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I wouldn't trust AMD very well either when they are pushing a new API they claim is far superior and is used primarily to sell their solutions. 

That was years before Mantle was available.  They weren't pushing anything.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee416643(v=vs.85).aspx#draw_calls

 

Not sure if this really answers anything, but atre they perhaps talking about older DX versions and this has changed in the newer ones ? i.e. 9 vs 10/11

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee416643(v=vs.85).aspx#draw_calls

 

Not sure if this really answers anything, but atre they perhaps talking about older DX versions and this has changed in the newer ones ? i.e. 9 vs 10/11

The 2-3,000 was referencing DX9, but if you keep reading it says

 

Now the PC software architecture ? DirectX ? has been kind of bent into shape to try to accommodate more and more of the batch calls in a sneaky kind of way. There are the multi-threaded display lists, which come up in DirectX 11 ? that helps, but unsurprisingly it only gives you a factor of two at the very best, from what we've seen. And we also support instancing, which means that if you're going to draw a crate, you can actually draw ten crates just as fast as far as DirectX is concerned.

But it's still very hard to throw tremendous variety into a PC game. If you want each of your draw calls to be a bit different, then you can't get over about 2-3,000 draw calls typically - and certainly a maximum amount of 5,000.

I should mention Mantle will likely have a more proper reveal in the next week (AMD dev events on 11/11-14) so there's not much left to talk about until they release more details.

Also, Battlefield 4 hasn't been updated yet to support Mantle. It's supposed to be the first game to use it.

Also, Battlefield 4 hasn't been updated yet to support Mantle. It's supposed to be the first game to use it.

I'm interested in seeing the sort of performance gains than can be achieved and how easily it can be supported. If a developer like DICE can't do something with it then I can't see it catching on. Even so, without nVidia onboard we won't see titles really taking advantage of the extra resources available.

I'm interested in seeing the sort of performance gains than can be achieved and how easily it can be supported. If a developer like DICE can't do something with it then I can't see it catching on. Even so, without nVidia onboard we won't see titles really taking advantage of the extra resources available.

DICE was a collaborator on the project to begin with, so I'd think they wouldn't bother if it wasn't worthwhile.

 

-> http://www.slideshare.net/DICEStudio/battlefield-4-frostbite-3-mantle

DICE was a collaborator on the project to begin with, so I'd think they wouldn't bother if it wasn't worthwhile.

 

-> http://www.slideshare.net/DICEStudio/battlefield-4-frostbite-3-mantle

That was page 13 onward, if you want the relevant stuff.

DICE was a collaborator on the project to begin with, so I'd think they wouldn't bother if it wasn't worthwhile.

 

-> http://www.slideshare.net/DICEStudio/battlefield-4-frostbite-3-mantle

We'll see. I mean, if it's a 5% performance boost then I can't see many developers going to the effort given how few take advantage of DX11 properly but if it's 15-20% then it could really take off. I'm with nVidia at the moment but I really hope that Mantle does take off and is widely supported, as that will be great for gaming.

We'll see. I mean, if it's a 5% performance boost then I can't see many developers going to the effort given how few take advantage of DX11 properly but if it's 15-20% then it could really take off. I'm with nVidia at the moment but I really hope that Mantle does take off and is widely supported, as that will be great for gaming.

I just don't see why the devs would have even spent the effort if that was all they were going to get out of it.

  • 4 weeks later...

The new X game is just released.

 

http://www.egosoft.com/games/x_rebirth/info_en.php

I wouldn't recommend that given its metacritic is 34 according to Steam :/

 

I wanted it to be good and maybe it will be someday, but I'm glad I haven't bought it.

I wouldn't recommend that given its metacritic is 34 according to Steam :/

 

I wanted it to be good and maybe it will be someday, but I'm glad I haven't bought it.

The X games are kind of hard though, I wouldn't expect it to get a high score since most people wont like them. I dunno, haven't got it yet.

Pretty graphics. "Physically Based Rendering (PBS)". Basically, the materials like metal and leather look as realistic as possible with CryENGINE.

 

The X games are kind of hard though, I wouldn't expect it to get a high score since most people wont like them. I dunno, haven't got it yet.

 

34 is the Critic score, not the Users - http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/x-rebirth

 

General opinion is that it's broken, not hard.

If they are able to render the level of detail and realism they have on that video above in real time, with a sizable number of objects flying around...THAT would be impressive! I am quite keen to see how the visuals of this actually turn out. Crysis 2 was incredible, Crysis 3 was phenomenal - if this is like C3, this could really be what space sim nuts (like me! =P) have been waiting for!

