Console and Giants.

[Simon738]

Morning all,

I see Giants are fishing for general feedback on console types for the new version of FS. Just wondered what everyone’s thoughts are?

I can see both sides of the discussion tbh, but I’m going more toward developing a game that will be compatible with the newest consoles because surely most/everything that can be achieved for the One X/PS4 has been achieved with the current version and it’d be extremely similar, to unlock the power of the new machines is surely the way the simulation should go for it to progress?

I do agree that the current version on console has plenty of mods/maps etc than any other version of FS to date and can see that argument too and to keep changing versions means modders almost have to start again but hasn’t this now been the way for the past 3 versions of FS (not in today’s quantity though).

Thoughts?

[Mobias]

The current debacle over Cyberpunk 2077 shows how difficult it is for studios when releasing a game that spans the arrival of new hardware. I think Giants like a lot of studios at the moment are being careful as to where they set their sights with their new game and how to promote it. I'm sure CD Projekt Red regret attempting to make Cyberpunk run on older console hardware. They wasted a ton of time and money trying to make it work and it back fired massively.

Obviously I've no idea what the new FS is going to be like but if I was Giants I'd have my sights firmly set on the new consoles going forward and getting the most out of it with their new game. I'll be incredibly disappointed if the new FS is just FS-19 all over again but to be honest it makes no sense for Giants to release that anyway. I guess at this stage only Giants know what their new game contains and how much of a headache it would be to make it run on older console hardware.

[cwattyeso]

To put it simply, Giants should not be investing time or resources at this point in developing anything for the older console generation and should at this time be only looking forward to the PS5, new Xbox and of course the PC which is still going to be the market leader in terms of latest and greatest tech. At this point developing anything on old Xbox or PS4 would be pointless as you won't be able to squeeze any more performance or expand the game overall due to the constraints the hardware and software impose, which again to clarify is over ten year old technology at this point on those machines.

As Mobias said above lets look at Cyberpunk as a good example of when a company should have realised last generation consoles were not worth bothering with at this point in time. Not only do you upset those users when you release a product that doesn't work well or function at all on their old systems, you also upset the players on the new platforms who aren't getting and seeing the best bang for their buck.

The only other thing I would hope for from any future developments from the perspective of a PC Player is that we can get a product that is able to actually see and recognise the hardware we have available and can actually scale itself to utilise what we have to get better performance or better appearance.

[Wolf Farming]

I think it would be better to concentrate on the newer gen consoles to be honest the Xbox one and PS4 are somewhat limited now as to what you can do with them newer gen consoles with better graphic cards and more powerful CPU’s are going to be more on par with mid range pcs so there’s more opportunities to upgrade the games engine as stated in other posts you don’t want a disastrous cyberpunk type launch

[They Caged Non]

They 100% need to focus on the latest gen consoles... the difference between PC and current gen Consoles is huge by way of performance and graphics, there is zero reason that the new game can’t be the same spec as the PC version with the power these new consoles can harbour.

FS19 is still a good enough game for old gen console users and no reason it can’t be the flagship game for that generation. Crippling a new game to fit old hardware would be a disaster imo.

[Simon738]

Yes, I’m in agreement with a lot of these comments, I was just concerned that when Giants launched their poll on Twitter - there was a lot of feedback requesting the new FS for the current gen systems which surprised me....I’m guessing the newer systems are still a little hard to find and not readily available to the mass market yet and therefore people may be tending to think they’re going to stick it out a while longer with the older systems. I played FS on Xbox One X and it did struggle in certain scenarios with frame rates, happy to report it runs on the series X without any issue.

[They Caged Non]

Yes, I’m in agreement with a lot of these comments, I was just concerned that when Giants launched their poll on Twitter - there was a lot of feedback requesting the new FS for the current gen systems which surprised me....I’m guessing the newer systems are still a little hard to find and not readily available to the mass market yet and therefore people may be tending to think they’re going to stick it out a while longer with the older systems. I played FS on Xbox One X and it did struggle in certain scenarios with frame rates, happy to report it runs on the series X without any issue.

Would you say there is a definite improvement on the latest gen? The main annoyance I have with FS on console is the fact you pretty much have to drive up to a crop or swath/missed patch in a field before you can see it due to the terrible shading performance.

I always find it a bit silly that a game like Forza can update the environment perfectly at 120mph yet FS can’t even render a field at 6mph.

[BulletBill]

Would you say there is a definite improvement on the latest gen? The main annoyance I have with FS on console is the fact you pretty much have to drive up to a crop or swath/missed patch in a field before you can see it due to the terrible shading performance.

I always find it a bit silly that a game like Forza can update the environment perfectly at 120mph yet FS can’t even render a field at 6mph.

