Can an AMD user with Metro 2033 help me out?

[Carfax83]

There is a tessellation bug in Metro 2033 with Nvidia hardware, which causes the textures to become blurry and stretched when tessellation is enabled under Very High setting. Here are some screenshots demonstrating the problem:

DX11 Very High Tessellation turned on

DX11 Very High Tessellation turned off

I reported this bug to 4A Games a long time ago, and I'd hoped it had gotten fixed, but after deciding to do another playthrough, I can see that it isn't.

So can someone with AMD hardware take a screenshot like I did with tessellation enabled, and disabled? It doesn't have to be a screenshot of a character, but I found that it's easier to see the effects of tessellation on them since their bodies and gear (specifically the ammo holders) look more rounded and compact with tessellation enabled.

I'm pretty sure this affects only Nvidia hardware, but I just want to make absolutely sure.

 

[Dankk]

I have a Radeon HD 6950, I could take a look at it.

If it's a problem specific to Nvidia cards, I'd be surprised, seeing as Metro 2033 is a Nvidia-funded "TWIMTBP" game. But, at least we know it's probably a problem with the game and not your card.

I've had some really bad problems in Metro 2033 - specifically artifacting - with my AMD card. It's entirely unrelated to your problem though, and turned out to be a faulty card. I'll be getting my replacement card from XFX either today or tomorrow though. I'll let you know.

 

[Elcs]

Is there any easy way to make the bug occur or force it to do so?

If so, I'll hop on my HD6870 and see if I can get some testing/screenshots done for you.

 

[Carfax83]

Hey thanks guys! :thumbsup:

I'm pretty sure it's Nvidia specific, or at least, Fermi specific, because I noticed the problem way back when I had 470 SLi. I upgraded to 480 SLi after that, and the anomaly was still there..

Now I have 580 SLi, and nothing changed.. D:

Is there any easy way to make the bug occur or force it to do so?

From my own testing, the bug only manifests itself when tessellation is enabled. But if you're using a 6870, I'm pretty sure you won't notice anything..

 

[PrayForDeath]

Oh man I finished the game on my GTX560 and had no idea why the textures seemed blurry at times. Your second screenshot looks awesome.

 

[Carfax83]

Yeah, when tessellation is turned off, the textures look significantly more detailed and sharp. I had been playing the game with tessellation on, and I decided to turn it off to see if 4A games had fixed the bug.


And when I turned it off and saw the difference, I was stunned!

 

[Dankk]

Alright OP, here are the screenshots I took. I didn't figure out how to turn off tesselation by itself, so I took photos in both DX9 mode and DX11 mode.

DX9 Very High
DX11 Very High

DX9 Very High
DX11 Very High

From what I can tell by looking closely, there is, in fact, a downgrade in texture quality when going from DX9 to DX11 with tessellation. I would point out individual features, i.e. clothes, walls, faces; but honestly, you can see the difference in *everything*. You wouldn't know it without looking, but after comparing them side by side, there is clearly something going on.

It's an oversight from the developers of the game, OP, regardless of the video card used. Hope that clears your conscious a bit.

 

[PrayForDeath]

It's an oversight from the developers of the game, OP, regardless of the video card used. Hope that clears your conscious a bit.

That's a pretty big 'oversight'. Not sure why they haven't fixed it with patches yet.

 

[Carfax83]

Alright OP, here are the screenshots I took. I didn't figure out how to turn off tesselation by itself, so I took photos in both DX9 mode and DX11 mode.

Tessellation option can be found by going to Video >> DX11 Options.

Still, it does look like tessellation is enabled in your DX11 screenshot. The girl in the lower left hand corner, her elbow looks pointed in the DX9 screenshot, but in the DX11 screenshot, it looks more rounded.

I'm truly surprised it affects the Radeons though, I thought it was Nvidia only

I've never heard any AMD users complain about this, but I've heard plenty of Nvidia users sound off.

Now the question is, what should we do? Obviously 4A have no intention of fixing this bug, as it's been there since day one.

I guess the only thing we can do is to try reporting the bug directly to Nvidia and AMD, and hopefully they can apply some pressure.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Still, it does look like tessellation is enabled in your DX11 screenshot. The girl in the lower left hand corner, her elbow looks pointed in the DX9 screenshot, but in the DX11 screenshot, it looks more rounded.

:awe:

 

[Dankk]

Tessellation option can be found by going to Video >> DX11 Options.

Really? When I checked, Metro 2033 doesn't let you change individual graphics settings. There are only Low, Medium, High, and Very High presets, without many other options.

Now the question is, what should we do? Obviously 4A have no intention of fixing this bug, as it's been there since day one.

I guess the only thing we can do is to try reporting the bug directly to Nvidia and AMD, and hopefully they can apply some pressure.

The game was released over a year and a half ago. I don't mean to sound like a negative nancy, but I can't imagine them making any fixes to the game this late.

Honestly, I can think of games with more jarring problems (shadows clipping, pop-in, etc). Metro 2033 itself is notorious for being rough around the edges in more ways than one, but I give 4A a pass since Metro is their debut game and it still manages to be visually amazing anyway.

Here's to hoping Metro: Last Light will be more polished.

 

[Carfax83]

Really? When I checked, Metro 2033 doesn't let you change individual graphics settings. There are only Low, Medium, High, and Very High presets, without many other options.

Something must be wrong. This is what the metro 2033 game menu looks like. The DX11 options is greyed out because whoever uploaded this screenshot, had the game running in DX9 mode.

The game was released over a year and a half ago. I don't mean to sound like a negative nancy, but I can't imagine them making any fixes to the game this late.

Yeah you're probably right.. I already did as much as I could do when I brought it to their attention in the first place. It just aggravates me that I can't play Metro 2033 at the highest graphical fidelity due to some stupid bug!

Here's to hoping Metro: Last Light will be more polished.

From interviews I've seen with the developers, Metro Last Light should be a lot more optimized than it's predecessor.

 

[Dankk]

Something must be wrong. This is what the metro 2033 game menu looks like.

Oooohhhhhh.... since when was there a "DX11 Options" button at the very top? Is it clickable?

I was talking about the options that are shown on the bottom portion of the screen. So while you can modify the general settings shown at the top (resolution, quality preset, AA, AF) it doesn't let you fine-tune the settings at the bottom. Rather, it's only showing you the features that will be applied with each preset.

But if that "DX11 options" button leads to some sort of advanced settings panel, then wow. TIL. lol