Graphics engine update?

[zabealgorta]

So I just re-entered the world of Destiny 2 given that Bungie just made a few expansions freely available. Last expansion I bought was Forsaken, then I pretty much abandoned this game. Now that I just came back… seems to me everything looks exactly the same? I’m surprised, several years have passed and Bungie hasn’t made graphical updates? Surely it cannot be. No TXAA, DLSS/FSR, or ray tracing at all? I’m not trying to diss the game, I’m genuinely confused.

Does anyone know where I could read online what updates this engine has gone through, graphically?

[Hi Im Swat]

It doesn’t need any graphic updates. The game looks amazing regardless.

[Dark, House of Luck]

The biggest changes to the engine the game has gone through is behind the scenes stuff. How it handles things like damage, spawns, etc. The only other thing is they did a big change to how shadows and a few textures look/load/act a few years back.

[zabealgorta]

Interesting! Note that I’m not at all saying the game looks bad in any way, but it does look mostly the same as 5 years ago or so. I expected a few more bells and whistles given that they update the game every year. Then again at least I can run it at a constant frame rate, so that’s a win!

[DCR]

Originally posted by zabealgorta:

Interesting! Note that I’m not at all saying the game looks bad in any way, but it does look mostly the same as 5 years ago or so. I expected a few more bells and whistles given that they update the game every year. Then again at least I can run it at a constant frame rate, so that’s a win!

Except the game engine is still meant for 30 fps, there's still benefits in areas of the game to run the game at 120, 60 or even 30 cap. It's insane. It varies with difficulty modififier for activity, so a single dark void blast can kill you at 120 or higher, but won't at 60 or 30. That's the really sad part. But then again, you can also sword skate across entire maps, which is also boosted on lower fps rather then higher. That part is openly broken and nothing is being done about it. It works just fine at 120+ fps, it's just not ideal. It seems to be tied to tickrate of the game and limitations set in place since game's inception.

[mintTea]

Originally posted by zabealgorta:

So I just re-entered the world of Destiny 2 given that Bungie just made a few expansions freely available. Last expansion I bought was Forsaken, then I pretty much abandoned this game. Now that I just came back… seems to me everything looks exactly the same? I’m surprised, several years have passed and Bungie hasn’t made graphical updates? Surely it cannot be. No TXAA, DLSS/FSR, or ray tracing at all? I’m not trying to diss the game, I’m genuinely confused.

Does anyone know where I could read online what updates this engine has gone through, graphically?

according to most, thegame is ending its current devlopment cycle, ie darkness/light.

it would, be a mistake to change the graphic engine while it has not omplted this journey.

[trukr]

Originally posted by zabealgorta:

seems to me everything looks exactly the same?

Odd, with the release of Beyond Light there was some pretty big graphics updates, like lighting. I could see the difference at that time, I guess if you haven't seen the game in years it may not be exactly obvious.

I doubt Tiger can support ray tracing, the AA stuff is a yawn for me, it looks fine to me.

[AlphaVictorKilo]

Remember, this is a seven year old game. Sure there was a bump in quality with Beyond light, but nothing huge

Also remember that this game has to target console specs, so without a console release in the coming year, you can expect Destiny 2 to never receive another graphics bump until it's support ends and we get the hypothetical Destiny 3

Also, due to the way the engine is coded, you also have physics tied to framerate! (remember those seraph bunker missions? If you had a higher framerate, that laser would tick down from 15 seconds faster than someone locked at 30fps, and high rate of fire enemies could melt you with a higher framerate because you had more ticks of damage, etc)

Yeah, this game looks great as it is, there isn't really a need for an update

[Natius]

I dont want my 7 years old laptop cant play this game anymore because someone decide to upgrade graphic but didnt optimize it. The game already smooth like butter

[Wulfen]

Originally posted by zabealgorta:

So I just re-entered the world of Destiny 2 given that Bungie just made a few expansions freely available. Last expansion I bought was Forsaken, then I pretty much abandoned this game. Now that I just came back… seems to me everything looks exactly the same? I’m surprised, several years have passed and Bungie hasn’t made graphical updates? Surely it cannot be. No TXAA, DLSS/FSR, or ray tracing at all? I’m not trying to diss the game, I’m genuinely confused.

Does anyone know where I could read online what updates this engine has gone through, graphically?

Some games don't need to push the boundary of graphical fidelity. Game looks great already and runs butter smooth

[zabealgorta]

Originally posted by trukr:

Odd, with the release of Beyond Light there was some pretty big graphics updates, like lighting. I could see the difference at that time, I guess if you haven't seen the game in years it may not be exactly obvious.

Oh, that's interesting! I don't really notice much difference in the lighting, though that just means they're good at maintaining their art style. Things looking the same isn't a bad thing per se - I do notice at this point that many floors and walls look very... "flat", very PS4 capabilities like.

Originally posted by AlphaVictorKilo:

Also remember that this game has to target console specs, so without a console release in the coming year, you can expect Destiny 2 to never receive another graphics bump until it's support ends and we get the hypothetical Destiny 3

Isn't this available on PS5? That's been out for a while now, so I figured there must have been an engine refresh to current graphical capabilities... but I guess not! I was just surprised after expecting some advancement and seeing little to none.

Originally posted by Wulfen:

Some games don't need to push the boundary of graphical fidelity. Game looks great already and runs butter smooth

Gotta say, I'm a bit surprised at some of y'all responding in a very emotional/personal way... the fact that I didn't see much improvement doesn't automatically imply it looks bad, this isn't a zero sum game. It looked great in 2018 and it still looks great in 2024, but it's undeniably missing a ton of great features that are much more common these days - especially in such well known games. Not necessarily RTX which would halve framerate, but I'd definitely appreciate some TAA to not see so many jagged edges! The worlds look quite empty the way they are now, I'd definitely appreciate more objects and detail... but at this point I'd guess it'll be Destiny 3 or just milking this engine until it no longer makes sense or more people lose interest, which is inevitable sooner or later.

Welp, I'm still enjoying playing through the expansions I never bought. Can't complain about free stuff! The game has become very convoluted, the menus are much more complicated and there's just so much... STUFF, it feels like Ubisoft released it... if you've been out of this game for a while, it's a bit too much. Then again I'm just looking to play the campaign missions and then I'll be out again. When you're 40 and you have a family to take care of, you can't spend countless hours on a game's internal economy 😄

Anyway thanks for the answers. I'm definitely looking forward to a new Destiny game/expansion with an overhauled engine up to current specs.

[Limbless_One]

Destiny 3 will be DX 12 i hope .
PS: I AM BATMAN

[pirate135246]

you want taa????

[zabealgorta]

Originally posted by Limbless_One:

Destiny 3 will be DX 12 i hope .
PS: I AM BATMAN :batsilo:

At this point in time I’d sure hope so!

Originally posted by pirate135246:

you want taa????

Yeah! I’ll happily trade a bit of sharpness for no aliasing and shimmering at all.