Original Forza Horizon Gets Surprise Xbox One X Enhancement Patch

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Original Forza Horizon Gets Surprise Xbox One X Enhancement Patch

This article was published by Kyle Patrick (@SlipZtrEm) on February 28th, 2018 in the Forza Series category.

 

[breyzipp]

Is that the update from yesterday? It still doesn’t filter as X1X enhanced like for example Fallout 3 or the original Assassins Creed.

Nevertheless absolutely great news. I never played the game originally since I never had an Xbox 360 but did grab it when it was free in September 2016. It’s still a fun game but the graphics were a bit meh, that’s soon to be improved then.

 

[urmie]

Forza Horizon renders at a native resolution of 1280x720 on Xbox 360, Xbox One and Xbox One X using the Performance Mode. Forza Horizon renders at a native resolution of 3840x2160 on Xbox One X when using the Graphics Mode. Many elements of the UI are also rendered natively at 3840x2160 on Xbox One X in Graphics Mode.

Source:

 

[Wolfe]

So it's merely a resolution bump?

I'm sure there are programming reasons why they couldn't double the framerate instead, but I would have been more impressed with that.

 

[SimTourist]

So it's merely a resolution bump?

I'm sure there are programming reasons why they couldn't double the framerate instead, but I would have been more impressed with that.

It's not an update made by developers of the original game, it's MS itself employing the heutchy method in the emulator to force higher resolution.

 

[Wolfe]

It's not an update made by developers of the original game, it's MS itself employing the heutchy method in the emulator to force higher resolution.

I thought that was a typo. Okay, I haven't been paying much attention to the Xbox world for a while. I just don't think 4K is the bee's knees, but I already assumed there was very little else that could be done.

 

[PirateDan]

I can't vouch for technical details but what I will say is running on an One X through a 4k HDR TV it feels like a whole new game; incredibly crisp and sharp. If you loved Horizon the change will make you want to play it over again immidietely, which is good cause the update erased my save.

 

[inCloud]

but I would have been more impressed with that

With how engine works in Horizon its not that much of a game changer, while 4K makes blurry visuals of FH1 much more crisper. Still looks outdated, especially if you compare it to Need for speed Hot Pursuit or Most Wanted'12 with 4K resolution.

 

[SimTourist]

With how engine works in Horizon its not that much of a game changer, while 4K makes blurry visuals of FH1 much more crisper. Still looks outdated, especially if you compare it to Need for speed Hot Pursuit or Most Wanted'12 with 4K resolution.

Well those games didn't have the same level of physics and were below 720p and 30fps on the 360. I think Horizon still looks pretty good all things considered.

 

[Wolfe]

With how engine works in Horizon its not that much of a game changer, while 4K makes blurry visuals of FH1 much more crisper. Still looks outdated, especially if you compare it to Need for speed Hot Pursuit or Most Wanted'12 with 4K resolution.

I think 4K isn't much of a game changer, period. I don't get the belief that it makes a game look any different, because the graphics are literally not any different, just outputted at a sharper resolution.

But a sharper resolution can help nonetheless. Most of my time with FH1 was at 480i on my old CRT. After getting my HD monitor, I came back to the game and improved many of my Rivals times. It also made it easier to spot upcoming traffic at high speeds, naturally. 720p and 1080p are plenty sharp, though, in my opinion.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

It also made it easier to spot upcoming traffic at high speeds, naturally.

This is easily the biggest surprise for me when I go back to truly retro games. Something like Outrun requires insane reflex times now — now matter how much I squint, the traffic isn't visible until the resolution allows it!

4K hardly changes the original Horizon experience, but it's a welcome move regardless. I appreciate that Microsoft is really embracing the backwards compatibility, but isn't going full-on Lucas by only allowing it to be played in remastered mode.

 

[inCloud]

I think Horizon still looks pretty good all things considered

While car detalis are OK, pretty much everything else is awful. Background remind me about PS1 era need for speeds sometimes

 

[Silver Arrows]

I think 4K isn't much of a game changer, period. I don't get the belief that it makes a game look any different, because the graphics are literally not any different, just outputted at a sharper resolution.

But a sharper resolution can help nonetheless. Most of my time with FH1 was at 480i on my old CRT. After getting my HD monitor, I came back to the game and improved many of my Rivals times. It also made it easier to spot upcoming traffic at high speeds, naturally. 720p and 1080p are plenty sharp, though, in my opinion.

