Aliens vs. Predator DX11 Gameplay Performance and IQ @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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Aliens vs. Predator Gameplay Performance and IQ - Aliens vs. Predator, the latest follow-up to Rebellions classic hit of the same name is here, and promises to bring DirectX 11 gaming with it! We'll check it out on seven of the best video cards out there and find out just what DirectX 11 has to offer us for our Sci-Fi bug hunting fix!

When DirectX 10 came into our gaming lives, it brought with it terrible performance hits and negligible image quality changes. We are glad to see that DirectX 11 brought improved performance not only over DirectX 10, but even over DirectX 9. Graphically speaking, we were hoping that there would be more to see, but we were disappointed.
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Underwhelming, I was looking forward to this as an example of DX11 actually adding something.

Honestly all it seems to add is AA, which could have been implemented in DX9.

Tessellation: what's the point of tessellating the alien? It's black and moving very fast, you would never be able to see the difference in game.
Shadows: I can't see the difference in the static screen shots let alone in game.
 
It is true, AvP is not a DX11 showcase, DX11 can do much, and there are many features associated with it, however those are not implemented in AvP. We have basically advanced shadows (in an already dark game) and Tessellation on a dark fast moving alien. I have to be honest, when I played through the entire game with Tessellation on, I did not feel that it was impacting my gameplay in any way. I just didn't see it in this particular game. While I'm sure the Alien does look much better when close, or when standing still, those two scenarios are simply not a reality in this particular game.

We will be looking at Metro 2033 in the future, which so far seems encouraging for graphical features, and supports Tessellation and Advanced DoF in DX11. We will also be looking at BC2, which supports HBAO in DX10/11.
 
I think the best thing DX11 has to offer is improved efficiency and a single API under which to run multiple generations of graphics cards.
 
Mark_Warner said:
I think the best thing DX11 has to offer is improved efficiency and a single API under which to run multiple generations of graphics cards.
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I agree, and features that are also downward supported on those graphics cards, such as multi-threading in the API, downward compatible with DX10 cards, so instant performance boost. This is what DX10 was supposed to be, but never could.

So in general DX11 is a good thing, even if we aren't seeing Tessellation impact gaming yet and so forth, the API itself is much better than DX9 or DX10.

There is great potential there. We just aren't seeing that potential in Aliens vs. Predator. Fun game, just doesn't really bring much to the table in improving the gameplay experience with DX11, except for AA.
 
Unless there is some hidden muscle somewhere in the Radeon lineup......

DX11 and EyeFinity are a pipedream.

So far, I can only watch a slideshow in AvP and Metro 2033 under DX11.

Metro has the disadvantage of having no advanced graphics toggles, unless you invade the .cfg files.
Now the DX10 in EyeFinity is more than playable, as is the DX9 in AvP.
But in 6000 X 1200 (EF bezel correction resolution) it isn't a happy place.

Maybe there are Crossfire tweaks that are not there yet.....but I can't enjoy it as it stands.

Yes, I could probably rock the house with a single monitor, but that would be a step backwards at this point.
 
Mark_Warner said:
I think the best thing DX11 has to offer is improved efficiency and a single API under which to run multiple generations of graphics cards.
Click to expand...

sure, improved efficiency until the developer throws a hilariously subtle and framerate slaughtering effect into the mix that makes people cry out against the API

developers really should stop trying to shoehorn something insane in just because WOW DX11 GOTTA CRAM SOMETHING IN THAT HALVES THE FRAMERATE TO LURE THE CUSTOMERS IN. the API should be faster and undoubtedly is, but someone always has to sneak something in which gives it a bad rep.
 
need more Metro 2033 review. Game has some ridiculous performance capabilities, although not that customizable.

I can't believe the Tessellation didn't cause larger fps hits. I figured something like that would be rather noticeable when you turn it on or off.
 
blgdinger said:
need more Metro 2033 review. Game has some ridiculous performance capabilities, although not that customizable.

