
Originally Posted by
sheath
We just saw that most scenes in Test Drive Le Mans can be targeted below 300k per second correct? Le Mans is supposed to be the only Dreamcast game to even approach 5 million polygons per second peak. This peak is only achieved with full weather effects, trails and all cars on screen. Meanwhile on the PS2 we have in game samples of over 6 million polygons per second and this is comparable to the 300k polygon per second "average" of Test Drive Le Mans. Could it, maybe possibly occur to a developer that a level of detail engine might possibly push more than sub 500k polys per second in a Dreamcast game in the average scene? Should games have been made for the Dreamcast for a couple more years would more games have targeted 5 million polygons per second peak while averaging below 1/10th that figure? I see plenty of room for improvement in Test Drive Le Mans alone.
That Le Mans and even games like Dead or Alive 2 can easily be found to be running below 1 million polygons per second actually plays directly into my earlier assertion. The entire generation was "floating around" the 1 million mark. Either that or five million or fifteen million polygons really aren't the super huge deal Sony and MS would have made it out to be. Remember earlier that the context to my comments was Resident Evil 4 for PS2, which was reputed to run at 900k per second peak on the PS2 version and still "looks fine" to Playstation 2 gamers.
I see a lot of problems implicated by these facts. Really though, I just wanted all of the documented facts in one thread so the truth could be known. If the PS2 really is every bit the "polygon monster" fans claim it is I would have thought I would have been inundated with facts that support that claim by now. This has not been the case, and not for lack of trying on my part. I also assumed that it would be apparent in the average game, especially against the Dreamcast but also against the Xbox and Gamecube. I am not preventing anybody from proving the PS2, on average, outperformed the Dreamcast's in game peak in most games. I am simply discussing what is on the table. Multipass effects add five million polygons per second without increasing model complexity? Fine. Palletized textured polygons at a lower screen and texture resolution are just the same? Awesome. More sparks are better than fewer sparks or other effects? Terrific. It doesn't matter to me as long as the claims are consistent across the board and have actual facts to support them.