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Latest Comments by ShabbyX
The next release of 0 A.D. will have experimental Vulkan API support
20 January 2023 at 12:21 pm UTC

Quoting: play0adWith regards to Render doc, you have to change some options in the config (to enable 3.3 GL by default it's set to 2.1) You'll probably see that we have some heavily unoptimized art assets. Also, the lack of instancing, the number of materials, and the great variety in assets.

I'll wait for the Vulkan renderer to look at that :)

AYANEO confirm their Linux-based AYANEO OS arrives this year
19 January 2023 at 1:23 am UTC Likes: 4

I hope they do a good job, otherwise it's Linux's name they'll be dragging through the mud.

Bluetooth support for the Stadia Controller is now live
17 January 2023 at 11:55 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: rklI found a post on Reddit that got me further in the process on Linux. Basically, the controller's USB device doesn't have write access for your normal user

What were the group and permissions of the file originally? I suspect all you needed to do was to add your user to that group.

At least I saw this previously with serial ports and the dialout group.

Valve suffers a huge leak from various games like Portal, Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2
16 January 2023 at 3:02 pm UTC Likes: 3

Someone educate me, why should a leak like this bother Valve?

State of the industry: MSI offered a chance to win the ability to buy a GPU
16 January 2023 at 2:58 pm UTC Likes: 8

The state of the GPU industry is good for the environment though; people stick with their existing GPUs for much longer.

I wish this happened to phones, so people wouldn't be literally changing phones every 2 years. 'this' being shortage, not lottery of course.

My current little wish-list for Steam Deck upgrades
15 January 2023 at 5:02 am UTC

Hibernate would be slower than just adding a few seconds though, why not recharge the deck every few days if you don't play it (but somehow left it in the middle of a game you didn't want to quit)?

The next release of 0 A.D. will have experimental Vulkan API support
14 January 2023 at 6:21 am UTC

Does it have a campaign yet?

Also, nice, I might look at what they are doing in RenderDoc and give them some pointers (if GPU is their bottleneck)

The Steam Deck really doesn't need exclusives
30 December 2022 at 8:02 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Beamboom
Quoting: ShabbyXYour argument might only hold for a studio that is really tiny, but then their games aren't heavy enough to warrant a need for such optimizations.

The benefit for a small team is a fair argument in itself - depending on their ambition level. But we need not talk about theoretical scenarios here - I will allow myself another attempt to lead attention to the actual real world:

Exclusive titles on Playstation are typically *not* small games by tiny developers - it's quite the contrary - highly ranked and praised AAA games with a massive team behind it.

And if we do consider these real life examples and compare them to multiplat titles, from a pure TECHNICAL point of view they usually stand out and shine and often even quite radically so.

Unless you disagree with this observation I can not fathom how you would argue against this benefit during the design and implementation phase of those games. It's not ONLY because they are damn good developers, it's also because they can FOCUS on one stack and make the most out of that.

That is correct, God of War for example and a number of others that were really good games and exclusive to PS4.

However, correlation does not necessarily imply causation. I'd argue that these stand out not _because_ they are exclusive, but rather they were made exclusive because they stand out. I.e. Sony paid them to be exclusive because they are great games. They could have been just as awesome if cross-platform.

The Steam Deck really doesn't need exclusives
30 December 2022 at 1:12 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Beamboom
Quoting: ShabbyXYour conclusion is not correct however. None of the optimizations I or anybody else made required the game to be exclusive.

Hey, cool to hear from you!
It doesn't REQUIRE it to be, no. I am merely stating the benefit of focusing on one hardware stack, and maximise the utilisation of the chipsets and capacities therein with no consideration of other hardware configurations. And that, in effect, typically implies platform exclusivity. Or ports (a whole other chapter to discuss).

Or do you disagree with that the titles developed for one specific hardware (typically console) as a general observation outperforms the multiplats?

Well what I'm saying is that there was plenty of room for different engineers to focus on different consoles, and a sister company to focus on PC that you could have both have specially good performance on consoles and target multiple consoles and PCs.

Your argument might only hold for a studio that is really tiny, but then their games aren't heavy enough to warrant a need for such optimizations.

The Steam Deck really doesn't need exclusives
29 December 2022 at 7:24 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Beamboom
Quoting: Liam DaweI don't think the argument has much merit of locking to a single platform for any kind of performance benefit that you suggest. Optimization doesn't mean it needs to be exclusive. Optimization at the lower end can benefit the higher end too, and generally it does.

We do not need to think, assume, suppose or guess anything: The proof is in the pudding here. Just fire up any Playstation exclusive (of any generation really - I only have experience in PS, but I would assume it's the same on Nintendo too, maybe even Xbox), play it, then compare that to a multiplat game on PC, and do a side-by-side comparison of the hardware VS experience.

I dare say one is of a very prejudice mind if the difference does not appear as striking. The amount of performance the exclusive title is able to squeeze out of the measly 300 euro console is *ridiculous* compared with the PC that in sheer number game should run around in circles around the console.

While that same blinding difference is *not* as apparent on multiplat releases.

I mean, of all arguments AGAINST platform exclusiveness - of whom there are many and legit - I would say this is the ONE majr argument for having a game designed specifically for one hardware stack. And I honestly think it's totally fair game to admit so, while still being against exclusivity. Because the arguments against may still outweigh this advantage.

Let me explain why this argument doesn't work. FYI, I was a graphics engineer on Shadow of the Tomb Raider with a focus on PS4. You're absolutely right, knowing the exact GPU, and access to PS4 tools, I could do magic that made things faster on PS4 in a way that is unimaginable on Vulkan on desktop for example. So your assumption is correct, knowledge of hardware can lead to optimizations.

Your conclusion is not correct however. None of the optimizations I or anybody else made required the game to be exclusive. There were just #ifdefs, and the game was released on xbox and PC too.

TL;DR, optimization for specific hardware and exclusivity to said hardware are orthogonal