I can't believe the Tessellation didn't cause larger fps hits. I figured something like that would be rather noticeable when you turn it on or off.
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that is only if you have massive Tessellation like Unigine..... which is not quite possible in a year or two...
 
I LOVED THIS GAME!!!! I finished beating it this weekend and enjoyed every moment of the game, I am a AvP geek so that helped :D

I have eyefinity and 2 5850s and ran this game maxed, a few times did it get low frames but only in either high combat or big levels loading.(cant wait for my SSD :p )

I have FRAPS and ran bench tests in game and my min fps = 30 so I was happy and like I said it only got to 30 fps when there was a major amount of combat smokin` aliens and such :D

If I play multi player I think I will turn a few settings down to gain a few frames.
 
I didn't really like thisd game. I mean it looks alot better than the older versions. But it seems very lacking compared to the others in terms of game play and features.

Plus I think it's annoying that they implimented a leveling system in the Multiplayer. Thouh I do like that they added a survivor mode to the game. The older versions required you to mod the game in order to have that type of game mode.

But eh I didn't get to play it to much. Doesn't run all that well on my current system.
 
Am I the only one that noticed that in the DX11 screenshots, there seemed to be some kind of ~aliased light (as in the opposite of shadow, not the opposite of dark) artifacting?
See here, in the green squares, along the edges of the alien:
alien.png

On the DX9, there is no highlighting, but on DX 11 there is...
 
blgdinger said:
need more Metro 2033 review. Game has some ridiculous performance capabilities, although not that customizable.

I can't believe the Tessellation didn't cause larger fps hits. I figured something like that would be rather noticeable when you turn it on or off.
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Amen to that. I just installed it this evening and holy cow. That is some DX11 lovin' right there. My 5970 is humbled by the maximum settings and can only pull 30-60fps at a lowly 1600x900 resolution. It's beautiful to look at though.
 
Modred, the difference between those two screenshots are so minimal. I honestly can't tell the difference even after looking at it closer non the less if it were in motion.
 
HardOCP Thanks for the review!!

Since I am a huge fan of the genre I Loved this game, sure it brought no innovation and had the ability to be so much better then it was, however for me it was pure fun.. Beat the game 5 times over... DX11 looks great for the aliens but other than that it’s not the DX11 jewel that is was made out to be.,

Runs great for my system though and looks very good, a decent buy for any sci-fi fan, I think...
 
yeah that aliasing light/edge thing really jumped out at me right away... i thought maybe it was due to some dynamic lighting though... ya think?
 
I don't know. I suppose it's possible, but the lighting doesn't seem all that different to me on the two pictures.
Another thing, look at the knee in the lower left side. On the tessellated side, it looks jaggy as hell.
 
Why are we including a 2 year old Nvidia card in the comparison?

Wow, a fresh as a baby's bottom 5870 has better numbers (not MUCH better numbers)
than a card that's getting hard to even find anymore.
 
Maybe cause the 2 year old Nvidia card is still on the store shelves. Not sure how many S.Korean readers are here, but about the only cards you can even find on their store shelves is a GTS 210, GTS 250, GTX 275, and the almost $800 GTX 285 (yes, that's what the Koreans pay for it).

I never bothered to look at the AMD cards, as I don't want to buy them. I'm sure they're great cards and all, but I dislike their drivers and simply have bad luck with them.
 
Well, I hope implementing DX11 in such a way that it doesn't cause crashes and freezes on DX10 hardware will be the norm in the future. Even those of us that don't upgrade every generation might want to take advantage of the efficiency improvements of DX11.

No need to punish us by forcing us to use 2004-era DX9...
 
Modred189 said:
I don't know. I suppose it's possible, but the lighting doesn't seem all that different to me on the two pictures.
Another thing, look at the knee in the lower left side. On the tessellated side, it looks jaggy as hell.
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I agree. I'm don't see enough differences in the still images worth mentioning.

DX10 was a laughable joke. It's early in the game but DX11 isn't looking particularly impressive over DX9.
 
