Off-the-shelf 32-bit Windows can only tractably access 2GB of user RAM per process. UT2003, which shipped in 2002, installed more than 2GB of data for the game, though at that time it was never all loaded into memory at once. It doesn't exactly take a leap of faith to see scenarios in 2005-2006 where a single game level or visible scene will require >2GB RAM at full detail.
Also in our last interview, you stated that consoles weigh heavily in the design of UE3. It is presumed that you're including the various next-generation consoles. Can you expand on this? For example, "threading" is presumed to be an important aspect of next-generation consoles - would UE3 be very "multi-threaded"? Generally, without pre-announcing next-generation console configurations/architecture, can you indicate what aspects of the design of UE3 are being influenced by consoles?
We can only discuss these things with developers who are under appropriate NDA's.
The next-generation console from Sony (Playstation3) has the "cell" technology, utilizing and taking advantage of multiple processors. id Software's John Carmack has voiced his disagreement (at the recent GDC) to the concept of multiple processors on both the console and PC industry. Can you comment on the concept of multi-processors in both industries, whether if it is the right way to go, or if it is avoidable because it is the wrong way to go, or...?
In general, more computing power is always a good thing when it's exposed in a programmer-friendly way.
With more consumers buying HD-TV's in America at least, will UE3 allow for HD-TV resolutions in the console market and take advantage of the 16:9 aspect ratio? Have you done a side-by-side comparison of images at 1080i vs. 720p to see which looks better? Any thoughts on the technology differences of 1080i and 720p? Will games made by Epic target 60fps at the highest TV resolution and scale back from that?
Let's instead talk about something that's not under NDA. One can reasonably extrapolate from Moore's Law that by the time Unreal Engine 3 games begin shipping on PC, the higher-end consumer GPU's will be capable of running UE3 games at 1920x1200 resolution at frame rates that are considered good and competitive in each particular genre.
"Virtual Displacement Mapping" is one of the cool new technology incorporated in UE3, one that nobody initially anticipated with DX9. Can you provide some other examples of graphics technologies in UE3 that you're excited about or wish to talk about? Perhaps stuff like interaction with objects (shoot holes in a bucketful of water and have the water come out the bullet holes, i.e. object physics), advanced artificial intelligence, deformable terrain everywhere, advanced physics, advanced audio, networking, collision detection, etc.
See http://www.unrealtechnology.com for the features we've announced so far.
Much thanks to Tim for taking time out of his very busy schedule to answer our questions, some of which came courtesy of our forum members.
- If you wish to comment on this article please do so here
Other related articles:
