3D games lag but run smooth on Palm Pre

[Dexter505]

I just got the EVO and immediately downloaded Asphalt 5. This game runs smooth as butter on the Palm Pre but runs in slow motion on the EVO with some terrible frame rate dips. I have a friend with a Moto Droid and the game also runs smooth. I thought the EVO was suppose to be a more powerful device?

Good thing the games can be returned.

 

[MannyZ28]

You are lucky you bought the only game from Gameloft that can be purchased in the Android Market, because all the other games they offer have to be purchased on their website and there are no refunds there.

This topic has been discussed in quite a few threads (just search for 3d games), but the short version is that the GPU in the Snapdragon, a AMD Z430, while capable, is not quite as fast as the ones found in the iPhone and Pre. Of the two, the iPhone has the fastest version followed by a slightly slower one in the Pre. In either case, they both use a version of the PowerVR chipset. Qualcomm couldn't use that because of licensing issues as far as I understand it. Anyhow, the Z430 should be capable of playing these games smoothly, however, Gameloft just did a straight port without optimizing the code. Since the game was initially written for the iPhone, it runs quite well on the Pre because it has the same family of GPU, but not so well for the Z430. I am hoping that new developers will optimize for the Snapdragon/Z430 a bit better.

 

[Yourdogsdead]

Not in the graphics department. The Pre and Moto Droid outclass the Evo in GPU power.

 

[Dexter505]

I did not know this. So the phone has a fast processor but a weak GPU so high end games on this phone isn't going to happen? Maybe I should save my upgrade for something better that can do both.

 

[Yourdogsdead]

I did not know this. So the phone has a fast processor but a weak GPU so high end games on this phone isn't going to happen? Maybe I should save my upgrade for something better that can do both.

It's not that much weaker. It just sounds like a problem of code optimization. I am sure when the devs aren't looking to make a cheap buck they will actually port it over correctly.

 

[Dexter505]

How is that going to work? Have different version of the game for different devices? I don't see it happening.

 

[Yourdogsdead]

How is that going to work? Have different version of the game for different devices? I don't see it happening.

No, but Android and Iphone OS use different coding languages. They just need to optimize it for Java a little better.

 

[Jordus]

Personally I didnt buy this phone for gaming at all.

games played well on the Pre but the entire gaming thing was, at best, a novelty to me.

 

[mmmtacos]

will the JIT from Froyo fix this? or is my understanding of the JIT wrong.

 

[Yourdogsdead]

will the JIT from Froyo fix this? or is my understanding of the JIT wrong.

As far as I can tell, the JIT is just for java and won't effect the OpenGL API which is what powers the graphics on Android. I could be wrong, I just a little research using google.

 

[Kedar]

will the JIT from Froyo fix this? or is my understanding of the JIT wrong.

This should help as it does improve framerate in 3d games.
I hope games do get optimized for snapdragon processors as the nexus one, incredible, and the evo all use it.

 

[storino03]

Yeah, I noticed this with Asphalt 5 on the Evo. Kind of sucks as it ruins the gameplay considerably.

 

[clubtech]

Have you guys downloaded Asphalt 5 from the market or from other places?
The market version was recently updated and it is reported to run smoothly on the EVO.

 

[storino03]

O_O I'll have to check it out

 

[MannyZ28]

Oh really? Asphalt 5 got updated? Hmm... money back on that one, right? lol

I just played Dungeon Hunter on both my Pre and my Evo and was able to do a head to head comparison.

Framerate:

It's a toss up, the game runs fine on both, but maybe just a hair faster on the Pre.

Graphics:

Believe it or not, there is quite a significant difference in how these games look. On the Evo, the characters look much less pixelated than on the Pre, and somewhat more detailed. The environment looks different too, the Dungeons especially look darker on the Pre, and you have more ambient lighting. For example, as you walk through the dark dungeons, the Fairy lights things up a bit as you walk, this effect is pretty much non existant on the Evo version, maybe that's why they made the Dungeons so much brighter on the Evo. Also, the dungeon textures look less detailed and more washed out than on the Pre. Any object that you can interact with sort of sticks out like a sore thumb when sitting next to the rather washed out textures of the floor. So as far as looks go, the Pre just looks more detailed.

Size:

We all know who wins that one. I haven't played the Pre version in a long while, and when going back to it from playing on the Evo, the difference was dramatic.

Playability:

Here too does the evo reign supreme. With all that real estate it's quite a bit easier to control your dude on the screen than it is on the Pre. It also helps that the Evos screen is much more responsive.

Overall Winner: Evo

Yeah it sucks that the textures are not as nice on the Pre, but overall, the game is much more enjoyable on the Evo. I found myself getting a bit of a headache playing on the Pre becaues everything is so damn small. I have never seen the iPhone version, but I suppose it probably is the best compromise between graphics quality and screen size, but even with it's 3.5" screen, after seeing the largeness of the Evo, it's still gonna be tough to pick a winner between the Evo and the iPhone version.

I just wish the Evo would have gotten the next gen PowerVR GPU that the Samsung Galaxy S has, that would have made it an even better platform for gaming.

 

[MannyZ28]

O_O I'll have to check it out

Sweet, will ya report back to us to let us know what you found?

I wonder how this is going to work with Gameloft games purchased from them, will they have in game updates maybe? Or, the more likely scenario, there won't be any updates at all...

 

[Dexter505]

Have you guys downloaded Asphalt 5 from the market or from other places?
The market version was recently updated and it is reported to run smoothly on the EVO.

I downloaded it just yesterday.

 

[Auzo]

Has anyone considered that its more GPU tasking to run a game at 800 x 480 (EVO) vs running at 480 x 320 (Iphone and Pre). With everything else being equal wouldn't the FPS of the EVO have to be lower since its having to process 2.5 times the number of pixels that the pre and Iphone have to?

 

[Dexter505]

I don't know. I just did some research and every phone with snapdragon seems to lag. People are reporting the same problem with the Nexus One and Incredible so I don't think resolution has anything to do with it. The game probably runs at a standard resolution anyway

 

[Auzo]

All those phones you mention have a resolution of 800 x 480.

A fair comparison is the droid since it has a similar resolution. Apparently it runs better than the snapdragon'd phones so there could be more to it than just the resolution. But believe me FPS is directly tied to screen resoultion. I know that because I am a PC gamer