Titanfall Alpha build using 25% of the final game's texture resolution.

Respawn employee commented on neogaf on game textures and resolution by saying:
"All textures in this Alpha Test build are at 25% of the final game's resolution. So if you're staring at a 256x256 texture, that's actually a 512x512 texture in the real game. 512? That's a 1024. It's a huge, huge, huge difference. Especially on terrain, weapons, cockpits, hands, effects, etc.

There's a reason the build is under NDA. It's not for showing off, or giving people a fair idea of what the game looks like, or for pixel counting. You'll still have your chance to scream "lolz pixels lazy devs Goldeneye N64 lololololol", but now is not the time.

(Well; menu images are probably full res.)"

[WrAiTh Sp3cTr3]

Dat maths...

[Lalanana]

Pfft.. resolution does not matter.. This game looks pure fun from all the demos and clips..

[Studio-YaMi]

Then let's play our games in 144p then? don't make me laugh,resolution IS important and gives you more detail and crisp to the visuals of the game.

That being said,Titanfall DOES look fun to play,the game is being hated on for obvious reasons(mostly because it's exclusive to X1 consoles-wise)can't wait to try it out for myself when it's released.

[XB1_PS4]

Well, Resolution does matter, but it shouldn't be the main point of a game. 1080p would be preferable, yet I will buy it if it ends up 720p.

[MysticStrummer]

@Studio - "the game is being hated on for obvious reasons(mostly because it's exclusive to X1 consoles-wise)"

No doubt there is some cross console hating going on, but people also hate on CoD every year and watching the TF videos it's clear that the short description "CoD with jet packs and mechs" is accurate, though I guess it should really be "CoD with jet packs, mechs, and bots". If someone doesn't like CoD's style of play there's a decent chance they won't like this. Luckily for the devs, millions of people love CoD.

[dantesparda]

"Titanfall Alpha build using 25% of the final game's texture resolution."

Stupid move on their part, you know the game is going to be judged in this state

[tommygunzII]

Resolution doesn't matter, but small arena multiplayer games like this are usually the best looking.

[LAWSON72]

@tommygunzil
I dont think this exactly a small arena shooter considering maps have loads of ai soldiers and mechs

I love how graphics matter so much on consoles now. If resolution mattered so much shooters would only be played on PC and COD would not sell better on last gen and sell almost just as well on Xbone as on PS4. I am starting to think casual gamers at least play games for one reason and that is fun, while the core gamers are a bunch of sad people that need pretty visuals to feel satisfied when playing a game.

[dedicatedtogamers]

I find this hard to believe. They're two months away from launch, but they're only using 25% of the final texture resolution in the beta (don't be fooled: it's not an alpha. You don't run an alpha 2 months prior to launch)?

Again, I find this hard to believe, unless they're trying to tell us "the extra textures are floating in teh cloudz"

[dedicatedtogamers]

@ Bundi

Ah! So you're saying that game developers usually add 75% of their texture density to a game in the last 2 months of development? Please do tell. I'm very curious.

In all fairness, Respawn opened themselves up to scrutiny when they launched the beta (er, "alpha"). They did it to drum up hype, which is what most devs do. Nothing wrong with that at all. But with that said, when you put your game out there, people are going to judge it in its current form. No need to make BS excuses.

[Kayant]

Am pretty sure the game is quite ready already.... They said this is just meant to be a server test and nothing more it only runs until sunday apparently so it fits perfectly with what they are saying. They could easily be using old code for this seeing as its just a server test for the weekend. No one really knows. Anyways we will know soon enough when the game comes out but that won't matter too much because it's the gameplay that is getting people excited for good reason.

[Bolts-N-Rays1109]

How did you end up with so many bubbles?

[Team_Litt]

What he may be saying is that the alpha has been stripped of all that texture density not because it is not yet complete, but rather for the purpose of stress testing the "skeleton" of the game.

It may be easier/more efficient to conduct an alpha with whatever parameters they have set in place for this specific build. The actual beta may have preexisting assets that have been stripped from this build.

My knowledge of these things is limited, but I see no reason for them to lie and although Bundi is more passionate about it, I agree that you probably don't know enough about making a game to have your doubts carry any real clout to anybody else except maybe those that bear your agenda(the clouds quip was a dead giveaway.)

[lastofgen]

@dedicatedtogamers
do you not know the real reason why companies hold closed alpha/beta tests sometimes?
It's primarily for server tests and info collection on other more important things so that they can ensure a smooth and stable launch. It's not to show off textures.

