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World War Z dev: “there is no such thing as an impossible port”, Switch doesn’t really need more powerful version

Fudgepuppy

Fudgepuppy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,270
I intended to use my Switch for only Nintendo games and indie titles that work better in handheld mode, but it has ended with me only playing Nintendo games and like one or two other titles like Guacamelee 2 and Axiom Verge. I thought about getting Hades on it, but even that is graphically compromised with a lower resolution and such.

For people like me, the Steam Deck will be a better alternative for portable play. Nintendo don't release that many games I need to get, and with the Steam Deck I can stream my games, change the graphical settings if I want to prioritize frame rate, continue using my saves as on my PC etc.
 
BeI

BeI

Member
Dec 9, 2017
5,974
Ports definitely aren't impossible, but isn't it going to be quite a hassle getting games intended for x86 hardware working on the Switch's ARM hardware?
 
headspawn

headspawn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,605
I for one am never surprised when a console released in 2017 manages to run a game built for hardware from 2013 kinda okay--ish sometimes.
 
BarryFishFinger

BarryFishFinger

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,468
I assume you can port most games to Switch, but it presumably depends on how much you want to compromise on resolution, framerate, asset quality etc etc.

I only have a Switch Lite so maybe full Switch is different, but for what it's worth I think Witcher 3 for example on Switch is actually a fantastic port, it runs well, looks decent and appears to be feature complete with other versions. Resolution on the Lite is much less of an issue. For games like Dying Light with zombie density for example being noticeably lower (I believe?) that starts to become a more compromised port to me.

But faster switch hardware would be nice. My Lite can't run Animal Crossing properly if you start to decorate your island with lots of items, I've seen hugely dense islands that run at must be around 10fps.
 
erikNORML

erikNORML

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,709
Do we know who did the dying light port? Was it in house? Been playing that all weekend and it's one of the better switch ports out there, great experience imo, made smart concessions and looks better than a lot of the other AAA games we got. I've enjoyed witcher, doom and the like and DL feels less downgraded with better resolution.

I know DF highlighted a few areas they thought indicated lower zombie counts in some spots but I never really found any that weren't accounted for by randomness, weather, time of day, or some other factor. Areas like the bridge which generally maintain a more programmed count are as absolutely packed as I've played on other platforms
 
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raketenrolf

raketenrolf

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,205
Germany
It's not about being impossible, it's about how they look and perform.

I only play Nintendo games and exclusives on this thing but would do more if it was more powerful.
 
LossAversion

LossAversion

The Merchant of ERA
Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,664
Just because a port is possible, doesn't mean that it's good.

There have been a LOT of switch ports that have left me feeling burned over the past few years. There have also been some excellent ports. But there's no doubt that more powerful hardware would help minimize those bad ports. Either way, you just have to do your research before buying ANY port to ANY system if you want to make sure that it's something that you are willing to spend money on.
 
OtisSpunkmeijer

OtisSpunkmeijer

Member
Oct 25, 2019
589
Wait, are people are in this thread seriously wailing and gnashing their teeth because a developer says that more games can come to the switch than people might have first thought?

A game being on switch doesn't magically remove it from every other system. It just means more people can play the game lol
 
Samaritan

Samaritan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,696
Tacoma, Washington
The resolution of games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and the framerates of games like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity really beg to differ that we don't need a more powerful Switch.
 
My Tulpa

My Tulpa

alt account
Banned
Sep 19, 2021
1,132
Tokyo_Funk said:
They're right, there is no such thing as an impossible port, just a compromised one.
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WhiteNovember said:
Of course no port is impossible, but you always compare it to versions you know and wonder how worse it will look and run on "weaker system x".
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yes, but the only reason you'd play a ported multiplat on the Switch is to have the portability option.

For people who care about absolute fidelity for their major multiplats…they own a gaming pc. If not that, they get the next best thing with a Series X. If not those, they settle with a ps5 for multiplat fidelity.

The Switch appeal for multiplat gaming is ONLY for games where portability trumps graphics/performance.

And that's ok. It's something that should just be accepted. I dunno why people keep fighting it.
 
Tokyo_Funk

Tokyo_Funk

Banned
Dec 10, 2018
10,053
My Tulpa said:
yes, but the only reason you'd play a ported multiplat on the Switch is to have the portability option.

