmerizing that it keeps me glued to the TV. Those with the high end machines must be floored. I'm so glad I gave this game another shot because it's AAA.

[stepee]

Welcome to what I was saying in 21 everyone 

[best3444]

Just now, stepee said:

Welcome to what I was saying in 21 everyone 

 

Yea. I should have listened to you back when I initially bought my PS5. I think I was overwhelmed with too many games to try that I never sat down to really focus on it. Now that it's a dry spell I'm soaking it in and having so much fun with it.

[stepee]

5 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Yea. I should have listened to you back when I initially bought my PS5. I think I was overwhelmed with too many games to try that I never sat down to really focus on it. Now that it's a dry spell I'm soaking it in and having so much fun with it.

Glad you finally gave it a chance. I think it’s a great story, fun as hell, and of course it’s insanely good looking and REALLY pops on oled. I mean, it’s Insomniac, baller games is what they do (besides fuse, but something weird must have happened there)

[best3444]

2 minutes ago, stepee said:

Glad you finally gave it a chance. I think it’s a great story, fun as hell, and of course it’s insanely good looking and REALLY pops on oled. I mean, it’s Insomniac, baller games is what they do (besides fuse, but something weird must have happened there)

 

Omg does it pop on my oled. Most scenes I stare and look around at the environments and texture detail before moving along. 

 

Yes, the characters are great but imo Rivet steals the show. She kicks so much ass.

[Spork3245]

I think the problem with trying to compare PS5 to PC performance right now is that there’s clearly and obviously “something” going on with the RT performance. Sure, it runs fine for me and people with high end cards, but there were and still are some visual oddities, and it can’t even run on AMD GPUs yet, despite PS5 having an AMD GPU.  
 

Also, IMO, the best way to play on PS5 is in the VRR/40fps mode if you have it available.

[Spork3245]

BTW, at 4k with frame gen and DLAA (not DLSS) I’m getting 100-110fps consistently. If I switch to DLSS Quality, I get 135-145fps. However, with DLSS Quality, forcing VSync in the nvidia control center causes two odd things: firstly, my fps seems to lock at 116 instead of 119/120 like other games, secondly, I noticed that loads seem a little slower with vsync on vs off: it’s very noticeable when menus are loading when first booting and when exiting the game, but for actual file loads: when loading my actual game file without forced vsync it loads up the game in around 1.5-2 seconds, with vsync forced it’s more like 3.5-4 seconds (obviously not a big deal for the initial file load, but still odd). When tons of transitions are occurring without vsync forced it’s smooth and just like PS5, with vsync forced it’s mostly smooth but will occasionally have a brief hang or stutter between transitions.

[Ominous]

3 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

BTW, at 4k with frame gen and DLAA (not DLSS) I’m getting 100-110fps consistently. If I switch to DLSS Quality, I get 135-145fps. However, with DLSS Quality, forcing VSync in the nvidia control center causes two odd things: firstly, my fps seems to lock at 116 instead of 119/120 like other games, secondly, I noticed that loads seem a little slower with vsync on vs off: it’s very noticeable when menus are loading when first booting and when exiting the game, but for actual file loads: when loading my actual game file without forced vsync it loads up the game in around 1.5-2 seconds, with vsync forced it’s more like 3.5-4 seconds (obviously not a big deal for the initial file load, but still odd). When tons of transitions are occurring without vsync forced it’s smooth and just like PS5, with vsync forced it’s mostly smooth but will occasionally and have a brief hang or stutter between transitions.

Whats your max refresh rate? Have you tried forcing a fps cap a few fps below your max refresh rate and keeping vsync off and letting gsync do it's thing? 

[Spork3245]

3 minutes ago, Ominous said:

Whats your max refresh rate? Have you tried forcing a fps cap a few fps below your max refresh rate and keeping vsync off and letting gsync do it's thing? 

4k 120hz is my max - I can do 144hz but my monitor uses Choma Subsampling (it’s pre-DSC) to achieve it so it looks like ass if I use the “OC mode” (it’s a PG27UQ). In other games using frame gen + forced vsync is perfect. I’m just using 4k DLAA which is native 4k with only the AA from DLSS instead of an upscale, GSync’d 100fps is fine  

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

also this game seems to so what Jedi Survivor did when changing graphical settings. Each time leaving the menu after making changes the fps drop. I kept playing with settings and eventually dropped a few to medium and after all my back and forth my fps was down in the 20s. Quit out of the game and went back and my fps was in the low 70s. 
 

could be I noticed it more because of only 8GB of VRAM. 

