pc gaming Why is 30fps in console better than 30fps on PC?

[Bingusara]

Hello,
        I'm new to this community and i really hope you guys can shed some light on this problem. 
Ok so im PC gamer with a with gtx 1070 paired with a 6700k CPU, so almost all the time i play games at 60fps. But with the release of some great PS4 exclusives like "Horizon zero dawn"  and "God of war", I tried some of these exclusives on my friend's console. I knew those games were running at 30fps but it seemed a lot smoother than 30fps setting on PC game. I searched about this and found out that frame pacing is the main reason behind this. (Also there are some theories that even console controllers can support in this smoothness)  

So could you please explain whether its possible to achieve the same amount of smoothness in a PC at 30fps?

[79wjd]

The distance from the screen as well as the input method (controller vs. mouse+keyboard) are the main differences imo.

[themctipers]

frame latency is always the same, FPS is mostly the same all around and optimized to be played around 30fps at all times

[ZcanKal]

As @djdwosk97 said, distance from the screen, the panels usually being 30 hertz anyways, the games were made to run at that FPS, etc.

[minibois]

IMO it's the controllers, not allowing the quick movements that the mouse does allow.

[MegaDave91]

Frame pacing is my first reflex answer. I see you've already concluded that is a reason.

[Stefan Payne]

22 minutes ago, Bingusara said:

So could you please explain whether its possible to achieve the same amount of smoothness in a PC at 30fps?

There shouldn't be anything spaking against it.

The only thing I can imagine is that the Games are made for 30fps and thus feel better while most PC Games are made for 60fps.

That's about the only thing I could imagine, besides that there is no technical reason for anything.

Well, maybe the Prerender Thingy...

[Mira Yurizaki]

29 minutes ago, Bingusara said:

So could you please explain whether its possible to achieve the same amount of smoothness in a PC at 30fps?

The first is likely that console developers like to try to guarantee an average frame rate. The other part is that because the time allowed between frames has increased, this allows a little more wiggle room for things like temporal anti-aliasing.

 

So unless the PC game has those in mind, it's not going to be as smooth.

[vanished]

It's entirely likely, especially if you haven't set your TV into a gaming mode of any kind, that it's running some sort of frame interpolation, meaning that although the console is only producing 30 fps, you're actually seeing 60 or even 120.

[vanished]

37 minutes ago, ZcanKal said:

As @djdwosk97 said, distance from the screen, the panels usually being 30 hertz anyways, the games were made to run at that FPS, etc.

TV panels are certainly not "usually 30 hz".  They're at least 60 if not 120.

[Frankenburger]

It's because console games can be optimized exclusively for a specific set of hardware. There are no unknown variables, which allows developers much greater ease at optimizing frame times, which is perhaps more important than frame rate. Developers don't get that kind of luxury when optimizing for PC, since PC's can come in thousands of possible different hardware configurations, let alone hundreds of thousands of software configurations.

[ZcanKal]

4 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

TV panels are certainly not "usually 30 hz".  They're at least 60 if not 120.

Older flat panel TV's are 30 Hz, I have some pretty old ones (1080p and 768p) and they run at 30 Hertz.

[vanished]

Just now, ZcanKal said:

Older flat panel TV's are 30 Hz, I have some pretty old ones (1080p and 768p) and they run at 30 Hertz.

They must be very old

[M300843499]

23 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

They must be very old

I run a Toshiba Regza which has a beastly audio setup built into it that is 1080i, it says 30hz but due to interlacing it actually outputs 60 frames just interlacing makes it render differently. 

[Stefan Payne]

4 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

TV panels are certainly not "usually 30 hz".  They're at least 60 if not 120.

50Hz for the old, analogue stuff in 50Hz AC Areas (like Europe).

60Hz in other Areas.

 

There is however the Pal/60 Standard.

[Taja]

I guess its the frametimes.

A console can have a more fluid 30 fps, with each frame being equally spaced. On the pc, maybe you have more fluctuations, meaning a more choppy experience.

