God of War Ragnarök Arrives on PC with Enhanced Graphics and Features
God of War Ragnarök made its debut on PC this week, offering players a newly upgraded version of the popular PlayStation game. This release comes with a host of graphical enhancements and new PC-specific features. To celebrate the launch, Alex Battaglia sat down with Matt DeWald, lead producer at Sony Santa Monica, and Steve Tolin, technical director at Jetpack Interactive, the developers behind the PC port.
This in-depth interview delves into the technical aspects of the port, discussing how the game was optimized to surpass the performance of the console versions. The team focused on addressing common PC issues like shader compilation stutter and maximizing the utilization of modern hybrid CPUs. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Digital Foundry will soon provide a detailed analysis of the PC port, so keep an eye out for that next week. While the review code did not allow for a comprehensive coverage at launch, it’s evident that Jetpack Interactive and Santa Monica Studio have delivered a solid port. Stay tuned for more insights and optimal settings recommendations.
Insights into Porting God of War Ragnarök to PC
Digital Foundry: When did the process of porting God of War Ragnarök to PC begin?
Matt DeWald: The project has been in the works for about 18 to 24 months. Most of the initial phase involved enhancing the engine to support DX12. Once Ragnarök was officially launched, we could fully shift our focus to the porting process. With the completion of Valhalla, we were able to incorporate all that content. So, the timeline spans roughly 18 to 24 months.
Digital Foundry: The previous God of War PC port was based on DX11, while Ragnarök utilizes DX12. What were the challenges in transitioning to DX12?
Steve Tolin: The decision to go with DX11 for the initial port was based on meeting the necessary requirements at that time. However, the shift to DX12 was essential for achieving significant performance gains. The introduction of Shader Model 6 and DX12 Ultimate provided the tools needed for this transition.
Digital Foundry: How did you leverage the features of DX12 Ultimate and the new shader model for porting God of War Ragnarök?
Steve Tolin: The primary focus was on bindless resource management, enabling wider CPU utilization for command list generation. Improved resource pool handling and timeline management for DirectX were crucial for optimizing the game’s performance on PC.
Digital Foundry: Addressing issues related to shader compilation stutter, what strategies were implemented for managing PSOs (Pipeline State Objects)?
Steve Tolin: To minimize shader compilation stutter, we adopted a proactive approach by pre-generating PSOs offline. This method ensures that all data is accounted for during the pipeline process, significantly reducing performance hiccups caused by shader compilation.
Digital Foundry: Managing asset compression and decompression on PC, how did the team approach this aspect for God of War Ragnarök?
Matt DeWald: Due to the lack of dedicated hardware for decompression on PC, we explored various compression methodologies. Ultimately, we prioritized stability and performance over disk space constraints, opting for solutions that minimized playback issues often associated with certain decompression technologies.
Steve Tolin: In comparison to the previous game, there is a greater emphasis on asset compression in Ragnarök. While this does require more disk space, it also helps to optimize CPU overhead for better overall performance.
Digital Foundry: How did the team manage VRAM allocations for mainstream GPUs considering the varying capacities?
Steve Tolin: Recognizing the diverse range of PC GPU VRAM capacities, we aimed to ensure scalability with the new game. By adjusting settings and rendering targets, we accommodated GPUs with as little as 6GB up to the higher-end ones with 20-24GB capacities. This flexibility allowed us to optimize resource utilization based on available VRAM.
Enhancements and Challenges in Porting God of War Ragnarök
In terms of graphical intricacies and challenges in the porting process, what were some key highlights?
Steve Tolin: Addressing unique features like the particle system and cube map tracing involved substantial revisions for DX12 compatibility. While certain aspects like ray tracing had to be simplified, we are open to revisiting these features post-launch to enhance the visual fidelity of the game.
Matthew DeWald: For the cube map reflections, incorporating DXR proved challenging, leading us to revert to basic cube maps in certain instances. Despite limitations, we remain optimistic about implementing ray tracing effectively in the future.
Digital Foundry: How does the scalability of God of War Ragnarök extend beyond the PlayStation 5 version?
Matthew DeWald: The game offers a range of settings for PC users to adjust texture sizes, sampling numbers, and volumetric fog resolution. By leveraging features from both the PS4 and PS5 versions, we aimed to enhance the overall visual experience on PC.
Digital Foundry: Addressing the aspect ratio enhancements, what challenges were encountered in adapting the UI and gameplay elements?
Matthew DeWald: Transitioning to ultrawide aspect ratios required extensive animation adjustments to ensure compatibility with various screen setups. Additionally, customizing the HUD for different aspect ratios posed a significant design challenge, ultimately necessitating a tailored approach for each configuration.
Digital Foundry: How does the game cater to different graphics settings, aligning with the performance and quality modes of the PS5 version?
Matthew DeWald: The settings range from low, akin to base PS4 specifications, to ultra, reflecting PS5 quality mode. The team aimed to strike a balance between visual fidelity and performance optimization for a seamless gameplay experience.
Digital Foundry: Utilization of async compute in the DX12 version, what optimizations were implemented for PC?
Steve Tolin: Leveraging async copy queues and compute jobs extensively, the game capitalizes on multi-threading capabilities and efficient resource management to maximize performance gains.
Digital Foundry: Reflecting on the porting process, what were the standout features that the team enjoyed working on?
Steve Tolin: The team took pride in fully harnessing the power of DX12, showcasing the benefits of multi-threading and CPU topology optimizations. The focus on CPU reorganization and cache management significantly boosted performance, underscoring the importance of modern hardware utilization.
Matthew DeWald: While less technically exciting, working on a project like Ragnarök that builds upon a strong foundation was immensely rewarding. The seamless collaboration between the small team at Jetpack Interactive and internal support from various disciplines ensured a smooth porting process. The anticipation of player feedback and future enhancements keeps the team motivated and eager for the game’s reception.