Shadow of the Tomb Raider might be getting optimized for Xbox Series X|S soon

Originally published at: https://xboxera.com/2021/07/23/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider-might-be-getting-optimized-for-xbox-series-xs-soon/

If you own both an Xbox Series X|S and a copy of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, you might be in for a good surprise.

The last game of the classic franchise’s reboot trilogy is now showing showing as an Xbox Series X|S optimized title — both on the console and on the Microsoft Store.

It is worth noting that while the game has the optimized stamp, it is not currently optimized. If previous cases are anything to go by, the logo usually shows up when a next-gen patch passes certification — it has happened most recently with A Plague Tale, GreedFall and The Elder Scrolls Online.

No official announcements were made so far. Interestingly, 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of the franchise, and its social media has been pretty busy throughout the year celebrating the date in the most diverse ways.

Another interesting tidbit is that the game has already received the FPS Boost while maintaining its Xbox One X enhancements — so it already runs in a 4K resolution at 60 frames-per-second.

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I am curious as to what could possibly be enhanced if this game already does 4K60fps with Fps boost.

Maybe a 120fps mode or updated Global Illumination? Probably some ultra settings on some stuff? Idk

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FPS Boost just makes it run at a higher FPS. Thats all MS can do. CD hopefully will enhance textures add Ray tracing support. Tomb Raider was one of the first games to have proper Ray Tracing support.

Ray tracing and better texture filtering. Might be beneficial to Series S more if anything because it runs at sub 900p. Game should be running 1080p maybe even 1440p easily on series S.

Would be better than whatever Obsidian did with Outer Worlds and Series S. They never delivered the promised X|S patch and left that game running at 30fps on it.

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This is the perfect excuse to finally finish the game on Deadly Obsession + DLCs!

ITs not just outer worlds. A ton of games on Series S are running at Xbox one native resolution and framerate due to how the BC works and lazy optimization. Series S will be gimped until we phase out the Xbox One generation. Devs aren’t optimizing games for Series S. Which is why right now its a half generation console that isn’t worth buying for anyone who seriously wants a next gen system. Its a great emulation box though

I would argue that it is. It gets a version of every new next-gen game, and no console that can run games at 120fps and has an SSD can be anything other than next-gen IMO. Its spec may be better suited to HD displays than UHD displays, but buyers know what they are getting for the low price they pay.

Yeah, it sucks that the Series S can’t run One X code natively. In backcompat mode, it is treating RDNA2 and Zen 2 like it is GCN and Jaguar. Raw specs is all that counts in that scenario, and the Series S has less GPU compute than the Xbox One X, and slightly smaller pool of game-available memory as well. Even though the console can easily outperform the One X in a native port – it just can’t run a One X game.

I’ve thought over and over about how if they’d just given it 9GB of game-available RAM (which the One X had) rather than 8GB, and made it 6TFLOP instead of 4TFLOP (to match the One X GPU compute) how much of a fuller featured console it would be. Likely would have been $350 rather than $300 though, and dangerously close to the PS5 Digital at $400, but it would have been such a better value proposition.

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As soon as Sampler Feedback Streaming will be available, I think XSS will have no problem with backcompat games, like XSX won’t have problems with One X enhancements when FPS Boost is available, because memory won’t be a problem anymore (when One X memory was fully used in games, XSX cannot bruteforce it at double framerate because it has not double RAM in raw specs and the game still runs on GCN architecture). It’s when I also expect Rez Boost or whatever they’ll call it (the thing saw with Gears UE in a last year DF video, from 1080p to 4K with ML).

When this technique will be available, we won’t see sub 1080p games on XSS anymore, they’ll up the resolution at that minimum with ML techniques.

And for me to finally play beyond the opening segment. I loved the previous 2 games, but I’ve just not been in the right mood for this game yet, despite having had the game and all DLCs installed for 2+ years now.

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As noted above, though, in back compat mode the game thinks it is running on the other console.

If you’re adding SFS, or any other next-gen feature – you’re making a native port.

If you drop Xbox One X code onto a Series S, it just can’t run it – it’s set up to use 9GB of RAM where there is only 8GB available, and it’s expecting 6TFLOP of GPU compute where there is only 4TFLOP.

We already know from multiple games that have come natively to Series S that it can easily out-perform Xbox One X. It just needs to be coded for. You can do more with 4 TFLOP of RDNA2 than you can 6 TFLOP GCN. Streaming from an NVMe SSD to 8GB GDDR6 is a much better set up memory-wise than streaming from an HDD to 9GB of DDR5.

The Series S is absolutely a more capable console than the One X. But in back compat mode that doesn’t matter, raw numbers do, and the Series S will always have less than the One X in that respect.

