BATTLEFIELD 3 PS3 SPU-Based Deferred Shading slide show

DICE had showed few slides at GDC how SPU-Based Deferred Shading works by taking full advantage of ps3's SPU.

[MGRogue2017]

Now, this is how you develop a PS3 version of a multi-platform title, very well done DICE.

Treyarch, Take notes please.

I was also going to say Crytek.. but we don't *officially* know if the PS3 version of Crysis 2 does indeed run at a lower resolution than the Xbox 360 version.. but we'll find out soon from Digital Foundry, of course.

[Persistantthug]

All we don't know is how "sub HD" the game is.

Keep in Mind that Crytek is an inexperienced console developer.

There was no way they were gonna out do Guerrilla Games, but DICE is a whole different animal.

Battlefield 3 is looking quite awesome and they AREN'T inexperienced console devs.

On a side note, i wonder if this Cell Processor, SPU usage will translate into a larger player cap for the PS3's version. Would be awesome if they could actually get the full 64 players.

[nveenio]

Yeah, Crytek is about the worst dev in the industry when it comes to optimization. Dice, on the other hand, has worked on the PS3 a lot. They're in a much better position to use those SPUs.

[gypsygib]

I'd be happy with 32-40

[vsr]

PS3 is enough to play exclusives and superior multiplats. (i'm not talking 2006-2008). Who needs other consoles.

[ComboBreaker]

The PS3 version will be very close to the PC version.

[lve2playbball]

@combobreaker

I think maybe that was sarcasm?

better than 360 maybe, but not even close to PC.

[bluwulf]

Hmm.. If dice actually does put bells and whistles into the PS3 version, I'd support it -- instead of the PC -- just due to them putting in the effort, where no other multiplat dev does. It would be nice if they could get the PS3 multiplayer number up to 64 or so, considering the ps3 can run those #'s or at least more online players than any other console.

KZ 24-32. Mag 256.. Warkhawk 32.

[rdgneoz3]

If the 360 can't handle a higher player count, I don't think they'd up the PS3 version if it could. They'll probably try and keep them similar so they don't have gamers complaining about it / starting flame wars.

[ismejks]

is nice to see it using 5-6 spu to run those crazy shading

[Istanbull]

PS3 version looks so good! Thank you EA for making BF3 PS3 version almost as good as PC version!

[turgore]

except for multiplayer...

[gypsygib]

Where's the footage of the PS3 version??

I need to see it!!

[kookie]

Sound processing unit?

[TheTruth89]

no, synergistic processing unit.

And PS3 have 8, (1 disabled and 1 reseverd), so 6.

And they are BEASTS!

[joeorc]

yupper's

the PS3 does indeed have 8

as you said on (1) is disabled for "meshed era redundancy

(1) is reserved for the OS but can be used for other thing's.

with (6) being free for developer's to use

[wenaldy]

Fully optimization of SPEs.. Now that's what i called developer..

[ultimate-remag]

hmmm i guess the ps3 is 1 hell of a machine... oh crap we already knew that..

[DanteKnightsTemplar]

Woa! Thats awesome! They're serious about dethroning that crap, Call Of Duty. Go for it.

[wwm0nkey]

See now this is how multiplats should be done, fully optimize EACH version so they feel like they are exclusives :)

[Gamer_Z]

I have been saying that for years, it's about time they started doing it. I mean really why do all multiplats have to look identical to each other, if one machine has more power than the other then why not use it? You don't see Xbox360 games looking the same as Wii so why should the PS3 look the same as the Xbox version just saying.

[Dannehkins]

A good approach! It's about time some multiplatform developers start really getting to grips with the cell architecture and see how it can be beneficial to them.

I hope this encourages other developers to follow suit.

[peowpeow]

My thoughts exactly. I have no programming experience whatsoever, nor do I know the methods of other multiplatform devs compared to DICE/1st party but I am totally convinced that DICE are going out of their way to optimize the game properly for PS3

[F4sterTh4nFTL]

or slightly better than the Xbox 360 version.

[Masterchef2007]

"or slightly better than the Xbox 360 version."

OMG you dont know what you did right? Your starting WW3 by stating that here because thats something XBOTs dont want to hear at all.

On a side note i expect the PS3 version to at least be the same as the 360 one.

[F4sterTh4nFTL]

...doubt they will pay too much attention to the PS3 version since all the PS3 gamers only really care about are exclusives and COD.

[Masterchef2007]

Thats not true. I am a PS3 only owners and i am planning on picking up a few multiplats as well as a ton of exclusives. One game that i will never will pick up is COD.

[Ju]

"At least the same" ???

BC2 was identical - without any SPU optimizations. I expect that be leaps and bounds beyond the 360 - I am serious. LOL.

Dice does with BF3 basically what Guerilla does with KZ. Very PS3 specific render pipeline - on the level of DX11.

I'd say 50-100% performance increase compared to RSX only. Read the slides "treat CELL as a second compute unit" (basically a second GPU).

[Masterchef2007]

I really do hope that what you say is true. Because only own a PS3 and my Lappy cant handle games like that.

[Masterchef2007]

They are using the SPEs well. Which meant that the PS3 version will be really good. Which makes me happy after the screw up with black Ops (Treyarch are terrible)

[CrippleH]

BC2 ran great on the PS3. I never had doubts on Dice's coding for PS3 for BF3.

[turgore]

*cough. tearing *cough

[anh_duong]

does anyone know if black-ops even worse than mw2 in terms of graphic performance??

[theonlylolking]

It is worse in performance with frames per a second. I also think it looks better.

[Oldman100]

Well the recently released patch 1.07 improved the frame-rate and seemingly gave a bump in resolution, so at least they finally did something. The game runs a lot smoother now making the game much more enjoyable to play. I recommend those that stopped playing due to performance issues to install the patch and try it out for yourself.

[Masterchef2007]

I dont believe that at all. I am sure its as bad as before. Because Treyarch are horrible devs who produce games cheaply to make a huge profit in the end.

[yaz288]

so ...dose that mean that the ps3 version will look a lot better than the xbox 360 version ?? or slightly better ??

[Masta Kaos]

Give what the PS3 deserves.....And stop comparing us 2 Xbox36

[Arkhamz]

"us" ? do you think you're a ps3 or are part of some team? either way, it's still sad

[DanteKnightsTemplar]

@Yaz. It will look far superior to the 360 version with its dvd compressed textures. Im guessing the 360ver will look like Bad Company2,5 lol.

[wwm0nkey]

Bad company 2 looks just fine though....

[TheTruth89]

HOLY SHIT, 71 pure awesome slide show xD

[Tuxedoassassin]

This is why i trust DICE.

[sjaakiejj]

No offense, but how many of you actually understand the stuff that they are talking about in the slides?

Whilst yes it does use the SPUs, and yes it does use them in a smart and efficient way, the presentation isn't about that. It's about how it achieves that, which is quite interesting in its own right, but rather high level Computer Science stuff.

[joeorc]

"It's about how it achieves that, which is quite interesting in its own right, but rather high level Computer Science stuff."

which is quite true, the idea of off loading Graphic's based shader's over to the Cell's SPE's are what some developer's have been doing for some time with the PS3, though it does seem many 3rd party developer's may be implementing such techniques that many 1st party developer's have been doing over @ Sony. an if you notice a SCE developer was given credit in that slide show. so it's all good.

impute from seasoned 1st party developer's is greatly helpful.

[Pintheshadows]

The Sony first party developers are credited in quite a few 3rd party games I have noticed. Mainly Naughty Dog. I'll ask for ND to be thanked in my obituary.

[Sarobi]

truly impressive.

[Wizziokid]

thank you Dice, to bad other devs are devoted to making multi-plat games with care like you.

people should take notes!

