• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

PlayStation 4 Backwards Compatability for PS5 won't be 100% at launch, PS5 too fast for some titles, tweaks and testing on game-by-game basis

Reader mode
Callibretto

Callibretto

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,491
Indonesia
Golden Darkness said:
The wording needs to be clarified. He talks about how the GPU has the logic needed for PS4/PS4 Pro games, but then goes to how boosted frequencies require them to do tests on a game by game basis. So what kinds of tests are they running?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
do you know PS4 Pro have boost mode for PS4 games that didn't get Pro Patch? they even have warning that boost mode may have some problem for certain games

" Boost Mode is a feature that is available on PlayStation 4 Pro systems which have system software version 4.50 or higher. Turning on Boost Mode may improve the frame rate of some PS4 games that were released before the introduction of PS4 Pro on November 10, 2016. If you experience unexpected behavior during game play when Boost Mode is turned On, then it is recommended that you turn Boost Mode Off. "
https://support.playstation.com/s/article/Boost-Mode-for-PS4-Pro?language=en_US

that's what Cerny is testing on PS5, the boost mode on PS5 for PS4 games are so much faster that it may break the game, but initial test on 100 top titles look very promising with many work really well and only some titles need additional tweak
 
Skux

Skux

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,942
The bottom line is:

MOST PS4 games will work with Boost Mode which takes advantage of PS5 hardware.

For the few that don't, the games can be patched or tweaked, but there is also Legacy Mode to ensure compatibility.
 
dstarMDA

dstarMDA

Member
Dec 22, 2017
4,289
Nowhere in this video did Cerny talk about two modes for PS4 BC. Some people here are extrapolating from the slides something that has not been said.

My interpretation while listening to him the first time has not changed at all going back to the presentation just now:
- PS5 is BC compatible thanks to PS4 legacy logic being integrated into PS5
- PS4 games running on PS5 are boosted (I can't believe that with the massive architecture differences they would be able to downclock exactly to PS4/Pro specs, if that even means anything)
- This means that some PS4 titles can behave weirdly on PS5, and need to be tested, and most certainly sometimes patched, to be allowed to run on PS5
- Right now, they're running those tests on Top 100 PS4 titles (playtime-based) and most of them should be playable at launch

Except if I've missed some additional articles that shed a different light on the subject matter, I don't get how some can be so confused about the situation. FTR, even if it's not as impressive as MS efforts (that have a head start), I'm quite satisfied about where Sony is heading regarding BC, compared to where we were at PS4 launch.

Skux said:
For the few that don't, the games can be patched or tweaked, but there is also Legacy Mode to ensure compatibility.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I would like you to be right on this, but once again this has not been said anywhere in this talk.
 
Last edited:
modoversus

modoversus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,674
México
Dissapointing that PS3 digital titles (and Classics) have not been anounced yet, considering the new Xbox will run (some? most?)of their Xbox older console titles..
 
Drayco21

Drayco21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,364
1-3 BC not being there is crushing. I'd give anything to not have to leave three Playstations under my TV.
 
Minthara

Minthara

Freelance Market Director
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
7,903
Montreal
Elandyll said:
That is literally not true, but...

Because of the fixed hardware nature of consoles, some devs use tricks to squeeze out more performances, including some that tie them close to hardware performance, such as cpu clock speed.
Any change there can make the game unplayable (e.g. imagine an AI for enemies running 100x faster, or simply their run speed)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The best example will always be tying framerate to game speed and physics. *coughFromSoftwarecough*

It's why when you play the original Dark Souls 1 port on PC and toggle 60 FPS, you'd often fall through the world on ladders, plus bugs like weapon durability being tied to frame rate.

Another good example of this: Plug your really old CD copy of Warcraft II into your PC. Computer will be raiding your base with end-game units after about 60 seconds.
 
the-pi-guy

the-pi-guy

Member
Oct 29, 2017
6,270
Caz said:
So...they didn't prioritize it then.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So... Are you not reading what I said?

You think Sony should have put PS3 hardware into the system otherwise they aren't making it a priority?

marshmallow said:
This doesn't make sense to me. Couldn't they have a mode with frequencies that would match the PS4 & PS4 Pro? Or just use a 60fps/30fps framerate lock.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
They do. Just a lot of people don't understand what Cerny actually was talking about.
 
sosainas

sosainas

Member
Sep 13, 2018
896
Only 100 in boost mode (with upgrades). The rest in legacy mode (same as they look on PS4).