Actually if you stop and look closely at games like Forza 4 etc you'll notice for starters the foliage is much less dense than in Farm Sim.
They also clip quite close, but with the use of decent LODs and nicely blended textures you don't notice it as much. The faster your moving the less you notice these things. Farm Sim your generally driving so slow you notice more of the little details.

Another key point is all the foliage is loaded onto the map and doesn't have to be updated that often with regards growth states.

The way the two games work are very different. Plus they use different game engines as well.

Although I do agree Forza Horizon 4 does UK scenery pretty nicely considering it's an Arcade Racing game. There are some real nice touches of detail, and everything is nicely blended together. It just works.

[They Caged Non]

Would you say there is a definite improvement on the latest gen? The main annoyance I have with FS on console is the fact you pretty much have to drive up to a crop or swath/missed patch in a field before you can see it due to the terrible shading performance.

I always find it a bit silly that a game like Forza can update the environment perfectly at 120mph yet FS can’t even render a field at 6mph.

Actually if you stop and look closely at games like Forza 4 etc you'll notice for starters the foliage is much less dense than in Farm Sim.
They also clip quite close, but with the use of decent LODs and nicely blended textures you don't notice it as much. The faster your moving the less you notice these things. Farm Sim your generally driving so slow you notice more of the little details.

Another key point is all the foliage is loaded onto the map and doesn't have to be updated that often with regards growth states.

The way the two games work are very different. Plus they use different game engines as well.

Although I do agree Forza Horizon 4 does UK scenery pretty nicely considering it's an Arcade Racing game. There are some real nice touches of detail, and everything is nicely blended together. It just works.

Yeah I understand that about the detail thing, I still think that maybe FS isn’t running the best it can be, games like Assassins Creed are also very high quality when it comes to the rendering and graphics, some of the islands on black flag look stunning.

[Mobias]

I do wonder about what the possible art direction of the new game is going to be like. Basically how its going to look. The main reason I didn't like the look of FS-19 is that it seemed like it had very up to date modern lighting techniques thrown over graphics textures and effects that have been in use since much older versions of the game. Its just a bad combination. Hence vehicles and implements looking ultra detailed with lovely new textures but the rest of the environment is still FS-15 with new lighting techniques showing up how dated it looks.

I play quite a lot of Snowrunner and I often wonder if the look of that game could be more the direction FS could go in.

[Simon738]

Shading probably not so, I play on a 65” tv so things to me often look a little less detailed as I sit fairly close to it when farming. FPS is a big difference though and loading times are far quicker but that’s about it. Essentially it is still the same game regardless of machine so I think the way it’s written has no effect on other factors.

I think it could have been written better, I thought the snow runner thing would have come up and have to agree if that can be done on the previous gen consoles surely it will be in the latest gen - that’ll be a game changer in my eyes.

[They Caged Non]

Shading probably not so, I play on a 65” tv so things to me often look a little less detailed as I sit fairly close to it when farming. FPS is a big difference though and loading times are far quicker but that’s about it. Essentially it is still the same game regardless of machine so I think the way it’s written has no effect on other factors.

I think it could have been written better, I thought the snow runner thing would have come up and have to agree if that can be done on the previous gen consoles surely it will be in the latest gen - that’ll be a game changer in my eyes.

I’ve noticed massive FPS drops when I say run 2 combines at once with workers, if that’s resolved then the new console is a no brainer for that alone. Now just to find one so I can buy it lol, they are like Lord Lucan at present.

[Mobias]

Now just to find one so I can buy it lol, they are like Lord Lucan at present.

I guess thats the big issue for Giants. The fact of the matter is they're potentially releasing a game that now relies on a lot of console sales onto a platform that doesn't have a big install base. Out of interest I wonder how many people here would rush out to buy a new gen console if Giants announced it wasn't coming out on the older ones.

[They Caged Non]

I’m buying one anyway as it’s time to upgrade and some other games look awesome.

[sittinhere]

To clear some misinformation on cyberpunk 2077. Cyberpunk was developed for Xbox one/ps4 and not the next gen consoles. The problem isn’t the hardware, the problem is they decided to focus all their attention on pc. Not just pc, but higher end PCs. This left a lot of issues with Xbox one/ps4/low end PCs. The game was even heavily marketed for Xbox one. The series x/s and ps5 had no impact on the outcome. It had issues with those as well. There are many studios that are not having a hard time doing cross gen releases.

I think they are trying to see if there is a market to just releasing on the new consoles and there isn’t. There isn’t enough consoles in consumer hands. It would be smarter of them to develop cross gen and have the game scale to the hardware provided. Next gen can have higher graphics, higher slot count etc. it may be more work, but they can take their cake and eat at the same time so to speak.