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Forums - Microsoft - Microsoft reveals how it’s improving visual detail on Xbox One and Windows 8.1

Slimebeast said:
Adinnieken said:
Slimebeast said:
I don't understand, what's the difference between this and mipmapping?

Mipmapping is Mipmapping.  Tiled resources are tiled resources.

You can use mipmaps with tiled resources, but tiled resources deal with 3D geometric shapes, where as mipmaps deal with added detail levels.  Tiled resources takes a geometric image and breaks it down into smaller tiles.  Textures, like those used in mipmaps cane then be applied.  

Because the shape is already broken down into smaller pieces, zooming in and applying a more detailed texture to the tile is easier to do rather than recalculating the geometric image. 

Mipmaps are now standard.  Tiled resources are in limited use.  In consoles, the only systems to use it have been the DreamCast, Xbox 360, PS Vita, and now the Xbox One.  DirectX 11.2 simplifies this process by making it directly available to programmers, rather than having to build tiled resources into their engine.


All right. But that was hard for me to understand. I'm too old to grasp technical things in such a short time.

So this will be used in next gen games. That is PS4 games too, right? Will this technique improve performance or does it tax the hardware heavily?

No, it won't be available on the PS4.  The PS Vita uses a PowerVR-based GPU.  Only Microsoft, Nvidia, and PowerVR (formerly VideoLogic) have technology patents for tiled resources.

EDIT:  Didn't answer everything.

Yes, most likely but it doesn't have to be.  I don't know if it's more efficient, but it can potentially offer better graphic fidelity.  Nothing I've read suggests it's more taxing.  If anything it would be less taxing.  For example, if you have an irregular object, the normal way to build it would be to render the closest shape, then add to it with more polygons.  With tiled resources, you don't.  The entire shape of the object is calculated and only the final object is rendered.  Another example would be an open window.  Normally, an open window isn't open.  It's a part of the shell.  The texture and physics associated with it are just different.  You still render that "empty" space.  With tiled resources, you don't.  With tiled resources an open window is an open window.  A crack in a wall is a crack in a wall.  It isn't a matter of a texture that gives you the impression of it not being there, and it isn't tessellation.  The void space of the crack isn't rendered. 



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I wonder if game developers have already started to use this on Xbox One games?



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Adinnieken said:
Zappykins said:
The Tessellation in DirectX 11 is already awesome! I hope this makes it even better and smoother.

But I don't follow Microsoft's naming. We already had 11.1 now we have DirectX 11.2? Why not call it DirectX 12? It doesn't really matter, just curious.

It's a minor build.  MM.mm.DDDD

MM = Major build.  A significant feature update.
mm = Minor build.  Typically small but significant feature additions/changes.
DDDD = Daily build.  Users typically don't see these beyond the released daily build number, but this version number is typically indicative of the normal programming process and work that is done on a daily or routine basis. 

Thanks, I know it is complexly trivial what they call it. But I remember with the current Xbox 360 we have DirectX 9.0C.  Now we get DirectX 11.2 I just find it a bit funny.

I do still wonder what DirectX 12 is going to be.  It will probably require a hugely powerful more than 10+Tflop GPU in my guess.  It is just conjecture though, from how tech is advancing.

I am still amazed how they can optimize something that has been out for a few years. Impressed by that I am.



 

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Zappykins said:
Adinnieken said:
Zappykins said:
The Tessellation in DirectX 11 is already awesome! I hope this makes it even better and smoother.

But I don't follow Microsoft's naming. We already had 11.1 now we have DirectX 11.2? Why not call it DirectX 12? It doesn't really matter, just curious.

It's a minor build.  MM.mm.DDDD

MM = Major build.  A significant feature update.
mm = Minor build.  Typically small but significant feature additions/changes.
DDDD = Daily build.  Users typically don't see these beyond the released daily build number, but this version number is typically indicative of the normal programming process and work that is done on a daily or routine basis. 

Thanks, I know it is complexly trivial what they call it. But I remember with the current Xbox 360 we have DirectX 9.0C.  Now we get DirectX 11.2 I just find it a bit funny.

I do still wonder what DirectX 12 is going to be.  It will probably require a hugely powerful more than 10+Tflop GPU in my guess.  It is just conjecture though, from how tech is advancing.

I am still amazed how they can optimize something that has been out for a few years. Impressed by that I am.

Windows 2000 = Windows 5.0
Windows XP = Windows 5.1
Windows Vista = Windows 6.0
Windows 7 = Windows 6.1
Windows 8 = Windows 6.2
Windows 8.1 = Windows 6.3

Despite the fact that there are major visual differences in the UI, the kernel is largely the same from Vista to Windows 8.1.  Windows XP and Windows Vista weren't simply visually different.  There were major funtional, core changes in how the OS functioned.  In fact, more were supposed to happen, but never did.  The biggest one that didn't make it was the plan to build the OS upon SQL.  The idea being, store everything in a blob in a database.  That's the reason why Winsows Vista consumes all your memory and delegates it back to any programs you run, it's the same way SQL actually works.

With Windows 7, it was just a matter of removing some of those functional changes intended for a SQL-based file allocation table.

Also, up until SharePoint 2010, this was also how SharePoint worked.  All files got stuffed into SQL Server as a blob.  However, it becomes inefficient when the files become too large.  Essentially, the same thing happened with Windows Vista's new FAT.  It didn't work effieciently.  Cool idea, but it just didn't work out.

The whole point is: Yeah, you never know what you're getting with Microsoft.  Marketing trumps versioning conventions.

DirectX 1 - 9 were actually all minor versions starting with DirectX 4.02 going up to 4.09.

Only when Vista came out did it change to DirectX 6.00 with DirectX 10.