500°

The Starfield tech breakdown: why it runs at 30 frames per second

John Linneman and Alex Battaglia share their notes on the Starfield Direct, discuss why the game is 30fps on consoles and what 4K on Series X actually means.

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eurogamer.net
Workshyskiver1046d ago

Man these guys always give a great tech breakdown. Will be interesting to see what CPU will be needed to run this at 60fps consistently on PC.

Sonic18811046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

The PC requirements has already been leaked and confirmed on the internet and you will need a regular SSD to play it. A M.2 nvme is not required

https://www.google.com/amp/...

dumahim1046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

It's interesting that the recommended specs are pretty close to what DF found to be PS5/Series X equivalents. I haven't been looking deeply into the game, so I wonder if they're skimping on some of the bigger features to make it look even better like ray tracing. If not, I'm guessing the PC master race people will be pissed that the game is being held back on PC by consoles.

4Sh0w1046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

"Time will tell how well Bethesda's target frame-rate is maintained, but in general a consistent, properly frame-paced 30fps feels better than a game that runs unlocked in the 30-60fps range (as we saw in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and the Final Fantasy 16 demo) - so the decision at least makes sense from that perspective. Beyond the frame-rate, John calls out Starfield as being the first truly beautiful game that Bethesda has ever made - and a lot of that comes down to improvements to rendering techniques, particularly the use of real-time global illumination, reflections and motion blur."

-Also if you watch their more in depth youtube video where he talks more about why Todd Howard wasn't only talking about visuals when he said fidelity and consistency -he was literally saying they didn't want to scale back other assets on console so it could run at 60fps. Maybe later down the line with some huge updates, but It's not as simple as just reducing the resolution for a performance mode, no console at the moment could run Starfield at a stable 60fps unless you scale back some game assets. It will be interesting to see if most pc's have stable 60fps. I have a ABS i7, RTX 3080 Ti with a M.2 NVMe SSD gaming pc so I'm anxious to see the difference between how it plays on my Series X vs my PC.

IMissJimRyan1046d ago

I've got 76 down votes because I said it was 30 fps because console cpus are already struggling.

https://n4g.com/news/255495...

Now those people need to threat John, because he must be wrong and fanboys right.

Babadook71046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

If console CPUs are struggling your average PC wouldn't be able to play it at 30 FPS. Check steam stats and you will see they are well behind.

KingKionic 1046d ago

"John puts forward the argument that a frame-rate target is a design decision - after all, even consoles in the 80s could hit 60fps, but clearly many developers have opted for a 30fps experience instead in the decades since. The question is what frame-rate allows you to hit your design goals for the game? In the case of Starfield, it's clear that this is an open-world or even "open universe" game, with item permanence, AI, simulations, and a lot of interlocking systems to create an immersive experience." -Digital Foundry

Any wise person could understand this. They are doing stuff now that devs aren't even trying to attempt on this scale.

Starfield too still manages all of that and looks very stunning.

Those environment shots man. Just WOW!

Obscure_Observer1046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

"Those environment shots man. Just WOW!"

Indeed. It´s spectacular! DF definitely come out impressed by everything Bethesda showed in the Starfield Direct.

The highlight points that I love about their tech breakdown:

It goes deep in detail on why Starfield being 30fps on consoles as a preferred choice over some inconsistent and disappoint 60fps modes like showed in some upcoming games.

The fact that Starfield is much more akin to Star Citizen than No Man´s Sky.

The combat which DF were very critical about last year, is now described as *excellent* and the best combat system that Bethesda ever had for its games.

The most beautiful Bethesda game ever made.

True next gen game.

We´re in for a real treat, boys!

September can´t come soon enough.

Tacoboto1046d ago

I finally watched the Starfield Direct in full last night - the upload from Bethesda themselves in 4K on YouTube, not IGN's 1080p video.

It looks seriously impressive actually seeing and hearing about the game in so much detail, more than just a trailer (the pirate lady and how she plays, the gundam style space ships in particular), and Magog will totally be triggered by this - my friend is a Skyrim gamer, with 400 hours of that game on her Switch Lite alone and hundreds more on her PS4. 30fps and low-res Skyrim is all she really knows, and this video excited her more than anything I've described to her about the PS5 over the years... because she really hasn't played anything except Skyrim for a long while.

KingKionic 1046d ago

Magog just triggered because all he can play is 0 FPS.

Lightning771046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

Few other details. They used Star Citizen as example. Alex was on a empty planet with little no real time simulation going (yes he even said the same with NMS) was hitting 60 just fine. The moment he went to a major city the 60 frames was jumping around like crazy it was jarring to look at.