And that's ok. It's something that should just be accepted. I dunno why people keep fighting it.
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I have the Switch for that very reason currently. Even double dipping for the portability. Though the Steam Deck will change that and I will only be getting exclusives from here on for the Switch.
 
Nacery

Nacery

Member
Jul 11, 2018
1,475
Nobody was talking about impossible but not having so many graphical compromises (sub 1080/30FPS)
 
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Thera

Thera

Banned
Feb 28, 2019
12,876
France
Playing sub 1080p games on a big screen is really not great, especially without any sort of AA.
So I really disagree.
 
Shopolic

Shopolic

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
6,843
Yeah, you can port most (maybe all) 8th and even 9th generation games for PS3 and X360 too. But there will be lots of differences here and there, from graphics, resolution and frame rate to details, loading and...
 
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Max|Payne

Max|Payne

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Oct 27, 2017
8,953
Portugal
Kinda of an understandable sentiment coming from a port studio but you can't convince me that in most days they weren't wishing for some higher numbers to work with in that machine...
 

LurkerAroundTheForum

Member
Sep 20, 2021
608
Cheesy said:
The switch struggles to run 360 games, the switch struggles to run some of its own first party games. It absolutely needs an upgrade.
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I played Alien Isolation recently on Switch docked, and it looked better than the PS4 or XOne versions.

The hardware of the Switch is easily more powerful than PS360. If such a port struggles on Switch its always because of unoptimized engines/code.

Age of Calamity is technically a desaster but you have such games on every platform, you can find high profile games that run bad even on high end PCs or the newest Playstation/XBox.

I definitely enjoy playing on powerful hardware and love high fidelity in games. I was disappointed from what PS5 and XBox have to offer technically. I would buy a more powerful Switch instantly.

Despite of that... playing games like Witcher3, Crysis or Alien Isolation on Switch has so many advantages in comparison to other hardware like switching back and forth from docked to handheld instantly or just taking all my games with me everywhere that I even buy many multiplatform games on Switch nowadays if they not sorely depend on the high end graphics.
 
Edward850

Edward850

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Apr 5, 2019
991
New Zealand
BeI said:
Ports definitely aren't impossible, but isn't it going to be quite a hassle getting games intended for x86 hardware working on the Switch's ARM hardware?
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Nobody codes at a machine level nowadays, that's a thing that died with the 90s. Outside of the use of CPU intrinsics, which needs alternative code paths anyway because not every x64 CPU supports all the same extensions, everything is written in portable languages (typically C/C++) and left to the compiler to resolve.

About the only thing that can screw up nowadays between x64 and ARM64 is floating point behaviour, however that's either a non-issue where precision doesn't matter, or a situation floats weren't designed to handle where precision does.
 
VariantX

VariantX

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Oct 25, 2017
16,880
Columbia, SC
Perkin_Warbeck said:
Yeah I think this is frequently true. Metroid Dread looks fantastic in portable mode, but pretty crappy on a 4k screen. But from what I've heard, games like Hyrule Warriors run like garbage both docked and portable.
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Yep. The limits of the hardware really betrays the artwork in Dread by making everything look fuzzy because it's on a 4k screen. Just getting the game to run at 1080p or 1440p would be a huge improvement on those larger displays.
 
jroc74

jroc74

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Oct 27, 2017
28,992
OtisSpunkmeijer said:
Wait, are people are in this thread seriously wailing and gnashing their teeth because a developer says that more games can come to the switch than people might have first thought?

A game being on switch doesn't magically remove it from every other system. It just means more people can play the game lol
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I dont think anyone is saying this?
 
Siggy-P

Siggy-P

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Mar 18, 2018
11,865
I'm sure that's true.

However:

Witcher 3 looks like shit on the switch (though I did find the portability suited the open world nature of the game quite well), and undocked Crystal 2 had enemies attacking you from beyond the draw distance so you couldn't see them.

So no impossible ports but severe downgrades.
 
Kinthey

Kinthey

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Oct 27, 2017
22,274
It's probably possible to port anything, the bigger question is if the result is something I'd still want to play.

And a more powerful switch would already be nice because then we'd simply get more 60fps games
 
Atolm

Atolm

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Oct 25, 2017
5,826
I remember the time when what we had weren't ports but entirely new games built from the ground up to resemble the originals somewhat and even so they used to be terrible. Think most ports to 8 bit computers, Spectrum specifically.

