Seems to have improved the framerate in villages on Wii U. Still not 100% smooth, but much better than before. Running around Hateno in the rain doesn't turn into a slide show anymore.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Game » consists of 16 releases. Released Mar 03, 2017
The first HD installment of the Zelda series developed for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch that returns to the open-world design of the original NES title, with a focus on free exploration of a large scale environment as well as dangerous enemies.
Zelda Breath of the Wild Patched
Good to know they addressed the issues but it's a little too late now for most people those of us who played Zelda at launch. I'm glad they patched it and that's a game I know I'll revisit someday, maybe when the hard mode is out, but those frame rate issues mark an otherwise excellent game. They knew it was an issue before release and they decided to release it anyways. Business decisions screw over games sometimes, sucks it has to be that way.
@cerberus3dog: Screw over gamers, rather. I doubt that the framerate impacted sales in any meanigful way, especially considering most scores were perfect and that's all many people look at. I'd say it hurt the fans more than the game itself.
At any rate, I have the Wii U version. I was just gearing up to do the final two dungeons and then head to Ganon, so this is a bit late for me. I'm happy they did something about it, though.
I've put maybe 60 hours in and I can see myself still playing for another 40. I still have so much I want to see and do. I just gave it a quick test and it's probably improved but it still tanks down to 20fps and I doubt it'll ever be perfectly smooth unless they went with dynamic/adaptive resolution scaling.
I remember booting the game up on the Switch yesterday and there was a firmware update for the console but didn't see anything for Zelda specifically. I'll check again later today after work but I hope this wasn't just for Wii U.
@mrcraggle: I think Digital Foundry did a test and the game does indeed have dynamic resolution scaling. I guess it just wasn't fully implemented to all problem areas, or perhaps the issues in towns were so dire that this couldn't be fixed by that? Pretty sure it was Zelda...
I remember booting the game up on the Switch yesterday and there was a firmware update for the console but didn't see anything for Zelda specifically. I'll check again later today after work but I hope this wasn't just for Wii U.
@mrcraggle: I think Digital Foundry did a test and the game does indeed have dynamic resolution scaling. I guess it just wasn't fully implemented to all problem areas, or perhaps the issues in towns were so dire that this couldn't be fixed by that? Pretty sure it was Zelda...
I've read it improves the frame rate issues when docked.
@wchigo: Thanks. I don't remember them stating as such in their video content but they do have an article about it. It seems Nintendo put a cap on how far down the resolution would actually drop which from reading is 10% on both Wii U and Switch. Considering it drops from 30fps to 20fps it would seem that the game would have to drop even lower but I doubt Nintendo would want to sacrifice even more quality for an uptick in frame rate. Reports from Neogaf say this patch is improving areas but Kakariko Village seemed the same for me. If it's improved, it's not noticeable.
Yeah, wish they would've done this before I finished it. Although, outside death mountain, it never made the game unplayable for me.
@cerberus3dog said:
Good to know they addressed the issues but it's a little too late now for most people. I'm glad they patched it and that's a game I know I'll revisit someday, maybe when the hard mode is out, but those frame rate issues mark an otherwise excellent game. They knew it was an issue before release and they decided to release it anyways. Business decisions screw over games sometimes, sucks it has to be that way.
It's easy, especially with people like us who are invested in gaming enough to frequent dedicated sites, to forget normal gaming habits so a reminder: most people don't buy games within the release window (which is why the long-tail period accounts for more money in triple-AAA game sales). Almost certainly, more people haven't played BotW that will, than already have.
Edit: I didn't know a way of writing this that didn't come across as judgemental - hopefully it didn't. I just think it's important to take into account how different the majority of players are from those of us used to the schedule-focused news cycle.
um, not everyone blows through games in the first two days or plays games right at release.
i've only done about a dozen shrines so far and still have to beat the first dungeon, so i'll definitely benefit from this. and ye gods i've already racked in 40 hrs...
@barrock: that'd be nice. I do enjoy the ability to play the game on the go but my preference is definitely to play docked as the game just feels grander that way.
i personally feel it looks better fidelity wise at least, and i can deal with the framerate dips. though i've been playing plenty on the go as well.
@barrock: that'd be nice. I do enjoy the ability to play the game on the go but my preference is definitely to play docked as the game just feels grander that way.
i personally feel it looks better fidelity wise at least, and i can deal with the framerate dips. though i've been playing plenty on the go as well.
Agreed. For some reason or another, I often feel constrained when playing on the small screen, like the Switch's screen is a bit too confined for my tastes. Aside from one instance of choppiness during combat on Death Mountain, the only frame rate dips I've really encountered are in towns or in the Lost Woods. They're unfortunate but at least they don't really impact gameplay.
So the patch notes state:
Version 1.1.1
Adjustments have been made to make for a more pleasant gaming experience.
I wonder if they've made any adjustments to the frequency of rain.
Ohh, Nintendo. I don't think you understand what patch notes mean...
OT: I am happy for it. The framerate in the villages wasn't so bad for me, but I am glad they are willing to support the game after release, specially when they did it for a discontinued platform.
I'm happy I waited and didn't give into the early hype. Hopefully when I finally do get to playing it it'll be even more polished.
@mrcraggle: Haha, those fucking patch notes. What a Nintendo-like solution.
@dixavd: You're right, it's easy to forget that sometimes. I'll edit my comment. (You didn't come off as judgmental btw, you simply corrected me)
Awesome! I got my switch and Zelda last weekend. Still have plenty of game it sounds like so this patch is wonderful timing for me.
There's a certain forest area that gets about 75% less frame drops now on my switch and that means that I don't really expect to see many at all in the rest of the world. Very good.
I've already put 100 hours into it and beat the thing on Wii U. However, when I pick up a Switch sometime during Christmas, I'm definitely gonna play through again with that Hard mode DLC and the new story. Such a crowning achievement has to be played through more than once. So this is good to hear.
So, the Wii U version. I only tried it briefly but couldn't see any improvement at all in Hateno Village.
I've seen some happy comments from Switch users though, so I'm guessing this patch is mostly targeted for Switch.
From what the devs hinted at during GDC and various places, they were "surprised" at the fact that they were able to almost directly port the Wii U version of the game to the Switch, and therefore, it wasn't nearly as much work or as difficult as they thought. Based on that and some technical examination done by various sources, people believe the Docked Switch version is practially a direct, unoptimized port of teh Wii U version (hence the same framerate issues in both), whereas the Switch in portable mode WAS optimized... which is why, somehow, even with double the GPU/CPU power, the docked mode runs much more poorly than it should (Especially considering 720p to 900p is not a big enough jump to need twice the system computational power - but this game does seem to be mostly CPU limited due to physics and the number of objects and physics interactions going on at once, with some smoke/haze/rain particle effects also causing a framerate issue - like they often do on PC, they tend to be some of the heavier graphical load settings.
I bet this patch was a first, or only step, in addressing that a bit.
So, the Wii U version. I only tried it briefly but couldn't see any improvement at all in Hateno Village.
I've seen some happy comments from Switch users though, so I'm guessing this patch is mostly targeted for Switch.
Huh, I know Brad had massive framerate drops in there in his Wii U stream, but that area has been totally fine for me both before and after the patch.
Please Log In to post.
This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:
Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.Comment and Save
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.
Log in to comment