IdTech Hybrid Engine and Netcode Showcase

[oneofthe8devilz]

IdTech Hybrid Engine and Netcode Showcase

(click the animated image to watch the youtube video)

I remember lately the community having debates about whether to stick with the original Doom3 codebase or to migrate to Doom3 BFG...

And while arguments were made for and against from both sides (Sikkmod vs RBDOOM-3-BFG for example) I always wondered why not creating a hybrid approach that takes the advantages of each codebase utilizing the best of both worlds...

This showcase consists of a code and assets merge of multiple previous prototype projects incorporating trebor's shadowmapping, sikkpin's hdr lighting, zombie's dungeon map and MCS's game & netcode...

It still runs on Doom3's original framework allowing easy modding (with a custom gamex86.dll) and dedicated server hosting and browsing...

Aside from the specifically showcased unified soft-shadow-mapping and high-dynamic-range-lighting, it was also as usual important for me to demonstrate that those features flawlessly work together with MCS's network synced AI over a high latency low bandwidth Server <-> Client connection (simulating a server/client distance of about 10000 kilometers).

As showcased in its current state, it is a proof of concept build and I don't feel at liberty to predict when and if at all it will make it into a final, releasable project, since there are currently too many factors but as you'll notice, it runs remarkably stable and performant.

[motorsep]

Still using ARB and no multithreading ?

[oneofthe8devilz]

Still using ARB and no multithreading ?

I just tested the same showcase with the RB D3 BFG build and it does NOT run significantly faster... so what's the point ?

[motorsep]

I just tested the same showcase with the RB D3 BFG build and it does NOT run significantly faster... so what's the point ?

Except it does, when you have dozen of AI against you and you have an average PC.

ARB will be depreciated in the nearest future, which will be a massive problem if you engine still uses it.

Although by all means, good luck! Maybe when you finish it and make it rock stable, Unreal Engine 5 will become stable too

[oneofthe8devilz]

Except it does, when you have dozen of AI against you and you have an average PC.

ARB will be depreciated in the nearest future, which will be a massive problem if you engine still uses it.

Although by all means, good luck! Maybe when you finish it and make it rock stable, Unreal Engine 5 will become stable too

There is an alarming concentration of "whens" and "ifs" in your statement and therefore it can be safely disregarded...

[Phrozo]

Looks good.

[nbohr1more]

Whoa! Where can we take a gander at your code?

How did you merge shadow mapping? The exp path?

[BielBdeLuna]

This is great! the more options we have the better!

[VGames]

Great work as usual. Looks really smooth.

[oneofthe8devilz]

Thx for the positive feedback

As usual this was only possible with combined community components...

[MrC]

Very nice, it pains me to agree that multi-threading would indeed be the golden toilet from which to perch and lord over all that is good it's such a huge thing akaik that implementing it would require a heck of a lot of changes under the hood, down to the very core. But when using D3 vanilla, just try not to think about all the other cores just sitting around doing nothing, in fact I try to think of it as doing them a favor as I tend to leave lots of stuff running in the background so that keeps them pretty busy, like my music, chrome (not for porn), p2p sharing software (also not for porn) so in a sense D3's single thread is good for the OS.

Anyway, looking good, can't wait to maybe, hopefully at some point be able to play around with it and/or test but mostly play.

[motorsep]

Very nice, it pains me to agree that multi-threading would indeed be the golden toilet from which to perch and lord over all that is good it's such a huge thing akaik that implementing it would require a heck of a lot of changes under the hood, down to the very core. But when using D3 vanilla, just try not to think about all the other cores just sitting around doing nothing, in fact I try to think of it as doing them a favor as I tend to leave lots of stuff running in the background so that keeps them pretty busy, like my music, chrome (not for porn), p2p sharing software (also not for porn) so in a sense D3's single thread is good for the OS.

Is it an attempt to come up with a joke of the day?

[oneofthe8devilz]

Actually I tried this build out with more than a dozen friendly AIs last night and even with 15 characters on screen, performance was solid...

I am still using a CPU, motherboard and peripherals that I purchased back in 2009 which is over 6 years ago with the GPU being my only later hardware upgrade (an Nvidia 770 GTX about 2 years ago). Using the latest available hardware could easily triple performance. 

I don't think anyone that fails to upgrade his hardware for more than 6 years should be considered a serious gamer to begin with and so unless you plan to develop an MMO or a big 32 or 64 multiplayer team battle game you would be doing absolutely fine performance wise with this build.

That whole multi-thread engine discussion is getting really old and I don't see the benefit of implementing it for a little bit of more performance in rare 20+ character situations, especially since the single threaded codebase looks so much cleaner and is easier to maintain compared to the fragmented and complex mess that most multi-threaded engines (including BFG) are...

[VGames]

Yeah that's enough about the multi threading. Let's just be happy this is running so smooth with so much going on. I think it's more then enough for most people's needs.

[oneofthe8devilz]

Actually I was just browsing your "perfected mod" moddb images/screenshots...

I like the "hell" versions of the demons with the illuminating skin

I currently applied a similar shader to the Imp pet and plan to extend the pet/bodyguard functions to other demons so that players can have multiple pet demons guarding them through the levels. And having them differ from the hostile ones is always a good thing helping with targeting the right demons