New Technology in episode 3

[jamiefearon]

As you know Valve have said they will introduce a new technology to the source engine in each episode. In episode 1 we had improved npc interaction, and HDR. In Episode 2 we had improved shadows, improved outdoor graphics and vegetation etc. What do you think will be introduced into episode 3? I personally think more improved shadowing including penumbra, and improved textures.

[Zombine]

You forgot cinematic physics.

I think they will improve weather effects. "Dynamic" snow. Maybe.

[Nitre]

What Zombine said. Maybe.

[alehm]

liquid hot magma

[Blackthorn]

I wouldn't mind seeing a realistic looking ocean. Something that I still don't think's been properly achieved. Though COD4 got pretty close in the tanker level, and Wind Waker's ocean may have been cartoony, but it had a really satisfying swell to it. And boy I'd love to see a giant, whale-like synth.

Note: None of the above will ever happen.

[ChiliFan]

I'd still like to see how the Source engine could handle rain, and how that would affect the standing water.

[Blackthorn]

Holy crap I never noticed we'd never had any rain. Jeez Combine really messed us up...

[Cpt Tenacious]

I wouldn't mind seeing a realistic looking ocean. Something that I still don't think's been properly achieved. Though COD4 got pretty close in the tanker level, and Wind Waker's ocean may have been cartoony, but it had a really satisfying swell to it. And boy I'd love to see a giant, whale-like synth.

Note: None of the above will ever happen.

GTA4 had a great ocean. Depending on the weather it would be calm or really huge waves.

[Narvi]

Source can do rain pretty well with the current build of the engine.

Medieval: Total War looks like it's going to have a great ocean too. But it seems very unlikely that a new ocean will be designed for Episode 3, so I'm going with the snow. Avalanches plz.

[LackingSaint]

dynamic weather effects and more freedom to work around using the environment (eg, picking up snow with the grav gun and shooting it at the enemy, or walking in a certain area and jumping causing the ice beneath you to shatter, shooting rocks at a mountain and causing an avalanche, etc).

[octavio]

Source can do rain pretty well with the current build of the engine.

yes, the particle benchmark shows it quite well.

[Druckles]

We did have debris falling on us in Episode One.

And maybe there is no rain anymore. I mean, the combine are sucking the oceans dry, so why would it be surprising that there's no rain?

[Combine_Advisor]

Gordens vagina

[DEATH eVADER]

Occlusion and LOD Technology allowing Valve to expand even greater the outdoor areas that is visible and usable to the player.

Upgrade to Euphoria Engine, so our enemies can be tripped, kicked and fall off buildings, then get back up again

Plus the optional zFeather

And maybe there is no rain anymore. I mean, the combine are sucking the oceans dry, so why would it be surprising that there's no rain?
Was that ever proven?

[jamiefearon]

What do you think about the source engine being upgraded to include directX 10, or is this just crazy talk.:rolling:

[Zombine]

And boy I'd love to see a giant, whale-like synth.

Now this would be cool. Imagine Shadow Of The Colossus style battle! Gordon and whale-like synth! On fragile ice! Ok maybe not...


Was that ever proven?

I think that those ships on the beach and the docks far away from the water in highway 17 and sandtraps chapters are enough proof for me.

[TugruL]

What do you think about the source engine being upgraded to include directX 10, or is this just crazy talk.:rolling:

Since Vista is sh*t, I don't mind if they put or not.

And about weather, Imagine some rain.

Or even better,Think about if it snows.If Source can handle this it would be great.

[test]

It can.

[leib10]

I'd like an upgrade to some of the items that have not undergone any changes since HL2. For instance, the ejected casings look ridiculous, and some of the textures need to be up to speed with the rest of today's games.

It's going to be interesting to see the particle system they implement for Episode Three, especially concerning snow. I just hope it's not too taxing on system requirements. New battle sequences between synths should be cool too.

[(SGA) Doctorwho]

If Episode 3 comes out in time for the next-generation of Processors maybe a updated physics engine, supporting new functions such as pressure waves and advanced reflection and refraction of light on the surfaces of objects, or even Ray-tracing technology

[Nibwoddle]

Dynamic snow. Strider blasting this Dynamic snow. Avalanche caused with Dynamic snow. Extremely challenging sprint to cover while being nearly crushed by Dynamic snow. Hell yeah.

[elkaebee]

Dynamic Snow.

Carry on.

[jamiefearon]

If Episode 3 comes out in time for the next-generation of Processors maybe a updated physics engine, supporting new functions such as pressure waves and advanced reflection and refraction of light on the surfaces of objects, or even Ray-tracing technology

I dont think Episode 3 will take that long to allow Ray-tracing. Thats at least 5 years off, Maybe HL3 will.

[Iron_cube]

"Dynamic snow" yeah dream on.

The only way they could make a avalanche would be out of a huge model.

Also you forgot how they added $phong to ep1

[sgt niallr]

How about, DYNAMIC SNOW?

[Przemek]

Image Based Rendering? I recall Gabe being pretty excited about this a few years ago.

[test]

IIRC, it's already in.

[Przemek]

Don't think so. It's still a rumoured future feature.

[Pinkle]

Upgrade to Euphoria Engine, so our enemies can be tripped

One time I saw a Combine trip over some of those milk crate things and he fell over dead. 8|

[DEATH eVADER]

I think that those ships on the beach and the docks far away from the water in highway 17 and sandtraps chapters are enough proof for me.

It has been unseasonably warm, thats all :thumbs:

[ChiliFan]

The fact that there are still oceans and clouds surely means that the Combine have only taken a relatively small amount of water from the Earth.

[Guyenhl2net]

I would like the explosive weapons (i.e. grenade) at close range, rip apart the body parts of combine soldiers or other live beings. For now, as you all know, it will toss around the whole body.

