Digital Foundry: Metro Exodus on Stadia Tested! Better than Xbox One X?

Box · Dec 11, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl7h4qfn8WU

A proper 4K experience is in the bag for Stadia - which is great. Developer 4A's work here puts it in the domain of console visuals rather than PC's otherwise - and so the question is, is it enough to overtake Xbox One X?

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-metro-exodus-stadia-vs-xbox-one-x

Native 2160p.
Can't rule out dynamic resolution but looks close and consistent.
Only motion blur in the graphics options.
Mostly stable 30FPS, however worse overall than 1X (21 FPS shown)
Framepacing is an issue.
Produces compression artifacts more than most games due to the darkness of the environments.
Stadia version a match for 1X visually, and pairs with PC high.
No tessellation or RT shadows from PC version.
Loading times are not quite as bad as console.
Input lag on the high side and very noticeable.

Tappin Brews · Dec 11, 2019

i'm going to guess no ray tracing?

Dark1x · Dec 11, 2019

Yup, Stadia still isn't delivering.

Dest · Dec 11, 2019

Dark1x said:
Yup, Stadia still isn't delivering.

But all of my flops?
What am I supposed to do with all these flops?

SnatcherHunter · Dec 11, 2019

The Short answer is.....NO!

Box · Dec 11, 2019

op_ivy said:
i'm going to guess no ray tracing?

Correct. Edited in a summary.

Dest said:
But all of my flops?
What am I supposed to do with all these flops?

Use them to keep your Chromecast cool?

thebishop · Dec 11, 2019

I bought Metro on Stadia day 1. The graphics look great, but the controls feel sluggish. Not sure if it's a function of 30fps, or Stadia lag, or if that's just the way this game feels on all platforms.

Box · Dec 11, 2019

thebishop said:
I bought Metro on Stadia day 1. The graphics look great, but the controls feel sluggish. Not sure if it's a function of 30fps, or Stadia lag, or if that's just the way this game feels on all platforms.

Played through with mouse and keyboard. No slugs.

MysteryM · Dec 11, 2019

Fair play, macro blocking aside, visually it looks far better than I was expecting for a streamed game.

thebishop · Dec 11, 2019

MysteryM said:
Fair play, macro blocking aside, visually it looks far better than I was expecting for a streamed game.

I don't even notice macroblocking issues so much. Stadia's compression manifests more as color banding and some blockiness in dark parts of the frame. The kind of screen-wide blocky vaseline blur I've seen on everything from OnLine through Geforce Now is not something I've seen on Stadia or XCloud (though it's harder to critique XCloud when it only works on my phone).

thebishop · Dec 11, 2019

Dest said:
But all of my flops?
What am I supposed to do with all these flops?

Even with 10 teras of flop, is any hardware putting up 4k60 with ray tracing on a modern AAA game? I don't think anything less than a 2080 Super can do it.

julian · Dec 11, 2019

Dark1x said:
Yup, Stadia still isn't delivering.

Just remember, it's all the devs fault.

btags · Dec 11, 2019

Dark1x said:
Yup, Stadia still isn't delivering.

John, I think before we can make this statement we need the definitive test: Stadia on a CRT!

JahIthBer · Dec 11, 2019

thebishop said:
Even with 10 teras of flop, is any hardware putting up 4k60 with ray tracing on a modern AAA game? I don't think anything less than a 2080 Super can do it.

Nope, this is why people need to think twice about ray tracing at 4K/60fps with next gen visuals. Unless it's really lite, like i wouldn't be surprised to see Forza 8 pull off ray tracing at 4K/60 because it might just use RT reflections for the players car or maybe some puddles.
Metro's GI RT is too demanding.

thebishop · Dec 11, 2019

julian said:
Just remember, it's all the devs fault.

It's not the devs fault we're not getting 4k60+RTX. I don't think the hardware is capable of that.

But a lot of the launch Stadia ports are clearly punching below the capabilities of the hardware. I don't blame "devs" for this, so much as just launch-window growing pains. But it is the devs who will have to correct it going forward. There's no indication it's a problem on Google's side.

Dark1x · Dec 11, 2019

Honestly, the worst part of this is latency as I feel Metro is already a very very sluggish game. On PC with a pad, it wasn't far off from Killzone 2 for me so, on Stadia, it's just...next level. It feels terrible.

Dreamwriter · Dec 11, 2019

thebishop said:
Even with 10 teras of flop, is any hardware putting up 4k60 with ray tracing on a modern AAA game? I don't think anything less than a 2080 Super can do it.

The announced system power should have been equivalent to a 2080 (non-Super).

riotous · Dec 11, 2019

Dark1x said:
Honestly, the worst part of this is latency as I feel Metro is already a very very sluggish game. On PC with a pad, it wasn't far off from Killzone 2 for me so, on Stadia, it's just...next level. It feels terrible.

