Direct X

[Larsenex]

I cannot remember but is DW a DX9 Game?

Will it ever make the move to DX11?

Do we (the players) want it to be DX 11 and if not why not?

I have seen that many games actually perform better under DX11 but dont know if DW can benefit from it.

[Data]

not sure if this is something to code for, i would surely want it to run on dx11 as well

[Raap]

It's not hardware accelerated; it's only using the video card for displaying the picture, the CPU is doing all the work. That's why the hardware requirements are written as they are:

Video/Graphics: minimum 1024 x 768 resolution, 32 bit

[lordxorn]

Graphics are not the most important aspect of a 4x game in my opinion, as Ascendancy for the iphone can testify to. Sure they are updated with a higher res, but they remain largely the same with out the need for fancy directx 11 graphics.

[Raap]

Don't think anyone actually had graphics in mind. The problem with better graphics is that it takes so much resources to create good ones; the engine, the models and the art. Tons of game series over the years, including Space Empires, have had poor sequels because they decided to go from 2D graphics to 3D. By keeping it simple like in DW, all those resources can go toward gameplay, which is where the fun's at.

However, performance is somewhat lacking in the game. That's why at least personally I'd really love if they did hardware acceleration, i.e. using the GPU for the current graphics instead of the CPU. This would additionally free up CPU usage so even more stuff could happen in the game. I'm unsure how much work it would actually be though.

[WoodMan]

Don't think anyone actually had graphics in mind. The problem with better graphics is that it takes so much resources to create good ones; the engine, the models and the art. Tons of game series over the years, including Space Empires, have had poor sequels because they decided to go from 2D graphics to 3D. By keeping it simple like in DW, all those resources can go toward gameplay, which is where the fun's at.

Couldn't agree more.  Not to mention going 3D closes off modding to all but semi-professionals in 3D rendering software [:D]

[Data]

same here Raap, good point....i'll take gameplay over graphics any day
that's why we're still playing older games as well

[Sabin Stargem]

If I remember rightly, videocards are not much good for dealing with 2D graphics, since the majority is optimized towards 3D games. As such, an videocard would get much better usage for an 3D version of Distant Worlds. I wouldn't mind it if the game's sequel is 3D, provided that it is more about performance than the latest looks. Having a good aesthetic style and graphics on par with Homeworld Cataclysm would do fine by me.

[WoodMan]

Good 2D graphics are more visually appealing than bad 3D graphics in my opinion.  If the game will work both in 2D and 3D, 2D is the better choice unless you can provide top quality 3D graphics like the big games out there.  Some games simply won't work in 2D though obviously [:D]

[Sabin Stargem]

Of course. Which is why I feel that Homeworld basically defined good 3D graphics for space battles (for an RTS), and as such serves as the basic benchmark for the 3D realm. While it is true that 2D graphics would generally be less taxing, that doesn't mean much because a videocard can't perform to the fullest, since your average videocard is built to handle 3D games. That means that once the videocard's ability to process 2D is saturated, any additional graphics would have to be handled by the CPU, which in turn would slow down the game. By making the game 3D and to fully exploit a videocard should make most of the 3D graphics not rely upon the CPU.

Theoretically. It all depends on how well optimized the graphics engine is and how detailed the graphics are. A couple of 2D games on my system makes it slow to a crawl, while some fairly recent 3D games run very quickly at maximized graphics.

[Lord_Astraios]

It all depends on the developer,  i will take a game with more gameplay than graphics,  as now today's gaming industry too much eye candy and too much disappointment,  but like i said,  it depends on the developer,  get a game engine and polish it,  but also ive seen the same quality of graphics and one is the best running engine and the other one is like a walking turd.

Also another problem with graphics is,  Spend too much time in it and you wont have enough resources for the rest of the departments,  and what you get is a short and boring game. 

[Larsenex]

Dont get me wrong. As I have posted DOZENS of times over at Civ Fanatics regarding Civ 5, I would MUCH rather have superb gameplay over fancy graphics and pretty soldiers (or spacecraft) anyday. I am still so flcking angry about that game so I must calm down and remember that its not thier fault. They hired interns from High School ROP to do all the coding over there at Firaxis......


Anyway. I enjoy this game so much I shelved Gal Civ 2 and Heroes 3 AND Civ 5 for all my time is wrapped in this game. Now as you stated above, the rendering is done by the CPU so wouldnt it then benefit from a Quad core over a dual core? I have posted before that I am going to build a new system and will migrate to an I7 950. I ask about the DX because I will likely get a high end Gforce card like a 560i or such.

Thanks for the replies!
[&o]

[Raap]

From what I've seen, the game usually uses one, sometimes two cores. So no, quad core won't make a difference. However, the i7 CPU is also much faster clock for clock than any dual core CPU, so you'll definitely see improvements. Even more so if you do a small overclock on the CPU, like 3.6ghz or so.

[Setekh]

ORIGINAL: WoodMan

Couldn't agree more.  Not to mention going 3D closes off modding to all but semi-professionals in 3D rendering software [:D]

ORIGINAL: WoodMan

Good 2D graphics are more visually appealing than bad 3D graphics in my opinion. If the game will work both in 2D and 3D, 2D is the better choice unless you can provide top quality 3D graphics like the big games out there. Some games simply won't work in 2D though obviously [:D]

This.

[OverlordCW]

They'd need to switch to WPF, then it would be hardware accelerated, as WPF uses Direct3D. This would require a rewrite of all GUI elements though.
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