Home Gaming Which platform does Shadow Of Mordor bind the graphics in best?

Which platform does Shadow Of Mordor bind the graphics in best?

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40

At least my skill in art now matches my skill in writing.

One game to find them, one game to rule them all and in the darkness bind them. Pretty much the sleeper hit of the year, Shadow Of Mordor has plenty going for it. Tolkien lore, detailed landscapes and a Nemesis System that gives the game a hefty tactical side. But is it pretty? Does it shine like Galadriel’s hair, or does it look like Gollum’s unwashed loin-cloth, my precious?

Depending on your aversion to Orcs, slaying them won’t exactly look too different at all in the comparison video from Gamespot. The PS4 and Xbox One version of the game is basically identical, with the PC version looking slightly less polished. Ah ha! But herein lies the twist, as the version above isn’t using the new ultra-HD texture packs.

Quick update: Alessandro is busy with a PC build of the game, and he assures me that it doesn’t look anywhere near as washed out as it does in that video. He started saying something about gamma settings, but I started drifting off and thinking of Hulk comics.

An optional pack, the Ultra-HD textures are a massive 3.7gb download, which you can grab here with this direct link. But you’re going to need hardware that was forged in the fires of Mordor in order to run the game with these textures installed. Monolith recommends a 6GB GPU for the maximum possible visuals, cards such as the Radeon HD 7970, R9 290X, GTX 780 and 780 Ti or Nvidia’s GTX Titans. Eurogamer has a detailed write-up on what to expect with these textures in place, if you’re curious and just want to show that Borg cube off in your den.

Otherwise, Shadow Of Mordor is out today for y’all. I’m happy with any level of graphics, so long as the game runs smooth. Unless it’s on old-gen systems. Urgh, back you hobbitseses. Aways from my precious!

Last Updated: October 3, 2014

40 Comments

  1. You get all my votes for that header.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      October 3, 2014 at 08:43

      LMAO was pretty good too!

      Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      October 3, 2014 at 08:45

      Yeah, trouncing the console never ever ever gets old…..

      Reply

  2. Viking Of Divinity

    October 3, 2014 at 08:36

    I watched The Totalbiscuit WTF is about it, The game (at the time, pre-release copy) Didn’t have SLI supprt, I wonder if it’s been patched in?

    Also, he noted that 6GB of Video ram for “ultra” textures seems a tad excessive…

    Reply

    • Viking Of Divinity

      October 3, 2014 at 08:43

      having now read that Eurogamer article, I’m convinced it’s all down to horrible optimization for PC. 4GB card for high settings, because it chomps up between 2.8 and 3GB… that does sound a tad ludicrous, doesn’t it?

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        October 3, 2014 at 08:56

        I think so, why spend time optimising when you can just say “get a better gfx card wiff moar ramz n00b!”

        Reply

  3. Alex Hicks

    October 3, 2014 at 08:43

    Hhhmmm – real question is: Is the PC version a bad port, or done properly? Visuals show that they did a very poor job of optimising (damn you chrome – I’ll spell it with an “s” If I want!) but what about gameplay? Control schemes, responsiveness etc – do you need a gamepad?

    Power graphics are the least of my concerns when it comes to titles lately …

    Reply

    • Viking Of Divinity

      October 3, 2014 at 08:58

      According to Totalbiscuit, the control is fine for the most part, but by deafult, “e” has like 3 actions tied to it, and space has 2.

      Reply

      • Alex Hicks

        October 3, 2014 at 09:11

        Damn it – Sleeping Dogs controls all over again. Basically designed for a gamepad. (Edit – don’t get me wrong … I love Sleeping Dogs; but KB + Mouse was badly designed)

        Has anyone tried out the Xbone wireless controller on PC yet?

        Reply

        • Corrie Botha

          October 3, 2014 at 12:57

          Shall try later with 360 wireless pad, a Xbone wireless is sadly a looooong way still to go before microsoft finally decides to build a wireless reciever instead of selling me a USB cable.

          Reply

    • Johan du Preez

      October 3, 2014 at 10:32

      Its not a perfect port but its way above titles like Watch Dogs. The game looks amazing on and the 6gb requirement for vram is bullshit. I play it at 4k with everything maxed and the ultra texture pack on my 7970 Crossfire with 3GB of vram and I run it at an average of 75fps.

      Reply

  4. Admiral Chief 0

    October 3, 2014 at 08:45

    Once again, the QC department FAILS gaming.

    And THIS folks, is why NO game deserves my day1 moolah

    Reply

  5. Admiral Chief 0

    October 3, 2014 at 08:46

    Header ALT-text lulz!

    Reply

  6. Thami540

    October 3, 2014 at 08:46

    Well that was entertaining. Best comparison vid I’ve ever seen :”)

    Reply

    • oVg Definitive and Remastered

      October 3, 2014 at 08:56

      lol

      Reply

  7. HvR

    October 3, 2014 at 08:49

    Notice this in a few videos now, shadowing on both console are still as bad as previous gen

    Reply

  8. Alien Emperor Trevor

    October 3, 2014 at 08:57

    But if we make Orc & not war, won’t the Orc come back stronger each time thus leading to more war? Think of the children, Darryn :/

    Reply

    • JJ of Meridian

      October 3, 2014 at 09:05

      You’re overthinking it again!

