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- Date:
- Wednesday, March 20, 2013
- Author:
- Grady McKinney
- Editor:
- Brent Justice
- Share:
Tomb Raider Video Card Performance and IQ Review
Tomb Raider is the first game to sport AMD's new TressFX feature. This DX11 effect creates a new sense of realism in-game with each strand of Lara's hair reacting to her movement and environmental features like wind and rain. Crystal Dynamics has worked hard to advance our expectations as gamers and enthusiasts alike!
Introduction
Tomb Raider is the fourth Tomb Raider game developed by Crystal Dynamics, and the 10th game in the franchise, though this version is a sort of reboot for the series. It's a new Lara, and it's a new Tomb Raider that will make many fans of the old series very happy. It is an action-adventure, third person video game. This game tells the story of how Lara Croft came to be the idol and hero that we recognize from other Tomb Raider titles. The campaign takes place on and island that Lara and her friends are stranded on. While trying to leave several strange weather occurrences keep her from escaping the island. We follow Lara as she tries to rescue her friends, and find her way out of harm. The total campaign will last between 12 and 15 hours, with several side quests and challenge tombs left over.
Tomb Raider was developed primarily by Crystal Dynamics, and published by Square-Enix. It was released on March 5th, 2013. It has received a Metascore of 86/100 from Metacritic with a user score of 8.6. The game is built using a modified Crystal Dynamics Engine, also seen in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The modified Crystal Dynamics uses DirectX 11 technology and provides Tomb Raider with graphics options like tessellation, ambient occlusion, depth of field, and for the first time ever - TressFX. Below is an 18 page benchmarking guide put together by AMD for Tomb Raider to explain some of the features.
TressFX
TressFX is a new feature that is designed to add more depth and function to characters hair. It uses the standard DirectX 11 API accelerated under DirectCompute, in order to massively parallel process individual strands of hair. Tomb Raider is the first game to use the new DX11 graphics option, which was developed after months of AMD and Crystal Dynamics working together. What we like about this option, is that both AMD and NVIDIA video cards will be able to utilize this technology since it is based on standard DX11 DirectCompute technology. If we were to have seen such a technology from NVIDIA it would usually be implemented under PhysX, which is only capable with NVIDIA GPUs. We commend AMD for staying to open platforms so that all gamer's and enthusiasts can experience everything that Tomb Raider has to offer regardless of vendor. This benefits the game as a whole, and all gamer's everywhere, instead of just the company itself and its customers. We think NVIDIA taking a page from AMD's playbook on this topic would greatly benefit the PC gaming ecosystem as a whole, and this should be very much on NVIDIA's radar.
Tomb Raider will allow players to use standard hair at less performance cost, or enable TressFX at a higher performance cost. With hair enabled on normal, all strands of Lara's ponytail stick together and move as one. Enabling TressFX will bring her hair to life, with each of the thousands of strands of hair constantly changing. Her hair will react to movement. When running it will swing side to side, when the wind gusts her hair will blow around. And given that you will be looking at the back of Lara's head for the entire game, this can change the level of immersion you might experience in the game. TressFX also lets other environmental features such as rain effect the texture of her hair, and how it reacts with her movements and other variables. You can read more about it from AMD here.
We will be taking a look at the performance impact of having TressFX enabled versus standard hair, as well as an image quality comparison. Antialiasing has a large performance impact when playing with TressFX enabled. Antialiasing will be removing aliasing from each strand of Lara's hair. This process will help the hair look even more realistic and as opposed to a "chain with dozens of links" as AMD described it.
Graphics Setting in Tomb Raider
As you can see, we are using the latest game patch which was released on 3/15/2013, version 1.00.722.3. This new patch added a lot of fixes to TressFX in performance and behavior. There was also a new "Ultra" mode added for Shadows, which adds contact-hardening shadows to the game. None of the profiles enable this option by default, you have to manually select it if you want these better shadows enabled. This blurb is also included in the patch notes:
We’ve been working closely with NVIDIA to address the issues experienced by some Tomb Raider players. In conjunction with this patch, NVIDIA will be releasing updated drivers that help to improve stability and performance of Tomb Raider on NVIDIA GeForce GPUs. We are continuing to work together to resolve any remaining outstanding issues. We recommend that GeForce users update to the latest GeForce 314.21 drivers (posting today) for the best experience in Tomb Raider.
Anti-Aliasing : There are four options for AA in Tomb Raider. Off, FXAA, 2X SSAA, and 4X SSAA. FXAA has a very low performance cost, and is viewed as an alternative in case no other aliasing options are available. It adds a blur to textures, objects and terrain that is sometimes unacceptable to players. We look at this as an alternative to having no AA enabled. We also have Super Sample AA available at 2X and 4X. This is widely considered to be one of the most effective forms of anti-aliasing, however it has a very high performance demand.
Tessellation : This setting adds more detail to models, objects, and environments in game. It has a moderate effect on performance, but a higher cost when combined with some level of ambient occlusion, due to more surfaces having shadows rendered. It takes a set of instructions for a simple object, passes it through the tessellation unit and generates a higher detail object than we started with. This option can be enabled or disabled.
SSAO : This setting can be enabled at Normal and Ultra, or disabled. It is one of the most demanding graphics options in the game. This setting adds global illumination and shadowing. It makes it so that objects can cast realistic shadows on other nearby objects.
Depth of Field : Enabling this gives up close scenes a "bokeh" lens effect on unfocused lights and highlights. It simulates the blur we perceive on distant objects that aren't in focus by the eyes or a camera lens. This option will read the scene, and defocus background objects. It can be enabled on Normal, Ultra, or disabled.
High Precision : This setting actually adds a filter, with darker shades and different intensities of light. It helps the game look more realistic by determining where light is coming from and how dark shades should become as we progress through a scene. It has a minor impact on performance, and should just be left on for the best image quality.
Post-Processing : This setting can be enabled or disabled. It adds a noticeable amount of motion blur to the game. It also improves the quality of other graphics options like SSAO and depth of field. It has a large impact on performance, so if users are struggling this is an option to consider disabling.
Testing Tomb Raider
We are using the latest drivers made for Tomb Raider from both NVIDIA and AMD.
NVIDIA - We are using the 314.21 driver released on 3/15/2013. This driver contains up to 45-60% performance improvement over the previous 314.14 driver in this game.
AMD - We are using the Catalyst 13.3 Beta 2 driver also released on 3/15/2013 which brought us some performance improvements and TressFX improvements in this game. (Cat 13.3 Beta 3 is now out, as of 3/19, but contains no improvements in this game, so Beta 2 is the most relevant driver for this game)
Also as stated, we are using the latest March 15th patch for the game, 1.00.722.3.
We were "done" with this article 5 days ago and had to fully retest with new drivers and the patch.
To test Tomb Raider we first played through the entire game. We looked for scenes, levels, or areas which produced lower framerates than others. Our run-through takes place at the location the "Chasm Ziggurat." This run-through takes place at the very end of the game, and incorporates all DX11 effects available in the game. We see tessellation on both our characters and the scenery. Lara's hair is also displayed with TressFX enabled close up and at a distance, and interacts with the wind. There is also extreme lighting and shadowing in this area, as well as depth of field being utilized. We start our testing procedure after climbing to the top of the chasm. We follow the path around the top, defeating two sets of enemies and going on to face a large storm guard, and eventually the protagonist Mathias. We stop our testing procedure after defeating Mathias and checking on Lara's friend. The entire run through takes between 7 and 8 minutes to complete. Our ideal framerate that delivers smooth and enjoyable gameplay in Tomb Raider is 40 FPS.