E&E - Performance RT Mode has been downgraded in recent update

[daltontigerboy]

As of the last few updates (can’t remember if it was the most recent one or one before that), I’ve noticed that shadows are no longer being rendered at all past a certain distance In Performance RT graphics mode. This was not the case when E&E came out, though, as you can clearly see in the comparison shots I pulled from a YouTube video from launch.

 

Neither the Fidelity or regular Performance mode have been downgraded at all. However, notice in the comparison of Performance RT from launch vs now, there are no ray-traced shadows being rendered in the distance when they were rendered before. This now means that the Performance RT mode is the worst-looking graphics mode. All screens are captured on PS5.

COMPARISON OF ALL 3 MODES ON CURRENT PATCH (AUGUST 2023)

Fidelity (AUGUST 2023)

Performance RT (AUGUST 2023)

Performance (AUGUST 2023)

 

 

COMPARISONS OF LAUNCH VS CURRENT PATCH
Performance RT (Launch)

Performance RT (AUGUST 2023)

 

Spoiler

Fidelity (Launch)

Fidelity (AUGUST 2023)

Spoiler

Performance (Launch)

Performance (AUGUST 2023)

 

After investigating, I’ve discovered how shadows are now rendered in Performance RT Mode.

 

There is an invisible circular zone around the player in which RT shadows render within a ~150 yard radius. Everywhere that’s outside of this circular radius, shadows are not rendered at all. To see this for yourself:

 

- Make sure you’re in Performance RT

- Make sure it’s daytime with clear weather in-game

- Get in a helicopter and fly around the city at building-height

 

As you fly around you’ll easily be able to see the circle around you where shadows are rendered and everything past the circle has no shadows at all. You’ll see this circle move with you as you fly.

 

Before one of the latest updates, the shadow render distance was unlimited - just like it is in Fidelity mode.

Video source used for comparison:

Edited February 21, 2025 by daltontigerboy

[daltontigerboy]

Damn, nobody cares lol.

 

With this amount of engagement, zero chance Rockstar ever fixes it.

 

Very unfortunate because this was arguably the best mode to play in before the downgrade, and now it’s practically unplayable it looks so bad.

Edited August 15, 2023 by daltontigerboy

[gamerMK2]

They gimped it because hardware can only handle that much

[NightmanCometh96]

This reminds me of that time a few months after the PS4 version came out, where R* nerfed a few graphical effects after a certain patch and people thought they were doing it to artificially make the PC version (which had not been released yet) look better. I assume that was accidental, though, since another update came pretty quickly that brought the effects back the state they were at launch.

 

As much as I'd like for this to also be some sort of oversight, I wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional (perhaps they wanted to ensure Performance RT would hit a locked 60FPS at the cost of further downgrading graphics? I have no clue). It's an odd decision either way.

Edited March 20, 2024 by NightmanCometh96

[Emmi]

What a shame!

[daltontigerboy]

15 hours ago, gamerMK2 said:

They gimped it because hardware can only handle that much

 

3 hours ago, NightmanCometh96 said:

This reminds me of that time a few months after the PS4 version came out, where R* nerfed a few graphical effects after a certain patch and people thought they were doing it to artificially make the PC version (which had not been released yet) look better. I assume that accidental, though, since another update came pretty quickly that brought the effects back the state they were at launch.

 

As much as I'd like for this to also be some sort of oversight, I wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional (perhaps they wanted to ensure Performance RT would hit a locked 60FPS at the cost of further downgrading graphics? I have no clue). It's an odd decision either way.

I mean, the PS5 and Series X did a pretty damn good job of holding 60fps in Performance RT mode before the downgrade.

 

That’s what makes this downgrade seem so weird and unnecessary. And it just looks awful.

[The-Ghost]

This is probably done to keep the consistent 60fps, but maybe overdone since nothing renders by the looks of things.

 

Also:

On 8/13/2023 at 4:25 PM, daltontigerboy said:

Neither the Fidelity or regular Performance mode have been downgraded at all.