And I'm not fooled. If it's an alpha test, then it's an alpha test. I don't care what they call it as long as they hold some kind of test to test stability. And how on earth do you know if it's some sort of "BS excuse??" You don't work for Respawn. I'd rather take their word about something regarding THEIR game over someone like you who has no history of development for titanfall.

[vishmarx]

alpha

[MasterCornholio]

Maybe they will end up delaying it.

That's just a prediction of mine based off what you said.

[jackanderson1985]

or you know the final file will be more than 4gb which is what the people who have it are reporting.... Respawn and EA have said it's to test the network and considering how bad BF4 was it's a good call on their part

[TheKayle1]

they just need to copy the other asset ...same filenames....what is hard to bealive? lol is done to prevent ppl to see how the final game will look ...as he said nda...is an alpha version to test the gameplay...

they prob will need like 30 secs to upgrade with the new final version hi res textures pack..lol

[ic3fir3]

i play bf4 alpha 3mounths less, this is not a test alpha game, its a server test only

[christocolus]

Lol..Why are you so interested in what respawn has to say? They have told you its 25% of the final build and you think there is a conspiracy...You obviously stopped caring about titanfall since it was confirmed to be an xbx exclusive,so why bother about what respawn has to say?

[n4rc]

Team litt.. That's exactly what it means and I'm pretty sure he knows that..

Just trolling

[glenn1979]

did you ever make a game? or do you work for a game company?

[Gunstar75]

So what, are they telling porkies???

My understanding was that they did it for 2 reasons....

1 - download speed
2 - They didn't want final quality images leaking

Either way, the videos I have seen make it look fun and different enough to most FPS that it has my interest.

[BallsEye]

@dedicatedtogamers

How silly are you?? They clearly said texture quality is reduced to 25% to REDUCE DOWNLOAD SIZE! Of that 40 gig games we download now for next gen, most are textures.

[H0RSE]

It could be the last week of Alpha just to verify their netcode is solid before they lockdown and go into Beta.

[headblackman]

just for the alpha tester. not for the final game. there's not telling how far along they could be with completion. they could be as far as 60% done or 90% done. who knows, but if they say that it's alpha and that that the finished product looks better than the 25% alpha that was released to the public, than that's what it is. it's not too much longer before we see whats what. and the AI will be greatly improved so lets not worry or whine over stuff we have no understanding of. lets also not allow a fanbot mentality to fester.

[ambientFLIER]

They lowered the rez of the textures to make the download size as small as possible for people. It ended up being something like 3.8 gigs. The reason it's called Alpha is because it's a network stress test and does not actually reflect the state of readiness of the retail game. Any more idiotic comments?

[Play2Win]

I will play it on my PC. Looks like real fun gameplay and a nice twist from all those standard military shooters. PS4 owners really got slapped big time for not having this game on their consoles.

[Mikeyy]

What twist???? This looks and plays just like COD, Titanfall is a pretty standard fps...

That's fine enjoy it!! But don't act like its revolutionary...

[Play2Win]

No, it does not play like CoD. Just because you have a rifle an and other guns? Yes, it's a Shooter with soldiers. And it looks to be as responsive and sweet like CoD and its 60FPS but the gameplay looks to be far more dynamic and faaar more unpredictable. Really I can't wait

[MasterCornholio]

What makes you think that PS4 owners can't own a PC, Xbox 360 or an Xbox One?

I think you meant people who only own a PS4 and don't have a PC capable of playing this game.

[Kingthrash360]

lol ps4 owners got slapped?
how? this is great for gaming..its competition..this will be a great game for the pc and the x1. just like uncharted, infamous, rime, the order, MLB the show (baseball is exclusive ps3,ps4,psv only at the moment)deep down...i can go on and on. titanfall is a great game but by no means slaps the ps4 only gamers.

[Volkama]

12 agrees for the "dat maths...". Yet all the maths in the article is simple and accurate.

Or are you just saying you like to see the actual numbers?

[Evilsnuggle]

Titanfall looks last gen it's no Killzone Sf. I want to see the 360 version of Titanfall if it doesn't look a lot better it well hurt xbone sells.

[H0RSE]

Graphics aside, odds are this game will receive better ratings than KZ:SF did. As for sales, I can't possibly see how this game could hurt sales. It might not contribute to future sales, but that is not the same as hurting them. Whether on 360, X1, or PC, MS wins either way.

[Anonagrog]

What about the maths?

Double a square texture's length/width, quadruple the texel count.

[Christopher]

That makes no sense. The only way it makes sense is if they are cutting up textures into smaller portions and will be combining them into larger textures at some point.

Why? Because the game has been seen running at least at 720p. No way is it going to get above 1080p (or even 1080p) by release.