[QSPR]

I'm calling all PS3 users,gamers and even Call of Duty FANS!! we NEED to support DICE, they are making a good job and trying their best for making BF3 runs like the way suppose to run on the PS3. PLEASE if you buy 8 or 9 millions of CoD on PS3 you can buy 8 or 9 millions of BF3 on PS3.. support hard workers devs and stop buying crappy ports with no intention to make gamers happy,just their wallet!!... my 2 cents here, thanks.

[andron]

Hmmm. Look at page 5 of the presentation. Is that a little kick in the shin of the Unreal engine they used to make Mirrors Edge?...

[DigitalAnalog]

54/71:

SPU's are powerful, but crappy data breeds crappy code and wastes significant performance.

THAT RIGHT THERE, it explains why a poor case of bad ports.

**Looks at Activision.

On a side note: I like how they reference Insomniac and Killzone 2.

-End statement

[Ju]

That is why some people don't even invest into SPU optimization. If you don't go the extra mile and investigate why your SPU code does not perform well, well, than those guys possibly decided its not worth bothering with it. Sucks though.

But now, this information is public. I hope other will take note and optimize their code, too.

If EA/Dice can deliver, though, this gives them a clear competitive advantage. (BTW: Shippy is an idiot...LOL)

[ismejks]

Even if pc win ps3 it will also take alot of money to build that powerful pc, I played recently game with pc and my pc spec is AMD with 4 core with nvidia 8800 but it stil can't run it decently.

[Ju]

I think the PS3 can beat that...have about the same setup. PhenomII X4/9800GT. And it does not beat games like KZ2/3/UC2/GoW...need to run Crysis in 720p to keep up...

[TardcoreGamer]

glad to see Dice giving the PS3 some TLC. They did a much better job coding BC2 than they did BC1. Happy to see them optimizing the game to take advantage of the Cell Processor unlike most multi-platform devs.

[wlchrbandit]

A developer that actually has the balls to develop for each platform to the best of it's ability. So many devs are too scared that some of their customers will get butt hurt if their version of the game is inferior that they often dumb down the other versions so they look similar, or they just develop for the lowest common denominator and port to the rest.

Thank you DICE!

[Axonometri]

Awesome content and informational!

[PR_FROM_OHIO]

Much respect to DICE!!!!

[gypsygib]

I guess the PS3 multiple SPU's isn't so foreign to PC development now given that so many CPU have numerous cores.

[ismejks]

Now we only hope Japanese dev also can adapt it in the future. And stop compromise it because of multiplate for some lazy reason.

[Cock4Gamers]

yeah and a good thing about the spu's is that they're a lot easier to get working with parallel processing than an average multi-core cpu. multi-core cpu's are a b**ch to get parralel processing working properly on(which is why most pc games to this day still only run on 2 cores). let's hope their optimizations with parallel processing carry over to the pc and x360 versions too.

[Organization XII]

I fucking love you DICE, I'm an elite PC gamer who will pick the PC Battlefield 3, but I'm a gamer after all and its a good to see them swedes trying to pull out the best out of the good old PS3 - unlike other in-competent devs *cough*Treyarch*cough*. For once, I think the PS3 version will have the major lead over the 360 one.

But yeah fun is on the PC, where it belongs - 64 players@1080p + full destruction. God bless you DICE...

[Hanif-876]

Please at least 32 players support in Battlefield 3 for us PS3 gamers :-)

[dlohnug]

Dice inspires me, they make me love good coding. My goal is to be a dev, takin calculus and creative writing, then I'm gonna try my best to make a game with an amazing story and great gameplay:P that's my dream, whats urs?

[Pintheshadows]

Hovercars. Life imitating science fiction. Hit your goals. Good luck.

[dlohnug]

lmao heroic reply.

[theone26]

Excellent job on the PS3 DICE! This is how multiplatform dev code ps3 people.