Why does Fallout 4 look like crap and run poorly when Skyrim looks beautiful?

[Sirenapples]

Edit: The texture problem was textures not loading correctly. Which has been fixed when I downloaded ENBoost. However, new problems as a result of ENBoost have come up... Very heavy stuttering that makes the game feel almost unplayable at times, which seems to get worse/ more frequent the longer the game is running.

 

________________

I can run Skyrim on High and keep a stable good framerate. It's no Ultra x Modded game, but it looks good and runs good.

 

But then here comes Fallout 4, and the textures are random as heck sometimes looking decent and other times (especially clothes) looking like they were 2005 or something. Meanwhile it doesn't even run very well, especially in the city ruins areas where it very frequently freezes for a second or two at a time.

And this is with everything but Textures as low as they can go. But the textures look like trash regardless of having it be the only option set high. And I don't mean in the nitpicky way, they practically look like they're still perpetually trying to load in or something they're so low. I can only guess that black spots are supposed to be buttons or something based on context, if it's even noticeable among the smudge.

 

How can this game run AND look so poorly in comparison to Skyrim, a 5-year old game? I had been waiting forever for this game, only for this...

Edited January 31, 2016 by Sirenapples

[wax2k]

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/808/?

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/fo4/comments/3sb7c7/this_is_why_the_textures_look_low_res_some_kind/

 

http://imgur.com/P0N2aQg

Edited January 28, 2016 by wax2k

[jones177]

I have had the opposite experience.

 

To me Skyrim looks like crap without ENB. With my 1440, ENB setup looks fantastic.

I play Fallout 4 at 4k & it looks fantastic at that resolution with everything set to ultra but no antialiasing(don't need it at 4k).

Before I played Fallout 4 I did a replay of Fallout 3 at 4k & ENB. There is no comparison.

 

I agree with you about the cloths. At first I thought that the textures were not holding up at 4k but they look just as bad at 1440. In my opinion the artists did not know what they were doing & for management to let them out like that was a poor decision (I am a full time 3D graphic artist). Hopefully this will be fixed. If not by Bethesda, by modders. The load-in texture issue have improved since the game came out. I am hoping it is fixed altogether with the next patch.

 

I must admit I have not tried playing at 1080 since I can set everything at ultra at 1440 & still maintain 60fps. It may look like crap at that resolution.

 

When Skyrim came out I had a GTX 570 & could run the game on ultra at 1080 at over 100fps without vsync. Fallout 4 is much more graphically intense & I would not like to play it with less than 4gb VRAM. Fallout Performance Monitor tells me I am using 3.1gb max & I have not added textures to the game. When I do start adding textures to the game I will probably need to add RAM to my system. I don't think 8gbs is enough judging by my ram usage in the vanilla game.

 

My big beef is with the UI. I am left handed & I think they forget we even exist.

 

Later

[Username0815]

With all due respect for the criticism most of us agree to, vanilla skyrim looks really bad in terms of texture quality in many aspects.

 

I think you are having troubles with the extreme poor texture quality because your textures are not loading properly. The engine is sadly a supermutant on steroids and may be responsible for many issues dating back as far as morrorwind, especially shadows are devastating in downtown to any rig but sli 980+ if set on higher levels.

 

 

Fallout4 does have issues, and as a somewhat expirienced modder, I have no clue why the texture quality and many meshes are looking like from a 10 year old game. However, when you apply some of the main texture mods, i. e. anything from hein84 and his vivid series, + langleys workshop and a bunch of other small texture mods, + the early enbs available to fallout 4, I recommend subtle enb, then Fallout 4 looks better than skyrim in quite a few aspects already, despite the excessive modding the community did in the last 5 years.

 

In one year, fallout 4 will surpass skyrim in many aspects, but thats because there are alot of talented modders out there fixing it.

[Boombro]

"Why does an old game run better than a new game? I don't get it?" are you kidding me?

 

Skyrim looks like trash unmodified. Remove all textures, sweetfx, enbs, ini tweaks and weather mods and face the reality. Shadows are better off, hair is spaghetti and straw love child, shitty lighting, ugly gear models, overwhelming grey color, neck seams, ugly pretty much everything. Then you end up in ruins, caves, forts and mines 90% of time.

 

While fallout 4 textures are bad, I like the colors, the lighting, the face models, the hair, less crashes, many gear models, it more varied and complicated level design etc. The graphical pros of fallout 4 overwhelm Skyrim pros for me. And not because it a newer game, I played oblivion in 2013, never wanted an enb for something I already think is perfect even after playing better looking games. I don't play skyrim without one because it so dame grey and ugly. For fallout 4, I use a mod to make it look darker and adds even more color. Boom it perfect. Now waiting for grass mods.

 

Also, fallout 4 has way more graphical features than Skyrim, not as patched and denser in objects. I'm sure if you rolled an old Skyrim that is hardly patched, you will face fps problems.

[Sirenapples]

For more perspective, so people don't/stop assume(ing) that I'm just bashing how Fallout 4 doesn't look like Witcher 3 or Crysis or whatever:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/9FdZcXw.jpg

 

This is supposedly "High" textures.

 

 

 

It may very well be a problem with textures loading in. But... It already performs like utter bull (But not unplayable). Would patching it just make everything run even worse?

[jones177]

Thanks wax2k for the link. It makes a big difference. http://www.nexusmods...out4/mods/808/?

 

Sirenapples you should try it.

