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Thread: Compilation of material related to the upcoming graphics engine

  1. #61
    you mean 2011

  2. #62

    Engine

    Now set for 2010 beta, Q1 2011 release.

    Seems like AO will be getting the engine upgrade and major class rebalance in it's 10th anniversary year.
    Hmm can we say re-launch?
    Last edited by Haizen; Sep 22nd, 2010 at 01:14:28.

  3. #63
    Sept 21, 2010

    Interview with Colin Cragg

    http://www.massively.com/2010/09/21/...-chat-with-co/

    Quote regarding the new engine:

    "What's the status of the much-anticipated graphic engine revamp?

    We had our first large-scale viewing this weekend with about 75ish players getting to view it internally. Things look on track for 2010 Beta and Q1 2011 release. There is still work to be done... but right now it feels really good and is starting to really come together."
    .
    Dagget
    President,
    Venice Academy

  4. #64
    Friday with Means – September 24th, 2010 – Questions and Answers

    http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=581596

    Text of questions/Answers related to the engine:
    ==========

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by raw_fox
    What are the next steps of the engine development?

    I’ll take this as my chance to talk a bit about the engine. During the past year we have been working on integrating the same engine used by Age Of Conan…almost. The engine we have been working with is the “development” version of the engine. During the last year the render team has been tearing the engine apart and rebuilding it better, stronger, faster and more optimized. The problem has been that while this process has been very effective in making it possible for lower end hardware to run the engine effectively it has had the effect of us having to integrate many areas more than once as the engine has changed. Hitting a moving target is rather difficult when you are customizing the AO code and the engine to fit with an already existing game. The new version of the engine is in the process of being stabilized for use in Age Of Conan so this should make our progress much faster in the coming months. Using a shared engine for all Funcom products provides an obvious advantage and we are getting close. We are very excited about it. Another important aspect of the development that needs to be mentioned is that both new AND old versions of the client will be supported…meaning that ideally nobody will be shut-out the day we launch the new engine due to not having a strong enough machine. Making the new client support two sets of data has definitely accounted for some of the extra time that has been spent developing this change.

    This week work is focusing on getting the sky, clouds and all those twinkly stars working. The atmospherics in AO are daunting but it needs to be there for the game to retain its unique feel. When that is done work will begin on handling the multiple ocean volumes that exist in many places…for a desert planet Rubi-Ka sure has a LOT of water.

    With the increased scope of supporting both clients a Christmas launch is becoming less and less likely…but a Q1 2011 launch seems relatively certain.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dagget

    2) Since we are apparently going to have a duel client (much like Eve had for a while) will the older client use the same assets as the new client but 'simplify' them to a workable visualization? Or will it have to run with some or all assets duplicated and use a set directed to it? An example being, would the new heads be shown running under the old client?

    3) Is the old client getting some tweaks? You mentioned how text was rendered under the old engine as being rendered as a resource hog and that the new client won't have that issue - is that sort of improvement something that can also be applied to the old client?

    4) I am sure by this late stage your engine coders can tell you some baseline requirements for the new engine, like, does it require Shader 2, or can it work with Shader 1; stuff like that would be helpful for those who have older equipment and really want to be able to use the new client but need some advance alert as to what sort of graphics card they need (minimally) to handle the new engine. And, yes, I understand the difference between 'running the new engine, period' and 'running it well with lots of features turned on'

    6) Is it still your intention to have the new 'New User Experience' up, running, and debugged on live before the arrival of the new engine (and correspondant advertising)?

    2. The old client will display the old resources and the new client the new resources. Not all resources will be updated in the new…and the old engine is not capable of displaying the new (ie: Bump mapping etc).

    3. The old client is getting some tweaks as during the optimization process of the new engine we have discovered many small optimizations that were needed in both clients. AO has never been profiled like this before so some of these changes will definitely make for a significantly improved “old” client.

    4. I don’t really want to talk “minimum requirements to barely run it” at this point. When we have a good idea of what hardware is required to make it run well you can be sure we’ll tell you. We haven’t started the process of trying it on poor machines yet as they are still optimizing.

    6. The new startup area for the game will be complete for the release of the new engine + marketing…so “yes”. This is very very important.


    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Azama
    Question: When will we get to see the new character models?

    Work was done this week to move our 3d Max work into a newer version to speed up this process. Having to come up with something new every week for you guys isn’t easy…so when they are available you can be sure you’ll see them!

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EIS
    Q&A:
    1. new engine (this year ?)
    2. game balance (this year ?)
    3. rubber-banding fix - warping back etc (this year ?)

    1. Probably not. 2. Yes. 3. Likely coming with 2, but each version has small adjustments.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Roswell
    Will new engine support Dx 11?

    No. For now the new engine is DX9.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by boltgun
    Questions :

    - Any chance we get to see some footage of the engine you displayed at the meeting along with some comments you made that day ? Pleeeeaaaase !

    We will be producing a proper engine trailer as soon as possible.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Scabadus
    So I've got a question I'd have liked to ask at the party, but I couldn't be there

    Will NVidea's 3D software be supported in AO? Let me clarify a bit: I'm not expecting AO to be fully 3D, but right now starting the same with the software running causes a total crash. Login screen appears, you log in, select a character and wham! Once the 3D window kicks in it dies. It would be nice to at least make it so the window doesn't crash your computer so even in 3D mode you can run the 2D game. Now a rumor I've heard is that WoW got behind the 3D technology; I can't confirm this (never played that messy cartoon excuse for entertainment) but the rumors say that when you run WoW in 3D you get the basic game technically running in 3D, but appearing just 2D (or as much 2D as it appears now). The beauty is that because the game is technically in 3D mode they can pull the HUD just half a centimeter above the screen, this tricks the eye into believing the entire game world is in 3D without having to render it as such, because the obviously flat HUD floats above the 'imitation 3D' game it enhances the depth of the 2D image in the screen.

    Now let's all be thankful there itsn't a naturally observable 4th dimension or that would have been REALLY confusing!

    I read it all but I have to admit I haven’t got a chance to discuss this with the render programmers. I don’t recall any specific discussions concerning this subject so I would have to assume/guess that it isn’t being worked on. Sounds interesting though

    ==========
    .
    Dagget
    President,
    Venice Academy

  5. #65
    i deeply hope we'll have the beta, even partially finished, before christmas to start testing, feedbacking & speed up debugging : new engine annoucement has now been far enough in the past (started @ GD Sil's time ...) to be released on time with these engagements.

    AO needs it as early as possible to survive, and even with it there is no guarantee but the later the worse. at the same time the expectations are high so the quality must be well prepared : that's why the debugging process and beta must come earliest possible now.

    i'm among those ready to spend time for debugging involvement, as i did for awhile now.
    Bitnykk/Bittorrent - young RL of AP & old emissary of CODE

  6. #66

  7. #67
    Are you still in game Dagget?
    Maybe™ is the new Soon™.
    Quote Originally Posted by Means View Post
    At heart I am a vindictive, heartless, ruthless bastard and behaving in any other way is an effort for me.™
    Quote Originally Posted by Means View Post
    Our goal is to have a closed Beta running this year.™

  8. #68
    Yeah, I need to add that last FwM as it had some notable content regarding the engine in it.
    .
    Dagget
    President,
    Venice Academy

  9. #69
    Friday with Means - March 11th, 2011: Full Steam Ahead

    http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=588217

    Engine News:

    "Great news this week is that the new version of the Conan engine was patched to the live servers this week with great results. The team is working hard to remove some last small issues for some users...and when this short period is over they will be HELPING US! The engine being patched to live is a great step in us finally having a stable version to really grab hold of...when we fix issues in this version they will remain fixed...and this is of course VERY exciting to us. Getting the dual-client new engine development environment up and running here has not been easy and is getting close to what we had in Oslo now...I'm looking forward to being able to show some new shots soon. Once the environment is up and running AND we have assistance from the engine team I'm hoping that the speed of this work will pick up significantly. We all know this has been going on too long and we ALL want it to be finished. Hardware mouse for the love of god!"

    Also some reworked armor sets:

    sentinel_front.gif
    sentinel_back.gif
    sentinel_helm.gif
    tmp_front.gif
    tmp_back.gif
    tmp_addon.gif
    .
    Dagget
    President,
    Venice Academy

  10. #70
    .
    Dagget
    President,
    Venice Academy

  11. #71
    Quote Originally Posted by Dagget View Post
    December 11th, 2009:
    Means posted a 16-second video to Youtube demonstrating something new coming with the new engine - flora deflecting aside as a person passes.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2WQB74W6_4
    Also, shamelessly, a music video in anticipation of the renewed and "still alive" AO:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE832M_0jgM
    --The connections that enable us to learn are infinitely more important than our state of knowing.

