Halo 3 engine upgrade analysis (for ODST)
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Silent_Buddha
Legend
Could be as simple as MS were already under contract with some company that was manufacturing the dev kits. And as soon as the contract ran out they re-contracted for a much more appropriate dev kit.
Side benefit is that it gives the X360 a mid life "boost" in that it will be more likely for devs to make full use of all the memory. So (for the conspiracy theorists out there) it could have all just been a devious plot...
Regards,
SB
Side benefit is that it gives the X360 a mid life "boost" in that it will be more likely for devs to make full use of all the memory. So (for the conspiracy theorists out there) it could have all just been a devious plot...
Regards,
SB
On the surface 20 MB (per Barbarian's post) doesn't seem that much. However, it's +4.3% (of the 460 MB, 512MB-32MB OS-20 MB overhead). ~5% better textures could have helped a lot of 360 games just look that much better over the years.
It is extremely strange..these companies spend so much time and effort squeezing every last ounce out of these consoles, and MS neglects this?
It's funny so much was made of the PS3 OS taking a lot of extra memory, and apparently the 360 had its own problems in that area all along.
Also sucks that we now know Bungie didn't even use the upgraded kits for ODST..a little thing but would have been nice..
On the Reach demo, I'm just hoping we'd get it on Sep 22, basically...that would be super awesome..
How long was the time between Crackdown release and Halo 3 beta release? I dont even remember..
It is extremely strange..these companies spend so much time and effort squeezing every last ounce out of these consoles, and MS neglects this?
It's funny so much was made of the PS3 OS taking a lot of extra memory, and apparently the 360 had its own problems in that area all along.
Also sucks that we now know Bungie didn't even use the upgraded kits for ODST..a little thing but would have been nice..
On the Reach demo, I'm just hoping we'd get it on Sep 22, basically...that would be super awesome..
How long was the time between Crackdown release and Halo 3 beta release? I dont even remember..
Depends... multiplatform titles will be *attempting* platform parity anyway. And for Bungie in particular, texture resolution isn't really an issue. Though given their comments on how they handled audio, more memory would have been nice there.
Of course, it's a bit of catch22 as devs were forced to optimize for the lower available memory (either platform), and now they're armed with such experience and suddenly, as Silent_Buddha puts it, a "mid life boost".
Not that it was particularly apparent, but that's a different story...
ShadowWolf64
Regular
The Reach MP beta will most likely be available June or July of 2010.I think the Halo 3 mp beta was available around June or July of 2007.Lastly, if Bungie is using an all new game engine for Halo Reach, what features would like their new engine to have?
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I'm not much of a techie so I cant speak to what I'd like the engine to have. I just think that Halo 3 clearly had it's roots in Halo 2 and last gen.
I remember playing Gears of War and Halo 3 around the same time and thinking Gears looked quite better, and that Bungie would have been better off going straight UE3 for Halo 3 most likely, if nothing else. Which is a problem as Bungie should have been able to outdo a multiplatform engine quite easily.
I'm just hoping Reach is ground up true next gen/revamp.
ShadowWolf64
Regular
Yes, Bungie is very capable and I feel that Reach will use an all new game engine.Because even though Bungie won't admit it that Halo 3 was graphically inconsistent.It definitely had its moments when it looked goregous but it wasn't consistent though.Heck, Turn 10 the makers of Forza 3 are using Xenos Tessellator feature too able to get fantastic looking car models and backgrounds with very high detail.
I think Bungie should use that specific feature of Xenos in they're custom Halo Reach engine as it could really do some wonderful stuff.Im pretty excited for Reach because its going to be based on the book and we are going to fight the Elites again.Which is super damn awesome.I would like to see a much more in depth melee system for Reach as the player still should be dangerous and lethal, even though he doesn't have a gun or energy sword.It would make for more dynamic combat situations overall.
Another feature I would want is destructible enviornments as it worked good in BF BC and could be awesome in Halo Reach.
Reach engine wishlist
- 720p resolution, preferably with 2xAA
- more importantly, AF on at least some selected textures on the ground and walls
- same quality HDR and lighting
- some post processing / color correction
- better source artwork, particularly human characters...
- 720p resolution, preferably with 2xAA
- more importantly, AF on at least some selected textures on the ground and walls
- same quality HDR and lighting
- some post processing / color correction
- better source artwork, particularly human characters...
Inquisitive_Idiot
Regular
Microsoft just uploaded the footage from the conference in 720p and sent it along to Bungie.
Halo 3: ODST 720p direct feed Just click on the link that says, 720p (Hosted by Microsoft).
I am not sure if the resolution has already been confirmed, and if not this video might help to determine if the game is still being up-scaled.
Here is the entire opening sequence for the game. It looks far better directed than anything we got in Halo 3, and overall just is a cool sequence.
Halo 3: ODST 720p direct feed Just click on the link that says, 720p (Hosted by Microsoft).
I am not sure if the resolution has already been confirmed, and if not this video might help to determine if the game is still being up-scaled.
Here is the entire opening sequence for the game. It looks far better directed than anything we got in Halo 3, and overall just is a cool sequence.
Read the thread.
It's still 1152x640. Their choice of footage has fairly low frequency colour changes between edges in general though. Bloom/DOF/grain filter/camera shake also hide edges to a small (small) degree.
Texture filtering still seems bilinear with some bias... Actually, you can see the change in mipmap bias between 4:25 and 4:34. Note the metal grill being a heck of a lot more shimmery during the first person cut-scene (ground also has more high frequency detail/shimmering) versus when the player gains control.
1) Horizontal Res -> 14 steps, 16 pixels -> 1152
2) Vertical Res -> 16 steps, 18 pixels -> 640
I still can't believe how bad the human characters looked. I know Bungie had limitations in a lot of other areas, but decent human models should have been attainable.
AF would be big considering (a) a lot of their textures are high quality and (b) the Halo art style has a lot of large, open areas and large, flat forerunner objects. Post processing, random particles, increased use of foliage, and some of the design choices in ODST (more open world) would go a long way to justifing a lot of their decisions. Right now the "supporting cast" of choices is too weak to justify its strengths in 2010. On the other hand suggesting the use of UE3 for Halo 3, but considering all the things UE3 does poorly compared to Halo 3 (4 player splitscreen, 16 players online, larger areas, theater mode, forge, etc) I don't think the renderer arguement is much of a merit in the arguement of an engine. Engines are more than pretty graphics but also the worlds and gameplay they offer.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Finally took a look at the "gameplay" video. Horrible aliasing as always. /sigh.
However, it does appear that voice is going to feature quite heavily with lots of believeable squad chatter going on the radio. If anything the sound of the chatter impressed me more than the actual visuals of the gameplay.
I still like the stylized visuals of the Halo-verse. Just wish they'd do something about the damn aliasing, etc...
Regards,
SB
However, it does appear that voice is going to feature quite heavily with lots of believeable squad chatter going on the radio. If anything the sound of the chatter impressed me more than the actual visuals of the gameplay.
I still like the stylized visuals of the Halo-verse. Just wish they'd do something about the damn aliasing, etc...
Regards,
SB
Thanks for the confirm Al. I didn't expect Bungie to do anything different with the engine. Just build more content. If they keep this up for reach, it'll be a major disappointment. Frankly, it's disappointing now, seeing that ODST went from a add on type pricing to a full $60 game. I'm sure the game itself will be a blast (esp with Firefight mode!) but to see them just avoid tech advances is a shame. This is esp obvious when you look at what Turn 10 has been able to do between Forza 2 and Forza 3.
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