Fidelity is not native 4k anymore, it has been lowered after December's update and the introduction of RT reflections.

[daltontigerboy]

18 hours ago, MaddenedGhost said:

Fidelity is not native 4k anymore, it has been lowered after December's update and the introduction of RT reflections.

That’s not quite accurate.

 

It’s still native 4K most of the time but is dynamic now and can drop to as low as 1872p during extreme stress tests (according to Digital Foundry), which is still significantly higher resolution than the 1440p that the other modes run at.

 

Anyway, my point was that neither the Fidelity mode or Performance mode have been graphically downgraded like the Performance RT mode has. They still look the same (or better in the case of Fidelity) than they did at launch.

[The-Ghost]

I've literally said it's not native 4k anymore, at launch it was locked 4k, it didn't change, it didn't drop, the performance never affected it, it was 2160p all the time.

 

you said it's quite inaccurate, then you said it's dynamic and drops, which is... you know... not locked 4k anymore.

 

Spoiler

 

 

My point now is that it isn't the locked 4k it was at launch, and pixel count is part of the graphical presentation of the game, a drop from native 4k to dynamic 4k is a downgrade, also in relation, this change they had done for the second performance mode is probably related to maintaining the FPS target.

 

 

Anyway, I'm pretty sure this will be ignored the same way the ghosting behind cars was also ignored over the patches, in fact, one should hope they stop here and don't lower anything else to maintain the target FPS count.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by MaddenedGhost

[daltontigerboy]

4 hours ago, MaddenedGhost said:

I've literally said it's not native 4k anymore, at launch it was locked 4k, it didn't change, it didn't drop, the performance never affected it, it was 2160p all the time.

 

you said it's quite inaccurate, then you said it's dynamic and drops, which is... you know... not locked 4k anymore.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

My point now is that it isn't the locked 4k it was at launch, and pixel count is part of the graphical presentation of the game, a drop from native 4k to dynamic 4k is a downgrade, also in relation, this change they had done for the second performance mode is probably related to maintaining the FPS target.

 

 

Anyway, I'm pretty sure this will be ignored the same way the ghosting behind cars was also ignored over the patches, in fact, one should hope they stop here and don't lower anything else to maintain the target FPS count.

 

 

 

You originally said

 

On 8/19/2023 at 6:33 PM, MaddenedGhost said:

Fidelity is not native 4k anymore, it has been lowered after December's update

I replied explaining how that’s not quite accurate because Fidelity mode still does, in fact, run at native 4k most of the time.

 

It’s just not fixed at that resolution and has the potential to drop in demanding scenes.

 

Calling that a “downgrade” is simply not accurate either. Especially considering it was in service of adding ray-traced reflections to the visual presentation.

 

Fidelity mode still runs at native 4K (even if not full time), the drops are very minor and effectively imperceivable and only happen in demanding scenarios.

 

I get the point you’re trying to get at - yes it was locked before but not now - but it needed clarification. Your original post implied the resolution was lowered from native 4K full stop, thus my “not accurate” reply.

Locked 4K =/= Native 4K

A game can still run at Native 4K even if it’s not “locked” at that res.

 

Also, not a “downgrade”. The images  in my OP are an actual downgrade.

Edited August 21, 2023 by daltontigerboy

[EpsilonProgram]

They also broke waterfalls and water currents pulling you, you can just swip upwards them. As well as some hair cuts being messed up when the Fidelity/Performance RT modes are enabled, but this is like since last year.  If you put Franklins hair default haircut in a Sunny midday you'll see.

I posted these videos on another topic, they are from Online but anyone can replicate them.

 

Here you can see Franklin's hair on the side, but you should take a look at the back of his head to see it better.

[Yoona]

What a shame... Rockstar keeps dissapointing when it comes to polish.

[EpsilonProgram]

I remember that when the game came out on PS4, the trees did not respond to the wind, and it took several patches for them to fix it. Then some graphics were messed up in 2015 only to be fixed later. The bugs I posted are minimal and have no impact on the actual experience, well unless you are really into swimming in rivers lol.

