Imago-Quem wrote:
Shaders "are" in the GPU, but I couldn't tell you about any graphics projects underway, nay or yay, because of this contract I signed with SOE about not saying anything.
Don't forget the chip that got installed.
Albright wrote:
Detor wrote:Albright wrote:I noticed there are very few ingame shots of the shadow changes. Is their an NDA or something going on?No NDA, you can go into your EQ2 folder, and run TestEQ2.exe and try them yourself without signing any NDA. Since anybody can log into test people only really need to post screenshots to demonstrate when something looks wrong and might need to be fixed.Is there a reason the download is stated at 23 hours when running EQTest.exe because I'm not in the least bit keen downloading that much for that long.Does it download much? Test server side?
Detor wrote:
Albright wrote:I noticed there are very few ingame shots of the shadow changes. Is their an NDA or something going on?No NDA, you can go into your EQ2 folder, and run TestEQ2.exe and try them yourself without signing any NDA. Since anybody can log into test people only really need to post screenshots to demonstrate when something looks wrong and might need to be fixed.
I noticed there are very few ingame shots of the shadow changes. Is their an NDA or something going on?
No NDA, you can go into your EQ2 folder, and run TestEQ2.exe and try them yourself without signing any NDA. Since anybody can log into test people only really need to post screenshots to demonstrate when something looks wrong and might need to be fixed.
Is there a reason the download is stated at 23 hours when running EQTest.exe because I'm not in the least bit keen downloading that much for that long.
Does it download much? Test server side?
Yes, it is downloading the Test version of the whole game. If you look at the text file in that folder it will give you a list of items not to copy from your main EQ2 folder into your test folder, don't copy those files, but copy everything else into your test folder, then you will only have to download the differances between test and live.
Everquest2's expansions might not be in the league of it's original zones - but it doesn't really matter (Kunark ruined it for me because it literally, even with low detail, burnt my PC out just running it).
Just an FYI a Month or Two befor TSO launched they did an Optimization Patch on all the RoK zones, for the most part this improved alot of the lag issues in Kunark, though TG is still laggy, so you may want to try it again on your older PC. However, stay out of TSO with an older PC because it is in dire need of Optimization, and the devs in charge of that have said as much, and are working on it.
I just want to give this thread my approval. Its great to see a developer come out and speak very openly about how the features work and whats really going on. I understand you can't talk about future updates but I am really looking forward to seeing what you can do in the future.
Oh and its nice just running with shadows on. They might not be perfect (yet) as others have pointed out already but any shadows at all is an improvement over what I was running.
Yes, the ocean at best quality was broken and is fixed in one of the next few updates.
Again, the shadows will be darker in the next update along with some other quality adjustments.
Albright, it's likely your PC has such a rocking CPU that it just isn't bothered by processing the CPU shadows and that would directly cause the results you're reporting. Not everyone has a CPU as nice as yours and in general the GPU shadows should help most people run the game better with shadows. When the next shadow update comes out try the new ones. They look much better.
He could go to zones with massive amounts of stairs if he wants to grind eq2 to a halt with CPU shadows on. The video I posted, showing 2-4 fps with CPU shadows, then 30+ with gpu shadows was with an Intel e8400 OC'd to 3.6ghz, and an ATi HD4870.
I don't imagine that any cpu right now is going to make much more of a difference in the zones that have massive amounts of stairs like loping plains leading up to the castle, or like palace of ferzhul. Palace isn't as bad as loping plains, but I was definitely under 10 fps with CPU shadows on in the entrance area.
I don't know why, but those CPU shadows really really struggle with stairs, and you wouldn't think it would be that big of a deal. Stairs aren't that complex geometrically, but dang does it hurt.
Yes, the ocean at best quality was broken and is fixed in one of the next few updates.Again, the shadows will be darker in the next update along with some other quality adjustments.Albright, it's likely your PC has such a rocking CPU that it just isn't bothered by processing the CPU shadows and that would directly cause the results you're reporting. Not everyone has a CPU as nice as yours and in general the GPU shadows should help most people run the game better with shadows. When the next shadow update comes out try the new ones. They look much better.
I have a few systems so I can attest to this. I am very excited about more of the rendering moving to the GPU as it is far easier to upgrade a video card than it is to upgrade a CPU since it may be the best one for your motherboard already. I hope these types of changes will continue as they improve gameplay overall and not just those of us playing on higher quality settings.
Elvannshalee@Crushbone wrote:
He could go to zones with massive amounts of stairs if he wants to grind eq2 to a halt with CPU shadows on. The video I posted, showing 2-4 fps with CPU shadows, then 30+ with gpu shadows was with an Intel e8400 OC'd to 3.6ghz, and an ATi HD4870.I don't imagine that any cpu right now is going to make much more of a difference in the zones that have massive amounts of stairs like loping plains leading up to the castle, or like palace of ferzhul. Palace isn't as bad as loping plains, but I was definitely under 10 fps with CPU shadows on in the entrance area.I don't know why, but those CPU shadows really really struggle with stairs, and you wouldn't think it would be that big of a deal. Stairs aren't that complex geometrically, but dang does it hurt.
I don't know what the issue is x_x, but I can't wait til all graphical apertures are placed on the GPU so that EQ2 can stop being what appears to be such a needless CPU hog. I see many other current titles that peruse of what is seemingly due segregation in this regard, and with very competent and formidable specs like Kokusho/Elvanshalee and myself run, a lot healthier framerates are maintained (on these other, contemporary titles).
It is probly the quanty of shaddows not the quality that is giving your CPU a hard time on stairs. Part of the GPU shaddow update seems to be adding shaddows to things that the CPU just couldn't create shaddows for without dieing.
I get better performance a jump of around 10fps over cpu shadows if the shadows are the same as the CPU shadows. But the point of keeping them on is ruined when I get to a forest aera like darklight where it drops lower than CPU shadows. I can play it with CPU shadows But GPU shadows in forest are almost unplayable. It's the new tree shadows there really needs to be an option to either turn off the tree shadows or set a certain Number of tree shadows as a limt. If i could just set it to show the shadow os the tree I am standing near that would be better. Or even set the GPU to render like say only character shadows Or only tree shaodws something like that there needs to be some limit settings for GPU shadows...Now there is more shodows and it looks better but it's still really the same chuggy performance I have had for years if there is more shadows for it to do.
So as it stands now I wont be using them since I would have to chnage back to CPU shadows in places with tons of trees everytime and that will get annoying. My gpu is not that old either a ATI 3870HD 512mb my CPU is a lot older than gpu but it's shadow performance was not that bad I thought I would get a jump though and I do until more shadows was added than was there before. Is there someway to get the everquest 2 engine could run CPU and GPU shadows at the same time to up performance more? IE CPU does the CPU shaodows and GPU does GPU shaodws AKA the new trees ETC? Even if the CPU held back the GPU it would look better since there would be more shadows.
There are always optimizations that can be done. The catch is it takes time and takes away from other projects we'd love to produce for you as well. We've had your idea in mind here for a long time (mix static tree shadows with GPU shadows), but it's a very tricky process and time consuming to implement. We'll see if a gap opens up in our schedule to get 'er done in the near future.
Has anyone played with SLi and multi GPU settings with these GPU Shadows? I know right now I am unable to turn on Multi GPU mode or the graphics come to a halt. I am told this is because the CPU overhead is too much in EQ2 doesn't leave enough room for CPU to handle 2 GPUs. I am eager to know if GPU shadows will help with multi GPU and SLi rigs.
Any ideas?
My system is:
AMD Phenom x4 9850 Black editionOCZ DDR2-800 4gigsPNY Nvidia GTX 295REZ: 1680x1050Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit
In single GPU mode I can run the game extreme quality with FPS around 30s. With Multi GPU mode, I have to turn shadows off or my frame rate drops down into the low teens in large open areas. I have tried turning off shadows, and yes it makes a huge difference, but game looks better with shadows and water effects on.
Blistor@Everfrost wrote:
Has anyone played with SLi and multi GPU settings with these GPU Shadows? I know right now I am unable to turn on Multi GPU mode or the graphics come to a halt. I am told this is because the CPU overhead is too much in EQ2 doesn't leave enough room for CPU to handle 2 GPUs. I am eager to know if GPU shadows will help with multi GPU and SLi rigs. Any ideas? My system is:AMD Phenom x4 9850 Black editionOCZ DDR2-800 4gigsPNY Nvidia GTX 295REZ: 1680x1050Windows Vista Ultimate 64bitIn single GPU mode I can run the game extreme quality with FPS around 30s. With Multi GPU mode, I have to turn shadows off or my frame rate drops down into the low teens in large open areas. I have tried turning off shadows, and yes it makes a huge difference, but game looks better with shadows and water effects on.
My older system runs 7800GTX's in sli, and I noticed no noticeable difference in EQ2 from using sli, or disabling it. Since right now, EQ2 barely taxes my HD4870 (like 10-20% utilization) and you're running an even faster card, I don't see why you would need to turn on sli for EQ2. However the fact that it lowers your fps isn't good.. I at least didn't have that problem.
I suspected it would be. What with EQ2 not only having the most advanced CPU shadow implementation in the history of game engines, but a water surface effect that still hasn't really been superseded all that much with dx10 - you don't want that broken in any shape or form.
I was just wondering: is EQ2's CPU shadows operating at 2xThreads per CPU (4xThreads & 2x[multi-core CPU]) ? Or just the standard single thread per core.
The first thread I visit in this forum is this one. Incredible amount of information shared.