  12. #72
    May 13, 2011

    http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=589940

    "The engine work is going well as the version now being taken from Conan is now STABLE and no further major changes are going to be made in this area (I'm sure there will be small tweaks and additions...but we will get those too). So it has been great for the team to go through the process of "merging" up to the latest Cheetah version for probably the last while in a long time. Once this is done we can get some more help from the main rendering team to sort out some old persistent issues with shadows, water and grass...all not particularly important to game-play but certainly important to someone who wants to make a video..."
    .
    Dagget
    President,
    Venice Academy

  13. #73
    neverending story...
    Yeny | Intake | Rhiya | Juiya | Evilshadey | Infamous | Ntlein | Riya | Aryna | Pastafari | Badcore | Palsy | ...and more...

    Quote Originally Posted by Means in Friday with Means - February 24th, 2011 - The dust is settling
    We are not going to be able to release the engine in Q1 but we are still hoping for an "Early Beta" in Q1 or early Q2

  14. #74
    DNF came out before the engine.... wtf

  15. #75
    Yeah we joked about it so much and it's actually happened. This new engine is officially the new definition of vaporware.
    Colawren - Gimpest stripped adventurer on RK1.
    Reroll Enthusiast.
    The alts: Colawrenn, Iriotz, Empea

    Proud member of Forsaken and Unity of the Rose.

  16. #76
    Quote Originally Posted by Colawrenn View Post
    Yeah we joked about it so much and it's actually happened. This new engine is officially the new definition of vaporware.
    DNF was in development for almost 14 years, and Dragon Age Origins was rumored to have been in development for 10. New engine is not even at 3 yet
    Plus, let's not forget those other hundreds of projects that ran over so much time and then just tanked
    Thor Mastablasta Hammersmith - Level 220, AI 30, LE 70 Clan Atrox Nano Technician - Setup
    The Red Brotherhood

    I'm a Nano-Technician, don't ever expect me to fight unbuffed, alone or fair.

    Means: about f'ing time :P
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  17. #77
    Is it not? It feels like a lifetime..
    I guess that's due to waiting eagerly every week for the next friday then seeing nothing
    Colawren - Gimpest stripped adventurer on RK1.
    Reroll Enthusiast.
    The alts: Colawrenn, Iriotz, Empea

    Proud member of Forsaken and Unity of the Rose.

  18. #78
    Quote Originally Posted by Mastablasta View Post
    DNF was in development for almost 14 years, and Dragon Age Origins was rumored to have been in development for 10. New engine is not even at 3 yet
    Well, technically speaking, DNF basically started from scratch with new graphics engines several times. New models and textures each time. New designs in general over and over. AO's engine is by that standard not less than 3 years seeing as FC had already come this far (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRmk0hZam7A) over 3.5 years ago and I don't even know how long they had been working on that engine revamp at that time. Probably way more than 4 years in total.

    My point is, when comparing AO's new engine and the release of DNF, then you gotta take into account either the latest engine version of AO and the latest engine version of DNF or you gotta take into account the whole story for both games.

    If we look at how long it takes for FC to get the AoC engine working with AO and getting all of this to live servers, then we should compare that to how long it took for the latest version of DNF to get released, which isn't 14 years at all. We're just talking a few years in this case. For engine, new models, new world, and so on.

    I know full well that comparing these 2 things is by itself very silly as they are two different things with 2 different scenarios surrounding them- Then again, I'm not the one comparing here, I'm just replying to those that do (and those that do are generally just replying to others that did.. and so on)

    Point is, saying DNF took 14 years to complete and that AO's engine has taken less than 3 years so far, is just wrong. If having to start from scratch prolonged the development time of DNF then you gotta take FC's same problem with AO's engines into account.
    Last edited by Wrangeline; Jun 16th, 2011 at 13:02:17.
    Veteran of Equilibrium

  19. #79
    well, you cant really compare the two from a objective standpoint, I was just pointing out how DNF was considered to be something that would NEVER see the light of day for a long time and well at this point so is the engine :P

  20. #80
    Imo it's pointless to compare to any other game. The situation with AO is unique.

    What is worrysome is that in game numbers are at an all time low and still dropping. I doubt they will continue working on the engine if there is noone left.

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