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Sneak peak at Far Cry 2 and its use of a multi-core CPU
Far Cry 2 will definitely use multi-core and CPU-based Havok physics
Today at IDF Intel showed a demo of Far Cry 2, and confirmed that it’s not only incredibly
pretty, but is multi-threaded, with AI and CPU-based Havok physics running as
separate threads for multi-core CPU. Renee James, Vice President and General
Manger of Intel Software and
Solutions Group, talked us through the gameplay to explain what was happening.
First off James pointed out the complex and
detailed scenary, with grass and other foliage blowing in the wind. The underlying
geometry of these objects is created by the CPU, though James didn't say whether the object animations are scripted or dynamic - either way, it's the CPU that calculated the movement. Next she revealed that the
clouds of Far Cry 2 are not merely painted onto a skybox texture as with most
games, but are actually calculated, again on the CPU.
Explosions in Far Cry 2 tend to smash up
the world spectacularly, as the game uses a Havok physics engine, which is run
as a separate unit (and therefore as a independent thread) on the CPU. This is
unlike Nvidia’s PhysX physics APU which is accelerated on a GeForce GPU. james didn't elaborate whether the havok engine in Far Cry 2 was Havok FX (which was previously only accelerated on GPUs) or another Havok physics engine.
AI in Far Cry 2 is also run as a separate
work unit on the CPU, making animals (and we presume enemies, though James only
talked about deer as the demo we saw didn’t have combat) react differently and
realistically to threats or environmental changes. Advanced AI is important in games
with destructible scenery, as NPCs need sufficientlt adept pathfinding skills to
navigate the ever-changing layout of the game world.
Intel is obviously keen to push
multi-threading applications, whether those applications are games or more
mundane software, as the message being repeated again and again during IDF is
that Intel will just add more cores rather than significantly ramping up single-core
performance. To aid developers in the creation of multi-threaded
applications Intel will launch Parallel Studio (a four-tool plug-in for
Microsoft’s Visual Studio) in BETA in November. Intel will also be releasing
plug-ins for compilers for Nehalem and Larrabee in the near future.
As yet we don’t know how many cores Far Cry
2 will scale across, so we’ll have to wait until it’s released later this year
and run our own tests.
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It must be hard using a left handed sniper rifle if you're right handed, as our Hero appears to be. I hope this is not a sign of poor attention to detail in the finished game.
Comment by cplpile at 4:15pm 15th September 2008
In answer to your question, because people have no imagination anymore. They like to pretend that they are in the army being he hero - let's hope they join when they are old enough so they find out what its like. Anyhow, FarCry 2, Pfft, load of bollocks. Bring on Crysis Warfare.
Comment by Syzygy2005 at 10:29pm 26th August 2008
nice site... it actually made me look forward to the game a whole lot more... looks really good so far.
Comment by NewParadigm at 1:35pm 22nd August 2008
found some more great info at this site check it out www.farcry2world.com
Comment by gonkwonk at 1:31pm 21st August 2008
"having a bit of a mix isnt necessarily a bad thing so long as its implemented right (and the aliens in crysis were implemented much better than the mutants in far cry)." Both games implemented them badly, you might say crysis didnt do AS bad a job of it as far cry did but they still both become a lot less fun when the trialiens arrive.
Comment by borodin at 9:07am 21st August 2008
why people keep moaning about the mutants/aliens thing in far cry and crysis... fair enough the mutants in far cry weren't as challenging as the earlier humans were, but they could have just been designed better instead of removed. So some people dont like alien/mutant FPS games.... so? Some people dont like FPS games where your enemies are just other army humans... having a bit of a mix isnt necessarily a bad thing so long as its implemented right (and the aliens in crysis were implemented much better than the mutants in far cry). Come on people broaden your horizons every FPS game doesn't have to be about killing another nations army, it'd get very boring very soon if they were. Another question, how many of the people complaining zombies and aliens ruined the game enjoyed half life and half life 2?
Comment by NewParadigm at 8:04am 21st August 2008
it looks so much simpler than Sandbox 2!! - I am definately hyped up to use the map editor alone!!
Comment by NikoBellic at 12:28am 21st August 2008
I really, really hope that the plot doesn't go the same way as FC1 or Crysis... the monster/aliens thing ruined both games in my opinion. As for the hardware side of things, it all sounds great, but also expensive. I'm getting sick and tired of having to upgrade my PC everytime I want to play a game on high at 1680x1050... plus my PC get so hot these days that if it's on for any length of time all the windows upstairs need to be open to cool the house down!
Comment by mitchell2k7 at 9:17pm 20th August 2008
I'm even more hyped up for FC2 now!!!... I think I'll have to upgrade my Phenom 96BE though lol, I just hope that AMD/Intel Release a decent CPU and Chipset before FC2s released
Comment by NikoBellic at 9:08pm 20th August 2008
The multithreading switchover has finally come round the corner. I'll get a new computer when the standard manufacturing process is 32 nm for cpu, 45nm for gpu and DDR3 drops to rock bottom. so im guesing about one year -1.5 years for all those to have come along
Comment by eddie543 at 8:44pm 20th August 2008
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