Crysis 2 'DirectX 11 Ultra Upgrade' pack coming June 27

Crytek is nearly ready to release updates for Crysis 2, targeted specifically for DX11 cards.

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While the original Crysis has long represented the benchmark of PC gaming, its successor hasn't garnered quite the same reputation. Crysis 2 shipped without support for DirectX 11, making the initial launch of the game not quite as cutting-edge as PC enthusiasts would have liked.. It appears that Crytek is nearly ready to release an updated version of the game, targeted specifically for DX11 cards.

On June 27, Crytek will release a patch (1.9) and a few downloadable add-ons that take advantage of some of DirectX 11's more advanced graphical tweaks. The free "DirectX 11 Ultra Upgrade" pack adds "hardware tessellation, parallax occlusion mapping, and several upgrades for shadows, water, particles, depth of field, and motion blur." An optional "High Res Textures" pack will also be made available for both DX9 and DX11 users. (It should be pretty obvious what that add-on will do!)

Many of the improvements are subtle in nature, but NeoGAF's Markao created some helpful GIFs that demonstrate the differences between the DX9 and DX11 versions of the game.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 22, 2011 11:15 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Crysis 2 'DirectX 11 Ultra Upgrade' pack coming June 27.

    Crytek is nearly ready to release updates for Crysis 2, targeted specifically for DX11 cards.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 11:32 AM

      AWESOME!!!! \m/

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      June 22, 2011 11:37 AM

      those gifs make it look like quite a nice improvement in detail.

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      June 22, 2011 11:37 AM

      That is incredibly beautiful.

      Now, if only I actually had a DX11 card...

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      June 22, 2011 12:07 PM

      So, now I can finally actually start considering buying Crysis 2 even though the gameplay has been dumbed down so far that my suspension of disbelief ends up simply being disbelief at how simple minded the game is....Tactical Options available...Oh look, there's a place they designated where I can be stealthy, and look, they're showing me where I can 'explore'....Oh, wow, I would have never thought to flank around and jump onto that ledge...Hopefully the price of this game will reflect it's quality in the near future and I can have some fun replaying the whole series later on.

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        June 22, 2011 12:13 PM

        Remember its a sandbox game, if you don't like the Tactical Options available stuff - don't use the tactical view eh?

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          June 22, 2011 12:44 PM

          Tactical Options=Tutorial for the entire game. The game wasn't even challenging. How hard is it to kill enemies that when they see one of their own is recently killed don't alert the rest of their forces? "Oh, I'm going to go investigate this corpse over here to see how dead it is then I'm going to just stand here and look around like a tourist." "Okay, everyone split up and take positions where we can't cover each others flanks and maintain complete radio silence so that we can't know if one of us get's killed."

          Tactical Options...pft. You don't even have to be all that tactical to plow through this campaign let alone actually weigh your tactical options.

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            June 22, 2011 1:12 PM

            So you say you can finally start considering buying it, but then make out that you've played and completed the whole game?

            Also if you don't think its challenging what difficulty level did you play on?

            Whatever :)

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              June 22, 2011 1:19 PM

              I played it on Soldier, you know, the one described as 'for experienced shooter players who want challenging enemies'. I also use gamefly and personally didn't see there'd be any noticeable difference between the PC version and 360 version in terms of gameplay seeing as even on the PC version in order to begin playing the game you had to 'press start'.

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        June 22, 2011 12:20 PM

        Yeah, it's not like that.

        The explore dots usually point out where a some collectable junk is located. They aren't needed for the core part of the game.

        The other tactical options are just simple ideas on how you can approach the up-coming situation. They don't represent the only sets of approaches, nor are they the best (imo). I tend to play more stealthy, and as a result primarily use stealth/hit-n-run tactics even when it's not one of the given "tactical options." Oh, and if you don't want to use them, you don't even have to open up the display.

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        June 22, 2011 12:25 PM

        [deleted]

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        June 22, 2011 12:27 PM

        [deleted]

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          June 22, 2011 12:55 PM

          Awesome huh. Ya, it was really awesome when I'd see enemy AI just stand there as I punched out his allies and he was just stating there's an enemy contact and man down. Then there's the times where they were literally walking into a corner. Then there's the part of where they'd come to an area, see a host of recently deceased bodies, then claim the area is clear and just go back to casually standing guard. Someone just broke into your installation, merc'd 10 people without you hearing anything, and you're just going to sit on your ass instead of alerting everyone else there? What's the kicker is that there were two of them. One was walking into a corner while the other was looking into a closed room instead of watching the entrance to the room and the stairway.

