Game Discussions Star Citizen Discussion Thread v12

[LittleAnt]

It won't. It won't make it into the code in any appliable form anyway so it's pretty useless to speculate.

You are just and currently wrong. You can find a lot of non activated references to the vulkan API in the current code.
They work on it for at least 1.5 year. They even have developped a specific tool to visually detect graphic differences between dx11 and Vulkan (pretty impressive tool with a heatmap).
EDIT : the heatmap tool

 

[Tippis]

My bad - I misread you talking about Doom Eternal - I thought you meant Doom 2016.

Doom Eternal is available on platforms that aren't supported by Vulkan. So there's that...

You are just and currently wrong. You can find a lot of non activated references to the vulkan API in the current code.

So in other words, it hasn't made it into the code in any applicable form anyway so it's pretty useless to speculate.

Also, difference filters are not impressive.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Doom Eternal is available on platforms that aren't supported by Vulkan. So there's that...


So in other words, it hasn't made it into the code in any applicable form anyway so it's pretty useless to speculate.

I'm sure it will be just a flick of a switch to activate it.

 

[Dooguk]

This Lumberyard using Vulkan thing has been talked about for at least 3 years. Flick that switch already!

 

[Ben Parry]

I'm sure it will be just a flick of a switch to activate it.

I mean, once it's done, the switch is probably going to need to be flicked, yeah.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I mean, once it's done, the switch is probably going to need to be flicked, yeah.

Not so fast. There needs to be a road mapped for that first.

 

[Esvandiary]

I mean, once it's done, the switch is probably going to need to be flicked, yeah.

I'd definitely be more concerned if you'd managed to create a self-aware Vulkan rendering backend that could flick the switch itself, yep.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

e: Oh, and...

That's a pretty bold claim. Do you have a source for that?

Maybe he's talking about software rendering

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Vulkan will not change desynch, tickrate, rubberbanding, etc. It will 'just' give better fps for old computers and boost fps on modern one.

If you just switch from dx11 to dx12, you gain some fps. If you really want to use the power of dx12, you have to completly redo whole pieces of your code AND architecture. It's a pain in the asxxxs and a lot of new games claiming using DX12 doesn't really use the power of DX12.
Vulkan can be chosen over DX12 for it's native support of Linux.

So, the choice of rewriting some parts of the engine or large parts... unless you really want to make a claim that the rewrites will be equal?

As for linux... really? You still believe CIG are going to do a Linux port? Hehehe

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Vulkan and DX12 actually have surprisingly similar APIs. Similar enough to trigger mild flame-wars about who copied whom (among a certain rarefied breed of nerds). The restructuring needed to benefit from one of them is fairly similar to that needed for the other.

Damn, never talk about graphics engines when Ben is lurking.

Well, i guess i have to concede that point. Unless someone wants to challenge Ben.

PS: Hope you have your exit strategy sorted for when CIG goes belly up.

 

[n4p0l3on]

of course vulkan and dx12 have many similarities, both were based on mantle after all.

speaking of vulkan though, it's evident that it inherit the same fate with opengl in that at the end, only few games use vulkan.

also, what API does playstation use?

 

[kilvenny]

I didn't check this forum for a few days I see nothing change we still beating a dead horse....
View attachment 182431

After a long night awake for most of it due to my son having a seizure I looked at the image first and thought it was a dead whale out of the water! I then realised when I read your text it was a dead horse.

 

[AkenBosch]

I had a far quieter night than yours and saw the same at first!
And I truly hope your son is better now.

 

[Ben Parry]

Damn, never talk about graphics engines when Ben is lurking.

That's my secret, Cap...

of course vulkan and dx12 have many similarities, both were based on mantle after all.

And THAT would be the subject of the flame-war I mentioned

 

[kilvenny]

I had a far quieter night than yours and saw the same at first!
And I truly hope your son is better now.