I don't get it. Why people are saying that ONLY 100 will be backwarda compatible? Only 100 will be in boost mode, the rest in legacy.
 

Lagspike_exe

Banned
Dec 15, 2017
1,974
I am still confused. So the Top 100 games will run in boost (2.0GHz?) while the others run in native PS4/PS4 Pro?
 
mxbison

mxbison

Banned
Jan 14, 2019
2,148
Fine with me. I don't care about BC and I'm glad they are not putting too much work into it and focusing on other things.
 
KiNolin

KiNolin

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,296
Wasn't PS4 bc one of the first things they announced months ago, yet they didn't even test it properly? Total fuckup. Never had a Xbox myself, but it's looking like the better option by the day.

edit: okay, only caught up on the "real" info just now.
 
Last edited:
Rowsdower

Rowsdower

Prophet of Truth - The Wise Ones
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
16,565
Canada
I feel like this could have been clarified a little bit better. It's great all PS4 games will be BC, even if some of them aren't enhanced.
 
Era of not Yakuza

Era of not Yakuza

Banned
Dec 4, 2017
11,481
Brazil
daxy said:
I don't quite understand what "too fast" is supposed to mean. On PC it just works or doesn't (because of hardware/software incompatibility). But the hardware is set and if the other games work, then I don't really understand what the issue could be.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
example:
Some games link their physics to the frame rate. If you let the CPU use higher frequencies, it changes the game's performance and can cause it to crash.
 
Expy

Expy

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,861
All PS4 titles are Backward Compatible.

Only the Top 100 have been TESTED for BOOST MODE and confirmed to work 100%.
 
2Blackcats

2Blackcats

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,057
HardRojo said:
I'm reading and I still don't understand shit lol.
So all PS4 games will actually run on PS5 and they're actually testing whether some can be enhanced by PS5 specs? While those that would have trouble being tweaked will run just fine on PS4 and Pro legacy modes? So PS5 is 100% BC with PS4?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Exactly
 

Deleted member 51789

User requested account closure
Banned
Jan 9, 2019
3,705
Zhao_Yun said:
Sony needs to clarify this as soon as possible. I want to believe that Cerny only meant that there won't be 100% compatibility in boost mode, but the second sentence "We recently took a look at the top 100 Playstation 4 titles as ranked by playtime and we're expecting almost all of them to be playable at launch on Playstation 5 " is lacking the boost mode info which would make things completely clear.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This, pretty much. The messaging isn't super clear and is causing confusion.

Thread title change also isn't a great improvement. Whole thread needs a reboot.
 

Gitaroo

Member
Nov 3, 2017
7,990
I hope they are not Conservative like pro boost mode. Forced 16x AF and even something like nvidia free style or reshade should be feasible. They have to do more if Ms is adding hdr to all BC games.
 
Porsche85

Porsche85

alt account
Banned
Mar 9, 2020
85
After how forward thinking Microsoft has been regarding bc this is really disappointing. When I can play a game on a disc from 2001 on my brand new console and Sony won't even let me play all my last gen games it's a bummer.
 

Acquiesc3

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,724
sosainas said:
Only 100 in boost mode (with upgrades). The rest in legacy mode (same as they look on PS4).

I don't get it. Why people are saying that ONLY 100 will be backwarda compatible? Only 100 will be in boost mode, the rest in legacy.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The title is still misleading. They only TESTED the top 100 with boost mode on. It's very likely the you can use boost mode for way more than that.
 
rokkerkory

rokkerkory

Banned
Jun 14, 2018
14,128
I was hoping Sony would have been working on this for years now. Crazy that BC isn't there day 1 for the past few console generations.
 
2Blackcats

2Blackcats

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,057
sosainas said:
Only 100 in boost mode (with upgrades). The rest in legacy mode (same as they look on PS4).

I don't get it. Why people are saying that ONLY 100 will be backwarda compatible? Only 100 will be in boost mode, the rest in legacy.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That's wrong as well. They only tested a 100. They nearly all worked fine in boost mode.

This will be moot by release anyway. It will be just like Pro boost mode.
 
modiz

modiz

Member
Oct 8, 2018
17,831
isnt this the same case as the ps4 pro, when boost mode came out they warned of potential issues with unpatched games.
 
