Alan Wake 2's Latest Update Tackles PS5 Pro Problems, Includes Toggle for PSSR

Booted up the game yesterday after downloading the update and yes it looked so much sharper on Quality.
After I finish my Stellar Blade NG+ playthrough I will start with AW2 NG+, I was waiting for this update first, so nice it finally came out.

The fact that so many games have had to be updated to give people the option of turning of PSSR shows that the PS5 Pro was not ready for launch. Sony rushed an unproven AI upscaling feature out to make some money, and I say this as someone who bought the Pro

I've not tried this but whoever is developing PSSR needs to have a word with Guerilla games and see if there's anything that they're doing with their own upscaling solution in HFW, that can help with the development of PSSR

I kept PSSR on, yeah on a still image you will see issues but in motion those issues are non existent. Basically 90% of the time its better with PSSR.

@PloverNutter or there’s devs who have no clue how to implement it properly. Shift Up understood the assignment. Many other devs did too.

@PloverNutter More games look and run better then those that don't with PSSR. Playing Space Marine 2 this afternoon and it looks amazing on Pro and a clear upgrade over the base version. Almost like Saber didn't rush out the update and instead made sure it worked unlike Remedy, Ubi and Bloober.

aha, OK, so the fix is to turn the new feature off since they cant make it work properly. Cool.

Man, pssr seems to be quite the dud, especially in direct comparison to fsr.

@tameshiyaku not really though, there are multiple examples of games that achieve better quality with PSSR than FSR.
Seems like it currently struggles with some specific stuff, most of all low native render resolution.

I went back and finished AW2 along with getting the Platinum yesterday and balanced mode with PSSR on all the way! Smooth 40fps with ray tracing on looked and played so well!

After that, I went back to Hogwarts Legacy and tried the quality mode with Ray tracing, but I couldn't deal with the 30fps, unfortunately. So it's uncapped HFR mode with that game for me. I wish more developers would give us a 40fps mode with Ray tracing on instead of 30fps.

It's funny but I think this update is actually a -positive- for PSSR.
Since you can change the setting on the fly and the menu is semi-transparent, you can very clearly see it resolving much more detail and an overall cleaner image while on. So while detractors that simply read a headline will hold this up as "proof" that it's flawed, playing the damn thing will prove otherwise.

Also, that 40fps balanced mode is where it's at! RT + smooth framerate = heaven.

Omg! So the whole point of the PS5 Pro was PSSR and now all these games have to have the option to turn it off because it doesn't work!? You kidding me?

@Arkman I think it handles detail and upscaling really well, it just struggles as a denoiser. Which is, I believe, what an Activision dev solved in 10 minutes a few weeks ago. Hopefully it shouldn't be long before there are real solutions to that one issue and everyone can move on 😅

PSSR has been a PR disaster for Sony. There are far too many games that have needed to gut it or provide the option to do so just to fix them. Truly an embarrassment for Sony. And yes, it's also an embarrassment for the developers of the games with issues. How you could look at your game, think that's okay, and push an update like that out is beyond mind boggling.

@JokerBoy322 read @Ravix’s comment, the issue isn’t PSSR, it’s how devs are improperly implementing it.

@Ravix it’s a shame too many numpties are running with their narrative and are gonna completely ignore your comment.

This toggle on/off for pssr isn’t a good look for the pro.

Can Sony do anything to sort this out or is it just a load of cack? Or maybe dev problems?

@PloverNutter
Totally agree, a few games have this toggle option and it makes PSSR look bad, definitely rushed to market in time for Christmas.
I have some trust for Sony, well as much as you can in this industry right now, but they have definitely gone down in my opinion.

Getting the Pro in a couple weeks. Can anyone tell me if PSSR actually improves the image quality? I'm not too bothered about artefacts so long as the image is sharper / more detailed.

@MARl0 The vast majority of games run and look better with PSSR. Last week saw one of the best PSSR uses in Space Marie 2 what looks incredible with PSSR

Check out df new video interviewing cerny about the pro.

@JustCameHereToSay The people complaining are those who don't even own a Pro.

@DennisReynolds wish there was a list of "pro enhanced" games that show pssr good or bad effect. As I'm sure it's not "vast" amount as you say. In my collection alone it's definitely not a vast amount of good pssr games..

