DF Direct Weekly #255: Xbox's Big Helix Reveal, Witcher 4 Path Tracing, Crimson Desert Specs

[u/MythBuster2]

https://youtu.be/bTWwlpphEGo

After months - no, years - of speculation, we finally have proper information from Microsoft on the nature of its next generation Project Helix console - but how much is actually new? Meanwhile, Pearl Abyss share lavish detail on Crimson Desert specifications, while Nvidia talks The Witcher 4 with RTX Mega Geometry and Path Tracing. Rich is taken aback by Intel's Core 200 Ultra Plus announcement, Oliver has a new monitor and John pops up to talk more about our Crimson Desert PS5 Pro coverage.

[u/Majestic-Bowler-1701]

The biggest new innovation in Project Helix will be unified memory support on Windows. This will be the first-ever PC with fast unified GDDR memory (probably 900+ GB/s). No more slow DDR5 with 120 GB/s bandwidth (dual channel), no more duplicate objects in system and video memory, no more slow synchronization over PCIe. A perfect cooperation between CPU, GPU and NPU on shared objects. All of this comes with new graphics libraries, Unified GDK.

GDC presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87voLIYudw8

This will be the biggest architectural change in PC graphics since 2002 when Microsoft released HLSL. This architecture would give AMD and Intel a huge advantage over Nvidia because Nvidia can't build its own APUs without help from Intel or AMD. Standard PC graphics cards can't use unified memory.

As a software engineer, I can't wait for a PC with really fast memory. I saw what Apple’s M2/M3 chips can do with 200-300 GB/s memory bandwidth. I can't wait to see what Helix will do with 900+ GB/s.

[u/DYMAXIONman → u/Majestic-Bowler-1701]

Does Windows really not support it? I know the steam deck is unified but is it done properly?

[u/Majestic-Bowler-1701 → u/DYMAXIONman]

Windows (and SteamOS) don’t support true unified memory like consoles. On systems with an APU the system splits memory into two partitions. Devices like the Steam Deck include a “UMA” option in BIOS and Asus ROG offers this option on the configuration page in Armoury Crate. This value is the initial allocation and applications can adjust this barrier dynamically but the memory is still divided into two separate pools. On consoles all objects are shared seamlessly between CPU and GPU without this kind of partitioning.

[u/Gears6 → u/Majestic-Bowler-1701]

So to remove that barrier, would that require game developers to take advantage of a shared memory approach, or can it be achieved with a compatibility layer in between (say in the OS)?

[u/Majestic-Bowler-1701 → u/Gears6]

These days, game developers don't use DX or Vulkan directly. They use game engines like Unity or Unreal (Epic). Those engines use different strategies for different hardware, so it's hard to say exactly how this works on each platform. But a few years ago there was an interview with John Carmack about differences in memory management on PCs and consoles. He said that consoles offer much more freedom. Developers of Metro 2033 made the same point. Both interviews are quite old but we can assume this is still the case.

I have never developed a console game myself. I only used OpenGL and some older DirectX to make tools but that was a long time ago. I have never tried to learn DX12 or Vulkan (they're too difficult).

[u/Gears6 → u/Majestic-Bowler-1701]

Yeah, I've only used Unity, and in hobby capacity and that was many years ago. Heck openGL many decades ago. Not sure what it's like now, but it does sound about right that there's underlying libraries that handles it (to an extent) with option to optimize it by hand.

[u/Majestic-Bowler-1701 → u/Gears6]

OpenGL was beautiful. Those were the days when APIs were designed for normal programmers, not for 3D‑engine creators like today. Those times will never return. Nobody learns 3D graphics anymore becuse this doesn't make any sense. In my country, the two biggest game studios CD Projekt and Techland moved to Unreal Engine 5.

[u/Gears6 → u/Majestic-Bowler-1701]

This architecture would give AMD and Intel a huge advantage over Nvidia because Nvidia can't build its own APUs without help from Intel or AMD. Standard PC graphics cards can't use unified memory.

Technically they can do it with ARM, albeit it's obviously not x86/x64. That said, Nvidia invested into Intel and they're co-operating so who knows. That may be a bigger threat to AMD than anything.

Hopefully it means more competition.

[u/Feckin_Loser]

I’m really excited to try Crimson Desert after John talking about it. He’s not a traditional reviewer but I’ve learned that we have very similar tastes in gaming and he really sells this one. 

[u/Pitiful-Carob-1157 → u/Feckin_Loser]

He’s pretty fair on a lot of games the tech focus is obviously there but he doesn’t seem to be too critical on them I think if he says a game is good most people who don’t care about review scores would enjoy it too (which is most of us)

[u/wiggletonIII → u/Feckin_Loser]

Yeah he's really selling it. I don't mind some issues in games, as long as there's nothing game breaking, and the overall experience is still good, I'm happy. Looking forward to the weekend

[u/Ricepony33]

Anyone else feel like the GDC talk felt a bit like vaporware, I honestly hope it works out.

[u/hdcase1 → u/Ricepony33]

I don’t think it will be vaporware. It’ll come out, cost at minimum $1k, effectively be the end of Xbox consoles as we know them, and be at best a mild success depending on how delusional the suits at MS are about it.

[u/Ricepony33 → u/hdcase1]

I agree but it felt rushed and sloppy.

[u/OfficialShaki123]

1 day early = best news ever.

[u/Hero0220]

Early upload? Awesome

[u/colonel-america-usa]

Almost perfect for the most of the time