[Bingusara]

Hey everyone! Thanks for all you replies.
So i guess PC games wont be able to run at 30fps as smooth as console 30fps. 

[vanished]

5 hours ago, Bingusara said:

Hey everyone! Thanks for all you replies.
So i guess PC games wont be able to run at 30fps as smooth as console 30fps. 

They easily could.  Enable half speed vsync (or whatever they're calling it) to lock into a perfectly paced 30 fps same as any console, and then run it through the same display with frame interpolation.  Obviously if you could just render those frames for real that would be better but if you don't have the performance necessary that's always an option.

[Bingusara]

11 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

They easily could.  Enable half speed vsync (or whatever they're calling it) to lock into a perfectly paced 30 fps same as any console, and then run it through the same display with frame interpolation.  Obviously if you could just render those frames for real that would be better but if you don't have the performance necessary that's always an option.

Hello,
             Thank you for this solution. But this requires a TV/Monitor with frame interpolation capability. And my current display does not have this feature. Is there a solution solely based on software? like SVP for videos.

I found this answer on GameFAQs where someone used SVP and a Capture device to get 60fps for a play-station 3 game.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/943433-deadly-premonition-the-directors-cut/66055858
But still this doesn't apply to a PC game scenario and requires you to by separate hardware. 
 

[Ebony Falcon]

Because moving camera with controller is a smooth co start speed where as mouse and keys is not it's sharp fast and jerky

also the input lag is less noticeable with controller 

 

get a cheap ass x360 controller and try it out for ur self

i played asslickers creed through at locked 45 fps with controller and it was fine 

[Ebony Falcon]

15 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

They easily could.  Enable half speed vsync (or whatever they're calling it) to lock into a perfectly paced 30 fps same as any console, and then run it through the same display with frame interpolation.  Obviously if you could just render those frames for real that would be better but if you don't have the performance necessary that's always an option.

How do u get frame interp on pc because I have it on my tv and films look way better than on pc because of it 

is there any software u can get to do it 

[vanished]

11 hours ago, Bingusara said:

Hello,
             Thank you for this solution. But this requires a TV/Monitor with frame interpolation capability. And my current display does not have this feature. Is there a solution solely based on software? like SVP for videos.

I found this answer on GameFAQs where someone used SVP and a Capture device to get 60fps for a play-station 3 game.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/943433-deadly-premonition-the-directors-cut/66055858
But still this doesn't apply to a PC game scenario and requires you to by separate hardware. 
 

 

8 hours ago, Ebony Falcon said:

How do u get frame interp on pc because I have it on my tv and films look way better than on pc because of it 

is there any software u can get to do it 

 

I would recommend just running the signal from your PC into a TV, same as you would with a console.  But if you don't want to for some reason, or that's not an option, yes, there actually is software you can get to do this, and from what I've heard it actually even works a lot better too.

https://www.svp-team.com/wiki/Main_Page

I'll admit though I haven't looked into it very far.  I know it works for video so it should be possible to make it work for games too.

[Bingusara]

9 hours ago, Ebony Falcon said:

How do u get frame interp on pc because I have it on my tv and films look way better than on pc because of it 

is there any software u can get to do it 

Try using SVP. works like a charm for video files. (If you get any errors try the FAQ in SVP)

 

There are a few discussions on SVP forums whether the technology can be applied to games. But i found it harder to understand.
Try following these threads and the links provided by others in these threads.

https://www.svp-team.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1926
http://www.svp-team.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1568     

[Zodiark1593]

With triple buffer V-Sync with a 30 fps limit, and sufficient hardware, it is perfectly possible to achieve a 30 fps gaming experience on par with a gaming console. Most PC gamers do not go through such measures however. 

 

 

A pretty simplified explanation, though this video should clear things up a tiny bit.

[Bingusara]

8 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

With triple buffer V-Sync with a 30 fps limit, and sufficient hardware, it is perfectly possible to achieve a 30 fps gaming experience on par with a gaming console. Most PC gamers do not go through such measures however. 

 

 

A pretty simplified explanation, though this video should clear things up a tiny bit.

Thank you!