Graphics Nerf in Red Dead Redemption 2

Old Duck

Old Duck
I just learned about the graphics nerf in RDR2 that was introduced in an early update. I bought the game on disc, and I thought I saw a drop in quality after the update, but I wasn't totally sure until someone validated this observation. I've also noticed other glitchy things since the update, while on the other hand I didn't encounter the bugs I read about that are supposedly in 1.00.

So what do you think, should I roll back my RDR2 to version 1.00? Thankfully owning the disc allows me to do this, assuming the save data from 1.09 is backwards-compatible. It sounds like the "disappearing characters" bug is the big one, so is there a way around this particular bug? From what I'm seeing, most of the updates focus on Red Dead Online, perhaps to the detriment of the Story mode. While I'd like to play around with RDO, I can happy wait until I finish the main game.

FWIW, I'm on PS4 Slim, which may have gotten more of a nerf than say the XB1X. The game still looks real good, but I am noticing pop-in now, lesser-quality shadows (though still way better than ED), and some other weird non-graphic glitches like people teleporting, limbs appearing and disappearing, etc. And here I thought ED was the only game that got worse with updates instead of better, LOL.

PS - I'm still early into the game, so please NO SPOILERS!
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
Well I just read this online:
Due to your save file being updated to the latest version, you would have to start over, but people are saying that they see a much vibrant difference when doing this. You would also need to make sure that the game isn’t automatically updated until you finish the game either.
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Now that puts me into a real pickle, as I don't think I want to restart my save from scratch.... Oy!

Though I am still relatively early in the game. That intro "tutorial" however, I really don't want to do it again.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
Jezzah said:
Is this new downgraded visuals "really" that bad? I wouldn't know I'm a PC only scrub.
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Well, I don't think so... This may be because I'm running 1.09 now, which supposedly reverses the removal of AO. I'm a bit more bothered about things specifically mentioned in the OP that I didn't notice before the update. And now there's a new 1.10 I haven't downloaded. All-in-all, the game still looks pretty amazing. Still, if 1.00 is the best-looking version, it sure does tempt me to roll back.

There's a new Digital Foundry video that looks at this 1.09 update, just came out a bit ago, so once I'm somewhere with decent Internet I'll have a look and see what they say. For now I'll keep on keeping on as-is.

Speaking of 1.00, anyone reading this play the entire Story through before any of the updates were released? I'm assuming there are no "game-breaking" bugs in 1.00, but I wasn't paying much attention back when the game dropped.
 

Dutchman141

Dutchman141
I thought the latest update we had fixed a lot of the graphical downgrade made by the previous one.
They also fixed the hdr on Xbox One X with the latest update.

I think the game looks awesome and wouldn't know in what perspective a previous version would have looked better though.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
Dutchman141 said:
I thought the latest update we had fixed a lot of the graphical downgrade made by the previous one.
They also fixed the hdr on Xbox One X with the latest update.
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That's what I'm trying to get to bottom of. A fellow in another thread says the update doesn't fully restore the original graphics quality. I'm eager to check out that DF video, as they often run very detailed tests. Though I wonder how much emphasis is on HDR, which I don't have. I'm currently more interested in the SDR quality on standard PS4.

I do agree with you, it's a great looking game. That said, if it can look even better by just reverting back to 1.00, well I'd be tempted at the very least.
 

Dutchman141

Dutchman141
Old Duck said:
That's what I'm trying to get to bottom of. A fellow in another thread says the update doesn't fully restore the original graphics quality. I'm eager to check out that DF video, as they often run very detailed tests. Though I wonder how much emphasis is on HDR, which I don't have. I'm currently more interested in the SDR quality on standard PS4.

I do agree with you, it's a great looking game. That said, if it can look even better by just reverting back to 1.00, well I'd be tempted at the very least.
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Reverting back to a previous version would also mean that other bugs won't be fixed though.
Right now I'm very pleased by how the game looks, taking the risk of geting unfixed bugs during mssions etc. weighs heavier for me than even better graphics quality that I don't even miss at the moment.

If there would be very noticable graphical glitches or faded textures etc. then I would consider it maybe but imho it all looks great right now, one of the best looking games I've got to be honest.
 

Mole HD

Mole HD
I certainly haven't noticed any degradation in the Xbox one X version and I had almost finished the game by the time the first big patch appeared...I play it in 1080P on the one X since I see very little difference at 4K playing on a 30" 4K monitor 2 feet from my face rather than a TV.

I'm now on my 4th or 5th playthrough of the story but haven't noticed the recent patch to have any effect on the single player at all...since the patches are all to do with the online part as far as I can make out.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
Mole HD said:
I certainly haven't noticed any degradation in the Xbox one X version and I had almost finished the game by the time the first big patch appeared...I play it in 1080P on the one X since I see very little difference at 4K playing on a 30" 4K monitor 2 feet from my face rather than a TV.

I'm now on my 4th or 5th playthrough of the story but haven't noticed the recent patch to have any effect on the single player at all...since the patches are all to do with the online part as far as I can make out.
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IIRC the nerf to AO was for performance reasons, something I doubt the XB1X ever had an issue with. If the PS5 were not on the horizon, I'd be very, very tempted by the XB1X. I can actually get it cheaper than a PS4 Pro! Originally I looked at it for ED, but now with games like RDR2, that temptation is all the more real. The main reason I don't pull the trigger is that I really enjoy some of the Playstation exclusives, and I prefer the DS4 over the XBox controller. Oh, and I paid for another year of PS Plus...

So I just wait, kinda sorta not really patiently, for the Playstation 5 to be released. I've never preordered a console before. Heck, I usually wait for the Slim version before upgrading, but this time I'll be first in line!
 