[Spork3245]

23 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

also this game seems to so what Jedi Survivor did when changing graphical settings. Each time leaving the menu after making changes the fps drop. I kept playing with settings and eventually dropped a few to medium and after all my back and forth my fps was down in the 20s. Quite out of the game and went back and my fps was in the low 70s. 
 

could be I noticed it more because of only 8GB of VRAM. 

That hasn’t happened to me, it might be a bug with VRAM not clearing if you have below a certain amount. The game seems to use up to 13gb of VRAM pending resolution and RT.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/ratchet-clank-rift-apart-benchmark-test-performance-analysis/5.html

I think you’ve mentioned you’re at 1440p, so maxed would be 10.5gb without RT, 11.5gb with RT.

 

What’s interesting (from what I’ve read), despite the vram usage, there’s not really stuttering and/or the usual massive performance drops from lack of VRAM typically seen in other titles. I theorized awhile back that direct storage with GPU decompression will likely alleviate vram issues (at least to a point), and it looks like I may be correct. Obviously if what’s immediately on/near screen uses more vram than your GPU has, it won’t help, but it theoretically allows a “data stream” to quickly add/remove what’s needed/not-needed without the typical stutter that would occur.

 

EDIT: I want to note that in regards to my VRAM w/Direct Storage comments, this doesn’t apply to the 4060/4060 Ti likely due to the 128bit memory bus and/or it being PCIE 8x affecting data exchanges.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

It’s possible. I also felt the need to put on dynamic resolution scaling as some parts of the game would inexplicably drop to low 40s, which felt jarring. Going to dynamic resolution scaling set to 60fps and that seems to have alleviated the issue for the most part, without me noticing the game’s resolution going to shit. There some times it gets into the mid-low 50s, and the resolution doesn’t look like it dropped any. So maybe there’s a floor for how low the resolution will get reduced. 
 

Even before dynamic resolution scaling I have noticed that reflections in larger bodies of water, like lakes and rivers seem to struggle with RT reflections. Puddles and shiny surfaces like windows, floors, and walls have crisp reflections pretty much all the time. I’m not sure if this is VRAM, not enough RT cores, or both. Or maybe there’s some optimization by the developer that still needs to be done. 

[Spork3245]

4 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

It’s possible. I also felt the need to put on dynamic resolution scaling as some parts of the game would inexplicably drop to low 40s, which felt jarring. Going to dynamic resolution scaling set to 60fps and that seems to have alleviated the issue for the most part, without me noticing the game’s resolution going to shit. There some times it gets into the mid-low 50s, and the resolution doesn’t look like it dropped any. So maybe there’s a floor for how low the resolution will get reduced. 
 

Even before dynamic resolution scaling I have noticed that reflections in larger bodies of water, like lakes and rivers seem to struggle with RT reflections. Puddles and shiny surfaces like windows, floors, and walls have crisp reflections pretty much all the time. I’m not sure if this is VRAM, not enough RT cores, or both. Or maybe there’s some optimization by the developer that still needs to be done. 

The reflection thing is a bug iirc. What type of drive do you have the game installed on (Gen 3 m.2, Gen 4 m.2, sata ssd, etc)? Are you using DLSS?

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

19 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

The reflection thing is a bug iirc. What type of drive do you have the game installed on (Gen 3 m.2, Gen 4 m.2, sata ssd, etc)? Are you using DLSS?

DLSS yes, It happened both on Quality and Balanced, and continues when set to dynamic resolution scaling using DLSS. I’m using a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro, so Gen 4 I think. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

1 hour ago, Spork3245 said:

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/ratchet-clank-rift-apart-benchmark-test-performance-analysis/5.html

this makes me very afraid for a Forbidden West port, that I’ll really want to upgrade my graphics card when it comes out. 

[Spork3245]

1 hour ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

DLSS yes, It happened both on Quality and Balanced, and continues when set to dynamic resolution scaling using DLSS. I’m using a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro, so Gen 4 I think. 

Ah, I thought maybe it was a bandwidth issue causing the random fps drops but no idea then. What’s your cpu?