DF confirmed the game is CPU heavy something I mentioned before. In case ppl missed it the game uses Ray Traced Global Illumination across the solar system which is also taxing on the CPU. Btw just because you leave a planet doesn't mean the world doesn't go static, stops or resets, life and simulation is still happening even you're far away from it. Each time you visit there's always something different and going on. DF also said they've never seen fog spread across vast distances like that with detail.

The only knock they has was the people and animations. How they haven't changed too much since Fall Out 4. they would of liked a more detail npc's this time around. It wasn't bad they just wanted more work on that front.

So yes SF is doing lots of different things all at once. 30 frames only makes sense here. DF approved and said this is the most impressive stuff they've seen in awhile.

dumahim1046d ago

Do you have anything that confirms ray tracing is being used? The article says it doesn't look like it is.

"The global illumination doesn't appear to be a per-pixel solution based on ray tracing from the shots in the trailer"

Lightning771046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

@Duma you're correct. It's real time global illumination. It simulated in some ways like RT with out being true RT. If it was true RT the game would be running at 10fps on console if that was the case.

My apologies for the wrong information.

4Sh0w1046d ago

"It's real time global illumination. It simulated in some ways like RT with out being true RT."

-Correct.

PhillyDonJawn1046d ago

Exactly, they aiming to bring us never been done type gameplay and world and ppl raging over 30fps. If 60fps meant sacrificing gameplay elements and the amazing lighting. I'll take the 30fps any day. Then ppl comparing nms running 60fps when NMS is like a empty shell compared to what SF is doing.

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Magog1046d ago

Lots of games run AI in an open world with "multiple systems" and look better at 60fps than Starfield does at 30fps. Just another excuse from Eurogamer who are massive Xbox and Nintendo fan boys.

Workshyskiver1046d ago

So being unbiased and not flaming on a non-playstation game is being a fanboy... Bit of a pot kettle and black story you've got going on here. Especially when they criticise aspect of Starfield and actually criticised Tears of the Kingdom, but you would have known that if you had bothered to watch the video.

Tacoboto1046d ago

It's not just AI
It's not just item positioning and tracking
It's not just global illumination and atmospheric effects relative to the planet/environment you're in
It's not just physical interaction between potentially hundreds of items and your character hoarding them

It is everything combined together working all at once.

But since none of that matters to you - If you're so hung up on 30fps, I hope you have consistency in your opinions:
- Bloodborne cannot be a good game because it's improperly frame-paced at 30fps and Sony didn't attempt to fix it even with very public hacks showing the fix to be one line
- Sony only advertises their biggest games in their Quality modes - they should advertise 60fps because 30fps is unplayable
- Naughty Dog failed because they removed the 40fps mode from TLOU Part 1 post-launch - unoptimized!
- FFXVI fails because it does absolutely not stick to 60fps - unoptimized!
- The PS3 era of Rachet & Clank is literally unplayable because the PS2 games were 60fps
- The Last Guardian is the worst Sony game of all time for not even sticking to 30 and subsequently removing the unlocked framerate in a post-release patch that would've let the game run at 60fps on PS5
- Horizon Forbidden West should've been delayed several months because the 60fps mode was extremely fuzzy at launch, prompting them to completely redo their AA solution that only released when the PS5 got VRR support

andy851046d ago

I wouldn't bring FFXVI into it. The final version will stick to 60.

Tacoboto1046d ago

If you're like Magog, no it won't - Starfield is a jittery 30fps max releasing in September, so how could FFXVI ever hit a solid 60 releasing in a week? They promised no day one Patch so therefore unoptimized mess.

andy851046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

@tacoboto the demo is Ver. 1.01, it's an old build. The state of play 2 months ago was Ver. 1.03 and given it's been a couple of months I doubt that's the final one too. This demo isn't the version we get next week. They aren't gonna go gold and say no patch with a choppy framerate when they could work on it till release with a patch if it wasn't fixed.

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Othegamer51046d ago

Your excited for starfield i just know it. haven't missed a article yet

PhillyDonJawn1046d ago

You raging on this game. Stop being big mad and take it for what it is. Gotcha a PC or something

Angyobangyo1046d ago

Cope harder, you're only coping at 30fps.

I am not even interested in Starfield, but you are on every post about the game. You mad about something you apparently don't care about.

senorfartcushion1045d ago

Fanboyism is insanely sad.

Stop being sad. Love life properly and stop obsessing over stuff that doesn’t matter.

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Duke191046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

As long as its stable, I could give a shit. For doing everything it IS doing and maintaining that level of graphical fidelity, its pretty impressive.

I just hope its fun, and not just a massive - empty space of a game (like No Mans Sky is to me)

Shane Kim1046d ago

Same. I always play the 30 fps modes anyways. As long as it's a steady 30 fps it's no problem.