Peacemillian

Peacemillian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
636
Porsche85 said:
After how forward thinking Microsoft has been regarding bc this is really disappointing. When I can play a game on a disc from 2001 on my brand new console and Sony won't even let me play all my last gen games it's a bummer.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Read. The. Thread. This is becoming ridiculous, even after the title change people still don't get it.
 
Orion

Orion

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,768
More would've been a dream, but if all PS4 games are playable I can live with it. Really seemed like even that wasn't the case for a minute there... I guess we still don't know for sure? What a mess.
 
GNOSIS

GNOSIS

Member
Oct 29, 2017
175
I understood it correctly then I read the comments of people here being so mad at the good news and was so confused.

I should have stopped reading the first few pages long before I did.
 
Naga

Naga

Alt account
Banned
Aug 29, 2019
7,850
Isn't "boost mode" just the PS4 Pro boost mode though? As in there's nothing going higher than what you get already on PS4 Pro (unlike what MS is doing).
 
jaymzi

jaymzi

Member
Jul 22, 2019
6,541
If people couldn't even understand something as basic as what Cerny was saying here, wonder how they took in the rest of the presentation.
 
dralla

dralla

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,869
I wonder what kind of upgrades the PS5-enhanced BC will bring. I'm assuming it's a bump in resolution and reduction in load times?

I really hope we see developers putting out patches for their PS4 games that take advantage of the PS5 native BC. Specifically games that are coming out this year. I'd love to see games like RE3 and Nioh get some enhancements via PS5.
 
NotLiquid

NotLiquid

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
34,755
Y'all are just making the original statement even more confusing than it already is
 
Mr_Antimatter

Mr_Antimatter

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,571
It's not surprising really. As someone who plays a ton of classic games on my pc I've run into plenty that required tweaking to get proper performance.

take Sin for example. Out of the box it chugs on a modern rig because the engine doesn't expect you to render things as fast as you can these days. You actually have to adjust some config files to frame limit it and gets things running properly.

I imagine there are ps4 games with similar problems. They were designed with ps4 rendering limitations in mind and go haywire if you suddenly throw more resources at them.
 

Acquiesc3

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,724
modiz said:
isnt this the same case as the ps4 pro, when boost mode came out they warned of potential issues with unpatched games.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yep that's how I read it. Ps5 will be backwards compatible with all ps4 games through legacy modes (ps4 and ps4 pro). Boost mode is a toggle (like in ps4 pro) where benefits can vary and might even be unstable (again, like ps4 pro) but they tested the top 100 games with boost on and found nearly all worked great.
 
defaltoption

defaltoption

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
11,484
Austin
Lmfao someone on twitter said at this point there's a better chance we get PS1, PS2, and PS3 games on Xbox BC before PlayStation 5
 
dstarMDA

dstarMDA

Member
Dec 22, 2017
4,289
The era of Luigi said:
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


Maybe I'm being obtuse but once again he only says that "running PS4 titles at boosted frequency has added complexity", not that there is a Boost Mode and a Non-Boost mode. I really don't think PS4 games can be played at PS4 frequency on PS5 based on Cerny's wording.

EDIT: to be clearer, I think some here are underestimating the difference between PS4 and PS5 hardware, and are thinking too much that it works like an incremental upgrade ala PS4 Pro.
 
Dancrane212

Dancrane212

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,962
I still don't get where folk are hearing BC fully confirmed for all titles. I understood it as there is legacy support in the PS5 to interpret the logic of games expecting a PS4 and PS4 Pro, but the system still runs faster so additional work and testing has to be done.
 
Mansa Mufasa

Mansa Mufasa

Member
Jun 17, 2019
1,349
Toronto
I am confused. It sounds like only the top 100 PS4 titles will be boosted by the PS5. The other titles will run out of the box on the PS5's non boost Legacy mode.

There's no PS3/PS2/PS1 backwards compatibility (Probably through PSNow) but everyone is saying that only 100 PS4 titles will work at launch lol.
 

reKon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,712
I mean in short:

PS4 games are 100% compatible with PS5. So yes, you can sell your PS4 and still play all of the same games on PS5

Going further, in regards to BOOSTED MODE, which enhances the performance of PS4 games on PS5, they've tested 100 of the most played game on PS4 (which would understandably take a lot of time to do), and a majority of them work appropriately in this mode.

Games have to be tested on a case by case basis in order to confirm that performance is stable in this mode.
 
Reader mode
You must log in or register to reply here.