If I had the choice - especially for racing games, I would definitely prefer that developers try and hit a 1080P / 60 FPS bench mark then a 4K one. Especially considering how obvious it is that a racing game benefits from said bump in framerate.

 

[Wolfe]

While car detalis are OK, pretty much everything else is awful. Background remind me about PS1 era need for speeds sometimes

At the time, I praised FH1 for including more background detail than some of the appalling off-track detail of FM4. I'm not one to nitpick on something like that, but Virtua-Racing-tier surfaces, gaping voids, and floating trees you can easily spot during regular gameplay are a little harder to excuse.

 

[SimTourist]

I think 4K isn't much of a game changer, period. I don't get the belief that it makes a game look any different, because the graphics are literally not any different, just outputted at a sharper resolution.

But a sharper resolution can help nonetheless. Most of my time with FH1 was at 480i on my old CRT. After getting my HD monitor, I came back to the game and improved many of my Rivals times. It also made it easier to spot upcoming traffic at high speeds, naturally. 720p and 1080p are plenty sharp, though, in my opinion.

Higher resolution brings out a lot of hidden detail even in old games, look at this comparison of the xbox 360 version of witcher 2 and the xbox one x 4k enhancement, the detail is there but 720p turns it into mush and you can't make out the details, 4k is clean and crisp and showcases the original developer vision and art.

 

[Wolfe]

@SimTourist -- The image on the left is not unaltered 720p. It resembles what an HDTV does to analog input. On my monitor, 720p is basically as crisp as 1080p, but with slightly larger pixels. That's it, nothing more. Even 480i through my de-interlacer box isn't like that!

As for 4K, it's just smaller pixels. I'm sure the clarity can be appreciated on a very large screen, but 1080p seems more than adequate in terms of utility in gameplay, and smaller pixels does utterly nothing to make videogame graphics more "convincing" to my eyes. It's the same models, textures, lighting, effects...

 

[ImaRobot]

@SimTourist -- The image on the left is not unaltered 720p. It resembles what an HDTV does to analog input. On my monitor, 720p is basically as crisp as 1080p, but with slightly larger pixels. That's it, nothing more. Even 480i through my de-interlacer box isn't like that!

If anything, its a blown up picture to match the same resolution as the new 4k image, making issues more pronounced. 720p and 1080p always looked crisp enough to me, but if you compare them side by side with 4k image, and blow the 720p to match the same dimensions in the comparison, it ends up looking like that. The one at the right is in a natural state while the left isn't, so you're right.

As for 4K, it's just smaller pixels. I'm sure the clarity can be appreciated on a very large screen, but 1080p seems more than adequate in terms of utility in gameplay, and smaller pixels does utterly nothing to make videogame graphics more "convincing" to my eyes. It's the same models, textures, lighting, effects...

4K only makes the most sense on larger TV's, I agree. If you're TV is on the smaller side of the bracket, its something that wouldn't really matter too much and the lower modes work just fine, to be honest. HDR on the other hand is great regardless, and I wonder why we don't see 1080p sets with HDR.

 

[ApparitionLOD]

The bump in resolution gets rid of the blurriness in the original, which is certainly welcome. I started playing the game again recently to get my rewards level up.

 

[Omologato]

Methinks someone with an X1X and FH1 needs to take photos so that we may bask in the glory that is 4k.

 

[PzR Slim]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2018-forza-horizon-back-compat-looks-stunning-at-4k

 

[user3392345]

The awesome power of the xbox x ..... 30fps.....

 

[torque99]

I tried this out with an old disc I had from the 360 version, I enjoyed the original very much at the time on the 360 and it all looks 4K sharper now but with the Xbox One versions having so much better landscape detail and lighting it is showing its age a little although still good fun around Colorado!

I took some 4K photos with the photo mode but for some reason 'auto Focus X > ' was not working? 👍

 

[CSLACR]

Am I understanding that I need to buy a 360 disk to play this on Xbox 1S since it's been removed from the Xbox store?

 

[TheAdmiester]

Am I understanding that I need to buy a 360 disk to play this on Xbox 1S since it's been removed from the Xbox store?

Correct.

Your only options right now are disc, unredeemed download codes (quite rare now), or if you already own the game and it's on your purchase history.