Jin_Sakai1046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

Who cares how smooth the game plays and responsive the controls are. It’s all about that creative decision right? 30fps is basically a slideshow on an OLED TV.

4Sh0w1046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

Like I said long, long before Redfall launched the game looked so mid and uninspiring I don't give a damm what the dev's previous reputation was, I could tell it was 'meh...and boy was I wrong it was worst than that, an absolute dumpster fire of garbage and thats before you even consider the 60fps lie. Now I said all that because #1 for so game types 60 fps is a critical due the game design (competitive/twitch shooter) where its needs to be very responsive or you die alot unfairly, #2 ALL games would be better at 60fps vs 30fps but NOT if you lose content or assets *only so it can run at 60fps.

The truth is in every game all that really matters is the EXECUTION. I will play it on both pc & my X because I'm a nerd like that but as long as it "feels" good on my X, I'm good. I'm much more concerned about all the "1,000 planets", bugs, story and what we'll actually do than the fps.

jjb19811046d ago

The design decision is because the Xbox can't handle 60fps due to the complexity of the game. It has to play on the Series S and really, Xbox is to blame for that. It wouldn't do 60fps on the PS5 either. For Toad Howard to sit there and act like it was designed that way, say it's five games in one and feed it to all the dude bros is hilarious. PC is the way to go and I can't wait for the comparison to the PC version from Digital Foundry.

343_Guilty_Spark1046d ago

You obviously didn’t watch the DF breakdown.

CrimsonWing691046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

That’s what gets me. You have developers explaining this, you have subject matter experts explaining why it is, but you have crazy-ass fanboys who know literally nothing about game design crying it’s unacceptable because other games did it, so therefore any game has to, without literally taking to time to research why they chose 30fps.

It’s so annoying, but what are you going to do? And no this isn’t a fanboy war thing, if this was on PS5 and people were talking out their asses, I’d be saying the same damn thing.

jjb19811046d ago

They built a game on an old jank engine and for a console that is already outdated. How can PCs run the game at 60fps or more? Doesn't the "design" limit that?

Minute Man 7211046d ago

The X and S has the same CPU....

Eonjay1046d ago

Their CPU specs are not the same. This is easy to verify and the information has been made available for over 2 years now.

IMissJimRyan1046d ago

PS5, Xbox Series S and X have almost the same outdated CPU.

Lightning771046d ago

Really? How many 30fps games are out there? Let me start you off. Redfall and Starfield.

Lightning771046d ago

Theirs literal experts (DF), devs themselves (as if that wasn't enough) it even took a environmental artist GoW dev who hasn't even touched the game to explain to these ppl what's going on.

The information is everywhere hell even a click away in this article. Instead of whatever information you decided to make up.

IMissJimRyan1046d ago (Edited 1046d ago )

The question is how many games are cpu limited? Most games are still cross gen and have that jaguar cpu as target. So the current consoles don't have any problem running them.
Games thar are gpu limited can be adjusted to exchange quality for frames.
Maybe Xbox Studios are the firsts crossing the line to reach the limits of the 5 years old cpu of ps5 and Xbox series.
When Sony released a true current gen game, with big systems, phisics, AI, simulation and persistence we will see if the game will be capable to hold 60fps. By know we only have seem linear games and cross gen.

BriBri1045d ago (Edited 1045d ago )

There's lots of ways to skin a cat... People can claim that GI is limiting the frame rate but you can run your GI simulation, physics, animation, AI and any system you like at any refresh rate you want to and still keep the visual rendering at 60fps. Digital Foundry know this but they're probably being kind to Starfield for whatever reason.

Updating global illumination every frame seems like a total and utter waste of resources, you could probably update it once per second and get the exact same effect.

This 30fps thing is not a creative choice, it's either an engine limitation or just a poor excuse and if it's the latter then I expect there will be a 60fps patch within 3 months of launch.

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20°

Starfield Update 1.000.004 Released on PS5 to Mitigate Crashes; Players Still Reporting Crashing

Starfield on PS5 has just been updated to 1.000.004 to fix crashing issues, but players are reporting it didn't take.

90°

Starfield Was the Best-Selling Game in the US Following PS5 Release

Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana Mat Piscatella has revealed Starfield was the best-selling video in the US based on dollar sales for the week ending April 11th.

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vgchartz.com
jznrpg6d ago

For the week that nothing else of note launched.. I’m sure it will sell some copies but look at what released that week

6d ago Replies(6)
z2g5d ago

It’s not a requirement to buy games every month or whenever one is released. I don’t think people are going to spend $70+ on something they don’t care about.

GotGame8185d ago

I have talked about not being able to get into this game at launch. I still haven't given it another go, even though I think it looks great and has come a very long way since launch. Some people just want it to fail, even if it is a great game. I know why, we all do.

