Low res textures are unacceptable in next gen Halo

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Note: when I say next gen, I am referring to our current gen of consoles (the term “next gen” refers to our current gen, the Xbox One and PS4). Last gen would be the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

I have only one complaint about Halo 5 and its the graphics. Everyone on these forums complains about something be it sprint, lack of Elites in multiplayer, the lack of splitscreen, or anything else. Just like everyone else here, I have the right to complain. But I want this complaint to be constructive. I don’t complain to hurt the feelings 343i, far from it. But I want 343i to better itself, so please take this criticism constructively;

Low res textures should be a thing of the past on next gen. Halo is Microsoft’s #1 exclusive. Essentially Halo is supposed to be the best looking game on the Xbox One. Yet Halo 5, the Halo of next gen (next gen is the Xbox One and PS4), is filled with low res textures. View this image in full size: ((HALO 5’S CURRENT GRAPHICS))

I know I am being picky, but we need to set graphical standards for next gen Halo. I’m not asking for CGI in game graphics, but simply no more low res on next gen. Thats barely asking anything. Not only does low res textures break immersion, but it just looks ugly. The low res in those pictures will look even worse in first person as you will be seeing them up close, making them even more blurry. I expected far better from Halo 5 graphically. Halo 5 is the Xbox One’s biggest game so far. Settling with low res textures, is setting your standards too low. We need to push microsoft and 343i to deliver a true next gen experience. Low res textures belong left behind in the dust on the PS3 and Xbox 360. For the PS4 and Xbox One to have them is a colossal embarrassment (Don’t take this personally 343i as the issue of low res textures does not only apply to you). However, Halo, one of the biggest triple A games, should not have so much low res.

There is simply no excuse for low res textures with our current technology. Lets raise our standards and expectations for next gen consoles people. Its not an unreasonable thing to ask for.

One last complaint (sorry). These ground textures, these ground textures are less impressive than ground textures on the 360 (this very bad ground texture) and (This pretty bad ground texture). Is this really next gen? Those ground textures look bad, anyone will agree. Halo 3, a game that came out on last gen 7 or 8 years ago had much better ground textures. Halo 3 (2007, Xbox 360, last gen) has better ground textures than Halo 5 (2015, Xbox One, next gen). Notice how in Halo 3 you can see the specs of sand and dirt, while Halo 5 only shows a smear of blurry ground. Notice how the wheel of the warthog is far better textured higher polygoned in Halo 3 (2007, Xbox 360, last gen) than Halo 5 (2015, Xbox One, next gen). The dirt is also better textured in Halo 3 as well, you can even see the specs and bumps.

60fps is not an excuse for bad textures. H2A campaign was 60fps and it had fantastic textures and lighting. Good work to you guys on Halo 2 Anniversary’s graphics 343, you should be proud of yourselves! It makes sense to do the same thing if not better with Halo 5… right? Especially since it is going to be a bigger and more popular main line game. The final version of Halo 5 better not have any low res textures. Its fine to have low res at a far far away distant place in the background. But when you can walk right up to a wall, rock, floor, ect and see the low res… that is simply unacceptable for next gen.

343 if you read this, please don’t take it personally I know you have been working hard on this game under a tight schedual. But you guys need to make the jump from 360 to Xbox One more noticable. I know you can do it 343i, take extra dev time if you need too. But iron out these icky last gen textures before the final build. Heck, use texture pop ins if you have to! Just don’t let the final look like those screen shots. I believe in you guys :slight_smile:

TLDR:
If this thread is too long and you didn’t read, the summary is… well… just click this fancy button here → ((HALO 5’S CURRENT GRAPHICS)) and compare Halo 3 (2007, Xbox 360, last gen) to Halo 5 (2015, Xbox One, next gen)

2

I’m sure it will be fixed by launch. But yeah, it does look kinda bad. I don’t think they would ship a product like that.

3

I don’t think we’re looking at a final product. I would imagine more work will be going into it before launch.
If you watch season 2 of the sprint you can see how bad it looked and how much work they had to put into it to make it look that good by their E3 deadline. It came a long way. Really puts things in perspective.

4

I have a sense of deja vu reading this

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> 2533274906745123;4:
> I have a sense of deja vu reading this

I guess I’m not the only one who feels this way :stuck_out_tongue:

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> 2533274825044752;3:
> I don’t think we’re looking at a final product. I would imagine more work will be going into it before launch.
> If you watch season 2 of the sprint you can see how bad it looked and how much work they had to put into it to make it look that good by their E3 deadline. It came a long way. Really puts things in perspective.

That is true. If that stuff gets ironed out by the final. I will make a thread praising them for their hard work :slight_smile:

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> 2533274825044752;3:
> I don’t think we’re looking at a final product. I would imagine more work will be going into it before launch.
> If you watch season 2 of the sprint you can see how bad it looked and how much work they had to put into it to make it look that good by their E3 deadline. It came a long way. Really puts things in perspective.

I think Frank O’Connor has confirmed as much

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The game isn’t finished yet. Maybe a thread like this is best suited for after it is released? Saying it is unacceptable comes off as being negative and entitled when they haven’t even finished their work yet.

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> 2533274906745123;7:
> > 2533274825044752;3:
> > I don’t think we’re looking at a final product. I would imagine more work will be going into it before launch.
> > If you watch season 2 of the sprint you can see how bad it looked and how much work they had to put into it to make it look that good by their E3 deadline. It came a long way. Really puts things in perspective.
>
>
> I think Frank O’Connor has confirmed as much

Can you link the source of him saying it? I’d like to take a look at what he said.

10

> 2533274795233660;8:
> The game isn’t finished yet. Maybe a thread like this is best suited for after it is released?

Theres only a few more months until release. Plus I’ve seen threads about the visuals, and art direction as well. They don’t have much time left to re-do these textures. I could complain post release, but that would not be constructive as there would be no time for the devs to change the graphics. It’s better to talk about it now while there is still time.

But you are right. what we have seen is pre-release. If they make the final free of these issues, I’m a happy camper ;3

11

I am sure they will iron out the wrinkles by launch. I just dont see 343 doing bad in the graphical department. Halo 4 and Halo 2A have stunning graphics. Halo 2A is running two simultaneous engines too on the Xbox One and its beautiful. I just cant see Halo 5 having bad textures. It wont make sense.

12

Eh, you do realise those most of those areas look like they do not have any mapping.
Even if they didn’t change textures, it’d look a lot better with Parallax mapping on.

Either way, texture resolution?

I’d rather have them use low res textures where they can be used than have the xbox render high res textures where they won’t be noticed.

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> 2533274795123910;12:
> Eh, you do realise those most of those areas look like they do not have any mapping.
> Even if they didn’t change textures, it’d look a lot better with Parallax mapping on.
>
> Either way, texture resolution?
>
> I’d rather have them use low res textures where they can be used than have the xbox render high res textures where they won’t be noticed.

Like I said low res is fine if it is faaaar in the distance (like mountains in the background). But low res on the ground and on rocks (as I linked in the thread) are not acceptable for the final version. Players will be seeing them up close in first person.

14

I wouldn’t blame 343 for this. It’s not their fault Microsoft made a weak xbone that can’t even handle 1080p games

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> 2535444539078749;13:
> > 2533274795123910;12:
> > Eh, you do realise those most of those areas look like they do not have any mapping.
> > Even if they didn’t change textures, it’d look a lot better with Parallax mapping on.
> >
> > Either way, texture resolution?
> >
> > I’d rather have them use low res textures where they can be used than have the xbox render high res textures where they won’t be noticed.
>
>
> Like I said low res is fine if it is faaaar in the distance (like mountains in the background). But low res on the ground and on rocks (as I linked in the thread) are not acceptable for the final version. Players will be seeing them up close in first person.

As I also said, most of those do not have any mapping, if they put on mapping, they’ll look a lot better even if they don’t change the textures.

How much are you going to notice and be bothered by slightly blurry textures on the ground when you’re boosting over them sprinting, in a warthog etc concerned about killing another object? If it gives the Xbox breathing room for potential full scale battles, then I welcome those blurry texture because I know my Xbox won’t start coughing blood when stuff really starts happening.

16

Don’t judge graphics based on Youtube with it’s compressed video quality
I’m OK with the graphic (not so much with the art design but that’s a different story…) It’s not jaw-dropping but solid, 343 has sacrificed too much already for the graphics/resolution/framerate in SP (RIP SP Split-Screen)
I still have some hope left, that they will bring split-screen for MP but don’t expect a major graphical improvement from what we’ve seen in the beta…

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> 2535415441083959;16:
> Don’t judge graphics based on Youtube with it’s compressed video quality
> I’m OK with the graphic (not so much with the art design but that’s a different story…) It’s not jaw-dropping but solid, 343 has sacrificed too much already for the graphics/resolution/framerate in SP (RIP SP Split-Screen)
> I still have some hope left, that they will bring split-screen for MP but don’t expect a major graphical improvement from what we’ve seen in the beta…

Only one of the images I linked was from youtube. The rest were taken by 343 from the game.

18

Warzone is likely going to have downgraded graphics from the campaign, even arena style should have better graphics. The reason why is because warzone has so much stuff happening on a huge map at once the game couldn’t handle it all. So they have to done the graphics down to compensate. It is a shame, as aside from the higher resolution it doesn’t look like any kind of leap forward from Halo 4.

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> 2533274831364893;18:
> Warzone is likely going to have downgraded graphics from the campaign, even arena style should have better graphics. The reason why is because warzone has so much stuff happening on a huge map at once the game couldn’t handle it all. So they have to done the graphics down to compensate. It is a shame, as aside from the higher resolution it doesn’t look like any kind of leap forward from Halo 4.

by the way, do we know if Halo 5 is gonna be 1080p? It doesn’t look too demanding so far, other than the 60fps.

20

I am hopeful that those textures were just placeholders. That said, if in the long run they need to decide for fast performance versus better textures… I’ll side with performance.