Trials of Grasses- trials for CDPR ?

[Sken]

Thnx for you answer...so due to the fact that not even you are aware if there's any plans to show highest settings (ultra\uber), we can assume that there's no hope to see them in a trailer or screens before the relase date?

A game goes gold and is shipped to manufacturers some time before the release date. We will probably hear of it going gold sometime in April, possibly very early May.

My guess is Ultra will be shown after going gold and before release date. This would ensure the best possible footage is being run at an acceptable framerate.

There may be other factors at play here. There is the possibility that Ultra will be shown in conjunction with the release of the new Nvidia TitanX card. Long shot, but there may be some specific optimizations for that card for Witcher 3 advanced settings to perform better, possibly related to the amount of GPU memory, 12GB.

The REDS are a hard working group with a great deal of pride in their work. They would be fully aware of the downgrade talk raging in this forum and all over the web, and in my opinion they will address it when they are ready. It could be via in-game settings, day 1 HD packs, or some other form of update.

In the interim, us users can only comment on what we have been shown, and its important that we voice our concerns for assets we believe are sub-par, such as the grass in the game, normally not an issue, but due to the amount of visual real estate it occupies, it needs to be better.

 

[Ancient76]

Correct. We have not shown any footage on highest settings. I'm not aware of any plans to do so. And, until the game goes gold and is actually shipped off to manufacturers, it is still being worked on and nothing is 100% final.

It doesn't matter because this foliage transparency effect is not expectable even for low settings.
Go in the Witcher 2 and put everything on low, and you will not see anything like this. Or check some other games.

I'm actually confused to see this from CDPR? And i don't consider this to be downgrade, just bad solution for something they did better in previous game. There are cheap methods, more performance friendly, which can be used for this effect.
I can make this. If people who work on this don't want to change it, at least make it possible for tweaking.

Thank you.

 

[Neeedles]

Correct. We have not shown any footage on highest settings. I'm not aware of any plans to do so. And, until the game goes gold and is actually shipped off to manufacturers, it is still being worked on and nothing is 100% final.

But is there a difference between ultra and high in the grass? dont think so, you could add an option to enable grass shadows for people with super highend machines, just a suggestion.

 

[BlackWolf500.298]

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All these games have nice vegetation and grass and run excelent. CDPR should replace theirr flat grass assets, thats the only way to fix it.

Dude look closely at the Assassins Creed picture. And the Ryse one for that matter. Grass looks like Sh*t in them if you look close enough. And then look again at pictures from TW3, especially those where a LOT of grass is in one place. It's far superior, believe me.

Just take a look at these beautiful Witcher 1 grass...

You serious?
Dude I hope that is sarcasm because you can not tell me you find TW3's grass worse than the one in TW1. There is NO WAY. We ALL know this grass in TW1 only looks as good as it does due to the fact that it is so MUCH in one place and that it is so high and looked at from the right angle.

Just look at the early screens, the grass is always viewed from side, not from above and so you cannot actually see the individual patches. But i really think it looked the same back than
Look at the grass in the picture that i edited
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It looks like in this one
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Exactly.
Also, it always depends on which surface the grass is. For example in the latest PAX footage we have a landscape that has more solid ground rather than wide-spread grass and only contains bushes or small patches of grass all over the place, while in other regions (like in the second picture above) the grassland might be more dense and therefore the grass looks better.

That being said, even if I think grass is superior to a lot of other modern games, I have to say that I do not know if it is superior to TW2, because there ARE some really weird and low quality looking grass bushes here and there which make the game look really bad in screenshots (of course this is only a single moment taken into a picture and the normal player will not see this more than a few seconds).

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[dixxn]

Dude look closely at the Assassins Creed picture. And the Ryse one for that matter. Grass looks like Sh*t in them if you look close enough. And then look again at pictures from TW3, especially those where a LOT of grass is in one place. It's far superior, believe me.



You serious?
Dude I hope that is sarcasm because you can not tell me you find TW3's grass worse than the one in TW1. There is NO WAY. We ALL know this grass in TW1 only looks as good as it does due to the fact that it is so MUCH in one place and that it is so high and looked at from the right angle.



Exactly.
Also, it always depends on which surface the grass is. For example in the latest PAX footage we have a landscape that has more solid ground rather than wide-spread grass and only contains bushes or small patches of grass all over the place, while in other regions (like in the second picture above) the grassland might be more dense and therefore the grass looks better.

That being said, even if I think grass is superior to a lot of other modern games, I have to say that I do not know if it is superior to TW2, because there ARE some really weird and low quality looking grass bushes here and there which make the game look really bad in screenshots (of course this is only a single moment taken into a picture and the normal player will not see this more than a few seconds).

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It's not a sarcasm, I really love TW1's grass in that chapter. As for saying that it's better than TW3, I don't think that I said it, I never said that. And anyways, what I was trying to say is just that with the limitation of the first witcher game, CDPR delivered a very impressing quality (at least to me personally, of course). I believe that TW3 (and their future games) will look even prettier.

