Why do we use our own engine?

Simply put, we need our game engine to do exactly what we need it to do, so you can farm on virtual fields. While other game engines are applicable to multiple games of a genre, like shooters or racing games, and may offer some things or features, ours currently doesn’t include, our in-house built GIANTS Engine has a whole lot of other requirements no other game engine out there can offer out of the box.

An engine is simply not interchangeable without major adjustments. To use another engine for Farming Simulator would require a huge amount of customization. And, in the end, we’d basically have what we’re already using – our own, customized engine.  Also, only with our own solution, we can offer the extent of modability, for example. If you want to know more about this, Thomas explains it more in-depth ins his presentation above.

What performance features can you expect?

DirectX 12

For the PC version of Farming Simulator 22, you can enjoy the benefits of DirectX 12. In previous versions of Farming Simulator, we used DirectX 11 / OpenGL. Compared to DX11, the latest DX12  gives developers more control of how their game interacts with the CPU and GPU.

That means, the GIANTS Engine 9 can directly manage resources and states, so we can control and manage them more efficiently. As a result, we have less driver overhead and more free CPU resources for other tasks.

Texture Streaming

On top of that, we added Texture Streaming to the GIANTS Engine. With this, we dynamically load higher or lower resolution versions of the textures based on what is actually visible on screen. This allows us to put even more objects into the world and to reduce the used slots per vehicle since we no longer need to make sure that we can load the full textures of all vehicles. Also, the loading times are reduced, since less texture data needs to be loaded at the start.

Occlusion Culling

Occlusion Culling is another important optimization technique. It allows us to make even more detailed worlds. Occlusion Culling basically prevents the engine from performing any expensive rendering for completely hidden objects. For example, boxes hidden behind a barn are not rendered until you see them – boosting performance by saving resources.

What new graphics features can you expect?

Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA)

Farming Simulator 22 features Temporal Anti-Aliasing. It is an approach to reduce unwanted rendering artifacts such as jagged edges or flickering specular highlights using the information from previous frames. The GIANTS Engine 9 uses a high-quality temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) algorithm by default, but it can also be disabled for performance reasons or if you don’t like the results.

In previous games, we enabled MSAA by default as an Anti Aliasing solution. Compared to MSAA, TAA is faster and usually leads to better results. For example, MSAA only improves the quality of geometric edges, but TAA also reduces other artifacts such as flickering specular highlights.

Parallax Occlusion Mapping

Parallax Occlusion will make the terrain and other surfaces in the game look more detailed and dynamic if the feature is turned on in the settings. The result looks very realistic and adds a depth to the surfaces in the game. Like the tire tracks on your field, for example, trenching in the ground. We covered this in another article. Find out more about Parallax Occlusion Mapping!

Improved Shadows

We made several shadow rendering improvements in the GIANTS Engine 9. One of the most notable changes is that we are now able to render the shadows much further away. This helps to increase the visual quality in the distance and your farmlands will appear more natural and realistic.

Source: Farming Simulator

<p>The post GIANTS Engine 9: Improvements in Farming Simulator 22 first appeared on Simuway - Simulation Games, News, Mods, Simulator.</p>

What is Parallax Occlusion Mapping?

We’ll try to explain it as simple as possible: Parallax Occlusion Mapping is a technique that basically boosts the details of a textured surface to give it depth. Like the tire tracks on your field, trenching in the ground. They’re deeper now, and here’s why:

In the first step, Parallax Occlusion Mapping reduces a geometric complexity of a 3D model. Like the gravel on a road or even bricks in a wall, for example. The reduced surface details are transformed into a flat texture. When the model is rendered in the game, the surface details are put in a so-called “height map”. That’s what it looks like:

The height-map basically adds a depth to the otherwise flat surface. Imagine the height map as a geographical map with hills and valleys. Different colors mean different depths. As you can see in the height-map above – the darker the surface, the deeper it is. Based on this info stored in the image, the surface is then reconstructed in the game, appearing three-dimensional and realistic.

Yeah, but why Parallax Occlusion, though?

There are a couple of reasons to use Parallax Occlusion Mapping in video games like Farming Simulator 22 to achieve this effect. First of all, the result looks very realistic and certainly adds a depth to the surfaces in the game. Doesn’t it look neat? Just take a loot at these visualizations of surfaces gaining depth.

Then, of course, it’s performance-friendly. The degree of Parallax Occlusion Mapping is determined by your hardware and graphical settings. This way, we can improve Farming Simulator further while still keeping it hardware-friendly for every gamer out there.

If your system can handle it, crank up the settings, and you’ll get the best possible result. If not, don’t worry – you can still play Farming Simulator 22 with lowered settings and Parallax Occlusion turned off.

So, how will the game look?

Roads, fields, walls and buildings: You’ll notice the improved surfaces everywhere when walking around in Elmcreek, Erlengrat and… well, the third one we’ll show you soon.

We’re still working on Parallax Occlusion Mapping, but with those first comparisons, you should get a good sense for what to expect.

Please take in mind that the effect may not be properly reflected in still images compared to live gameplay when Farming Simulator 22 with finalized Parallax Occlusion Mapping is released and running on your system.

To wrap this up for now, take a closer look at the ground. Doesn’t it seem like you’d feel more alive walking on this rocky path barefoot? Yeah, nice right?

Source: Farming Simulator

<p>The post First Look at Parallax Occlusion Mapping in Farming Simulator 22 first appeared on Simuway - Simulation Games, News, Mods, Simulator.</p>