So I found out that you could adjust certain parameters in the "local_config.ini" that's in the game folder for Resident Evil 4, which provides access to certain parameters not available to you in the game.
View of the file shown in spoiler;
Knowing that capcom didn't include the possibility to adjust visual settings in the app itself, which in comparison to RE:Village you could play around and find an set of optimal settings if you'd like. I thought, why not take a moment and see what's possible. I know that you could double the framerate from an 30fps target to an 60fps target, but perhaps there's something more.
Playing around with these parameters and observing the change hinted me that it's likely that the internal value corresponds to a range of Low (0) to Very High (5) and some are just toggles to ON or OFF.
One aspect that bothered me is the low texture quality that's available through iPad Pro M2 was the default presentation of the textures in RE4 as follows:
iPad Pro M2:
(Open in a new window to see the image in full resolution)
|
AppTextureQuality = 1 (Default) |
Presuming that 0 is Low and 5 is Very High, I tried to see what the difference could be:
| |
AppTextureQuality = 0 | AppTextureQuality = 5 |
The difference is really apparent on the door frame, but most of the scenes in the beginning are quite dark so it's hard to make out the difference in detail from the screenshots.
Another view or comparison;
| |
AppTextureQuality = 1 (Default) | AppTextureQuality = 5 |
But you see that little tree (?) in the distance, that stays very low in resolution
.
From walking up to that object and just generally observing how it changes across various settings, I assume that the quality for that asset just isn't included or there's a bug, because the ground texture IS changing.
I assumed that's because the asset that's included for that is just very low in resolution, so there's no way around it as adjusting AppTextureFiltering doesn't provide much of a difference, but I thought why not play around and see what other settings do, because so far I only adjusted the Texture quality and filtering in isolation.
So that leads us to enabling Tesselation and increasing the Mesh Quality and hey, that tree now looks like a tree!
(yes some screenshots have different timestamps, because I was deleting the local_config file and double checking)
| |
Default | AppMeshQuality= 5
AppTesselation = 1
AppTextureFilterQuality = 3
AppTextureQuality = 5 |
There is some artifacting and pixel like "boiling", and my hunch is that it's due to the upscaling that's implemented (MetalFX), now I'm not sure what the exact faults are in Capcom's implementatio, because if you close up to the character model through the photo mode the detail comes clear again (logically).
Nontheless, increasing AppImageResolution to 3 and setting the AppImageUpscalingQuality to 2 (+ adjusting other settings such as StrandHair to 1, ShadowQuality, Ambient occlusion, contacthadow etc.) results in the following comparisons:
| |
Default | "Higher quality" |
Not sure if all settings have an tangible effect, but you can see along the neck that it resolves a lot better (likely due to AO and a higher shadow quality setting). Moreover, that shimmery hair, is also not as apparent.
iPhone 15 Pro
Playing around with it on the iPhone 15 Pro (Max), allows me to unlock the framerate to a 60fps target (of course achieving it is another story), but also perhaps see if I can uplift the texture quality, which I did.
I primarily tested in static enviroments, but the smoother experience due to the higher fps target is instantly noticed on the iPad Pro M2, while the iPhone 15 Pro clearly is chugging at times and low frametime dips are apparent with no enemies or larger areas to render. Ideally I'd have to enable the dev profile on these devices such that I can enable the metalhud overlay for accurate metrics.
Obviously all these reduced settings are done to preserve battery life and prevent excessive heat
Nonetheless, I think there can really be some adjustment/optimal setting for a better visual result and for the iPhone especially it just needs 1 iteration to be on-par with the PS4, because with these two gameplay shots do look amazing on that screen;
Edit; Captured some footage using same settings as in the screenshots above, you can clearly see it chugging along and hovering sub 30fps, also the aliasing is apparent due to the recording, while playing it on screen it isn't as apparent.
I might do another post with Death Stranding, as that game app also allows you to configure settings, but it doesn't provide the user to configure it themselves (honestly it's the poorest decision imo, lots of mobile games allow you to configure settings in general). Perhaps if I can get my hands on the M4 ipad and if the app isn't updated, I'm curious how a 120fps target would fare on it (if possible).
On the other hand, I'm curious about the upcoming WWDC next month
. Really hope that MetalFX will get an update that's also retroactively applied to these ports.
benchmarks.ul.com
.
Part of me wants to attempt a delivery with touch controls for true Death Stranding x QWOP convergence.
).
www.ubisoft.com
, so I stand corrected lol:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25437089/Capto_Capture_2024_05_07_10_21_31_AM.jpg)
