What changed
0 fixes1 addition8 changes0 removals
- Performance
- UI and audio
- Compatibility
- Gameplay
changedWith Ys IX finally releasing on PC, we've reached the most critical point of one of the most challenging porting projects we have undertaken so far. Some of these challenges were unavoidable, while others were of our own making, but we believe we've overcome the vast majority of them and are ready to provide a great version of the game. In this article we'd like to go into a bit of detail on some of PC-specific features and the optimization work which went into this version of the game.
changedFull Mouse/Keyboard SupportIn porting Ys IX to PC, we implemented full mouse/keyboard support. This includes not just the basics of controlling the game (with raw mouse input for camera control!), but also rebinding of all actions with up to two bindings each , pointer controls in all menus, mouse wheel scrolling where appropriate, and adaptive prompts depending on your preferred input device and binding. These might sound like trivial changes, but in a game with a substantial amount of custom UI that was only ever designed for a controller, they are more laborious than you might think.
changedSupport for High Frame RatesYs IX was originally designed for 60 FPS, but in an action game having the possibility to reach higher framerates is always desirable, especially for those with a high-end PC. Our beta testers helped us find all the large and small ways in which the game could break when going beyond 60 FPS, and step by step we managed to make everything work at up to 144 FPS with full support.
changedUltrawide Aspect RatioMany console games are built with the assumption that 16:9 is the only aspect ratio which needs to be supported, and going beyond it can introduce all manner of issues, especially related to UI but also with other rendering such as special effects. As such, fully supporting wider aspect ratios, including UI, in such games is much more than just a small hack, but we committed to this for Ys IX and hope you'll love the result.
addedOther Features and OptionsHere is a list of additional features and options added to the PC version:
changedOther Features and OptionsCamera field of view adjustment setting
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox changes
changedWith Ys IX finally releasing on PC, we've reached the most critical point of one of the most challenging porting projects we have undertaken so far. Some of these challenges were unavoidable, while others were of our own making, but we believe we've overcome the vast majority of them and are ready to provide a great version of the game. In this article we'd like to go into a bit of detail on some of PC-specific features and the optimization work which went into this version of the game.
changedIn porting Ys IX to PC, we implemented full mouse/keyboard support. This includes not just the basics of controlling the game (with raw mouse input for camera control!), but also rebinding of all actions with up to two bindings each , pointer controls in all menus, mouse wheel scrolling where appropriate, and adaptive prompts depending on your preferred input device and binding. These might sound like trivial changes, but in a game with a substantial amount of custom UI that was only ever designed for a controller, they are more laborious than you might think.
changedYs IX was originally designed for 60 FPS, but in an action game having the possibility to reach higher framerates is always desirable, especially for those with a high-end PC. Our beta testers helped us find all the large and small ways in which the game could break when going beyond 60 FPS, and step by step we managed to make everything work at up to 144 FPS with full support.
changedMany console games are built with the assumption that 16:9 is the only aspect ratio which needs to be supported, and going beyond it can introduce all manner of issues, especially related to UI but also with other rendering such as special effects. As such, fully supporting wider aspect ratios, including UI, in such games is much more than just a small hack, but we committed to this for Ys IX and hope you'll love the result.
addedHere is a list of additional features and options added to the PC version:
With Ys IX finally releasing on PC, we've reached the most critical point of one of the most challenging porting projects we have undertaken so far. Some of these challenges were unavoidable, while others were of our own making, but we believe we've overcome the vast majority of them and are ready to provide a great version of the game. In this article we'd like to go into a bit of detail on some of PC-specific features and the optimization work which went into this version of the game.
Feature Overview
Some of us here at PH3 are PC gaming enthusiasts. While this is hopefully a good thing for everyone who plays our ports, it also means that we frequently create substantial workloads for ourselves by introducing features that weren't strictly necessary -- and that is certainly the case for Ys IX.
Full Mouse/Keyboard Support
In porting Ys IX to PC, we implemented full mouse/keyboard support. This includes not just the basics of controlling the game (with raw mouse input for camera control!), but also rebinding of all actions with up to two bindings each, pointer controls in all menus, mouse wheel scrolling where appropriate, and adaptive prompts depending on your preferred input device and binding. These might sound like trivial changes, but in a game with a substantial amount of custom UI that was only ever designed for a controller, they are more laborious than you might think.
Support for High Frame Rates
Ys IX was originally designed for 60 FPS, but in an action game having the possibility to reach higher framerates is always desirable, especially for those with a high-end PC. Our beta testers helped us find all the large and small ways in which the game could break when going beyond 60 FPS, and step by step we managed to make everything work at up to 144 FPS with full support.
Ultrawide Aspect Ratio
Many console games are built with the assumption that 16:9 is the only aspect ratio which needs to be supported, and going beyond it can introduce all manner of issues, especially related to UI but also with other rendering such as special effects. As such, fully supporting wider aspect ratios, including UI, in such games is much more than just a small hack, but we committed to this for Ys IX and hope you'll love the result.
Other Features and Options
Here is a list of additional features and options added to the PC version:
Arbitrary resolution support (tested up to 8k)
Camera field of view adjustment setting
General Sampling Rate option (supports sub-sampling for low-end systems and supersampling for high-end systems)
Draw distance and Foliage Density settings to go beyond console on the high-end or gain extra performance on the low end
Shadow Filtering (including PCSS) and Shadow Resolution options
Various individual Postprocessing options, including HBAO+ ambient occlusion
Color blindness accessibility filters
With the initial state -- fundamentally improved since -- of Ys VIII on PC still in mind, performance was a key concern when bringing Ys IX to PC. This is doubly important as Ys IX is actually an inherently far more challenging game to run than its predecessor, as the latter was still designed to also work on the PlayStation Vita.
By the time we were ready to ship an initial version of Ys IX to our PC beta testers, we had already improved performance by around a factor of 2 compared to the very first version on PC,
