How they made the water in Splashdown 2? (PS2)

I've just tried the demo version that comes with latest OPM, and while I can't say I haven't seen simillar water effects before on the PS2, I always wondered how it's done. The water geometry obviously changes and moves, but it's surface is also some kind of animated texture, but quite a complex one... don't know how to describe it really, but if any of the programming types has seen it, how is that 'pixel-shadery' effect done on PS2?
 
Splashdown 2? Or just a budget release demo?

In my opinion WaveRace looks much better and the waves are a little more realistic...
 
right... no one has answered the question yet,.... i'm curious too.... i was also wondering about how the water in baldurs gate is done: all geometry? if so, thats a lot of geometry...... i mean, REALLY...
 
Water in BGDA is geometry+specular maps, I think. Yeah, there seems to be a *lot* of geometry there, but it is so everywhere, in the rest of the game.

In my opinion WaveRace looks much better and the waves are a little more realistic...
In my opinion neither Splashdown 2 or Waverace look anything special at all, but I was just asking how is that kind of water done on the PS2.
 
marconelly! said:
I've just tried the demo version that comes with latest OPM, and while I can't say I haven't seen simillar water effects before on the PS2, I always wondered how it's done. The water geometry obviously changes and moves, but it's surface is also some kind of animated texture, but quite a complex one... don't know how to describe it really, but if any of the programming types has seen it, how is that 'pixel-shadery' effect done on PS2?

They had thier coders spend alot of time in the water studying how it moved and how water reflected outta it. Then they took code from burning rangers and vola water haha . Na they prob used alot of processer power and basicly mimiced a pixel shader for the water.
 
well i dont know about u, but i just bought baldurs gate and i've been playing with the water for like hours..... it never stops to amaze me... best trick is diving in, jump in and out to make a whole messy wavy thing... so cool...
now THAT os a whole lot of geometry if u ask me, and a whole lot of cool maths involved in the waves' behaviour.
 
wazoo said:
I was not terribly impressed by the vids of SD2 at IGN, and the new cartoony look did not hook me.



yeah i rather have realisticly behaving water than pretty water that moves like extra virgin olive oil.... u know what i mean...
 
london-boy said:
wazoo said:
yeah i rather have realisticly behaving water than pretty water that moves like extra virgin olive oil.... u know what i mean...

How can ANYTHING be extra virgin? Either it's virgin, or it's not! :D Kind of a binary thing, sort of...umm... Yeah. Okay, I'll crawl down my little hole again now. :)


*G*
 
No other way around it then using geometry on PS2 I'm afraid.
Plus when you want proper water interaction no pixel shader in the world will get you there - geometry is a must for any kind of interactive water.

Na they prob used alot of processer power and basicly mimiced a pixel shader for the water.
Nitpick time - but by definition it's pixel shaders that are imitating geometry and not the other way around.
Ergo, (concordantly, visa vi, inexorably... 8)) they mimiced real water, not a shader. :p
 
Hmm, Faf try to get your hands on Splashdown 2 demo. Water is deinitely 'geometrically' animated with waves and such, but it also has that defined everchanging texture to it. I don't know how to describe it, and you can't really see it on the screenshots either.
 
I haven't seen it, but it could be a combination of stuff like an environment texturemap, specular gouraud highlights and regular multitexturing etc. As we know, PS2 can't do pixel shader effects, so it has to "cheat" in some manner.

Anyway, if it looks good then so much better. :)

*G*
 
Super Mario 64 had a great effect when he jumped in a few of the black metallic like rooms.

I'd have to say FFCC has them all beat on water though. It remains to be seen if it's interactive like Mario Sunshine's or just for looks like Morrowind.
 
Faf: Well, to be fair, with FP texture you probably can do some water physics simulation in pixel shader. ;) But of course, that's beyond PS2's capability.
 
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