Mole HD

Mole HD
Old Duck said:
IIRC the nerf to AO was for performance reasons, something I doubt the XB1X ever had an issue with. If the PS5 were not on the horizon, I'd be very, very tempted by the XB1X. I can actually get it cheaper than a PS4 Pro! Originally I looked at it for ED, but now with games like RDR2, that temptation is all the more real. The main reason I don't pull the trigger is that I really enjoy some of the Playstation exclusives, and I prefer the DS4 over the XBox controller. Oh, and I paid for another year of PS Plus...

So I just wait, kinda sorta not really patiently, for the Playstation 5 to be released. I've never preordered a console before. Heck, I usually wait for the Slim version before upgrading, but this time I'll be first in line!
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Ghosts of Tsushima...sick as a pig Sony ferreted that as an exclusive :(
 

metatheurgist

metatheurgist
Old Duck said:
IIRC the nerf to AO was for performance reasons, something I doubt the XB1X ever had an issue with. If the PS5 were not on the horizon, I'd be very, very tempted by the XB1X. I can actually get it cheaper than a PS4 Pro! Originally I looked at it for ED, but now with games like RDR2, that temptation is all the more real. The main reason I don't pull the trigger is that I really enjoy some of the Playstation exclusives, and I prefer the DS4 over the XBox controller. Oh, and I paid for another year of PS Plus...
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Aren't you glad you're not on PC and constantly updating for graphics and performance reasons. :p
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
metatheurgist said:
Aren't you glad you're not on PC and constantly updating for graphics and performance reasons. :p
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That's one of the many reasons I got out of PC gaming. I want to play games like RDR2, not "games" like Notepad (editing .ini files), DXDiag, Sysinternals, Task Manager, more Notepad, Device Manager, etc. Then there's the "buy new video card that costs more than my PS4 and perform surgery on PC , only to find out new video card isn't backwards-compatible with some of my favorite older games" crap...

I actually used to love doing all this way back in my early days of gaming (MS-DOS, Win 3.1, Win 95), but once XP was released it started getting on my nerves (especially since I did SysAdmin for a living at the time). Then Windows Vista came out, and I'm like, "Screw this."

The one thing I do very much miss is advanced graphics settings, which apparently console makers refuse to allow games to expose. If I could make my own decisions to prioritize shadows over fog, for example, I would be thrilled. Oh well, hopefully the PS5 will give me good enough graphics that I'll not care about this, either.

Oh, and then there's the lovely ability to toss my PS4 Slim into my laptop bag to take over to a friends for gaming, something that was a major hassle back when my gaming rig was a giant beige box with 100 wires.
 
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Old Duck

Old Duck
I've been doing lots of research, and there seems to be a number of folks who feel the game remains graphically downgraded even after the latest update. They are looking at some different things than Digital Foundry, and I think they are likely focusing on SDR instead of HDR (which is provably better since 1.09), but that's what I use.

So here is my plan - I will back up my save data, take some specific screenshots where I personally feel the graphics feel lower quality than they used to, reinstall the game from disc (praying my saves carry over, but willing to restart for testing purposes if not), and make my own comparisons on my own PS4 Slim to see if I notice a marked improvement. I can always reapply the patches if I hit any game-breaking bugs in the original version. I'll update this thread if I find any smoking guns!

Get it, "smoking guns" 😁....😂.....🤣
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
I'm back to playing the original 1.00 version. I had to start from the beginning due to save data not being compatible, but I discovered that I missed some interesting dialog my first time 'round, so this is not 'bad news' for me (and I'm working my way back to where I was much quicker now that I know what I'm doing).

Right now based on gut feeling alone, I think 1.00 looks better. It's very nuanced things like shadow edges, texture quality, night time lighting, etc. It definitely feels a bit more sluggish in spots, but I'm okay with this as I tend to play at a slower pace. I think the lower FPS in places implies a higher graphics quality. Rumor is quality was 'nerfed' because twitchy RDO gameplay wouldn't tolerate these lower FPS in towns.

The disclaimer here is that I play on a gaming monitor just a couple feet from my eyes, and my eyes are 'calibrated' to notice nuanced differences in quality. I'm also playing on a PS4 Slim, which likely would see quality reductions made for greater FPS than a powerful console like the XB1X. So for me personally, I prefer the little extra quality in 1.00 and will attempt to finish the Story before updating. So far I've avoided all the 'game-breaking' bugs, and the bugs I have noticed were still in the game even after the 1.10 update.
 

Vistitor010100

Vistitor010100
A new HDR Calibration menu has been added. Players can now switch between the existing ‘Cinematic HDR’ and new ‘Game HDR’ styles, and a new option has been added to allow manual adjustment of Peak Brightness values for different displays
From the above
 

Iskariot

Iskariot
Old Duck said:
That's one of the many reasons I got out of PC gaming. I want to play games like RDR2, not "games" like Notepad (editing .ini files), DXDiag, Sysinternals, Task Manager, more Notepad, Device Manager, etc.
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I have been playing games on PC for a lifetime. Never went through this PC gaming hell you talk about.
I would be interested in PS4 if I could attach a normal gaming mouse and keyboard and normal HOTAS though.
The first console that offers me that is mine.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
Iskariot said:
I would be interested in PS4 if I could attach a normal gaming mouse and keyboard and normal HOTAS though.
The first console that offers me that is mine.
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PS4 does support K&M, but most games don't. There are exceptions like Fortnite and War Thunder (which also supports multiple HOTAS). ED on PS4 actually supported a couple of keyboard shortcuts until Frontier found out about it and disabled the 'feature'. I really don't know what the deal is with this... 🤷‍♂️
 
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