Weekly Steam News (24/06/05)

[KagePrototype]

Another weekly update has been released over Steam, mostly concerning itself with The Loast Coast.

We're getting much closer to having Lost Coast ready to release. Originally planned as a section of the Highway 17 chapter of Half-Life 2, Lost Coast is a playable technology showcase that introduces High Dynamic Range lighting to the Source engine.

[br]Once Lost Coast is released, we will include HDR in our future product releases. For instance, Day of Defeat: Source will feature HDR lighting for all of its levels the day it is released.

[br]One of the fundamental pieces of HDR rendering lies in "dynamic tonemapping." In the Source engine, by varying the exposure of a scene based on how much light is visible, we can accurately simulate a range of brightness that is beyond what a computer monitor is physically capable of displaying. A real-world example of this effect happens every time you walk from a very dark room to an outdoor area with very bright sunlight -- your eye takes a few moments to adjust to the variance in the amount of light hitting the retina. If you have a video card that supports HDR, you'll be able to see this in the engine when Lost Coast is released.

[br]Static screenshots of HDR fail to capture this effect, but if you click on this image you can watch it happen in a scene from the Lost Coast. Note that the left-hand side of the screen is running in Fixed Aperture (non-HDR) mode, and the right-hand side with High Dynamic Range.

Click here to see HDR in action. To view the update yourself, restart your Steam client.

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

Valve love their HDR

 

[BlackMesaDude]

Video is crap, im sure once we all play it will be much better.

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

The video does'nt seem to show it off that well in my opinion..


But you can see a difference, particulaly if you look at the water and seebed where the player is walking.



I'm sure we will know the difference better when we see it for ourselves.

 

[wilka91]

If you have a video card that supports HDR, you'll be able to see this in the engine when Lost Coast is released.

OK now what cards support that thing? X800 Pro is okay right?

 

[Hectic Glenn]

OK now what cards support that thing? X800 Pro is okay right?

nope 7800GTX and above only

I think the video is pretty good, look at the water and especially the rocks on the right hand side, you can see the glistening edges, looks damn good. Although i'm not that excited...unless lost coast contains a big playable section. I don't wanna have to wait all this time for a 3 minute map

 

[mr.pink]

I think this video doesn't give the real difference between HDR ON/OFF.

Exposure Control (mentioned in the steam news), is only 1 of the features of VALVe's implementation of HDR.
The left side of the screen has fixed aperture, but it has enabled all the other graphic features like: HDR Water Reflection/Refraction, HDR Cube Maps, HDR Skybox.. so they seem very similar each other.

besides when Valve says "last generation video cards is required" ; it means for running Lost Coast in all its splendour and not for just runnig it. So i think there willl be no problem to enjoy it without a GeForce 7!

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

besides when Valve says "last generation video cards is required" ; it means for running Lost Coast in all its splendour and not for just runnig it. So i think there willl be no problem to enjoy it without a GeForce 7!

It's not just a normal level with HDR though, all the texture resolutions are really hight etc. as well.

 

[wilka91]

Valve says :
"We're getting much closer to having Lost Coast ready to release."

And ATI said the R520 will be released in late summer.

I think it's fair to say that the Lost Coast will run on X800's

 

[WritingARequiem]

After reading this, I'm still confused as to the availability of HDR for the rest of Half-Life 2. It sounded like they wouldn't implement it, but does anyone know....fo sho?

 

[alphadec]

Hope I don't get floged for asking this question.... but

If u don't have it can we still play it.... but no hdr. ?

 

[bigdeezy23]

I'm so over this whole Lost Coast extravaganza. Everyone is clamoring for this minilevel, but you know what I say? BIG DEAL.

 

[Kyorisu]

Hope I don't get floged for asking this question.... but

If u don't have it can we still play it.... but no hdr. ?

Ofcourse you can still play the levels.

 

[zodiak]

I'm so over this whole Lost Coast extravaganza. Everyone is clamoring for this minilevel, but you know what I say? BIG DEAL.

Much rather have DoD:s my self.:naughty:

 

[Smigit]

After reading this, I'm still confused as to the availability of HDR for the rest of Half-Life 2. It sounded like they wouldn't implement it, but does anyone know....fo sho?

no, but they will in the expansion packs

Knowing how Valve love to update old things, DoD, HL: S, CS: S ect, perhaps in 2015 they will add it to Half-Life 2 also.

 

[Avernus]

If your card is fully DX9 compliant, you'll be able to view the full beauty of HDR. The first card that came out with full DX9 was the Radeon 9700 pro, about 2 years ago. I know this because I happen to have that card. I don't expect the Lost Coast to run well for me, but I know it will run. (Lost Coast also includes some heavy duty scenery, and very high textures, you need quite the monster machine to play this upcoming level with nice fps).

Of more interest to me, is the fact that they've just announced that DoD:S is going to be HDR.... now that is cool like :afro:

 

[Insano]

It will be ready just in time for my new pc in September

 

[jet jaguar]

I'm so over this whole Lost Coast extravaganza. Everyone is clamoring for this minilevel, but you know what I say? BIG DEAL.

