Unreal Engine 5 is going to bring a lot of pain to the new gen consoles

Take a look at this forest scene running on UE5 max settings on my system (no OC). Only 1440p and the frame rate is brutal. Sure, I can scale it to run better on my hardware and it will probably still look decent, but imagine trying to scale that to run on the much weaker console hardware. It is going to look and run like shit. The Matrix Awakens demo was already a disaster on consoles. It was blurry as fuk and couldn't even run at 30fps. This is why we need powerful hardware like the RTX 4090 to take advantage of the latest game engines. Advanced UE5 games are going to be shit on consoles. The mid-gen consoles can't come soon enough.

Obviously consoles are gonna hit hard limits, but in fairness those Mawi landscape packs aren't exactly optimal lol. That conifer biome is especially demanding.

What system u running on

That lighting is so hot. Imagine RDR3 with these kind of graphics. Shieeeet.

I guess if gaming is only about graphics this means something to you.🤷🏽‍♂️

@ConanTheStoner: Unreal Engine 5.1 Preview 1 has just released. There are supposed to be improvements to Lumen and Nanite to better handle foliage which could help that scene a lot. I have not tried it yet though.

Specs are in the top left of the screenshots, but here u go...

CPU: 5950X

GPU: 3080

48GB DDR4 3600 CL 16

@Pedro: for real this means nothing to me. Bunch of stupid tress. Currently playing Rayman 2 on 3DS and having a blast 😂

Does that look amazing? Absolutely.

Do my games have to look that good in order for me to enjoy them? Absolutely not.

For those wondering, Linus just ran the demo on the Xbox Series S.

Classic System Wars behaviour on display here....

LOL

@BassMan:

I still don't get why people compare PC to consoles. Different experience to this day.

I'll enjoy these graphics in 2032 when I don't have to spend a small fortune to get them

Ohh, so amaaazzing yawn. Meanwhile, the game play is still stuck in 2008 level, except with a slightly larger scale. The next level in gaming will only be reached once we figure out how to get proper VR tech done. That means having a full body experience inside of a game. Until then, continue on with your graphics hoeing as usual.

@BassMan: Who in here has argued about Xbox or PlayStation having better graphics then the other but is now saying that graphics don’t matter because of the PC?

@BassMan said:

Take a look at this forest scene running on UE5 max settings on my system (no OC). Only 1440p and the frame rate is brutal. Sure, I can scale it to run better on my hardware and it will probably still look decent, but imagine trying to scale that to run on the much weaker console hardware. It is going to look and run like shit. The Matrix Awakens demo was already a disaster on consoles. It was blurry as fuk and couldn't even run at 30fps. This is why we need powerful hardware like the RTX 4090 to take advantage of the latest game engines. Advanced UE5 games are going to be shit on consoles. The mid-gen consoles can't come soon enough.

Our current project is in Unreal 5, and it is without question a demanding, punishing beast of an engine.

This is where programmers do, in my opinion, some of their most impactful work in games. Whichever tech department can figure out how to whittle down what's being rendered, processed, etc, on screen with the smallest amount of overhead will be the dev team that's able to capitalize on what Unreal 5 can do the most.

I'm optimistic this will improve over time. Right now, everybody working on Unreal projects are trying to milk every bit of juice the engine has and are, from what I've seen personally, significantly less concerned with performance, compared to achieving the highest fidelity visuals imaginable.

Once the "look how pretty it is" honeymoon phase is over and people stop turning all the dials up to 100 (a good amount of which they won't need at any level for the project they're developing), people will start to figure out how to efficiently pull this type of stuff off, and more importantly, figure out which parts of UE5 they don't need to be using/aren't worth the performance cost.

I don't think devs are going to be targeting top end PC hardware without regard for finding balance on consoles, except maybe the devs that have no desire to put their games on consoles.

PS5 and XSX ran the Matrix demo at 1440 and 30fps. It's not ideal but it's playable.

This will be ignored

The tech behind UE5 is awesome and if you were tech savvy wise in the PC realm, you would appreciate what UE5 can truly do. Graphics is just a bonus here so never mind what Bass is saying. The tech is more important.

We do know Gears 6, new Witcher game, the next Tomb Raider, Redfall, Hellblade II, Black Myth: Wukong, & Kingdom Hearts 4 will all benefit what UE5 is capable of...that includes current-gen consoles.

They all render graphics and output them to a display. PC does it best.

Console gamers love to boast about graphics until they get owned and it no longer fits their narrative.... Then they downplay their importance and start deflecting to gameplay and other things. LOL

@IMAHAPYHIPPO: I agree with what you are saying. I am just showing how shit the consoles will be at dynamic and simulated worlds (looking forward to Racer RTX). Things like path/ray tracing do not come cheap. Games that use these features on consoles will struggle. Unreal Engine 5 is ahead of its time for these consoles.

