Disappointed in texture quality

[ClarkKent]

Pinball Arcade plays nice and there is really a good range of table - BUT. But I'm very very disappointed in texture quality and low polygon objects. Farsight Studios is collating 50.000, 70.000 or 100.000 dollars for a table and is not able to put high quality textures of playfield, plastics or toys with high polygons in it for which they acquired all rights? A task that is done better in free projects like Visual Pinball or Future Pinball!? Man, this is just a big shame.

Would be interesting how they exculpate themselves! Is it all about money?

 

[shutyertrap]

Welcome to the forums.

This is a very common topic among those new here. The short answer given by FarSight is that they constrain the poly count based on the platform and how fast a frame rate it can run at. According to them, it's not just about the polygons, but the number crunching needed to run the emulation Roms at the same time.

It isn't about the money. I would say it is about the lack of man power they have. They are a very small studio pumping out a table a month, and it's a tight deadline. Before you suggest it, no they won't take longer on releases just to increase quality. That horse has been beaten to death 2 years ago!

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

The texture quality has improved; one of the FS employees who posts here regularly said they recently purchased a much better camera for digitizing playfield art etc.

Compare the playfield quality of a recent table such as JunkYard, to an older one like CV. Though even then it's highly variable - CV is horrible at high resolutions, but ToM, of similar vintage TPA-wise, is better (though still not great).

 

[Megahurtz]

Looking at the newer tables on PS4, you can really spot the improved quality from the new camera. That said, there is still a noticeable difference in quality of the textures on slingshots, toys, and ramps compared to the main playfield. I wish the playfield could look as sharp and crisp as the slingshots.

 

[ClarkKent]

I wonder why they do not scan the playfields. But for the money they collect or kickstart for each table they could buy the complete artwork sets and do not have to make photos of anything. As the game is not the cheapest one I think we could expect the tables in perfect quality.

Nevertheless I hope they update every table in future.

 

[ClarkKent]

I just watched a video of Pinball Arcade for the PS4 and it looks much much better than the PC or Mac versions. Will this higher quality ever be available on Windows/Mac?

 

[pm1109]

I just watched a video of Pinball Arcade for the PS4 and it looks much much better than the PC or Mac versions. Will this higher quality ever be available on Windows/Mac?

One Day
Still waiting

 

[jaredmorgs]

...they could buy the complete artwork sets and do not have to make photos of anything.

From where, exactly?

 

[The loafer]

For starters you have to forget about those kickstarter fees, that has nothing to do with how the table is done, it's just to bring them to the table and to help with licensing fees, period. Secondly, there is a trade off in using a 3d engine versus a static engine. You can get a 3d engine to look great but your biggest money earner is the mobile market and the best hardware market is probably one of your weakest money earner so.... thirdly, right or wrong, there's a lot of sharing of engine/resources between the various different versions so in essence IMHO some of the look of the textures or the less detailed 3d models is probably due to the table assets needing to be scaled easily for the mobile markets. Finally, it looks like amongst all their workload, there support of various platforms and their finite resources, it seems they basically put out a table from scratch within two months and their business model exists successfully because they can put out a table within two months.

Some of what I posted isn't complete fact, but I am confident that it's not just a "this is the best we can do" for graphic/model quality. The world is full of trade off and this is no different.

 

[wolfson]

PS4 looks great to me,our PC should be updated to look as good as PS4 by the end of the year.if you had seen some of crap looking tables I played on durng the 1960s & 1970s you would praising FARSIGHT.i think they`ve done a great job.PS4 is fantastic, if you want better you can always fork out about $8,000 and buy a new table.

 

[ClarkKent]

From where, exactly?

There are all artworks available in pinball shops. classicplayfields.com is offering a wide range of play fields and plastics.

 

[TomL]

Their own FAQ admits that the playfields are reproductions, usually drawn up by their own artist.

 

[jaredmorgs]

Their own FAQ admits that the playfields are reproductions, usually drawn up by their own artist.

Link please.

I ask because I believe they photograph their playfields during disassembly and touch up any damage art.

 

[TomL]

http://classicplayfields.com/faq.html

Question #2.

 

[shutyertrap]

FarSight owns all the tables themselves, so it's not like they don't have a reference. I personally saw their Genie, and it had wood showing all over the place. They know how to recreate the graphics just fine. As was pointed out above though, attention is paid more towards the mobile market, and those devices are getting lower poly builds.

 

[kinggo]

attention is paid more towards the mobile market, and those devices are getting lower poly builds.

now when you mentioned that....... Android did get HLOD option recently. I'm still on 1024x600 so it doesnt matter much to me, I can see the difference only on screen shot but not when I'm playing. But I'm thinking about new tablet, G Pad 8.3 or Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4. The later one has much better resolution but it is also more exepnsive. And since I use tablet almost only for TPA and G Pad has more than enough power for that, question is can that HLOD look better on 1600 x 2560. Or 1920x1200 will do just the same. How HIGH actually is that HLOD mod?

 

[Zorgwon]

I ask because I believe they photograph their playfields during disassembly and touch up any damage art.

There are always little errors showing that it is drawn. For pictures play Visual Pinball and enjoy ugliness.

 

[jaredmorgs]

There are always little errors showing that it is drawn. For pictures play Visual Pinball and enjoy ugliness.

If folks are suggesting that the entire playfield is hand drawn into TPA, that is just wrong. Do you know how long that would take them to hand draw an entire playfield?

Have some bare areas of photographed table areas been touched up less than perfectly? Absolutely! Genie is cited for an obvious graphic issue with the word "Bouns" instead of "Bonus" which was only corrected a few builds ago.

Photos of the playfield areas that were stitched together poorly are also true. Genie has visible stitch/seam lines as the table view changes.

 

[TomL]

Let me clarify. Someone complained that the textures looked bad and that FS should purchase the playfield art from a site like classicplayfields.com

I took a quick look at the CPF website FAQ and saw that their playfields are reproductions that are usually redrawn by their artist.

I think TPA looks great considering the platforms they support and the need for balancing performance and visuals. I question the usefulness of the suggestion that they purchase reproduction playfield art from a third party.

Are these reproduction playfields even legal from a licensing standpoint?

 

[Zorgwon]

If folks are suggesting that the entire playfield is hand drawn into TPA, that is just wrong. Do you know how long that would take them to hand draw an entire playfield?

Not that much time. Future Pinball often uses redrawn playfields and the creators are lonely hobbyists.