Vulkan to be shown at GDC

[Humbug]

one of the GDC sessions is entitled glNext: The Future of High Performance Graphics. Currently the session is listed as presented by Valve while previously it said presented by Khronos Group. The session will also have developers from EA, Epic Games, Oxide Games, and Unity.

They will be showing off drivers and hardware running glNext.

"Join us for the unveiling of Khronos' glNext initiative, the upcoming cross-platform graphics API designed for modern programming techniques and processors. glNext will be the singular choice for developers who demand peak performance in their applications. We will present a technical breakdown of the API, advanced techniques and live demos of real-world applications running on glNext drivers and hardware."

http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/glnext-the-future-of-high-performance-graphics-presented-by-valve
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Next-Gen-OpenGL-GDC15

*****************

A bit of background....

So OpenGL 4.5 is currently the latest version. However within the last decade the API has lost a lot of ground to Microsoft with devs claiming that DirectX was better documented and easier to use. OpenGL has also been accused of carrying too much legacy cruft which is no longer relevant to modern GPUs. Off the top of my head it seems like iD software and John Carmack was one of the few remaining AAA devs to prefer the API. Other devs tend to use it when they have to because of the platform. e.g. mobile, Mac OSX, Linux, consoles...

We first heard about the next generation openGL initiative in the middle of 2014.
https://www.khronos.org/assets/uploads/developers/library/2014-siggraph-bof/OpenGL-Ecosystem-BOF_Aug14.pdf

It looks like their objectives and promises are very similar to that of Mantle and Direct X 12.

- OpenGL-Next is a ground-up design of a modern 3D+Compute API and will break compatibility with existing OpenGL implementations.

- The new API seeks to unify OpenGL and OpenGL ES API -- one API to rule both desktop and mobile worlds.

- There will be explicit control over GPU and CPU workloads with the application/game expressing to the driver what it wants.

- The new API will be high performance and predictable.

- The new API will be multi-threading and multi-core friendly with great reductions to the CPU overhead.

- There will be a common shading language intermediate representation (IR) for greater reliability and portability.

- Like OpenGL, the new API will be architecture-neutral with full support for tile-based rendering and direct rendering.

- There will be enhanced conformance testing.

- This new initiative is "NOT" going to be a "multi-year, design-by-committee process."

As OpenGL is controlled by a consortium (Khronos), in the past it has been criticised for being too slow to innovate. You can see above they are keen not to repeat those mistakes. Apart from that the greater conformance testing is important.

Below are the contributors

***********************

It's mildy suprising that this GDC session is being presented by Valve rather than Khronos. It also looks like Gabe has roped in devs from EA, Epic Games, Oxide Games, and Unity to present as well. The reason Valve is so heavily invested in this is that they want one API to rule them all. One API for devs to target across platforms- mobile, Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, mobile and consoles which is in Valve's and Steam's best interest. This will reduce the number of manhours and complexity involved in porting games.

So far even though Steam Machines are a no-show Valve has been successful in convincing devs to target for Linux, but they probably want to make that porting process less painful in future. Also raises the question of whether Source 2 will be one of the first engines to use the new API.

[hiyayhi]

OOOOOH YUS!

Get hype for linux games

 

But the great first step was Valve releasing the DirectX - OpenGL software last year.

 

This is cool, I hope

[soaringchicken]

I can't help but fall to my knees when I see a post this long

[Humbug]

I can't help but fall to my knees when I see a post this long

Only the first two little paras in red inside the quotation box are the news post.

 

The rest is all background info which I included to give some perspective to the unitiated.

[Inkz]

You know that it is important when Samsung and Apple agree. Also Intel, AMD, and Nvidia.

[qwertywarrior]

AMD did say that they would/did give them their mantle "playbook" so they would know what to do

[That Norwegian Guy]

Yeah, I'm not reading that. Eyerape.

[Albatross]

Lots of contributors. Really surprised, but thankful!

 

This is extremely good news. I don't know all the details and technical terms, but the way I hear it (from those who do) any update to OpenCL is a huge step forward for everyone (especially Linux!).

[Humbug]

Below is the presenter list. We have representation from Frostbite engine, Source 2 engine, Nitrous Engine, Unity 3D engine and the Unreal 4 engine.

 

Johan Andersson  |  Technical Fellow, Electronic Arts, Frostbite Engine Team
Pierre-Loup Griffais  |  Developer, Valve Software
John McDonald  |  Developer, Valve Software
Niklas Smedberg  |  Senior Engine Programmer, Epic Games
Dan Baker  |  Graphics Architect, Oxide Games
Aras Pranckevicius  |  Graphics Architect, Unity Technologies

 

Intrestingly Johan Anderson is the guy who collaborated with AMD to create mantle and build it into Frostbite.