 

[caruga]

Imo I think the grass doesn't need to be singled out, it just seems like one of the greater casualties of the changes to the lighting. Everything is evenly lit, saturated, low contrast, possibly to conceal disabled shadows. Witcher 2 did a similar thing, but it was better executed--rather than shoot for true-to-life fidelity it leant more on parlour tricks. The game shon the most (literally and figuratively) when in wooded areas; I always felt like I was in the 'fairy woods' when I stopped to look at the scenery. It was breathtakingly beautiful-sort of- but also kind of weird, and confused my eyes a bit. The grass was 'bad' there too, but you didn't really notice because of all the glistening detail. The most recent footage seems like a clumsier attempt to execute the same thing.

 

[Sken]

Skyrim modded (old engine, dx9, 32bit)

 

[onionshavelayers]

I think the sharpness of grass textures could be improved. And grass seems to blend into it'self like it was just one color.

 

[SofaJockey]

So are you suggesting me to say I'll cancel the pre order if they won't show ultra settings?

Simply making the supposition that marketing is aimed to show what most people will consume, i.e. normal/average graphics for the game.
Your interest in high-end graphics and your participation in the forums make you a specific and important demographic but not typical of mass marketing focus.

I'm speculating that unless what is is shown demonstrates serious mis-steps, your pre or timely purchase is already assured.
I'm further speculating that you are seeking graphical reassurance/satisfaction, and that this is not about making a purchasing decision.

 

[Riven-Twain]

In the meantime, this fellow needs to get off his backside, and cut his grass!

 

[daan5]

Grass in Witcher 3 sholud look at least like this:

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[Maganus]

Grass in Witcher 3 sholud look at least like this:

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I think there is a really slim chance for such a change at this stage of work. Tough I hope for grass of such quality to be added by some mod

 

[Mezziaz]

[

This is ridiculous!
http://i.imgur.com/VUNbbIO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2rcxt9k.jpg

Btw, i hope that this is WIP!?

So do I.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw it, like someone had ticked the "low settings"-button by accident.

 

[Jeeers]

So do I.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw it, like someone had ticked the "low settings"-button by accident.

I guess the main problem is that grass assets are like sprites - flat 1 poligon models with texture applied. They don't cast shadows, they have no selfshadowing and I really can't see any ambient occlusion where they connect with soil. They just look flat and unnatural. That's a shame, because there must be some crafty ways to do this right without huge impact on framerate - some cheating without simulating reallife conditions. There are games that does this better!
I just want to add that changing weather conditions is a big + (PLUS) for W3 - I guess it is not so easy to make every scene look right when weather conditions/Sun position is constantly changing. But it can be done...
DA:I was a big letdown in this matter - good looking but static world.

 

[Geralt_of_bsas]

I guess the main problem is that grass assets are like sprites - flat 1 poligon models with texture applied. They don't cast shadows, they have no selfshadowing and I really can't see any ambient occlusion where they connect with soil. They just look flat and unnatural. That's a shame, because there must be some crafty ways to do this right without huge impact on framerate - some cheating without simulating reallife conditions. There are games that does this better!
I just want to add that changing weather conditions is a big + (PLUS) for W3 - I guess it is not so easy to make every scene look right when weather conditions/Sun position is constantly changing. But it can be done...
DA:I was a big letdown in this matter - good looking but static world.

Well for the demos in january it was confirmed they didnt use HBAO for example, and I expect this footage to be from a very similar build.

 

[Ancient76]

I think there is a really slim chance for such a change at this stage of work. Tough I hope for grass of such quality to be added by some mod

Actually this can be created in very short time. And they already have this.
But not all grass should look the same. There must be some variations.

The problem here aren't textures, but this transparency effect which turns grass and bushes into one color. It's a shader effect, and it can be easily tweaked. Of course this isn't real transparency where light is scattered through the grass, leaf, but just simulated effect.
In some games this effect is toned down to be more natural, it isn't applied on everything, and it's only really visible in the morning or during the sunset.

 

[Mgec]

I wonder why most games have that type of grass. Is it the easiest to make? A generic little bush (but larger than the grass we are all used to) that just spams all over the world with few variations. I guess it's what current hardware can handle atm.

 

[wichat]

For my very little experience in 3D rendering, hair and grass take almost the same time and resources for look real under dynamic effects. I guess the size of TW3 does not refer only to the area of the map, and the final weight of the game, but includes time cycles and climate, the independence of the living world apart from the actions of Geralt, lights, shadows, scaled, depth, hair and fur, facial animation, animation clothing, fluidity of combat, quests consequences connection in each character and situation .. I think few are really aware of the true extent of this game and what rig would need to ensure that each of these subjects were at least 70% of their potential.

 

[Riven-Twain]

There is undeniably an enormous amount of hidden detail, without which the magnificent illusion would crumble and collapse. It is to be hoped that some players, at least, will appreciate all the invisible labours, which are the bones and blood of the world of the Witcher, and remain concealed beneath the shining surface.

 

[bartgesang]

More grass!

This is from the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete Mod, back from 2009.

---------- Updated at 05:38 PM ----------

End even more grass!

Dear Esther!!