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New Source 2 Engine Info (Multiplatform, native OpenGL support)

E

ekim

Member
http://www.dota2.com/reborn/part3/

MORE RESPONSIVE INPUT

One of the ways Source 2 directly improves gameplay is by reducing the latency between issuing a command and seeing your hero react to that command. Our redesigned input system now allows the server to process mouse clicks and key presses directly into visible actions more quickly than before.

TILED MAP SYSTEM

The new authoring tools allow maps in Dota 2 to be built using a tile system, which makes authoring new maps faster and more accessible. This new system also allows new maps, like the Desert terrain, to have dramatically different visual styles, while ensuring that each variation has identical gameplay. Players with different custom terrains equipped will be able to play together, with each player seeing a different version of the map.

ENHANCED PERFORMANCE

Source 2 was built to support a wide range of hardware. Dota 2 in Source 2 runs better on older laptops, and at the same time further increases performance on current desktops. Though Dota 2 may not require all of the resources of a high end machine, Source 2 has been built to be capable of driving modern machines to their limits. It can use all of your CPU cores, your 64-bit OS and memory, and includes support for recent and upcoming graphics standards like Direct3D 11 and Vulkan as well as virtual reality if the game demands it. Performance will continue to improve during the beta as we optimize it for more PC configurations.

MULTITHREADING & STREAMING

Source 2 will use any available CPU cores to provide a smoother experience, removing many hitches during gameplay. Also, much of the game content can be streamed in the background while the game stays responsive. Animation, voice chat, music and more can continue while the game is loading.

IMPROVED AUDIO

Source 2 uses a new audio system that processes all audio in full quality through the entire pipeline. Voice chat makes use of this improvement, and is now noticeably higher quality and has less latency than before. Audio and voice processing also use multi-threading to run in the background and avoid dropouts. The Source 2 audio system also makes use of your processor's SIMD instruction sets to improve performance. Additionally, it offers new audio scripting capabilities for audio designers which lets them customize the mix and effects pipeline without changing any code. This capability is also supported in Custom Games.

RENDERING

The renderer in Source 2 contains a number of new features and improvements, giving creators more design freedom. It removes many of the constraints on building the world of Dota 2, allowing map designers to create worlds that were not possible to build in the previous engine. Maps in Source 2 can be authored using powerful geometry editing tools and may contain complex meshes which are free of convexity constraints. The engine is capable of delivering many more batches to the GPU, even when using older versions of the OpenGL and Direct3D graphics APIs. This makes it easier to create more detailed worlds and more advanced characters. Additionally, a unified lighting system ensures all game assets have access to the same rendering feature set, ensuring visual continuity. So far Dota 2 is only using a few of the new rendering features in Source 2, including normal mapping on all types of geometry and multiple reflective water planes in the same scene.

PHYSICS

Source 2 also includes new versions of our physics and cloth simulation engines which implement higher quality, more stable simulations. In the future, more advanced Source 2 cloth and physics simulation technology will be used to power Dota 2 Custom Games content.

MULTIPLATFORM

Source 2 includes native support for OpenGL without needing a wrapper, improving performance, memory usage and loading times on other platforms. We're still putting the finishing touches on the Mac and Linux clients and we hope to have them available in the coming weeks.
Click to expand...
 
X

Xater

Member
Hmm runs without a wrapper on the Mac? Might have to check it out then to see if the performance actually improves.
 
K

K3v1

Neo Member
Has anyone downloaded this already and can tell me if the custom games are already playable?
 
A

agiantenemycrab

Member
The Vulkan/D3D12 renderer will outperform the GL renderer comfortably (especially on highly parallel machines), but this is nonetheless a nice thing to have. GL isn't going anywhere for a long time.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
DarkLordMalik said:
I meant any new announcement? L4D 3?
Click to expand...

This is your new game announcement. Valve is the definition of turtle speed. They will take time with their things, whether fans like or not.

At least this means that L4D3 can be announced next year, maybe this if we're lucky.
 
A

agiantenemycrab

Member
CrAzY FiNgErS said:
They didn't mention D3D12. Are they omitting it on purpose in favor of OGL and Vulcan?
Click to expand...

If the Windows version of Vulkan is competitive with D3D12 in terms of performance(which seems likely) then yes, its possible they may forgo D3D12 for Vulkan. If I was Valve I would rather maintain one rendering backend that works well across all my platforms (PC/Mac/SteamOS) instead of a D3D12 backend for Windows, Metal for OSX and Vulkan for SteamOS. Less code to maintain for years is always good.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Maps in Source 2 can be authored using powerful geometry editing tools and may contain complex meshes which are free of convexity constraints.
Click to expand...

aka say bye to BSPs and brushes, map geometry is all mesh now

Sinatar said:
CSGO is a shoe in, TF2 seems less likely.
Click to expand...

