These forums have been archived and are now read-only.

The new forums are live and can be found at https://forums.eveonline.com/

EVE General Discussion

 
  • Topic is locked indefinitely.
 

CCP: What are the Graphics Limitations of EVE?

Author
Katrina Oniseki
Oniseki-Raata Internal Watch
Ishuk-Raata Enforcement Directive
#1 - 2013-10-23 20:58:46 UTC
Is there a maximum texture resolution for graphical assets used in the client, and if so what is it?

Is there a maximum poly count for 3D graphical assets, and if so what is it?

For what lowest-common-denominator are these limitations built to accommodate?

Are these in place because of server limitations, client limitations, or simply catering to the minimum system specs for client computers?

Is the game client currently built to handle higher poly counts and resolutions, or does it require more work?

Would we be suffering from more frequent crashes and memory issues if higher resolutions and poly counts were introduced?

What exactly is holding EVE's graphical capabilities back?

Katrina Oniseki

Jarod Garamonde
Jolly Codgers
Get Off My Lawn
#2 - 2013-10-23 21:02:41 UTC
Katrina Oniseki wrote:
Is there a maximum texture resolution for graphical assets used in the client, and if so what is it?

Is there a maximum poly count for 3D graphical assets, and if so what is it?

For what lowest-common-denominator are these limitations built to accommodate?

Are these in place because of server limitations, client limitations, or simply catering to the minimum system specs for client computers?

Is the game client currently built to handle higher poly counts and resolutions, or does it require more work?

Would we be suffering from more frequent crashes and memory issues if higher resolutions and poly counts were introduced?

What exactly is holding EVE's graphical capabilities back?


Posting in a stealth "remodel the Domi" thread.

That moment when you realize the crazy lady with all the cats was right...

    [#savethelance]
Phoenix Jones
Small-Arms Fire
#3 - 2013-10-23 21:05:10 UTC
Jarod Garamonde wrote:
Katrina Oniseki wrote:
Is there a maximum texture resolution for graphical assets used in the client, and if so what is it?

Is there a maximum poly count for 3D graphical assets, and if so what is it?

For what lowest-common-denominator are these limitations built to accommodate?

Are these in place because of server limitations, client limitations, or simply catering to the minimum system specs for client computers?

Is the game client currently built to handle higher poly counts and resolutions, or does it require more work?

Would we be suffering from more frequent crashes and memory issues if higher resolutions and poly counts were introduced?

What exactly is holding EVE's graphical capabilities back?


Posting in a stealth "remodel the Domi" thread.


The Spacewhale, Potato, Sneaker could use some more polish.

Yaay!!!!

Doc Severide
Doomheim
#4 - 2013-10-23 21:05:55 UTC
Is this an AFK cloaking thread?

Everyone is always repeating the mantra "Don't Trust Anyone" ad nauseum... If I can't trust the guys I play with, why bother playing with them at all? Fly Solo...

rofflesausage
State War Academy
Caldari State
#5 - 2013-10-23 21:08:22 UTC
WTB: Classic client
Carmen Electra
AlcoDOTTE
Test Alliance Please Ignore
#6 - 2013-10-23 21:18:28 UTC
I'm not a dev, but I'll take my best guess as the devs may not have time to respond.

Is there a maximum texture resolution for graphical assets used in the client, and if so what is it?

Everything has limits. That said, the devs have stated that a high-res texture pack is at least being considered.

Is there a maximum poly count for 3D graphical assets, and if so what is it?

Too many polygons would detrimentally affect EVE's performance. They already use bump mapping to make models look more detailed than the geometry actually is. There's more to looks than poly count.

For what lowest-common-denominator are these limitations built to accommodate?

I don't know. They probably looked at their statistics and did their best to come up with some baseline. Looking at other games minimum system requirements would be a good place to start.

Are these in place because of server limitations, client limitations, or simply catering to the minimum system specs for client computers?

No, yes, yes.

Is the game client currently built to handle higher poly counts and resolutions, or does it require more work?

Of course it can handle higher poly counts and resolutions. It just requires a lot more work to put more detail into models and textures. Also, total installation size (already fairly sizable) has to be carefully managed.

Would we be suffering from more frequent crashes and memory issues if higher resolutions and poly counts were introduced?

Possibly. Everyone would experience lower framerates, that's for sure. If you have lots of graphics horsepower, no one cares about the difference between 290 and 210 FPS. The people who are already on the threshold of playability however, would care very much.

What exactly is holding EVE's graphical capabilities back?

I kind of think EVE is pretty gorgeous as-is.
Abdiel Kavash
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#7 - 2013-10-23 21:20:58 UTC  |  Edited by: Abdiel Kavash
Katrina Oniseki wrote:
What exactly is holding EVE's graphical capabilities back?

The fact that the client has to handle the worst case scenarios - literally thousands of ships throwing missiles, projectiles, lasers, and drones at each other - without shitting itself.

Implement an option to completely remove all sub-capital ship models, then you can go crazy with the details.
Unsuccessful At Everything
The Troll Bridge
#8 - 2013-10-23 21:24:53 UTC
Stealth "Hurry up with DX11 already!" thread.




Since the cessation of their usefulness is imminent, may I appropriate your belongings?

Oberine Noriepa
#9 - 2013-10-23 21:55:05 UTC
Unsuccessful At Everything wrote:
Stealth "Hurry up with DX11 already!" thread.

I don't think you want them to hurry with something like this. They need to make sure that client performance with DX11 is just as stable as DX9 if not better.

That said, I'm also curious about the graphical restrictions on the client.

Katrina Oniseki
Oniseki-Raata Internal Watch
Ishuk-Raata Enforcement Directive
#10 - 2013-10-24 01:48:50 UTC
Thanks for the replies. I had a good laugh at some of them, and got largely what I expected from others. Many thanks all around.

I'm more or less curious to see where CCP can go with EVE's graphics, and what sorts of roadblocks might be ahead of us before we see any more major advancements in graphics. References to tessellation, high-res textures, and DX11 are being bandied about but they seem vague or a long ways off, and I'm largely just curious why.

I know that on many games, if you push the memory usage past 2GB, the application can simply crash out. Examples are Bethesda games (Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3 series), and Total War games (Napoleon, Shogun 2, Rome II). These games are built stock with limitations on the content and textures, but modding the games can vastly increase the resource usage causing CTDs. The answer to such problems is usually "use less mods".

Now, I know we can't mod EVE (and I don't want to), but increasing the graphics of the game like 4k textures and tesselation and moar polys and particles... then throw that all together in a fleet fight or Jita undock. I can see the game crashing out regularly because of ~reasons~, probably memory.

My curiosity is mostly - at what areas of the game's graphics are the tightest limitations? What things simply cannot be safely increased, or how much can we increase the things that are?

I'm no programmer, but EVE was written as an x86 client back in 2003. I can't imagine it's coded to work efficiently with today's monster hardware, or even today's multi-core hardware. Can it even address more than 3.2GB of memory? What bottlenecks exist?



Katrina Oniseki