But my guess is that since the majority of the staff are AHOD on GTA VI, QA might not be the same when it was their main game idk

[Yoona]

It's a real shame because Performance mode is only 1440p, same as RT Performance so there was no point in using it before...

 

Now I'm forced to play in Performance mode that won't even receive a resolution bump just because they broke Performance RT...

With how old the game is Performance mode should target at least 3200x1800

Edited August 23, 2023 by Yoona

[Yoona]

Watch GTA 6 have one single 30 fps mode with Motion blur slider if we are lucky

[NightmanCometh96]

On 8/23/2023 at 1:56 PM, Yoona said:

Watch GTA 6 have one single 30 fps mode with Motion blur slider if we are lucky

Somehow, I get the feeling that GTA VI's performance on consoles is going to be like regressing back to the PS2-PS3 days; where pretty much every (open world) R* game dipped below 30FPS quite frequently, averaging around the low-to-mid 20s if you were lucky. 

Edited August 25, 2023 by NightmanCometh96

[videotechuk_]

Would love to see Rockstar upgrade the FSR version over 2.2, provides much clear image quality. It's still currently stuck on FSR 1.0. 

[daltontigerboy]

3 hours ago, videotechx said:

Would love to see Rockstar upgrade the FSR version over 2.2, provides much clear image quality. It's still currently stuck on FSR 1.0. 

That would be very un-Rockstar of them.

 

Thats why it’s important that GTAVI’s performance profile and upscaling solution for consoles is Rock-solid at launch.

 

Whatever we get, we’re gonna be stuck with it.

 

I’m personally praying for FSR whatever-version-is-current-at-the-time-of-release and 40fps for people who have 120hz displays. That would be the ideal way for VI to push graphical fidelity on console to insane levels while still having acceptable image quality / performance.

 

Hopefully PS5 is lead development platform and the Xbox Series S version is scaled-down significantly in order to run, which would mean it didn’t hold back the ambition of what the game could be.

 

My biggest fear in regards to the technical development of GTAVI is that the game is being designed with Xbox Series S in mind first and foremost, and then scaled up to look and run better on PS5/SX. That would mean a much lesser game on a technical level vs doing the opposite approach.

Edited August 25, 2023 by daltontigerboy

[Yoona]

On 8/25/2023 at 11:17 PM, daltontigerboy said:

That would be very un-Rockstar of them.

 

Thats why it’s important that GTAVI’s performance profile and upscaling solution for consoles is Rock-solid at launch.

 

Whatever we get, we’re gonna be stuck with it.

 

I’m personally praying for FSR whatever-version-is-current-at-the-time-of-release and 40fps for people who have 120hz displays. That would be the ideal way for VI to push graphical fidelity on console to insane levels while still having acceptable image quality / performance.

 

Hopefully PS5 is lead development platform and the Xbox Series S version is scaled-down significantly in order to run, which would mean it didn’t hold back the ambition of what the game could be.

 

My biggest fear in regards to the technical development of GTAVI is that the game is being designed with Xbox Series S in mind first and foremost, and then scaled up to look and run better on PS5/SX. That would mean a much lesser game on a technical level vs doing the opposite approach.

Yep, especially when it comes to memory since Series S only has 10 GB of it.

 

What this gen has shown us thus far though is that PS5 is indeed lead platform, so I'm pretty confident the game won't suffer too much.

 

I'm concerned Starfield has no 40 fps mode but only 30, that's super dissapointing and I hope Rockstar doesn't follow suit.

 

The frustrating thing with Rockstar is the lack of communication, we don't even know if this Performance RT downgrade is a bug or intended by them for some reason, and I doubt they will ever fix it.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Yoona

[daltontigerboy]

Update:

 

This has not been fixed with the newest update that came out today.

 

Performance RT mode remains looking terrible. Still looks exactly the same as the screenshots I posted in the OP.

