Topic: General Xbox Series X|S Thread

@carlos82 heard that Devi May Cry V loads 5 sec faster on the X...but end of day you won't notice the 5s....you'll notice the 1-2 minutes shaved off of previous generations. I'm coming off of the PS3 so i can't wait to see the improvements in loading speeds.

@Krzzystuff yeah I agree the big difference is from last gen and its going to be great only waiting a few seconds to get into a game and then probably not see another loading screen in game

@carlos82 on of the biggest draws to next gen. Why i bought an X vs just a one x

Starfield, Bethesda Softworks’ next big role-playing game, will be powered by an overhauled Creation Engine whose capabilities will be a larger leap forward than the one seen from 2002’s The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind on Xbox to 2006’s The Elder Scrolls 3: Oblivion on the Xbox 360, according to Bethesda Game Studios creative director Todd Howard.
https://www.polygon.com/2020/11/3/21547709/starfield-bethesda...

As reported on the ResetERA forums, ElectricalAd8659, the same person who shared the leaked Starfield screenshots last month, recently revealed that the game is targeting a 2021 release date.

https://wccftech.com/starfield-2021/

For BGS, I've been busy replacing Havok Behavior with a custom animation system for Starfield and all future BGS console games. It features graph based editing, live monitoring, in game animation rewind tools, predictive foot ik with bone scaling and retargeting, high quality compression, and a very high level of performance.

AC Valhalla gameplay on Xbox Series X.

Watched MVG's video on the Series S and found out some cool things such as many sub 1080p Xbox One games now run at 1080p, which is good news for all those games that didn't receive a One X patch. Also about games which have had their framerates doubled, we already know about Fallout 4 but even something like the 360 arcade version of Hydro Thunder has had the same treatment which makes me wonder how widespread this is. I'm getting the Series X and this coupled with auto HDR and the true next gen enhancements of recent Xbox One games are definitely one of its biggest selling points for me https://youtu.be/cFyLpW41D88

Hmmm.....it’s funny when AC Unity suffers from framerate drops (mid 30fps) only on ps5, Digitalfoundry gives some BS excuse of how the ps5 version is not running the proper version whereas the actual video is about comparing old-gen unpatched version of games in the first place. If the titles were to be patched/optimised then Series X would be running them easily at locked 60fps with better fidelity anyways.

@bamozzy what do you think about this one?

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1324712038602543105

Ohhhhhh mannnnn looks like this is NOT FAKE!

@FraserG checkout the original Gamespot video.

@Senua You would think that AC:Unity - unpatched from the original disc - would both be a good indication of a like for like. I can't recall what (if any) differences each had at launch (like a lower res version for XB1 or some differences with visual settings - like better quality shadows, greater draw distances etc that may also affect the results. In a straight up fight, you would expect the more powerful GPU/CPU to offer a better performance like for like. Its difficult to assess other games as a lot running Pro modes are running at lower resolutions and those on PS4 would generally be higher than Xbox One. Even if the resolutions are the same, there could be other areas that are not equal so you have to take each with the caveat that in some cases, the results may be greatly affected by the decisions of the developers at the time.

My big takeaway though is that in general, The Series X does offer a better overall Backwards Compatibility with 16x Anisotropic Filtering, Auto HDR and less issues overall. However, if you are buying a PS5, then BC offers a lot of improvements too in some games so its a 'benefit' too.

PushSquare's video was a lot less positive and showed some of the issues that AC:Syndicate exhibits so its not 'perfect' for all games but overall, I think that the majority will be happy whichever system they choose or upgrade from.

Now that cat is out of the bag, a lot of people are giving excuses about how these versions are not patched yet. But the whole idea of comparing backwards compatibility is all about being able to run the old games as-is to begin with. If the games however do get patched, Series X will also run at locked 60fps with already proven better loading times.

@Senua it'll be a combination of the 16x anisotropic filtering and the higher resolutions of the One X versions of the games. From what I've seen it's a very small list of games the Series X doesn't lock to 60fps and probably only Sekiro that matters as I believe Hitman has a 1440p mode anyway and its drops were relatively minor at 4K.

Ultimately Seris X will have a huge advantage as many other games will gain 60fps modes they never had through the back compat team, such as Fallout 4, then with auto HDR plus 360 games and the few og Xbox games given a greater variety of games to play

@carlos82 What you have to remember with Sekiro is that the Series X is running a Native 1800p compared to the PS5 running a CB1800p - essentially half the resolution and using previous frame(s) to construct a 1800p image. We don't know how much overhead that would give the PS5 but its obviously not going to push the GPU as much as Native res does. That's the point about using CB rendering - to reduce the demand on the GPU. Its cheaper to run a CB rendered image than it is a native one.

That's why in some games, the Series X may not be hitting a locked 60 because the developers had to use lower visual settings on the Pro. They were optimising for a 4.2TF console and the jump up to PS5 is nearly 2.5x compared to the jump up from X to Series X. That's why games that are capped lower or used CB rendering instead of Native will perhaps see a performance gain in some gains.

The Series X is rendering at a higher resolution - but also that means some games have higher resolution and perform at the same 'locked' performance. The PS5 in these will be restricted by the Pro settings and maybe could run at a 'higher' resolution - as high as the Series X, we may never find out - but could certainly run at higher resolutions and or frame rates than PS4 Pro caps - and there are games on Series X too that could run better than XB1X.