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        October 3, 2014 at 09:19

        Of course you’d say that, Meridian is Orc-country. Are you trying to be my nemesis?

        Reply

        • Anon A Mouse

          October 3, 2014 at 09:44

          JJ wants to make Orc with you.

          Reply

  9. Rock789

    October 3, 2014 at 08:58

    Header of the week! 🙂

    Reply

  10. JJ of Meridian

    October 3, 2014 at 09:07

    Being a member of the Master Race and just having bought a new graphics card, this actually doesn’t bother me much. If it runs well and is fun to play it doesn’t have to be amazingly crisp graphics. Look at Crysis 3. Looks amazing, but pretty shitty game.

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      October 3, 2014 at 09:18

      True dat yo!

      Reply

    • Sir Rants A Lot Llew

      October 3, 2014 at 09:27

      This man speaks truth. However it wouldn’t have been much effort to include slightly higher textures for PC from the get go. It wouldn’t have hurt at all

      Reply

    • Spaffy

      October 3, 2014 at 09:37

      I think most of us will have to play on medium anyway.
      It’s Crysis (1) all over.

      Reply

      • Corrie Botha

        October 3, 2014 at 13:13

        Atleast it gives everyone something to use as a benchmark when you finally get a new and shiny card, when I got my 560 I couldn’t wait to throw Dirt 3, GTA IV and all those games onto it and see how well it looks over my previous build.

        Reply

        • Spaffy

          October 3, 2014 at 13:35

          Dude, I barely get 60fps on Crysis with my 7870 OC lol

          Reply

          • Corrie Botha

            October 3, 2014 at 13:47

            &_& Damn that game was THEE benchmark back then.

            I mean if your PC survived that it was epic

            Judging by Cryteks comments doubt Ryse will the new one.

  11. Sir Rants A Lot Llew

    October 3, 2014 at 09:19

    He has a point about gamma settings. Too high and everything looks washed out. I generally tend to set mine so that darker colours are more dark. Helps with color tone and everything.

    That all being said, why did the game not release with better textures to start with? Again a PC version comes out unpolished. I’m getting real tired of publishers and devs putting PC on the backseat. I am not asking for the games to always look better. But I’d really like it if they at least come out with slightly higher res textures at the very least since PC’s are naturally capable of handling more textures. Not because PC’s are the better platform or any such nonsense but simply because that’s the purpose of PC’s. To handle games at higher res, both in screen real estate and textures. That’s where the joy of it lies. If I wanted my games to look like a console version I’d be a console player.

    Again. Not saying console is a lower or inferior product. But if my preference is PC which can handle more then I want devs and publishers to give me more from launch. Not wait till after launch.

    /rant

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      October 3, 2014 at 09:20

      WHY DO YOU HATE CONSOLES LLEW? …he said ignoring the disclaimers & sense.

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew

        October 3, 2014 at 09:26

        Because I am part of the glorious PC master race and console peasants are lowly and should be the ones to deal with sub 1080 and low textures *

        *darnit Trev. You tricked me in to saying those nasty things

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          October 3, 2014 at 09:27

          Tricksy hobbitses

          Reply

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew

            October 3, 2014 at 09:28

            lol

          • Fyyr

            October 30, 2014 at 11:46

            I think the main reason they don’t fully polish PC games is because in the past it’s the easiest to patch later. These days however with all consoles doing install onto a hard drive and connected to the net, that argument might be getting a bit weak.

  12. Sageville

    October 3, 2014 at 09:46

    “The PS4 and Xbox One version of the game is basically identical, with the PC version looking slightly less polished”

    I’m saving this statement forever, as is…..

    Reply

    • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

      October 3, 2014 at 10:25

      Screenshotted! It will go on my fridge!

      Reply

  13. FoxOneZA

    October 3, 2014 at 10:02

    Console 1 – 0 PC

    Reply

  14. Rags

    October 3, 2014 at 10:10

    It looks like some of the scenes the PC had stronger bokeh. In focus textures seemed just as sharp, but overexposed?

    Reply

  15. MakeItLegal

    October 3, 2014 at 10:33

    persoanlly i hope that the new standard for pc games is 4gig gpu standard , maybe valve would update all those 2000’s games at some point with half decent graphics

    Reply

  16. Gerard Matthews

    October 8, 2014 at 16:52

    I have this game on PC and it runs fine. Requirement for 4GB for high textures is BS it runs fine on my SLI GTX 670 2GB. Which only has 2GB video memory.

    Seems optimised and has not had any crashes etc, does not have an SLI profile yet cuz my FPS should be higher. Looks pretty and runs fine so I’m happy, controls work nicely (I have Xbox 360 controller for PC).

    Reply

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