SH-IV Graphic Capabilites ?

[TonyPiech]

Just curious to know the graphic capabilities in SH-IV. If the sim is out in 2007, VISTA and DX-10 should be out; will SH-IV take advantage of those graphic features or will we be limited similar to what we had in SH-III?

Hopefully we can have some graphic scalability in SH-IV.

[MadMike]

More focus needs to be on correcting deficiencies in off the shelf playability and historical accuracy, not high end graphics.

Yours, Mike

[John Channing]

Originally Posted by MadMike

More focus needs to be on correcting deficiencies in off the shelf playability and historical accuracy, not high end graphics.

Yours, Mike

While that may be true from the perspective of the so-called "hard core" grognard, that is certainly not what lead to sales in excess of 300,00 for Silent Hunter III (which is what had lead to Silent Hunter IV).

Top end graphics is what sells. Gameplay and immersiveness is what keeps 'em coming back.

And as to the ever growing urban myth about the state of release of Silent Hunter III, most of the "deficiencies in off the shelf playability" actually turned out to be deficiencies in people's systems or abilities to read the manual.

I know. I was one of the ones ammending the hundreds of threads that were headlined "NEW BUG" with the end-tag "SOLVED".

Any serious problems that did exist were subsequently and quickly corrected by the developers.

With over 15 years of experience with simulations I cannot remember one of this scope and magnitude that was in better shape out of the box.

And the proof is in the sales!

JCC

[TonyPiech]

Originally Posted by MadMike

More focus needs to be on correcting deficiencies in off the shelf playability and historical accuracy, not high end graphics.

Yours, Mike

Mike, I'd like to respectfully disagree; it may just be "different stokes for different folks" . I had a high-end machine for SH-III and I'll probably have even a higher-end machine for SH-IV. What I didn't get in SH-III was some form of graphic scalability, hopefully that will change in SH-IV. Those that have lower-and-midrange systems should have the capability to view SH-IV. However many computer gamers will move to VISTA and DX-10 when it arrives in January or February of 2007; the developers will hopefully recognize this certainty and give us something to play with rather than remain stuck in the past.

[PeriscopeDepth]

I'm guessing not. I do wonder if the game will be coded to take advantage of dual core systems though.

PD

[MobyGrape]

did a quick search on Widescreen..did not find anything..Will widescreen support be available with proper aspect..?

[Marriott]

I'd like to see better crew graphics. Seeing a nice beautiful sunset and great waves and rust on the boat and then turning and seeing horrific crewmembers that look like they were made with lego is abit of a dissapointment

[tycho102]

Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth

I'm guessing not. I do wonder if the game will be coded to take advantage of dual core systems though.

PD

That is the only thing that I would like to ask of the actual game engine. That the engine is multi-threaded in whatever possible way. The physics would be best, since it's the most massive drain on the processor. If Ubisoft could break apart the sound, graphics, and physics into seperate contexts, people with dual-cores could get some real use from their systems.

It's doesn't have to have multithreaded sub-routines. Just break apart whatever you possibly can. Having the graphics and physics on seperate contexts would make all the difference in the world for time compression on the nav map.

This was one of the most interesting things about Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness (#6). They (Core) included multiple executables: one for MMX, one for SSE1, and another for SSE2/Multi-threading. The game didn't need multi-threading, since the graphics were far more complex than the physics or AI, but it was a good move by the developer.

[kapitanfred]

Well, I just hope SH IV caters for all ...end computers 'cos I'd hate to pay $2,370 for SH IV instead of whatever the cost of the game will be.

Pretty expensive program otherwise if u ask me!!

[Immacolata]

[QUOTE=tycho102]

Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth

That is the only thing that I would like to ask of the actual game engine. That the engine is multi-threaded in whatever possible way. The physics would be best, since it's the most massive drain on the processor. If Ubisoft could break apart the sound, graphics, and physics into seperate contexts, people with dual-cores could get some real use from their systems.

I am afraid it is too early. The minority of pc's have dual core processors, and the benefit of this project will be limited. The only reason I can imagine that Ubi would allow it was if they somehow hoped to gain some long term benefit for their teams. The actual game SH4 is probably too minor a title. They can't be allowed to spend months experimenting with multithreading. As with the introduction of 3d, it requires some of the bold developers to push through. While id wouldn't know an original game concept if it came up and fragged them inna face, they do have a knack for taking up the latest trends in hardware. Quake 4 got multiple CPU support. I believe the havok engine is written for it as well.