[ambientFLIER]

cgoodno -

It makes perfect sense to those that actually understand how these things work. This is basically BF3 with and without the high-res texture pack for the sake of smaller downloads. It's still 720P either way, just like BF3 was.

The alpha is for the purpose of a network test and is lacking the high rez texture pack. The retail game will have the pack included. What is so hard to understand, especially for someone that claims to know about programming and having all this game experience???

[Christopher]

Note that they said 25% of resolution, not texture quality. Two distinct things.

[Hicken]

I'm with you on this one.

Now, I obviously haven't heard of everything, but this is the first I've heard of a game having an alpha so close to launch.

[Anonagrog]

"You don't have a beta with reduced graphics. You'd lose more file size through compressed audio than that."

Cutting down texture sizes won't give you "reduced graphics" if you're running with the same number of resources at run-time as you would in the release version of the game. Granted, it may not look as aesthetically pleasing as it could, but the effects are minimal in terms of testing the s/w. The resource management side of things will function just about the same considering these are art assets. It'll just use up less memory (or stream in more potentially usable textures off of the media - depends on their strategy) and lower some of the rendering costs, but it doesn't mean the rendering pipeline itself will function any differently.

Also, regarding the audio, that really isn't going to be the case in most games. This will especially be so now more than ever as we move towards more varied and open environments that demand more by way of art and less of audio. Between this generation and the last we'll certainly see changes in audio asset sizes, that's a given, but the relative increase in art asset sizes in comparison will be much more.

The majority of most game's total resource sizes will be consumed by art assets, and it's long been the cause of headaches when contending with limitations with media sizes. It's a trend that's unlikely to change any time soon.

[Christopher]

***Cutting down texture sizes won't give you "reduced graphics" if you're running with the same number of resources at run-time as you would in the release version of the game.***

I'm going to assume by texture size you mean quality. But, the person was specifically quoted as saying texture resolution. And, specifically mentioned resolution sizes, not texture quality.

If he meant texture quality, then that's one thing. But, by all intents and purposes, this reads as resolution.

Edit: Please note, this is after me having seen "alpha" build elements which are not at the resolution he specified. I think he may have not explained it well or something. At least not to me. OR! This is specific to Xbox 360? I have not seen "alpha" build elements from that version of the game.

[yesmynameissumo]

I love the amount of people that cling to the word "alpha" like some childhood security blanket, all the while not having a clue what an alpha is and ignoring "this game in alpha" is releasing in weeks.

[Gamer-40]

Cool. Titanfall one best new FPS of 2014.
I wait.

[green]

"You'll still have your chance to scream "lolz pixels lazy devs Goldeneye N64 lololololol", but now is not the time. "

lol i love that part of the comment and it is so damn true.

[pandehz]

That made me lol so hard too.

That statement literally summarized our game sites in one line.

[jackanderson1985]

it's a closed alpha to test the servers i believe they said.. they wouldn't want people waiting to download a 40+ gb game only to have to delete it after a few weeks... i believe the file is around 4gb so they had to cut down something and obviously textures are the easiest to cull on

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Its actually less than 4GB. And its a blast to play. March cant come soon enough.

[ichdich]

Best FPS i played Since COD4! its a game changer!!!

COD, BF,AND HALO - are all dead to me!

This game is just Epicly amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please, just wait and play it!

[windblowsagain]

No it's not a game changer.

And if BF is dead to you. then you probably don't play it.

Halo is still decent.

COD sucks nuts, best part is zombies.

No doubt when the time comes, XB1 fans will be beating their chests about Titanfall.

[Elit3Nick]

Although his comment did come off a bit exaggerated, I absolutely agree the Titanfall is a game changer, I got into the Alpha and there's no other kind of game like this, not to mention this is one of the most fast paced and fun games I've ever played.

[Sven Benoit]

Smh... Again, nobody is talking about how fun this game is (it's incredible!) but instead talking about what the resolution is going to be at. Pathetic......

[Gunstar75]

Lots of small penises evident on N4G

I'm looking forward to playing it!!!

[BX81]

Why are you taking shots at me bro? It's not the size it's the.....
Runs off crying!

[Kingoftherodeo]

Lol love how many people are devs all the sudden. Anyway we all bought a game that was in beta form bf4.check out mr.fx2012 video he actually recorded with something other than potatoe

[pandehz]

Except a very small group of ppl in N4G why is it that the ones with ridiculous bubble counts seem to support Sony blindly. Like literally on every article.

N4G run by Sony fans?

