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 ) 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.

 

[zurich]

Just ease up on the faces and you'll be fine Also, dont say anything remotely negative about the GC or Teasy will burn you (and the thread ) 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.

 

[Guest]

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

 

[Phil]

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

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.