[Combine_Advisor]

It would be nice if they repaired those goddamn walking animations

[elkaebee]

The fact that there are still oceans and clouds surely means that the Combine have only taken a relatively small amount of water from the Earth.

Many a ungentlemanly comment could be put here.

[Przemek]

I would like the explosive weapons (i.e. grenade) at close range, rip apart the body parts of combine soldiers or other live beings. For now, as you all know, it will toss around the whole body.
Grenades don't have enough power to "gib". It's not really a big explosion, it's just tossing fragments of the grenade at high speed. You shouldn't even see an explosion, just a bit of high velocity smoke.

Ah, my English sucks :P

[octavio]

perhaps the rpg should gib enemies then?

[Godron]

I wonder if an avalance could be done with cinematic physics? Given that Valve put in a new, epic particle system with Ep2, I expect we'll be seeing plenty of realistic snow effects, breath clouds etc. There might even by dynamic snow, given that surface deformation technology has been around for ages. I have no idea how dynamic though, seeing as I know very little about the technical difficulties of these things.

As for DirectX 10, I doubt they'll be implementing that because DX10 only works on Vista, which I don't think current HL2 games work well with. They'd probably have to modify the code quite a lot to make it more compatible, which could take a while.

[Zombine]

What about this?
CLICK HERE! Embedding is disabled (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3fF6uiAyFk)

It doesn't look that impressive, it's just a stream of particles, but still, if valve makes it look nice they could use it for more water-based puzzles in the borealis or something. A step forward from the seesaw puzzles. :)

[Przemek]

As for DirectX 10, I doubt they'll be implementing that because DX10 only works on Vista, which I don't think current HL2 games work well with. They'd probably have to modify the code quite a lot to make it more compatible, which could take a while.
HL2 works perfectly OK with Vista. Pre-Orange Box titles may be a little bit slower when compared with XP, but Episode Two's engine runs as well as with XP, perhaps even smoother.

Valve always said they aren't really interested with implementing DX10 yet, because there aren't enough gamers with a DX10-capable graphic card and Vista installed at the same time. The number of Vista users is increasing, but I don't think we'll see any of that technology in Episode Three.

[-Psy-]

"Dynamic snow" yeah dream on.

The only way they could make a avalanche would be out of a huge model.

Well, somebody managed to make dynamic water in Source.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3fF6uiAyFk

So it's definitely not an impossibility.

I'm hoping to see some proper dynamic shadows that are cast in the directions determined by the light sources around it. It looks freaking awesome in GTA4!

[saratos]

I am a sucker for dynamic this-and-that, especially things involving physics. Water... Snow...

[Zombine]

Blah blah blah

I'm beat you.:cheers:

[Guyenhl2net]

Grenades don't have enough power to "gib". It's not really a big explosion, it's just tossing fragments of the grenade at high speed. You shouldn't even see an explosion, just a bit of high velocity smoke.

Ah, my English sucks :P

i think they should have man, if the timings and place right grenade explosion toss the whole body several feet ddidnt you ever see. and how about RPGs.
Also, double barrelled shot gun also tosses the enemy at a great distance (i would say around 4-5 feet), why not it has the power to blow the brains apart. Just a thought.

[Przemek]

Well, shotgun and magnum have a lot more power to blow limbs and heads off than grenades.

A grenade tossing the whole body several feet away is perfectly normal - it doesn't gib, it's just wind with deadly particles.

[DEATH eVADER]

Better explosions and sounds to accompany them

One thing that we haven't seen much of is Dynamic Displacements (1:58 of this video), so perhaps it will come back in force in time of Ep3

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3714914235208649679&q=source+engine&ei=zCV_SOPJB5H-jQKzz8HoCw

[Zombine]

Better explosions and sounds to accompany them

One thing that we haven't seen much of is Dynamic Displacements (1:58 of this video), so perhaps it will come back in force in time of Ep3


Well they could certainly use that "Dynamic Displacement" and those new "soft" particles technology to create sorta dynamic snow.

[DEATH eVADER]

Dynamic Snow shouldn't be that hard to accomplish, after all the NSII team have created dynamic spreading of biomass

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-6451818584173935426&q=natural+selection+2&ei=6XaDSNOtEpPyjgL81uSOCw

[-Psy-]

...and now the very same team are going to use their own engine for NS2. :P

[DEATH eVADER]

...and now the very same team are going to use their own engine for NS2. :P
really?

[jamiefearon]

Here is what Valve have said about Left 4 Dead.

"In addition to the new stats and ranking features, we're also working with Valve to include support for multi-core processors. We've added physics-based animation to Source for things such as the Boomer's jiggly belly full of blood, flexible hair that moves naturally, and floppy bits of clothing. We're also leveraging the new particle system coming to Source for enhanced effects. That's just some of what's coming in the first release." - Valve's Michael Booth.


So I think floppy clothing and flexible hair will most definatly be in Episode 3. I also hope they will include God rays into the engine. They looked amazing in Crysis.

[DEATH eVADER]

"In addition to the new stats and ranking features, we're also working with Valve to include support for multi-core processors. We've added physics-based animation to Source for things such as the Boomer's jiggly belly full of blood, flexible hair that moves naturally, and floppy bits of clothing. We're also leveraging the new particle system coming to Source for enhanced effects. That's just some of what's coming in the first release." - Valve's Michael Booth.



I think the Metrocops original design of having a trenchcoat would be so cool now with this tech, and hopefully will see Alyx's hair blow naturally in the wind

[mikeecm]

i would like some SoF gore and dismemberment in ep3, i'm getting bored of just sawing the zombie in half. k thanks.