Edited: Titanfall, game, graphics etc etc in before marked as off topic

[Gamer-40]

N4G run by Sony fans?
Sad, but true. 90% only Sony fans. Only Sony.

[MasterCornholio]

Only paranoid fanboys think that.

:)

[B00M]

Too true unfortunately. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure a few years back it was the other way round and run by Xbox 360 fanboys? Funny how it changed.

[guyman]

O ok

[Ron_Danger]

No one is forcing you MS fanboys to browse or comment on N4G. There are plenty of sights/ blogs on the internet that sugar coat any MS news that you guys can eat up.
These should help:

www.polygon.com

misterxmedia.livejournal.com/

[pandehz]

I'm not taking any side. There was nothing in my comment related to being an MS supporter of any sort.

Your assumption speaks volumes.

[Chris12]

People who are actually playing Titanfall = loving it

Playstation owners who trash every Xbox article on N4G = salty

When you learn the difference between sugar coating and trolling you might actually have a point

[Ron_Danger]

Let me rephrase since you guys can't read between the lines.

N4G is just a website that links articles from other websites. If you don't like the n4g community, then leave. Go to another website that has other like minded users.

Here's a crazy thought... How about you instead of posting comments on n4g, click on the article link and post comments there.

[Gunstar75]

I come here to get news, and I go to lots of other sites too...

I should be free to do so, without having to read endless drivel by seemingly retarded children.

What other entertainment medium suffers such fools??

[BX81]

Ron danger...
Your avatar makes more sense than your comment.

[TFJWM]

@Gunstar75
"I come here to get news, and I go to lots of other sites too...

I should be free to do so, without having to read endless drivel by seemingly retarded children. "

I'm sorry but what news gets posted in the comment section? If you don't like it read the article and go

[Ron_Danger]

@ TFJWM

thank you... At least someone else understands.

[Chris12]

@ron Danger.

So let's get this right. You're telling Xbox owners who are supporting their console on an Xbox thread to post elsewhere while accepting that's it's perfectly fine for the Sony crew to come in and trash it? The irony is breathtaking.

By contrast, the only other article I've read today is the one re Driveclub. Thee isn't one anti-Sony post. I've played an early version of Driveclub, which was dreadful, but I'm not in there telling people how crap it was. Nor is anyone else.

But as with all positive Xbox news, the thread gets trashed but it's OK with you providing Xbox owners post elsewhere. You're a joke.

[generalthadeape]

I own a PS4-- pretty much love the thing-- and can say that TitanFall truly looks like it's going to be a very fun game.

Will it be perfect? No. Will it have the highest resolution & framerate known to mankind? Doubtful. Will it be fun? Probably yes, (based upon everything I've seen about the game so far).

Microsoft must have paid the developers a very large sum of money indeed for this exclusivity-- but wouldn't it have made more sense to release it on both systems-- that way they could have doubled their money by putting this game out on Sony's console(s), too?

In the long run, it's going to be interesting to see how this bold move by MS plays out. I think that the game devs might regret this exclusivity, (and the missed opportunity for additional players and the $$$ that come with them), in the long run.

Would I be willing to invest in an Xbox One just to play this game? No. But I might just be enticed to pick up a used Xbox 360 just to get a little taste of this thing called TitanFall. It really does look like it could be that "fun", to me.

[ichdich]

why not to buy both consoles? its cheap... i got Xbox One and PS4 , so i have no problam to Enjoy all the exclusives games for each of them... Problem solved.

[Ashby_JC]

Im not going to knock your opinion.

BUT why not just research the game...and get it on the platform it plays best. Regardless of the platform.

I own the XB1. And this game IMO must really be turning heads as I have never seen this many say they want it on there system (not you but others).

Lets take any exclusive for SONY...I have never seen any MS gamer say they wish it was on there system. You what they did....AND myself?? Went out and got the system the game was on.

Once that must have HOT game launches for the PS4 I will gladly fork over the cash to buy it. And also I am not really getting ANY system for ONE game. But it needs to have a HOT game for me to jump in.

Like the XB1...I would have waited but there were 3-5 games at launch I wanted to play.

[ramiuk1]

it looks good but i wouldnt buy a xbone just for it,quantum break,titan fall is the only things i think look decent on xbone.
if i do dive in it would be next xmas as i love my ps4 and the games coming out soon.
saying psn cant handle titan fall is just plain bull too

[Popoffboy187718]

Don't compare this to COD4 or gears 1 , STOP KIDZ lol. COD4 & gears not only play'd fantastic but the visual on both games were amazing at that time.. Titanfall got the gameplay down but not graphics. To be the next big blockbuster u going have to bring everything u got. Look at tlous or gta5 mgs halo lists go on and on !!!!!! So much damage controll on Xbox one products being done by bots and micro employees nowadays

[ambientFLIER]

You have no clue about what Titanfall will bring to the table, until it actually comes out in full retail form. And btw, graphics don't make a blockbuster. Addictive gameplay does.