 

Well at least the visuals...then they would need some truly open world gameplay. I yearn for the day that a space sim creates true random point-to-point hyperdrives. Start from wherever you want, go to wherever you want, and stop early if you want! (I dislike the fixed "warpgate" style mechanic, while I do understand the need for it)

34 is the Critic score, not the Users - http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/x-rebirth

 

General opinion is that it's broken, not hard.

I'll take critic scores over fans and haters most of the time.  I don't have time to filter out the crap.

I'll take critic scores over fans and haters most of the time.  I don't have time to filter out the crap.

 

that assumes the critics like what you like, which often isn't the case, and with niche games, they're likely to give low scores simply because they don't care for the genre and are bored. 

  • 4 weeks later...

Star Citizen is looking amazing atm and is pre alpha, i think as many people should get behind this as possible as its all crowd funded and just about to hit there $36 million goal. Its a space sim unlike no other and is being created by Chris Roberts (the guy behind Wing Commander and Freelancer). The dog fight module is still not released yet so we cant get into space atm because theyve had to rewirte the server code for missiles as it didnt work to well before. The absolute best part about this game is that the demon of games ELECTRONIC ARTS will never get there grubby little mits on this wrecking the game by releasing some unfinished half assed pile of doo doo.

 

This is a video for a commercial for the Hornet F7C by Anvil Aerospace (its a company in the game that builds ships). Its all ingame footage played at 4K resolution, yes thats right this game will be 4K to not cast any doubts when the camera jumps into the cockpit view all the instrument panels look the same (minus some gfx on some panels which will be included prolly when the dogfight module is releasd) in game in the ships you can jump into in your hangar. Here it is :-

 

 

Sure to see that level of detail in game youd need to run it at 4K but at 1080p or 1440p i think it would look just as sweet still. Time to do overtime cus ill need ?600-1000 worth of gfx cards to play this at 1440p/4K with a monitor to match. Will be released in about 2 years. This is not a pay to win game with buying ships cus they need to sell them to fund the game but is said you can earn all the ships currently out with in game credits within 60 hours so there will be lots of other ships in game on release that you cant buy with real money. url for star citizen :-

 

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/

 

Will make the x1 and ps4 look like a gameboy!!

There's a thread for this game, nothing you wrote here warrants a new thread. 

 

Also detail isn't dependant on resolution, sharpness is. 

 

as for not pay to win and earning everything in game, yeah sure, go play Mechwarrior Online to see what that means, it means you have to grind forever to earn enough for a new ship and you most likely can't bay hangar bays with in game credits, meaning you can only have a limited number of ships without buying hangars. 

Looks great. Is this game all combat or are there other elements to it like an economy and empire building?

 

I have always dreamed of a game like the old BBS Tradewars 2002 with graphics like this.

I read this on the Star Citizen forum from Chris Roberts. It was from December, But its very interesting and I thought I'd share.  It looks as if this time around we may see the biggest gap between the consoles vs pc.   If star citizen is highly successful I wonder how this will change what publishers do. 

 

 

Hi everyone!

I figured it was best to post this in its own thread instead of one of the many "Star Citizen on PS4, the sky is falling!" threads that sprung up this weekend after a PS4 devkit was spied in background on Jason Spangler (our CTOs) desk.

While some could view the 1+1 = 256 logic that it required to come to the conclusion that we were ditching the PC for PS4 as an overreaction it does show how passionate everyone is in this community about the PC as the best gaming platform, which warms my heart!

So let me say this.

Star Citizen IS a PC game. It will NEVER be dumbed down for a lesser platform. We will NOT limit the input options or supported peripherals to the lowest common denominator. We will NOT pass on features and technology just because they will only run on some hardware configurations.

I just upgraded my office rig to a pair of Titans running in SLI, driving a 4K monitor and a 1440P one (Thanks NVidia for the goodies!). We?re about ready to build the ultimate AMD rig with FOUR R9 290Xs and AMD?s eight core CPU driving a set of 4K monitors in Eyefinity (Thanks AMD!) 

You think that?s a good approximation for console, even a next gen one like PS4 or Xbox One?

