Inside Xbox One X-Enhanced: The Division 2

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Alucard_Prime

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#1  Edited By Alucard_Prime
Member since 2008 • 10107 Posts

This is a familiar scenario, a new X-Enhanced game is releasing soon and those who are interested in this kind of graphical detail should be pleased with what it has to offer. We've seen this happen time and time again since the X was released, but this is like a 2nd generation of X titles that are using even more of the X's potential as devs are getting used to the hardware more and optimization just gets better over time. As well, it is releasing with support on the X and not patched after the fact like the last game.

Now keep in mind this article's purpose is to promote the game and the X so of course you won't find any negative stuff here, when the DF analysis comes out I will post it for reference for those curious about all the details.

But as a huge fan of the first game which already looked great to me, and having already played this sequel for a few hours via the Ultimate edition.... so far, this is definitely one of my top 5 best looking games on the X and overall a nice upgrade from the first game. It is a showcase title with HDR support and incredible texture detail and lighting effects. Pretty sure the game has dynamic weather too, I remember while I was playing a thunderstorm started and it looked amazing. Overall the game felt very smooth for me but I didn't get to any super crowded areas yet.

Aside from the graphical stuff, I'm quite pleased with all the gameplay improvements I've seen so far and this is a fun sequel to the first game imo. I had my reservations at first, but decided to get it since I loved the first title and Ubisoft kept supporting it well after release.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to get the game, it's a loot shooter and you either love or hate those, this is more for people who already decided to get it and own an X. A lot of us had to spend decent money to get the X and a 4K TV and it's nice to see the results that keep getting better over time, nice little bonus for a game I was going to enjoy anyways.

Details below from Inside Xbox and will post DF details later on:

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/03/08/inside-xbox-one-x-enhanced-division-2/

Many of gaming’s most compelling stories come from those who’ve helped to create our favorite Xbox One games. In our Inside Xbox One X Enhanced series, these creators will share the behind-the-scenes accounts of the work involved in enhancing these epic games for Xbox One X, how they’ve helped chart the course of the world’s most powerful console, and what that means for the future of gaming. Today we’ll be talking with Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Technical Director Carl Johan Lejdfors.

What specifically is your development team doing to enhance Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 for Xbox One X?

Our team utilized the increased memory and powerful GPU to improve high resolution rendering in all areas of The Division 2’s Washington D.C. We include support for features like HDR, and 4K rendering even on displays that only support 1080p, which helps leading to sharper details and less aliasing. Also, the faster hard drive makes load times better and in-game streaming faster.

How do these enhancements impact the gaming experience?

Players will experience a richer, more detailed and vibrant world for Agents to explore and interact with. The game will run smoother, look better, and load faster.

Why did your development team choose to focus on these enhancement areas?

The visual richness and sheer amount of detail in the world of The Division 2 is a key distinguishing feature. Taking that experience to the next level would strengthen that aspect even more. By rendering in 4k and taking advantage of the increased memory to allow crisper textures and more details, we judged that this would be the best possible player experience on the Xbox One X.

How do you expect fans of Tom Clancy’s The Division 2will respond to seeing/playing it on Xbox One X with these enhancements?

We put a lot of work into the details of D.C., so we hope they are able to take in every little detail! A lot of research with specialists has been done to make sure that we produced the most realistic reproduction of D.C. 7 months after a catastrophic event.

The result is our massive open world, with lots to see and even more to experience in The Division 2. Players will be even more immersed in our world and truly experience what we call the “Environmental Storytelling”; you will always be tempted to try to understand what could have happened here.

How has the process been to get the game up and running on Xbox One X?

Getting everything up and running on the Xbox One X was very straightforward and we had it up and spinning after about 1 day of receiving the development Xbox One X hardware. Tuning the graphics experience took a bit more time, but the Xbox architecture, for both the base and X versions, is a natural fit for the internal architecture of the Snowdrop engine powering The Division 2.

What enhancement were you most excited about to explore leveraging for Tom Clancy’s The Division 2on Xbox One X?

One thing we loved was being able to use 8k textures for our skies, which leads to super-detailed clouds and gloriously beautiful sunsets. This makes the weather changes and day/night cycle in Washington D.C. a truly breathtaking experience on the Xbox One X.

What does 4K and HDR mean for your game, games in the future and development at your studio?

The use of HDR can lead to a vastly better looking games where players can experience more details in dark areas, more vibrant colors, and even better looking lighting. The support of high resolution 4K rendering capabilities also leads to sharper details on all compatible monitors and TV screens. HDR and 4K together makes all the hard work of our art teams really stand out by giving it that extra 110% awesome.

Tom Clancy’s The Division was visually spectacular on Xbox One and later Enhanced for Xbox One X, what was different about developing Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 natively for Xbox One X?

Well, one of the key differences in The Division 2 is that we have completely overhauled the render pipeline to scale better with increased resolution. So, with 4k rendering this is where the Xbox One X really shines. This gives us even better rendering performance on the Xbox One X compared to the previous game, giving all the players out there a better experience.

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#2  Edited By deactivated-6092a2d005fba
Member since 2015 • 22663 Posts

Still not buying the game, and probably won't buy another Ubi game until they release a new Splinter Cell game.