Assassin's Creed Valhalla patch 1.0.4: Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 re-tested

Alex Battaglia of Digital Foundry writes, "Thursday's 1.0.4 patch for Assassin's Creed Valhalla is the first big update for Ubisoft's latest massive open worlder - and a crucial one, delivering a vast array of gameplay improvements and bug fixes, but of course, the Digital Foundry focus is more on technical validation for what has been the most contentious of the next generation launch line-up. For all of its spec advantages, Xbox Series X ran with a performance penalty against PlayStation 5, while Xbox Series S launched without the signature next-gen 60fps support. The 1.0.4 patch aims to address of all of this - and indeed, it does - and also adds a 4K30 quality mode too."

[RazzerRedux]

Summary

PS5 Update

Didn't change much in performance despite claims saying it does.
initial cutscenes dip in frame rate 2 or 3 fps
Could not reproduce worse performance that was reported elsewhere

XSX Update

Handful of tears now, much better.
Fixed the dips in frame rate
Fix was due to change in lower bound in resolution was changed from 1440p to 1188p

60 frame rate on both XSX and PS5 with lower DRS range on XSX

Quality Modes
Native 4k
Really feel the drop to 30fps
Cutscenes don't look completely fluid
Stuttery camera movement in cutscenes on XSX and PC

60 FPS mode added to XSS
Dropped resolution to 720p lower end.
Frame rate better than XSX was prior to this patch, but worse than PS5

[RaidenBlack]

The report looks pretty good, Mr. Redux.
Fine job as usual.

[potatoseal]

I was one of the people who initially had a massive performance DROP after the patch.

But after reinstalling the game and the patch and then had a PS5 reset, all the problems have gone away like magic.

Now it's runs excellent. It actually feels like it runs better. Less tearing in cutscenes. 60fps is solid AF.

[mikeslemonade]

AC is for casual gamers

[RaidenBlack]

@mikeslemonade
I understand AC has lost its charm over the years. And lost much of the fans after transitioning to an RPG model.
but ...
what hardcore games you want from a console?
Esports?
Coz by hardcore I normally associate games like Post Scriptum or Squad (traditionally PC staple)

[thornintheside]

@potatoseal

With the steps you took, "like magic" is perhaps not the right word.

[JCOLE13195]

Always appreciate the summaries you provide. Thank you.

[lelo2play]

I guess those people screaming out loud that Microsoft paid Ubisoft, must feel pretty stupid now...

[shabz666]

So ridiculous, same thing was said during ac unity since it was cpu bottlenecked and ran at a higher framerate but lower resolution on one x compared to ps4. The fan boy conspiracy theory never changes, I’ve seen this every console cycle.

[I_am_Batman]

If only. Unfortunately people that easily jump to conclusions like that don't tend to be the self-reflective type. Chances are most of them are already subscribing to the next conspiracy theory.

[Kiwi66]

Of course they won't and you probably won't see them say anything about this article given how it proves them wrong.
On the bright side at least the update wasn't as bad as some made it out to be

[Gunstar75]

You would hope so, but nah.... they will always be that stupid

[Rude-ro]

If you are ever bored... go see what Microsoft has been sued for and lost.
Should help you understand concerns from a game that has a contract with Microsoft.
This also shows you the extent that people go to due to the previous article on here being misleading about the subject and doing so as “news”

[Sayai jin]

Lelo, unfortunately no. Those people will still syand around with pitchforks for their self imagined enemy and pom poms for their beloved piece of plastic.

[Sayai jin]

Rudero, aaah. Just change that to any large company...Sony, MS, Nintendo, Apple, etc. That truth applies to most large companies.

[TheProblem]

Not really.

A few users here did have worse performance until they reinstalled the game. It was a legitimate accusation to make under the circumstances

[chiefJohn117]

No one asked you for your opinion

[RazzerRedux]

"No one asked you for your opinion"

Good. Nothing I posted above was my opinion. I think you are confused again.

@potatoseal

lol....I literally put the word "Summary" at the very top of my post. This guy...

[potatoseal]

Once again you've embarrassed yourself.

Nothing he said was his personal view or judgment. He just summarized the video.

[russo121]

Salty, hein? Don't worry, just get out and breath fresh air. Don't forget, usually it's a bug or the tools are not ready for the task, but, It will improve in the future, you'll just have to wait.

[jznrpg]

1188p is a new one for me . It’s the new 792 p

[Critic4l_Strik3]

Good analysis Kowalski!