They've been working recently with the community on implementing a competitive mode, hasn't been left to die just yet
 
T

Tenebrous

Member
Sinatar said:
CSGO is a shoe in, TF2 seems less likely.
Click to expand...

I'd go with this. CSGO is way too young to get a sequel, but TF3 will be a likely candidate for any future Orange Box type dealio.

Really intrigued to see Source 2 in action, given that Source remains one of the most impressive engines of the last 11 years.
 
C

CrAzY FiNgErS

Member
agiantenemycrab said:
If the Windows version of Vulkan is competitive with D3D12 in terms of performance(which seems likely) then yes, its possible they may forgo D3D12 for Vulkan. If I was Valve I would rather maintain one rendering backend that works well across all my platforms (PC/Mac/SteamOS) instead of a D3D12 backend for Windows, Metal for OSX and Vulkan for SteamOS. Less code to maintain for years is always good.
Click to expand...
Sounds good and makes sense to me.
 
G

Gattsu25

Banned
Xater said:
Hmm runs without a wrapper on the Mac? Might have to check it out then to see if the performance actually improves.
Click to expand...

MULTIPLATFORM:
Source 2 includes native support for OpenGL without needing a wrapper, improving performance, memory usage and loading times on other platforms. We're still putting the finishing touches on the Mac and Linux clients and we hope to have them available in the coming weeks.
Click to expand...
 
N

Nzyme32

Member
Downloading now, looks like some neat additions while maintaining the look of dota2. Now the long wait for a full on source 2 game to release
 
J

jimforspeed

Neo Member
The engine is capable of delivering many more batches to the GPU, even when using older versions of the OpenGL and Direct3D graphics APIs.
Click to expand...

I wonder, how is that possible on PCs? OpenGL 4.4+ sure has some low level extensions lowering the CPU overhead but the only batching extension I am aware of is Nvidia's command list initiative.
 
N

Nzyme32

Member
Impressed that it actually improves performance on my 4 year old laptop.

jimforspeed said:
I wonder, how is that possible on PCs? OpenGL 4.4+ sure has some low level extensions lowering the CPU overhead but the only batching extension I am aware of is Nvidia's command list initiative.
Click to expand...

This is in contrast to Source 1 which likely had its own issues holding back performance.
 
I

injurai

Banned
Bluth54 said:
TF3 isn't coming anytime soon. Valve is still supporting TF2 and will actually be adding competitive matchmaking soon.
Click to expand...

But you know what they aren't supporting anymore...
F5CB59F85FB1C445802CFC85204269D9C02FADB4
 
S

Skinpop

Member
jimforspeed said:
I wonder, how is that possible on PCs? OpenGL 4.4+ sure has some low level extensions lowering the CPU overhead but the only batching extension I am aware of is Nvidia's command list initiative.
Click to expand...

might be that it does some intermediate batching/prepping to reduce batches before sending to gpu.
 
A

ashecitism

Member
whiteape said:
I'm sad that there is no mind-blowing techdemo like back in the days when Source was announced.
Click to expand...

There's not much they can do with Dota. Once a new game gets announced that was built with S2 from the ground up and takes advantage of all its features, then maybe.
 
E

Elija2

Member
My laptop struggles with staying at 60fps in CSGO so hopefully the update to Source 2 will bring a noticeable improvement.
 
M

Man

Member
I'm curious about their multi-threading implementation.

I guess they are using some kind of jobs-system. Maybe even fibers?
 
A

ashecitism

Member
saw this on reddit:

Hey guys, launching Dota 2 Reborn from Steam seems to start up a 32 bit version of the game. In "Steam\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\game\bin\win64" you can launch a fully working 64 bit dota2.exe
Click to expand...


xyla said:
And here I am, sitting at work... Can someone post some comparison videos or screenshots? Not that I think that there will be much of a visual difference, but hey - you never know how much the new physics will do for visuals.

Edit: Here is a longer video of the new client: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix9Gq-KQvMA
Click to expand...

For now there's this.
 
A

alexandros

Banned
Jonneh3003 said:
Any news on if it supports Xbox One and PS4?
Click to expand...

That is a very good question. I have speculated in the past that Valve might make its future games PC exclusive as a way of pushing SteamOS adoption but it is very important that Source 2 fully supports PS4 and XB1 regardless. Vulkan will be a key component of SteamOS and if Source 2 allows developers to develop their games easily and deploy on multiple platforms (Windows, SteamOS, consoles) then it has a very good chance of becoming a popular and widely-used engine among multiplatform developers. This in turn will have the effect of all new games built in Source 2 supporting Vulkan (and by extension SteamOS) out of the box with minimal effort.
 
A

ArmsOfSorrow

Neo Member
Great news. I hope they release a full SDK soon.
(or mod tools for game I care about)

I do wonder how hard it is to port over Source 1 games/mods, though.
 
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