I don't think Anisotropic Filtering or Auto HDR will have too much (if any) impact on the frame times. Its different to using these settings in game on a PC like selecting different anti-aliasing from an in game menu, Its built in to the hardware and across the board.

You also have to remember though that the Xbox One X often had better textures thanks to having a lot more RAM so that too is another aspect that will affect some games - unless Devs do something about that.

As I said before, BC does more on Xbox overall but if you are on PS4 and upgrading to PS5, it does more than enough for PS4 gamers to be happy, to get a 'significant' boost to performance and/or visuals to make a difference. With VRR, those small frame drops in some games will be far less noticeable and you gain in overall better resolution - although CB in Sekiro is very good so its almost irrelevant that its running at 50% resolution vs Series X.

Unless you have a large backlog of games on just 1 system, it really doesn't matter too much. It maybe a consideration if you are looking at either system as a 'first' console purchase and deciding which 'older' games you missed out on may perform/look better but its hard to draw too much conclusions from this because you have the lower visual quality but in some cases more stable newer games with 'higher' resolution older games vs higher Visuals but maybe a few less stable games but with VRR will look very smooth and some older lower res games but all with improved Anisotropic Filtering, some with Auto HDR and also much older games playable too (360 and OG Xbox).

If you are only interested in upgrading from 1 platform, both it seems offer a LOT of reasons to revisit older games and play at much more stable/higher frame rates and in a lot of games, higher average resolutions too - therefore its a Win for gamers on both systems...

@BAMozzy I’ve a huge huge catalog of old never-played games that I want to play on Series X.

@BAMozzy oh yes resolution difference between One X and Pro is definitely the main factor, I've said as much elsewhere on here I think. Overall I do prefer what the Xbox is doing, especially with its auto HDR and access to some old arcade games like Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter 2 and even Saturn games in Guardian Heroes and Radiant Silvergun.

So for me its a great marriage of some classic games and new games all in one system with enhancements across the board. I'm also curious as to how widespread the 60fps enhancements will be woth games like Fallout 4 and apparently even 360 arcade game Hydro Thunder already benefitting.

What is clear is that both are going to be a great way to revisit current gen (do we call them last gen yet?) games but with an extra sprinkling on the green side

Has anyone pre-ordered the Series X through Microsoft Store? They have just took the £450 today but I don’t have a confirmation email and on my order history on my Microsoft account, there is still an option to change payment method.

@Senua just watched this and I'm even more excited to play it now, I love the idea of building up your settlement and picking targets to raid. Also interesting to see them blend in some of the more traditional Assassin's Creed gameplay which has been somewhat lost recently. This is my main game at launch and its looking great

@carlos82 As I also said, I think Microsoft are doing more to preserve and enhance legacy titles. However, I don't think someone is going to buy a next gen system based on the performance metrics on current gen games - its more about knowing how your current gen games will run on next gen.

Both look to do something to benefit older games - Sony just allowing more of their hardware power to boost games where MS are adding Auto HDR, Boost to Resolution/Frame Rates above the capped limits and Anisotropic Filtering - but both are providing an enhanced experience over their previous consoles.

As far as 'current' gen, Next gen terminology, I think the new upcoming consoles will be 'next' gen for the first year, at least until they have established themselves and whilst both gens are still getting the vast majority of game releases. When a lot of games are not releasing on PS4/XB1, then you can say its 'last' gen which then in turn means that 'current' gen would be the PS5/Series S/X. Some may say until the PS4/XB1 are discontinued by manufacturer but for me, I tend to think of Current gen to be the one where most gamers a re and the majority of games are still releasing. For many, the 'next' gen isn't something they have yet - even if us 'early adopters' have upgraded. But I am sure some have their own idea of when 'next gen' becomes current and current becomes last gen...

I still think it will be a few years before we can truly see what differences the two design choices make. A lot of games releasing over the next year or so will be running on code developed with current gen systems in mind and not fully optimised for next gen - maybe relying more on the extra resources both systems offer rather than tailoring each to fully utilise all of the hardware and features to push gaming beyond just the resources.

How games run with Engines built around the new hardware, utilising VRS, Sampler Feedback Streaming, Mesh Shading etc vs Sony's Geometry Engine and many more priority levels with their Streaming - as well as more raw speed in their SSD, we won't really know. In a head to head, you can say X has an advantage here but Y has an advantage there - however, we don't really know if either really can offset those advantages and if so by how much, especially as each also has its own API (DirectX12 Ultimate is only on Xbox unsurprisingly) which may be a bit more Sluggish than Sony's API so impact performance more than the difference in hardware.

Its not so black and white and you have to wait and see how things develop over the course of the next couple of years. There is no denying that the Series X has a sizeable GPU advantage on paper - which may help with games initially - when they are not built to use all/any of the next gen features, but we will have to see which devs take advantage of the features each offers. Maybe Series X may have better image metrics but PS5 offers a more interesting 'feel' to playing the game with its Dualsense Haptic feedback and adaptive triggers - if devs really take advantage of all features each offers. Its going to take a while to see how things develop over the next few years and I for one am looking forward to the future of gaming.