There’s been a lot of buzz around Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor’s ultra HD textures, mostly because you’ll need a minimum of 6GB of VRAM to use them. The textures are optional to install, only becoming available in-game after downloading a free DLC pack from the Steam store, presumably because the patch is 3.7GB for a feature that will basically only be used by people who have a GTX Titan. Well, we don’t have a GTX Titan. We have four.
You can judge for yourself, but it seems crazy to me that such a small change would double the required VRAM. I’ve reached out to WB Games for comment on what exactly is different about the ultra textures, but have yet to hear back. The prevailing theory online is that the ultra textures are simply uncompressed versions of the high textures. If this is true, the most impressive thing to me is how close to uncompressed the high setting looks.
Benchmark sequence — High
I started by comparing the two settings with the game's built in benchmarking tool, thus the fps counter in the top right. While you might notice some slight fluctuation in the max and min fps, both settings had a dead even average. I'd take that with a grain of salt, though. The LPC can slice through any graphics setting like a knife through butter.
Benchmark sequence — Ultra
I started by comparing the two settings with the game's built in benchmarking tool, thus the fps counter in the top right. While you might notice some slight fluctuation in the max and min fps, both settings had a dead even average. I'd take that with a grain of salt, though. The LPC can slice through any graphics setting like a knife through butter.
Benchmark sequence — High
This is the first image I could find any difference in. The hanging meat has a slight change on the wrinkles just under the fifth rib from the top. There are more noticeable differences to come, but they are so few and far between I feel the need to call out anything I could see.
Benchmark sequence — Ultra
This is the first image I could find any difference in. The hanging meat has a slight change on the wrinkles just under the fifth rib from the top. There are more noticeable differences to come, but they are so few and far between I feel the need to call out anything I could see.
Gameplay — High
After running the benchmarking test a few times on high and ultra, I was genuinely concerned that it may not take your texture quality choice into account. So I loaded up the actual game and ran through the first ten minutes twice, trying hard to replicate my actions and camera angles and cutting out any pre-rendered sequences and cut scenes.
Gameplay — Ultra
After running the benchmarking test a few times on high and ultra, I was genuinely concerned that it may not take your texture quality choice into account. So I loaded up the actual game and ran through the first ten minutes twice, trying hard to replicate my actions and camera angles and cutting out any pre-rendered sequences and cut scenes.
Gameplay — High
I was looking for changes on Talion's gold armor but couldn't find any. It seems strange that Dirhael, a character barely on screen, would look significantly nicer in ultra while the main character of the game wouldn't change. It is possible that Monolith spent a large amount of time optimizing Talion's textures already, making the diminishing returns of ultra almost non-existent.
Gameplay — Ultra
I was looking for changes on Talion's gold armor but couldn't find any. It seems strange that Dirhael, a character barely on screen, would look significantly nicer in ultra while the main character of the game wouldn't change. It is possible that Monolith spent a large amount of time optimizing Talion's textures already, making the diminishing returns of ultra almost non-existent.
