AMD Mantle can let you control 5,000 units in an RTS game

Posted on Wednesday, January 15 2014 @ 15:55 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Engadget writes AMD's Mantle isn't only good for FPS games like Battlefield 4 but also for RTS games. The new Nitrous engine from Oxide for instance takes advantage of AMD's Mantle programming tool to speed up communication between the CPU and GPU to allow up to 5,000 AI- or physics-driven objects to be displayed onscreen at the same time. In the video below you can see a demonstration of Star Swarm, without Mantle the game ran at an unplayable 13fps but with Mantle enabled the framerate jumped to 44fps!
As you'll hear from the video's narration, three Nitrous-based RTS games are currently in production and Oxide believes that these titles will represent a major leap forward for the real-time strategy genre thanks to the "epic scale" permitted by the high population limit.

"It's a difference of at least an order of magnitude," says Oxide founder Dan Baker (who was previously Graphics Lead on Civilization V). "Take the most complex scene you've ever seen in StarCraft II and multiply it by 10."



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Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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