 

Later

[SharraShimada]

Generally http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/102/? will help you a lot (without messing around with the inis)

Second bethesda used to think it woul be cool to give us HUGE textures, even for the dumbest things. There are texture overhauls on the nexus, that changes unnecessary textures to lower resolutions. It makes a big difference, because it saves video-ram

 

I run FO4 on a i5 4460 with Nvidia 450GTS on Ultra Settings (slightly tweaked some features down) on stable 30fps and it looks great.

Never run a bethesda-game pure vanilla out of the box.

[Zero7Sum]

For more perspective, so people don't/stop assume(ing) that I'm just bashing how Fallout 4 doesn't look like Witcher 3 or Crysis or whatever:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/9FdZcXw.jpg

 

This is supposedly "High" textures.

 

 

 

It may very well be a problem with textures loading in. But... It already performs like utter bull (But not unplayable). Would patching it just make everything run even worse?

 

I can 100% confirm for you that that is a problem with texture loading. For me, ENBoost fixed it without hindering performance.

 

But I was really shocked when I noticed the strap on MacCready's duster is painted on. That's all I have to say about that.

[Deleted3507349User]

I'm also one of those that will say that vanilla FO4 looks tremendously better than vanilla Skyrim. My experience is also that FO4 has far less bugs and glitches than Skyrim did at launch.

 

411 hours total play time and I've yet to run across an actual game-breaking bug, either due to vanilla causes or mod-related. I've seen the animation-lock glitch twice. Slow texture loading only starts to be noticeable in larger settlements such as Sanctuary when I've built lots of stuff. I've had to quicksave/reload a few times when some activator decided to be uncooperative. Danse went swimming on his back in a floor once.

 

I'm running a three year old ASUS ROG gaming laptop with lotsa RAM and suchlike, so no doubt that helps. I'm also topping out at about 45-55 FPS max, so no issues related to framerate being too high. I'm not running ANY texture overhauls, ENB, or anything of that sort.

 

Here's my current load order. It's pretty light by some standards.

 

 

GameMode=Fallout4

Fallout4.esm=1
SpringCleaning.esm=1
Arbitration - Resources.esm=1
Damage Threshold.esm=1
SettlementKeywords.esm=1
Snap'n Build.esm=1
Homemaker.esm=1
RenRadioMod.esp=1
DeadBodyCollision.esp=1
SkjAlert_RS-.esp=1
BetterSettlers.esp=1
Depth of Field Removal.esp=1
free_downgrades_stubs_NoCrates.esp=1
free_downgrades_stubs.esp=1
CookingOilExpensive.esp=1
Companion Infinite Ammo.esp=1
Arbitration - Button Lowered Weapons.esp=1
Arbitration - 2x Cover Distance.esp=1
SettlerRenaming-Indicators.esp=1
TrueStormsFO4.esp=1
TrueStormsFO4-LITE-Audio.esp=1
TrueStormsFO4-ClimateSettings.esp=1
Impervious Power Armour.esp=1
Tougher Vertibirds.esp=1
Arbitration - Better Combat AI.esp=1
Arbitration - Farther Grenade Detection.esp=1
Arbitration - Stealth Overhaul.esp=1
Arbitration - Fall Damage Overhaul.esp=1
Arbitration - Compass Radar Reduction.esp=1
Arbitration - Molotov.esp=1
Arbitration - No Condition Regeneration.esp=1
Arbitration - Reduced Grenade Spam.esp=1
Homemaker - SK Integration Patch.esp=1
Homemaker - Greenhouse and Bunker Disabler SK.esp=1
SafelyScrapCovenantAndZamonjaTurrets.esp=1
D13SynthSpyDetectionElimination.esp=1
DD_I_Ran_Out_Of_Funny_Names.esp=1
DD_AIO_I_Hate_You_All.esp=1
Move that Workbench!.esp=1
WorkshopPowerOverhaul.esp=1
Buildable_PAFrame_v1.3.esp=1
ModelRobotDisplay.esp=1
NukaColaDisplayStand.esp=1
DogBed.esp=1
BrighterSettlementLights_LongAndSoft.esp=1
SC_ExpandedScrapList.esp=1
Repaired Sanctuary Bridge.esp=1
Screen Flicker Killer.esp=1
Workshop Shipments Rebalanced - discount.esp=1
WAYN_CompanionTracking.esp=1
Minutemenoverhaul.esp=1
AutoDoors.esp=1
AlternateSettlements.esp=1
Snap'n Build - Modules.esp=1
Snap'n Build - Capsule Paints.esp=1
NX Pro - Farm Core.esp=1
NX Pro - Harvest Overhaul.esp=1
NX Pro - Farm Core - Homemaker.esp=1
NX Pro - Farm Core - Spring Cleaning.esp=1
NoWildFruit (Dynamic).esp=1
AmmoCraft_Conventional.esp=1
AmmoCraft_Energy.esp=1
Conelrad 640-1240.esp=1
OCDispenser.esp=1
OCDecorator.esp=0
Realtime Death.esp=1
OWR.esp=1
1954HolmesianRadio.esp=1
RebuiltCroupManor v1.3.esp=1
RebuiltSomervillePlace v1.0.esp=1
RebuiltTaffingtonBoatHouseFullyRestored No Locks v1.1.esp=1
SatelliteWorldMap.esp=1
SneakPerkNerfMIDv2.esp=1
SneakPerkNerfMIDv2MinesTraps.esp=1

 

Edited January 29, 2016 by digitaltrucker