Woah! DX11 & OpenGL.
Maintaining 3 different APIs must be tough.
[I'm not a game engine programmer, so I might be completely off with the following musings]
If you get OpenGL to run smoothly, wouldn't it be better to make it the new default?
Valve claims that their OpenGL L4D2 runs faster than DX9, even on the same Windows machine, check it out: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/
Windows @ DX = 270fps
Windows @ OpenGL = 303fps (sic!)
Ubuntu Linux @ OpenGL = 315fps (woosh!)
This way, you would also benefit from all the players with DX10+11 capable GPUs who are still running WindowsXP, because OpenGL does not care for Microsoft's arbitrary limitations. http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
Players locked out of DX10 effects still make up 13% of the Steam population.
On top of that you can add 3% Mac users and 2% Linux users.
...if you now consider that there is a total Steam population of 50million, you could reach 10million more with OpenGL who are currently left out and improve fps by 12-16% at the same time. (if your OpenGL version runs as efficiently as L4D2, of course)
I normally love to hear about OpenGL support, however I think it is a waste of time for you guys at the moment. There are still bigger fish to fry. Performance (CPU) still isn't where it should be. Most Mac users wouldn't even be able to get a good fps. Linux gamers are still a very small base and the platform is plagued with poor video card performance/drivers.
For OpenGL support, I recommend going the Valve route
What camron said. The game's performance is CPU bottlenecked. I for example have a GTX 660TI and I get 30-40 FPS ingame on 720p and all lowest settings. I still rock a 3+ ghz quad core but it's not an i5 or better so my performance is poop.
Imo all focus performance wise should be on reducing the stress on the CPU or just making it run better along with the cpu.
This is all good stuff though. Looking forward to the future of the game and I will keep playing it in the meanwhile.
you NEED a competative scene! i dont know how much you should support it but you should definitly work for it. the ladder/thingy you were working on seems to be a great step towards a bigger competative scene
Don't really know to be perfectly honest. I hope sales wise you all are doing well, but I will say you can't fund that by yourselves forever. Maybe if you where a bigger studio. You could try something community driven possibly or maybe a kickstarter (don't know how you all feel about those), or maybe seeing if MLG will host a tournament (I have no clue how that actually works).
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
@ezay Content, no matter how criticizing, is never disregarded or smothered or unwelcomed. Poor delivery of said content is.
Poor delivery will actually lessen the impact and absorption your feedback would have otherwise had, if it wasn't already poor enough to warrant an edit.
Just because there's anonymity involved does not mean civility should be thrown out the window when communicating with other human beings.
If you respond to everyone like you had a developer right in front of you in person, where your delivery would very well determine whether that developer stuck around to hear anything further from you, i think you would find greater results as far as others receiving your criticism goes.
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
edited April 2013
@ezay I'm not painting you as anything, friend. Just trying to inform you. Your post was rude/uncalled for, whether you realize it or not.
I can't imagine anyone being told that to their face being willing to stick around and hear what else you had to say.
Sorry if you don't get that, but those are the standards of these forums, and they will be upheld.
Now, no more cluttering up this thread - if you have any further concerns or inquiries you can PM me or the Admin who edited your post, GISP.
Sharon got practically virtually assaulted during the finals. Was a shame. Rather than put the onos (haha, get it? no, you don't) on Sharon, perhaps incorporate more female presenters. Spread the responsibility a bit. I don't think it's fair to subject Sharon to the same amount of NS2 Finals too often.
Oh, also, can I point out to the people complaining about the lack of Biodome map pictures, that there are some really nice pictures in the Natural Selection 2 Art Book, which is found in the Digital Deluxe edition of the game You can upgrade from the original version for a small amount of money Also! You get the soundtrack with the Deluxe edition. I rather enjoyed putting the soundtrack on in the background and looking through the art book in full screen. Was a nice experience
Good to see these monthly updates on the state of the game. NS2 has been my favorite game since I bought it a month or so after it was released. Even though some iterations of the balance mod got realllyy frustrating playing as aliens, especially in mineshaft when marines overrun crusher and cavern (hive in cave) - you basically get choked from cysting the map (along with when skulk movement was slowed down).
Other than that - great job so far! The only thing that's missing for getting new players up and running is an in-game tutorial. I doubt there are many people who actually have the patience to watch tutorial videos, would probably be good to have some sort of scripted introduction to the game that goes over basic alien movement/tactics as well as marines, etc. It really is painful to have 2 or 3 rookie skulks on your team who don't know how to use map, run straight up to marines, dont use walls, have 99 res and don't know how to evolve, etc.
Comments
Thank you @WildCat. Will keep you updated on both!
Glad to see that we climbed to the second place and that the game is still improving performance wise.
Other list also. Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Yeah!
Have you guys settled on a baseline OpenGL version yet? 2.1, or 3.x+? By now I think only supporting core 3.2+ would be completely fine.
Maintaining 3 different APIs must be tough.
[I'm not a game engine programmer, so I might be completely off with the following musings]
If you get OpenGL to run smoothly, wouldn't it be better to make it the new default?
Valve claims that their OpenGL L4D2 runs faster than DX9, even on the same Windows machine, check it out:
http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/
Windows @ DX = 270fps
Windows @ OpenGL = 303fps (sic!)
Ubuntu Linux @ OpenGL = 315fps (woosh!)
This way, you would also benefit from all the players with DX10+11 capable GPUs who are still running WindowsXP, because OpenGL does not care for Microsoft's arbitrary limitations.
http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
Players locked out of DX10 effects still make up 13% of the Steam population.
On top of that you can add 3% Mac users and 2% Linux users.
...if you now consider that there is a total Steam population of 50million, you could reach 10million more with OpenGL who are currently left out and improve fps by 12-16% at the same time. (if your OpenGL version runs as efficiently as L4D2, of course)
For OpenGL support, I recommend going the Valve route
Imo all focus performance wise should be on reducing the stress on the CPU or just making it run better along with the cpu.
This is all good stuff though. Looking forward to the future of the game and I will keep playing it in the meanwhile.
That sums it up, really.
At least people are saying something, games not even on the top steam list anymore.
when it gets quiet we need to be sad.
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
If only so I can recreate this scene.
This is true. it is just unfortunate that people who have good criticism can't seem to phrase it constructively and threadshit instead.
Poor delivery will actually lessen the impact and absorption your feedback would have otherwise had, if it wasn't already poor enough to warrant an edit.
Just because there's anonymity involved does not mean civility should be thrown out the window when communicating with other human beings.
If you respond to everyone like you had a developer right in front of you in person, where your delivery would very well determine whether that developer stuck around to hear anything further from you, i think you would find greater results as far as others receiving your criticism goes.
Just my 2 cents.
I can't imagine anyone being told that to their face being willing to stick around and hear what else you had to say.
Sorry if you don't get that, but those are the standards of these forums, and they will be upheld.
Now, no more cluttering up this thread - if you have any further concerns or inquiries you can PM me or the Admin who edited your post, GISP.
Or act like a gushing sycophant.
Sharon got practically virtually assaulted during the finals. Was a shame. Rather than put the onos (haha, get it? no, you don't) on Sharon, perhaps incorporate more female presenters. Spread the responsibility a bit. I don't think it's fair to subject Sharon to the same amount of NS2 Finals too often.
Other than that - great job so far! The only thing that's missing for getting new players up and running is an in-game tutorial. I doubt there are many people who actually have the patience to watch tutorial videos, would probably be good to have some sort of scripted introduction to the game that goes over basic alien movement/tactics as well as marines, etc. It really is painful to have 2 or 3 rookie skulks on your team who don't know how to use map, run straight up to marines, dont use walls, have 99 res and don't know how to evolve, etc.