Veridian3

Valve Software recently invited several hardware editors from major web sites to visit Valve and see the new Day of Defeat movie...one of these sites was Driverheaven and today we have what can only be classed as a MASSIVE article for you to absorb.

Join US hardware editor Steve as he takes you on a tour of Valves DOD: Source engine...

"Jason Mitchell spent 8 years working for ATI, where he headed up the 3D Application Research Group. He is now utilizing his 3D graphics hardware wizardry on new projects at Valve. Gabe Newell who is the Founder and Managing Director of Valve, made several poignant points during the presentation. Doug Lombardi, Director of Marketing also made appropriate references and helped bring the whole gathering together with the help of able assistant Ms. Kathy Gehrig."



Full Article

NOTE: Broadband connection recommended for full enjoyment of the article.

WxChaser

I'd rather you started a separate thread with this concern. The time we had with Valve was quite short and they had a lot to cover so I didn't get a chance to bring it up on this trip. I will speak with Erik Johnson when I get a chance and try to give our members an update on this process.

Valve has been quite busy rolling out new content and preparing for the release of Aftermath at the end of Q1 2006...probably in late January or February.

I appreciate your comments and understand your frustrations - I would like to see Valve be more responsive especially concerning their comments to our member's questions on our last trip out. In their defense, at least they have opened and maintained a dialogue with DriverHeaven, and we hope to expand on that in the future.

WxChaser

Try not being so negative. How many companies do you know of that actually even make an offer like Valve did a few months ago? I think they'll come through as promised.

Vikingod

Great job guys, that really explained what these effects were all about. I have to admit I am excited for this tech to be implemented in games (in fact, I'm surprised it hasnt all ready)

pr0digal jenius

i think this is a great big step toward the current holy grail of "cinematic gaming"

excellent video, except my FFDShow codec is screwed and flips blues and reds around so it looked, well, odd

Zardon

the big file? I had to convert it from a 260 meg uncompressed WMV, got it down pretty well with the XVID codec, try installing it or the new divx codec.

WxChaser

My thanks to Allan for putting him thru the ringer on the WMV to DIVX/Xvid...he had a lot to convert. Thanks bud.

Zardon

unfortunately they arent quite as nice as the originals, but hosting 260 meg files is pretty insane

I agree with steve on the valve front, however I understand your frustration Rasta. I think maybe if you dropped steve a mail rasta with the most important questions you have in mind, he might be able to talk to the guys in valve about it.

A possibility.

WxChaser

I have emailed Erik and gotten a great response from him which I will post when I get home later today.

WxChaser

Erik Johnson @ Valve gave me his ok via email to quote his earlier message to me today when I asked this question:

When I was out for the Lost Coast Day event Valve invited me to a while back, I did this piece:

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/articles/ValveHDR/

During our question and answer session at the conclusion of that event, I asked the following and got this response from you:

#5. Are the stuttering and hitching problems which have been reported in HL2 and CS: Source expected in future releases? How will Valve fix the stuttering and hitching bugs that get blamed on drivers but could be source code related? We'd really like Valve's comments on this. (addressed by a forum thread on DriverHeaven here after returning from the demo).

"You know, that's how we make ourselves better, by listening to others." - Gabe Newell

Erik Johnson, Program Manager at Valve answered: "We would like to work with individuals and start with that. We've seen hitching caused by overheating GPU's, and also some bugs in the sound area that were our fault. Valve would like email from all concerned parties addressed to Erik Johnson."

Here was Erik's answer he sent me via email earlier today, and I'm glad he said it was ok to share his answer in the forums here. Valve is trying so stay tuned please, his answer is below:

I haven't forgot about this at all. I replied to a number of the people, but I've since tossed them into a folder that we are going to get back to.

Starting in the new year we'd like to run a beta with this group (and others) and try to tackle/understand the stuttering problem.

Randomletters

I dont think im a fan of the overuse of motion blur in the newest games, I can see some instances where it would work but i dont see why people 10 ft away from you and running are clear but the people 20 ft away from you and running are blurry, Seems more like the avatar your playing Just has poor vision, and to me anyways, in these situations, doesnt really add much to the game.

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WxChaser

The addition of cinematic effects, if done properly, can only add to PC based or console based gaming, if not overused. This is still in it's infancy but look for some rather rapid advances. Hardware also plays a major role as just rendering each frame of the DOD movie trailer took approximately 2 seconds.

Randomletters

I agree it will definately add to the next gen games i just dont think it should be so obviously over used.

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WxChaser

I agree but remember first & foremost this is a tech demo of what is possible. I'm sure it will be improved, and Valve mentioned having to tone down most of these effects due to the pull on processing power.