directx-11 posts

After seeing the screenshots for Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 tech demo made for GDC 2011, we couldn't wait to see the whole thing. Thankfully we now have the video made from the live tech demo for all to see, showing off how a certain Samaritan helps someone out in a near future version of Washington DC.

Keep in mind that the trailer, which you can check out after the jump, was not a pre-rendered CGI clip made in a server farm but ran in real time on a real PC (although a very powerful one) at Epic Games' booth during GDC 2011. The clip was cool enough that we are hoping that the Samaritan is the basis for an actual game and not just a tech demo.

This patch for Dragon Age 2 will add the option to enable higher detail replacements for most textures in game. A big difference will be noticed on level art especially.

Requirements:
Using high-resolution textures requires a graphics card with at least 1024MB video memory.
Most of the benefits from the Hi-resolution textures will only be seen if you are able to run the game in DirectX 11.

To manually download your new content on the PC:

1. Download the installer and run it.
2. Run Dragon Age II.
3. Open the Options menu.
4. Select Video options.
5. Check the "Hi-resolution textures" checkbox.

Note: In order to enable the "Very High" setting you will need a video card that supports DirectX 11 and the latest drivers.

Download Dragon Age 2 High Resolution Texture Pack (1.08 GB)

When developer BioWare released the original Dragon Age back in November 2009, graphics cards with DirectX 11 features had just started being released by AMD. With next week's release of the RPG sequel Dragon Age 2, PC gamers with DirectX 11-supported PC gaming rigs will be able to pump up the volume on the game's graphical looks.

In a new entry on the official BioWare blog, team member Andreas Papathanasis writes more about how gaming rigs with DirectX 11 support will be able to, for example, have better lighting features. He states that supported graphics cards will allow for "hundreds of dynamic lights" for spell effects in the game. DirectX 11 tessellation features will "smooth out silhouette terrain edges that can occasionally look sharp on DirectX 9." Finally Dragon Age 2 will use DirectX 11's diffusion depth of field effect to "blur objects very close to the camera, as well as put objects in the distance slightly out of focus."

[Via Blue's News]

Looks like someone who wasn't supposed to bring a camera to Epic Games' demo room at GDC 2011 did anyway and films the Unreal Engine 3 tech demo. The result is a blurry ShakyCam video showing off the live tech demo that was shown to the press earlier this week.

Keep in mind that the video was filming a real live in-engine demo and that the visual effects and other improvements needed a powerful PC running three Nvidia graphics cards in SLI in order to have a descent framerate. If you want to see a much more in focus and higher resolution movie you might want to wait until the official Unreal Engne 3 trailer is issued from Epic sometime next week. You can check out the ShakyCam YouTube version right now after the jump:

[Via VG247.com]

Unreal Engine 3 got a new tech demo that was shown at GDC 2011 this week at Epic Games' booth. The level of detail and visual effects in the demo was pretty staggering, according to reports, and a trailer showing off the demo will be released next week.

But most PCs currently wouldn't be able to run the live demo well, according to PC Gamer. The GDC 2011 build was running on a PC with three Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 graphics cards installed. Epic Games' VP Mark Rein stated, "Maybe the next Nvidia graphics card bump means we can use two, we don't need three. And maybe the next bump means we can use just one. And the next bump after that means that we can use the mid-range card."

The point of the GDC 2011 Unreal Engine 3 demo was to show the press and game developers what might be possible for game graphics in the next few years with Rein stating, "This is our proposal for what the next big generational leap of gaming should be." Those features include things like water puddles on the ground that reflect neon signs or highly detailed facial textures for characters or clothing that realistically flaps via hardware physics. Rein stated that this year's demo took 12 people two months to complete, adding that Epic Games puts in "tens of millions of dollars into these R&D experiments."

As we reported earlier this week Unreal Engine 3 and UDK users will soon get an update that adds DirectX 11 graphical features into the latest build.

Earlier this week, Epic Games announced that it would be adding DirectX 11 graphical features in a new update for both its professional Unreal Engine 3 tools and its free UDK tool. This week the company is showing off a new Unreal Engine 3 tech demo to the press and game developers at GDC 2011.

Screenshots from the "Samaritan" demo build shown today to the press definitely show some higher quality details including broken depth of field visuals, higher quality shadows and more. Kotaku reports that a trailer that shows off the new Unreal Engine 3 features will be released to the public sometime next week.

Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 game development tools are by far the most popular third party software tools used by game developers around the world. Today at GDC 2011, Epic Games announced that an upcoming unreal to Unreal Engine 3 will allow the tools to support DirectX 11 graphics features including tessellation.

The demo is running at Epic's GDC 2011 booth using Nvidia's GeForce GTX 500-based graphics cards. Unreal Engine 3 already supports Nvidia's propiertary gameplay features such as PhysX (for in-game physics) and APEX (for more realistic animations). In addition to Unreal Engine 3 the free UDK software will also get an update that will support DirectX 11 graphics features.

Download Unreal Development Kit February 2011 Beta (1.29 GB)

Several years ago, PC processor maker AMD announced plans to release a new product that would combine both a CPU and a GPU in one. The product was named, not surprisingly, Fusion. After years of waiting, AMD announced today that the first Fusion-based PCs (desktops, notebooks and especially netbooks) are now available from a variety of PC makers.

The graphics core in the Fusion processor supports DirectX 11 graphics. The Fusion is expected to be a big contender in the netbook PC business which may mean that more high end PC games may actually be playable on netbooks. AMD will be showing off PCs with Fusion at this week's Consumer Electronics show and a number of game developers and publishers will be showing off games running on Fusion including BioWare, Firaxis, Turbine and more.

The install base of Windows XP-based PCs among users of Steam has dropped considerable in just the past few months. The operating system, which is over 10 years old, is now used by only 25 percent or so of Steam users, according to the PC game download site's latest survey figures. That's down from over 33 percent of Steam users from the result of July's survey.

Windows 7, especially in its 64-bit version, is the current king of the hill with over 35 percent of Steam users having the OS installed and its expected that the percentage will continue to grow as more PC gamers update their systems. That's good for people who want to play games that will only run on DirectX 10 or DirectX 11. This weekend some web site spotted info that was actually first announced last summer. Battlefield 3, which will use a new version of developer Digital lllusions' Frostbite Engine, will be a DirectX 10-11 exclusive. That means Windows XP and its DirectX 9 API won't be able to run the game when it comes out in late 2011.

3DMark 11 is the latest version of the world's most popular benchmark for measuring the graphics performance of gaming PCs. Designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests. The Basic Edition is free to use and allows an unlimited number of benchmark runs without registration or expiry. Visit http://www.3dmark.com to upgrade your Basic Edition to the Advanced Edition and unlock all presets, custom settings, benchmark looping, unlimited online results storage, offline results management and more.

Version 1.01 includes bug fixes and improvements. Those upgrading from the original version can download the incremental patch here.

Continue reading after the jump for a list of changes and system requirements.

Download 3DMark 11 Basic Edition v1.01 (282 MB)
Download 3DMark 11 Basic Edition v1.01 Patch (17 MB)