Raycasting pixel shader

[Bucket]

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=346775

It was only a matter of time, wasn't it?

Of course, we've already seen Doom1 on a Doom3 monitor (and of course Doom in ACS), but this covers a bit of a wider range. Yay shaders!

[AndrewB]

Somebody please tell me what's special about this. It basically looks like JDoom with a really crappy WAD loaded.

[leileilol]

if you bother to read at all, it's basically a 3d maze engine done entirely on the GPU with only using fragment shaders..

[AndrewB]

No, I didn't bother to read it all, and thank you for noticing that.

[wildweasel]

So there's barely any CPU instructions at all, if I understand this correctly (it just uses the graphics card for everything)? That could leave the CPU open for other things, like physics, sound, and more advanced AI.

[Linguica]

WildWeasel said:

So there's barely any CPU instructions at all, if I understand this correctly (it just uses the graphics card for everything)? That could leave the CPU open for other things, like physics, sound, and more advanced AI.

Yeah CPUs really strain under the load of a Wolf3D-esque engine.

[Naked Snake]

Linguica said:

Yeah CPUs really strain under the load of a Wolf3D-esque engine.

Yeah, wtf.

It doesn't render a real ceiling, static lighting, no elevation, etc.

[leileilol]

BBG said:

Yeah, wtf.

It doesn't render a real ceiling, static lighting, no elevation, etc.

since when did wolf3d have ceilings, elevation and lighting

[Naked Snake]

gargoylol said:

since when did wolf3d have ceilings, elevation and lighting

*sigh* IT DOESN'T and I never said it did.

[AndrewB]

Yeah, I'll bet that this has a LOT of potential.

[Darkhaven]

I dunno about you doofuses, but I think this is pretty cool. If this guy ever released the source for it, I'd be very happy, as it IS entirely possible to create height changes, textured floors+ceilings and multiple floor+ceiling textures in different areas, as I proved with that really old Wolf3D project of mine (the one with the dumb name), and if one were to add a few more special effects to this guy's engine it could make for an interesting game.

[exp(x)]

Darkhaven said:

I dunno about you doofuses, but I think this is pretty cool. If this guy ever released the source for it, I'd be very happy, as it IS entirely possible to create height changes, textured floors+ceilings and multiple floor+ceiling textures in different areas, as I proved with that really old Wolf3D project of mine (the one with the dumb name), and if one were to add a few more special effects to this guy's engine it could make for an interesting game.

Or you could use the now open-source Quake 3 engine.

[AirRaid]

Bah, and I thought this was something useful, like perhaps someone had developed a viable method of raycasting lighting or something.

Boo.

[Bucket]

You mean raytracing? Yeah, that would be cool.

[Csonicgo]

I thought this was going to show off software pixel shading or something. this just sucks.

[Mancubus II]

Csonicgo said:

I thought this was going to show off software pixel shading or something. this just sucks.

I don't see how this sucks in any way.

It's simply a "hey look what I did" sort of thing; it doesn't appear as though the author's intent was to revolutionize the gaming world.

[darknation]

isn't crazar doing something similar?

[fraggle]

I think you guys are missing the point. This is a tech demo really, showing what you can do with pixel shaders on modern cards. It's basically showing that its possible to do a full Wolfenstein like engine entirely on the GPU.

Like Manc said, it's a "hey look what I did" thing.

[Udderdude]

Dem programmers is crazy!

A neat hack for sure. Now lets see DOOM on there :P

[AndrewB]

fraggle said:

I think you guys are missing the point. This is a tech demo really, showing what you can do with pixel shaders on modern cards. It's basically showing that its possible to do a full Wolfenstein like engine entirely on the GPU.

That plus $1.40 will get you a large double double at Timmy's.

[Fredrik]

Graphics cards are slowly turning into general-purpose vector processors.

[AirRaid]

Numbermind said:

You mean raytracing? Yeah, that would be cool.

Yeah I always get those two mixed up.

Don't get me wrong, this stuff is always kinda cool to see but I don't really see much of a genuinely useful.. er, use for it.

[AndrewB]

The truth is that nobody playing a game cares exactly which hunk of metal inside their box is helping the game run.

For the idea of moving game logic and event processing to the graphics card, I see no long-term potential. It sacrifices encapsulation and modularity for nothing more than a modest speed boost.

They used to put game controller ports on the sound card, and they don't do that anymore. Why? Because tightly-coupled systems (where components depend on each other) fail in the market 999 times out of 1,000.

[Bloodshedder]

The game controller port is also a MIDI port. That usually has quite a bit to do with sound cards, wouldn't you say?

[Bucket]

AndrewB said:

The truth is that nobody playing a game cares exactly which hunk of metal inside their box is helping the game run.

True, to an extent. At least, everyone wants their hunk to run faster than their neighbors'.

I actually have 2 cards in my system: one pushes polys, and the other is better at shaders. If I'm in a tweaking mood, I'll switch up sometimes.

For the idea of moving game logic and event processing to the graphics card, I see no long-term potential. It sacrifices encapsulation and modularity for nothing more than a modest speed boost.

Your prayers have been answered. You may see Physics Cards on the market soon.

They used to put game controller ports on the sound card, and they don't do that anymore. Why? Because tightly-coupled systems (where components depend on each other) fail in the market 999 times out of 1,000.

(What Bloodshedder said) + How would you define a MB with on-board sound, video, and network? Or laptops, where you'd be better off buying a new one every couple years than going through the effort to keep it upgraded?