Pc = Full Shadows, Xbox = No Shadows? Options

[Infiltrator]

Let me first say that you should have seen the E3 20 min showcase movie in order to fully be able to participate in this topic, but I suspect a lot of us did, so here's what's up:

The brakedown - two videos, one from the PC showcase at E3 (the one that's been leaked around) and the other, released from Gamespot right here (marked as "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Developer Interview", first one from the top). Seemingly the same showcase, but, if you look at the xbox version, there are absolutely no shadows whatsoever by the chains or by the skull / ribcage.

Figures I guess, the shadows, especially dynamic ones, and then softened up consecutively, eat up quite a bit of video memory and the developers need oblivion to run as fluid as possible on a console. Thoughts?

[Son of Sam]

Highly unlikely. According to some developer or another, playing Oblivion on a console assures the "highest quality possible". I'd assume that the highest quality would involve shadows..

Just remember, the 360 is just as powerful and holds just as much memory as any high-end PC.

[Infiltrator]

Yes, I reckon they said "highest quality possible" but would that mean the exclusion of dynamic shadows? I don't see any reason whatsoever why not to include them in the showcase. Again, check both videos, in case it turns out that I haven't been able to notice them (although I watched closely more then a couple of times).

[Zelda_Zealot]

Well you have to remember, that around E3 time no one out side of Microsoft could get anywhere near a 360. So they would have a a Alpha or Beta version of the system, thus making it weaker. In fact I think it would have been an Alpha version...

[Infiltrator]

Yea but when it comes to the Xbox demo it isn't E3 we're talking about, it's Microsoft's X05 event which took place recently.

This post has been edited by Infiltrator: Oct 5 2005, 11:13 PM

[Zelda_Zealot]

Oh, must have missed that. I still doubt that the 360 will be missing shadows. They had them on Morrowind for the X-Box didnt they?

[Infiltrator]

Not sure, however, those weren't really state-of-the art shadows like we have em now.

[DoomedOne]

Acutally zelda that's not ture, they've been working on the xbox version and pc version starting them both at the same time. They were ordered by law not to reveal anything but they knew the technology and were developing for the x360 from the beginning. If there were not shadows for the x360 by now, there won't be.

[ShogunSniper]

but no shadows = no stealth, right? or is it just shadows for things like NPC's and such?

[Infiltrator]

No shadows as in items and characters not projecting them on the ground

Just see the movie its only 28 megs.

Btw I just noticed, if you look at the other screen (the one that they arent showcasing) you can see the intro trailer of Oblivion (parts of it heh).

This post has been edited by Infiltrator: Oct 6 2005, 01:52 AM

[DoomedOne]

To do that he'd have to buy the magazine. There's no discussion on this forum allowed about illegal websites. You'll get this thread locked if mention them.

[Infiltrator]

I was talking about the legal movie, the one from Gamespot.

[Argo]

im pretty sure the 360 is able to handle dynamic shadows, so maybe it has just been a prebuild with them accidently or willingly disabled to give best performance for the show.

but what do i know?

[King Death]

I would be EXTREMELY surprised if the 360 version didn't have shadows. I think I remember a dev saying that the only difference betwenn the 360 and the pc was that with the pc, youhave a keyboard and mouse, and with the 360 you have a wireless controller and a couch (that might have something about a completely different game though).

[ShogunSniper]

as seen in another video on another topic here, the zombies do not catch on fire on the 360....very interestig.

[RobRendell]

Actually, I just went back and re-watched the demo (which is definitely PC-based), and apart from the chains and bones in the original cell, I didn't see many dynamic shadows in that video, either. None of the following characters I checked cast shadows: The deer in the forest, the warrior defending the ruin, the zombies, skeletons and lich in the dungeon, the player character when Todd demonstrated 3rd person view, the people walking around Chorral in daylight...

However, the bookshop owner and Thunder the dog cast shadows. Hmm.

I wonder if maybe the game is doing some sort of FPS optimization, dynamically dropping the shadows when the demand from other systems is getting too large? In the bookshop, there are only two NPCs, so it can afford to draw shadows, but in the dungeons there are lots and it can't?

This post has been edited by RobRendell: Oct 7 2005, 01:25 AM

[DoomedOne]

sunlight verses inner-room light. Inner-room shadows will be more dramatic because the light has a source other than just the sky.

[RobRendell]

And the creatures in the dungeons?

[Infiltrator]

I saw the movie again myself, some creatures were indeed missing the shadows in the dungeon, but from the first scene, the guard, for example, clearly had a shadow. Maybe in the dungeon scene the light sources were not yet placed to the extent to create shadows?

[plagusthewise]

the 360 will come through with shadows.