I LOVE the PC as a platform because it is open, is always moving forward, with new powerful components (usually at cheaper prices) becoming available to gamers available every year. A $3,000 high end PC gaming rig of today wipes the floor of dedicated graphics supercomputers costing over $1M 10 years ago. People were amazed at being able to get Giga flops of performance. Now we can obtain over 5 TERA flops on a single PCI-E GPU!!! The PC platform is great because it isn't static. It doesn't have rules or some controlling entity that decides what will and won?t be in the eco system. If a cool new disruptive technology like the Oculus Rift comes along it can have a chance to gain traction and become the next big thing.

Because of this Star Citizen will always be primarily a PC game and will embrace the best and newest tech.

Some of you may have seen that we announced our intention to support AMD?s Mantle with Star Citizen. We didn't do this because AMD sends us lots of high cards (although that doesn?t hurt). We are doing this because it increases the ability of a PC to get the most out of its incredibly powerful hardware. Going to the hardware without an huge inefficient API like DirectX allows us to radically increase the number of draw calls in a frame ? At last week?s AMD developer conference Nitrous, which is a new company working on a next gen PC engine, demoed a scene with over 100,000 drawcalls per frame running at over 60 FPS through Mantle. To put that in context last gen stuff (and a bunch of PC games gated by DirectX) have been stuck around 2,000 - 3,000 drawcalls and next gen consoles (like PS4) can do 10,000 - 15,000 or so. We?re supporting Mantle to push PC graphics performance higher ? it?s been gated too long by DirectX?s inefficiency and abstraction, which has only gotten worse as Microsoft becomes less interested in the PC as a gaming platform. I would love NVidia and Intel to have Mantle drivers (as the API is designed to be non GPU architecture specific) but if not we would support NVidia or Intel drivers that would allow us to get to the metal (GPU Hardware) efficiently and take advantage of parallelism in CPU cores (for efficient batching of data between the game and the GPU). 

This is ironically the advantage the next gen consoles have like PS4 and Xbox One ? they abstract the low level hardware much less, so what is essentially a mid-level gaming PC of today (which are what the PS4 and Xbox One specs are) punches above its performance weight while Windows and Direct X do a nice job of handicapping the high end PC.

I'm supporting Mantle to push the PC as a gaming platform even further and negate one of the advantages of a console over a PC. Hardly the actions of someone about to sell out! :-)

As far as consoles go Star Citizen will never be on the PS3 or Xbox 360. As for the next gen consoles, PS4 and Xbox One, we have NO CURRENT PLANS, but my stance remains open and is consistent with the many interviews I?ve given -

IF the platform holders (Sony & Microsoft) allow us to update the code and data without restrictions and odious time consuming QC procedures, IF they allow our community to openly interact with each other across platforms then I would CONSIDER supporting them.

Why?

Well because then they are essentially inexpensive small form factor PCs with a custom operating system focused on gaming and who wouldn't want a bigger community of Star Citizens? If Sony or Microsoft are willing to let their platform be open, then I see no real difference between them or Valve?s Steambox, a Mac or a PC running Linux, all of which are platforms that I don?t think this community would mind supporting as they are all viewed as ?PCs?. In fact most Macs are probably much worse gaming machines than a next gen console (as Apple is the antithesis of what I love about PCs)

But this is a big IF as it?s asking a lot. To their credit Sony seems to be the most eager to embrace indie games and the idea of openness, and they chased us down to give us some dev kits to play with but we?ve been very clear on what it would take to get Star Citizen onto PS4.

And even then it would only be contemplated as a port from the PC, not the other way around plus we would require a financial commitment by Sony to make it happen. If some of the coolest features or peripherals don?t make it because the PS4 can?t handle it we would never gimp the PC version. This is no different than the issues you face in PC development ? we could be like Blizzard or Riot and focus on a game that works on the widest array of PC hardware ? but that?s not the spirit of Star Citizen. We are shooting for the stars both virtually and technology wise. For me this game is about pushing boundaries on all levels and is something that I hope is still breathing strong ten years from now. Instead of Crysis benchmarks when they test a new GPU I want to see Star Citizen!

One last thing to think about - normally developers "sell out" to a console platform (Bungie or Epic going XBox exclusive for instance) because the platform holder is funding the budget. Thanks to everyone that has backed Star Citizen we have no need to sell out to anyone! You've funded a AAA PC game that will compete with the biggest and best. By the time the game is officially "done", I'm pretty sure that the final funding will be larger than most AAA console games outside the very biggest like GTA or CoD - and our money goes much further as we don't have any corporate overhead or fancy marketing budgets. You have all proven there is at least as much demand for a high end PC game as most console games. 

So fear not! The PC is the platform of Star Citizen. Anything else, if it happens at all, will just be after the fact.
 
 
 
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