So yes, there are impossible ports.
 
Se_t

Se_t

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Apr 14, 2020
530
Even if Nintendo never was about the power -which is perfectly fine as long as you know it before you go into the ecosystem- the Switch at this point is severely lacking in power, I just need to look at the way some exclusive games run on it, and the ports are terrible 99% of the time and I say that as someone who loves my Switch but I also know where it's limit at.

The fact that the Switch can run The Witcher 3 doesn't mean you should experience the game like this. If you really have no other way to play it then yeah sure of course have fun but may be it just wasn't meant to be. I sold my copy back after a week because my eyes were straining so much trying to play the game. Yes it runs but it runs terribly.

When even first party games have problem running then it's clear that Nintendo needs to put something a tad more powerful inside of it, which is why they'll never do it, because Nintendo.
 
.exe

.exe

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Oct 25, 2017
22,219
I would agree if the games that came out for it were better tuned to the system's capabilities. But it's not like that over-ambitiousness would change even with a theoretical Switch Pro.
 
Fisty

Fisty

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Oct 25, 2017
20,214
Yeah for gen 8 ports maybe, that's not going to last forever

Let's see Saber port Cyberpunk to it
 
StereoVSN

StereoVSN

Member
Nov 1, 2017
13,620
Eastern US
A lot of ports look and play rough, including Nintendo's own games. So yeah, no, Switch could definitely use a boost. Having a port doesn't mean jack of resolution, image quality and framerate suck.
 
Zombegoast

Zombegoast

Member
Oct 30, 2017
14,224
The main problem with the Switch is the memory speed. Adding FSR to Switch would be substantial to clean up visual than running sub 1080p


Cheesy said:
The switch struggles to run 360 games, the switch struggles to run some of its own first party games. It absolutely needs an upgrade.
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The Switch is literally running Xbox One/PS4 games and running the Crysis Trilogy better than the 7th version
 
trashbandit

trashbandit

Member
Dec 19, 2019
3,910
Ambient said:
I think with it's current power the Switch could last another 7-10 years without a successor.
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This is like saying the Xbox 360 could've lasted another 7-10 years in 2009. The Switch launched with mobile hardware that already wasn't top of the line, it is utterly ridculous to suggest that a console that struggles to produce a 720p image at 60 fps for many games is somehow going to cut it 7 years from now.
 
mudron

mudron

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Feb 13, 2020
847
FFS, the Switch can barely run *Animal Crossing* if you've got enough stuff laying around your island.
 
Irikan

Irikan

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Oct 25, 2017
2,390
Insane take lmao, the Switch was great at release but is really starting to feel dated in many ways. It needs a successor, and with DLSS, now THAT could really help the console staying a lot more enjoyable long term
 
Stairmaster_

Stairmaster_

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Jan 27, 2019
267
LinkStrikesBack said:
Lmao, it's not struggling with metroid dread or BOTW at all, come the fuck on.
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There's still quite a few times in BotW where the fps noticeably dips. Metroid Dread does a good job of hiding it, but cutscenes drop to 30, other elements (like the jets of fire) also run at a different framerate while the rest of the game is 60, and loading screen animations might as well be powerpoints. Overall, it feels like compromises were made for the current Switch hardware and it makes it feel more dated and in dire need of an upgrade.
 
Cheesy

Cheesy

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Oct 30, 2017
2,268
IneptEMP said:
Examples should be provided for that wild claim.
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This is well known at this point, it's hardly "wild".
Resident Evil 5/6, Bioshock trilogy, Bulletstorm, possibly others. I've played all of the aforementioned, most of them can't maintain 30fps for a majority of the experience, or at most they'll drop in resolution very frequently leading to a very blurry experience.

Zombegoast said:
The Switch is literally running Xbox One/PS4 games and running the Crysis Trilogy better than the 7th version
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And how many of them does it run well? I've played Apex on Switch and it's just awful, I've seen Ark on switch, and oh boy it's a mess. So far Aliens is the only good port I've seen of a PS4/Xbone gen game.

And regardless of that, the notion that the switch could last another 10 years on its outdated hardware is just nuts. It struggles to keep BotW and Animal Crossing at 30 fps at times.
 
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