          Have you even played the first Crysis? If you compare the two there's no real comparison. One actually plays like a tactical sandbox shooter and the others is a dumbed down farce which attempts to bring sandbox elements into small limited areas which are quite linear in how you can approach them.

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            June 22, 2011 12:59 PM

            What difficulty did you play it on?

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              June 22, 2011 1:01 PM

              10 bucks says it wasn't Post Human

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                June 22, 2011 2:31 PM

                Yeah, no kidding. All Crysis games were pretty fun on their highest difficulties, but all sorts of bleh on their lowest ones.

                Post Human is the only way to go.

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                  June 23, 2011 7:16 AM

                  Isn't that a pretty big flaw in game design, when you have to play on the highest difficulty just to experience proper AI? The AI should be acceptable on Normal and challenging on Hard.

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              June 22, 2011 1:02 PM

              The same as I did on the first Crysis, normal. How does that even matter though? AI like that isn't even acceptable on the easiest of difficulties let alone in a game that's actually 'awesome'.

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                June 22, 2011 1:04 PM

                I thought you said you hadn't bought it.

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                  June 22, 2011 1:06 PM

                  warez + complaining = HOORAY !

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                  June 22, 2011 1:06 PM

                  Gamefly

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                    June 22, 2011 1:21 PM

                    So you played it on a console and hate it and now all of a sudden graphics improvement on the PC are going to make you buy it?

                    Sure.....

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                      June 22, 2011 1:48 PM

                      I don't hate it. I despise it not being better than the first and would be interested in eventually purchasing the PC version when the quality of the experience it gives is reflected by the price. In other words, it's a game I'd buy on sale. What's so hard to understand? I have gamefly and play games like this and send them back in unless the PC version is actually improved over the console experience. When I heard that the title screen said "press start' and saw screenshot comparisons which merely showed improved AA and some better shadowing why would I want to pay $60 for something I could experience from an existing subscription?

                      So, when the time comes where it's on Sale I can go back and play through it all again and enjoy what can be enjoyed. Why do so many people think one has to be oblivious to flaws of a game in order to enjoy the experience offered? I personally don't understand how people aren't able to see the degradation in quality and gameplay experience between Crysis and Crysis 2. Perhaps you've all just gotten so used to what CoD offers as to no longer appreciate these things.

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                        June 22, 2011 2:01 PM

                        DEGRADATION IN QUALITY AND GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE

                        You played it on Normal, on a console, and already sent it back to Gamefly. GG

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                          June 22, 2011 2:04 PM

                          hey I'm all for dogpiling someone but we don't have to pretend the gameplay isn't changed from the first in order to do so

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                            June 22, 2011 3:03 PM

                            Ok so I distinctly remember bitching about the changes to the suit functions before C2 came out. I played through SP and have a bunch of MP under my belt and I actually like it in Crysis 2 more than in Crysis.

                            While I'm in total agreement that I miss larger areas from Crysis 1 in which I could make strategic adjustments in assault and defense styles, Crysis 2 definitely has places (specifically after the start of Roosevelt Island) where Crysis 1 still lives and breathes. The starting areas of the game are much more tactically oriented, and thus, are more like small battles with varying tactical options stitched together by corridor shooter sections. The ending is also like this, unfortunately, or so I thought.

                            Still, it's not totally the sequel to Crysis 1, but it's one hell of a good shooter, and while it's different I'm not so fucking arrogant as to say THIS GAME IS DEMONSTRABLY WORSE THAN CRYSIS RABBLERABBLERABBLE

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                              June 22, 2011 3:14 PM

                              Ya, so maybe I'm overstating things a bit. It's just from the 'press start' BS on the PC version to enemies walking into corners and having merely a shadow of the AI that made Crysis 1 so fun my disappointment is just far greater than my appreciation for what Crysis 2 presents.

