VALVe Announces Support For AMD Opteron

[superm0nk]

-Dice wrote..

Quake I, isn't it?



Well, I guess if they moved it off the HL engine, they wouldn't be able to release it as a mod anymore...which probably means that they'd have to release it as a new game...which probably means they'll make some new animations and character models and design some new levels...then they'll have to think of a catchy name, like Condition Zero.

If i'm not mistaken, and I never am, Condition Zero will be on the HL engine. That way it runs along side mod users who don't want to buy the game.

[orphy]

That's believable. It might be slightly modified however, but who knows.

[Lestat]

Its the same ol HL engine. They (well, gearbox at least, dunno what ritual has done to it) added some improvements that were supposed to be included in the regular HL updates to keep compatibility. Actually, I think one of those was the model improvements for maps that Narby is using in airstrip. Can't remember what else was supposed to get put in.

[MonKsTeR]

-notice-

half life uses the quake 1 engine.

the only part "borrowed" from quake 2 are the skyboxes

[tuckneverlasting]

well there is no problem, because q1 = greatest game ever

[orphy]

Heh, I still have it on my hard drive... it's so much fun.

[Pharlap]

-Dice wrote..

What do these 'bits' (e.g. 32, 64) refer to? It's not the same as console bits, is it?

its how many bits (instruction lengths) the processor can execute per clock cycle.

current cpus have got 2 32-bit execution units to achieve the similar effect.

[GonePostal]

-Dice wrote..

What do these 'bits' (e.g. 32, 64) refer to? It's not the same as console bits, is it?

One bit is one 1 or 0 being sent as data. Imagine a highway 32 lanes wide, very conjested. You can either raise the speed limit (clock speed) which gets difficult or you can widen it, which has a distinct advantage. If you sent one row of cars down the highway, only 32 cars will be sent. If you widen it, you can send 64 cars in one row. You get the idea. Current processors have 32 bits per clock cycle, and next generations will have 64 bits, effectively doubling processing power. And yes, this does refer to the same thing as console bits. Back in the day consoles were rated by how much data could be processed in bits, effectively making graphics better. But as technology caught up, bits didn't necessarily mean better graphics.

Insomniac wrote..

current cpus have got 2 32-bit execution units to achieve the similar effect.

However HL server is not multithreaded for that.

[StealthMonkey]

-Dice wrote..

What do these 'bits' (e.g. 32, 64) refer to? It's not the same as console bits, is it?

#21 and #33 explained it it well, but to put it in to perspective a little bit more, dos is 16bit, windows and the processors of today (pentiums and athlons) are 32bit, and the next generation of processors are 64bit. Once 64bit goes mainstream, operating systems and programs will start being migrated over to 64bit which will mean better performance. You probably don't know this, but microsoft actually made a 64bit version of windows xp. Making a server to run on 64bit is good. Hopefully, things should run better.

[-Dice]

Hey, thanks guys. For once I learned something coming here, isn't that a shock!

[Pharlap]

just by saying: 64bit is faster than 32bit, doesnt really answer his question.

[CheesyPeteza]

What doesn't make sense is that they refer to "64-bit Counter-Strike Linux Server". At the moment you have a HL server with the CS mod running on it. So I'm assuming they've converted HL and CS. So can other mods can move to 64 bit too? Would be handy for Natural-Selection. :)

[Pharlap]

64-Bit PC Gaming is Coming. Will it Change the Way You Game?

It's the biggest leap in processing technology since the jump to 32-bit. But what's that mean for gamers like us?



The Pentium or Athlon PC that you're most likely viewing this article on is based off of a 32-bit architecture, using a 32-bit operating system. ("32 bit" is a measurement of the size of instructions that the processor accepts). But the mavens of silicon are trying to usher in a new 64-bit era, as evidenced by a presentation at the 2003 Game Developers Conference sponsored by AMD. It's a significant jump! PC processors made the transition to 32-bit way back when the 286 chipset gave way to the 386 and Windows 95 became Microsoft's new flagship consumer OS.

But what will this technological leap mean to you, the gamer? What's it mean for the gaming industry, historically seen as the engine that drives advancement in PC design? The short answer is that it may take a couple of years for end-users like us to really feel the results, but the generational leap in technology has already started to impact game production and it's going to lead to bigger and better things down the road.



64-Bit PC Processors Mean Better Game Development Tools



There's a speed benefit that comes from upgrading to a 64-bit system, but more importantly the new architecture allows people to build PC workstations with more RAM. Current 32-bit systems top out at 4GB of RAM, but 32-bit Windows only allows 2GB. As Epic's Tim Sweeney (lead engineer of the Unreal engine) said on a recent Slashdot thread, "On a daily basis we're running into Windows' 2GB memory limitations."



It's in the creation of complex 3D worlds that that extra memory is key. Maps or models or animations will render faster. The turnaround time for creating, compiling, testing, and changing code or levels will be much faster. Although, it's more likely that developers will just suck up the extra resources to create bigger, more detailed environments. Either way, the gamer will soon start seeing results. Epic is already excited about the 64-bit development systems they've been testing, and Sweeny has said that their next-generation engine will require 64-bit systems for all of their development tools.



64-Bit PC Processors Mean Better Game Servers



Game servers are another place where the additional memory will have a big impact. New 64-bit processors can support up to 16GB of RAM per CPU, and that number is rising. That means that servers can be more efficient. You'll be able to get more players on each server, and players can be enjoying bigger and more interactive worlds. Plus, for those of us who run game servers, there are cost benefits: large servers will require fewer CPUs, which keeps costs down.



For a case study, Valve's Eric Johnson and Don Ledford stepped up on stage to talk about their experience porting over Counter-Strike's Linux server to 64-bit. Counter-Strike, the most popular online action game, is a great acid-test. It's responsible for 4.5 billion player-minutes per month worldwide, and has over 35,000 servers. In their experience, simply porting over the server code to take advantage of the new hardware and 64-Bit Linux OS gave them a 30% performance gain. That's before adding (and taking advantage of) the extra memory. Their next step is to port over their memory-intensive development tools.



64-Bit PC Processors Mean Better Games on Your Desktop



As developers take advantage of the new hardware, they'll be able to create better games. But we'll really start to feel the impact of the new processor architecture as it's rolled out on consumer systems and new 64-bit Operating Systems are released, anywhere from several months to a year or more down the road. The transition won't be immediate, but it's going to be big.



The extra power will enable games to render more realistic physics on the fly: Better dynamics and collisions, for example. We'll also see more realistic simulations of effects like cloth, smoke, or water. As you'd expect, the processor will also have more power to handle things like AI. But there are other areas where it'll affect the game experience. Real-time multi-channel audio, for instance, requires a lot of system resources.



Also, when they're upgrading to a 64-bit system, gamers will be able to expand their system's memory. It won't be long before 2GB isn't enough: You'll want 4GB or more of RAM. And once PC users have that much space to play with, developers are going to start using it! They'll be able to create GIANT maps and huge, seamless worlds. Tons of audio data can be stored on the system for a more realistic variety of sounds. And texture sizes won't be so limited. In short: Bigger! Better! Faster! games.



Only time will tell if the jump to 64-bit will have as dramatic an impact as PC Gaming's leap to 32-bit. But it's definitely a clear milestone on the horizon.

[BoNeLeSS]

Wow, nice info Insomniac...

[stooopid]

Gee, maybe we can use this speed to make 128 player games possible... Imagine the frustration of having 64 teammates... I can't wait.



-stooop