This has to be one of the least informative reviews I've ever read here at HardOCP. All I learned was this:

- The Nvidia 196.34 drivers have a weird stutter with AvP in DX11 mode
- DX11 Tesselation and Shadows add nothing to the visuals.

Somehow this gets stretched into ten pages... I'm not even sure if the ATI cards are really faster than their Nvidia last-gen equivalents, since there was no DX11 shootout graph. I'm pretty sure the ATI is dollar-for-dollar better, because that's the general situation, but from the jumble on the apples-to-apples page it looks like the GTX 285 beats the 5850 (tho the 285 is more expensive -- how about showing how it stacks up to the 5870?)

Surely as big and as venerable a site as [H]ardOCP has some clout to get answers out of Nvidia regarding their driver? I know HOCP readers like to live on the edge with beta drivers, trying to squeeze every last drop of performance out of our systems, but when beta drivers are broken for a game we play, we all know how to do the driver rollback shuffle, so how come Mr. Warner doesn't? Why was there no attempt to try the game with a different driver, since the Nvidia beta 196.34 was no good?

As for the DX11 features, I seriously cannot tell the difference between the two screenshots. That's not the first time it's happened, but usually when that happens, the review author also says they can't really see the difference. This time, reading the associated text gushing about how feature-ON looks better than feature-OFF reminded me of reading one of those garbage "audiophile" reviews of snake-oil audio-enhancing wooden blocks or whatever (e.g., "The tonality and spatiality of the sound was visually enhanced by the SUPERPHILE genuine original heirloom hickory wooden receiver support stand! A bargain at only $9999!")

At least the conclusion page says it like it is: DX11 Tesselation and DX11 shadows don't do squat for AvP, although they don't cost much in terms of performance anyways.

I sincerely hope this review is updated with some proper charts for the Nvidia stuff.
 
I'm underwhelmed as well. At this point I don't see anything that gets much of my attention. I didn't like the comment in the review about DX11 being only a little over one second fps difference from DX9. I thought that was a bit misleading because the numbers showed much more difference between lowest fps and highest fps between the two. While the average may be a little over 1 fps difference, the other numbers suggested a noticeable smoother gameplay with DX9. I thought the review tried to pitch DX11 more than it should have. I'm get the impression that hardocp makes up it's mind about something first and then structures the review around that assumption instead of the other way around. Since that hitpiece they did on Newegg, I'm not looking at hardocp the same way anymore.
 
@ Hexetic and Mike, I think your confusion/disappointment with the article is exactly the point. It's an interesting statement about the performance and game-play advantages, or lack thereof, of a brand new expensive video card.
After seeing this review, as a GTX260 owner using a 22" 1680X1050 screen, I see little reason to upgrade my hardware if I was planning on buying AVP. I can see that I will get little or no performance or gameplay advantage on more expensive, newer hardware. As a result I can hold off on upgrading, and thinking about it, until I see a game that does stress my hardware.
 
I too have a GTX260, which when overclocked can reach the GTX275 performance levels (when water cooled gets even more value), and I am pissed that here is another game where AA is not supported. I understand that my card is getting older, and my 22" LCD monitor is by today's standards on the smaller side of the spectrum, but running Anti-Aliasing has helped improve image quality on this smaller pixel count monitor, and that technology has been around for years. Having new games come out that are not able to implement AA or supported on only the newest cards makes no sense to me, as if they are saying buy the newest thing or your SOL! I will not buy this game, just like I boycot any game that does not support AA. Are we moving backwards or what. What's next, multicore support only on the I7s and not the quad penryns?
 
Agreed. There's no technological reason not to implement AA. A GTX260 could sure handle it.
Has anyone with the game tried forcing it from the control panels?
 
Not impressed, doesn't look anybetter or different than any of the other dx 9/10 games that have come out.
 
The review is interesting as it shows how DX11 can scale down to DX10 and DX9 modes on DX-limited cards.

