Janichsan, on July 27th 2009, 05:19 AM, said:
Hm, that would make TFU a Snow Leopard exclusive. I'm not sure if such a limititation would be a a good choice. In addition, you would limit the higher quality physics to OpenCL Macs, which aren't that much (at the moment). I'm also not sure if there is a working OpenCL implementation for Windows yet (though that might change until TFU is released).
Well if the original developers are to be believed for why TFU originally didn't come to computers, the higher quality procedural physics were difficult to implement on the average CPU, probably meaning dual cores. Quad cores probably could get away without OpenCL, especially since I don't think any game has yet made full use of a quad core over a dual core. OpenCL could be a way to support high setting physics on dual core iMacs with the 8800GS, GT130 or HD4850 and MacBook Pros with 9400M and 9600M GT assuming the 2 GPUs can work in parallel with the 9400M dedicated to physics and the 9600M GT to graphics. Mac Pros with multiple graphics cards could also get a bonus by making use of say their spare GT120 since we don't have SLI. Of course on a single GPU, you're trading ability to activate higher graphics options for a higher physics option. But it would be a way to rather than just having more limited physics on dual cores or imposing high system requirements to say quad cores only to enable the preferred physics vitality, GPU accelerated physics could be a way to bridge the gap. Of course this is all speculation. Perhaps, Aspyr was able to just simply create a well optimized physics implementation that could encompass the average dual core computer without resorting to extra OpenCL contortions.
In terms of Snow Leopard exclusivity, assuming OpenCL is only required for the highest physics setting, then there could be a fallback for Leopard. I'm not sure how different physics settings will effect multiplayer though, if physics is an integral part of the gameplay. But, this would be a concern as long as different physics options are provided regardless of OpenCL. And seeing that Apple tends to not release updated graphics drivers for older OSs once a new OS is out, if TFU ships after Snow Leopard, Snow Leopard exclusivity might be needed anyways to have drivers with required optimizations and performance levels. Similarly, Snow Leopard exclusivity for OpenCL seems to be a self-imposed limitation by Apple to save development effort since I'm sure OpenCL could be implemented on Leopard if Apple wanted to develop the drivers. Certainly AMDs goal is to implement OpenCL in the Stream SDK which is from Windows XP and up. I believe AMD is late on their OpenCL beta since it was promised by the end of H1 2009. nVidia however had pre-release OpenCL drivers available in May.
The bonus of OpenCL TFU would seem to be that it seems like a surefire way to get into the next Steve and Phil Demo Time if Apple is having an event for a fall notebook refresh. Or maybe I'm too focused on wanting to see Steve and Phil going at each other on stage in a forced enabled deathmatch. I wonder which would want to play as Darth Vader?
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