[alb1899]

Where there has been change is with Xbox Series X, where Ubisoft has made great strides in addressing the performance deficit, significantly reducing the intrusive screen-tearing. It's not completely gone, but it's certainly hugely improved and in the most stringent of our stress tests, Xbox Series X can now outperform PlayStation 5.

[RazzerRedux]

"in the most stringent of our stress tests, Xbox Series X can now outperform PlayStation 5."

But XSX is now running at a lower resolution to achieve similar frame rates as PS5.

"...in the most stringent of our stress tests, Xbox Series X can now outperform PlayStation 5. How Ubisoft has achieved such a huge turnaround in so short a time may sound like a technological miracle, or the result of some gigantic optimisation push, but the solution is simpler than you might think.
...
At launch, the 'window' of potential resolutions for both consoles scaled from 1440p at the lowest to circa 1728p at the highest - 67 per cent to 80 per cent of full 4K resolution on both axes. This remains the case for the PlayStation 5 version of the game, but lower bounds for Series X has reduced to 1188p - 55 per cent of full 4K. To be clear, Series X will only tap into these newly introduced lower resolutions when it has to. For the majority of play, pixel counts are considerably higher."

So XSX has to occassionally reduce pixels by 55 percent to achieve this frame rate. Imagine what would happen if they reduced the lower bound of PS5?

" In fact, it's good enough to roll out for PlayStation 5 too in order to eliminate its own tearing issues, and I'm surprised the same solution wasn't deployed on both next-gen systems. But in the here and now at least, PlayStation 5 runs with a higher resolution, while Xbox Series X generally runs a touch smoother."

https://www.eurogamer.net/a...

[Mr_Luke]

Very nice RazzerRedux, thanks for the awesome job!

[chiefJohn117]

Lightin up, I'm just trolling ya mate lol. Sarcasm not so obvious on the internet I guess

[RazzerRedux]

No...you just can't read for shit. Sarcasm? lol....sure, "mate". No one buys that nonsense coming from you, dude.

[chiefJohn117]

Why it's so easy to do lol.
This is n4g aka news outlet with open discussion, where everyone is gonna have an opinion why would I say to a person "no one asked for your opinion"? 🤣 man you guys are either really slow or hate my guts so much youre blind to the jokes. The first word is summary and you did paragraphs for each update. You caught the "mate" tho rofl

[RazzerRedux]

If that was sarcasm then....

1) use /s to indicate sarcasm. How is this concept foreign to you?
2) You suck at sarcasm

Just a stupid ass post no matter how you look at it, sarcasm or otherwise.

[Jin_Sakai]

“Didn't change much in performance despite claims saying it does.“

Says DF. PS5 outperformed Series X before the patch. Doesn’t seem that way now.

https://i.ibb.co/SJzSscf/A8...

[TheProblem]

Yep looks like the series x simply can’t keep up with the ps5. They have had to drop the resolution an it STILL can’t keep up.

PS5 is an awesome feat of engineering

[chiefJohn117]

I'll use /s next time. It was still a funny post....in my opinion xD

[RaidenBlack]

On Series X, its @ 1188p, now ...
Wasn't Series S supposed to be the 1440p console?
Oh wait ,,, Series S is doing 720p now.

[lelo2play]

And the Switch plays games bellow that resolution and outsells both new consoles... so what's your point?

[waverider]

The point Was that Microsoft sold this like a 1440 machine and this seems weaker then the one x and even the pro. Games running at sub 1080p on a cross gen console. The switch its a hybrid portable machine.

[RaidenBlack]

The point was marketing.

[northpaws]

@lelo2play

Your comments never fails to disappoint.

[Atticus_finch]

The switch isn't a $500 4k machine.

[jznrpg]

The Switch came out almost 4 years ago... it was never touted as 1440p 120fps capable or the worlds most powerfullest console in any universe evers! So I don’t get your point .

[StoneyYoshi]

Your attempt to deflect didn't work here at all.

[SullysCigar]

Remember: Engage brain THEN type!

[Dragonscale]

MS and their fanboys hyped the crap out of the new consoles and said the PS5 was weak. Seems that was bullcrap as usual. Also don't you think its a bit early to compare sales against the switch at the moment considering you can't buy a new gen console currently lol.

[IamFrasierCrane]

The switch does what it’s advertised to do. These new Xbox’s don’t do what they’re advertised to do.

That’s the point. Try a little harder.

[crazyCoconuts]

Crazy that for just $100 more...

[shabz666]

most likely with better optimizations and time these target frame rates and general performance will get better. Series x is slightly more powerful than ps5 on paper. Doesn’t mean much if they don’t optimize games and fix development issues.

Dirt 5 has a bug where Xbox one textures and code is showing up on series x quality mode according to df. Which codemasters acknowledged as a bug. That’s a ridiculous bug to have in the first place.

[potatoseal]

Series X lowering the Dynamic Range resolution was the only way, I guess, to stop most of the tearing it had.

PS5 Dynamic Range resolution is higher. That's an advantage to PS5, but really, it's insignificant. Both versions are at a good level now I think.

[NeoGamer232]

None of these consoles are hitting their target resolutions....

XSX and PS5 are supposed to be 4K consoles. Both are using dynamic resolutions that are dropping to near 1080p.

It is disappointing that gamers actually think that these consoles will always hit their resolution targets in every game and every scenario. Microsoft and Sony are both over marketing the resolution of these consoles.

[RazzerRedux]

Actually, Sony has been quite reserved about PS5 in comparison to Microsoft's check-pumping on Xbox Series X's power. It isn't close.

Edit:

For example, Sony doesn't have the equivalent of Aaron Greenberg making statements such as:

"But, with the next-gen, I think you'll see a big upgrade in CPU, because we really want to make sure that you don't have any compromises with the framerates. Yes, we can do 4K, but we can also do 120 frames per second. So I think that type of capability will be something that people don't see today".
https://www.tweaktown.com/n...

The expectations MS put out there were through the roof.

[Sunny_D]

Yeah no way has Sony ever even come close to touting a power narrative like MS has been doing since the Xbox One X. Remember the “most perfect pixels” guy?

The most they ever spoke of power is Herman Hulst where all he said was the PS5 has tons of horsepower and is easy to develop for at the June event.

[Chevalier]

Dirt 5 dropped to 570p apparently 😆. 720p would have been appreciated

[Neonridr]

this doesn't say that it's locked @ 1188p though. The lower bounds are definitely lower, but let's not spread misinformation here.

[RaidenBlack]

Yea .. ofcourse ... but the word "locked" wasn't mentioned explicitly. So ... yea there's that.
And the lower bounds of a dynamic res is the actual benchmark metrics of a system(as to how much its capable).
Before dyna-res-scaling, reviewer or someone analyzing used to benchmark a system/game performance by simulating/replicating an intense calculative scene(s) of a game.
A glance at a skybox render in a game will always be least intensive.
For example, that's how DF checked/checks performance of Control on the previous gen consoles by replicating a particular multi-npc fight scene at a certain game level.

[Neonridr]

@RaidenBlack - oh for sure, I just wanted to be sure we weren't trying to imply that the game was running at 1188p all the time or anything. I'd say there's probably only a few instances where it drops that low. That being said, it's hard to understand what's causing these issues.

[Chevalier]

@Neonridr

"this doesn't say that it's locked @ 1188p though. The lower bounds are definitely lower, but let's not spread misinformation here."

Seriously dude its pretty obvious you're making shit up. Did you even watch the Dirt 5 digital foundry video at all? 😆 Go ahead and watch Dirt 5 comparison again and go to the 9 minute 40 second part of the video. The guys clearly say the Xbox Series S drops to 576p.

[Neonridr]

@Chevalier - ok, and what does that have to do with AC on the Series X?

[Chevalier]

The point unless your an idiot is that MS over sold as usual. Everyone of you guys ate up the narrative of 1440p. When these games struggle to hit 1080p even. So its a relevant example to that effect

[DJStotty]

@RaidenBlack

Somebody didn't understand the article :-

"At launch, the 'window' of potential resolutions for both consoles scaled from 1440p at the lowest to circa 1728p at the highest - 67 per cent to 80 per cent of full 4K resolution on both axes. This remains the case for the PlayStation 5 version of the game, but lower bounds for Series X has reduced to 1188p - 55 per cent of full 4K. To be clear, Series X will only tap into these newly introduced lower resolutions when it has to. For the majority of play, pixel counts are considerably higher."

So PS5 will drop to 1440p when it needs to, Series X will drop lower to 1188p when it needs to, but for the MAJORITY OF PLAY, which means most of the time, maybe 90% of the game, BOTH consoles will be outputting at 1728p and scaling to 4K.

Understand before making yourself look like a fool.

The PS5 and Series X run at 4K 30fps, if you want 60fps, both take a hit resolution wise (described above). Series S runs at 720-800p 60fps, or 1296p at 30fps.

[RaidenBlack]

I understand dynamic resolution. :-P
...
I just poked fun at the marketing from Q1-Q2 2020.
...
And for a PC gamer, seeing 720p@60fps from a touted "next-gen" system kinda made me chuckle a bit. That's all. (yea, I get it ... the low price-point [its still a good deal to be honest, but still ... 720p{non-locked}?])
Nah, didn't make a fool of myself but it sure got you agitated.
Honestly didn't want to offend your Series S purchase decision.

[DJStotty]

Yes but your "fun" was misinformation

Both consoles run at 4K - 30fps, Series X isn't running at 1188p and the S is not running at 720p

As a PC gamer, your here bashing consoles? Pointless if you ask me PC will always surpass consoles.

PS - I bought Series X

[RaidenBlack]

@DJSotty
...
Congrats, bruv!
Got Gamepass Ultimate too?
Did you pre-order Cyberpunk? And are you getting The Medium ?
...
Edit: And not spreading mis-information. Its a comment section to an article/story. People are supposed to go through the article or video first. This is more of a section for discussion, like we are doing.
Cheers, DJ!

[DJStotty]

Not got gamepass Ultimate as of yet (going to upgrade my PC a touch first), Cyberpunk 2077 is definately pre-ordered, and the Medium is already pre-ordered through gamepass for ziltch.

It's ok if you feel the need to try and poke fun/downplay/assault the competition, that is your prerogative, just makes you come across a touch insecure about your purchase, so much so you are trying to convince yourself you made the right choice.

Me, i will just game on all platforms.

[RaidenBlack]

@DJSotty
Nah, mate. Ain't a fanboy of any platforms. So insecure independant in terms of gaming.
Which ever platform performs better: kudos from me. Whichever fumbles: hey fix the mess.
Simple philosophy.

[shabz666]

They didn’t look much into the pc but the update definitely fixed an issue where frames were dropping during conversations and cutscenes. Now it holds target frame rates well on my pc. But this still feels like the game is held together with duct tape sometimes.

[RazzerRedux]

I quit playing. Game keeps freezing for me on PC. Still needs a ton of work Thankfully I only paid $15 for Ubisoft+ and not full price. I'll come back around to this after I'm done with Cyberpunk 2077. Hopefully by then they will have fixed a lot of this crap. Enjoyed the limited time I had playing.

[shabz666]

Same I’m also playing on the uplay plus. It crashed on me couple of times, and it hitches whenever I switch between controller and keyboard.

Anyway I’m too deep in to quit now. Lol. Will finish it.

[RaidenBlack]

Cyberpunk 2077 reportedly also has bugs. All depends if you're going to notice them.
https://wccftech.com/cyberp...

[iNcRiMiNaTi]

I got it on uplay+ too and it never used to crash on me. Ever since this patch I've gotten like 3 crashes

[jznrpg]

Of course they didn’t they were paid to make Xbox look better than their initial review. I’ve never seen update analysis before lol .

[883]

Love how they said:
"In the most stringent of our stress tests, Xbox Series X can now outperform PlayStation 5"
Then later stated:
"...in the here and now at least, PlayStation 5 runs with a higher resolution, while Xbox Series X generally runs a touch smoother."
They could have said, "In the most stringent of our stress tests, certain performance changes were observed. The PlayStation 5 is still set to favor a higher resolution at times and the Xbox Series X, while allowing for a lower resolution ends up running a touch smoother at those same moments."
The reality is that (and they say as much) allowing for the lower resolutions on the Series X has made the Series X run smoother - AND - if they did the same on PS5, it would likely also run smoother (only needs to run a "touch smoother at those moments" to have **PARITY** based on their own words)... Get the significance of all that? Yet they lead (early in the column) with this:
"Xbox Series X can now outperform PlayStation 5". -- Doesn't really seem like it... Seems like they determined that at a lower resolution it can run smoother than the PS5 version does at a higher resolution.
I like DF, but this is an unfortunate moment of seeming transparency where they look a little desperate to say something they've been unable to say because frankly, they've been a bit flummoxed.

[I_am_Batman]

Yeah, it's totally unprecedented!

-Need for Speed: Rivals Frame-Pacing Patch Tests
https://youtu.be/ERVhpZTjfT...

-Assassin's Creed Unity PS4: Patch 4 vs Patch 3 Frame-Rate Test
https://youtu.be/ReSNdhmZ0h...

-Fallout 4 PS4 Patch 1.02 Frame-Rate Test
https://youtu.be/oL5-nYt2Rv...

-Homefront The Revolution Patch 1.08 Finally Fixes PS4/Xbox Frame-Rates!
https://youtu.be/0-An5KmgLg...

-Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Patch 1.11 Switch/Wii U Frame-Rate Tests!
https://youtu.be/w6NkNgI1ss...

-Fallout 76 Patch 1.02: Does The 47GB Patch Really Improve Performance?
https://youtu.be/09nYeO1lQi...

-[4K] The Witcher 3: PS4 Pro Patch 1.61: Upgrades vs Downgrades Analysis
https://youtu.be/JpnOPQi-un...

-Doom on Switch: Patch 1.2 - Is Performance Really Improved?
https://youtu.be/auMBfnHYA7...

-Resident Evil 3 Remake Xbox One X Patch Tested - A Massive Performance Upgrade
https://youtu.be/BnjVfTYnAY...

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

This is going to be a looong generation if we're going to be doing patch comparisons as well. . .

[TheTony316]

just wait for the tools man. Once they're out it'll be like Splinter Cell Chaos Theory on PS2 vs Xbox. /s

[jznrpg]

DF is clearly trying to make Xbox look better so they will keep comparing until they can say something nice about Xbox .

[shabz666]

It’s not the first time. Df has been doing this for ages. Go back and see all the tomb raider updates. They’re very good at what they do.

[Neonridr]

remember when Drive Club had a second review? I do..

[TheTony316]

They had to drop the resolution on the "worlds most powerful consone™" down to almost 1080p to match weakstation 5 performance at 1440p? lmao.

[russo121]

PS5 just says to XSX "On your knees!". Incredible stuff from a supposed weaker console.

[predex84]

The terafloppppp monster xsx is struggling. PS5 is a really amazing well balanced machine. Dualsense is a huge plus.

[ufo8mycat]

No idea why people always seem to think more teraflops = more powerful.

After the specs for Playstation 5 was revealed and details on HOW the system works, it actually IS more powerful and efficient then the Series X, so the Playstation 5 performing better then Series X shouldn't be a surprise.

[Destiny1080]

Series s 720p and still dips below 60
Series x 1188p and still dips below 60
PS5 1440p and the most consistent Lock on 60fps, and no issues with camera panning in cut scenes unlike x/pc

Gears 5 on the series x The lower bounds are 1080p, this is a game they have been updating for well over a year from a first party studio

[Loktai]

So still a bit better on PS5... seems like PS5 got the benefits too but the Series X is still a bit behind it. Still great to see the experience become smoother on the Xbox side . Maybe more patches later will bring it to full parity.

[Babadook7]

Judging by this? Yah. At least this is yet another sign the GPU really is stronger.

[StoneyYoshi]

A stronger GPU wouldn't require a reduction in the dynamic resolution scaling if that was the case. On paper it is a stronger GPU but in terms of efficiency, thats a different story.

[Babadook7]

@WireMucks

No. Look at what I was responding to. Let me clarify.

"Judging by this? Yah. [PS5 is still a bit better] At least this is yet another sign the [PS5] GPU really is stronger."

If a GPU can't keep up to another and has to be patched to lower its resolution to keep up [as happened right here on XSX], that's a pretty STRONG sign, in fact. Paper specs aren't as good evidence as real software.

[Kurt Russell]

I am playing it on XSX at the moment. There is notably less screen tearing, but it still does happen in certain areas noticeably.

But beyond graphic/FPS performance (which could be better, but Ubisoft games seldom are)... The most noticeable problems this game has are still there. I still have NPCs running on the spot in cut scenes, I have "follow me" NPCs get stuck on rocks/foliage forcing a reload, I have birds flying into bridges (lol)

[Modestmex]

PC foe life suckas!

[Babadook7]

Nah. PS5 is better. From the benchmarks out now you've got to pay way too much money on new PC parts to equal PS5 performance.

[Modestmex]

I don't mind paying extra for a badass experience and don't really have to worry about backwards compatibility.

[Babadook7]

Not worth it right now. Ps5 has better games with better graphics than pc.

[BioShockGX]

Not sure why would anyone play this on quality mode

[AmandaWilson]

Great news! Thanks for the update!

[Dragonscale]

All that hype from the xbox side. It must be really depressing for them lol.

[potatoseal]

It actually is, but most will never admit it. They have to put on a strong united front.

[ufo8mycat]

Glad to see the performance issues were addressed on PS5, and screen tearing on Series X, even though you wouldn't need to drop the resolution to fix this if you knew what you were doing, such as optimising your game properly.

Both next gen machines are more then capable of running this game @ 60fps with close to 4K resolution, but sadly as we see with Ubisoft games, the developers are either not talented enough or are too lazy to optimise their games properly, so instead, they take shortcuts by dropping resolution to maintain a framerate, rather then optimising a game to maintain a framerate.

Lazy, un-talented developer team, sorry to say.