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

1 hour ago, Spork3245 said:

Ah, I thought maybe it was a bandwidth issue causing the random fps drops but no idea then. What’s your cpu?

i7-13700K. 
also 32GB (2x16GB) GDDR5 5200MHz RAM

[Spork3245]

Just now, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

i7-13700K. 
also 32GB (2x16GB) GDDR5 5200MHz RAM

If you’re on Win11, then I got nothing  

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

2 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

If you’re on Win11, then I got nothing  

yep on Win11 too. 
maybe I need to check if Resizable BAR is enabled. 

[best3444]

@Biggie There has to be something wrong with my PS5. I went to start up Ratchet this morning and my save was from way in the beginning! So I had to put like 4 hours in today to catch up where I was.

 

This happened with my FF16 save, too. It pissed me the fuck off but thankfully the game is really fun to play so I at least enjoyed myself today catching up. 

 

If this happens again with my save file I may have to do a return to get a new PS5. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

10 minutes ago, best3444 said:

@Biggie There has to be something wrong with my PS5. I went to start up Ratchet this morning and my save was from way in the beginning! So I had to put like 4 hours in today to catch up where I was.

 

This happened with my FF16 save, too. It pissed me the fuck off but thankfully the game is really fun to play so I at least enjoyed myself today catching up. 

 

If this happens again with my save file I may have to do a return to get a new PS5. 

I wonder if that’s also an issue with cloud save sync. As even if your local save vanished I would expect the console to resync and grab the cloud save data with the latest save data. 

[stepee]

5 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I wonder if that’s also an issue with cloud save sync. As even if your local save vanished I would expect the console to resync and grab the cloud save data with the latest save data. 

 

This would be my thought. 

[best3444]

5 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I wonder if that’s also an issue with cloud save sync. As even if your local save vanished I would expect the console to resync and grab the cloud save data with the latest save data. 

 

I have no idea. It's really frustrating so I'll give it one more chance before I make a move to trade in my PS5.

1 minute ago, stepee said:

 

This would be my thought. 

 

Please explain because I'm not understanding.

[Biggie]

26 minutes ago, best3444 said:

@Biggie There has to be something wrong with my PS5. I went to start up Ratchet this morning and my save was from way in the beginning! So I had to put like 4 hours in today to catch up where I was.

 

This happened with my FF16 save, too. It pissed me the fuck off but thankfully the game is really fun to play so I at least enjoyed myself today catching up. 

 

If this happens again with my save file I may have to do a return to get a new PS5. 

Are you a regular PS Plus subscriber? Do your games automatically upload your saves to the cloud? Is that turned on in options?

[stepee]

11 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I have no idea. It's really frustrating so I'll give it one more chance before I make a move to trade in my PS5.

 

Please explain because I'm not understanding.

 

I think what’s happening is your save is originally either only on the ps5 itself or only on the cloud and then somehow the game later is looking in either the cloud or ps5 itself (whichever one your save WASNT on) seeing it’s not there, and only presenting you with a new save.

 

Then when you start the game again, whichever one wasn’t syncing, if it eventually does sync it will just use that newest save you created as it’s the most recent. 

 

If syncing were working properly this wouldn’t be happening. I’m not sure exactly what you would do beyond next time if it happens again you need to figure it out while it’s broken like that before starting a new game. Figure out how to get the old save back so it doesn’t keep happening or so you know what to do next time.

[best3444]

27 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Are you a regular PS Plus subscriber? Do your games automatically upload your saves to the cloud? Is that turned on in options?

 

I'm a premium member which is the highest tier. Where in the options do I look for this?

 

20 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

I think what’s happening is your save is originally either only on the ps5 itself or only on the cloud and then somehow the game later is looking in either the cloud or ps5 itself (whichever one your save WASNT on) seeing it’s not there, and only presenting you with a new save.

 

Then when you start the game again, whichever one wasn’t syncing, if it eventually does sync it will just use that newest save you created as it’s the most recent. 

 

If syncing were working properly this wouldn’t be happening. I’m not sure exactly what you would do beyond next time if it happens again you need to figure it out while it’s broken like that before starting a new game. Figure out how to get the old save back so it doesn’t keep happening or so you know what to do next time.

 

I can't really grasp what you're saying. 

[Biggie]

3 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I'm a premium member which is the highest tier. Where in the options do I look for this?

 

 

I can't really grasp what you're saying. 

[stepee]

Maybe someone else can lay it down in more simple terms but:

 

A save game on ps5 can potentially be stored in two places:

 

1) The ssd on your ps5

 

2) The cloud (a file saved on a server outside of your home) via ps plus 

 

Your save is supposed to be kept up to date in both of these places.

