November 20, 20169 yr Battlefield 1 just got a fall update, and PS4 and PC players are noticing some pretty nasty side effects. Is a deliberate graphics downgrade causing lower framerates and poorer texture detail? DICE recently responded to fan outcry via Twitter. Discussion of the graphics downgrade first began when the update went live earlier this week, and now it’s reached a reasonably high level of fervor. An official forum thread documenting the issue was started on Tuesday, and the conversation has since swelled to 24 pages with hundreds of replies and comparison screenshots. As seen in the undoctored images below, texture detail and shadows have clearly been altered in some way. This phenomenon appears to be identical across, PS4, PS4 Pro and PC and is made worse by FPS drops and flickering in certain areas. It was DICE producer David Sirland who was first approached by the Battlefield 1 community about the problem. While Sirland was quick to say “graphics has not been downgraded” he did mention that certain tweaks to texture pools have been made to ensure that performance stays pristine over time. Could these changes correlate to why graphics detail appears reduced? It’s possible. He notes that “lower res version can be loaded at a specific time, for instance.” As for the flickering and FPS problems, however, those reportedly have nothing to do with any texture downgrades that PS4 and PC players may notice. “It’s not [caused by] the same thing,” he clarified. “If there are performance issues there’s something else going on outside of that.” It’s added that any rendering issues with the update are considered a “top priority” for the studio and that PC shortcomings may stem from the latest NVIDIA drivers. Knowing the source of the frustration can only do so much, however, as many of Battlefield 1’s diehard fans refer to the game as “unplayable” compared to what it was before. Shooters are a genre based largely on heightened precision and accuracy. That standard can be exceptionally difficult to maintain with low framerates and graphical glitches in tow. PS4 Pro and PC owners are inclined to take pride in performance enough to be impacted by even the slightest of negative adjustments. Funnily enough, however, veteran franchise players were keen to note that Battlefield 4 visuals were reworked after a patch in 2014. Community members pointed out the flaws then too, but the supposed “bug” was never addressed. Framerates and flicker can always be improved, but will DICE opt to keep the toned-down textures this time too? The history is certainly there to suggest it. Battlefield 1 ’s latest update ushered in a ton of changes including a fix for dysfunctional squad leaders, weapon balance and more. Beyond these hiccups, the adjustments have generally been appreciated.
November 21, 20169 yr Author Pre-patch: http://fraghero.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/di1XS9H.jpg Post-patch: http://fraghero.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/yB517GL-2.jpg Fans have commented on various technical and graphical features and issues that have been omitted from the post-patch version of the game. Among these, they name: Tessellation Anisotropic filtering and textures Lower quality of decoration and terrain detail Shadow resolution and the draw distance of shadows have been lowered There’s a possibility that EA are optimising the game for a better resolution and frame-rate. But with so many adjustments that are available for PC gamers, EA should not need to do this.
November 21, 20169 yr I'm just gonna go out there and flat out say this is more proof they are consolidating the code base to try and force PC and Console guys on the same code or at least as close as they can get it. PC gamers have way more refined systems and are capable of way more than consoles are. This is one of the reasons PC Gamers and Console GAmers have been segregated since forever. Lets not even get me started on crap like aim assist.
November 22, 20169 yr Author Guys I'm on latest nvidia driver, switch to auto wait 20 seconds then back to ultra. Fixed the downgraded look of bf1. It does work. Additionally, These steps can be taken to force the workaround 1- Open battlefield 1 in My Documents 2- Open Settings folder 3- Delete everything, EXCEPT PROFSAVE and PROSAVE_backup, these files is your campaign gameplay and has nothing to do. 4- Enter the game 5- set the quality to ultra, or whatever you had before Additionally, Changing the settings to Auto prior to joining a server from the main menu, And then Joining a server with the settings on Auto and then changing to Ultra upon joining also can force the workaround.
November 22, 20169 yr Good to know. I installed the latest drivers after putting in the new card and still had the crappy textures. I was like uhh this is a 6 gig 1060 wtf am i seeing this crap. Will try this before getting on tonight.
November 23, 20169 yr Author Huge difference. Everything looks so much better with that adjustment. Ty it guys, you won't regret it.
November 23, 20169 yr Gotta say it worked well on my system. Granted I was still using an old GTX 660 2gb card until I got the GTX 1060 6Gb one and the new monitor but just wow. Im surprised that it when you have it on auto it does not completely clear out the old crap when it detects a new card. Now I have a poser for you. In the graphics settings it has a selection for which monitor you want it to open on and use. Its greyed out on my system. Anyone know how to change this or does it default to the primary display? I mean I can change my primary but I kind of like having the task bar on one of the smaller monitors. Yeah I know I can drag it to another screen but if something gets out of whack then you cant access the taskbar. Just curious.
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