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Latest Comments by vulture
Whats Next In Graphics APIs
30 Dec 2014 at 8:06 pm UTC

Quoting: GuestIR does not cover optimisation and linker passes of compilation. Those are the most time consuming phases of shader compilation - an initial IR pass is trivial by comparison, so startup times won't really be any faster.
I just hope that multiple shaders can be compiled simultaneously with the new GL. That would be worth something.
just currious why would you stop at initial phase. if i remember correctly you create initial IR and then start branching for optimizations. i don't really see how most optimizations could differ between drivers. especially when you ave defined the IR it executes.

right now, you can write source that won't work on some vendor. IR won't allow that. as far as they were saying it won't even allow one platform to behave differently than other which is done by common compiler front end. it also means a lot less porting work

but, then again only IR i work with is mono. startup time with mono is already negligible, but you can always enable AOT.

Whats Next In Graphics APIs
30 Dec 2014 at 8:38 am UTC

Quoting: GuestGL next will not have one compiler, just one IR. There is more to compilers than that. The main idea is really to allow distribution of shaders without source access - it won't improve compiling times noticably, or have any other effect.
It might, however, help improve the conformity situation eventually.
which means exactly what i said. i didn't say compiler times will improve, i said they won't be better/worse between vendor. they can be equal if used common crossplatform compiler front end. also, since vendors can ship precompiled into IR which is simpler than raw source, those start up times will be faster

there is a big difference in complexity between making compliant compiler and compliant IR execution. right now, compliance varies between drivers


Whats Next In Graphics APIs
29 Dec 2014 at 3:15 pm UTC

Quoting: pd12
Quoting: page 6OpenGL 4.4 is a superset of DX11
- well I never knew that.
well, this is a known fact. same as two other sadly. and more is not always better if more is done in a wrong way

shaders not being reliably equally implemented, since shader compiler is in each driver. one driver might suffer from compile time issue, while other might suffer from conformity and so on

humongous methods acting out in 1000 and 1 way, where implementation of each vendor cannot even test all the posibillities. this led to drivers being incomplete or drivers being crappy or drivers being good.

gl.next solves both problems.

shader compiler is not something left to driver, there is only one shader compiler (just like in directx) and that one is provided by khronos. all that driver needs to implement is CIL execution, which is trivial compared to compiler.

methods are small and testable.

if everything is done as on paper, i can really imagine we will see gl4.5 on gl.next implementation where it will work reliably against all vendors, not to mention that this would also solve all the previous problems. kind of like mesa or galium nine is now

Storm United Massive Online FPS Gearing Up For Early Access
10 Dec 2014 at 3:36 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: bigzerRegarding the priority with Linux issues I think that possible problems we might face will have to be solved by Epic, not us. UE4 is supposed to be a cross-platform engine and because of that, our role as Unreal developer is to make sure that our code is cross-platform compatible, any other issue that may arise will be issues occurring on all other Unreal developer Linux builds.
kudos on this mentality. use cp tools and don't cross the line for any side is best way to code cross platform. correct start like this is more or less 90 of being cp and a really rare find. i'm not really MMO fan, but approach like this really deserves support. thumbs up now, money later ;)

most developers rush and pick what they think they want and later yap how A doesn't run, B is not compatible and C needs rewrite. and then there are probably some internal engine changes that were done for one platform only

Empire: Total War Available Now For Linux - Conquer Both On Land And Sea
9 Dec 2014 at 8:33 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: MetallinatusI hope this is the beginning of something great....
I would buy Total War: Shogun at day 1 if it comes to Linux too :)
ohh, dear... another strategy. like we don't have enough of these. well, E:TW is the last strategy for me to support porters. i'm starting to get the feeling that by buying to support i'm somehow promoting fact that i would like them, so that would be it for me.

We Are The Worst Interstellar Marines In The Universe
28 Nov 2014 at 9:40 am UTC

Quoting: SkarjakI really like how you kept reloading while out in the open. :p
that's no problem unless you're stationary. i more reminisced on mgo times where people were trying to sneak with gun lamp turned on;) i don't know if lamp is registered by the game or not. hell, it wasn't in demon's/dark souls so it might not be here as well. what do i know since i don't own this game yet;)

still, good old mgo times

Dead Island Zombie Game Now Available On Linux For Some (updated)
25 Oct 2014 at 11:32 am UTC Likes: 1

the only flaw this game has for me is... it launched after borderlands. bought it anyway, but it will take a while to get to it ;)

i guess 2K wont really mind my choice, lol

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Released For Linux With An Explosive Trailer!
20 Oct 2014 at 1:21 am UTC

Quoting: WorMzyIt's finally release day here in the UK. I bought it this morning and am installing it while I'm at work. I'll give it a quick run tonight, to make sure Aspyr get my money, then it's back on to BL2.
it's much better than this. pre-sequel is like its been made by some random not even B team. boring and repetitive as hell, not to mention god damn awful sound. that and really lame story made me rage quit two fights before ending. whole boss fight with plane and wraiths is just damn stupid if you solo and i know i could go and level up a bit to make it easier... just... i can't find one part of game i wouldn't already be fed up with to the point where i want to puke since almost all enemies are just repetitive and bland

and i don't mind challenge, right now playing 4th avi from scratch on ultimate in B2.

Unity3D Games "Phone Home" With Details Of Your Hardware & Software
16 Oct 2014 at 7:33 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: oldrocker99This is indeed disturbing; at least Steam tells you what is happening. IF it is truly nothing but anonymous hardware data, I guess it's OK, but they should have told us a lot earlier.

And, yes, 0.1% Linux users is way, way under reporting the actual numbers. I believe Steam's stats, and I certainly don't believe these, although their distro figures seem about right.
this is not per user reporting. it is per game and unity not only has lots of non-linux games, it also has no decent linux game at all. i think in my library of 200 games i don't have one single game made with unity.

this is completely irrelevant statistic

GOL Cast: Freezing Bandits and Claptrap Logic in Borderlands 2
7 Oct 2014 at 9:26 am UTC

The amount of weapons is staggering and it seems impossible to find all of them on the first playthrough. The weapon locations are also randomized to prevent you from knowing where to look for that favourite killing tool of yours
newsflash ;) you can't find them if they don't exist. weapons are randomized, even orange ones have random stats.

also, to get most of them the "easy" way is 3rd playtrough. where you play complete game on the 1st run, then just main quest on the 2nd one you play no side quests, because 2nd playtrough is the only one that resets them. 3rd playtrough every enemy is max level and so is loot