Edited December 12, 2023 by daltontigerboy

[RecklessGlue540]

14 minutes ago, daltontigerboy said:

Update:

 

This has not been fixed with the newest update that came out today.

 

Performance RT mode remains looking terrible. Still looks exactly the same as the screenshots I posted in the OP.

 

On 8/13/2023 at 6:25 PM, daltontigerboy said:

 

Is the Shadow Distance still f-ed up, like in this screenshot?

Cuz I think it looks like this on all the other platforms.

Edited December 12, 2023 by RecklessGlue540

[daltontigerboy]

6 minutes ago, RecklessGlue540 said:

 

Is the Shadow Distance still f-ed up, like in this screenshot?

Yes, that’s precisely the downgrade that this thread was made about.

 

When E&E launched, there was an unlimited range that RT shadows would render in Performance RT mode, just like the Fidelity mode.

 

However, as of the last 2 GTAO updates (not sure if it was the December 2022 update or the June 2023 one) they reduced the range that RT shadows are rendered in the Performance RT mode to a very paltry distance - something like 100-150 yards - which results in Performance RT mode being the worst looking mode to play in because of how awful the game looks without any rendered shadows past that distance.

Edited December 12, 2023 by daltontigerboy

[RecklessGlue540]

20 minutes ago, daltontigerboy said:

there was an unlimited range that RT shadows would render in Performance RT mode, just like the Fidelity mode.

Wha... Is that even possible? Considering the RT Reflections have such a low range...

 

All in all, I think this downgrade is present in all versions iirc.

Best idea right now, is to report this to Rockstar. (but how the hell could they have missed this for so long?) And, as cringe as that might sound, we've seen lately, that they started to listen to us more.

This time, It'll be stupid if they say no. E&E Stuff on PC is understandable as that takes some power. But a stupid bug / regression, they can easily fix for christ sakes.

Edited December 12, 2023 by RecklessGlue540

[Matushka]

Oh boohoo, PC doesn't even have E&E. (me being sassy, because people were laughing at us in E&E PC thread)

 

Also looks like something that's just a bug and they'll fix in a small while, definitely not intended IMO, just doesn't look right.

 

Hopefully it'll get fixed.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Matushka

[Yoona]

Shame... they fix so many things every 6 months yet ignore this on their flagship title on PS5 and XSX?

 

I will remain playing in Performance Mode then...

Edited December 12, 2023 by Yoona

[AverageOnlinePlayer]

can't believe they haven't fixed this yet, wtf

 

same thing with safezone on ps5, game looks like sh*t now. we should raise a bigger stink

[Nabs_]

I honestly thought the car ghosting bug was something to do with my monitor, because I've never seen it mentioned up until this thread. Good to know I'm not going crazy.

 

I really wish Performance RT was a hybrid between Fidelity and Performance like they advertised it. But with the shadow render downgrade and cubemaps being lower quality than Performance mode, it's a joke.

[AllData]

On 8/15/2023 at 9:48 AM, daltontigerboy said:

Damn, nobody cares lol.

 

With this amount of engagement, zero chance Rockstar ever fixes it.

 

Very unfortunate because this was arguably the best mode to play in before the downgrade, and now it’s practically unplayable it looks so bad.

Hate to break it to you but they were never going to fix it anyway. An ugly shadow cascade bubble has been a thing in RAGE since at least GTA 4.

I sent them a request about fixing that issue back when the PC version launched and they said they'd "look into it", lol.

They do it for performance but that relies on performance never getting worse (which is unlikely given how that went on PS3 and PS4).

[AverageOnlinePlayer]

ROCKSTAR PLEASE FIX

[Gorn Lord]

This seems like an adequate spot to drop my own gripe about shadows in either of the ray traced modes. Has anyone else noticed what the rear wheels of any vehicle look like when in direct sunlight? I'm not exactly sure what is happening with the shadow inside of the wheel, but this has been bothering me forever since I'm not sure when it actually started.

Normal looking wheel in the shadows:

 

 

 

Put the car in sunlight and the inside is all shadows: