Half-Life2 and 3Dc??

Good question.
I don't know, but I have heard a lot of companies were very interested.

Improving detail by applying a normal map with the differences in detail from high poly and low poly models and compressing the texture to save memory bandwidth. Pretty good idea.
3Dc
 
Are you talking about what Unreal 3 Engine is doing? I highly doubt it will be supported now, but maybe implemented later.
 
BoS: Far Cry, Doom 3, HL2 are all using that technique. So is the Unreal 3.0 technology. The original poster was referring to a new technique for compressing the normal maps that ATi have impemented in the x800 range.

I suspect Valve may implement this after release (if they haven't already)
 
Oh, my bad. Well, In the pictures/videos we've seen, the textures were definately pretty flat. It would definately be sweet to see some virtual displacment mapping and all the other cool texturing effects discussed in the article. I'm not sure if my 9800 Pro would even be able to show that stuff off anyway. We shall see though.
 
A 9800 can happily display all of those effects.
 
Really? What type of performance hit do you think it would cause? I guess I'm more of a player than an observer. If not having every little crack and crevise show up in extreme 3D means having good enough FPS to shoot everyone in the head quickly, then, that's what will matter most when it's game time.
 
A 9800 Pro should be able to cope with those effects with no slowdown (depending on the rest of your system and your settings, of course)
 
I think they already said something about that in last years tech vid
 
thanks for that link Asus, I know am informed :p (well at least on the subject of 3dc)

oh and btw cool avatar hehe.
 
3Dc is a new feature exclusive to the X800 line of cards so 98 percent of Half-Life 2 owners probably shouldn't care either way if the game supports it.

Nonetheless, if Valve doesn't support it, I predict at least one thread populated by 9600xt owners (and nVidia card owners, heh) with a title similar to "omg HL2 doesn't support 3Dc wtfz0rz!!!!"
 
9600xt doesnt support it, and the cards have only just become widely available. i dont think its on valves priority list tbh - id rather they just finish the game as it looks fine the way it is...
 
bigun said:
9600xt doesnt support it
Click to expand...

Exactly... I mean that, the way this forum is sometimes, somebody whose card doesn't even support the feature will start a thread complaining that it isn't supported by Half-Life 2. Just wait and see. :)
 
I am. It's only on the X800 series. But to be fair, I think PMR was referring to a different feature.
 
Damn it. Does this mean I need to go buy one next year? :D I JUST bought a 9800 Pro a few months ago.
 
SubKamran said:
Damn it. Does this mean I need to go buy one next year? :D I JUST bought a 9800 Pro a few months ago.
Click to expand...

Same here, man. But my X800 should be arriving next Tuesday. What can I say? I'm a mindless consumer. :rolling:
 
SubKamran said:
Damn it. Does this mean I need to go buy one next year? :D I JUST bought a 9800 Pro a few months ago.
Click to expand...
lol I'm buying the X800 pro and a new PC :E
Hell!! I want to see what this 3Dc can do!!! :p
 
Play4Fun said:
lol I'm buying the X800 pro and a new PC :E
Hell!! I want to see what this 3Dc can do!!! :p
Click to expand...


3dc won't do anything interms of image quality, just add a small boost in speed in games that support 3dc and heavily use normal maps, very similar could be said about sm3.0.
 
Razor said:
3dc won't do anything interms of image quality, just add a small boost in speed in games that support 3dc and heavily use normal maps, very similar could be said about sm3.0.
Click to expand...

Actually, it will noticeably improve image quality for compressed normal maps, with no performance hit. The main reason for the advent of 3Dc is that S3TC and DXTC might be good at colour map compression but they're piss poor at compressing normal maps; they introduce nasty artifacts and muddy up the normal map. 3Dc is a far more efficient and effective method of compression exclusively for normal maps.
 
So the question that remains; How will valve use the 3dc-feature, will they:

a. Use 3dc to compress existing normal.maps - thereby giving 3dc enabled hardware a performance-boost.

b. Use 3dc to include higher-quality normal.maps - thereby giving 3dc enabled hardware a higher image-quality ?

Anyone know?

Reason I ask is that im currently planning to buy a 6800gt, but if the b-type (higher details) of 3dc support will become real widespread, I might change my mind and get the x800pro
 
Hey sk0t!

Welcome to the forums!

:cheers:



*One thing, As a general rule I wouldnt recomend dragging up old threads. The forum is busy enough as it is to be honest.

Oh and I am afraid I cant answer your question, but I am sure someone will be able to. :)
 
Thanks for the welcome.

Sry for dragging up the old thread, just though it would be better to have "all" 3dc info in the same thread :(

Wont happen again :thumbs:
 
sk0t said:
So the question that remains; How will valve use the 3dc-feature, will they:

a. Use 3dc to compress existing normal.maps - thereby giving 3dc enabled hardware a performance-boost.

b. Use 3dc to include higher-quality normal.maps - thereby giving 3dc enabled hardware a higher image-quality ?

Anyone know?

Reason I ask is that im currently planning to buy a 6800gt, but if the b-type (higher details) of 3dc support will become real widespread, I might change my mind and get the x800pro
Click to expand...

I think sm3.0 will get much wider support than 3dc as sm3.0 is something that all graphics cards will support over the next year so, Ati are just last in the pack interms of supporting it though. 3dc might end up like Truform, a pointless paper feature that developers really aren't interested in developing for.
 
marksmanHL2 :) said:
Hey sk0t!

Welcome to the forums!

:cheers:



*One thing, As a general rule I wouldnt recomend dragging up old threads. The forum is busy enough as it is to be honest.

Oh and I am afraid I cant answer your question, but I am sure someone will be able to. :)
Click to expand...



Dude......lets not bitch at people that actaully use the search function and dont post things that have been posted 4000 times.


mmk?


Welcome to the forums sk0t.
 
Asus said:
Good question.
I don't know, but I have heard a lot of companies were very interested.

Improving detail by applying a normal map with the differences in detail from high poly and low poly models and compressing the texture to save memory bandwidth. Pretty good idea.
3Dc
Click to expand...


Thx for link reading, never read about it in deep.
 
Whoa, Raziel-Jcd, your sig is waaaaaaaaaay too long there. I'd reccomend shortening it to the maximum four lines as dictated by the forums rules boefore a moderator does it for you. Just a friendly warning.

And, the 6800 doesn't have full PS 3.0 support, it's only a halfway deal.
 
crabcakes66 said:
Dude......lets not bitch at people that actaully use the search function and dont post things that have been posted 4000 times.


mmk?


Welcome to the forums sk0t.
Click to expand...



Heh, I guess your probably right. I better stop trying to help and just stay in the shadows like usual...... :cheers:
 
brokenjago said:
And, the 6800 doesn't have full PS 3.0 support, it's only a halfway deal.
Click to expand...

The 6800 only has PS 3.0. SM 3.0 on the otherhand requires the graphcis card to support PS 3.0 and VS 3.0.

Just as a FYI, only the X800 series will have hardware 3Dc support. The X600, X300 and all Nvidia cards will not have hardware 3Dc support.
 
blahblahblah said:
The 6800 only has PS 3.0. SM 3.0 on the otherhand requires the graphcis card to support PS 3.0 and VS 3.0.

Just as a FYI, only the X800 series will have hardware 3Dc support. The X600, X300 and all Nvidia cards will not have hardware 3Dc support.
Click to expand...

Bravo! :cheers:
 
Explain to me what SM means again? Sorry, I'm a bit behind on the times
 
brokenjago said:
Explain to me what SM means again? Sorry, I'm a bit behind on the times
Click to expand...

SM = Shader Model. There are two types of shader, pixel shaders and vertex shaders. Pixel shaders operate on groups of pixels while vertex shaders operate on the underlying geometry of an object. Both pixel shaders and vertex shaders in combination are refered to as shader models.

The 6800 is fully SM 3.0 compliant. The 6800 supports Pixel Shader 3.0 and Vertex Shader 3.0.

The X800 is fully SM 2.0 compliant and doesn't even attempt at SM 3.0 compliance. The X800 supports PS 2.0 and VS 2.0.

Now, people will argue to they are blue in the face which model is better. Each model has its limitations with the current generation of hardware so neither the 6800 or the X800 can be declared the winner.
 
hmm, the 9800pro don't support it, but the 9800XT does

now try to answer this, does the "radeon 9800XL" support it? it came with my pc and im still not sure what it can do, it dosnt appear on ati's site but the catalyst drivers work...

*edit*
blarg. it used to show up as an XL in the device manager, but now its a pro. guess it wont have 3Dc then...
 
You should try googling "9800 XL" and see what you find. A 9800 XL really does exist (to my amazement). Link

The 9800 XL is clocked between a 9800 and a 9800 Pro. Fortunately, everything is the same as a 9800 Pro except the clock speeds. If you ever look up benchmarks for a 9800 Pro, just take those scores and bump them down a little. You still have a very fast graphics card.

And no, your 9800 XL does not support 3Dc.
 
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