PC version of Mortal Kombat 9...

Patrick McCarron said:
Unreal "bakes" the model and textures to specifications needed for the platform, which is defined as they see fit for performance, etc. So they model and texture at a certain LOD with a certain # of polygons and then baking brings that down and it's tweaked as needed.

They definitely don't call them "HD" textures because really the texture "resolution" doesn't get measured in the same way that screen resolutions are. Textures are as big or as small as they need to be.

All that said I wouldn't expect them to look much different than the console versions though, since they need the PC game to run at 60fps across a wider range of machines than the consoles, I don't expect them to try to push the envelope graphics wise with this game. The overall rendering engine though may see some improvements especially if they pull in some Injustice code improvements, but overall don't expect a radically different looking game besides what overall resolution and graphic card improvements bring.
Click to expand...

I agree, the PC port certainly won't be a huge difference from the original console versions but anyone expecting Crysis level of graphical fidelity in a fighting game is an idiot. :D I think the PC version will look a bit sharper, it may have some better overall texture quality and some other bells and whistles but performance comes first here. If the game will run at 60 fps on a mid-range laptop on low settings then it's a good port and that's all. :)
 
I'm not sure about SF4, but I think I saw comparison screenshots/videos and they look almost identical as well.
Click to expand...

This needs a bit of clearing up. SF4 has some extra effects but if you're not using those (and people usually are not) it's completely identical to the console versions but that has a reason: it's a fighting game. This genre needs no extra effects because the focus is on gameplay and solid performance, you just don't want to look at effects that are getting in the way of the experience during a fight.

So as for more than 60 fps, PhysX, DirectX 11 tessalation and the like: never gonna happen because these either provide unfair advantages (more than 60 fps) to players or are useless and can hurt the overall gameplay experience (PhysX). What we can expect is sharper image quality and increased fidelity but these are only possible because the game is a bit old by now. I think other UE3 games should serve as a good example on what improvements we'll see, for example if you look at how Arkham City (minus PhysX and DX11) or Bioshock Infinite looks compared to the console versions you may get a good notion on what to expect.
 
One thing I read here that is a very good point is the fact that NRS has never themselves made a PC game before.

This is the literal truth.

I know what some people are thinking. What about MK1-3, Trilogy and MK4 for DOS and Windows respectively?

They didn't make any of those.

Back in the day NRS only made the arcade versions. All home versions where handled by porting studios (such as sculptured software or eurocom.. there was also probe but they didn't handle any of the PC versions) and most of them where published my Acclaim with the exception of MK4.

But even in MK4's case that was ported by Eurocom and it was a lazy port of the console versions as well. Believe it or not that game didn't even take advantage of the power 3D accelerator cards such as the 3Dfx Voodoo had at the time. It could have been identical to the arcade version in higher resolution (640x480 or 800x600 or above as opposed to the arcade 512x384) but they chose to make one version and copy and paste it across all three home platforms.

By the way I'd so like to believe that MK9 really is coming to the PC and there seems to be strong indication it is. But as far as I'm concerned it's still up in the air until Warner Bros. issues either an official announcement or barring that.. a steam page in the store & a release. Until then I consider all this just speculation albeit educated speculation.

One last thing. Even if the assets are identical to the console releases simply being able to turn up the resolution higher than what a console can provide should give improved visuals. There is a chance however that they could enable higher texture quality though as they may have had to have the in-game settings hardcoded to medium or low on the consoles to keep the frame rate at a rock solid 60FPS.
 
ZaxxerDog said:
You missed my point.

Easy example: you're playing an Unreal Engine 3 game and you pass by a painting on a wall. That is a low resolution texture. Was the original painting created in that low resolution? Absolutely not. Whatever happens past creating a certain asset in its original resolution is not what I was talking about.
Click to expand...

I've just basically described to you how it works.

Upscaling =/= HD texture, it's just returning the compressed texture into its original dimensions. This is why you will only see minor differences on the PC version. Not all textures are downscaled as well, many of them are created as small and blurry. It all depends on the purpose of it.

But as far as I'm concerned it's still up in the air until Warner Bros. issues either an official announcement or barring that.. a steam page in the store & a release. Until then I consider all this just speculation albeit educated speculation.
Click to expand...

Yeah...Someone posted a link before to a website taking pre-orders for MK9 PC already...But there's nothing on Steam yet...Until I see a page on Steam, I'm not buying it yet.
 
Last edited:
smoke.tetsu said:
One thing I read here that is a very good point is the fact that NRS has never themselves made a PC game before.

This is the literal truth.

I know what some people are thinking. What about MK1-3, Trilogy and MK4 for DOS and Windows respectively?

They didn't make any of those.

Back in the day NRS only made the arcade versions. All home versions where handled by porting studios (such as sculptured software or eurocom.. there was also probe but they didn't handle any of the PC versions) and most of them where published my Acclaim with the exception of MK4.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the old MK games were made by Midway, not NRS. However I have no idea if the two developers have any connection regarding staff, not counting Ed Boon of course.

I've just basically described to you how it works.

Upscaling =/= HD texture, it's just returning the compressed texture into its original dimensions. This is why you will only see minor differences on the PC version. Not all textures are downscaled as well, many of them are created as small and blurry. It all depends on the purpose of it.
Click to expand...

That's right but this is only true for small details, things an avarage player would never look at.
 
I said NRS so people would know who it was as in Ed Boon and co. and believe me it's not just Ed Boon who stuck around from when the company he was working for\studio he was in was known as midway. Quite a few artists, mocap people and even a sound composer stuck around along with the addition of a lot more staff. But yeah, back then they where not known as NRS but rather "Midway Games Chicago". That's besides the point and singling that out for nitpicking is totally missing the point.

The point is Ed Boon and co. have never.. ever worked on a PC version themselves. Hell, they didn't start on working on console versions until arcade development was phased out.
 
Last edited:
I just wanted to add my 2 cents to the Unreal Engine and its capabilities.

First off I have both Images of PS3 and XBOX360 games on my HDD. I was fiddling arround a bit for Garry's-Mod, and rendering purpose.
I've have both Cooked versions of the game and so far every single char provides good enough textures the be a go on the PC. The cooked, or in users term "packed version" of the game, only shows minor differneces in normalmap encoding, bit depth and a different model packing format. What really dumps down the console experience is the D3D rendersettings and the agressiv LOD (level of detail)


XBOX360 Xe-MK9Engine.ini
Code: 
[TextureLODSettings]
TEXTUREGROUP_Character=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_CharacterNormalMap=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=2048,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_Effects=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_LightAndShadowMap=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage
TEXTUREGROUP_RenderTarget=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=4096,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_Skybox=(MinLODSize=256,MaxLODSize=4096,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_UI=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=2048,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_Weapon=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=32,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_WeaponNormalMap=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=32,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_World=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_WorldNormalMap=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_Floor=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_FullTesting=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=4096,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)
TEXTUREGROUP_Unassigned=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=32,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage)

I guess the TEXTUREGROUP_FullTesting=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=4096,LODBias=0,MipGenSettings=TMGS_SimpleAverage) was used for the devshots that showed Cyrax vs Cyrax in 4K Pixels wich was amazing. The native renderer for both console is set to 1280x720 wich already makes the complete image blurry as hell. Shadows also could look a lot crispier if you mod the value

MinShadowResolution=32
MaxShadowResolution=512

to

MinShadowResolution=1024
MaxShadowResolution=2048

but that would blow the console up like a firecracker. My assumption looks like this, even if they dont port from the source graphicsfile and just edit existing inis and recompile the Stuff we would be able to see the differences. Regarding the framelimit - It isn't hardcoded its just another entry in the Engine.ini wich looks like this MinDesiredFrameRate=60.000000
The PC version may look like this

bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE
MinSmoothedFrameRate=33
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=62

wich is exploitable, or setable to any value. The thing I don't know is if the moves are counted as ticks or in frames. If its frametime NRS or company X may apply a framelock into the .exe so only a manipulation of the .exe could force a run above 60fps.

I tried to reassamble the stuff in an old UDK Build and with the original UT3 Devkit but since the lack of the source files its impossible to make it run on PC. My other workarround was with the "Mass Effect 1 PC Demo"/"Stranglehold PC Demo". It had a similar file structure but I couldn't run it. If you own the source and get the task to build the game arround PC its pretty easy. Setup the INI commands to make fit the PC enviroment, get into Scaleform add a Menu to the game to adjust MK9Engine.ini. Add steam-libs to the gamecode and missing U files to the compiler and your some how done for a early beta build. UE is not mutch about magic, its recooking from the source and has lots of templates for Steam implementation.
 
Last edited:
As much as I loathe the general feel and design of the game, getting a chance to cheese my friends with Shao Kahn would pretty much open my purse... *blushes*
 
DeBane said:
As much as I loathe the general feel and design of the game, getting a chance to cheese my friends with Shao Kahn would pretty much open my purse... *blushes*
Click to expand...

You hate the general feel and design of the game? These spoiled console kids these days... :D For me it will be just nice to play an MK game that runs natively on my machine, of course it helps that MK9 is considered to be the best of the series.
 
Not really, he's just trolling, mate. He does that all the time.

It's high time for official announcement... high time!
 
Last update on the Steam app was 2 days ago, and for a couple of hours already, the number of players testing the game has dropped to 0. I wonder what's going on...
 
I tried contacting that website, so that I can figure out a bit more details, as to their source of intel regarding the preorder, and I couldn't reach them via email, the message got rejected by their mail server and bounced back to me. Plus, it's a South African website.
 
That site says June 2013, around the same time they will probably release mk legacy 2... maybe they will release mk9 PC in sync with mk legacy 2 to advertise the game with each episode, not a bad advertising move like they did in 2011.
 
Yeah when Amazon had it listed they had it for the 13th of June so hopefully that's correct. I'll be a bit heart broken if this all turns out not to be true. There's so much good evidence.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top