 

Something is happening so your save is only saving on one of them.

 

So let’s say maybe it’s only saving your latest save to the cloud:

 

Then you go on the ps5 and for some reason your ps5 isn’t connecting to the cloud, so you can’t get that save. So you think it’s gone. You start a new game on the hard drive and then save it.

 

That is now your most recent save. So when your ps5 connects back to the cloud, even if it then does sync, it will be this file that is syncs with as it’s more recent. This would result in losing the original save that was for whatever reason only stored in the cloud.

 

Its not normal behavior and I’m not sure what the fix is.

 

What I’m primarily suggesting is to try to troubleshoot the issue and get your save back next time instead of starting a new save.

 

It will be hard to figure out what is happening if you keep starting new games.

 

[best3444]

5 minutes ago, stepee said:

Maybe someone else can lay it down in more simple terms but:

 

A save game on ps5 can potentially be stored in two places:

 

1) The ssd on your ps5

 

2) The cloud (a file saved on a server outside of your home) via ps plus 

 

Your save is supposed to be kept up to date in both of these places.

 

Something is happening so your save is only saving on one of them.

 

So let’s say maybe it’s only saving your latest save to the cloud:

 

Then you go on the ps5 and for some reason your ps5 isn’t connecting to the cloud, so you can’t get that save. So you think it’s gone. You start a new game on the hard drive and then save it.

 

That is now your most recent save. So when your ps5 connects back to the cloud, even if it then does sync, it will be this file that is syncs with as it’s more recent. This would result in losing the original save that was for whatever reason only stored in the cloud.

 

Its not normal behavior and I’m not sure what the fix is.

 

What I’m primarily suggesting is to try to troubleshoot the issue and get your save back next time instead of starting a new save.

 

It will be hard to figure out what is happening if you keep starting new games.

 

 

Ok, I understand this now. Thank you for the explanation. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

I was out of town, so didn't get an opportunity to play until now.  Played just over an hour (and finished the first area).  Graphics are great, game is fun.  No problems with frame rates.  Turned off dynamic resolution, and just playing with frame generation -- and its maxing out my display @~165Hz.

 

I've only played one R&C game before (Tools of Destruction), and this very much feels like that game all over again.,

[best3444]

@Biggie I played for 3 hours this morning. So that brings me at around 7 hours total. I read it only takes 10-12 hours to beat it so that's disappointing because I'm truly loving this game. 

 

Rivet is adorable and her personality is really cute. Ratchet is a cool dude too. My save file seems fine now so I have no idea what happened earlier.

 

The visuals continue to blow me away and the gameplay is extremely fun. The story keeps you invested and the pace is excellent. I'd give this a 10/10 at this point.

 

@stepee Played and beat this at launch and raved about it but I just couldn't get myself to play it. I'm so glad I did because this is the most fun I've had with a game in a long while. 

 

How are you liking it and how many hours have you put in?

[Biggie]

6 minutes ago, best3444 said:

@Biggie I played for 3 hours this morning. So that brings me at around 7 hours total. I read it only takes 10-12 hours to beat it so that's disappointing because I'm truly loving this game. 

 

Rivet is adorable and her personality is really cute. Ratchet is a cool dude too. My save file seems fine now so I have no idea what happened earlier.

 

The visuals continue to blow me away and the gameplay is extremely fun. The story keeps you invested and the pace is excellent. I'd give this a 10/10 at this point.

 

@stepee Played and beat this at launch and raved about it but I just couldn't get myself to play it. I'm so glad I did because this is the most fun I've had with a game in a long while. 

 

How are you liking it and how many hours have you put in?

The visuals are incredible. I love the weapons. 

[best3444]

15 minutes ago, Biggie said:

The visuals are incredible. I love the weapons. 

 

I'm sticking to only 3 weapons and just upgrading them up. I don't see any reason to buy the hundred weapons they offer. When you fully upgrade your weapons you kick serious ass.

[Biggie]

44 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I'm sticking to only 3 weapons and just upgrading them up. I don't see any reason to buy the hundred weapons they offer. When you fully upgrade your weapons you kick serious ass.

There’s only 20 weapons to collect. I’ll buy them all but most I’ll never use except the ones I really like. 

[best3444]

8 minutes ago, Biggie said:

There’s only 20 weapons to collect. I’ll buy them all but most I’ll never use except the ones I really like. 

 

I'm playing on the normal difficulty and died maybe 3 times throughout so far. 

 

Where are you at?