Preach on Brother Beavis!

I'd rather have DoD:Source. All I can see HDR doing is blinding me while AI controlled enemies shoot me with ease.

 

[Geogriffith]

Yeah, but DOS:S is going to have HDR as well. So it'll be player controlled enemies shooting you with ease while you're blinded

 

[dogboy73]

I'm not that excited...unless lost coast contains a big playable section. I don't wanna have to wait all this time for a 3 minute map

Have Valve actually said anything about the length of The Lost Coast? They keep pointing out that this is really a playable demo for the new HDR technology so I can't see it being that long somehow.

It's Aftermath I'm really waiting for. At least I know I be able to run that okay. Still not convinced my system will cope with The Lost Coast.

 

[Asuka]

Very cool news. And for the people asking the cards that can run this are all geforce 6+ and the 7+ will run HDR/PS3.0. That video wasnt showing off hdr that well but if you see it in closed areas or while playing it looks insane.

 

[wilka91]

If your card is fully DX9 compliant, you'll be able to view the full beauty of HDR. The first card that came out with full DX9 was the Radeon 9700 pro, about 2 years ago.

When you say 2 years, you mean 3, right? :naughty:

No seriously it came in fall 2002.

 

[VictimOfScience]

AFAIK, HDR uses SM2.0, so you don't HAVE to have a geforce 6 or 7 series to get that going on your machine. Valve has many great coders, not to mention a great deal with ATI, so they are not about to let some stupid shader instructions screw things up for their captive audience(us). They can create such efficient code using SM2.0, that one really doesn't need to have 3.0 at all (yet). Once people get better at implementing it, then things will be different. But for all intents and purposes, we will all be fine with our x800s/9800s and such(DX9 runs SM2.0 fine, so there you have it).

It was thought that Valve were not going to release the Lost Coast until ATI released their R520, but that has since been delayed so Valve is doing things this way now. A better decision if you ask me.

But, man, has anyone seen the demos running using the 7800??? Blows my x850 XT PE out of the water! I imagine that its a bigger jump for cards than the 520 will be, but time will tell....

 

[WooFerPPK]

if you want to know what HDR looks like this demo here i beleve shows what HDR is.

http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/archives/rthdribl_1_2.zip

its about 20 mb

 

[deekey777]

if you want to know what HDR looks like this demo here i beleve shows what HDR is.

http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/archives/rthdribl_1_2.zip

its about 20 mb

rthdribl is one possiblity to create/to show, what HDR is and how it has to look. But threre are other ways, eg the OpenEXR standard (Far Cry, Splinter Cell3, but MIB2 or Signs too).

In Lost Coast we will see, what VALVe define as their HDR. Do not expect too much, but VALVe's HDR may be more realistic. There will be two different paths for SM2.0 and SM3.0 graphic cards, the last path offers the best quality (don't forget the limitations of the SM2.0).
Source: german magazine PC Games Hardware.

 

[Noobulon]

Valve's video doesn't seem to showcase HDR too well.

They should have recorded a vid from inside that cathederal place - looking out the windows into the direct sunlight, and then back in to the darkness. We'll see soon I guess.

Have Valve actually said anything about the length of The Lost Coast?

Twenty minutes is the figure I've heard.

We don't know if that's twenty minutes playing normally, or stopping every ten yards to fap over the sexeh grfx

 

[SimonomiS]

I don't think splitting it down the middle was a particularly good move either, hard to compare. Would've been better with two different videos, or two full screen clips side by side, one with HDR, one without, IMO.

 

[hneaz]

you guys are so blind. there is a huge difference in the video. noticed when the HDR section was behind the rocks; it was darker. its supposed to be the same as how our eyes react to light. as u see the sun, lots of sunlight goes into you and u soon get adjusted to the exposure. the fixed apeture does not do anything. thats why its called 'Fixed'.

 

[bbyybb]

Anyone have a mirror of the video?


Cheers,
bbyybb.

 

[ZoFreX]

Why do you need a mirror, the link works fine...
I think Valve made a pretty crappy demonstration video really, doesn't show HDR off very well.

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

Why do you need a mirror, the link works fine...

I was wondering that...

It's hosted on steampowered.com isn't it? I don't think it's gonna get much better than that

 

[joule]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=6609&type=mov

 

[WermerSkoch]

I'm so over this whole Lost Coast extravaganza. Everyone is clamoring for this minilevel, but you know what I say? BIG DEAL.

Over it, eh? Why bother reading message boards about it, then?

 

[Wesisapie]

it says AFTER lost coast is released, all valve games will have HDR, then it says an example of this is DoD:S.

the way it is worded implies - DOD:S is coming out after lost coast.

i was under the impression that dod:s was coming out real soon... and lost coast was miles away. I guess they both are miles away.

 

[clairelovestlc]

it looks nice, but i dunno i was expecting a bit more.

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

Lost Coast isn't miles away at all...probably no more than 2months at the very most