These games that are already sluggish need to be pushed to 60FPS on Stadia to make up for it.

Deleted member 20297 · Dec 11, 2019

Do we already know why Stadia is still not delivering? Is the conversion to Vulkan problematic?

Dreams-Visions · Dec 11, 2019

Dark1x said:
Yup, Stadia still isn't delivering.

hate to see it.

DoradoWinston · Dec 11, 2019

In other words unless you got a nice af PC or a good one but lower settings the best place to play metro is X. Shame Stadia couldn't be an easy and relatively cheap option for folks

Deleted member 14080 · Dec 11, 2019

Dest said:
But all of my flops?
What am I supposed to do with all these flops?

Flip them and you'll have flip flops. Problem solved. You're welcome.
😉

thebishop · Dec 11, 2019

Dark1x said:
Honestly, the worst part of this is latency as I feel Metro is already a very very sluggish game. On PC with a pad, it wasn't far off from Killzone 2 for me so, on Stadia, it's just...next level. It feels terrible.

Yeah, Killzone2 is a good comparison. If it was 60fps on Stadia, the sluggishness might be mitigated. At 30, I don't really want to play it. But it does feel like a problem with the game engine more than a problem with streaming. I don't have any similar problems with Tomb Raider or Destiny 2.

Dreamwriter · Dec 11, 2019

At least the game is visually a perfect match for Xbox One X, including true native 4k - considering how the Metro series has always been basically tech demos for some of the best in console graphics, that's great. Now if they could just shore the framerate up a bit...

Sqrt · Dec 11, 2019

Looks like one of the best showings on the service. Is head scratching how being close to XBX is now a minot win.

btags · Dec 11, 2019

d9b said:
Flip them and you'll have flip flops. Problem solved. You're welcome.
😉

How does one convert between polaris flip flops and navi flip flops?

Omeganex9999 · Dec 11, 2019

Dark1x said:
Yup, Stadia still isn't delivering.

I don't think it will ever deliver anything that can compare to high-end PCs. I want to see Stadia exclusive games pushing the boundaries of what is currently possible, but that will probably take some time.

cakely · Dec 11, 2019

Dark1x said:
Yup, Stadia still isn't delivering.

What a surprise! Absolutely no one saw that coming.

hydro94530 · Dec 11, 2019

thebishop said:
It's not the devs fault we're not getting 4k60+RTX. I don't think the hardware is capable of that.

But a lot of the launch Stadia ports are clearly punching below the capabilities of the hardware. I don't blame "devs" for this, so much as just launch-window growing pains. But it is the devs who will have to correct it going forward. There's no indication it's a problem on Google's side.

Pretty sure that was sarcasm lol.

Slappy White · Dec 11, 2019

21fps? Yikes that's pretty bad. Hopefully that's a minor exception.

Sqrt · Dec 11, 2019

cakely said:
What a surprise! Absolutely no one saw that coming.

I didn't expect sub XBX performance on all games.

TechnicPuppet · Dec 11, 2019

Is one of Stadias issues that it needs Linux? Would it not have been easier for Google just to use Windows games that already exist and have devs work on just perfecting them for streaming? Also would have meant a much bigger catalogue I assume.

I'm clueless so this is a question not an assumption, there is probably a good reason why they don't.

low-G · Dec 11, 2019

TechnicPuppet said:
Is one of Stadias issues that it needs Linux? Would it not have been easier for Google just to use Windows games that already exist and have devs work on just perfecting them for streaming? Also would have meant a much bigger catalogue I assume.

I'm clueless so this is a question not an assumption, there is probably a good reason why they don't.

I don't know what their exact setup is, but it requires some kind of virtualization and that is a problem that won't go away.

Gestault · Dec 11, 2019

That result is...not wonderful. I wouldn't want to be pitching these versions on Stadia when they're being outperformed by at least one of the last-gen systems.

cakely said:
What a surprise! Absolutely no one saw that coming.

There's nothing magic about the 1X, so the purportedly more powerful hardware behind Stadia being outperformed by it actually is a surprise. This is in terms of rendering and performance, not just things one would expect like input delay or compression.

Megabreath · Dec 11, 2019

What is googles plan when the new consoles come out?

Thera · Dec 11, 2019

TechnicPuppet said:
Is one of Stadias issues that it needs Linux? Would it not have been easier for Google just to use Windows games that already exist and have devs work on just perfecting them for streaming? Also would have meant a much bigger catalogue I assume.

I'm clueless so this is a question not an assumption, there is probably a good reason why they don't.

Using Windows games would have required licenses fee or royalties. And if there is one thing Google really don't like to do, it is giving money to MS.