@davillain: Oh yeah for sure, I get all that. I’m just curious as to what motivated him to that comment is all. Definitely looking forward to see what UE5 will bring to those games you mention and more in the future.

@BassMan: Umm, ok? But what triggered you to make that comment in this thread? My question was who’s comment was that.

@Archangel3371: Multiple people started downplaying graphics and deflecting. SargentD, Pedro, and you.

@BassMan: Well just speaking for myself I’ve always said that I don’t need the best in graphics to enjoy games. I can easily enjoy lower end graphics in games. The entire basis of this thread and your OP states how UE5 is going to “run like shit” on current gen consoles. I simply said what I’ve always said. I like nice graphics but I can enjoy games that may not be the best looking. That’s hardly fitting your description there of what “classic” System Wars entails. Not deflecting in the least either, just responding to your OP. 🤷‍♂️

Unreal Engine 5 is awesome. I can only imagine how much money Epic Games is making from it. Apparently they are like a $30 billion company by now?

Those graphics are awesome, but we have to consider the fact that lots of low end PCs (including Steam Deck) won’t be able to uphold these visual standards. Developers will need to use strong optimisation and innovative thinking if they want to target enthusiast PC gamers with 4090s in addition to Steam Deck owners and console owners. This will be challenging, but it’s still do-able. Everybody should have something made for them.

Also it's worth mentioning the new Mass Effect (4) game will also use UE5 (reported last year) so it looks like both EA/Bioware are ditching Frostbite engine which is good cause Frostbite engine was a nightmare on Mass Effect: Andromeda. UE5 is proving to be the next big engine for most developers.

Looks terrible with all that chromatic aberration and shitty lens blur. Disable that crap, if you want to show off how great UE5 can look.

At this point Frostbite is a nightmare on every game. If the devs behind the creation of the engine can't even use it in a battlefield game, then we have a massive problem. As for ME4, not only has bioware made a bunch of garbage titles as of late, but for how many years have they been developing the new dragon age? ME4 is most likely a 2027-2028 game lol.

I am not a fan of that shit either, but it is just a prepackaged demo without options to change it. I did not buy the asset pack or package the demo. Had I packaged it, I would have disabled that shit and then added DLSS and ultrawide support. :)

Oh wow that's crazy, I mean that forest looks good... but bringing a 3080 to its knees?

I'm not worried though, by the time the first native UE5 games start appearing, I'm sure we'll have a RTX5080.

@BassMan: Don't know about UE5, but the UE4 demos used to have config files with all the settings in some folder.

@BassMan: If games looked like shit graphically you would have a point but the current state of games games visually is great. The continued obsession with graphics despite diminishing returns seems rather detached. I am more amazed that gamers who have supposedly been around a long time is still being hoodwinked with these demos especially PC gamers.

I overlooked the folder before, but applied the works:

[SystemSettings]

r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0

r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=0

r.MotionBlurQuality=0

r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0

Just for you bud...

@Pedro: I started back in the Atari days. So, I am well aware of how far we have come, the current state and where we are going.... and I know it is not just about graphics.

If you want realistic graphics, go outside.

... or buy a 4090. :)

Then stop acting to the contrary 🙃

Or buy a 3080 or 3070 or 3060..😏

I appreciate that you didn't get offended by my comment. I meant it all in jest and it gave me a hearty chuckle. :) All things aside, I would go PC at this point.

That's fine, they'll get PS5 Pro for $600-700 in a year, after just spending $600 on PS5, and pretend consoles don't have loose "upgrading" now. And even then still run these UE5 games at half the FPS with lower settings of PC.

I know it is all in fun. I am blessed with beautiful ray tracing nearby. Taken during a walk a few weeks ago...

Now that's another matter entirely, it does not look as "good" when you can actually see the fucking details, but at least you don't fell like you are looking at something after drinking half a liter of vodka.

Nice, took this shot when I headed off to work by bike yesterday. Beautiful bounced lighting:

Right after all the corn had been harvested.

@R4gn4r0k: Looks good. Are the birds by the tree full models or is it just a particle emitter? hehe ;)

Think they're rendered like in Assassin's Creed: 2D sprites.

Gotta save on something :D

PC tech demos and spec reveals are the only things that unite the Lem and Cow factions. The deflection and dismissal of this demo by members of both factions is showing a unity that brings a tear to my eye. Very heartwarming stuff on display here. But give it time. They’ll be clowning Nintendo fans over graphics and specs before you know it…

Dont care game still will look great. We are hitting dimishing returns with these graphics I really couldn't care if pc have extra details or not I am gonna enjoy my games and commenting on how beautiful it looks on whatever platform I am on, except on nintendo of course even I have limits lmao.

SuperMighty XSX MonsterBox will cure all that ails you. lol :P

UE5 scales down to mobile phones so I don't quite understand how we can apply a blanket statement like that.