If they can implement ML and/or SFS as a system toggle like autohdr or fps boost, they can trick the backcompat games like they already do for FPS Boost or 360 games with One X enhancements or OG Xbox games all automatically enhanced on X1 and Series consoles.

I’m not a dev, but from the presentations on SFS I have watched and tried to understand, it is not a switch you flick. It needs to be coded into a game from the ground up. Maybe I’m wrong, but if it was that simple everyone would be using it already.

And if by ML you mean ML upscaling (the DLSS-like tech MS has been developing for what feels like forever) I doubt this will a switch flick either. For DLSS it takes per-game development, it’s not just ‘turned on’.

One X has 326 GB/s memory bandwidth, Series S has 224 GB/s. Thats not enough for 4k.

To use Sampler Feedback Streaming game code has to be altered in a major way. It can’t be a system toggle. And SFS is available since launch.

@Tomb Raider: i hope this doesn’t run worse than FPS Boost.

They are specced in different ways though, right?

MS specs Xbox One X ram as an entire system 12GB @ 326GB/s. But only 9GB of that is available to games. That’s a bandwidth of 244.5GB for the game to access for both GPU and CPU tasks, if you do the sums.

MS specs Xbox Series S memory as a split pool, with the 8GB @ 224GB/s being the part available just for games, and the system reserve listed separately (2GB @56GB/s). If we were to spec the Series S’s whole system memory bandwidth, it would be 10GB @280GB/s.

So yeah, the Series S does have a slightly smaller bandwidth as a whole and as available for games, but not as large as it is if we pretend that the One X’s OS runs on fairy dust – as MS specced things back then, and Sony still does for the PS5. It’s 244.5GB/s vs. 224GB/s. Not a massive gulf. Obviously, the Series S also has a 1GB smaller pool.

But when games are coded directly for next gen, and make full use of the velocity architecture, the picture looks different. The Series S can move data from storage to memory at 2.4GB uncompressed. The One X something like 68MB/s if I remember correctly. That’s without taking features like SFS into account. If the game is natively coded to take advantage of this, the Series S can eat the One X for breakfast in memory-terms. It doesn’t need to hold as much in RAM at once, and can stream things in and out on the fly It just can’t take One X code and run it in back compat, because raw numbers is all that matters when you are telling one system to pretend its another, and the Series S numbers are lower.

EDIT:

And to go back to my initial point, if they had given it 9GB for games as I was suggesting, it would have had a bandwidth of 252GB/s, so would have had more than the One X anyway.

Xbox One X has 326 GB/s memory bandwidth for GPU tasks

And no, you can’t add Xbox Series X|S memory bandwidth up. If CPU uses the slower memory part it decreases the memory bandwidth for the GPU on the faster part. They use the same memory bus.

No it doesn’t.

The spec released for Xbox One X was 12GB @326GB/s. It’s known that only 9GB is available to developers for games. So that’s 9GB @244.5GB/s.

You are also mistaking bandwidth for speed.

Series S

8GB @224GB/s = per GB speed: 28GB/s 2GB @56GB/s = per GB speed: 28GB/s

Same speed. Bandwidth simply reflects the pool size.

Series X

10GB @560GB/s = per GB speed: 56GB/s 6GB @336GB/s = per GB speed: 56GB/s

Same speed. Bandwidth simply reflects the pool size.

All three next gen consoles are using 14GB/s GDDR6 modules, from what I have read (and not entirely understood how) these can be run at double speed (28GB/s) or quadruple speed (56GB/s).

Look, PS5 fits the same model:

16GB @ 448GB/s = per GB speed: 28GB/s

It’s double confusing as everyone is speccing in different ways.

The number of takes I have read whereby the compare the PS5 with 448GB/s bandwidth and the Series X at 560GB/s miss the point that Sony is not transparently laying out the breakdown.

The PS5 has a memory set-aside for OS and shell. We don’t know what it is.

Let’s say it’s 2GB, then the PS5 bandwidth specs would be:

For games: 14GB @336GB/s For OS: 2GB @56GB/s

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If you think Series S has 280 GB/s memory bandwidth you have no idea how a memory bus to a shared memory setup works :woman_shrugging:

I’m looking through my post for a typo and I can’t see the number ‘280’ anywhere?

EDIT: see updated response below.

Oh total memory bandwifth you mean, for the 10GB? Yes, that is 280GB/s.

8GB/s @224GB/s 2GB/s @56GB/s

That’s 10GB/s @280GB/s, unless I calculated wrong.

28GB/s memory speed, 10GB RAM. Bandwidth of 280GB/s.

Of course this is theoretical, but so is the ‘whole system’ spec given for the One X of 12GB @326GB/s. That’s using the same shared bus as well. Same goes for when Sony says PS5 has 16GB @448GB/s.