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                          June 22, 2011 3:21 PM

                          No, it's still here. I only recently played through it. I tend to have trouble taking time to play newer titles. People are saying higher difficulties will result in AI that actually behaves in a way that makes sense and is acceptable and I'll take time to try that out and hopefully that play through will have AI that can compare to Crysis 1 on normal.

                          It's kind of funny you quip about my playing it on a console. Considering it was dev'd primarily for consoles and the PC version is basically a port of that version the only thing I really missed out on was a mouse and keyboard and unlike many PC players I don't find a controller to be a clumsy interface hindering my ability to pull off headshots.

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                June 22, 2011 2:36 PM

                If I remember my (admittedly brief) stint through normal difficulty in the original Crysis before restarting on delta, the AI actually behaves differently on the different difficulties. It's not just a "less health"/"more damage"/"more accurate" thing, the enemies actually respond somewhat differently to what you do.

                Playing on Post Human, I'm pretty sure enemies stay on alert if they see a dead body, and will see through your cloak much easier if they're already on alert. I also haven't seen any running straight into a wall.

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            June 22, 2011 1:17 PM

            waaaaaaaahhhhhh just say you don't like the game and be done with it.

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              June 22, 2011 1:31 PM

              Uhuh. Ya, what was I thinking. I should just state that I utterly dislike the universe and gameplay Crytek made famous and admit that disliking a game because enemies might stare at you like buddist monks while you slaughter them or walk into walls or pretend that an area is clear while there's several dead bodies on the floor still bleeding is simply my personal preferences and are not glaring issues bringing down the quality of the game.

              Sorry if my outline of what's wrong with this game miffs fanboys who think it's the best ever and is totally awesome. Sorry if I expected the second installment of the franchise to improve upon the first rather than have areas in which they previously excelled be brought down to the point of being so bad that it's below the standards they'd previously surpassed. My Bad.

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        June 22, 2011 12:39 PM

        It's not THAT bad. I didn't use that cheesy crap throughout the entire game. You can still play without it if you want.

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          June 22, 2011 12:59 PM

          Why would I regularly use something I would mock so thoroughly when it's painfully obvious how inferior and useless it is?

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            June 22, 2011 1:11 PM

            What are you talking about? I said don't use it if you don't like it. Who cares? At least it's not forced on you.

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              June 22, 2011 1:14 PM

              I guess I wasn't painfully obvious enough in order for things to be clear for you. I did not use those options. I don't understand why you would think someone would use those options when they're mocking them and talking about how terrible they are. How would someone know how terrible they are without understanding something far superior to them? It's simply logic here and it's beyond me why you aren't able to grasp that on your own.

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                June 22, 2011 1:16 PM

                Soooo basically you're complaining about them dumbing down the game, by having options you which you can (and you did) ignore? :)

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                  June 22, 2011 1:30 PM

                  dude is fucked up dumb in a way. Leave him be.

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                  June 22, 2011 1:35 PM

                  No, I'm complaining that they designed the levels with those options in mind. They designed a part of the level to be used as stealth which was horrible in terms of covert tactics and that the covert tactics which were actually ideal were hardly difficult to use let alone challenging in any way as had been the case with Crysis.

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                  June 22, 2011 1:36 PM

                  can you tell me where I can find the option to create more than 3 enemies? I'm having a hard time finding that one.

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      June 22, 2011 12:09 PM

      [deleted]

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        June 22, 2011 12:46 PM

        Yeah, they took it off Steam, because otherwise Origin couldn't become the huge success that it is. :p

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          June 22, 2011 1:14 PM

          turns out its not that, it is because steam had rules that somehow got broken so steam wont sell the game anymore

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        June 22, 2011 1:24 PM

        yup got pulled from Steam due to DLC licensing thing.

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      June 22, 2011 12:58 PM

      hooray!!!!!!!!!! :D I will replay the game and after clearing a section I will wander around. I will check out the save point I'm at now and then start over!

      had a lot of fun in SP, it's always good to put the suit on and PWN

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      June 22, 2011 3:12 PM

      So I have until June 27 to beat the Witcher?

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      June 22, 2011 10:04 PM

      Woot! finally some goodies behind the downloadable content menu.

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      June 23, 2011 7:09 AM

      too late

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