I'll actually list mine here:
Gt7 pssr bad
Spiderman 2 pssr good
Nba2k25 can't tell a difference
Silent hill pssr crap
Star wars outlaws pssr crap
F124 pssr good

Having said that when pssr is working it's very good, it's just awful when it doesn't, which is happening in far too many game than people like to remember

In my experience you always fined for smoothness and less blurry when panning around on PS5 Pro is still 60fps performance mode.
Or unlock VRR frame rate even better.

Then the games where you can toggle PSSR and go back to say FSR like Star Wars Outlaws show less fizz etc than using PSSR.

Even noticed this ND last of us remastered.
PSSR fence type scenery fizzed a little when panning out of Pro mode no fizz.

And I’m using a Sony A95L so no TV quality issues.

@PSDeckSwitchOwner @Dodoo the majority of games look significantly better with PSSR, it just has a few issues at the moment with a small amount of games. The likes of The Last of Us 2, Spider-Man and Ratchet and Clank look way better with PSSR on. Even games which don't use it like HFW look significantly better on the PS5 Pro, so it's not all about PSSR.

Personally I'm very happy with it as every game i play with Pro enhancements looks and performs much better on the Pro and even some games which aren't patched like the RE2 and 3 remake, run significantly better.

Also it's important to remember that the console has only just come out, I'm sure as more games are developed with it in mind, as opposed to just getting a patch will have much better implementations and PSSR itself will also improve

I’m generally happy with my Pro & all for choice if it gives people sensible options, but this is starting to get a bit stupid now.

We’ve gone from Performance, Fidelity (and occasionally Balanced) modes to Performance PSSR, Performance no PSSR, Fidelity PSSR, Fidelity no PSSR, Balanced PSSR and Balanced no PSSR - and that’s before you start looking at options for 120hz or VRR.

Who wants to have to watch a DF video before booting up every game? That’s where we’re headed.

@DennisReynolds definitely, maybe they’d be much happier if they were playing their games with some nicely added crispness.

What I don’t get is why Sony invested and invented PSSR, Guerilla games own upscaler in HFW on PS5 Pro gets the best praise I have ever seen from DF.
And when you don’t PSSR on PS5 Pro Naughty Dog games they look even better using ND tech.

Not sure what Sony are up to some marketing thing or future thing I guess.

What I have noticed the Guerilla and Naughty dog tech when used starts from a lot higher resolution.
And when PSSR gets used it starts from a lot lower resolution.
Concluding that using a lot lower starting resolution is not great for PSSR and it’s also proven not great for other upscalers like FSR aswell. Basically using a to lower resolution gives the poor PSSR to much work to do.

@Danloki GT7 pssr bad 🤣 first get a better tv then off to specsavers for a better pair of glasses.

@Jrs1 watch the df video, then come back when you get a clue. it physically looks like it's run at a lower resolution with pssr you can see the break up of track lines. Maybe you need your eyes tested ...pal

Actually I'll leave it conveniently for you:

https://youtu.be/l3cZ8IR1zPc?si=wS8F3Al08eX-9iJv

Skip to the pssr section. The noise he mentions with pssr, I find very distracting in a race game with many thin lines on the tracks etc.

@DennisReynolds I was discussing this with someone else on another article the other day - in motion is definitely where PSSR seems to shine the most, and as I spend most of my time in games moving...

@DTfearTheBEARD
RE Hogwarts Legacy Pro patch.
Try the normal performance mode but uncap the framerate - it runs significantly higher than 60fps, and not too far below the fps of the HFR mode given that you do get diminishing returns the higher you go, but the visuals are a lot better imo.

They also made a number of improvements to the normal performance mode for the Pro patch including LODs etc as well as PSSR, whereas in the HFR mode I think they just added PSSR.

@DennisReynolds That doesn't change anything about it being a PR disaster... It's well known that there are games where it's used well. 🙄

@Danloki What's wrong with GT7's PSSR?

@OldGamer999 Do you mean The Last of Us Remake? The remaster is a PS4 game

@MARl0 How is it a PR disaster if the majority of games are improved?

https://youtu.be/l3cZ8IR1zPc?si=wS8F3Al08eX-9iJv

Skip to the pssr section. The noise he mentions with pssr, I find very distracting in a race game with many thin lines on the tracks etc

He actually goes on to suggest not using pssr. The standard taa does a better job.

There you go all explained for the uneducated or the unaware.