[Dev] Overtaxation of PC Hardware

[MonsieurVerde]

"CryEngine 2 was among the first engines to use the Direct3D 10 (DirectX 10) framework of Windows Vista, but can also run using DirectX 9, both on Vista and Windows XP.[22]"

Unreal Tournament 3 is a DX10 game. It can also be installed and run on Windows XP, and there is a PS3 version as well.

Regarding the first sentence it seems that it would automatically run in DX9 if played on XP. At least, that is what the wording alludes to and the Unreal Engine 3 was designed around DX9 so XP users could run it.

And DX11 is not better optimised yet, beteleguzah, Civ5 is a good example as are most games with DX11 features which hog system resources.

Besides, as has been pointed out before...if SE is indeed running XP then they only have one option.

[Elkwood]

Most global companies should begin the migration to Windows 7 sometime this or next year. However most graphics and video developers don't use windows based systems for development they use apple.

[Soukyuu]

The engine was built on DX9 and the PS3 GPU only supports DX9. >_> You guys are asking for the impossible and Belgian is wrong, like usual.

DirectX is a windows API for graphics. PS3 obviously does not run on windows, so no, it does not support any DirectX version.

However most graphics and video developers don't use windows based systems for development they use apple.

This is no longer true. Graphics design was done mostly on a Mac because it had more tools for it, but now windows offers the same software, so it's a matter of choice in the end. And as far as video games go, it doesn't make sense to develop them on a Mac if they are going to run on a Windows machine.

As for DirectX10/11 games running on XP: yes, but they have a DX9 compatibility mode for that. WinXP does NOT support anything above version 9. There are some hacks to enable that, but they are just that, hacks. Running instable if running at all.

[Finik]

My comp is i7-950, 8Gb, geforce gtx480-1,5 Gb: the game was fairly playable on highest settings some time before March, but after that I see terrible fps drop in an area where many npcs are staying, also the picture tears off the screen. Needless to say that i have updated drivers. So, the game changed for the worse!! Dev team must remedy the defects asap.

[Ilean]

My comp is i7-950, 8Gb, geforce gtx480-1,5 Gb: the game was fairly playable on highest settings some time before March, but after that I see terrible fps drop in an area where many npcs are staying, also the picture tears off the screen. Needless to say that i have updated drivers. So, the game changed for the worse!! Dev team must remedy the defects asap.

I haven't noticed any decrease in performance, and I actually pay attention to my FPS, CPU and GPU temperatures. Not saying you are wrong, just that some analysis would be required to check the possible causes.

At some point soon after stabilizing the game, SE should start working on a DX11 execution path. In three years the game will look dated, but DX11 features like tessellation, high quality occlussion, realistic shadows, much much more complex physics with directcompute, etc. could really help the game age better, way beyond increasing resolution or antialiasing.

[MonsieurVerde]

I haven't noticed any decrease in performance, and I actually pay attention to my FPS, CPU and GPU temperatures. Not saying you are wrong, just that some analysis would be required to check the possible causes.

At some point soon after stabilizing the game, SE should start working on a DX11 execution path. In three years the game will look dated, but DX11 features like tessellation, high quality occlussion, realistic shadows, much much more complex physics with directcompute, etc. could really help the game age better, way beyond increasing resolution or antialiasing.

FFXI aged fairly well and it didn't have DX11 >_> I doubt this game will look dated in three years...until the next line of consoles comes out.

[Ilean]

FFXI aged fairly well and it didn't have DX11 >_> I doubt this game will look dated in three years...until the next line of consoles comes out.

Consoles? Pfft. MMORPGs are all about PC.

Anyway, XI may not be WoW-ugly but if you compare it with PC games from the year it was released it already looked like crap. Just look at the water effects, plain low res texture layers? that was dated the day it came out.

Oh well, I guess if you don't like the idea of the graphics really scaling up with the hardware there's nothing to discuss. Just keep in mind that in 2 years a midrange CPU/GPU will be running FFXIV like it's nothing, and unless they prepare the engine to support DX11 advanced features our super GPUs of the future will be idling unable to make the game look better.

Hell, I wish my knees stopped popping through my haubergeon but that's too much for the current physics engine. Meanwhile my GPU is sitting there at 55% usage, when it could be doing a incredibly more efficient and powerful directCompute physics engine.

[Kazahashi]

My comp is i7-950, 8Gb, geforce gtx480-1,5 Gb: the game was fairly playable on highest settings some time before March, but after that I see terrible fps drop in an area where many npcs are staying, also the picture tears off the screen. Needless to say that i have updated drivers. So, the game changed for the worse!! Dev team must remedy the defects asap.

You aren't the only one....game runs like ass compared to what it used to.

[Ilean]

And DX11 is not better optimised yet, beteleguzah, Civ5 is a good example as are most games with DX11 features which hog system resources.

DX11 is pretty much DX10 with added stuff, so it can be hardly not optimized enough.

However, DX11 features are indeed taxing, since they are mostly advanced techniques for extra realism and visual details. They are there to make the games look prettier and enabling them will cost extra cycles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPQ5V...feature=relmfu

Again, DX11 for the most part should be considered future proofing, as most of the people don't have the hardware for it right now. But again, I do believe than they should start working on it once (and only once) the game stabilizes. That way in a year or two from now they can release an improved DX11 engine and people with the hardware can take advantage of it.

[Peregrine]

Consoles? Pfft. MMORPGs are all about PC.

Anyway, XI may not be WoW-ugly but if you compare it with PC games from the year it was released it already looked like crap. Just look at the water effects, plain low res texture layers? that was dated the day it came out.

Oh well, I guess if you don't like the idea of the graphics really scaling up with the hardware there's nothing to discuss. Just keep in mind that in 2 years a midrange CPU/GPU will be running FFXIV like it's nothing, and unless they prepare the engine to support DX11 advanced features our super GPUs of the future will be idling unable to make the game look better.

Hell, I wish my knees stopped popping through my haubergeon but that's too much for the current physics engine. Meanwhile my GPU is sitting there at 55% usage, when it could be doing a incredibly more efficient and powerful directCompute physics engine.

Download the FFXI benchmark. I doubt any generation of computer will run this like it's nothing.