graphics engine

[xXCARL1992Xx]

they dont need to rebuild anything, they need to make the game use the CPU and GPU more effectively, it is dumping the whole load onto 1 core, only FMod currently has the luxury of using a different core then the game itself

[paulieGTR]

I'm not a coder, but my understanding is..
you just cannot take an engine that's built on the foundation of single core and with a reconfigure, or a few tweaks, make it multi-core.
No chance, a multi-core environment needs to have solid foundations that the multi-core environment can be built upon.
That's nearer a total code rewrite.

[xXCARL1992Xx]

if this was the case every engine had to be scraped and rewritten from scratch with every version but this isnt the case because this would be a waste, engines are gradually updated, SCS already did it with the switch from DX9 to DX11 and eventually to DX12 and Vulkan, all stepping stone you need to make the engine capable of using more then one core and the GPU

[paulieGTR]

I was talking about the graphics yes.
But I was also talking about multi-core cpu environment where it can fully utilise DX11 andor DX12.

What I was more trying to say was, better cpu code and true multi-core environment would enable better an updated gfx engine, that of'cos scs could build.
Moving to DX12 and vulcan, will be great. But without the proper foundation that can utilise it's features, we're back at square one.

[poozykrem]

The graphic engine we have now is pretty optimal IMO
Better option would be an engine which would require less performance to handle both games, but I don't know if it's even possible

[plykkegaard]

A change to multi core deals with the basic foundation of the game engine
It is not a total write-off but a redesign is the first step

[paulieGTR]

Yeah with full multi-core optomised environment, the gpu would be handled much more efficiently.
Then the gfx engine could be done after that. But there's no point in doing a better gfx engine with latest features or going to DX12/vulcan,
if the cpu is still pretty much single core.

[plykkegaard]

DX12 is win 10 only and not much has changed except for better multi-core support
Imo best option in the future is vulcan
And then you have the discussion of support for Mac but also consoles eventually

[paulieGTR]

hehehe... even win10 will still run on a P4. But yes, multi-core in win10 is pretty much way ahead.

[Some newbie driver]

Change to multi-core requires to re-define the game from the very base foundations yes.

And that's exactly what SCS has been doing for at least the last 3 years

Dumping DX9 was one step; DX11 code in the background for sure was made thin king on a future multi-core even if DX11 itself can't use several pipes to GPU.
Also the change to a secondary core of all what wasn't relevant for the real-time playing (all the AI controls or the I/O to disk are in a secondary core since 2 years ago)
FMOD has continued the process. Now the main thread of the game only defines the sounds it needs and lets FMOD libraries all the playback control. The code of those libraries is running on a separate core than the main one.
And for sure the changes in render with SSAO and lights now had been done with that same goal in mind.

People just have to had patience. Or leave the game if they don't have it and don't like it as it is now. But they aren't going to rush that neither change to any other engine out there because it just doesn't fit their needs; plain and simple.

BTW; the drawing distance has nothing to do with the fact that game loads from disk only the near the sectors. Loading from disk is a process made with enough anticipation than when it's necessary. Max drawing distance choice is made only due the performance of the graphic engine on rendering. The pop-up of objects could come from 4 reasons:

- Our computer isn't capable enough and loads things late on that scene
- The scene is too complex for the graphic engine to load it in time
- The map in that place has not being correctly configured an loads things when there's already LOS to the popping object
- The place where we are has a LOS over the max drawing distance, so nothing can block the fact the object pops in

And considering that SCS isn't small, but neither a big fish as a company; the more probable future movement could be go Vulkan to unify all the versions so they don't have to waste time maintaining code for two different APIs. Also the approach of Vulkan (more low level than DX12) gives more vantages to companies that do it all themselves like SCS. They can tune the API behavior a lot more to adapt to their specific needs than to using DX12.

Regards