http://hexus.net/tech/news/graphics/73273-intel-demos-big-power-saving-fps-boost-due-directx-12/ Come on then chaps. Start a project to refactor your code-base to use DX12 API calls.
While I agree that Planetside is seemingly among the games that would profit the most from DX12, I would guess that SOE is well aware of its capabilities and doesn't need a thread like this. We also don't know if API overhead is what causes the CPU load in the case of Planetside. Only in this case the game would profit that much.
I think the point of the article is, if you're using Direct3D (which PS2 does), then there are measurable gains to be made in terms of performance improvement. From what I've seen from the technical slides, it seems to be significantly better at threading and distributing the work load intelligently. The API has quite an overhead that just simply doesn't need to be there in this mulit-core world. That said, I would put money on SOE never updating the game to run on DX12. I get the impression they feel that performance is now generally acceptable. The resource required to sift through their and regression test probably wouldn't translate to significant extra income for the game.
PS1 was 'uplifted' from DX7 to DX8, I wish they would do the same here and go from DX9 to DX11. I believe originally, they developed on DX9 when DX11 was already out (if memory serves me right) - with the intent on releasing a PS3 version. (DX9 console) Clearly, that's not happening. (harro PS4) Depending on $$$$ really, is the determinate factor on whether or not they will ever update the game anything past the current DX9 'Forgelight' engine that is currently in place. It's an engine that they built themselves, and with their track record - I doubt there is going to be any easy way to 'uplift' beyond the current DX framework that is in place. If the Forgelight engine is capable of being uplifted, I really hope they take it into serious consideration. The CPU specs you need to run good FPS at in this game will break most people's budget, even still today on a game engine that is 2+ years old. I have an old GTX 285 ( only up to DX10 capable) laying around that I threw into my rig for testing and was still CPU bound in large battles. (i7-4790k @ 4.7ghz)
@icon, loving your PC spec. If the engine is good enough, I have no doubt they'll update it to newer DX versions; but I highly doubt they'll backport that into existing games, unless they've built their games in an abstracted modular fashion *and* can come up with a business case to test it all with said game again.
DX12 gives on massive advantage, no matter what CPU you're using: It's thread-friendly. I imagine SoE can't fully multithread the current rendering engine because there are a large number of things that DX11 only supports on the main thread. DX12 should allow them to properly multithread the engine.
Even if DX12 will be great: DX11 for Planetside 2 could be a great step forwards when it comes to performance. At least that's what I've heard about similar changes from DX9 to DX11, like they did with World of Warcraft or Project Cars for example. DX11 is much better suited for running multiple threads. DX9 was already old and outdated when they started creating that Forgelight engine. Especially when keeping in mind where the engine has to be going fast, at doing lots of calculations at the same time. Choosing DX9 was one of the less smart decisions they made if you ask me. It may run on more computers - in theory. In reality such old hardware won't reach the minimum specs nor will it make fun playing Planetside 2 on it. So SOE didn't reach more customers, but they lost a lot of them because of the abysmal performance, especially on AMD CPUs. At least until they realized that something needs to be done urgently after a year or so and everything was put on hold to start some performance project. I have to admit that it worked well, but could be even better by going DX11 or even DX12 when it's released. Not many other games come to my mind that would be better suited to benefit from new technologies which are provided by actual DX versions.
Well, DX12 is already available to some developers. SoE would qualify. If they were going to make an API change, they might as well go all the way to DX12. After all, any DX11 hardware is going to already fully support DX12 (DX12 is an API change, not a features change).
So we're in agreement then. SoE needs to refactor their engine to use DX12 API calls. Excellent, I look forward to the release in PTS....
This is a great idea and, while i am a fan of OpenGL. the new Direct 3D will be much better if it ends living up for the hype. Still, microsoft is known for lying and lying hard (remember those shiny new demos on gamescon? both sony and microsoft used PCs to show off the x1/ps4 games) (remember those direct3d 9 vs 10 fake examples? or the fact that they only dominate the market with their api because they used FUD when they had a chance?)
Maybe when Planetside 3 rolls around it'll support DX12. Of course, by that time, the current version of DX would probably be 15 or something.
So, if SOE makes Planetside 2 use DX12, and I use an i5, my game will run better? If so, let us have the FPS!
Assume what has been shown so far is true, then yes. The main point being pushed about DX12 is how it handles multiple cores, currently there is a lot of processing done on a single thread, and whilst other cores are utilised, processing isn't distributed equally. DX12 has improved this significantly, so processing is split and improves parallelism - which means, if you have more than one core, you're going to be able to get a lot more done at the same time. Somebody showed me a tweet from one of the SoE people saying they are working on DX11 updates, so perhaps we will see an engine update in the future.
Whilst what has been displayed is clearly an optimistic demo - it is on a low-end graphics device and it is an initial release, so hopefully once it has become established things will be looking good. OpenGL is going through a bit of a resurgence by the looks of things, after the debacle that was - but I'm fairly confident that there is a zero chance of this game being ported to OpenGL. Given that Sony provide a DX compatible API on the PS4, the only market that currently really requires OpenGL is Linux, and Valve currently seem to be alone in their ambitions for the platform.