[SliceOfTruth888]

Just when I thought trolls couldn't get any worse. The developers are not sitting on the alpha build they actually have a close to final build. They only sent out the alpha because of its small file size and people could get max play time during the weekend my god take the Sony rod out of your mouths

[NeoTribe]

25 percent of the pc textures they mean. 100 percent xbox 1 textures.

[sinspirit]

They would probably show off the PC version if that were true(like they did with some PC/XBox One titles at its shows). Either way I love how some games you can easily increase shadow and texture resolution with a simple .ini file tweak. If this game has source mods I can imagine custom game modes like soccer in the Titan suits. Maybe even boxing lol.

[sinspirit]

Doesn't mean what we have been seeing is at that texture resolution.

We can say the same thing for many games in Alpha. Doesn't mean what we have all been seeing is the Alpha mode this whole time. Was Titanfall's alpha mode texture resolution that small? Probably. Have we been seeing that version this whole time? Probably not. They are most likely telling us irrelevant information that is supposed to mislead people to think this means we have been looking at it at this state the whole time when we likely haven't.

[e-p-ayeaH]

they need to be carefull tough the resolution on those textures might afect the framerate a bit.

[blackout]

Like I will continue to say, if it was Sony this would be all good. Titan fall is not coming to the ps4. So anything that could be found negative towards the X One on this site they will make the most of it. All you have to do on this site is look at the disagrees before you read a comment on a X One article. It's amazing to see. So much trolling it's retarted.

[corvusmd]

This game already looks amazing, but more importantly it looks damn smooth and fun....which is why its attracting the majority of the jealous hate. It appears to be the first true system selling game on either console, and that scares people. It's why it's the ONLY game you see people saying "I wish it was on my console"....Then some (not everyone) turn into obvious jealous trolls and say "but I'll play it on 360 or PC instead". No doubt it will be fun on those platforms, but don't kid yourself...we all know it's meant for XB1. I know a lot of you are saying, "why didn't it come to PS4..it must be a money thing" ..that's only partly true, as Respawn has said SEVERAL times, PS4 can't run this game because their network isn't nearly good enough...so the choice to make it exclusive was easy, then make it permanently exclusive was easy too when they saw that PSN wouldn't reach necessary power within the life of the first Titanfall game. It's a sign, that not only for great games like this, but for other primarily online games (suchs as COD, Destiny, ESO, etc), you should be taking a look at XB1

[Jvaughn661]

If this is true ill be even more impressed than I already am with the game. I was playing it last night with friends, and the visuals already look good. One things for certain, the game is extremely fun. And just to clarify some concerns with the game. The 6v6 works perfect. The ai are called grunts and they help protect hard points, and give you something to shoot at while your in your titan. Yes the grunts are easy to kill, but there's so many I still find my self getting killed by them. The game
Is extremely fast paced. Not a lot of camping going on.

[Ashby_JC]

Im jealous you got in it to play.

The videos I saw I can honestly say I was dissapointed with what I saw the GRUNTS doin..or NOT doing. But I feel and HOPE that what we are seeing is not representative of the final product.

It looked VERY smooth and fast. And I can imagine once the masses get the game and master the wall running, jet pack mechanic we will be in for some great battles.

I still understand why they went 6v6...it just doesnt look that good in the videos...BUT...looks and playing are two different things.

Cause when the guy got in his first titan...I felt his excitement...and I GOT EXCITED lol.

What I got from the vids is people not knowing really what to do or how to use the wall running or jet packs.

Ohh I did see someone get sniped!!!

[Mexxan]

Let's hope it is an alpha - looked good but noticed a fair bit of screen tearing so if it's getting bad frames now can't imagine once those hi rez's hit.

[SKYVVLKR]

Power of ze clo0Ooo0uud.

[ambientFLIER]

I would be very happy with this game running in 900P/60FPS, but, if it's 720 then that's ok I guess, since I only have a 720P TV. Lol.

[JediDiah]

Its 1080p....on my PC!

[ambientFLIER]

You already have it?

[tommygunzII]

It just needs to look good enough for TV commercials. That's how they roll.

[urwifeminder]

The hottest ticket in town by the looks of it even the haters cant wait for any new news just to show they are not interested fun times with them salty eyes.

[BOLO]

Dat old ass SOURCE engine!