We know the PS5 will feature support for PS4 games via backwards compatibility and we know the new hardware on the PS5 will make sure these PS4 games load super fast. Sony has already shown off the loading time of the console in comparison to the PS4.
Up to now, it has been unclear just how the PS5 backwards compatibility feature would work but Sony’s updated patent has finally revealed more information regarding the much-anticipated feature.
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The patent is titled “Real-time adjustment of application-specific operating parameters for backward compatibility” and goes on to explain how developers can make sure their games are backwards compatible while increasing performance all while leaving the game code untouched.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#002BFF” class=”” size=”21″]“The performance of an application on a new device may be closely matched to the performance of that same application on the legacy device by tuning the operating parameters of the new device,[/perfectpullquote]
The patent goes onto explaining some of the parameters that can be tweaked. These include clock frequencies, instruction launch rates and more. This feature will let developers optimize their game so the workload is done on the hardware compared to the software.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#002BFF” class=”” size=”21″]“This process may be repeated until the operating parameters are set optimally for the application on the new system. To further optimize, one can adjust the execution of the new hardware to see if the application can be run faster on the new hardware without causing it to fail.[/perfectpullquote]
Think of all this as hardware emulation without the game code being touched at all. It kind of reminds me of an emulator that uses your PC power to enhance the specifics such as render resolution, frame rate, load time and more without touching the actual game. It is a smart move that allows developers to benefit from new hardware without the work involved in optimizing the game for PS5.
