Are PC's getting a much needed optimization boost come November?

[dave1029]

So looking over the specs of the new next gen consoles coming out, what stood out to me is the 8 core cpu's that they utilize. Much of our annoyance with games like Skyrim stems from our outrage at our uber-powerful cpu's not being used to their potential. We scream at game-developers: "crappy ports!!!", so is it possible that for at least a few years, PC's will be used to their full capability? Or will consoles still hold us back for games like Skyrim, or any other games made for consoles.

 

Note: THIS IS NOT A CONSOLE WAR THREAD. DO NOT START A DEBATE. All I'm wondering is if we will get better ports and better optimization.

[ZeroKing]

Unless the game developers decide to make their engine's computations and mathematics separately optimized for the PC, then no..... expect porting from console systems. Mind you, the specs on the new consoles are better for today's time than the previous generation's consoles for when they were made.

 

Again, if you look at the tech layout for the new consoles, their CPUs are remarkably better, but their GPUs are sub-par. An indication that the console games will be made towards the CPU. If the game devs decide to optimize their engine so that CPUs (and GPUs by extension) are used appropriately, then expect that consoles will not hold back PC gaming. However, stating that the new consoles have better hardware does not mean that game devs will have made their engines optimized for the PC. They may even decide to just make a terrible port of their games from the console to the PC (cost-saving and time-saving strategies, really), without making much of the appropriate mathematical and computational changes that will enable better utilization of PC hardware.

 

The problem with past games was NOT that the consoles were holding PC gaming back, it was that game devs seemed to care little to make their game engines work well on the PC. They made console ports, rather than dedicated engine ports, so we naturally blame the consoles for having sub-par hardware. That's false. It only seemed that way because the specific game engine was designed for the console, and terribly ported to the PC. It's more so that devs didn't learn their lesson regarding engine optimizations. It's ultimately not on the consoles, but rather on the game developers who will decide what we may get as an optimized game.

Edited June 17, 2013 by ZeroKing

[dave1029]

That's depressing. Oh I yearn for the day in which every game looks like real life and sub-par hardware can run it smoothly. Too bad that won't be for another 100 years.

[ZeroKing]

If a gaming developer, now with better console hardware, decides to make better optimizations on their older engines.... or even make a new engine from scratch.... then fret not; there may be hope yet. Again, nice examples were the new Star Wars Battlefront and The Witcher 3. Both were demonstrated at E3, both have PC-designed engines.

Edited June 17, 2013 by ZeroKing

[audioave10]

Yes, I'm hopeful too, but games lately are dumbed-down quite a bit. The developers need a better use of their budget and a little more inspiration. The publishers need to let them work under a little less pressure to meet a release date.

[Thor.]

I believe with the amd architecture i can see AMD optimizing games better as well, and graphics drivers. Also pc exclusivity will be more of a challenge for Nvidia when pc games do get ported over, if its using Jaguar apus, then its a good thing for us AMD users. it'll be a win, win for us.

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/06/16/how-amds-hardware-in-next-gen-consoles-will-affect-pc-gamers/?ns_campaign=article-feed&ns_mchannel=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

 

http://www.pcgamesn.com/metal-gear-solid-5-phantom-pain-almost-definitely-coming-pc-has-horses

Edited June 17, 2013 by Thor.

[ZeroKing]

Again, this process of optimization will be different, since the hardware upgrades work differently than the original trend, computationally. I don't want to discuss the mathematics and coding involved (I had a hand working with AMD APUs in Sunnyvale, California two years), but don't expect a huge jump in quality and performance for at least the next two years.

 

Most modern games will likely not have issues regarding this whole AMD/NVIDIA GPU issue, it will still focus on the CPU in the end. That article doesn't mention the importance of game devs have in making optimizations. Game devs are at least aware about the whole AMD/NVIDIA performance gaps, they're likely will not follow the same trend they did in the past, where an engine would be more optimized on one GPU camp over the other.

Edited June 17, 2013 by ZeroKing

[Thor.]

Hmm the crew and Metal gear is getting a pc port :biggrin:

 

 

almost looks like ray tracing ehh

 

expect better graphics though, they say they have caught MS employees working on a xbone one, turns out it was shown off on a pc, with gtx700's

Edited June 17, 2013 by Thor.

[ZeroKing]

Obviously better-looking games with beautiful graphics will come out, it's the effect of having better hardware. Does not mean that it will optimized, especially on the PC. Speaking from experience as an engineer in the materials engineering industry. Optimizations may come, but it will likely take time, since the tech is still relatively new.

 

Ray tracing is old news. It's just that game devs did not have the necessary means on how to implement it on an engine without costing them money.

Edited June 17, 2013 by ZeroKing

[Thor.]

I know that, but its the first time i seen something similar in games before. It may be a normal for them to implement that type of graphic rendering in games. if it is ray tracing??

 

You gotta be more optimistic, i see a bright future for pc gaming. :thumbsup: