Watch Dogs 2 Video Card Image Quality Review - Part 3

[FrgMstr]

Watch Dogs 2 Video Card Image Quality Review - Part 3 - In Part 3 of our Watch Dog 2 performance and image quality series we focus on the image quality aspects of this game. We will compare high resolution textures, shadows, ambient occlusion, extra details slider and AA. If you are curious what those features look like, how they compare between quality levels, this article will give you an idea what to expect.

 

[Quartz-1]

The comparison pages are working now!

It was very useful to see the differences HBAO+, SMAA, and extra details made, and the shadow comparison was awesome. However, I read the article on my 24" 4K portrait mode monitor and am hard-pushed to spot any difference with the high-res textures on pages 2, 3, and 4. This leads me to ask how pixel density affects subjective visual quality in the game? If you have them available could you compare the game on a 4K 24" monitor, a 4K 28" monitor, and a 4K 40" monitor?

 

[SighTurtle]

Great series of articles on watch dogs.

I can't think of a game that is ready for future hardware to try and max it out, yet reasonably able to say, "It's worth it" when comparing between the different settings. I'll have to keep this game in mind for future purchase.

 

[noko]

Loved the review, love the very in depth coverage of the most important IQ settings with many different samples of each.

Now the extra detail slider and performance impact looks like at 50% setting has a significant improvement with detail while the performance impact is really not that great. That extra 50% to 100% takes it over the cliff for performance with minor improvement in detail. I may use 60% with not that significant amount of performance loss.

HTFS to me does look the best but I wish there was some sort of bias to adjust the falloff distance. The shadows look like they get too blurry too fast or to short of distance away from the object. Ultra shadows are too sharp and distracting, will have to try PCSS but may end up with Very High or High as a compromised to get away from the razor sharp shadows and not be robbed of too much performance.

Great job!

 

[Armenius]

Does forcing transparency AA through the control panel work with this game? I think it's funny how we didn't have issues with fences a decade ago and we're back to dealing with lack of definition with the mainstream AA methods today. God, I miss CSAA...

 

[b00gjuice]

A great article. Personally, I like the 2x TXAA with WD2 and prefer it over all other modes. It gets rid of the crawling and shimmering. I don't mind the slightly blurred textures as I don't really notice that. What I tend to notice in games is crawling and shimmering textures so I'll use TXAA and lower other options so I can maintain a good frame-rate.

 

[Armenius]

A great article. Personally, I like the 2x TXAA with WD2 and prefer it over all other modes. It gets rid of the crawling and shimmering. I don't mind the slightly blurred textures as I don't really notice that. What I tend to notice in games is crawling and shimmering textures so I'll use TXAA and lower other options so I can maintain a good frame-rate.

The benefit of TXAA definitely has to be seen in motion. As now both the [H] review and GeForce guide have shown, it just looks like MSAA in still shots.

 

[CSI_PC]

What is the performance hit of 2xTXAA compared to 2xMSAA?
Thanks

 

[b00gjuice]

What is the performance hit of 2xTXAA compared to 2xMSAA?
Thanks

So I did a fun experiment. I sped a dirt bike up & down a main drag in the middle of the city with lots of tall buildings.

1440p

No AA: 50 fps
2x MSAA: 42 fps
2x MSAA + SMAA: 40 fps
2x TXAA: 39 fps

I'm not sensitive to lower framerate and don't mind 30 fps. I am sensitive to texture crawling/shimmering though, I hate it. TXAA seems to be the only mode that gets rid of it which is by design I think.
In big chases or races I just open options and turn AA off to get out of the low 20's fps. With 2xTXAA I usually average 30-45 fps except in big chases with police, helicopters, etc. I do have some other options turned down. I still think the game looks better with TXAA.

 

[b00gjuice]

The benefit of TXAA definitely has to be seen in motion. As now both the [H] review and GeForce guide have shown, it just looks like MSAA in still shots.

I agree. TXAA shows its benefits in motion, I just love the look and feel of the game with TXAA. I also like how [H] does explain the pros/cons of each AA mode, that is why [H] is the best. I don't post a lot, but I've been a member of [H] forums a long time.

 

[thesmokingman]

Man I bought a code off someone here and have not bothered to d/l it yet.

 

[ButchCassidy]

It's choppy for my at 4k running 2 1080s. I think I might have a faulty 1080