Were the Binks in DX8!?

[63]

I heard somewhere (I think in the Hardware section) that the HL2 Binks were in DX8! Is this True? Ive never seen DX8 do anything like that before!

 

[WhiteBoy]

I highly doubt that was DX8. The lighting alone was to great to be anything less then DX9

 

[PvtRyan]

Could be, graphics wise, there weren't any things DX9 specific stuff (PS2.0 shaders, char bump and spec mapping or HDRR) turned on. One thing is sure, they were rendered on a 9800 Pro. I doubt you would see the difference without those things turned on, water looks slightly better though, but the lighting (except HDRR) isn't part of DX9.

 

[Dougy]

they werent at full thats for sure.

look at the shiny DX 9 video and its a LOT better looking than the Bink videos.


it was probably in DX9 but without any special DX9 features.

 

[The Dark Elf]

I highly doubt that was DX8. The lighting alone was to great to be anything less then DX9

The lighting is baked into the textures when the map is compiled. The map lighting will look like that even on the lowest end machine it can run on

Unless you mean the HDR and bloom effects in the Source demo vid, then yeah thats DX9 only stuffy

 

[frances_farmer]

yeah the HDR vid was the true dx 9 footage

 

[Fender357]

I hrd that too.

 

[Chris D]

I think the HDR bink probably had AA and AF on too.

 

[63]

Im looking forward to getting some DX9 vs DX6 screenies side-by-side

 

[MooCow]

IIRC the really low end stuff (dx6) uses a lower resolution light map so the lighting would look different.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

the last one was dx9 as it was called dx9 hl2 trailer hehe it showed high dynamic range lighting and reflective bump map shadeing

fancy sexy stuff, dx9......... others I wouldent know but I doubt there dx8

but its possible that jus the last one was! but the last one was beutiful as all hell

 

[Styloid]

there's an email that asks how much of the graphical effects seen in the e3vids would be seen in DX8 and the answer was 95% (or something high).

 

[qckbeam]

well, the last 5% is killer

 

[Sai]

well i'm glad, b/c my low end machine might just have a chance playing that monster

 

[Hudson]

100% gfx for me.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

imo hl2's flexibility in this area is what serperates it from games like Far Cry and STALKER and make it so revolutionary... the engine scales back in dx history according to your hardware..... -wets self-

 

[WillH]

Can't comment so much as I've only seen the HDR vid in bink, I saw everything else in Divx, 56k is a bitch. The HDR vid looked awesome though. Yay for useless posts!

 

[MINDA]

im pretty sure, if i can recall, those Bink Vids were done on a GeForce FX 5900 ( Ultra? ).

so i wouldnt be surprised if they were DX 8.

 

[Cutey_Kaite]

95!? i cant imagine how it will look like with dx9! Lets all hope that we will soon get to play this game...by the end of feb..or atleast march...april's ok too..

 

[Asus]

Whether or not the older binks were dx8 or dx9...they didn't have all of the dx9 effects in that the last one had. The HDR source bink. I bet they might have ran the demo in dx8 to get the most performance out of it at the time. That way it looked smooth (fps).

I've heard two cards being mentioned back then. 9700pro and geforce 4. I'm assuming the 9700pro was used to display it at the ATI booth but maybe the gf4 was inplace when they recorded the demo.
That has probably been talked to death about, i just don't remember though. But the gfx card that was used when they recorded the demo shouldn't have limited the card they ran the demo on.

 

[Chode]

imo hl2's flexibility in this area is what serperates it from games like Far Cry and STALKER and make it so revolutionary... the engine scales back in dx history according to your hardware..... -wets self-

Stalker will also play on older hardware...well, they dropped the TNT2 level from their minimum requirements, but the official specs say it will run on Geforce level upwards.

 

[WhiteBoy]

nless you mean the HDR and bloom effects in the Source demo vid, then yeah thats DX9 only stuffy

Yeah, the reflections on the HDR video couldn't be possible on DX8

 

[Crushenator 500]

only 95% of the game for me :'(

 

[SubKamran]

100% gfx for me.

Same here.

The HDR demo had AA and AF on, that's why it was so sharp and smooth. I believe Gabe said it was taken on a 9800 Pro (yay!).

Either way it's drool worthy.

 

[PvtRyan]

Whether or not the older binks were dx8 or dx9...they didn't have all of the dx9 effects in that the last one had. The HDR source bink. I bet they might have ran the demo in dx8 to get the most performance out of it at the time. That way it looked smooth (fps).

I've heard two cards being mentioned back then. 9700pro and geforce 4. I'm assuming the 9700pro was used to display it at the ATI booth but maybe the gf4 was inplace when they recorded the demo.
That has probably been talked to death about, i just don't remember though. But the gfx card that was used when they recorded the demo shouldn't have limited the card they ran the demo on.

I believe the first samples of HL2 to the press (in february 2003) were done on a GF4.

 

[Styloid]

only 95% of the game for me :'(

95% of the graphics in the E3 vids... that means... uh.. a lower percentage overall when you consider stuff HDR video and above.....

 

[CrazyHarij]

ONe question.. I've got a DX8 card, does that mean there's no chance for me to be able to have lightning effects such as those in the first room in the HDR video and the character bumpmapping? I've heard that it's only the HDR itself that's DX9 stuff.. And HDR just makes the colors more lively , fills them more or summin' like that.. I'm not sure what it is exactly but it does something with the colors and such that makes outdoor environments and other cool stuff alot nicer..

 

[The Dark Elf]

ONe question.. I've got a DX8 card, does that mean there's no chance for me to be able to have lightning effects such as those in the first room in the HDR video and the character bumpmapping? I've heard that it's only the HDR itself that's DX9 stuff.. And HDR just makes the colors more lively , fills them more or summin' like that.. I'm not sure what it is exactly but it does something with the colors and such that makes outdoor environments and other cool stuff alot nicer..

On DX8 you'll be missing normal maps, HDR, Bloom, maybe reflections and specularity, but I'm not as sure about the last two, you'll probably get those on DX8.. probably being maybe and maybe being not sure. You can probably say goodbye to the normals and HDR though yeah. Don't worry, by the looks of it, it clearly looks very nice even without them..


.. hmm ok actually if you watch the bink vids, if those were from a DX8 machine, then yeah you atleast get the reflections and specular effects. I couldn't see any normal mapping on them though. So just watch the bink vids and thats what you'll get. The HDR bink is what DX9 users can expect.