Interview with Epics Tim Sweeny

[Todd33]

PCGH: Are there any things you learned while developing Gears of War for next gen consoles that you can now benefit from when finalizing UT 3 for the PC?

Tim Sweeney: The Gears of War experience on Xbox 360 taught us to optimize for multi-core, and to improve the low-level performance of the key engine systems. This has carried over very well to PC. The division of UE3's rendering and gameplay into separate threads, implemented originally for 360, has brought even more significant gains on PC where there is a more heavyweight hardware abstraction layer in DirectX, hence more CPU time spent in rendering relative to gameplay.

Also, the 360 work we did resulted in an engine that also runs well on low-end and mid-range PCs. This is very important for games today; the high-end PC gaming market alone is not big enough to support next-generation games with budgets in the $10-20M range. You need to run on ordinary mass-market PCs as well. In reading PC gaming websites, one might get the impression that everyone owns a dual-core PC with a pair of $600 GPUs in SLI configuration, but the reality is very different. More than 80% of PCs sold today are still single-core, and have very low-end DirectX9 graphics capabilities. Unreal Engine 3 supports those configurations well.

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/?article_id=602522

 

[Neb]

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/?article_id=602522

I like these parts quite a bit!

PCGH: How do the general hardware requirements look like?
Epic: Since optimization work is still ongoing, these details may change every
day. Generally speaking, the game runs quite smooth with DX9 hardware released by NVidia and Ati since 2006. On high-end cards, including the DX10 models, UT3 runs incredibly smooth already...

PCGH: How exacly are you utilizing the functions of Direct X 10?
Epic: Unreal Tournament 3 will ship with full DX10 support, with multi-sampling
being the biggest visible benefit of the new graphics interface (my note: deffered rendering + AA)...

 

[RobertR1]

"Most of Unreal Engine 3's effects are bound by fill-rate rather than by higher-level features like hardware geometry processing, so the real impact of DirectX 10 is incrementally better performance rather than entirely new features."

Major advantage for the 8800 series over the x2900 series?

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

There's an existing thread on this in the GPU forums (though the link in that one points to a thread in the epicgames forum which links to the interview from there).

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=41658

 

[AlNom]

There's an existing thread on this in the GPU forums (though the link in that one points to a thread in the epicgames forum which links to the interview from there).

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=41658

Request thread merge?

Also, the 360 work we did resulted in an engine that also runs well on low-end and mid-range PCs.

Any idea what he meant? It's a contradiction of the gains he mentions for multicore.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Request thread merge?







Any idea what he meant? It's a contradiction of the gains he mentions for multicore.

Memory size probably, both system and graphics. Plus graphics memory bandwidth is probably a factor too.

 

[Neb]

Any idea what he meant? It's a contradiction of the gains he mentions for multicore.

Even low-end PCs have dual-core CPUs.

 

[crazygambit]

Even low-end PCs have dual-core CPUs.

Tim Sweeny seems to disagree.

You need to run on ordinary mass-market PCs as well. In reading PC gaming websites, one might get the impression that everyone owns a dual-core PC with a pair of $600 GPUs in SLI configuration, but the reality is very different. More than 80% of PCs sold today are still single-core, and have very low-end DirectX9 graphics capabilities. Unreal Engine 3 supports those configurations well.

 

[Todd33]

Well he's wrong. I'd say 80% are dual core unless they are refurbed. Even my $600 laptop is dual core. Dell/Gateway/HP all sell sub $600 desktop with dual cores.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Well he's wrong. I'd say 80% are dual core unless they are refurbed. Even my $600 laptop is dual core. Dell/Gateway/HP all sell sub $600 desktop with dual cores.

There are two low ends. Low end that you can buy new today, and the low end of the entire PC user base. They are two very different things.

For example the Xbox 360 is around the mid range compared to a gaming PC you could buy new today, however its very near the top end compared to the entire PC user base.

Unfortunatly thats why we still get crappy PS2/Wii ports like Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

 

[<nu>faust]

maybe sweeney is referring to worldwide pc sales data?

 

[AntShaw]

Well he's wrong. I'd say 80% are dual core unless they are refurbed. Even my $600 laptop is dual core. Dell/Gateway/HP all sell sub $600 desktop with dual cores.

Bullocks. Where's those STEAM stats when you need them? Sweeny is spot on with his numbers assumption.

EDIT: Aye...this is what I was looking for... http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html

 

[Skrying]

Bullocks. Where's those STEAM stats when you need them? Sweeny is spot on with his numbers assumption.

EDIT: Aye...this is what I was looking for... http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html

It hinges around the word "sold" and if you mean ones you can buy right now I agree with Todd for the most part even the Walmart computers have dual cores (just priced a new dual core rig for $350 for a shop I work at...), now if it means as in sold and existing base then the Steam survey would be much more accurate.

 

[AlNom]

Memory size probably, both system and graphics. Plus graphics memory bandwidth is probably a factor too.

Right, there are issues that are addressed there with the streaming tech they've implemented for Gears, which is useful for limited memory space as well as utilizing memory bandwidth more effectively (sending textures and geometry on the fly).

But I was referring to him talking about how development on the 360 pushed multi-core development and then proceeding to say that it helped low end single-core systems.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Right, there are issues that are addressed there with the streaming tech they've implemented for Gears, which is useful for limited memory space as well as utilizing memory bandwidth more effectively (sending textures and geometry on the fly).

But I was referring to him talking about how development on the 360 pushed multi-core development and then proceeding to say that it helped low end single-core systems.

Perhaps he was referring to single threaded performance. If the game is bound by a primary thread and they needed to get it working on the 360, that would probably translate well to low/medium end PC CPU's.

 

[AlNom]

Ah... right. Forgot about that. The optimizations for the in-order cores to alleviate stalls should translate quite well for the OoO desktop CPUs.

 

[Todd33]

"Sold today" != average computer on Steam or in a home. Go browse Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway - just about everything but the Celerons are dual core.

 

[pc999]

Not even one question about Wii, that is too bad, I would like to know if they plan to suport (with engines/tools) it or not and if yes then will they suport it.

 

[AlNom]

Not even one question about Wii, that is too bad, I would like to know if they plan to suport (with engines/tools) it or not and if yes then will they suport it.

Mark Rein pretty much said, "That's what UE2.0 is for", so I wouldn't expect support just yet. They could change their minds if they figure developers are flocking towards the Wii install base for instance.

 

[pc999]

Mark Rein pretty much said, "That's what UE2.0 is for", so I wouldn't expect support just yet. They could change their minds if they figure developers are flocking towards the Wii install base for instance.

Where did he said that? Specially given that UE2 is such a bad engine for GC/Wii.