Gestault · Dec 11, 2019

Megabreath said:
What is googles plan when the new consoles come out?

Their current plan/claims are that this hardware is already "next-gen," so I think they'll need to either make improvements behind the scenes before that time arrives, or give some context to why the results are ending up like this. Like, if the answer is honestly "we're not liking these results, and we're working on it," that would be better than having the expectation that this is the norm.

Fisty · Dec 11, 2019

I really hope, for Stadia's sake, that these games are all running on like half the hw specs they promised because the 10tf chips are delayed or something. This cant be the norm for the service indefinitely

Tmespe · Dec 11, 2019

Looked to be 60 fps when I tested it at 1080. No mention of that in the video?

2CL4Mars · Dec 11, 2019

Dark1x said:
Yup, Stadia still isn't delivering.

I have a question? why doesn't Metro and many other games don't run at 60fps? Most console games aren't 60 because the CPU isn't powerful enough to handle it than what's Stadias excuse?

Sqrt · Dec 11, 2019

2CL4Mars said:
I have a question? why doesn't Metro and many other games don't run at 60fps? Most console games aren't 60 because the CPU isn't powerful enough to handle it than what's Stadias excuse?

Seems to be not enough GPU power.

julian · Dec 11, 2019

thebishop said:
It's not the devs fault we're not getting 4k60+RTX. I don't think the hardware is capable of that.

But a lot of the launch Stadia ports are clearly punching below the capabilities of the hardware. I don't blame "devs" for this, so much as just launch-window growing pains. But it is the devs who will have to correct it going forward. There's no indication it's a problem on Google's side.

At the end of the day, it's a platform launch and Google made a bunch of promises that aren't being kept. Can devs do more to improve performance? Sure, but clearly something has gone wrong. Maybe not enough support from Google, maybe expectations set too high. Who knows. The point is, this is on google.

chris 1515 · Dec 11, 2019

TechnicPuppet said:
Is one of Stadias issues that it needs Linux? Would it not have been easier for Google just to use Windows games that already exist and have devs work on just perfecting them for streaming? Also would have meant a much bigger catalogue I assume.

I'm clueless so this is a question not an assumption, there is probably a good reason why they don't.

Because paid a Windows licence for each Sadia blade would have been expensive.

riotous · Dec 11, 2019

chris 1515 said:
Because paid a Windows licence for each Sadia blade would have been expensive.

Eh; not very expensive.

But very anti-Google; Google rewards employees for avoiding Microsoft products internally lol

Cost might be a small factor for them but I think it's more they aren't big supporters of Windows. Making a Windows based platform means windows based tools, etc.

cakely · Dec 11, 2019

TechnicPuppet said:
Is one of Stadias issues that it needs Linux? Would it not have been easier for Google just to use Windows games that already exist and have devs work on just perfecting them for streaming? Also would have meant a much bigger catalogue I assume.

I'm clueless so this is a question not an assumption, there is probably a good reason why they don't.

Stadia was designed to run games on virtualized Linux images. Those images are probably being run on servers that include dedicated hardware for encoding the video stream that's sent out to Stadia's clients.

I assume the Linux image they're running was a very specific fit their hardware. Also, they probably didn't want to be tied to a third-party OS like Windows because of support and licensing issues. This way google gets to control the entire platform: hardware -> hypervisor -> OS -> applications.

The downside is that every Stadia game needs to be ported to their OS and environment.

Mars People · Dec 11, 2019

Why can't Stadia just do 1080p/60?
Surely that shouldn't be beyond the capabilities of googles PCs.
And it would give a hell of a better experience than 2160p/30~~

upinsmoke · Dec 11, 2019

Why does it keep getting compared to the xbox one x? The hardware is old now and soon to be obsolete. Stadia was supposed to be better than the best pc gaming could offer

Tmespe · Dec 11, 2019

dan2026 said:
Why can't Stadia just do 1080p/60?
Surely that shouldn't be beyond the capabilities of googles PCs.
And it would give a hell of a better experience than 2160p/30~~

I'm pretty sure Metro does this. It felt like 60 fps to me in balanced mode, which is 1080.

Mars People · Dec 11, 2019

Tmespe said:
I'm pretty sure Metro does this. It felt like 60 fps to me in balanced mode, which is 1080.

That's good.
Stadia chasing 4k is ridiculous at this point. It clearly can't do it well at a decent framerate.

Windrunner · Dec 11, 2019

upinsmoke said:
Why does it keep getting compared to the xbox one x? The hardware is old now and soon to be obsolete. Stadia was supposed to be better than the best pc gaming could offer

if it can't even beat the Xbox One X with its potato tier CPU and slow ass hdd storage it has no business being compared to a high end PC.

Digital Foundry: Metro Exodus on Stadia Tested! Better than Xbox One X?

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