Nvidia causes DX10.1 to be removed from Assassin's Creed?

[ACESHIGH]

I posted this here as the reason we buy video cards is predominantly for the games and new cards offer new effects etc....

Interesting article and i don't think Nvidia and Ubisoft would tell the truth if the DX10.1 code removal was due to Nvidia not wanting to promote the game under its "the way its mean to be played" banner, when including the DX10.1 code allows ATI cards to run much quicker. Obviously Ubisoft would like all the extra promotion it can get and by defecto you have the DX10.1 code removed, even if it wasn't due to an implicit agreement between the two companies.

We have been following a brewing controversy over the PC version of Assassin's Creed and its support for AMD Radeon graphics cards with DirectX 10.1 for some time now. The folks at Rage3D first broke this story by noting some major performance gains in the game on a Radeon HD 3870 X2 with antialiasing enabled after Vista Service Pack 1 is installed—gains of up to 20%. Vista SP1, of course, adds support for DirectX version 10.1, among other things. Rage3D's Alex Voicu also demonstrated some instances of higher quality antialiasing—some edges were touched that otherwise would not be—with DX10.1. Currently, only Radeon HD 3000-series GPUs are DX10.1-capable, and given AMD's struggles of late, the positive news about DX10.1 support in a major game seemed like a much-needed ray of hope for the company and for Radeon owners.

After that article, things began to snowball, first with confirmation that Assassin's Creed did indeed ship with DX10.1 support, and then with Ubisoft's announcement about a forthcoming patch for the game. The announcement included a rather cryptic explanation of why the DX10.1 code improved performance, but strangely, it also said Ubisoft would be stripping out DX10.1 in the upcoming patch.

TR: Is this "render pass during post-effect" somehow made unnecessary by DirectX 10.1?

Beauchemin: The DirectX 10.1 API enables us to re-use one of our depth buffers without having to render it twice, once with AA and once without.

TR: What other image quality and/or performance enchancements does the DX10.1 code path in the game offer?

Beauchemin: There is no visual difference for the gamer. Only the performance is affected.

TR: What specific factors led to DX10.1 support's removal in patch 1?

Beauchemin: Our DX10.1 implementation was not properly done and we didn't want the users with Vista SP1 and DX10.1-enabled cards to have a bad gaming experience.

TR: Finally, what is the future of DX10.1 support in Assassin's Creed? Will it be restored in a future patch for the game?

Beauchemin: We are currently investigating this situation.

So we have confirmation that the performance gains on Radeons in DirectX 10.1 are indeed legitimate. The removal of the rendering pass is made possible by DX10.1's antialiasing improvements and should not affect image quality. Ubisoft claims it's pulling DX10.1 support in the patch because of a bug, but is non-commital on whether DX10.1 capability will be restored in a future patch for the game.

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/14707

 

[Devil_Spawn]

way to kick ati when they are down.

its this like things that just prove what it could be like if/when nvidia has no competitors.

A pathetic explanation of why they should remove it.

 

[Talrinys]

No it does make sense, they should have kept it in but the technical benefits do make sense. DX10.1 does have a few nice features, mandatory AA is perfect, and it seems that some more AA functions in the API had to do with being able to remove some of that code from the DX10.1 pass in AC?

However this is basically just a stupid situation, most cards out there are DX10, and even though DX10.1 is fine, the changes should have been saved for DX11.

 

[milkinc13]

simple answer would be to have Nvidia release new cards which suport DX10.1

 

[LoadsaMoney]

They also voted against it being used in Vantage (althought wasn't just them) seen as they wouldn't have been able to run those tests and so got 0 points.

They will allow Dx10.1 to be used when they have cards out that can do it (which is supposedly July, so not to long to wait) as it gives ATi an advantage at the moment, as people will see the boost Dx10.1 gives on those cards, and so makes them more attractive to buy, even though they are still slower than Nvidia cards when its used or not.

 

[RizlaKing]

So nvidia cba to make 10.1 cards but thats ok because they will just get everyone to bin it till they cba to release 10.1 cards. Sorry everyone should have told nvidia to sod off nvidia needs them more then they need nvidia.

 

[ps3ud0]

Very much reminds me when SC : CT came out and only employed SM3.0 effects - no consideration was given to SM2.0b which forced ATI cards (pre-X1800) to render at SM1.1 (DX 8.1).

ps3ud0

 

[helmutcheese]

http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/14707

and

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/05/12/ubisoft-caught-in-assassin-s-creed-marketing-war/1

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Yeah hilarious that, they rekon Nvidia had nothing to do with its removal, you couldn't make it up could you.

Yeah course they didn't, its one of their "The Way Its Meant To Be Played" games, so of course its gona get features in it they can't run, but ATi can, and get a boost from as well, priceless that.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

Tis an absoloute crap game anyway.

 

[willhub]

Tis an absoloute crap game anyway.

No its not.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Nvida done it for ATi's "Get In The Game".

 

[Tom|Nbk]

No its not.

In your opinion, in mine it's crap it's repetitive as hell and bored me to tears after a few hours.

 

[Skyboat]

No its not.

Apart from the visuals and the buggy framerates in the Kingdom area, the gameplay is distinctly average, only a good hint at the forthcoming storyline opens up right at the end to upcoming sequels. There just isn't any variety in the game, and next to no consequences for your actions.

 

[helmutcheese]

QUOTED :


" Update for the PC version of Assassin's Creed in the works
Ubisoft also issued a new patch for the PC version of Assassin's Creed, offering several bugfixes. This update also fixes broken post-effects on DirectX 10.1 enabled cards. "


http://www.gamershell.com/news_50474.html


Edit: I wonder if you can now fix Aspect Ratio to anything other than 16:9.

 

[Devil_Spawn]

so basically it fixes it by removing it

SUCCESS!

 

[BubbySoup]

Yeah hilarious that, they rekon Nvidia had nothing to do with its removal, you couldn't make it up could you.

Yeah course they didn't, its one of their "The Way Its Meant To Be Played" games, so of course its gona get features in it they can't run, but ATi can, and get a boost from as well, priceless that.

Got to agree with that

With the kind of money changing hands between sponsorship deals, you will never get a flat out, straight answer in situations like this. Can debate it as much as you want. I see we have the usual suspects turning up to defend the big Green.

Gogo brand loyalty, heh.

 

[-iceblade^]

typical nVidia bullying.

i'm sick of their attitude tbh

 

[amkan13]

well this is certainly not the first time.
it has been rumoured original directx10 specs had to be changed by microsoft because nvidia couldnt meet certain requirements (memory virtualization) but ati could.

 

[kylew]

well this is certainly not the first time.
it has been rumoured original directx10 specs had to be changed by microsoft because nvidia couldnt meet certain requirements (memory virtualization) but ati could.

Since I heared NV complained about DX10, and I heared abotu DX10.1, I've been thinking that DX10.1 is what DX10 was origionally meant to be, but NV couldn't get their hardware working with the full spec at the time. Maybe this is why they've downplayed 10.1 so much, with the "it's an insignificant update that will bring no performance, just minor fixes", rubishing it because they can't impliment it yet. Either way, they're being petty, and have just about put me totally off even considering a future NV card.