Performance Analyser in future PS2 games: any real help?

[megateto]

Hello everybody from Spain.

First, I'd like to introduce myself:

I've got nothing to do with the industry, not to mention that my knowledge of 3d, game development and everything surrounding it is almost 0. I've spent a couple of days reading old threads, and as a result of my lack of knowledge, I must admit that I get completely lost in most of them, but I know it's strange, because I simply love to read to the dev talk. In other words, I feel like a hobbit listening to some elves, not understanding what they say but enjoying every single sound.

It's great to read about what developers have to say about the machines I love to play with, highs and lows (there's even a ex Square member¡¡¡¡ -not that I love everything they do, but great to read from people so experienced).

What I want to know (if possible :D ) is what kind of impact people think the Performance Analyser will have in the future bunch of PS2 games (I still remember when it was first introduced in PSX development: GT).

This is my first post, I just hope I'm not making a stupid comment. :oops:

[zurich]

Just ease up on the :oops: faces and you'll be fine :) Also, dont say anything remotely negative about the GC or Teasy will burn you (and the thread :wink: ) alive! (j/k!)

About the performance analyzer.. all I remember about it was that at GDC, SCEA was complaining that VU1 (or VU0, the non-GIF one [cant remember]) wasnt even registering a blip when tests were run.

That said, maybe PS2 dev will see more improvment from better VU usage first, before turning to the perf. analyzer.

From the PA, GT3 uses only 25% of PS2 resources.
Do you buy that? :lol:

[Phil]

From the PA, GT3 uses only 25% of PS2 resources.
Do you buy that? :lol:

Hard to say.. I would say probably yes, as GT3 looks amazing due to the talent the devs have. I could imagine that there are more advanced racers out now, but fail to look better. Burnout 2 comes to mind, while not looking worse, but I'm sure this game is getting more out of the PS2 than GT3 has.

About the performance analyzer.. all I remember about it was that at GDC, SCEA was complaining that VU1 (or VU0, the non-GIF one [cant remember]) wasnt even registering a blip when tests were run.

That said, maybe PS2 dev will see more improvment from better VU usage first, before turning to the perf. analyzer.

I've got a Powerpoint presentation (called Hard-Tuning PS2) which has a lot of info on the Perfomance Analizer 2 and how they use it to analyze games. Might actually be the stuff you're refering to (from GDC). I'll upload it to my site for downloading.

brb :)

[Phil]

Okay, I uploaded the file to my site, which you can find under this URL: http://www.conceptics.ch/knowledgebase/entry.php?ID=19&CatID=1
For your information, it's roughly around 4.5 MB in size and I'll leave the file up there for about a week (or longer if need to be).

The file itself contains a presentation from Jason G. Doig, a senior engineer from the SCEE R&D department, which was held at the GDC of Europe. It covers specific PS2 performance issues as well as some info on the Performance Analyzer and its inner workings.

Enjoy. :D