 

Also Dan Baker and Oxide games are the guys responsible for the StarSwarm demo which was used to demonstrate the maximum possible gains from Mantle in heavily draw call bottlenecked scenarios.

[bogus]

Below is the presenter list. We have representation from Frostbite engine, Source 2 engine, Nitrous Engine, Unity 3D engine and the Unreal 4 engine.

 

Johan Andersson  |  Technical Fellow, Electronic Arts, Frostbite Engine Team

Pierre-Loup Griffais  |  Developer, Valve Software

John McDonald  |  Developer, Valve Software

Niklas Smedberg  |  Senior Engine Programmer, Epic Games

Dan Baker  |  Graphics Architect, Oxide Games

Aras Pranckevicius  |  Graphics Architect, Unity Technologies

 

Intrestingly Johan Anderson is the guy who collaborated with AMD to create mantle and build it into Frostbite.

 

Also Dan Baker and Oxide games are the guys responsible for the StarSwarm demo which was used to demonstrate the maximum possible gains from Mantle in heavily draw call bottlenecked scenarios.

Every API that is using Mantle source has the presence of such developers, who helped in the development and implementation of Mantle.

 

The same happened with DX12, they were the only ones presenting the technical details of DX12 when it was presented @GDC14... because no one else knows Mantle better then themselfs, on the developers side. Hell, it was even Oxide who was @ NVIDIA GDC14 developer presentation of DX12 lol... a AMD partner

[zappian]

I dont like open GL at all sorry

 

Most AAA games that use open GL are on idtech an they are a mess ( evil within ,RAGE).

 

[Humbug]

I dont like open GL at all sorry

Most AAA games that use open GL are on idtech an they are a mess ( evil within ,RAGE).

unlike previous versions this is a ground up redesign so whether you like previous versions is irrelevant thankfully. A lot of people in the opengl community were asking for a fresh approach actually.

[zappian]

unlike previous versions this is a ground up redesign so whether you like previous versions is irrelevant thankfully. A lot of people in the opengl community were asking for a fresh approach actually.

 

Yeah open GL is quite antiquated , i have programmed on it.

[Nup]

hype! hope good things come of this! 

[rashdanml]

Frostbite Engine on Linux would be outstanding. A lot of triple-A titles use it, and it would be wonderful to see those games on Linux. DICE did mention wanting to support Linux 1.5 years ago. 

[Detanobrac]

Fix for night theme plox, the dark red text is almost unreadable.

[D3MON]

This is why you want amd to survive....(and why the frostbite engine is one of the best for benchmarking unlike starcraft and skyrim everyone loves so much).

others contributed sure but the fact a large section of the amd wiki page is about open source and allot of these people appear on several large projects including helping microshaft help fix thier stuff tells you the industry would be very dormant without them.

[Humbug]

This is why you want amd to survive....(and why the frostbite engine is one of the best for benchmarking unlike starcraft and skyrim everyone loves so much).

others contributed sure but the fact a large section of the amd wiki page is about open source and allot of these people appear on several large projects including helping microshaft help fix thier stuff tells you the industry would be very dormant without them.

ya mantle has certainly shaken things up in a positive way. I guess it shows that a closed solution can work great as a proof of concept to spur the industry forward. Gsync from nvidia did that too.

It's very encouraging to see this many devs of important game engines getting up on the same stage to push the new openGL. Wish they were live streaming it, although much of it will be too technical for me... My hope is that this can become a defacto standard and not just something people use when they have to on linux/mobile.

[BobbyG2]

Yay for not needing to downgrade from an 8320 to an i5 due to poor game multithreading

[Syfes]

Yeah open GL is quite antiquated , i have programmed on it.

 

Lets hope they do it right This could have a huge impact on the quality of mobile games. Maybe the pocket sized console isn't that far off anymore.

[DaRk0]

I can see glNext being widely accepted, especially in cross-platform titles, since all big players stands behind it, unlike Mantle - if it doesn't get accepted by NVidia, I don't see a bright future for it.

[deviant88]

I only came to say get linux master race out of your head its not gonna happen.Sure you can still dream tough

If win10 is succesfull along with DX12 it will be the last nail in the linux coffin.

[Humbug]

If win10 is succesfull along with DX12 it will be the last nail in the linux coffin.

Nonsense. Linux is not going to just disappear if Windows 10 is successful.  It's firmly entrenched in the server world. On the desktop it has only a small following but they too are not going to abandon it for Windows 10. People forget that most of the Linux distros do not exist for profit. They do not need to be commercially viable, they have and will continue to survive with a small but loyal fanbase.

 

The people who will switch to Windows 10 are already Windows users.

[razor767]

This could be interesting. 

[SIGSEGV]

Awwwwwww yeeeeeeeaaahh