Sucker Punch Explain Why inFamous: First Light Runs Faster Than Second Son

And yes, it actually does run faster.

Posted By | On 09th, Sep. 2014

infamous_first_light

Sucker Punch went ahead and released the standalone expansion pack to inFamous: Second Son, inFamous: First Light, and it was pretty damn good, generally garnering appreciation from critics and players. But it was also amusing in how it highlighted an odd quirk- the expansion pack seemed to run faster than the actual game, a suspicion which was confirmed when Digital Foundry established that First Light has a higher frame rate.

Now, Sucker Punch has confirmed that this is indeed the case, and they’ve even been nice enough to go into the nitty-gritties for us.

“For First Light, we made some optimisations in our shaders that did accelerate things,” the developer told Digital Foundry. “The two most notable improvements were made in our water ripple compute shader, and the way we encode/decode normals in the g-buffer. In addition, the absence of the heavy DUP fortifications from Second Son has a measurable impact.”

So, what are the odds of these improvements making their way to Second Son proper, then?

“As for patching these into Second Son, that’s unlikely as the resulting patch would be about 60 per cent the size of the full game – many gigabytes,” Sucker Punch explains. “This is the result of us embedding shaders inside the city content they apply to – meaning we can’t simply patch the engine to pick up these changes.”

Damn it. Well, Second Son is a great game regardless of the slower speed, and at the very least, we can appreciate Sucker Punch giving us their new improvements in the expansion pack, rather than holding back for a sequel, like so many other companies wold have done.


Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out!

Share Your Thoughts Below  (Always follow our comments policy!)



Keep On Reading!

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart PS5 Pro Update Adds New Modes and Ray Tracing Options

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart PS5 Pro Update Adds New Modes and Ray Tracing Options

Fans of the action platformer can use new Performance Pro or Fidelity Pro modes on the PS5 Pro when it launche...

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PS5 Pro Update is Live, New Modes and Toggles Detailed

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PS5 Pro Update is Live, New Modes and Toggles Detailed

The update adds Performance Pro and Fidelity Pro for PS5 Pro players alongside toggles to fine-tune ray tracin...

Like a Dragon Gaiden Receives Time-Limited Trial on Steam Until October 28th

Like a Dragon Gaiden Receives Time-Limited Trial on Steam Until October 28th

Experience four hours of the side story for free on PC. It's discounted along with the rest of the franchise u...

Silent Hill 2 Remake Hotfix Addresses Labyrinth Progression Blocker, Adds Steam Cloud Support

Silent Hill 2 Remake Hotfix Addresses Labyrinth Progression Blocker, Adds Steam Cloud Support

Players who found themselves trapped in the location after patch 1.04 can now continue through the story thank...

Sonic X Shadow Generations Launch Trailer Depicts Dual Conflicts

Sonic X Shadow Generations Launch Trailer Depicts Dual Conflicts

Revisit the battle against the Time Eater in Sonic Generations or embark on a new story starring Shadow in Sha...

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – Aiko’s Choice Launches for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in December

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – Aiko’s Choice Launches for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in December

The real-time stealth tactics standalone expansion launched for PC back in December 2021, and is now finally a...