As promised, CryTek has now released its PC-only graphics enhancement pack for Crysis 2 consisting of both a DirectX 11-enabling patch (which adds a whole slew of new advanced features) as well as a collection of high-res textures weighing in at around 2 GB.

During the admittedly short time I've spent with the updated version so far I didn't experience a particularly big difference in the subjective minute-to-minute experience of playing the game. That being said, the more obvious and trendy new visual additions such as tessellation and displacement maps do of course give the environments a more life-like, three-dimensional feel whenever you stop for a moment to admire the scenery (which, due to the game's linear design if nothing else, happens far less often than in Crysis 1). Realistically irregular brick walls and cracked, rain-soaked pavements are the most noticeably improved surfaces seen in this particular video, but I'm sure there are other effects (such as lighting and reflections) which deserve mentioning as well.

And to be fair, some of the old textures *did* look pretty bad up close - which was perhaps most evident in the in-game cutscenes during which the player character gets knocked to the ground - and I imagine if I replayed the same scenes now those issues would all be sorted out. In the thick of the shooter action, however, many of these graphical improvements seem a bit too subtle to make a practical, tangible difference to the player. Still, since I haven't finished Crysis 2 yet (partly because I've been busy with its forward-thinking predecessor) it's nice to know that I'll be able to play through rest of the game with these enhanced visuals switched on.

On a side note, neither the DX11 or hi-res patch appears to have had any effect on the game's performance on my GTX 580-powered rig (by comparison, the similarily high-end-oriented "uber sampling" mode in Witcher 2 reduces my frame rate considerably if activated).

As promised, CryTek has now released its PC-only graphics enhancement pack for Crysis 2 consisting of both a DirectX 11-enabling patch (which adds a whole slew of new advanced features) as well as a collection of high-res textures weighing in at around 2 GB.

During the admittedly short time I've spent with the updated version so far I didn't experience a particularly big difference in the subjective minute-to-minute experience of playing the game. That being said, the more obvious and trendy new visual additions such as tessellation and displacement maps do of course give the environments a more life-like, three-dimensional feel whenever you stop for a moment to admire the scenery (which, due to the game's linear design if nothing else, happens far less often than in Crysis 1). Realistically irregular brick walls and cracked, rain-soaked pavements are the most noticeably improved surfaces seen in this particular video, but I'm sure there are other effects (such as lighting and reflections) which deserve mentioning as well.

And to be fair, some of the old textures *did* look pretty bad up close - which was perhaps most evident in the in-game cutscenes during which the player character gets knocked to the ground - and I imagine if I replayed the same scenes now those issues would all be sorted out. In the thick of the shooter action, however, many of these graphical improvements seem a bit too subtle to make a practical, tangible difference to the player. Still, since I haven't finished Crysis 2 yet (partly because I've been busy with its forward-thinking predecessor) it's nice to know that I'll be able to play through rest of the game with these enhanced visuals switched on.

On a side note, neither the DX11 or hi-res patch appears to have had any effect on the game's performance on my GTX 580-powered rig (by comparison, the similarily high-end-oriented "uber sampling" mode in Witcher 2 reduces my frame rate considerably if activated).

Too little too late.
 
And Uber sampling is clearly meant to push the limits, so yes, it is a performance killer (Though if you mess up with lower resolutions you can get nice results). Which Crysis 2 with its consolation fails to do so. Pus the limits, that is.
 
And it's PC Enthusiasts.

It doesn't change much of anything, the water looks better.

@Mikemcn said:

It doesn't change much of anything, the water looks better.

Pretty much. At least that's what I noticed when I watched this:

@valrog: The weird thing about uber sampling in TW2 specifically is that I can't even tell what it does (apart from lowering my frame rate). Not exactly "pushing the limits" when it's hard to tell any visual difference whatsoever...

@weeman105: I'd say tessellation on flat surfaces like walls etc. is the most noticeable change (by contrast, water didn't seem that different for me while playing the game).

@valrog: The weird thing about uber sampling in TW2 specifically is that I can't even tell what it does (apart from lowering my frame rate). Not exactly "pushing the limits" when it's hard to tell any visual difference whatsoever...

Ubersampling - answer from another forum - "When ubersampling is enabled The Witcher 2 will render every frame several times and than re-interperate them into one frame. The most noticable difference is that textures will be a bit smoother and have a bit less noise."

A feature designed to be run by next generation PCs. Don't fret if your 580GTX only crunches 10 fps with it turned on.

@valrog: Yeah, I have read similar descriptions but still wasn't able to distinguish the actual in-game difference (though admittedly I haven't switched back and forth between uber samling on/off to study it more carefully). For me the game still seems playable with uber sampling on and 1920*1080 maintained, but since I only really noticed that frame rate drop I turned it off after about an hour or two of playing. Should check it out again at some point, though.

The game is still ass. I don't care if it's tesselated ass or not, I'm not gonna lick it. 
 

@weeman105 said:

@Mikemcn said:

It doesn't change much of anything, the water looks better.

Pretty much. At least that's what I noticed when I watched this:

You did not notice that the bricks cease to be a simple texture and actually stick out with DX11 on?

@Egge said:

@valrog: The weird thing about uber sampling in TW2 specifically is that I can't even tell what it does (apart from lowering my frame rate). Not exactly "pushing the limits" when it's hard to tell any visual difference whatsoever...

There is a big difference in the AA quality and shadow smoothness. At least those are the 2 that stood out most of all in Witcher 2 for me with oversampling on

Good thing they finally got around to putting this in when everyone finally stopped caring about this mediocre game.

Totally happy with this update. Finally a game that uses all the fancy crap i threw in this box

@mrangryface said:

Totally happy with this update. Finally a game that uses all the fancy crap i threw in this box

Get Metro 2033

Crytek had been holding out on us, now we get back all the features that should of been in the pc version. No one was impressed before, maybe console gamers.
 
Think of the changes of being subtle, but everything is corrected. No more dark unrealistic shadows, grounds are bumpy, tesselated walls, sharp textures.

@Tennmuerti said:

@mrangryface said:

Totally happy with this update. Finally a game that uses all the fancy crap i threw in this box

Get Metro 2033

Haha, oh yeah- forgot I had that. I completed it before my last upgrade- totally forgot. Guess I know what i'll be doing this 4th o July Weekend ;)

@buckybit: Point taken regarding what DX11 can do quite apart from adding new bells and whistles. The latter still seems to a major concern for a lot of PC ner...enthusiasts, though, and it was also what CryTek appeared to be focusing on in their official statements about these patches. For the record, this blog post's implicit message is that Crysis 2 looked good enough to begin with.

Although I'm always wary of the "this game will be good with mods, right...?!" argument (known in its most dubious and intellectually bankrupt form as The Oblivion Apologist Position), I do agree that it's going to be very interesting to see what the community can come up with.

@mrangryface: I second that recommendation. Despite some stiff character models, Metro 2033 looks truly impressive and was the first game that made me go "OMG GRAPHIXXXS!" once I got my new computer four weeks ago (and at that point I had already tried out Witcher 2, by the way).

Yeah Witcher 2 looks good- but its one of those games that looks pretty amazing to everyone. The best part about owning a decent rig is posting pictures from games at detail levels youre friends couldnt possible run at....

..and then crying in the corner- so very alone- BUT with a nice rig.

I just want the Sandbox.

@mrangryface: No need to cry...friends and loved ones are so overrated. In fact, they barely even register in a 3DMark benchmark.

no the AI still blows.

Crytek didn't release this patch because they wanted to give you a better game, they did it because for months people were crying about how this game still has no dx11.

Nerds? This coming from the guy with a blog on a video game web site. Wow...

@ShadowSkill11 said:

Nerds? This coming from the guy with a blog on a video game web site. Wow...

Look at his icon. He's clearly talking in jest.

Cool, now get it the fuck back on Steam so I can buy it.

I don´t know why everybody is complaining about this...yes Crysis 2 has been out for a couple of months, yes it´s not the most original FPS out there, but hey at least they patched this in afterall... Also I think this is mainly a showcase for Cry Engine 3 for other publishers to look into using it over the Unreal Engine

@SeriouslyNow: As I discuss in earlier blog posts, I have certain philosophical differences with PC enthusiasts who obsess about graphics in general and complained a bit too much about Crysis 2's pre-DX11 graphics. But, yes, it's certainly reasonable to describe anyone who (like me) has a Good Old Games account with 130 (!) games on it as a "nerd" (albeit of a very different kind)...

Now the people who spend 500 bucks on a video card has something to play. They can start up the game once and say "yup, that water looks a helluva lot better than before" and then turn the game off and feel satisfied they paid 500 bucks for that experience.

The rest of us who don't spend crazy money on PC hardware aren't missing much.

I realized a few years ago when I bought a new video card even though I could already play every game I wanted to play on the highest settings that I was just throwing my money away.

@Egge said:

@SeriouslyNow: As I discuss in earlier blog posts, I have certain philosophical differences with PC enthusiasts who obsess about graphics in general and complained a bit too much about Crysis 2's pre-DX11 graphics. But, yes, it's certainly reasonable to describe anyone who (like me) has a Good Old Games account with 130 (!) games on it as a "nerd" (albeit of a very different kind)...

Oh. Crysis 2 looks like shit compared to Crysis, even with this patch. It also plays like shit, even with this patch. I don't post my specs in youtube videos, I also don't have 130 games on GoG.com because I already played all of the old PC games I could in the 80s and 90s. People who spend $500 on video card don't give a shit about Crysis 2 at the moment, maybe the modding community will make that change, maybe not. I have a GTX 470 and I don't give a shit about Crysis 2. I gave my copy away and never completed the game. It's shit.

patch or not, the game is still a stinking abomination

Yeah Witcher 2 looks good- but its one of those games that looks pretty amazing to everyone. The best part about owning a decent rig is posting pictures from games at detail levels youre friends couldnt possible run at....

..and then crying in the corner- so very alone- BUT with a nice rig.

@SeriouslyNow: ...and I rest my case.

@Egge said:

@SeriouslyNow: ...and I rest my case.

What case? I'm not a hardcore graphics buff (though I know my way around a GPU), I just happen to think Crysis 2 is a very poor game and not a patch on the original. This is something a lot of fans of Crysis feel.

Happy, why yes, yes I am.