Starfield didn't just have the best sales for a week, but it was pre-ordered on PS store, with very nice numbers. I really need to start it again, on my PS5 though. So I can see how it is now. It has had some major updates.

I am looking forward to it all over again now.

Huey_My_D_Long5d ago

Its not that people want the game to fail. Its that Bethesda wont ever improve their games if you guys keep calling slop like starfield great games. Pure as that. Formulaic, chasing the trends, slop.

Like Bethesda has fallen off since FO4.

Ive a PC 4070, no interest in Starfield since the beginning since despite Bethesda owning some serious FPS legacy within their ranks...They just like seem to hate good shooting mechanics.

I dont see whats the appeal and thats ok. But how can you guys call it great? By what metric? The story? The Gameplay? The package all together? Hell I'm enjoying Crimson Desert, but I've got my issues with some design choices, but I do think the game is better as a whole than its individual parts. Is that the case for Starfield?
To be honest alot of you starfield stans dont make a great case for yourself, since I've never heard a starfield say what it is they enjoyed about it other just it being another Bethesda game that feels familiar yet new to them. Yall dont make the case on whats so great about starfield that keeps you coming back.
What does it do that makes it great that everyone like me is missing?

Like I wanted to like the Starfield, but after seeing its first trailer, it pretty much came out like I thought it was. Bethesda has been coasting off prestige for years now. and honestly starfield is proof of that.

CrimsonIdol5d ago

I'm fine with the game being janky Bethesda-core etc. For what it's worth it's more polished than previous games have been and the shooting mechanics are fine, feels pretty good even.

What I'm not fine with is it just being completely dull in every way. Even if they managed to resolve the structure of the game constantly sending you back and forth through maps and loading screens it's still going to be dull. The original The Outer Worlds did Fallout in space better, and that was hardly perfect (I haven't played the second one so I can't comment on that). At least The Outer Worlds had some interesting characters, enemies and locations. Starfield has none of that. They can argue that it's more grounded/going for realism or some nonsense (yet it's still doing Star Wars/Firefly style space travel) but it's fundamentally dull.

I dropped loads of money on a copy of this game at launch and I've no desire to get my money's worth out of it, I pretty quickly cut my losses and moved on. I don't know what happened to the writers for Bethesda, I presume they all moved on and have since been replaced by Jenny from accounting.

sweatyrich5d ago

I agree with @CrimsonIdol
I played the game to completed, but it's version of NG+ simply didn't appeal to me, so I never went back to it.
There's base-building, but it really serves no point, other than, there's base building. If you're into that, you have it, but I didn't touch it at all, as it wasn't part of the story ... At all.

The main character models are "ok", but the NPCs are just bad.

And IMO, people shouldn't be OK with a Bethesda game being janky. They're a big company, and should be jank-free by now!

MrBaskerville4d ago

I've given it another go and with the new more modular difficulty i managed to balance it a bit like Stalker 2 and it has been a lot more enjoyable this time around. The free roaming in space also helps a bit. Still prefer older Bethesda games, but it's growing on me
ever so slowly.

Jin_Sakai5d ago

Curious gamers. They’ll soon find out soon enough how trash it is.

Reaper22_5d ago

I dont think so. The games has been well received on PS5. Getting good scores too.

Jin_Sakai5d ago

Digital Foundry showed how bad the game runs even on PS5 Pro and crashes. It can’t even hold 60fps and not a looker to begin with. 🤷‍♂️

Grilla4d ago

I found out. I loved FO4 and wanted to judge Starfield for myself. I should have waited for a sale.

Putte5d ago

It's still as Bad as it was on Xbox. Of cause some playstation user's are curious and because there is a lot of them then the sales are gonna be somewhat okay for small time period. But still a very sad story what starfield turned out to be. Maybe the biggest disappointment in my gaming life.

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40°

Starfield: Free Lanes Trophy Guide & Roadmap

The Free Lanes update has arrived! Earn every Trophy in the DLC with the help of our Free Lanes Trophy Guide & Roadmap!

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daynglsgameguides.com
phongtro123_com5d ago

Solid, practical guide overall. The roadmap structure makes it easy to plan a clean run, especially by separating missables from cleanup. I also like that it flags potential grind points and suggests when to tackle them.

A couple of things that could make it even stronger:

Clarify any missable trophies/achievements more explicitly (and whether manual saves are recommended before certain choices).
Add estimated time for 100% completion and note difficulty settings if they affect progress.
Include brief build/loadout suggestions for tougher segments or challenges.
If applicable, call out any bugs or tracking issues in the update that players should watch for.

Overall, helpful for both newcomers and completionists, just needs a bit more detail in a few areas.