I'm wondering how my 4870 1GB would do.. since DX10.1 is mentioned, would I be able to run in quasi-DX11 mode that uses as much of the DX10.1 optimizations as possible? Would I be able to turn on 4x AA?
 
ICOM said:
You wouldn't need "proper charts" if you had a proper video card. Why hang onto nV's garbage?
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Maybe cause some of us like Nvidia and the garbage from AMD breaks often. Such has been the case for me.
 
krotch said:
Maybe cause some of us like Nvidia and the garbage from AMD breaks often. Such has been the case for me.
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ICOM said:
You wouldn't need "proper charts" if you had a proper video card. Why hang onto nV's garbage?
Click to expand...

Or maybe it's just a matter of wanting the best value when you buy a video card without hype or bias. That's why I don't know why the 285 was included since it's not really a current generation card anymore.

If Nvidia doesn't have a competitive product then I'd just leave them out. Doesn't make me against them as I have 2 285's in SLI and am very happy with them.

:cool:
 
Well that impressed me, I saw the differences, but thats not making me rush out for a DX11 card. Im happy with my 4890 cf that can take on any game I throw at it.

HAHA, but the review did make me get the game on sale at steam, and the game is awesome.
 
ICOM said:
You wouldn't need "proper charts" if you had a proper video card. Why hang onto nV's garbage?
Click to expand...

Did I say I had an Nvidia card? No. Did I say I love Nvidia? No. Do I think that just because the ATI 5xxx series has more features and is newer than the soon-to-be-replaced Nvidia 2xx series that that automatically means one shouldn't even consider buying an Nvidia card? No, but if that were the case, then it would hardly be worth including current NV cards in a review at all -- just say how well the different ATI cards handle the game so people know how much FPS they'll get for the money they spend.

But if you're going to have a review that has charts for both Nvidia and ATI cards in it, then you had damn well better put in a bit of effort to make sure that the charts are comparable. As it stands, I can't figure out where the chips fall. That's my complaint.
 
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Since DirectX11 can scale down to the DirectX9 feature level, was the DirectX9 executable supplied simply for Windows XP support?

If you have DirectX9 hardware and are running Windows 7, which executable would be preferable to use?
 
Brent_Justice said:
It is true, AvP is not a DX11 showcase, DX11 can do much, and there are many features associated with it, however those are not implemented in AvP. We have basically advanced shadows (in an already dark game) and Tessellation on a dark fast moving alien. I have to be honest, when I played through the entire game with Tessellation on, I did not feel that it was impacting my gameplay in any way. I just didn't see it in this particular game. While I'm sure the Alien does look much better when close, or when standing still, those two scenarios are simply not a reality in this particular game.

We will be looking at Metro 2033 in the future, which so far seems encouraging for graphical features, and supports Tessellation and Advanced DoF in DX11. We will also be looking at BC2, which supports HBAO in DX10/11.
Click to expand...

Yes, Metro 2033 does have great graphics, better than Crysis I would say. But, really, played it a bit, after an hour got bored. Got online and played BFBC2. Don't even feel like trying Metro again. It is obviously ported from the consoles. Everything is scripted in detail, no freedom at all. Almost feels like playing in a movie and having no choices. Reminds me of Rainbow Six, had nice graphics for that time, but, 1 couch in the hallway, and you have to plant c4 on a door to enter another room, because somehow your character cannot get over this couch. LOLOL. O, there is sooooo many of these badly scripted games out there. I thought Metro 2033 would have been like stalker, open enviroment, but, it's not.
 
krotch said:
Maybe cause some of us like Nvidia and the garbage from AMD breaks often. Such has been the case for me.
Click to expand...

Mmmm, so it means you both bought garbage for lots of $. Neither ATI nor Nvidia makes bad cards, or bad drivers. They both, do however, make mistakes along the way. 2008 Nvidia was the best, 2009 ATI was the best. If they really made garbage, they would not be competing in the market. The problem I do have, is with all the garbage Nvidia is showing these days.....lie after lie after lie. I just ignore most of the things they say these days, since I know in two weeks they will have a different story :(
 
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