Thank you. He woke from sleeping it off a couple of minutes ago, he looks wrecked but thankfully with it again now. Tests were negative, so its a case of see if it happens again.

 

[Tippis]

As for linux... really? You still believe CIG are going to do a Linux port? Hehehe

Speaking of Linux: Roberts reaffirmed that while Windows is the main targeted platform for Star Citizen, the game maker will also be officially supporting Linux.

Q. What device platforms does Lumberyard support?

Lumberyard currently supports PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS (iPhone 5S+ and iOS 7.0+), and Android (Nexus 5 and equivalents with support for OpenGL 3.0+). Lumberyard also supports dedicated servers on Windows and Linux. Additional support for MacOS is coming soon. Please note that Sony and Microsoft only permit developers who have passed their screening process to develop games for their console platforms.

Oh dear...
SC for Android is probably the best bet then.

Also, PS4 devkit spotted over at CIG.

 

[MTBFritz]

I didn't check this forum for a few days I see nothing change we still beating a dead horse....
View attachment 182431

Its been twitching since 2014 Maybe Moles cow photo wasnt as innocent or funny as we thought?

 

[Surefoot]

1. FPS combat: NPCs can one shot you in the head. See #1 for 20 minutes a pop.

It's not a bad thing to get one shotted by a bullet in the head. No to bullet sponge characters. Wear a heavy helmet if you want to survive that, or dont get shot.
I have other gripes about FPS combat in SC (*), but that's clearly not being killed quickly by assault rifle rounds in the head.

(*) braindead zombie AI, massive desync, janky movement, totally random hitboxes...

speaking of vulkan though, it's evident that it inherit the same fate with opengl in that at the end, only few games use vulkan.

I would disagree, a lot of game engines have got a Vulkan renderer and some of them are using it by default (recent Source Engine iterations, IDTech, UE..).
Quite a few of the recent AAA titles are using Vulkan, including Dota2 which is widely played (i dislike that game quite a lot, dont mistake me here, it's just played by millions). I am starting to see the small logo in the corner of quite a few titles...

also, what API does playstation use?

Their own proprietary API (from Sony). It's similar to Vulkan in some aspects but it's still different.

 

[Mole HD]

Vulkan will (and not might) give better performance, not because it's better than dx12 (it's not) but because SC run on dx11. It's a generational gap. Vulkan and DirectX 12 have better support for multiple threads to send commands to the GPU simultaneously. And with Vulkan you can send commands directly to the GPU, bypassing the CPU. Rendering in SC is limited by CPU on a lot of systems in its dx11 version.

On games not optimised for Vulkan you gain some fps : here or here

But on games only made to use Vulkan, graphic intensive and tuned to use effectively the multithread capacity of Vulkan and direct GPU access, there will be a boost from dx11. And for what I've read from the devs, that's what they work for.

For now, it's hard to give a real dx11 vs vulkan comparison because games really using the vulkan capacities are rare and for most of them, they where not switching from dx11. For me SC will be the first where we will see this switch.

Nope...Red Dead Redemption 2 has been running Vulkan for over a year on PC, over 2 years on consoles...on the PC version, it gives the option to select either Vulkan or DX12 and the option to switch between both api's at will. I prefer it in DX12 myself but see no obvious difference in performance between the 2.

I can bet that SC won't give the option to switch back to Direct X either should Vulkan cause more issues than it solves...not so much now, but Vulkan sometimes has issues with Nvidia cards

 

[Surefoot]

Nope...Red Dead Redemption 2 has been running Vulkan for over a year on PC, over 2 years on consoles...

I believe this is a renderer path for PC and XBOX, for PS4 they would have to use the Sony proprietary API.

I can bet that SC won't give the option to switch back to Direct X either should Vulkan cause more issues than it solves...not so much now, but Vulkan sometimes has issues with Nvidia cards

That would not matter anyway: by the time it's released, a few generations of graphics cards and drivers will be past and done (i was writing "a few generations" then restrained myself from completing with "of backers"...)